Don’t care if he’s guilty, don’t care if he’s not

[wolfehawke]

Who: Adalwolfe Hawke and you
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Yes (Three Twins med bay)
When: Now


[Video]

[Some may know and some may not, but even with the little communications crisis going on right now, Adalwolfe is not on the ship he's assigned to. Currently, he's been haunting the medical bay of the Three Twins instead, which is what's vaguely in the background of the video as it winks into broadcast.]

Hey everyone, Hawke here. The male one, obviously.

[He takes an awkward breath, looking a little dark and strained around the eyes, mostly from lack of sleep.]

I know there are other things going on, and these comas are perhaps old hat to some of you especially with how frequently they've been going around right now, but is it... is it normal to age so quickly in one of these mysterious comas?

[He rolls his chair out of the way of the device he has sitting on the counter, giving a side view of Anders laying prone in one of the hospital style cots, eyes closed and Ser Pounce-a-lot the orange tabby curled on his chest with no intention of moving. Anders has grown far more gaunt than when he was up and around last week, and has more than his carefully groomed five-o-clock shadow in stubble about the chin. The beard would be worse if Adalwolfe hadn't taken the time to carefully shave his fellow mage, but he's not about to announce that on the network.]

I hope it is. Otherwise I'm worried he'll waste away like this.

[Adalwolfe rolls back into view, blocking all but the swishing of Ser Pounce's tail.]

Also, to the First Breath crew, I'm sorry I'm not there to take care of the device. I'll be back--

[A glance back at Anders and Hawke shakes his head.]

I'll be back when I'm back. Until then, help yourselves to the bread and things I have stored in the galley from the last planet as an apology. There should be enough to last weeks. Just leave enough of the frozen meat to last Ser Drools until the next planet.

[With an uncharacteristically grim expression, Hawke pauses, then decides he's said his piece until someone answers, and shuts off the feed rather abruptly.]



[Action]

After shutting off the feed, Hawke leans back in his chair, flopping his forearm over his eyes for a moment as if that will somehow block out his worry. He's not sure what he's more anxious over - the thought that Anders won't wake up by himself and he'll have to try and desperately wake him in a panic before he turns to nothing but a husk, or the thought that Anders will wake up with memories of his future, memories of Kirkwall, and Adalwolfe won't be in them. It's a distinct possibility, either way. They both remember Riona, which bodes well, but so does Leliana and yet Leliana doesn't know him at all, which puts him back to square one on what to expect.

Ser Drools whines from under the console at Hawke's feet, responding to his master's turmoil. Or responding to his own turmoil at not being able to get close to Anders' bed for the cat keeping stalwart vigil on Blondie's chest.

Hawke lowers his arm and leans down to pet his dog instead, trying to stop moping and fretting for Ser Drools' sake as much as his own. He's just resolving to do that when the door opens and Adalwolfe's attention spins to that, hand poised over his puppy to see who's come in and for what.

"If you need medical attention, I'm afraid the doctor is out just now."

Comments

[wolfehawke]

Why would they do that?

[Disguises aren't really a thing unless you're trying to sneak into somewhere you don't belong. Sometimes the good guys have to do that, in his experience, but not all the time.]

[ladybro]

To protect your loved ones. Your civilian life. Many don't like the limelight. [ kate leans back. ] I'm pretty open about who I am, back home -- but all the same I fought for the rights of others to keep their identities secret. It's a contentious topic, back home.

[wolfehawke]

Hm... maybe it would make things easier.

[The more he thinks about it, the more he wishes he'd thought of it back in Kirkwall. He and Anders could have been some sort of... masked avengers, saving mages and thwarting Templars. Maybe Anders could have even avoided the horrible fallout of what he'd done. But that feels too far. He still wishes he could have stopped Anders in the first place. if he'd only told him...

Adalwolfe sighs and reaches for another beer.]

Or maybe not.

[ladybro]

It does make it easier. For some people. And for others, I think it just muddies the waters even more. [ ... ] After all, it legitimizes lying. And while a lie isn't always the worst thing...

[ kate shrugs. the conversation might be a little too heavy for the moment. ]

Like me. I'm Kate. But I'm also Hawkeye. A few years back, it made sense to hide who I really was. And even though I don't anymore, I'm still Hawkeye. Probably half of why I don't mind you so much.

[ hawke. hawkeye. ]

[wolfehawke]

[He smirks, but that's actually touching in its way.]

Almost like cousins, right?

[He knocks the cap off the bottle and takes a swig.]

Did you come up with Hawkeye or was it a mentor thing? I know you said there's another one.

[ladybro]

Another one, yeah. Honestly? We share the name because we share a weapon. And apparently we share a bit of an attitude problem, too. [ according to captain america. ]

But I took on the name when the other Hawkeye was...retired, so to speak. But when he came back? I didn't give it up. The world is big enough for two Hawkeyes.

[wolfehawke]

You've got a power? I mean, you're an excellent shot. I saw that when we fought the giant lizard, but I don't know if that's a power so much as incredible skill.

[ladybro]

God, no. Unless you count amazing fashion sense and possessing heaps of rationality a super-power. [ kate takes another swig. ] I'm one of the less-than-common completely normal ones. No healing factor. No flight. No ability to bend reality. I can't shrink or grow on command -- but a girl I know used to be able to do that I kid you not.

[ no powers. not nearly enough training. but she loves it -- that much is obvious. ]

[wolfehawke]

Rationality is completely a super-power, and a very rare one at that.

[He smirks into his beer.]

I can't do any of those things either. I imagine shapeshifters could maybe change their size, in theory, but mostly they turn into animals. I've thought about going into shapeshifting. Turning into, say, a dragon. That would be so amazing.

[He brings himself back to the conversation.]

Sorry, uh. So you're the archer though, keeping up with that. Good on you.

[ladybro]

[ she opens her mouth, about to discuss the various virtues of being friends with a shape-shifter...but then hawke reins it back into the archery.

she smiles. ]

I can do other equally normal things, too, but -- archery's kind of the main one. I had a pretty good example to follow.

[wolfehawke]

Like laundry?

[He grins charmingly as he brings up the earlier part of their conversation.]

Though... forgive me. I assume you're talking about the other Hawkeye, right? He was the one you mentioned in our first conversation. Sounds like it's a bit rocker than that.

[A beat.]

We don't have to talk about it though, if you don't want to. Sounds a bit rocky.

[ladybro]

Nah. We can talk about it. He's -- [ kate finishes her bottle before continuing. ] He's on the First Breath, actually. Keeps to himself 'cause he's kind of an asshole like that.

I mean...he's a good guy. Despite all the weird time crap? He's a great guy. Most of the time.

[wolfehawke]

I've never even run into him. Granted I'm mostly here, these days, but before. You'd think I would have seen him if we're on the same ship.

[He shrugs though, not too terribly bothered.]

Most of the time?

[ladybro]

Blond. Tall. Kinda scruffy -- oh, and deaf. He reads lips or sometimes he signs. [ ... ] Mostly, he just has a way of disappointing you when you know he could be so much more than what he is. He's tired. He's been Hawkeye for so damn long.

[wolfehawke]

It is tiring, running around doing all kinds of daring do. Surprising that he can do that while deaf though.

[He starts setting border pieces around the edges by color. It's mostly haphazard though, he's not paying a lot of attention to the puzzle.]

Sometimes a guy gets in his own way though, you know? Life can be rocky.

[ladybro]

Back home, he's got these -- [ how does she explain it? kate taps her ears. ] Aids. Kinda like the technology in our communicators, but it amplifies sound for him. They don't work so well here in the fleet. Too much interference from other signals.

[wolfehawke]

Oh like an electric ear trumpet?

[That's a thing, right?]

I wonder if magic could cure something like that. It's possible, if it's a physical defect or injury that caused it. Though... if you do have mages on your world, that's probably been tried, right?

[ladybro]

-- Not like mage-y mages. It's hard to explain. We definitely have people who can warp reality. [ and considering how that's how clint died last time around, kate guesses hes's a little sensitive about that sorta thing. ]

[wolfehawke]

That sounds like it would be even more effective, to be honest. Just change reality to where he can hear.

[ladybro]

I guess the consequences have to be considered. What then also changes in reaction to the first change? It's all a sort of tricky existential question. Way above my pay-grade.

[wolfehawke]

Hmm... yeah, there would need to be a lot of foresight involved and I don't think the human mind could even keep up with all of the cause and effect for something huge. But I mean, as long as it didn't change the past somehow, couldn't it just be that the reality warper just goes 'and now he can hear suddenly because I said so' instead of making it so he always could? Then everything that went before would still go as it did but the future would change, which is always uncertain anyway.

[He takes a swig of his beer.]

Or... well I don't know. Somewhere like here, where some people are from the futures of others... that might be awkward. Or would it be that they would just be, say, from an alternate future then where that didn't happen? Would that still exist, or would it have been changed?

[He's silent for a second, then shrugs.]

Nevermind, you're right, way too confusing.

[ladybro]

Alternate futures are kind of a hazard where we come from. In fact, most people I even sorta-recognize who have turned up here? They're from alternate universes. Different versions. [ ... ] And sometimes reality-warpers are at the heart of that kind of trouble, and sometimes it's something else entirely.

And sometimes you just hafta learn the hard way that some changes were never meant to be made. [ ... ] Not for you. Not for your friends. Time travel falls under the same kinda proviso.

[wolfehawke]

Huh. So do you think people being brought here makes alternate timelines too? Or maybe other things. I don't know, but I do know that practically everyone from Thedas here has differences too. One of them is me, sort of. One of them's dead.

[He starts jiggling his leg, tapping his heel against the floor in some sort of nervous tic.]

Anders might not even remember me. I don't know what else. So yeah, the universe is complicated enough without bending reality and time travel, I get you.