genessia | [ action | closed ] my head is haunting me and my heart feels like a ghost

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[ action | closed ] my head is haunting me and my heart feels like a ghost

Who: Cole, Alleyana Lavellan
What: Gardening and grooming. No, really... Cole's hair is terrifying under that hat, okay? Someone has to do something about it, and Dorian isn't here.
Where: Genessia City - Riverplace Square - Apartment 109
Warnings: Nah

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Alleyana was in her room, pouring potting soil into one of the eight large gardening pots she'd purchased in Attleton. Her room had two windows, so she'd lined the pots up four to a window. Each was broad enough to stand in, and so there were no gaps between them.

Hopefully, the seeds she'd carried with her would get enough light to grow... she figured they would; the courtyard in Skyhold had often been heavily shadowed by the tall walls around it. Still, it was a concern.

She lifted another full bag of soil with a soft grunt, her stumpy left arm under the bag while her right hand controlled the pour. Alley had taken her gauntlet off, leaving only the soft leather glove beneath it; the better to not punch holes in the bags of dirt.

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Alley snorted softly, mildly amused. "I wish Sera had overheard that one," she noted, "he would have woken up covered in lizards."

The Inquisitor selected a seed carefully and put it in the middle of a pot, then pushed it down a bit and covered it in soil. This was very awkward with one hand. She held out the rest of the seeds to Cole. "I hope so too, we need them."

Cole took the offered seeds and set to imitating her with each pot. He'd seen her working in the garden before but he kept his distance there. The garden was always so busy and the chantry sisters were nervous if he was visible. He tried leaving sweet smelling flowers for them to find where they usually sat to think. It didn't help.

"I wonder if there is more like our plants and potions. There are so many more things here. I don't like the cars. They're loud and too fast." Cole would not be forgetting the incident with the rollercoaster anytime soon. Fast moving vehicles now made him nervous.

"I don't like them either," Alleyana agreed, remembering her first time going that fast -- on that bus to the arena, where she'd left puncture holes in the top of the seat in front of her. Like a scared bird.

"And there might be," she conceded, "but I dislike relying on the unfamiliar things here. Many of the people on this world are very... fickle."

The Inquisitor watched him imitate what she'd done with the seeds, and then went to fetch the watering can she'd left nearby. She started watering the buried seeds -- not too much, not too little. Just get the soil damp.

"I'm glad you're here, Cole," she'd said it before, but she'd say it again. Even the other people from Thedas she'd encountered... they weren't her people. And Cole, who saw right through her shit and didn't flinch from what lay below, was the closest to her in their entire organization. Even above Varric and Dorian, and that was impressive.

She kept things from all of them. Everyone did, of course. That was just how it was when you weren't... well, Cole.

"...How did you get so much dirt on yourself?" Alley asked, a little more amused. "I can show you how the hot water works if you want to use the tub. It's nice."

"I'm glad I'm here. Here with you. Listening and feeling. It helps to have someone to listen. It can be so lonely and the others- they're not the same. They come from where we do but not the same time or the same place. Different in ways, the same in others. I'm glad I'm here and I come from the same place." Cole couldn't comprehend the kind of trust she gave him. Few could hide things from Cole so it was hard for him to see how much she allowed. He never once thought to abuse that trust, so it worked out well. All he wanted to do was make her happy.

"Is the hot water for the plants?" From anyone else, the innocent curiosity in his voice would sound mocking.

"No, for... wait," Alley paused, and then eyed him. "You've never taken a bath, have you?"

Surely he knew what they were, at least. Enough people thought about them when they got covered in muck or cold rain or any number of things. The whole party had probably thought of them after trudging through the Fallow Mire.

...Except for Cole, it seemed.

"...No? I've helped bathe Cullen's dog." And Cole had probably seen at least half of Skyhold's forces in the bath at some point in time. Thankfully, most of them didn't remember. He was familiar with people thinking about them, either with longing or reluctance. For some it was more routine. For the dog it had been very upsetting. Both Cullen and Cole had ended up with bruises.

"Is that bad?" Why was she surprised?

"I mean... no, not really, but... you should try it?" Even Alley sounded uncertain, still floored by such a simple realization. Cole hadn't been 'human' for long, all things told. She should have expected this.

...Well, that explained how his hair looked, under his prized hat. She so rarely saw him without the hat, she hadn't noticed, but now she recalled its state. Its very ragged, possibly matted, state.

"For once, I'm sort of glad Dorian isn't here," Alley finished watering the seeds belatedly, having paused mid-motion. "I swear he'd faint."

Cole thought about her last comment a moment and laughed.

"Yes, he would." He patted his hands against his strange leather pants, considering the rest. "I didn't know it would surprise you this much. I didn't know I needed to bathe. I don't sweat. Not much. I guess I could."

"I can't believe Varric didn't think to tell you about bathing," Alley was still a little stunned. "It's... not just for sweat, you know. Come on," she put the watering can down and led the way out and for the bathroom.

She proceeded to show him how to stop the water from draining, and which knob turned on the hot water and which one turned on cold, telling him to try not to burn himself. And to turn both knobs off before the tub filled all the way up with him in it. Alley pointed out the soap, and the towels, and that was all the instruction she thought to give before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

Cole was cleaner when he emerged, ten minutes or so later. He was also very wet. And still fully clothed. His face had been dirty, as had his hands and clothes. He saw nothing strange with his solution to bathing.

He made his way over to Alley, pleased with himself, despite the dampness.

Alleyana had been standing near the couch, wondering how things were going but not quite willing to knock and ask. She looked up as he sloshed his way out of the bathroom, expression freezing oddly.

Silently, the Inquisitor reached up with her one, gloved hand, and gave the brim of his hat a squeeze. More water came wringing out onto the carpet. Slightly soapy water.

Her hand went to her mouth as she tried to process this, and then she lost her shit. Alley doubled over against the back of the couch, laughing harder than anyone in the Inquisition had ever heard her laugh.

Cole doesn't know why she's laughing, but she is and it's nice to hear. He smiles and laughs softly as well, barely loud enough to be heard through Alley's laughter. This meant she was happy, yes? She felt... amused, very amused. He'd done the bath wrong. Oh. But that was okay?

He waited patiently for her to calm down, picking at the damp cloth around his hands as he did so.

"Okay, no," Alley managed to wheeze out, straightening up once she was reduced to little laughs. No one in their right mind would call anything that came out of her mouth a giggle, surely. No, little laughs. "Back in there, let's go," she shooed with her hand and with the bar of her other arm, intending on marching into the bathroom with him.

Cole shuffled obediently back to the bathroom, which was soaked after he'd climbed out of the tub. He'd made a brave attempt to dry himself off but forgot the floor. At least his shoes were clean. He'd never really grasped why it was annoying when he walked inside, dripping from rain, and he still didn't get it.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked, politely confused.

Alley splashed into the bathroom after him, and let out a sigh before grabbing a few of the damp towels and tossing them on the floor to help soak up some of the mess. She peeled her glove off -- difficult, without a second hand, it involved teeth -- and checked the temperature of the remaining water in the tub. Then she reached in further to drain it.

May as well start with fresh water.

She shook the water off her hand as she straightened back up. "Clothes and people are usually washed separately," she said, "though what you did is perfectly reasonable out in the middle of nowhere with a stream, of course." So she really shouldn't have been surprised.

Alley stoppered the tub once the dirty water had drained out, and started it filling again at about the same temperature as Cole had had it at before. A little warmer, because she knew it would have cooled off a bit. On a whim, she took a bottle of something pink and squirted a little of it into the tub. Thick, pink bubbles started to form immediately. She'd bought it with Merrill in mind, but figured Cole would enjoy it, too.

"Everything off," the Inquisitor turned back to Cole, and plucked his soaked hat off his head, setting it on the counter. "I can leave if you're shy. Or I can turn around until you're sitting in the water, or... something." He'd be well-hidden under all those bubbles. "Whatever works. But no clothes."

Either way, she closed and locked the door. She didn't need Merrill coming home and stumbling in on this.

Cole had never been shy and wasn't about to be for something like this. He'd seen plenty of people naked, in the minds of others and in reality, it just didn't bother him. The one concern he had was the reactions he was used to. Healers had tended to wounds before and he could see how he looked to them, sickly, sallow, starving? It alarmed some and repulsed others. It didn't make him self-conscious, but he did worry about making Alley unhappy.

But, well, that was too close to an order for him to hesitate, so he didn't. It was a task, now his clothes were soaked and stuck his skin. The worst was the pants. Leather pants. It was fortunate they were cut at the ankles so not to be as tight, but he still had to roll them off. At one point he fell against the wall and had to finish wiggling out of them while sitting down.

The water was nice, now that he didn't have heavy, waterlogged clothes clinging to him. The bubbles were the best part. He promptly set to poking holes in them, fascinated.

"What is this? Soap?" Soap left foam but it didn't stick around! He liked this.

'Your eyes are always so sharp, your mind sharper', Cole had said earlier. That applied to this situation, too, as Alley watched the spirit struggle out of his wet clothes. The bathroom lighting was stark and bright, and quite unforgiving.

She was... concerned. Cole's ribs were visible, despite his fighting musculature. His skin was all but translucent; she'd never noticed how bad it was with him hiding under his hat all the time, but she could see his veins in places she shouldn't have been able to.

His face was what it was, of course. Cheeks sunken, eyes slightly bulged, the skin red around them. He did look like someone dying of starvation, dehydration, or both. Cole looked like someone locked away in the dark and left to die. Which wasn't surprising, knowing what she did of his history; of the original Cole, but...

Had he grown no healthier, since becoming more human?

Alley sat on the edge of the tub once he was in the water, and without thinking about it she brushed Cole's long bangs out of his face, getting a better look at him in the stark lighting. It wouldn't take a mind-reader like Cole to know she was concerned; her expression showed it clearly enough.

"...It's called 'bubble bath'," the Inquisitor said absently, after a moment. "It's just for making bubbles." And lots of them.

"Why does he still look like that? Is there something wrong?" Cole looked up at her, troubled. This was exactly what he was worried about. She didn't need to worry about him, he was fine! She already had so much to think about. He often saw her considering so much, planning, preparing...

"I look like Cole, the first Cole. I've been like this always, always that I can remember." His earliest memories, the ones that didn't belong to the dead apostate, he didn't want to remember. "I'm not sick or hurt. You don't need to worry. Please don't."

"You know I can't avoid that," Alleyana replied, withdrawing her hand. "I always worry. You would tell me if there was a way to help, wouldn't you? You know better than anyone what it's like to want to help."

"There's nothing to help... I am like this. Human and not. A copy but not anymore." Cole looked up at her through stringy, damp hair. "If I knew, yes, yes I would tell you. You are kind, caring. I wish more saw that. You don't want them to see that, many of them. Maybe that's better. I wish they would treat you better."

He looked down at the bubbles again.

"It is better, for someone like me, that they don't."

Know she was caring? Treat her better? Even the Inquisitor wasn't sure which one she meant. Both, perhaps. She wasn't particularly fond of herself. That seemed to be Cole's job, these days.

Alley got up from sitting on the edge of the tub with a creak of armor. She went to the medicine cabinet above the sink and opened it, producing a simple black comb.

"Your hair looks a bit matted," she said, returning and settling back into place on the edge of the tub, "and I'm going to take a guess that you don't know how to wash it right. Will you let me help you with that? It might hurt while I get the mats out, but your scalp will feel much better after."

Jamming his signature hat down over that mess all the time, tightly enough for it to not fall off in combat... he probably thought any pulling and pinching was normal.

"Does it look that bad?" The image in her head of Cole and his unfortunate hair was not a favorable one. Most people didn't have a favorable image of Cole in general. That didn't bother him, but he was curious about her opinion.

"I don't mind if you help. You'll be careful." As much as she could with a damaged hand. The various injuries he'd recieved while trekking over most of Southern Thedas made the idea of his hair getting pulled a bit sound not so bad. He was just used to the tugging of mats.

"It's a little like when I leave mine up for too long," Alleyana said with a one-shouldered shrug. "It's better to do something about it."

She started in on the mats, working from the bottom first. As he'd said -- and thought -- she was as careful as she could be with a damaged hand. The comb was small enough to make her bare fingers shake with strain.

"I went back to that place with the fake animals," she said by way of making conversation, "I took someone with me who I thought would have fun helping. We destroyed all of the fake animals, and set the place on fire. It can't hurt anyone now."

Edited 2016-09-30 20:14 (UTC)

Cole did his best to keep his head still. Though, as always, he was concerned. Her hand shook, this couldn't be easy. He didn't like her to strain herself to help him. Well, unless she was helping him not get eaten by a dragon. That help was always welcome.

"I can do that part..," he said, holding up a hand for the comb. "I'm glad you took care of that place. I didn't like it. I don't think they'd hide everything from me if it wasn't bad. Oh. He did have fun. He didn't want you to know."

Alley strongly considered telling Cole to stop trying to help her help him, but she really couldn't deny how badly her hand was doing at this. It would take longer, and probably hurt more for him, if she stubbornly kept at it. So, she relinquished the comb.

"I figured he did," the Inquisitor folded her shaking hand against the dragonbone bar of her other arm in her lap. "Though it's good to hear for certain. That priest is stubborn to a fault. I had fun too, of course, but that's just the kind of person I am."

In her mind, unbidden, the yellow bird lunging at her replayed, its chomping teeth snapping at her face over her shield. There had been a savage joy in her when she lifted the thing by the inside of its own head while it broke its multiple rows of teeth off against the dragonebone plating over her forearm.

Rage demons really did flock to Alley for a reason. How a spirit of compassion seemed even more determined to follow after her was a matter of confusion, often.

Edited 2016-10-01 02:04 (UTC)

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Somewhere in Attleton, Sanzo sneezes and looks around, suspicious.

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