ticking time bomb

AU RP blog for Anders - part of the City of Chains Universe

[absolutioninflame]

Firaga - [Anders and Bethany]

[sunshinehawke]

Bethany let out a light exhale of air from her lungs, the air now visible from the temperature drop around the snow. Her fiery eyes watched it for a moment before it disappeared. “It was fun and kept you awake, I think that was very useful. And you’re right, it’s good to use our magic for a bit of fun every now and then.” Controlled fun, but fun none the less. It reminded her that her abilities weren’t always destructive. There were plenty of other uses for them.

“I used to make forts and build snowmen, even have the occasional snowball fight with my siblings and father. Mother often stayed out of the fight, but she’d watch from the side. Although, these generally only happened when it actually snowed outside.” She couldn’t help but smile at the memories. They might not have all been magic related, but they generally had the same idea. Not to mention, she could remember a couple of times where she used her magic to make a snowball before sending it toward Carver. That wasn’t to say it always hit its mark when she was younger.

She stretched her shoulders for a couple of quick moments before glancing down at the ground and rubbing her hands together. “Let’s get this snowman started, shall we?”

[absolutioninflame]

"Absolutely." Anders was beaming as he began to work on shaping his snowstorm into a snow person. "I want to thank you, Bethany. It's been a long time since I stopped to remember how much joy can come from what we are. And an even longer time since I found someone I could honestly share that with."

He continued to mold and shape the snow until it began to take form, using mild amounts of heat from the palms of his hands to smooth the curves and create an ice-like sheen on the surface. "I believe our frosty ice golem needs an icicle nose. Care to do the honors milady?"

[absolutioninflame]

A Runaway Warden Walks Into a Bar - [Anders and Alistair]

[donotswoop]

Alistair shook his head with a small smile on his lips. “It’s definitely a trait she had before, though perhaps less… what’s the word… pronounced? I hope I’m using that word right.” He knew what Anders said to be accurate about her, after all, both he and Elissa had the same character flaw, perhaps in a slightly different sense, but on the whole it could probably be summarized that same way.

“Weeeell, Elissa and I go waaay back. Before I knew how to wipe myself or talk in coherent sentences, actually. Her father and my adoptive one, Eamon of Redcliff, moved in the same circles and we were often at the same boring functions together. When I first learned how to walk, I would follow her everywhere, and when I got old enough to actually carry on conversations, we struck up a friendship.”

Alistair took a sip of his beer, feeling like he’s sung this introduction song so many times, it felt like he was reciting summary passages from a history book about someone else rather than from his own experiences. “I got to live the privileged son of an Arl for most of my life, until my father remarried. His new wife barely tolerated my existence, and when she popped out a proper son for Eamon, she forced him to send the bastard off. I think a part of her believed I was Eamon’s bastard.” He shook his head incredulously. “She feared that I would somehow get in the way, being older than her son. So it was that a little after I turned sixteen, she had Eamon send me away, plopping me in the hands of the Chantry, to serve out the rest of my life as a Templar.”

Alistair lifted his glass sarcastically to the air in a toast before he emptied the rest of the amber liquid down his throat.

[absolutioninflame]

Justice flared almost immediately at the mention of the word Templar, forcing Anders to work to subdue him with words of reassurance. He has no Templar abilities. We would have sensed those. And he has obviously no love for the order. That much was clear in his tone.

Fingers pressed to his temples, Anders caught the bartender's eye, requesting another glass of juice and warily turning his attention back to his bar side companion. "Chantry, eh? Well, at least it seems that the Templaring didn't take. I can't sense the lyrium flow that would have come if you'd made it to the part where they implant the pump."

When his juice arrived, Anders subtly brought a pill container out of his pocket and rolled one out into his hand, popping it into his mouth and washing it down with some juice. "Did you choose to leave or did they exile you? Do they exile? I can't say as though I recall ever seeing a Templar reject before." 

[fhreya]

#AND THAT’S HOW IT ALL STARTED

[khoai-tay-deactivated20190827]

[spygirl1129-blog]

All three victims used fear as a weapon. And now this disease is just returning the favor.

[thisfandomiskillingme]

The level of concentration from everybody in this picture is freaking high.

[spncastdaily]

[welcomethenewage]

[absolutioninflame]

Firaga - [Anders and Bethany]

[sunshinehawke]

The young Hawke watched as Anders melted the remaining shards of ice. She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her lips. As soon as the puddle of water was made into a thin layer of ice her feet slid, causing her to bring out her hands to keep her balance. Thankfully, with the experience of having played on ice before, she was able to keep herself up right. And she couldn’t help but laugh when the other spun in a circle on the ice. “Freezing part of a body of water to get over it could come in handy in a lot of situations. It can definitely save time, no doubt about that.”

Soon, the ice under their feet was melted and snow began to fall. Bethany held out one of her hands to watch the snowflakes melt as soon as they touched her skin.

“I would love to build a snowman” she said with a smile. Pulling back her hand she gently brought it toward the other one and let them swipe against each other. As her hands separated lily formed of ice was held in her right hand. “I could never get the fourth petal right…” she said as she scrunched her nose. She could remember her father teaching her the trick, although he was much more successful with it than she ever was.

“A flower for the kind ser.” A smirk pulled at her lips as she held out the flower for Anders. It was obvious that she was growing more comfortable with using her magic, given where they were. She rarely used her magic in the city. But she felt safer using the magic where she was and with Anders. Especially since it was for fun -or practice- rather than any kind of necessity.

“Now, I will warn you, my snowman making skills are very rusty.”

[absolutioninflame]

Anders was laughing heartily by the time Bethany completed her flower, accepting it with a flourished bow. "Why thank you kindly, mi'lady. The bar is set high. Now I shall have to come up with something equally spectacular to offer in exchange." 

He puffed some extra frost out into the air, working to increase the production of snow so that they could actually build the snowman he'd suggested a moment before. "I used to build snowmen quite regularly. And snow castles. And snow forts. Again, my commander believed the efforts to be a waste of time but when you're stuck in the Frostback's for weeks at a time I don't know what else one is expected to do for entertainment. There's only so much a man can do to stay awake for guard duty and I'd say playing in the snow is a far better choice than chemical enhancement."

[merrillvaskirkwall-blog]

Friends in Low Places [Merrill & Anders]

[merrillvaskirkwall-blog]

She tilted her head in thought as he explained what he was attempting to teach her.  Teaching from being shown was never her strong suit, she had always been more of a self-learner; give her a book and an explanation and she would eventually work out how to solve the problem.  Hence, the solution of Elgarlin magic to compensate for her lack of creation arts – and a bit of other things to boot.  Even still, there was something to be said for being shown how something works, and if anyone could, this man seemed quite knowledgeable.

“I’ve dabbled in both, but neither are strong suits.  I tend to work best with primal or keeper, entropy, or force magiks.  But, as a First, I was able to learn from a multitude of sources, mainly books on many different aspects of the magic I have.  I think I am slightly stronger in the arcane realm of the two.”  She looked off to the side remembering all those teachings that she had read about pertaining to those arts.

“I do think explaining it further would help, but if it’s any consolation I’ve never had a problem from mages, Templars, or demons being attracted to me.”  Testing the wall with the palm of her hand first to make sure it wasn’t going to fall away even with her small amount of weight, she decided to lean against the wall while looking nearly eye to eye with the man seated in his chair.  It made her curious to know how one so tall was able to hide from anyone.

[absolutioninflame]

"If book learning is how you work best, I have many volumes that address arcane shielding when applied externally for protective purposes." Anders noted, heading over to a nearby cabinet and picking apart the warding to access the items inside, most of which were mystical in nature. Once he'd found the text he was looking for he shut the door and re-warded it, stepping over to hold it out in Merrill's direction. "This one covers the basics. I have others that are in the back I can retrieve if you need them. I'm afraid the application of them for internal shielding is my own modification and I have written no tutorial about it. The best I can do is allow you to read that and hope that my explanation and demonstration will work cohesively with that knowledge so that you can learn it for yourself."

He chuckled lightly when Merrill claimed she'd never had a problem. "I rather expect that's because you're Dalish, and not because you haven't been detected in the past. You're impossible to miss, Merrill. But the treaties between the common populations and the clansfolk make you exempt to many of the laws that keep the rest of us in chains. But if the wind in Kirkwall blows true, then the day is coming when that will no longer be true. Do you not think it better to prepare for the days when you cannot rely on what has kept you from it in the past and learn to hide in plain sight before it becomes necessary?"

[spitfireanddiplomacy]

Just Another Day at the Wounded Coast - [Marian and Anders]

[spitfireanddiplomacy]

He always seemed to know the right thing to say.  If someone else had tried to get her to go out for a day off just for fun, she’d be dragging them kicking and screaming to the beach away from the cave.  With Anders, she was following beside him all the way up to the entrance of the cave system.

“That depends on if we find any more constellations along the way.”  She called coyly as she headed into the entrance closing her eyes for a minute to let them adjust slowly to the darkness around her.  The few jobs she had recently tended to be finding, listening, or discovering things at night which came in handy here, though she was certain that Anders would light their way as he had last time.

Still she didn’t open her eyes until she felt his warmth beside her and a gentle nudge as he passed her by to lead deeper into the system.  “What herbs are on the list?”  The question nearly a hushed whisper so as not to echo about the cavern.  If someone wanted herbs to be found, she wasn’t the best at it, but her eyes were sharp. 

“If you tell me what they look like I can help you find them faster.”  She shot him a sidelong glance before her eyes darted back around the floor and walls of the system looking for any herb she could find.  “And, not that you’d ever lead me into a situation without telling me, but I shouldn’t be expecting trouble should I?” A soft chuckle left her throat in a purring manner as she shook her head from side to side.

[absolutioninflame]

Anders popped a wisp to life and set it to motion just outside the mouth of the cave, allowing the subtle green light to warm the path and walls around them as they moved further in. At the mention of constellations, he chuckled warmly, retrieving a list from his pack and skimming his eyes along it. "We may indeed, though taking time to explore the side passages will delay our beach arrival. But I'll leave it up to you. If you'd rather spend our day out exploring the caves, I am all too happy to play guide for you."

With another smile he held the list out, knowing that Marian would recognize many of the items listed on it as they'd gathered them many times in the past. "Elfroot and deep mushroom are always needed, but what I came here for is madcap bulbs and blood lotus. Blood lotus is easy to recognize, and madcap looks a bit like a hat? I need the bulbs not the flowers so we'll have to take the whole plant. I won't take too many because I don't want to entirely deplete the supply."

He headed deeper into the cave, laughing along with her when she asked whether or not to expect trouble. "Always best to be prepared for trouble, whether or not you're expecting it, but the simple answer is no. I'm not anticipating any problems today aside from the indigenous cave population. And those should be manageable." 

[witch-of-the-urban-wilds-blog]

It Began with an Ending || [Morrigan & Anders]

[witch-of-the-urban-wilds-blog]

A thoughtful frown furrowed her brow as she slipped past him, back into the water to sluice the soap from her skin.  “How recent is this… disapproval?” she asked.  “I can only imagine the partnership was more harmonious when it was first begun, since you offered it in the first place.”  Blinking through the water, she regarded him soberly, intently.  “Now that I know of this, I also know that I have seen this conflict wearing on you more over the time since we met.”

Dozens of small details had all come together with that information – flashes of strain that hadn’t seemed to have anything to do with what was going on at the time, obvious and persistent sleep deprivation (though Morrigan was seldom inclined to notice that, given her propensity for it herself), the moments where part of the spirit’s signature had shown through Anders’s own – and with that understanding came an even greater appreciation for his resilience.

“If there is someone else you think better-suited and safer to assist with that effort – “ her tone made it clear that she found the idea highly unlikely – “then by all means.  But I am guessing that if such a person existed, he or she would have been here tonight, as well.”  She paused, letting out a near-imperceptible sigh.  “And while his interest, as you put it – whatever that entails – in me is unsettling, for our purposes ‘tis likely preferable to wanting me dead.”

[absolutioninflame]

Anders chuckled, though it was near to humorless, dropping his head back against the wall with an audible thud as he thought over all of the small pieces that had doubtlessly fallen into place now that Morrigan had seen the truth of what he was. “When we first arrived in Kirkwall it seemed as though the merge had been successful. It was a true partnership then; the both of us respecting the other’s individual perspectives. But Justice started to push against the walls I’d constructed, digging deeper into things best left forgotten, and the more that he learned the more furious he became.”

He sighed and rubbed at his face again, pushing the saturated strands of his hair back away from his face. “A part of me knows that his righteous indignation is justified, and that he would not be feeling it as profoundly as he does were it not rooted in my own memories and emotions. I appreciate that a contributing factor to his motivations comes from wanting to right the wrongs that he feels I have suffered… but the way that he seeks to create these changes is a point of contention between us that becomes more rife with violence every day.”

“Of course I do not believe there is someone better-suited to wrangling Justice. I suspect that you know that even if I hadn’t chosen to admit it aloud, but being better suited is not really the point here… though I know you will argue with me until the end that it should be.” He shook his head and watched her carefully, the curves of her body, the lines of her face, those penetrating eyes that always seemed to read him even on the rare occasions when he did not wish to be read. “It is that exactly that puts me so far at odds with the spirit that I play host for; this connection to others, the compassion that I feel in spite of the scars of my past. I care for you, Morrigan. A great deal more than I’ve allowed myself to consciously recognize. And it is that wealth of feeling that holds me back from decisions I would otherwise make without flinching. Perhaps he is right to call it weakness, for in this moment I do not feel that it makes me very strong.”

[celestial-fantasies]

[deans-angel-kisses]

WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE!!!

[awnsucker]

jensen and jared | via Tumblr no We Heart It - http://weheartit.com/entry/122553952

[matchameow]

Source

[zest-wincest-deactivated2015122]