InsaneJournal

Who: Anders and Isabela
What: Crepe date! And Isabela fills Anders in on apparent conclusion of his Dreams.
When: Last month sometime.
Where: Crepe fair in Costa Mesa
Warnings/Ratings: Pretty mild, minus some talk of mass murder and a foursome.
Status: Complete!



Crepes. Those were the order of the day. It was all about having fun, relaxing, and eating a big whopping pile of crepes. Isabela had made sure to skip breakfast, in fact, so that this time she could enjoy more than one of the stuffed delicacies. There’d been so many flavors to choose from last time that it’d been difficult to pick just one; This time she’d decided she was going to buy at least three.

She stood in line with her money already in her hand, ready to pay for both her order and whatever Anders had in mind. And tried not to think about all of the other things that the dreams had forced her to think about. Today was supposed to be fun, after all.

“THIS time I’m getting a nutella one AND that strawberry with the vanilla cream… and one more. I’m not sure which. Help me pick, Anders, you’re good at this.”

Anders had made sure to eat before he met up with Isabela. Being more in shape and having stronger magic was good and all, but shoveling food into his mouth like a ravenous hyena when out in public wasn't one of the more attractive aspects of being a Grey Warden. Even if his hunger had abated since he had first dreamed of being a Grey Warden, his eating habits still weren't very pretty. At least he didn't have to contend with the darkspawn dreams here.

"You seem like a peaches and cream type girl," he said. “I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m going to get. Maybe a spinach and feta one as well.”

"Spinach and Feta?" Isabela screwed her nose up a little at that idea. It wasn't that the flavors were bad, Bela enjoyed a good Feta cheese; Crepes always seemed like a sweet snack to her. "I might have to steal a nibble to see how that turns out. But I think I like the idea of Peaches and Cream! Going to have to get that one instead of the strawberry!"

Bela's fingers curled around the money in her hand a bit more tightly as she stepped up to the window and placed her order. "This time it's on me!"

Anders had become quite the fan of savory crepes when he had been living in Europe, and had been glad to discover that some places in America made them too. “Of course you can have a bite,” Anders said. “I’m all about spreading the wonder that is spinach and feta.”

He waited until he had his crepes before he forced a grin at Isabela. “So, I’m not sure if you were aware, but it seems as though we have a Templar in our midsts. You just might get your chance to bed one after all.” A pause. “I mean, assuming he doesn’t just blush and run away, which seems likely.” Anders had seen how Cullen had been with Maia in the dreams, and there had been no way that he hadn’t used that fact to make Cullen squirm every now and then. Really, as far as Templars went, Cullen wasn’t so bad. Anders was still going to harass him every chance he got, but he wouldn’t necessarily be mean about it.

"Oh him," Bela scrunched her nose up again, and shook her head like that might shake loose her own feelings about him. Actually, Cullen hadn't been the worst templar she'd ever met. But the memories attached to him and the prison yard that was the Templar Keep slash Kirkwall Circle left a bad taste in her mouth.

That, and she was terrified of what was all going to go down if he started dreaming about Anders. "I'm not sure he's one for bedding. I think you're right; He'd probably just run away. Did you see the way he reacted to Dorian in that one post of his? It was hysterical. It's almost like he's never been flirted with in his life, but I think it's more likely that he never noticed it before. I'd just intimidate him."

Anders laughed. “I’m sure he’s noticed before, and probably always acts like that. You would scare the pants off the poor man. He was in the Fereldan Circle with me in the Dreams. He had a crush on this one mage - actually, she ended the Blight. It was so painfully obvious. He never acted on it,” to his credit. There had been plenty of Templars who would have, “but Maker, was it fun to bring her up in conversation around him.”

"Oh, Maia? The 'Hero of Ferelden'?" Isabela grinned at Anders, "I had a crush on her the first second I saw her, only of course I DID get to act on it. That was a fun night. There were a few more people along - it was actually one of the few times my bunk's been entirely crowded! I think I need to bring her up around him once he starts dreaming. He's so amusing when he's been all thrown off."

She grabbed a bite of her crepe and added, "Maybe I SHOULD throw myself at him. If he's too busy worrying about me he won't start worrying about you."

"Oh? Just how many people got to act on it with you?" he asked, because it sounded like fairly good/sexy story, and Anders was all about interesting, sexy stories.

"You'd do that? For me?" Anders asked, a little bit touched. "I mean, Cullen's not unattractive, and he's not a bad sort, I suppose, so I guess it wouldn't be too much of a sacrifice. But I'm touched, Isabela."

"Four of us! Me, Maia, a little bird named Leliana, and Zev, of course. He's always up for a good time." Isabela listed the names off with a fond tone and an even fonder expression. That had been an amazing time, easily more memorable than most of the sex she'd had in her dream lifetime. Or even her real one.

"Maia wanted to learn a few tricks about being a duelist, and I decided to test her flexibility. In the bedroom, of course." Bela winked at Anders, and added, "'Course I'd do that for you. Someone's got to watch your hide once we all start dreaming of Kirkwall."

Anders let out an impressed whistle at that. “That sounds like it would have been a very good time,” he said. He had had a few fun sexy times, but none that he thought could really compare with a foursome. “And that really does seem like the best way to test someone’s flexibility.”

He took a bite of his crepe. “Cullen’s not a bad sort as far as Templars go, but I suppose if there’s as many blood mages running around as you claim, it could make a Templar a little jaded.” Especially if Cullen had still been in Kinloch Hold when it had nearly been annulled.

"I hadn't intended on having the four of us at once, but Zev brought it up and none of us could really resist. I don't even think that we'd done much drinking that night. It was the Blight, you know. They were all on some quest to end it and kill the archdemon, and I think our little tete-a-tete was their yolo moment." Isabela laughed a bit at the comparison, then nodded her head.

"Kirkwall's special. And it's not... just because of the blood mages that run around and the demons and the fact that Qunari were camped on its doorstep. Well, Hawke was an apostate, so there's that. And Fenris with his lyrium tattoos. And you're there, too, on the lam from the Grey Wardens. With your BFF Justice along for the ride. Cullen seems alright, bit of a harsh view about the mages though. At one point he was all 'you can't treat them like people'. I think he's like the Knight Commander's second, so maybe that explains it. I didn't pay attention, really. I found that area boring and me and Fenris used to take turns guessing the color of each other's underwear."

That was… really a lot to take in, and Anders wasn’t really sure where to begin. “Well, I guess Cullen turning into a twat doesn’t really surprise me. Most Templars always end up like that.” It didn’t matter if they were surrounded by blood mages or not, it seemed. The good Templars usually got driven out, or conformed, which was a pity. “Lyrium tattoos sound intriguing. Does it not drive him a little mad? I assume they’re tattoos made of lyrium, and not just… drawings of lyrium tattooed on him. I haven’t met this Justice person yet in my dreams; are they a lot of fun? But I leave the Wardens?” Anders was more surprised about that than he probably should be. He didn’t really like being confined to anywhere, and he hated the Deep Roads, but the Maia had never made him feel like he had given up being a prisoner of the Circle to being a prisoner of the Wardens, and even if he and his companions didn’t all get along, he did enjoy the company of Oghren and Sigrun, and killing darkspawn was pretty fun when you got over the horror of it.

"It actually didn't, but it DID turn him into an incredibly angry and sour little thing. He's an elf, and it was part of some... slavery bit, up in Tevinter. His master had lyrium tattooed onto his body in a pattern. I think I've mentioned him before! He's the one with the ghost abilities, magical fisting." Isabela took another bite of her crepe, mainly so that she could enjoy it while it was still warm and gooey. Because this conversation was taking a turn and at this rate she was going to have to just... tell him.

Like ripping off a bandaid. Those bitches hurt when you removed them.

"Justice... Listen, about that. Do you - He's a spirit. Alright? I don't know the details. Of how you met, I mean, but he ends up. You know." She tapped her head, "In here. Like your co-pilot. Don't choke on your crepe, but there's more. I mean, I wasn't going to tell you - but I think I probably should, only maybe you should sit."

There was a lot about Tevinter that Anders admired. Slavery wasn't part of that. "Now that you mention it, I do recall magical fisting. That sounds pretty horrible though."

Anders didn't necessarily choke on his crepe, but he did inhale sharply and had to give a couple sharp coughs. "I'm an abomination in your dreams?" he exclaimed, a little bit louder than he has intended. Anders knew, objectively, that demons and spirits were different, but he didn't know much. Couldn't spirits turn into demons? "And there's more? Maker."

"Well no, you're not - I mean you didn't turn all funny looking and start wandering around all 'grrr, arrrrrr' or anything. You're still you, more or less. Or at least that's what you're always reminding us about. Justice is supposed to be one of those NICE spirits that doesn't take you over or make you do mean things. Only..." Bela winced a bit and decided that SHE ought to take a seat as well. It was good they were doing this in public, maybe? Since that meant he couldn't lose himself. Too many people around.

"...Kirkwall's a hell hole for mages. You know, I told you. Taking away a lot of their freedoms, locking things down, making the ones who even talk back tranquil just because they can. I mean, I don't have any personal experience with it but you in the dreams, you go on about it. And write manifestos, and try to make yourself heard, and you heal the sick. I mean you're not doing bad things. Not at first. But I think that you and Justice sort of bonded and he made you very keen on... well... justice. For the mages. You know. I’m shite at this, by the way. Do you need a hug or something?"

“Well, at least I didn’t lose my stunning good looks when me and this spirit joined.” Because what better response could there be to being told news like that than joking around about it. He wondered if people joined with benevolent spirits often. He couldn’t recall hearing anything about it in his dreams, but maybe that was because this was exactly the kind of thing the Chantry would want to be kept quiet. It also wasn’t something a lot of mages would disclose, for fear of being branded a maleficar.

Anders listened to the rest of her explanation. “They can’t just turn mages Tranquil!” Anders exclaimed. “Once a mage passes their Harrowing, they have no right.” He realized belatedly that he had raised his voice louder than he had intended to, and did a quick glance around to make sure that no one was staring or something. In a more normal tone of voice, he said, “Well, at least I’m trying to improve things,” he said. “That’s a lot better than Anders in my dreams right now, who isn’t looking out much further than himsel - Wait. What do you mean ‘at first’?”

"Right, try and focus on the positive. You've still got your good looks and you're a huge help. I end up coming to you for healing rather often, you know. For reasons. Dream you thinks I'm a little ridiculous at times, but we're all a big family--" Isabela said, while trying to put a hand on his shoulder. Maybe that would calm him a bit, but there was really no calming him after the next thing.

She wished she'd had Leliana along for this, or that she'd kept her mouth shut, but a secret like this was so hard to sit on. "At first, right. Well for most of the time we were there, actually. It only went sideways at the end, a bit. And it's like, I didn't want to tell you this, but I feel like it's my responsibility. Since I was there. And you're going to dream about it, and it'll be... well you certainly won't like it, that's for sure. You were just really, really focused on mage rights. You got desperate, you know?"

Anders was pretty sure he did not like where this was going. Isabela was being far, far too serious. And, well, she straight up told him that he wouldn’t like it when he dreamed about it. He allowed her to place a hand on his shoulder, and actually took a bit of comfort in it, even if he wasn’t really sure what he was being comforted about yet. Well, other than apparently being, if not an abomination, something akin to one. “That bad, huh?” he asked, trying to offer a bit of a weak smile.

"'Fraid so, and you know me. I hate having to be the messenger, so don't shoot me. We'll finish our crepes and go get drunk, sound good?" Bela asked, but without even waiting for his response to that she took a deep breath and let it out, then blurted, "You blew up a Chantry. The one in Kirkwall, you blew it sky high. HUGE beam of red light, pretty sure it involved lyrium, but you know-- You thought it was the only way to make people listen and it's not like I didn't see your point."

There. It was all out in the open now, no way to go back. Hopefully he wouldn't break into hysterics. Bela watched him closely, preparing to shove a crepe in his mouth or something.

Anders stared at Bela for a long moment, mouth agape, trying to decide if she was serious or not. She certainly looked serious.

There was no way she was serious. Anders burst into laughter. Not that the joke was very funny. It was kind of cruel, really. But he had no idea how else he should react. "Oh man, Isabela, you really had me going there for a moment. Jesus, you should start a career in acting." It was preposterous, really. "The Anders in my dream doesn't even believe that the Circle should be completely independent from the Chantry." She had mentioned that spirit he apparently joined with though.

But no. There was no way.

Isabela's brows rose. Sure, she could let him think it was all a big joke on her part. Really, that was preferable. No one wanted to have to have this talk, and his reaction was better than screaming at the top of his lungs. She could have just laughed it off and let the moment pass.

But... she winced a bit, and shook her head, "Sod it, it IS hysterical isn't it? It sounds completely insane. I wish we could all have a good laugh and then pretend I never said anything, but... don't you remember that Alistair posted about it? On that network?"

Isabela still wasn’t laughing, and so his laughter petered off. “Well, Alistair is clearly in on it too,” but he didn’t sound convinced even to his own ears. He leaned back on the bench a little, and continued to look at Isabela’s face for some hint, some sign that she was still just messing with him.

"Maker, you're serious, aren't you? How could I - how could he possibly think that would help? That's only going to make things worse for mages." Things often have to get worse before they get better. a voice in the back of his head chimed. For the first time since he became a Grey Warden, he found he didn’t have much of an appetite. “There… wasn’t anyone in the Chantry at the time, was there?”

"I'm... sorry, Anders." That's all Isabela could muster. She took up a position next to him and leaned against the bench, too. Her own spirits were definitely flagging and she wished she'd waited until they were done eating.

"Did uh..." Anders didn't often find himself struggling to say something, but this, apparently, was one of those times. "Did those people get justice?" He asked. He couldn't see the Chantry letting him get away with his life after something like that, but then again, he had already proven himself more than capable of escaping from them. On one hand he couldn't see himself running away from justice in that case. On the other, hand, he also couldn't picture himself blowing up a fucking Chantry. He wasn't the Anders in his dreams, not entirely.

And Isabela hoped it stayed that way. The dreams were a very good cautionary tale when it came down to it, even for someone like her. She let out a bit of a sigh, and hung her head.

"I think it's what you wanted, in the end. You started wearing black, getting all broody, giving your nicer things away. Here in this society we know those are suicide warnings, but of course in Thedas we just thought you were taking everything more seriously than usual. A lot of people called for your immediate execution. Hawke had to do it, I think. It wasn't easy, though you were all 'I'm glad it was you'." Bela let out another sigh and half heartedly lifted her crepe to her mouth. Then she pulled it away again and added, "Look, it's just the dream world, yeah? Things don't have to go that way. You're never going to go and blow up a church here or anything."

Weirdly, that made Anders feel a little better. He didn’t particularly want to die, but it would not be fair to kill all those people and just… walk away. Though, apparently dream injuries carried over into the real world. That would be an… experience, he was sure. “I certainly have no intentions of blowing up a church here,” he said. He didn’t really have any intentions of blowing up a Chantry right now in his dreams though, either. “If I uh… If you notice me starting to get like that again, you’d stop me, wouldn’t you?”

"If that's what you wanted? I mean... I'd at least say something. Not big on just killing people if they screw up here in this world, though. Dream me's a lot more cutthroat. We'd stage an intervention. Me, Leli, Alistair. Maybe others now that there's more of us?" Isabela figured there'd be tons of allies who wanted to keep him from going to the dark side or whatever. Then she added as she recalled the original topic of discussion, "And I'll keep Cullen off you, too. If it comes to that. Really hoping we all are just more sensible people, here."

“Oh yeah, I’m a big fan of the not killing Anders straight-out if things start to go South plan,” Anders said, forcing a bit of a laugh. “Just… if that doesn’t work, I think I’d rather die than kill a bunch of people.” The idea of it actually kind of made him feel sick. He had killed a man once, back in Germany before he had left, and he had tried to make up for it by saving lives instead. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he suddenly became a mass murderer, when all he wanted to do was heal people.

“I think I could go for that drink now though.” A drink or twelve was definitely called for.

"It'll never come to that, anyway. You're too good a person. There isn't all that anti-mage shite here to push you over the edge, yeah?"

Isabela hopped to her feet and offered Anders a hand. "Come on. We'll go get drunk on my boat and then I'll take you sailing."