Nothing about that lessened his concern and he eyes Alaric a moment before making a decision. He takes up Alaric's food and stands, then leans down to keep his voice lowered. "Come with me, take my arm."
This would, undoubtedly, feed the monstrous rumor mill, but maybe he was due some new back-handed whispers. Alaric wasn't. Day one and he's lead off on the arm of an Alpha carrying his food for him? Licentious, but the poor blond had barely set foot in Kinloch before rumors had caught like wildfire and if the headache was so bad, people whispering behind his back was a price worth paying for a bit of peace.
It was more for not getting lost, but he wasn't going to press it if Alaric was sure, he just seemed so small hunched in on himself then.
"Some place quieter."
He lead them to a far corner of the room, a small round table set up near one of the thin floor-to-ceiling windows. The corner was cooler for it, the lighting less harsh for the moonlight, and placement of the table near that particular corner meant the acoustics turned more muffled here.
At the table sat three older women and two older men, two humans and two elves, all but one of them Omegas. Only two looked up at the young men's approach and Anders nodded to one of them. "Wynne...Mind if we join you tonight?"
Wynne had been his teacher for nearly ten of his thirteen years here, as soon as he'd shown a spark of talent for Spirit Healing, she maybe knew as much about him as Irving did and her blind faith and loyalty to everything to do with the circle's systems often put them at odds...but she was good and reasonable and he trusted her to see Alaric's pain and know exactly what Anders was looking for.
She nodded and gestured to a set of chairs left empty beside her. Anders set Alaric's food down beside the woman and took the other for himself as her familiar pulse of panacea reached out and soothed through the occupants of the table. Their conversations, what little happened, were often boring, but this was probably the quietest corner in the room.
Once they were settled, Wynne smiled softly to Alaric and made brief small talk with him, an introduction, a request to let her know if he needed anything, and then she went back to her quiet conversation. The other three at the table never looked up from their books and notes.
It was a pride thing. He was grateful for the attention and had that impulse to reach out to Anders and let him know that he was grateful. He did not, because the urge was a bad idea -- and a physical one, to touch and maybe squeeze the man's forearm.
Instead, he simply complied and went where he was led.
It helped - some. It left him with the pressure and weight in his head, but without the aggravating factors he managed to return the small talk politely.
...Okay the panacea probably had a lot to do with that, and how he managed to eat most of his food.
He still ended up in posture similar to the one he had been in. Curled in on himself, and - this time listing over into Anders, albeit slightly. Turned toward him because it was away from everyone else and Anders was relatively more soothing.
He did not quite fall asleep on Anders, but he got relatively near it.
It isn't perfect: the pain only seemed lessened, but it seemed to help and that would be enough for now, hopefully.
He notices when Alaric ends up closer to him than closer to Wynne and he has to fight the very real urge to pull him closer and wrap an arm about Alaric's shoulders. It wouldn't help anything. What he does instead is take advantage of the seemingly slipping awareness to mix his panacea in through Wynne's with practiced ease, though he kept his more localized. Wynne must sense it, though, because soon enough he can feel her gaze on him. One quick glance up as he moves just a bit closer in case Alaric were to fall asleep against him confirms the gentle disapproval. He can practically hear her: 'Don't be foolish, I warned you last time too.' His mental-Wynne goes as ignored as the real one.
When dinner is beginning to wrap up and more people have left, Anders' hand brushes Alaric's shoulder. "Maybe it's time to retire?"
He was drifting in other people's feelings and emotions, and that was made more pleasant by the panacea - less unpleasant and crushing, anyway, but it didn't really stop perception.
Meaning:
"Does she not like you?"
Wait. No. He shouldn't be able to have picked that up.
That was...odd. He leaves it for now and waits until he's coaxed them out of the dining hall and into the relative quiet of the Circle's halls before coming back to it. Better privacy, if nothing else, plus they had a ways to get back up to the Mage's quarters.
"She doesn't approve of a lot of things. Chiefly: a lot of what I do. I don't think she dislikes me, though, if she did she'd leave me alone." He knew that much. He knew it because that was the very problem: if she could care less about him or completely dislike him, they'd likely get along just fine.
"More importantly: you barely looked at her...what makes you ask that?"
He shakes his head slightly, as though to clear it. It is much better out here, and he can think, but he has no good answer so goes with something that is at least true. "I thought I heard her say something about warning you last time."
This poor boy, really. He'd seen his mother lie better than that and she practically had twist her fingers behind her back to do it.
"You're going to have to do a fair shade better than that, my dear Alaric. I thought something to that effect, but she said nothing else after she introduced herself to you."
He stops, leaving them standing at the end of some very empty hall as he processes that with...largely a lot of incredulity and confusion in his expression as he practically flicks through all his lessons to make sure he hadn't read anything like that before. Arcane spells involved telekinetic like mind blast and crushing prison. Some spirit magic could affect emotions, predominantly fear, but he couldn't think of any that caused that.
"Wait, really?" A lot ran through his mind, but what he settled on was practicality. "So that in there was...too many emotions from too many sources? Were you-?" No, that wasn't important. "Do you...get used to it? Is there a way to make it easier for you?"
And that, Anders, is why he hadn't wanted to say anything.
He just looks pointedly and silently at Anders for a moment, then rubs his eyes with one hand. "It was too many emotions from too many sources." He could have just said yes, but why bother. "I've no idea if I will get used to it or how to make it better. I have been been around that many people, before. Maybe half as many, a few times."
He's quiet again as another hundred other practical but more personal and theoretical questions ran through his head. It was far too late for all that. Frankly, the secret he'd been holding onto for so long seemed silly in comparison...then again, maybe not. It might be reasonable to be wary of someone who worked with spirits if you were an empath or something of the like. Silly or practical, he'd be keeping it for now.
"Well...I can see why your training might have been unusual, then." For now, he motioned for them to continue on. "Tomorrow you'll likely be meeting with a couple Enchanters until they know where to put you, and there's few mages clumped together at one time other than breakfast and dinner and Chantry services. Avoid the latter, wake early enough to get the former before most of the rest are awake and we'll only have to figure out the middle-most."
He'll. Alaric will only have to figure out the middle-most, why is he jumping into this, it wasn't his problem?
And yet: "If you're not used to waking early, I could come get you for breakfast, I usually eat before most because of my duties in the garden."
"Fortunately for me, I am capable of the more usual sort of magic." He isn't particularly strong with it, but he has it. It's something.
He can feel the struggle in Anders, and it makes him respect and like the man so much more. He gets up early enough on his own, but that isn't a thing he is going to admit. "I've no intention of going to Chantry services and I would be very appreciative to go to breakfast with you."
Friendly face, if nothing else, and he knows there is concern there. He doesn't feel he needs it but does feel he needs to encourage that impulse.
It also is just what he wants, and he is not prepared to admit that he might be drawn to (or attracted to) this man he's only just met.
He smiled. "Oh, yes, fortunately. I'm sure they'll have you at work on studies soon enough."
But...the humor isn't want puts a bit of warmth in him, it's the idea of having someone to look forward to seeing. Even if their circles were to only bring them together for meals, that was enough. It might be nice to have a friend again, even if it was a friend he had to resist the urge to pull close or bury his nose in his hair or wonder what those lips felt like. Those feelings he knew how to deal with, at least, certainly better than loneliness.
"Than I'll come rouse you for breakfast and maybe you can sneak away with me to the gardens before you start your day."
Alaric's door was in sight, just down the hall and Anders subconsciously slowed his pace a step.
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no subject
This would, undoubtedly, feed the monstrous rumor mill, but maybe he was due some new back-handed whispers. Alaric wasn't. Day one and he's lead off on the arm of an Alpha carrying his food for him? Licentious, but the poor blond had barely set foot in Kinloch before rumors had caught like wildfire and if the headache was so bad, people whispering behind his back was a price worth paying for a bit of peace.
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He stands up but does not take the arm, out of principal. His legs are fine, thank you, and he can deal with gossip (probably).
"Where are we going?"
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"Some place quieter."
He lead them to a far corner of the room, a small round table set up near one of the thin floor-to-ceiling windows. The corner was cooler for it, the lighting less harsh for the moonlight, and placement of the table near that particular corner meant the acoustics turned more muffled here.
At the table sat three older women and two older men, two humans and two elves, all but one of them Omegas. Only two looked up at the young men's approach and Anders nodded to one of them. "Wynne...Mind if we join you tonight?"
Wynne had been his teacher for nearly ten of his thirteen years here, as soon as he'd shown a spark of talent for Spirit Healing, she maybe knew as much about him as Irving did and her blind faith and loyalty to everything to do with the circle's systems often put them at odds...but she was good and reasonable and he trusted her to see Alaric's pain and know exactly what Anders was looking for.
She nodded and gestured to a set of chairs left empty beside her. Anders set Alaric's food down beside the woman and took the other for himself as her familiar pulse of panacea reached out and soothed through the occupants of the table. Their conversations, what little happened, were often boring, but this was probably the quietest corner in the room.
Once they were settled, Wynne smiled softly to Alaric and made brief small talk with him, an introduction, a request to let her know if he needed anything, and then she went back to her quiet conversation. The other three at the table never looked up from their books and notes.
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Instead, he simply complied and went where he was led.
It helped - some. It left him with the pressure and weight in his head, but without the aggravating factors he managed to return the small talk politely.
...Okay the panacea probably had a lot to do with that, and how he managed to eat most of his food.
He still ended up in posture similar to the one he had been in. Curled in on himself, and - this time listing over into Anders, albeit slightly. Turned toward him because it was away from everyone else and Anders was relatively more soothing.
He did not quite fall asleep on Anders, but he got relatively near it.
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He notices when Alaric ends up closer to him than closer to Wynne and he has to fight the very real urge to pull him closer and wrap an arm about Alaric's shoulders. It wouldn't help anything. What he does instead is take advantage of the seemingly slipping awareness to mix his panacea in through Wynne's with practiced ease, though he kept his more localized. Wynne must sense it, though, because soon enough he can feel her gaze on him. One quick glance up as he moves just a bit closer in case Alaric were to fall asleep against him confirms the gentle disapproval. He can practically hear her: 'Don't be foolish, I warned you last time too.' His mental-Wynne goes as ignored as the real one.
When dinner is beginning to wrap up and more people have left, Anders' hand brushes Alaric's shoulder. "Maybe it's time to retire?"
no subject
Meaning:
"Does she not like you?"
Wait. No. He shouldn't be able to have picked that up.
Oh well.
Definitely time to retire.
no subject
"She doesn't approve of a lot of things. Chiefly: a lot of what I do. I don't think she dislikes me, though, if she did she'd leave me alone." He knew that much. He knew it because that was the very problem: if she could care less about him or completely dislike him, they'd likely get along just fine.
"More importantly: you barely looked at her...what makes you ask that?"
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This poor boy, really. He'd seen his mother lie better than that and she practically had twist her fingers behind her back to do it.
"You're going to have to do a fair shade better than that, my dear Alaric. I thought something to that effect, but she said nothing else after she introduced herself to you."
So...?
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He told you he was magic.
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"Wait, really?" A lot ran through his mind, but what he settled on was practicality. "So that in there was...too many emotions from too many sources? Were you-?" No, that wasn't important. "Do you...get used to it? Is there a way to make it easier for you?"
no subject
He just looks pointedly and silently at Anders for a moment, then rubs his eyes with one hand. "It was too many emotions from too many sources." He could have just said yes, but why bother. "I've no idea if I will get used to it or how to make it better. I have been been around that many people, before. Maybe half as many, a few times."
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"Well...I can see why your training might have been unusual, then." For now, he motioned for them to continue on. "Tomorrow you'll likely be meeting with a couple Enchanters until they know where to put you, and there's few mages clumped together at one time other than breakfast and dinner and Chantry services. Avoid the latter, wake early enough to get the former before most of the rest are awake and we'll only have to figure out the middle-most."
He'll. Alaric will only have to figure out the middle-most, why is he jumping into this, it wasn't his problem?
And yet: "If you're not used to waking early, I could come get you for breakfast, I usually eat before most because of my duties in the garden."
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He can feel the struggle in Anders, and it makes him respect and like the man so much more. He gets up early enough on his own, but that isn't a thing he is going to admit. "I've no intention of going to Chantry services and I would be very appreciative to go to breakfast with you."
Friendly face, if nothing else, and he knows there is concern there. He doesn't feel he needs it but does feel he needs to encourage that impulse.
It also is just what he wants, and he is not prepared to admit that he might be drawn to (or attracted to) this man he's only just met.
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But...the humor isn't want puts a bit of warmth in him, it's the idea of having someone to look forward to seeing. Even if their circles were to only bring them together for meals, that was enough. It might be nice to have a friend again, even if it was a friend he had to resist the urge to pull close or bury his nose in his hair or wonder what those lips felt like. Those feelings he knew how to deal with, at least, certainly better than loneliness.
"Than I'll come rouse you for breakfast and maybe you can sneak away with me to the gardens before you start your day."
Alaric's door was in sight, just down the hall and Anders subconsciously slowed his pace a step.
no subject
He is very near actually kissing Anders, but instead takes his hand and gives it a solid, warm, squeeze.
"I'll look forward to both," he says, quietly.
Then bolts.