Fade Rift: Inbox

[keenly]

you know what to do

Comments

[keenly]

Oh! [Colin sweeps the wet hair back and grabs what he needs—shoes and money, really.]

Sure! I’ve a guest bed, you can sleep here. Let’s get to Lowtown.

[sulahnan]

I mean I can wait for your hair to dry if you'd rather not look like a drowned kitten for it, [ it's a joke, and clearly affectionate, even if the offer to wait is in earnest. Also highly likely that she won't sleep in the guest bed, if he's sleeping alone. ]

[keenly]

No, drowned kitten’s not a bad look. [He does finger-comb it back and braid what he can.] Let’s go.

[sulahnan]

It's probably the latest fashion in Val Royeaux or something.

[ She chuckles to herself and gives the servant a friendly tap on the arm as they walk back outside. ]

Don't you ever make plans? Seems like outside of work hours you're never all that busy.

[keenly]

Um, not really? [he winces.] I’m not at all good at that sort of thing.

[sulahnan]

Were you good at your job when you first started?

[ She means magic, but she's being tactful while they walk through Kirkwall. ]

[keenly]

Point taken. It’s just, my job doesn’t make me confront one of my very worst fears or anticipate it in the lead-up.

[sulahnan]

[ She raises her eyebrows at him, remembering what he said about his Harrowing, and the recent talk of mages and Abominations. ]

Meaningggg...?

[keenly]

Social situations? Rejection? Leaving the house? What if I’m having a bad day and have to cancel? What if I cancel so many times they never want to talk to me again? What if I panic in the middle of a public space and embarrass everybody and they never want to talk to me again? What if I make plans and I’m so boring and nobody has any fun and they never want to talk to me again?

[sulahnan]

You want me to answer those in order?

[ Kidding. But she would! She has a lot of "so what"s to counter all his "what if"s at any given moment. ]

One: You cancel, simple. Two: They wouldn't, and if they did, they're fools. Three—

[keenly]

What plans can I even make? I don't throw parties. And once I'm home, anything I ask anyone to do would mean them having to get a ferry over.

[sulahnan]

[ She nudges him slightly to get him to side-step a puddle of something before continuing the conversation. ]

You could throw a party, or you could I dunno...go to the theater. Go out drinking with colleagues. Bribe a sea captain to give Waking Sea Tours to visiting dignitaries with too much coin and not enough sense and cut you in for 40%. Have a picnic.

[keenly]

[A moment's pause.]

The sea tours thing was something you did, wasn't it?

[sulahnan]

No, but it's something I've always thought about doing. Someday.

[ Historic Ghost Tours of the City of Chains, on the other hand...That, she did do. ]

[keenly]

See, that's a you thing. You're fun and interesting and have the confidence to pull it off. I'm more the...sensitive, quiet, artistic type who loves to cook but is terrible at small talk.

[sulahnan]

Nobody likes small talk anyway, that's why it's called small talk.

[keenly]

I'd rather listen while someone else talks. That's more comfortable. To be a host for whatever plans you've made, you've got to be able to talk.

[sulahnan]

Maybe you should cook for Wysteria, then. Get her talking about something she's passionate about and you'll never get a word in edgeways.

[keenly]

But I'd have to make friends with her first.

[sulahnan]

Yeah. She's a force of nature, Col. All you gotta do is be interested and she'll do the rest.

[ She shrugs. If he wants to lock himself away in another lonely tower... ]

But you don't have to, 'course. Don't have to do anything.

[keenly]

[A soft sigh.]

If only everyone else would do the work for me so I could be a coward in peace, [he says petulantly, complete with a deliberate pout.]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa huffs out a soft laugh and hooks her arm through his. ]

Someday you're gonna have to stop hiding. Someday.

[keenly]

It's safe to hide, [Colin whines softly as his arm provides a little tension to keep Athessa's hooked around it.] Honestly, you're right. The worst that can happen is still better than being alone all the time.

[sulahnan]

[ To make the arm-hook even more casual, but also harder to escape, Athessa keeps her hands in her pockets. Really, that's all she wants to be able to provide for her friends: the means to not be alone. (If she's destined for that, she can save them from it.) ]

And you've spent long enough in towers.

[keenly]

[Well, putting it that way feels rather like a punch in the gut. Colin goes quiet, and if she looks at him, she will see tears in his eyes. He nods with a little smile.]

You're right. Walls, too. Maybe I've just got into the habit.

[His free hand reaches to swipe the tears away.]