I don't know how frequently I'll update this, but I figure if I do prompts on BSN or somewhere I'd like to have a place to post them.

The Earring Stays

"Come on, Anders, it barely hurts at all." The cute elven apprentice was holding an earring, an orange, and a shockingly large needle. In the other hand she had a rag. He couldn't help but notice the bloodstains already on it. "It'll look fantastic when it's done, see," she lifted up her hat with kitty ears, and really, where would she even get something like that in the tower? It wasn't exactly a standard issue mage cowl, displaying tiny red gems in each ear. "I just did mine and ran right up here after."

"Why is that one a hoop, though? It's it a bit… obvious? And my hair will catch on it."

"Your hair is too short to catch on it," she pointed out.

"It's going to grow back!" he said. "I only cut it to help disguise myself last time I got out."

"It's the only other earring I could find. Not like I can pop out to market, you know! I have to pick through whatever that fool Godwin has sent to him from his surface friend." She sighed. "Just start wearing a ponytail when your hair grows back or something. It'll look, I don't know, roguish."

"Roguish?" he said, sounding dubious. "I don't know if I can really pull off roguish. I go more for dashing, you know."

"Yes, and it works so well for you. Quit complaining and sit still."

"It works just fine," he protested, but she only rolled her eyes. Anders sighed and did as she demanded. He had long since realized saying 'but it will hurt' wouldn't do wonders for his image, and really, the fear of pain was the only concern. If the earring looked horrible, he knew he could just get rid of it.

"Ow!" Anders protested, squirming.

"Maker's breath, that wasn't even the needle. That was just a quick ice spell to numb your ear. Would you calm down! I'm not taking your head off here!" She sounded annoyed. He did as ordered and a moment later she did put the needle through his ear. And, as he suspected, it did hurt. Anders tried not to wince as she fiddled around, not really wanting to look and see his blood shooting all over the wall.

"There," she said finally. "I assume you can heal it yourself?"

Anders did just that before getting up and striding across the room to a mirror. He had to admit, it did look good. If he could figure out a way to enchant it, all the better. "Not bad," he said.

"Told you!" she replied, hopping off the bunk and laughing. "I've got to run, Niall promised to help me with entropy. Don't take it out for a while, the hole will close up!"

Anders, slightly entranced by the light flickering off the gold, barely heard her. "Huh? Oh, ok. Tell Niall I said hi."

"What is that?" his roommate said that evening. "You didn't get that on your last escape, did you?"

"No, just today," Anders said. "What do you think?"

"You look like a pirate," he replied. "No… you look like someone pretending to be a pirate. And failing. Did a girl talk you into that?"

"Yes, but not like that," Anders admitted. "It was the apprentice I tutor. I think she wanted to cheer me up."

He rolled his eyes before climbing into bed. "It looks absurd. You really ought to get rid of it, you shouldn't be doing anything to stand out more right now. They just let you out of solitary confinement."

Anders made a face, ignoring him. He was a grumpy bastard and bitter he hadn't been moved upstairs to the Enchanter quarters yet.

The next day several people commented on the earring, none favorably. Anders was walking back to his room from the library, sick of pirate jokes and seriously considering just getting rid of it, when he saw an apprentice walking up the hall. The knight-commander was in the middle of giving her one of his lectures. He did recycle the same ones for everybody, apparently. "Behind the storeroom again, and this time with a mage no less? Rules exist for a reason." Anders stopped, suppressing the urge to laugh, and listened in.

"Yes, ser," she replied, twirling her black hair around a finger and sounding as though she didn't care one bit.

"The reason isn't so you can break them one by one."

"I know, ser," she said again in that same bored voice.

"Do you enjoy constantly having to help the tranquil clean?"

"Yes, ser," she responded, quite obviously ignoring him.

"Are you listening to me?"

"I know, ser" she said again, making a face at the Knight-Commander's back.

Snickering as they passed, Anders accidentally dropped one of his books trying to get a better look at her.

The girl froze in place, looking over at him while Greagoir, oblivious, continued down the hall. Finally able to see her clearly, Anders suddenly wished he hadn't gotten the earring. When her green eyes passed over it he resisted the desire to explain "it wasn't my idea!"

Then she grinned at him, earring obviously meeting her approval. It was… well, Anders wouldn't say it was a beautiful smile. Predatory would probably be a much more accurate word. He recognized the look, more than a few women had been fixed in his own version of it over the years. Being on the receiving end was strangely flattering.
Bending over, she grabbed his book, stepping far closer than necessary and placing it back on the pile in his hands. "Dropped that," she said, before winking and scurrying after the Knight-Commander.

That's it, Anders thought, shaking his head in amusement and continuing on his way. The earring stays.

That was five years ago.

"Hey Biff," one of the templars said. "Get a load of his earring." He snickered, turning to Anders. "What, you thought you'd hop some pirate ship?"

Rolling his eyes, Anders turned over to his side in the small cell, facing the wall. Caught again, he wasn't going to make their lives any better by providing entertainment.

"Fine, ignore us," Biff laughed. "The less problems you cause the better. I don't want to hang around here long enough bump into that Grey Warden when she gets here." The two began talking about the woman in question, more commonly known as the Hero of Ferelden. With amusement Anders realized, as they said things like violent, half-mad, and even maleficar, that the templars were scared witless of meeting her. No wonder, though. Grey Wardens were completely outside Chantry control. Everyone knew that. Lucky, he thought as he dozed off, exhausted after days of running.

"Where did they come from," someone shouted, waking him. It might have been minutes, or even hours. Anders shifted and looked over. One of the templars was leaning against the door, face waxy with terror.

"What's going on," he asked, forgetting that he was giving them the silent treatment.

"Darkspawn! They're everywhere. I won't be able to hold the door much longer."

"Well open the bloody cell!" Anders said. The templar looked at him blankly. They really were slow. Anders sighed and directed a small blast of flame at the cell's stone wall in demonstration. "Did you think I spent years learning basket weaving at the Circle?"

"Oh, right," he said. "Hey Biff, let the mage out!"

"You crazy?"

"You want the darkspawn to eat us? Maybe with him we've got a chance."

"Fine," he muttered, unlocking the cell nervously. "Don't try anything funny."

"I assure you, if I do it will be hysterical," Anders said, unable to help himself.

"Here they come!" came a shout. The men all tensed as the doorframe cracked under pressure, bursting open. The most disgusting beasts Anders had ever seen in his life poured in. He gagged, suppressing the urge to get sick all over the floor. People talk about darkspawn but you really couldn't understand until you saw them yourself. After a moment's hesitation he began to cast spells, picking them off one by one.

When the last fell Anders shook his hands, dissipating the last of the flame spell, and realized that he was the only one left standing. Oh, this doesn't look good, he thought. Before he could run someone kicked the door open behind him.

Skidding to a halt in front of him was a familiar figure. Black hair, grass-green eyes, the same predatory grin, this time filled with the lust for battle.

That's the Hero of Ferelden? He was tempted to laugh. Instead he reached up and smoothed his hair, noticing that once again her eyes flicked over the earring. Anders grinned right back at her. "Hey, I remember you from the Circle!"

Editing isn't up to snuff, admittedly, but this was for a one-hour challenge. Not sure if all of these will be Amell/Anders, or if I'll get the urge to write about someone else. But after the prompt I kind of liked the idea of showing a few moments from a different perspective.