Short collab between Iron and I:
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When Ashtalan opened his eyes, it was without knowing if this time he had managed to wake up, or if it was just another nightmare. His sleep had been filled with fog and sounds that had yet to disappear. A bloody mist seemed to fill the room, corrupting what he saw, and causing him to shake, not because of the cold, but because it made him feel ill. He saw Raven, or at least, he thought he did, though he wasn't sure of anything anymore. However, her being there made it more likely that this was the waking world, and got up.
This is not going to be a good day.
The girl woke up not remembering where she was. She couldn't remember he name either. There had been so many they've all blended into a great storm of lies and deceptions. She was still alive, the only thing she was certain of, and the only good thing she had. That, and Lady whose steel she felt next to her thigh.
"Good morning M'Lady", she spoke softly to her only friend. Her hair was all knots and dirt, and covered her face entirely. The first thing she noticed was the cold, which meant it was winter.
'What Winter is it... How old am I?', she pondered on the question while she examined the place she was staying it. She pulled he hair back and saw the contents of the room - a lamp, a window, a Qunari, a bed -
Wait, was that a Qunari?
That was certainly a Qunari. A half-naked one at that. 'Did I...Did he...', she panicked quietly and slid out of bed. She still had all of her clothes on, which was a good sign.
Her belongings were at her corner of the room, all jumbled together. She couldn't remember owning half of them. The Qunari made a sound that startled her and she let out a high pitched yell. She turned around and covered her mouth with one hand and waved at him with the other.
"Morning", she said while avoiding eye contact.
Ash barely got startled by Raven's yell, while he had certainly not expected it, it was only a sound among others. However, he tilted his head. Examining her, he wondered why she had gotten that startled. Did she see some of what he saw?
Impossible.
It couldn't be that. It took a while for him to respond to her, enough for one to start wondering why he was that quiet.
"Morning." A brief reply, as he started dressing himself, ignoring the sound of blood dripping that seemed to linger in the back of his mind.
The girl picked up her belongings and scattered them on her bed. Something had to give her a hint about her whereabouts and who she was. Then again, why bother? There wasn't a thing waiting for her but death, and today wasn't his. She drifted like a leaf in the wind, enjoying the ride as long as she could.
'Blades...blades...even more blades...', the girl looked over at her luggage, "Cool, a sling". She picked it up and played with it a bit, then got bored with it and threw it back on her bed. It pushed a leather notebook back and it fell to the ground, opening at a certain page. She bent over the bed and looked down at the scribbles in confusion. "Weird...", she said loud enough to catch the Qunari's attention.
By the time Raven spoke again, Ash had already gotten dressed and was ready to leave the room. Not that it was much of a rush, he had no appetite, and he wasn't sure of how he felt about seeing the others. Raven had managed to not look horribly malformed in his deluded vision, but what about the others? Hoping to distract himself, he leaned over to look at what Raven was calling weird, noticing that she was trying to read something.
"What's weird?" he asked, not feeling too curious at the moment, but it was a note, and pretty much anything that could be read had some value to him. He started reading the words on the note.
"Hmm?", the girl looked up and saw a giant towering over her. She inched away from him and sat back in the bed with the notebook in hand.
"It came with the bag-", she pointed back at a leather satchel. "It's something mysterious and foreign, I know it. If I could just know how to read that...".
"Maybe you can read it?".
"I can," Ash replied. It wasn't exactly uncommon to happen upon people who couldn't read, but it still struck him as odd. Such a natural skill for those who could, it was easy to forget that he had been taught how to once. He started reading some of it, though it became obvious what it was.
"It's recipes for poisons and such. Also..." he trailed off for a bit, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't tired, but it helped him... well, see more 'clearly'. Ash still got somewhat distracted by the hallucinations every now and then, but he continued speaking regardless.
"It explains what you've got in the bag. I don't know what good the notebook will do you if you can't read, though."
"I can learn", the girl admitted before closing the notebook and placing it inside the satchel, "all I need is a good teacher". She carefully placed the blades on her person while continuing the conversation. "I know you're a mage, and it takes a lot of studying to be a good one", she stopped, took in a deep breath and closed the leather jerkin on her person with its iron clasps. "Maybe you could help me", she looked in his eyes, using her charm and puppy eyes to win him over.
Ash felt sort of compelled to mention that most of the magic he knew was not something he had studied, but rather made a deal with a demon in order to master, but it wasn't exactly something he needed to tell anyone. Besides, he had studied a lot outside of that. And it could be a good way to keep his mind off that which he did not want to think about, like the worries about whether he was going to lose what remained of his mind or not.
I suppose that's a yes then.
For as long as they travelled together, anyways.
"I could," Ash replied, and got up. Normally, he would have a compliment or a flirting remark alongside that, but he didn't feel like it. He felt like going back to sleep, but knew that was no use. Besides, who knew what awaited him in the sleeping world. He stretched.
"And I will, later. For now, I'll... just go downstairs." He hoped it would feel less unpleasant than the room did, though he doubted so. A careful smile crossed his lips, though it didn't extend to his eyes.
"You might want to do the same, Raven, I think there's food being served."
I'm not too eager too eat now, though. I'm glad I ate plenty yesterday.
'Raven, huh', she thought when she left the room, 'I like that name'.
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By the time Ash had made it down the stairs, he had gotten to know why this was not going to be a good day. The delusions were not only worse, but fluid, shifting around him and creating new opportunities for him to react outwardly to something that simply did not exist. He took a seat in front of Von -Von looked okay, Marsha certainly did not- and for a moment, did nothing but examine the other in silence, hoping that if something was off, he'd notice it. His expression, while not directly hostile, was off, almost empty for a short while, as he was looking at things that were not there.
Finally, he gathered himself enough to smile, warmly this time. Together with the somewhat odd conversation with Raven, he was slowly getting used to what the world felt and looked like this morning, enough to try to act normal, at least.
"Good morning," he said, looking away for a bit. "I wanted to apologize if I said something a bit weird yesterday, I was exhausted, and my mind goes strange places when I'm sleepy. If I made you or someone else feel uncomfortable... I'm sorry." He glanced at the food, but had no appetite still, so he ultimately ended up ignoring it.
