driftfleet | 002; action;

Entry tags:

002; action;

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.

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[Even as half-assed as the joke is, Riona can't help but laugh a little. What can she say, she loves his awful humor.]

But think of the cake you'd be missing out on. [Clearly the best answer to one bad joke is another of her own.

Meanwhile, the bartender finally brings her her drink. Riona automatically asks for another one. It earns her a frown from the 'tender. She glares back, her point conveyed clearly as the bartender rolls their eyes and walks off.]

Yeah, cake. I'm sure that'll be nice, anyway.

[ Alistair leans forward on his arms a little, sighing. ]

I didn't think you were supposed to dread your own wedding.

For what it's worth, that's usually on par for most nobles. We're lucky if we get to marry someone we even like, let alone love.

[She was one of the lucky ones. Then again, she declared her own engagement, so...]

...oh piss that's not comforting at all. [TAKING A HUGE DRINK BEFORE THIS:] May I suggest you get relatively drunk during your wedding? After the ceremony, of course. And if Anora is smart she'll do the same. Both get drunk enough, you'll have enough liquid courage to get through it and maybe you won't have to remember anything.

[Liquid courage which is the only thing helping her give her not husband advice about his wedding night.]

I'm planning on it. I was way too sober the last time -

[ He thinks about Morrigan, and shudders a little. ]

The last time?

[The question stumbles out of her mouth before her brain has a chance to filter it. All the alcohol she's consumed is catching up to her.

But not so much that she doesn't realize what he means after a moment of thought. Her eyes widen when it hits her.]

...oh. You mean-

[Maefareth's balls. Are they really gonna talk about this?]

Did it happen in your world, too?

[ It's not just that it was Morrigan, of course. It's the whole idea of it that makes him feel ashamed. The one thing he'd always told himself he would never do - and he'd agreed to do it, to save himself. ]

[Out of everything that happened during the Blight, that's the one thing that haunts her the most. Even making Alistair king didn't quite compare to it. At least with the Landsmeet decision, she alleviated it by taking on the job with him. It's partly why she became queen, after all; so he wouldn't have to rule Ferelden alone. If she was going to force him to do it, she'd do it with him. They could take on the burden together.

But the ritual? That still kept her up some nights. The guilt made her sick to her stomach. In the end, it had saved her life, but at what cost? She made him - the man she loved - sleep with the person he couldn't stand, and for what? Because she was too afraid to die? Too afraid to risk losing him? Riordan's words had still been fresh in her mind at that point, and she'd been desperate to circumvent the chances. But all the reasoning and logic in the world didn't alleviate the guilt or shame. What she wouldn't have given to be able to do it herself.

It rips at her, enough that she can't even look at him as she just nods in response to his question. Her stare is aimed at the bar, her hands tightly gripping her drink. The fact that someone else in another world made the same choice doesn't make her feel better. At all.]

[ He justified it to himself - it wasn't selfish when it wasn't just yourself you were saving, right? Because Amell would've thrown herself at the archdemon and died if that was what it too, and he didn't want her to do that, either. Not to save his skin.

What a mess. And apparently Riona had asked her Alistair to do it, too. Well, some things must stay the same, regardless. ]

I don't want to talk about it.

[ He finally says that, a little slurred at this point, and puts his head down on the bar. ]

Tell me something happy?

Oh thank fuck, because I don't either.

[She lets out an enormous sigh of relief, her head thumping against the bar in rhythm with the exhale.

Her head rolls over to the side so she can look at him. At his question, her brow puckers as she thinks of an answer. A good one, damn it, because she's been terrible at cheering him up.

They need to get away from Thedas-related things, that she knew for certain.]

...have you heard of cheese fondue?

[ It's not like there's anything to say about it, anyway. Except that it happened, and it was terrible, but it was also necessary. What else is to be said? Even in his current state, he couldn't think of anything else.

But her next words catch his interest. ]

Anything with cheese in it must be good.

[You're gonna love this, man.]

It's basically liquid cheese. I went into a hotel - a big, fancy inn, really - that had food set out for its guests. They had some there. In a fountain. [She kids you not. She gestures with her hand how tall it was.] The fondue just poured down the fountain and pooled into a dish at the bottom. They had bits of bread and fruit on little sticks that you could put into the fondue and eat it.

Maker's breath, that sounds amazing and magical. Where can we get some?

[Okay, she's giggling at that. Partly because it's just like him to do that and partly because, well... it's good to see him excited about something again.]

If we could find the same hotel, I guess there. Not sure where they got it from, but it... I mean, they probably just melted the cheese, right? It can't be that hard to do.

We should ask around. I haven't had any good cheese since I got here.

Oh, should we? [She gives him a lopsided smile.] That might take us out of this bar, you know, if we pursue this search tonight.

I dunno if I can do it tonight. I'm a little... [ He waves his hand at himself with a grimace. ] Drunk. Probably.

Definitely. And so am I!

[She picks up her drink. Like it wasn't obvious she's already been drinking.]

So you're in good company. Maybe. Although perhaps I am terrible company. [Her smile falls a little at the thought.]

What? Noooooooooo. You're good company. You're nice. This is nice. Right?

Am I? You really think that?

[She grins happily.]

You're not just saying that to spare my feelings, are you?

No! You're a nice person! I see why I - the other me, the one you know - is your friend. [ He considers that a moment. ] That's still really weird to think about, though.

Yes, my friend.

[Said in a totally convincing way. Shit, she needs to lay off the alcohol before she lets something slip.]

Is it? I'm... sorry. It's a little weird for me, too, I guess. That you don't know me at all. But if you want, I'll avoid talking about Thedas things. Or at least Thedas things from, you know, my Thedas and...

[She is way too drunk to be thinking about parallel universes.]

You get what I mean, right?

I get what you mean. And it's all right, I mean I'm also a little curious, I guess. About how different things are for you. For that other me. Then again, maybe not. Am I king in your world?

[ He's not sure how to feel about other possibilities, possibilities that might've made him happier. Especially since he didn't feel like he had much of a choice. ]

[Oh no. Ooooooh no. This is a very, very dangerous line of questioning. Even drunk!Riona knows this, and there's a moment of what could be construed as panic in her expression when he asks.

She will not lie; she told herself this from the very beginning. Evade, yes. Stretch the truth even, yes. But not lie.]

Other you is, ah, king as well, yes.

[Going to drink some more out of her glass and it's totally not in an effort to help keep her expression composed or anything. Nope.]

Ah, well. There you go.

[ So maybe he really didn't have much of a choice. He has a hard time picturing himself happy with having the throne, so, all right. He doesn't see the point in asking after Anora in that case - if he's king in her world, Anora is no doubt queen. What other outcome could there be? ]

I'm sorry.

[She blurts it out before she thinks it through. Her guilt is overruling her caution.]

Anora just reminded me too much of her father and I did not think she could or should be trusted. Especially after she back stabbed us TWICE and...

[And she's ... probably said too much at this rate.]

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