Fade Rift: Inbox

[keenly]

you know what to do

Comments

[keenly]

I can see that. If you ever want to experiment, though, I used to braid my sister Camilla's hair if she needed help. [A beat.] Fifteen years ago.

[sulahnan]

[ She laughs. ]

You sure you remember how?

[keenly]

[A grin.] I'd need a bit of practice. I got really good at it, Camilla was really particular.

[sulahnan]

No time like the present!

[ It's not like she'd actually started the seven-stranded braid anyway, so swapping places is easy. She just sets herself down in front of him, legs crossed. ]

[keenly]

[His knees bracket her and he gently sweeps the full length of her hair behind her neck. One hand holds it in place while the other reaches out.]

Hair tie?

[sulahnan]

Here, [ She rolls up her sleeve and reaches back so he can take the tie from her wrist. ]

[keenly]

[The movement to reach for the tie doesn't get far. He goes completely still, the mirth evaporating from the air and leaving his mouth dry and the pit of his stomach cold. Dark eyes stare at her wrist, the expression swiftly being wiped from his face.]

Your...

[sulahnan]

Hm? Oh.

[ It's not that she didn't notice the bruises on her wrists before now, just that she didn't fully think about what others might think about them. If she had, would she have covered them up? ]

Just a bruise, it's fine.

[keenly]

[He doesn't just see the bruises. He can feel them. The chair hits the floor, he stands up and begins pacing erratically, feeling rather like he's watching himself get upset.]

How'd you...wh...what happened?

[He knows she's sexually active, but he also knows Devigny is in town. He remembers the bruises he healed on her in their shared dream, remembers the ones he had to heal on himself under threat of retribution.]

[sulahnan]

[ She sets the chair upright again and stands aside, watching Colin pace and holding her hands out in a placating gesture. ]

Nothing bad!

[keenly]

[Fingers curl in his hair, tear at it so the pain brings him closer to reality or at least stops him drifting away from it. That seems to help. A hand presses against the cool stone of one wall, fingernails scraping. That seems to help as well, though it starts to feel like it's only prolonging it.]

Was it him? Was it Devigny?

[sulahnan]

No! No, Colin. Look at me, [ Athessa gestures at herself, aura to core, her entire being. ] I wouldn't be so calm about it if he'd gotten close enough.

[keenly]

[He knows that, but if the things he knew mattered, would he be feeling her bruises on his own skin?

His face turns blank, so blank it seems he has left his body for a moment. Then, his eyes turn to her, focusing, eyelids fluttering a couple of times before his chest expands.

She's here. She wouldn't be here if this weren't now and not then.]

Not real, [he mumbles.]

[sulahnan]

[ She steps closer to him and puts her hands on his cheeks so he has to see her and feel her separate from himself, tangible and whole. ]

He's dead.

[keenly]

[He flinches away from her touch, but vacant eyes become a little less vacant as he tries to focus on what she's saying.]

Who's dead?

[sulahnan]

Devigny's dead.

[keenly]

[Dead. Devigny's dead. It's 9:46.]

It's 9:46, [he murmurs.] Nothing's happening to either of us anymore. Devigny's dead.

[Blink. Blinkblink. Wait.]

How? When?

[sulahnan]

[ Telling him something he doesn't know should...help convince him of reality, right? ]

Deimos killed him.

[keenly]

...Who's Deimos?

[sulahnan]

My-- [ Hard nope on that!! ] He's uh, Sten? The big Qunari I'm always draping over?

[keenly]

[A final blink. With this, he seems to come back to his body at last.]

Good, [he says with a slightly more steely edge than one usually expects from him.] Good man.

[He unwinds and shakes his head.]

I'm sorry.

[sulahnan]

[ A breathy laugh, because he doesn't know Deimos but somehow landed on the most unlikely descriptor for him. And, incidentally, one that Athessa believes is true. ]

You don't have to apologize. I get it.

[ Like, really get it. ]

It's alright.

[keenly]

[One Colin decides not to think about to hard just yet, given the man's a qunari and what qunari do to mages. Right now he needs to focus on what's real and what's not. Devigny is dead. It's 9:46 and they are both safe.]

Yseult knows it wasn't you?

[sulahnan]

Either that or she knows what kind of bastard Devigny was and doesn't care to pursue it.

[keenly]

[A gentle nod. He tries to push his concern back in the direction it belongs.]

How do you feel?