003. (text/action)

[ofkirkwall]

Who: hawke & you.
Broadcast: fleetwide text.
Action: varric's bar on the iskaulit.
When: a few hours after this exchange.

friends and crewmates
this is hawke speaking ? typing? look i have decided to drink myself into the most pleasant stupor possible but then i thought why drink alone? so i have decided to formally invite whoever is interested to come and join me at my favorite dwarfs bar floor because drinking with friends is fun

but hawke we arent friends you say?? come introduce yourself already we will become very good friends drinking friends

[ That seems to be the end of it, for a few moments at least until another message appears. ]

varric
can i borrow your bed and your blankets and you

[ If you do decide to go looking for the woman behind the broadcast you will most certainly find her at Varric's bar, draped upon the bar with a bottle already in hand. She's dressed rather casual today in little more than her dark brown breeches, boots, a loose tunic, and her arms wrapped up from the elbows down in worn bandages, dark hair a ruffled mess. A picture of a woman who has lost control of her life and burying it all deep in the bottom of the bottle she is nursing.

Come, come, drink with her, play a few games of cards, or sing terrible tavern songs! It doesn't really matter much, honestly, as long as she isn't thinking. ]

Comments

[ofkirkwall]

yes all three
nooo ive only had one maybe two

[merchantprince]

Bullshit. You know where my room is. Do you need help getting there?

[ofkirkwall]

maybe definitely
i need your company my fantastic dwarven friend

text --> action;

[merchantprince]

Of course you need me. Would I leave you out in the cold? No, because I am your trusty dwarf. Be there soon.

[He makes the trip to the bar in record time... and Maker, he wishes he'd been there from the beginning.]

What the hell happened?

[ofkirkwall]

i love you varric your the best

[ Despite it all she smiles when she sees him, single hand raising up to wave lazily. Things start looking better when Varric is around. ]

Things don't need to happen for me to enjoy a bottle... [ She trails off nose scrunching up as she turns the bottle around. ] What is this again?

[merchantprince]

you're*

[Grammar correcting is the sign of true love. Anyway, he pours her a glass of ice water without prompting and sets it beside her.]

Never mind that-- it's crap. Hawke, you're going to drink me into bankruptcy. [Not really, but he's teasing because, well, he's actually very worried. Shit keeps happening please make it stop.]

Do me a favor and drink this water, then we'll work on the hard part.

[ofkirkwall]

[ Lucky for Varric that he is one of the few people that she actually will listen too, instead of instinctively rebelling against suggestion to do anything other than further gouging on what alcohol selection her dear friend has.

So she frowns at the bottle before putting it aside, mouth curving into an obvious pout. ]

Only because you asked nicely and you're my favorite. [ Right, glass of water. Hawke takes it with both hands as though no to drop it, she very much does not want to drop it, and drinks some - a little, specifically the mount one might call two very long sips, before putting the glass back down. ]

Everything is fine Varric, perfectly fine.

[merchantprince]

You're not the only one around here who can bullshit, you know.

[He eyes her.]

Is this about you and Blondie?

[ofkirkwall]

I learned from the best.

[ She angles her head to grin at him lopsidedly, head resting in the crook of her arm. For all her skill she can't get one past him, her daring dwarf, best friend and master bullshiter.

Blondie, Anders. Wasn't the point of drinking herself stupid not to think? Why is she being made to think? This is unfair. ]

No, maybe. [ Where did that bottle go? ] At least the last time he knew who I was.

[merchantprince]

[If she got one past him she'd have no one to talk to, and that would be bad.]

He only knew who you were because he'd been hanging out with the other you. That Hawke still had to go through this shit.

[The question of whether or not she can deal with it doesn't cross his mind. He already knows.]

It sucks. I know it sucks, Hawke, but think of it as a chance to start over. You and I both know Blondie doesn't have much to be happy about when he's older. Get to know him as he is without the murderous alterego attached.

[ofkirkwall]

[ But that is the problem, isn't it? How do you get to know a person you know will break your heart in the future? How does she put aside that heartache to pretend everything is fine? How does she just be friends? It's a funny problem, hilarious even. She has never had problems making friends before, but this is different, this is... complicated.

She doesn't like complicated. ]

I want to sock him in the face, Varric. Just punch those stupid smiling teeth right in, wouldn't that be great? Think it'd make me feel better?

[merchantprince]

[He's feeling the same damn way.]

For a little while, but then you'd have to tell him that he makes some piss-poor decisions.

[He lays a hand on her shoulder.]

The last time he was here, I screwed up. I was mad at him-- obviously I had a right to be-- but it ended up making things awkward for everyone. Blondie wouldn't let me explain, and your charming male twin never knew what to say about it.

I decided that living with a constant awkwardness was worse than just dealing with Anders. Stepping on eggshells sucks. Yeah, I hate him. Yeah, I wanna punch him in his stupid scruffy face. But you know what?

At the end of the day, I still give a damn about what happens to him on some level. Is it because we were sort of friends, or because if I let him die you'd kill me? I don't know. But I do know that lying about it doesn't change how I feel.