Room 512, Tuesday Afternoon

[doesnotkneel]

There was a pile of cut grass right below Barry and Edward's window - a large pile. Edward knew this because he was currently sitting on the window sill again, peering down and testing the ledge just below the sill with his foot.

Just curiosity. He still wanted to know whether it'd be possible to scale the wall up and into his room, for utterly innocent purposes that had everything to do with him being bored. See, the thing about Skyrim was that they'd had a lot more pubs and a lot more general-- carousing, and being back here in this building with Barry and his machines...

It was taking him some readjusting.

Figuring out whether he could climb in and out of his own room the short way down was a pleasant distraction from that, if nothing else.

[[ post open, door open ]]

Comments

[doesnotkneel]

Edward rubbed his hands together. "You ever see things?" he said. "Strange things most around you can't, in ways they can't fathom. Like... living in a dream."

[not_every_mage]

"Not exactly like that," Anders frowned. He was curious about the path of questions, now. "Sometimes if there's spirit or demon energy, mages notice it more than other people. But nothing people couldn't see at all."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward sighed.

"I think this island is playing tricks on me, mate. And yet I don't," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

[not_every_mage]

"Edward, what are you talking about?" Anders asked warily. "There aren't voices telling you to do anything, are there?"

[doesnotkneel]

"Oh, nothing quite so mundane," Edward said, and there was the regular hint of amusement back in his voice. "Ever since I was a child, sometimes dreams seemed like they lasted longer than sleep. I'd see things."

He looked down at Anders' fierce little cat. "But the longer I'm here, the more I see," he said, "and it's not just when I've just stumbled out of bed, either. I suppose I just wondered whether you knew anything like it."

He didn't find it exactly terrible that apparently whatever was going on with him was nothing like what Anders had, but still.

[not_every_mage]

"Mages can get trapped in dreams, but I don't think that's anything like what you're describing," Anders informed him. "It's more ... demon-y. They get dangerous. What kinds of things do you see?"

He was interested in these hidden abilities -- first as a friend, second as a mage, third as a healer. Not that Edward seemed like he needed anything healed just now.

[doesnotkneel]

"I suppose seeing's the wrong word for it," Edward said wryly. "Can't come up with one more fitting that's as short, though."

He sat back. "It's like... I can smell shapes and taste sounds," he said. "And there's a lot more visible like that, you know? That whole mess with the carnival - never went near it. Stumbled out of my bed that morning, took one look at it and every sense in me said wrong, same's it tells me now your cat is apathetic to me and your disposition towards me seems kind enough. And there's other things I'm not supposed to see that I do, or so I'm told."

[not_every_mage]

"Lachlan's fascinated by us, aren't you, boy?" Anders asked -- and yes, he was one of those gooey talks-to-his-cat people. (Forgive him.)

Lachlan, for his part, looked unimpressed as he batted at some loose threads along the edge of the rug. Because he was a cat. Anders watched him for a second, then turned his attention back to Edward.

"And it's not exactly hard to tell I'm your friend. But if you say you see more than most people" -- he shrugged -- "I don't doubt you. It sounds like a useful trick, to be honest."

[doesnotkneel]

"It does sound a bit stupid when I put it like that," Edward said wryly. He watched Lachlan as well. "I don't know. Could be I'm just talking rubbish, like."

[not_every_mage]

"No, that's not what I meant," Anders assured him. "This is just new, all right? I've no reason to doubt you, I just don't know what it is."

[doesnotkneel]

"Neither do I," Edward said wryly. "Though it's not nearly as spectacular as that thing you did back in Riften."

[not_every_mage]

"Still could keep you out of a fair bit of trouble," Anders shrugged. "But I'll admit, the Riften thing went -- exactly right. Made me glad I've been working on my control."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward might have been developing a bit of a platonic crush on the sheer capacity for mayhem winning fights Anders' magic represented. "What's the worst you can do?" he wondered.

[not_every_mage]

Anders let himself get distracted by Lachlan for a moment before giving an honest answer.

"I could have rained down fire on all of them."

[doesnotkneel]

"Really?"

That was both shocking and impressive.

[not_every_mage]

"Really. There are reasons you don't want to pick a fight with a mage," Anders told him. He somehow managed to sound both bitter and proud. "The reason my father called the Templars in to start with was that I'd accidentally burned down our barn. I wasn't quite 12."

It was a horrible memory. But if he tried to claim he didn't like having that level of raw power, he'd be lying.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward had no idea what that felt like because he hadn't gotten the local nobles angry enough to burn down his parents' barn yet, but he winced regardless. "Sorry to hear that, mate," he said. "Well, the being shuffled off to the Templars bit."

[not_every_mage]

"Thanks, but it got me here, didn't it?" Anders said, trying to sound philosophical. "Otherwise I'd probably be apprenticed to some trade or another by now. And a life making shoes or baking bread would bore me senseless."

[doesnotkneel]

"But you'd be free on your own terms," Edward noted lightly. "You could leave whatever trade and do as you pleased without your Templars showing up, going by what you've told me."

[not_every_mage]

"There is that," Anders admitted. "But I'd be free and unable to throw fireballs at anybody who annoys me. I'm trying to see the glass half full."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward shrugged. "All I know is, the more I hear of your Templars, the more I'd like to see someone give them a sound beating," he admitted.

[not_every_mage]

"Barry ever gets that portal working, you can come through it with me and go pound on them a while," Anders suggested. "Maybe with your powers, you'd even be able to see them coming."

[doesnotkneel]

"Depends on how much oddity they project, I assume," Edward said, grinning a bit.

[not_every_mage]

"Well, I think they're weird," Anders told him, also smiling. "They wear dresses on purpose. Not to mention the obsession with persecuting poor innocent mages like me. I keep suggesting they take up needlepoint instead, but no luck so far."

[doesnotkneel]

"Try knitting next time," Edward said. "Might get them working on more sensible gear while they're at it."