002; action;

[theirinurpants]

Who: Alistair and anyone who wants to get shitfaced.
Broadcast: Nope.
Action: Varric's bar on the Iskaulit.
When: Tonight. All night. PONY UP.
WARNING: Depending on how conversations go, drunk!Alistair may make vague references to child neglect/abuse, or possibly dubiously consensual sex. Other topics might include violence and extreme daddy issues. Let me know if you want me to specifically avoid any of that!

[ For all intents and purposes, Alistair feels utterly alone. Sure, there are several people in the fleet who know him, but he doesn't seem to know any of them, and so it's weird. And if he's being honest with himself, he was feeling pretty lonely well before he got here. All of the friends he made during the Blight, when they were all on the road together, pretty much left after it ended, after his coronation. Even Amell ran off somewhere with Leliana, leaving him to the tender mercies of his uncle, his late brother's widow, and the rest of the Fereldan nobility.

He's been keeping up a cheerful face - he doesn't really know how to do anything else - but what with being here, learning about things he probably shouldn't have learned about, and having a little bit of money from - somewhere, he's finally just. Showed up to the bar. Varric's is the closest thing to familiar he can find, so he's drinking whatever ale his money can buy. And he's not stopping until the money runs out or he is insensible on the floor. ]

Another. Please.

Comments

[theirinurpants]

Funny you should ask that!

[ He's sort of swaying a little at this point, drunk enough that he's stopped caring about keeping all his secrets. ]

Turns out, my father - who vanished years ago, mind you - might be alive. And I might go looking for him, sometime in the near future.

[percolates]

A little less of a bastard then, are you?

[It's a joke, though Ciri's brow creases with slight concern. Drinking your woes away solves little in the long run.]

Is it not good that you might find him?

[theirinurpants]

Oh, still definitely a bastard.

[ He waves vaguely at the bartender, as though to say a drink for the lady. ]

Never met him. I assume he knew I existed, I mean, the man who raised me until I was ten was his wife's brother, so...

[ He shrugs. If Maric knew about him, he never bothered to show up and introduce himself. ]

[percolates]

[If he's paying, she'll drink.]

Sounds like you lucked out. A man who would do that to his child wouldn't be a father worth having.

[theirinurpants]

Noooooot sure if I'd call it 'luck'. I don't think bastards are ever lucky.

[ He swirls his cup a little. ]

Especially not royal ones.

[percolates]

[One little word changes things a bit. Ciri shifts in her seat, angling herself more towards him.]

Royal?

[theirinurpants]

Royal.

[ He sighs heavily. ]

You know. Kingly. That's what my father was. The king. Then he disappeared, and my half-brother got killed, and now I'm king.

[ Alistair makes a face. ]

[percolates]

[Ciri makes a face, though it's more of utter surprise and disbelief. This man? A king?]

I thought you were a Grey Warden! You said nothing about being a king.

[And you've said nothing about being a princess, nor do you look or act like one, Ciri. Hush.]

[theirinurpants]

I'm a Grey Warden, too! I wanted to stay one.

[ He sighs again. Look, he's been having a bad time of it lately, okay? ]

People always treat me differently when they know who my father was. Especially now.

[percolates]

One is expected to treat a king differently. [But she feels him. She'd rather be a witcher than a queen or empress.] Though I do suppose finding your father now that you're on the throne would make things awkward in some regards.

[theirinurpants]

I could never live up to him. It doesn't matter what I do, or how long I rule.

[ Ugh. He polishes off his drink and orders another. ]

He booted the Orlesians out after almost a hundred years! He won a rebellion and reclaimed his rightful throne! He was, you know. The Great King Maric.

[ And Alistair never met him, not once. ]

[percolates]

[And she hasn't even touched her drink. She's far too busy watching him, an elbow resting on the bar. Poor fellow.]

Perhaps you're being a touch... [drunk] over-dramatic.

[theirinurpants]

Who knows? Half the court thinks I'm not even his son. As if I'd want to be his bastard.

...Funnily enough, I think Anora believes it.

[percolates]

And Anora is...?

[theirinurpants]

My fiancee.

[ He is not terribly happy about being engaged, either. ]

[percolates]

I see. [He sounds thrilled.] Out of necessity, I presume.

[theirinurpants]

She was married to my half-brother. Then he died, and civil war was going to break out, in the middle of a Blight. There wasn't much else to do. She was already queen. She has lots of supporters. But I'm the only Theirin left.

[ So, yeah, a political marriage. ]

[percolates]

[A political marriage, complicated father things, no mother--sounds like a fun time.]

I'm sorry to hear that. All of it.

[theirinurpants]

Yeah, well, now I'm here, and I've got enough money to drink until I forget about all of it, so hey! It's all right, really.

[ He eyes her for a moment. ]

You'll drink with me, right?

[percolates]

[A nod.]

I've nowhere better to be.

[And it'd be so much sadder if he were drinking alone.]

I can relate to your story, in some parts. I'm the heiress to a throne though I do not think I will ever claim it for my own. It's not what I want.

[But what she wants usually seems to matter little.]

[theirinurpants]

Oh.

[ That's... surprisingly helpful, actually. To learn that about her. ]

Well, good. I mean, if it's not what you want, then don't. Take it from me.

[percolates]

I want nothing more than to live my own life. As I want, as I see fit. You had no way out?

[theirinurpants]

I let myself get talked into it. I mean, they made good points! I am the last Theirin. Except for when the Orlesians invaded, all the kings and queens of Ferelden have been Theirins, all the way back to Calenhad the Great who united the country for the first time.

...but I wouldn't tell anyone else to do what I did.

[percolates]

[How did anyone think that was a good idea.]

Certainly. At least as it stands, with no kingdoms here in space, we are neither kings nor princesses.

[theirinurpants]

[ Kings and queens are hereditary, that's just the way things are, DUH! ]

Yeah, and there aren't any darkspawn to kill, either.

[ So he's drinking. ]