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4 solas

The concept of interdimensional travel and teleportation wasn't at all a new one to Szel. Why would it be, after everything that had already happened, after all? It may as well have been just another Saturday at Velvet Lust at this point, right? Ho hum, just another instance of dimensional displacement, same as it ever was every other week, la dee da.

Except no, it wasn't, and no, he isn't going to act like he isn't interested. At least, not when no one was around to call him out on that. The second he was sure he didn't have an audience, he was invested in this situation, slipping away into more empty areas of the club for a little investigating. It was a task easier said than done; Velvet Lust attracted more than just Azrael's and Camael's attention, the place was almost immediately swarming with curious fae and even the odd intelligent undead and ghost. It almost acted like a magnet for them, something he honestly shouldn't have been all that surprised about but he was going to be cranky in regards to it anyway.

In any case, here he was, hunting for anything even remotely different about the club after it's unexpected jaunt. Midge's eyes darted over every single feature as the two of them moved through the empty hall, the sound of one hell of a party thumping loudly in the rooms adjacent to them. At least everyone else would be preoccupied, he'd just have to tolerate all the goddamn noise.

The demon paused suddenly as a difference in the hall caught his attention like a blazing, bright red beacon; a loosened brick. … Alright, not exactly what he was looking for, actually, and his disappointment was practically palpable as Midge glared at the thing, almost accusing. How dare this shitty little brick get his hopes up for something interesting? Fuck this brick in particular, honestly.

… Not hard enough to do anything destructive about it, but fuck this brick, fuck it right back into the wall where it came from actually. He lifted his cane and pressed it down upon the corner of the loosened brick, carefully nudging it back into place. It was still Tannusen's place here, after all, displaced or not. Szel wasn't in any hurry to break Tannusen's things, not anymore anyway, and he may as well do the absolute bare minimum by making sure it all stayed unbroken. With a disappointed huff, he turned his back on the wall, and was immediately greeted by a door on what he damn well knew had been a blank wall just moments prior. He didn't see the door appear, but then again, wasn't that just how Tannusen's magic worked anyway?

Made as much sense as anything else, and Midge only took the briefest moment to look around before Szel reached out and grabbed the door knob, sticking his head through first before slipping in the rest of the way. Dark in here, where's the light swi-

Where's the door. No, actually no where's the door? He let go of the handle for just a second to fumble for a lightswitch before Midge's eyes adjusted, but in an instant no light was necessary, and no door knob was available. Here he stood on a singular floating slab of earth, surrounded on all sides by the discombobulated rubble of a building? Maybe? Or maybe just a previously very well articulated mountainside, those definitely looked like they might have been stairs once. Maybe.

Well. Shit.

He would never ever, not in a million years, not even before the heat death of the universe, say he was scared. Not under pain of torture nor fear of death would he ever say that awful shit out loud, he'd scarcely even allow himself to admit that. He's not scared, he's perturbed. He is inconvenienced. He is really starting to perhaps maybe get somewhat concerned at the growing noises and increasing feelings of not being entirely alone here maybe he should consider drawing a weapon. Or doing the rough approximation of that.

The awful, wretched shrieks and screams of the less pleasant denizens of this weird liminal world would be ringing out soon enough, any demons lured in by the promise of a fat and delicious meal finding the tables ironically turned the instant they came upon the mutilated monster making his stand right here in the Fade. Tattered and broken wings spread wide, just like his eternally torn and bleeding mouth lined with needle-like teeth, the spider-demon sat now within a whipping frenzy of rusty and blood slicked living steel cables. What better way to soothe rage and fear than with a bit of a binge, after all? Sure nothing here tasted good, but he couldn't think of a more permanent solution to his current problem.

Down the fucking hatch, he'd address everything else once he'd earned a little peace and quiet.

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"I'll take a wild guess that the divorce could have gone better for some people." Maybe one party more than the others.

Midge followed her gaze, Szel's expression softening slightly from it's usual rigidly enforced look of disinterest.

"I'm pretty sure that's what marriage is, more or less. Don't quote me on that, I have no idea how that mess works." You're married now, don't bother trying to tell him otherwise.

"Should've been time for a divorce," Alleyana said quietly, "arranged marriage, he got butchered on our wedding day by a bunch of shemlen guards while covering for my cousin getting a sword to me. It was a whole thing. I killed a lot of humans that day."

She reached over to smooth the edge of Solas' sleeping roll down, and added, "He knows about it. Knows most things about me, while I only just found out he was a spirit."

Secretive bastard.

Oh, she had suspected the spirit thing, of course. It was hard to observe him with Cole and not wonder. But... still.

"Not gonna blame him if this isn't that kind of arrangement, for him. Just glad I wasn't left behind, this time."

Edited 2024-11-20 18:55 (UTC)

Please if there is a God in this world that is real please stop walking him face first into sensitive subjects thank you Amen. Once more he went quiet, Midge looking away to focus on a far off tree as Alley continued.

Her final comment seemed to get some gears turning in his head, the demon humming thoughtfully.

"I'm pretty sure it's effectively the same kind of situation for him. I'm hedging all my bets on that, actually. I'd say just ask him but-" He gestured at the sleeping elf.

"Well." Well. Well, Solas being Solas was probably a good enough answer, right?

"Well," Alley agreed.

Because Solas was Solas.

"So, you wandered off and had yourself a little wardrobe change, I see."

"In a manner of speaking." He had a little bit of an Everything Change in the Fade.

"Stepped out for a bit and talked with a good Samaritan and they helped tidy up a bit. Kind of hard to do it myself you see." After all look at how complicated he is. Look at all the feathers and wings and the hair and the suit- it's obviously a lot. Obviously that's what he means.

Obviously.

"I noticed the locals moving back in now that Dread is gone," Alley said, "I'm assuming that's what you mean by getting some help."

Spirits, and all.

"What did that thing look like, anyway? Nightmare was a spider the size of a castle, and it spoke in our heads. I only heard howling from Dread, distantly. I suppose a lot of association with that word is rather..."

A gesture at the sleeping Solas.

"Well, everyone knows about the Wolf being real, these days."

"They were extremely helpful." He'll say that much about it, but yes. It was a spirit, he can only assume once the major predator was chased off the rest of them would start coming back.

"I don't know how capable of speech it was, didn't think they could even do that." But it made sense, he guessed. Cole was pretty chatty, and a demon was like... a kind of spirit.

"When I tell you that this thing was a wolf spider, I mean it in the most literal sense of the words. Probably about the size of a house." And then, after a moment of consideration, "A really big, really fucked up house."

Alley was admittedly a bit curious, because the way things could manifest in the Fade could be fascinating. But also... "It ripped him up pretty good," she said quietly, glancing over at Solas.

He really hadn't been recovered enough to be going out there like that, even if he'd planned to avoid a fight entirely.

"He didn't really want to fight it." Not that he thought he even had to tell her that, she seemed to know the man well enough.

"The intent had been originally to lead it away. Things didn't really go according to plan." But how could he have factored in Szel showing up? The guilt was smothered and shoved aside, something to be considered 'later', like so many other feelings he had no interest in processing properly.

"How long will it take for him to heal? He's not mortal, it can't be as long as it'd take a human."

"I have no idea," Alley admitted, "when he traveled with me during the war against Corypheus, he was just like the rest of us. He's gained back a lot of his power since then, but I don't know if that has an effect on things like healing time."

The elven god stirred in his sleep, and the Inquisitor brushed her gloved hand over his scalp. He settled, not waking up, apparently reassured by the touch.

"We've only been out here for like a... week, I think. Including the time we were in his prison. That's not much healing time for what went down in Minrathous. I'm pretty sure I saw he even had an eye torn out."

She hadn't gotten a close look at that other form; only saw the number of glowing eyes from a distance, and the dark absence of an empty socket.

"He was pretty adamant about having had worse before, so either he was lying for the sake of making me feel better," and boy he sounded not convinced of that one, "Or he was being honest about it. I'm leaning towards the latter. That being said, he must have something going for him that speeds up healing." He sat back, drumming his fingers against his upper arm.

"It just wouldn't make any sense for it to be otherwise." He would have backed up that argument too, but at the mention of the eye, he couldn't help but change the subject.

"He did. Only five of them now as I counted. You wouldn't think a wolf skull could accommodate that many sockets but here we are." As a man who has no eyes, no this isn't all that gruesome a subject. But as a being that had seven eyes he's got a lot of damn gall to say anyone's got too many eye sockets, but the only person who can argue that point is fast asleep so his hypocrisy can go unchallenged yaaaay.

Edited 2024-11-22 07:14 (UTC)

"I don't know if I could have gone running off like he did a week after that fight," Alley said thoughtfully, looking at Solas while she continued to 'pet' his scalp.

After a moment, she took her hand away and looked at Szel, again.

"That dragon threw him through half the buildings in Minrathous, while the other half were grabbing him with blight tendrils bigger than trees. Pretty sure one of those got his eye, they were thorned. I didn't see it close up, but it was a big enough fight that I think everyone still in the city saw some of it."

It had been a fuckin kaiju throw-down. Literally. The fact that half his bones weren't shattered was genuinely amazing.

That suggested some quick healing, at least.

As for the number of eyes, "Did that wolf-slash-spider the size of a house follow typical spider or wolf anatomy?" she asked, "It's not like he's a mortal wolf who had a growth spurt."

Edited 2024-11-22 13:40 (UTC)

"I suppose it might just come down to personal opinion. What do you think is worse? Having a quarter of your skin flayed, or losing an eye and getting thrown through half a city?" It's not really sarcasm. Solas said he'd had worse, and that definitely sounded like a terrible battle, didn't it? "Maybe in his opinion, the latter is worse than the former. ... Do you think it'd be in bad taste to ask him?" Actually yes he is a little curious now.

"But that would suggest a certain level of accelerated healing. Nowhere near as fast as a royal fae or a seraph, but certainly better than any mortal by a long shot." Don't mind him, just openly pondering things now as Midge looks Solas over. It's a fascinating subject, okay?

"Yes it did." That answer was for the spider. The answer is yes.

Alley winced and looked Solas over too, although he was covered nearly to the chin in the top of his bedroll. That huge flap of skin had been pretty fucking awful.

Fuck.

"I don't really want to know which was worse for him, I'm just glad he was able to run off and be dumb this early, I guess. Even if I'd rather he didn't do that."

"Like I said, I don't think he wanted to do that either. I thought it was just because he was being a bleeding heart about a demon. ... He was, but it wasn't just that."

No he refuses to feel bad for something that tried to eat him, he tried to play nice with it, but the fucker wouldn't buzz off, as far as he's concerned that's not his fault.

"... I guess he made a decent enough argument in favor of not killing it, just a shame it didn't overhear the debate."

"Spirits and demons can be so singular sometimes, it probably wouldn't have helped anyway," Alley said, brushing her gloved hand over Solas' scalp again, clearly thinking about all the times she'd tried to steer this spirit away from a singular purpose and gotten nowhere.

And he'd had a body for ten thousand years.

"I met Cole, so I get that." That's all he has to say as far as he's concerned. He met Cole. He met him, and he now knows just how single minded spirits can be, there was no deterring him.

"... Wisdom, right?" Yes that sounded like it came out of nowhere, don't mind him. The talk of spirits must have reminded him.

"What he is. Was. Is? Is. It's is isn't it?"

"Is," Alley confirmed, "I think. I'm pretty sure it's 'is', the same way Cole... is Cole, but he's also still Compassion, even though I helped him become more like a human. Too human to be bound like a spirit, but still never not a spirit."

Speaking of the boy and his big hat, and all.

"I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to ask him when he's awake, but that's my guess, anyway."

She took her hand back, folding it with the wooden prosthetic in her lap. Looking at Szel now, she asked, "So, you're a demon from another reality, right? But you don't seem to embody an emotion like our spirits do. What makes you 'demonic'?"

"What do you mean by 'bound'? At home, the word refers to an entity, typically demonic, temporarily tied to a human or a family by a ritual. It's usually a bad idea for the mages involved but apparently no price is too high for fifty years of power and wealth."

He hummed as she suggest he ask Solas, his expression actually considering. "I'd be interested to know just what he would think about the whole thing..." It's an interesting subject! And one that suddenly has just become very important to him, at least in regards to this specific answer.

"Origin, location and disposition, in that order." His tone was just so, not unlike a college professor being questioned about the section of a lecture. "Both demons and angels are celestial beings, but angels reside in heaven, and demons in hell. As for disposition," he gestured at himself.

"I am at loathe to tell you this, and if I hear Solas repeat it I'll hate you forever: I'm the nicest it gets. It's all down hill from there."

"What I mean by 'bound' tracks with what you're used to," Alley said, a little grimly, "back when we barely knew each other, Solas had a friend call out to him in his sleep for help. He asked for us to help him with it. Since I knew back then he only called spirits his friends, I knew we were in for something fucked up, but..."

Well, it had been quite the situation.

"She'd been another spirit of Wisdom," Alley continued after a second, "a bunch of mages had pulled her across the Veil and bound her, and made her fight for them."

It reminded her all too much of what the spirit of Mythal had said to Solas, such a short time ago. I pulled you from the Fade you loved and sent you into war. I used your wisdom as a weapon... and it broke you.

Those words were etched into her mind, now. Probably always would be, along with the sight and sounds of Solas breaking down, bent and sobbing.

Alley's one hand was gripping too tightly to the wooden prosthetic of her other, and she looked down, carefully prying it free before she could break yet another fake hand. Even enchanted for strength as it was, she was stronger.

"You can't make a spirit do something against its nature without harming it. She'd twisted into a pride demon, and by the time we could break her free of the binding, she was too hurt. She asked him to... basically do a mercy killing. And he did."

She'd barely known Solas then, and was still barely putting whole sentences together in her ruined voice. But by the gods, she'd made damn sure to tell him he could come to her for help like that whenever he needed. Even if all she could do was help stomp the wrongdoers into the dirt, he would always have backup when he wanted it, just say the word.

Edited 2024-11-24 01:06 (UTC)

Oh, he hit a sensitive point, great job him. Midge's eyes darted to the hand that grasped the prosthetic, watching as she clenched it, then pried the fingers off. His expression turned neutral, lips set in a thin line. No, he'd make sure no readable expression was going to be on his face.

"He didn't mention that part." Well, he hadn't exactly asked either, had he?

"... I'm. Sorry. He had- both of you. Both of you had to deal with that." Solas first of course, for having to met out such a terrible mercy, and Alley, to have had to experience the moment at all.

"I'm sorry it happened," Alley said, "but I'm not sorry I was there."

She'd witnessed such things with most of her inner circle. That was why they were her people. Her chosen Clan, like Clan Lavellan had never managed to become, even though most of the members hadn't been elves, and none but herself had been Dalish.

"Anyway, that sort of thing can happen to any spirit. We needed a way to protect Cole from that, and in the end that meant either helping him to become more like us mortals, and become too complex for such a binding, or to drop the complexity he'd built up already and go back to being... 'just' a spirit. We'd found an amulet that could protect him if he fit neatly in that box again."

The choice had been left to her, as many often were.

"Since he'd already grown more complex all on his own, and by his own choice, I voted we double down on that and help him become more human. It was risky, but it worked, and he didn't lose any of what he'd become."

"Seems like it worked out just fine, yeah. To the point where he's found himself a mortal partner at that; nothing quite says locked into corporeality like having a girlfriend." Despite the words, he really was being sincere. "It's pretty hard to be a faceless humanoid blob of light and kindness and also fuck."

And Solas was, of course, far removed from the threat of anything even vaguely like that happening, so the thought didn't even cross his mind to ask after.

"And he was all on board for the idea, then?"

Well, Solas also had a... whatever the hell Alley was.

"If he hadn't been, then we'd have helped him go back to being more of a traditional spirit," Alley said, "that was Solas' vote. Varric thought we should help him the way we ended up doing, and Cole himself was completely torn on the choice."

So, it had come down to her.

"We confronted the templar who accidentally killed the original human Cole. He locked him in a room and forgot about him, hunger and thirst did the rest. Our Cole came through the Veil in response to his distress, and held his hand while he died. He... ended up with all his memories, and for a while he forgot he was a spirit at all. He thought he was just the ghost of that dead mage."

Alley, of course, hadn't known Cole back then. But she'd heard plenty about 'the Ghost of the Spire' since, and not just from the spirit himself.

"So, we found him, and Cole confronted him and didn't release him from his guilt. He didn't excuse him, or let him forget. Letting himself hold a grudge was all it really took."

Not a big Compassion move, that. But he hadn't been forced to break his nature, either. It had been years in the making, a gradual bending of a branch without snapping it, and the spirit had made the final move by his own choice.

Edited 2024-11-24 03:16 (UTC)

"That doesn't surprise me." After all he'd seen, after what he'd learned of the other man thus far, that just made perfect sense given who they were talking about. "Makes sense Cole wouldn't know what to go with too, honestly."

It was heart breaking of course to hear about, though it was a story he'd caught once before it never did stop being uncomfortable to listen to. It still stirred questions, how a spirit could absorb a person's memories that perfectly, how you'd go about even convincing them they weren't the person who had passed.

"Even compassion has it's limits, but that's a nice, gentle limit. He didn't kill him, that's compassion enough." It's definitely not what Szel would do, given half the chance.

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