entrancelogs | [OPEN]

Entry tags:

[OPEN]

Who: Jowan and YOU
Where: Dining room
When: April 3rd
Rating: PG, worst is probably some name calling and a whining mage
Summary: Jowan has the worst timing for coming out of hiding
The Story:

As tempting as it might be, hiding out in his room forever wasn't exactly the best option here, Jowan had to admit. While initially it had been rather welcome, exhaustion catching up to him and meaning that he'd spent several days simply sleeping and eating, after a while when he'd started to feel more himself again it had started to remind him too much of the Circle and Redcliffe and he found he couldn't stay hidden any longer. In fact, in the past couple of days the very thought of either place made him feel even more upset than usual, even when he tried to put it from his head.

It's because of one such time that Jowan heads to the dining room, hoping that the magic that means he can have any food he wants as much as he wants will help make him feel better.

He really couldn't be more wrong it seems. At first it seems a good idea to order a treat he hasn't had since the Circle, but the second the honeyed pudding touches his tongue, Jowan's back to thinking about everything that he'd ruined just by being an idiot and, well, it's probably not every day that someone can be found sobbing into their food in the dining room, but there's a first time for everything?

Oh, and if you thought maybe it would be best to try and leave before it got any more awkward, too late. When spotting another person, Jowan rises abruptly and reaches out to try and catch a hold of their clothing. "Please don't go! Everyone I know ends up leaving and I can't do anything right! I just want to not be a failure for once!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One day Alistair will manage to get food without being threatened or running into mind-wiped people or illusions or anything out of the ordinary. That day is not today. Today is the day when his quest to silence his Warden-driven appetite is blocked by a man crying over his dessert.

It's even more awkward than the mind-wiped templar Commander because now he feels guilty for seeing what should be something private. Even if it's out in public where just anyone can walk in. As he stands just inside the doorway, wondering if he should sneak off before he's noticed, the other man spots him and gets to his feet, practically pleading with him to stay.

There's something familiar about the man's face - the mage if those robes are anything to go by and a Ferelden from his accent - and Alistair finds himself edging further into the dining room despite the uncomfortable situation.

"And I thought I was bad sometimes." At just blurting things out. Nothing else of course. He's certainly never had any doubts about himself. "I think if that's your goal you need to eat it without getting it soggy." That's the best way to not be a failure when eating pudding as far as he's aware.

Look, it's a start.

"What?" For a moment Jowan is thrown by the answer and there's a fleeting moment where he might manage to gain control of himself and avoid this whole mess, apologise for causing a scene, and then be on his way.

But then his emotions charge right on through that moment, and he's shaking his head and pushing on regardless, his hand tightening on the other man's clothing instinctively.

"No, not about that! About everything else I've ever done! Lily and the Circle and the blood magic and Redcliffe, all of it! Every choice I've made has turned out to be one big mistake!"

"Blood magic? Redcliffe?" Alistair looks at the mage - maleficar - again and suddenly he's seeing his face differently, scratched and dirty in the dungeons of Redcliffe castle. Where Lady Isolde had put him after-

Any hint of good humour disappears from his face, expression turning thunderous. He grabs for the front of the mage's robes, snarling furiously at the blood mage responsible for everything that went wrong in his childhood home. "You- You tried to kill Arl Eamon! That's where I've seen you before!"

He hadn't been this angry the first time he saw the man but he can't fathom why not. So many things had gone wrong at Redcliffe and it all had started with this maleficar.

Jowan yelps in surprise and squirms immediately, trying to break free of the grip and realising that apparently he's made a rather terrible mistake. Although honestly, did everyone in Thedas know what he'd done now? He felt like he hadn't met anyone other than Brennan who hadn't.

"I'm sorry!" he protests, holding up his hands even as he tries to twist free. "I didn't want to, but Loghain told me to! He said that the Arl was a traitor!"

At the best of times just hearing Loghain's name is enough to send anger spiking hotly through him. Now it causes the rage already bubbling in him to boil over. Teeth bared, Alistair shakes the mage to stop him trying to squirm free.

"And you believed that murderer?" The man responsible for Duncan's death. Who'd had them named traitors themselves and hunted. Who would have let Ferelden fall to the Blight because he was too blind to see past his mistrust of Orlais. And this mage was the one who'd tried to kill Eamon for him. "The only traitor is him. And you."

He couldn't stop Loghain while he was stuck in Wonderland but he could make sure there was justice for Arl Eamon and the people of Redcliffe.

"Murderer?!" Jowan basically yelps the word, twisting and squirming a lot like a terrified animal trying to escape a larger predator. Which was actually not that untrue from his perspective. "But he's a hero! He's the regent and the queen's father! Why would he be a traitor or a murderer?"

Surprise weakened Jowan's struggles a bit more, as even if he hadn't been quite certain about what Teyrn Loghain had claimed about the Arl, those claims seem to be taking it too far entirely.

"And who are you anyway?" he demands, stopping his struggles to push ineffectively at the other man's chest. "If you know for certain he's that and can prove it, why didn't you do anything to stop him?"

"We were being hunted by his men! How was I supposed to stop him?" Shaking his head he scowls down at the maleficar. He didn't owe someone who'd tried to murder a good man and would choose to defend Loghain any explanation. He knew what had really happened at Ostagar and what sort of man Loghain really was. It didn't matter what the man before him thought. He was just as bad as that traitor and deserved exactly the same punishment.

"But he will pay for his crimes." Glaring down at the mage before him, Alistair ignored the way he shoved at him and tightened his grip on the man's robes.

"As will you."

Elizabeth has been holding back tears herself, only coming down to the dining room for a brief moment to gather food before retreating to her room until the intense sadness she feels has passed. When Jowan catches hold of her sleeve she jumps a little, fruit spilling from her arms and rolling away under the table. She can't hold back tears at how wretched he sounds.

"I'm sorry! Oh you poor thing, I won't leave. I know what it is to be alone."

"Do you?" There's a mix of relief and surprise in his voice. Relief that she won't leave after all, that maybe he's not made so many mistakes that no one at all can bear to be around him, and surprise that she knows that as well.

"Did you lose your friends as well?" He has a hard time thinking someone as pretty as her would drive others away though, so he has to wonder if she was hurt by someone else, as he hurt Lily. "Or were you locked away as well?"

"I've never really had any friends," she admits, feeling pitifully sorry for herself. "I've been locked up alone my whole life, and now I'm here I'm just locked up some more." She looks up hopefully as his words register to her. "You too?"

Jowan nods immediately and perhaps a little too forcefully at her words. They ring so very true and it seems like they must have that in common, something to mutually feel sorry about.

"I was locked up in the Circle ever since I was little and I only really had one real friend." His face falls into an even more pitiful expression. "And then I ruined everything for them and for Lily, what kind of friend does that make me?

"I deserved it when they caught me and locked me away again, but you don't seem like you deserved what happened to you. Why would anyone lock you away?"

She's still not entirely certain of the full answer to that question, though she supposes it's all tied into Comstock's plans for her, the idea of the lamb of Columbia being kept pure and strong away in her tower. She decides instead to give the simpler answer, the one she understands, sniffling a little as she speaks and trying not to cry.

"It was because of my powers. They needed a safe place to contain me and study me. I was all alone for so long."

"Study you?" Jowan's brow furrows as he tries to think about what that means, and he has to wonder if it's anything like being watched by templars like mages were in the Circles.

Still, it seems a lot worse to have all of that and to be alone as well, and he reaches out awkwardly to pat her shoulder with what he hopes is reassurance. Honestly he's not very good at this. "That must have been terrible for you. They were going to kill me for what I did, but at least I wasn't alone the entire time. There were other people there, and Lily..."

Elizabeth doesn't shake off his hand, more because she thinks it may upset him more to have his offer of comfort rebuffed than that it's helping. She looks over at Jowan with wide eyes, red from crying.

"They were going to kill you?" It had occurred to her, from time to time, that her captors may do the same to her eventually, once they'd got the data they needed from her or realised that she just wasn't going to cooperate in becoming Comstock's heir. But that was very different than it being the harsh reality. "I'm very glad you got away from all that. I won't say this place is safe, but at least you don't have to worry about people actively trying to kill you."

Wonderland gets stale. He loves it, but it gets stale, and a whole existence without schedule and obligations dulls you down. So, for himself, Philip has long decided that home-cooked meals are a requirement for his stay, exceptions rarely apply. Well, today they do.

He's thinking buffet style, and he's thinking every bloody course he can come up with, just for the heck of it. He's thinking of an order for twenty plus, pick and mix all the best. If you've got it, flaunt it, right? He's not...

He's not thinking 'sobbing man clinging to the legs of his jeans, before he can even turn on his heels to stick with a salad, after all'. And yet here they are.

Philip arches an eyebrow, and stares at the man dispassionately. He'd consider giving an incredulous little laugh, but his voice has long been taken by Wonderland. Good riddance to it, too, he's perfectly fine with the back-up option. A voice, his voice, sounding in the other guy's head, without Philip ever moving his lips.

"Wow. All right. See, that's why I usually get my food in the kitchen. Less of--"

He points at all of the other guy.

"Whatever you're doing right now."

There's a voice but instead of it being from the other man's mouth, it sounds in Jowan's head and he lets go, almost comically flailing backwards and half falling, half sliding out of the chair that he was seated in.

"You're--" He fumbles with the words, eyes wide as he gapes up at the man as he continues to 'speak', his mouth not moving in the slightest.

"You're a demon?!" It's obviously the only answer in his mind, though at least shock has, for the moment, frozen Jowan when his instincts might otherwise to be to attack. "...are you going to try and possess me? Because I won't let you! You can't have my body!"

It's interesting, actually. Feels a bit like being trapped behind really thick glass, where you can dully hear your past self sobbing on the other side. Concern for that other guy, and some echo of the pain you used to feel when anybody called you less than human. But right now, on this side? It's pretty nice and dull, and all you've got is emptiness, and a huffed laugh at how ridiculous that display looks.

"Jesus, do you think I'm some sort of monster? Obviously if I'm taking your body, the least I can do is set the mood with dinner first."

And since he's roped into this now, he might as well sit down right there, and get back to his original plans. Lets the mansion set the table with the sort of nice and juicy steak he hasn't had in months. Glances down at the flailing guy on the floor, and wonders if ordering him to sit down would work.

...All right, come on, Philip, that's too much. (Why though? he can't help but ask himself, even if he grudgingly concedes). He turns from his plate, looking at the man curiously. Remembering the last time he got a reaction somewhere in that ballpark for his ability.

"So. Demon, huh? Is that a step up or down from blood mage? Am I getting a promotion? Because I'm really starting to set my sights on vindictive god by next spring."

Anders knew he should've stayed in.

"Hey! Not the robes!"

He jumps back in the hopes of giving Jowan the slip the moment the other mage surges up from the table like some terrible blood-sucking beast lying in wait for its next victim. He's already been bear-hugged by a mage he doesn't recognize--he's not interested in revisiting it with a mage he does know.

At least not this particular mage. They hadn't exactly been on "let's bare our souls to each other" terms back in the Circle before circumstances had taken him away from the other mages.

"I just wanted something to eat!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject