driftfleet | Video + Action | So a mage and a Spirit wake up in the same body...

Who: Anders + you
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Málum
When: 8/10, the day after this post

//Video//
[When the video clicks on, it's to show Anders in the Three Twins med bay, this time awake and clearly a lot more awkward about adressing the network than he'd been a week back. On top of that, he's ten years older than he was a week back, although for all his gauntness and heavily apparent exhaustion, he might as well look an extra thirty years older.

Time has not been kind to the man who once shined his charisma and humor on the fleet.]

Hello. Sorry, apparently I've been in one of those comas that happen here, although mine was one of those that came new memories. So, if we had an appointment of any kind, I'd appreciate the reminder I'm...still a little scattered on...well, everything. It's been a while, but also hasn't. [It was an attempt at humor, but his tone falls flat and the smile that hesitantly tries to stretch his lips doesn't seem to know if it even belongs there and dies quickly.]

For those on the Three Twins, I apologize for being unavailable. The clinic will be up and running as it should be, erm, well, tomorrow. Tonight, I'll be at the Málum. [Maker how he wished it could be getting drunk instead of simply appeasing Adalwolfe's overprotective concern.]

Sorry to anyone who I might have caused concern.

[He clicks off the transmission with another awkward half-smile and then sets about contacting those he needed to the way Adalwolfe had shown him.]

//Private to Fenris and Marian//
[Can he get away with not talking to them? Probably not. Which is why he contacts them with voice only, not quite willing to look either of them in the eye when his memories, thoughts and emotions were still so jumbled and confusing.]

I remember Kirkwall. [And the hole in the sky, but that was far less important when it came to them.]

//Action-Málum//

He'd told Hawke he'd follow him as soon as he'd sorted some things at the clinic. Well, now those were sorted and he'd come as promised to the bar his boyfriend worked at. He certainly didn't mind being close to his fellow mage while he worked, in fact he took some solace in Adalwolfe's nearness, he just wasn't sure he wanted to be out in public just yet either. How long had it been since he'd even been in a crowded place? Three years? They'd been on the run for so long, if it weren't for their village they'd adopted, he'd almost be afraid he'd completely forgotten how to talk to other people.

Anyone who might happen upon him or come looking for him in the bar would find him sitting at the counter, something strong he wasn't drinking and food he wasn't touching placed in front of him. His eyes occasionally darted up to follow Hawke with clear affection and adoration in them, but they'd inevitably fall back to the bar's surface as though attempting to memorize the patterns in the grain there.

He so wished he could call Justice up just to tell him to sod off for one night. Maker damn him, he just wanted to get drunk one last time. The things you don't appreciate when you're younger and not hosting a spirit who chases all the alcohol from your system before it can even settle in.

There were a lot of things he didn't appreciate ten years ago.

Only a week ago.

He sighed. Even without the booze, his head was swimming.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's another spirit around here, though it isn't the kind that comes from the Fade. He gives Anders some space, though his looks at Hawke don't go unnoticed. Eventually, he decides to see what's up with the food.]

There's nothing wrong with the food. It won't hurt you.

[He's not sure Anders can see or hear him, but this is a good test. He has a backup plan if he can't.]

[Anders jolts a little, surprised by the voice, and turns to face the man- no, something hummed at the back of his mind, this wasn't a man. One of the mage's brows lifts in curiosity.]

I'm sure it's fine.

Hawke mentioned a spirit that made tarts, would that be you?

[So Anders can see him. Things just got a little more interesting.]

I make all the food. Not just tarts. [Gelato, chocolate cake in little chocolate cups with little espresso chocolate straws... whatever Crowley finds amusing, really. But he doesn't deny the spirit part.]

Are you from his world?

[His lips twitch into an almost-smile. Was that a hint of pride or was it his imagination?]

I am.

I didn't realize spirits could make food. Is that normal in your world, or is it just you?

[Definitely not his imagination. Dezel is very good at what he does, though he doesn't scream to the skies about it; he's happy just being occasionally acknowledged. He'll leave Mikleo to get harassed for treats, thank you very much.]

I know spirits who can't cook and humans who can. What I am has nothing to do with it. [He slides onto a stool across the counter from Anders.] I'm not a ghost or anything like that. Seraphim live a lot like humans do, we just don't die of old age. [Seraphim only die of malevolence or stupidity. Dezel subscribes to the latter.]

We use magic and we're invisible. That's it.

['Seraphim?' He'd never heard that word before. Learned something new every day, as the saying went.]

Invisible mages, that must be handy, must mean no one bothers you for existing.

[It's impossible for him to keep the bitterness out of his tone, but he sweeps the train of thought away. What was the point of it here? Just like Korra's 'Avatar' being a handy thing back home, it wasn't back home and wouldn't help to dwell on.]

Did Atroma make you visible, then? I can see you just fine.

If you're accustomed to spirits on your world, you have an easier time. Hawke can't see me at all.

[Yet.

Also, back to that first part.]

People bother me all the time whether I exist or not. Seraphim are worshiped or cursed depending on the day, and the worst part is that we depend on it. Without prayers to sustain us, we can't keep the land pure. Believe me when I say that's already next to impossible with how humans are.

[Having a spirit in his head probably made him fairly accustomed. Although, he supposed, if he'd run into Dezel before now, he still might have seen him, being a Spirit Healer. Then again, maybe not, it's not like Anders would have known if he'd had passed by Dezel and not seen him.]

Really? Is worship really not that big of a deal to them? I can't imagine. That isn't still the case here, is it? There's no land to keep pure out here.

[He's not even sorry for all his questions, he just really likes to learn, especially about other magic and spirits.]

There are still churches and shrines in some places, but we've faded to legend for most people. Some think we never existed. [He makes a dismissive gesture.]

The ships still count. I have a vessel so I don't have to worry about keeping it pure, but not all seraphim are that lucky. [And his blessing is still a terrible thing. He's trying not to give it, even with Sorey around.]

What's your name, anyway?

[Well, that made a disturbing sort of sense. There were definitely those who thought maybe the Maker never existed either, it just wasn't a popular belief. Would He fade from history given enough time as well? That he couldn't imagine. Not that the Maker needed them to believe in Him, not like that.]

I...think I understand. [As much as he was likely going to.]

Anders. Hawke said yours was Dezel?

Video + Action | So a mage and a Spirit wake up in the same body...

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