all this time.

[ofkirkwall]

Who: hawke & open!
Broadcast: text, fleetwide.
Action: iskaulit, málum specifically.
When: a few hours after this conversation.



so i have a question
is anyone here good with plants??? im running low on elfroot and i was wonder if anyone can
grow it or cultivate it or something i need a lot of it a constant source
also uh
lyrium need that too but it isnt something you can grow
if atroma could be so nice to give me some?? pretty please
not actually sure if you can ask them for stuff or how to
balls

im at the malum if anyone wants me


[ Indeed if anyone does go looking for Marian Hawke or happens to wander into the Malum in the next few hours they will find the Champion of Kirkwall there, tucked away in the most isolated corner she can manage nursing a drink. It might be her fifth at this point, not that it matters she has an amazing tolerance. She is leaning on the table lazily, idly thumbing through her communicator as her mabari, fondly named Dog, sits protectively by her feet.

She looks miserable, or bored, it's a little tough to tell. But what a better time to bother her, right? ]

Comments

[bryces_pup]

Yep, that's the visit I almost got to do. I thought it better if Alistair stayed home and I handled her, especially in case things really caught more on fire while up there, but everyone felt that Alistair's "gentler" touch was called for in dealing with Meredith. [Eye roll. She'd been miffed about that one. So much for being the diplomat of the duo.]

[ofkirkwall]

[ She laughs, shaking her head. ]

When it came to Meredith you could have hit her over the head with the flat edge of a sword and it still wouldn't have changed anything. She was insane.

[bryces_pup]

So I hear. But I really, really wanted a shot at hitting her. [She pouts as she takes another drink from her tumbler.] They don't let me have any fun.

[ofkirkwall]

Trust me, you really didn't.

[ Taking another swing Hawke scrunches her nose up as though she smelt something foul. It's been years but sometimes the memories of Meredith's screaming form enters her head. Pulsing red lyrium coursing across her now statue form.

Ugh. Gives her the shivers just thinking about it. ]

Be thankful you never had to deal with her, it was a nightmare even before she tried to kill me.

[bryces_pup]

I do feel bad for the mages and the people under her thumb in that city.
You as well. That really couldn't have been fun, dealing with her as a mage. [It felt awful being able to do almost nothing about it. Just letting the mages who escaped come to Ferelden, and even that was fraught with risk, as Alistair found out.] Eugh. Good riddance to her.

[ofkirkwall]

It was hilarious actually. She didn't find out I was a mage until after she tilted me, by then there was nothing she could do. Couldn't just off the savoir of the city.

[ Hawke can't help but snort at all, throwing back as much drink as she can. ]

You know, that was the worst kept secret in Kirkwall for ten years. I didn't even try to hide it.

[bryces_pup]

Worst kept secret in Kirkwall and yet she didn't manage to catch on? Maker's breath, what a dunce. [Sometimes she honestly wonders at the competence of Templars. The ones at Kinloch Hold couldn't get their Circle under control, but she managed to with just a ragtag bunch of people.] I suppose that's a pretty spectacular way to say 'fuck you' to the Templars: get titled and then drop that little tidbit.

[ofkirkwall]

Oh, it was! The best sort to, their expressions when they realized it was perfect!

[bryces_pup]

Did their skirts get all bunched up? Lots of angry glares behind those ridiculous helmets of theirs?

[ofkirkwall]

[ Hawke makes a hideous snorting sound as she laughs, banging her hand against the wood. ]

Yes! They did, it was─ Maker's breath, it was wonderful.

[bryces_pup]

[Good. She's laughing. Doesn't fix things, but at least it's something.]

It's moments like those where I wish we had these communicators back home. Capture it all for posterity.

[ofkirkwall]

Right? If I could have taken a picture of their dumb faces I would have.

[ But at least she has the image ingrained on her memory right? For the moment. ]

[bryces_pup]

[Alas. But it does remind Riona of something she's been curious about.]

Do you plan on returning to Kirkwall, someday? Granted that the Inquisition manages to do what they claim they're going to do?

[ofkirkwall]

I suppose. [ She shrugs and glances off to the side. ] The estate is still there unlike Lothering.

[bryces_pup]

[Hearing the town name summons an old, buried guilt. Memories of the townspeople trying to come to grips with the impending horde, desperate and afraid, resurface, a little fuzzy with age.]

You're... from Lothering?

[ofkirkwall]

I was.

[ There is little more to say about it than that, yet she continues anyway. ]

We lived there for a long time before the Blight, tucked away in a corner the Templars didn't pay much attention to.

[bryces_pup]

[It's an old flare of guilt, but it resurfaces all the same. They hadn't been able to rebuild; the ground had been too corrupted for anyone to live there. It would be decades, at best, before anyone could think of returning there. They'd even built a monument to in her honor when they tried. Undeserved, as far as she's concerned.]

...I'm sorry.

[ofkirkwall]

[ Hawke doesn't even need to ask to know what she is apologizing for, ten years later the memory of the approaching horde still feels fresh in her mind. She shakes her head, lips curled into a gentle smile. ]

Don't. You didn't cause the Blight, did you? No. Lothering was just unlucky to be in it's path, nothing could be done to save it from destruction. But a lot of people got out and survived, so don't feel guilty about what happened.

[bryces_pup]

[Wow Marian Hawke is using reason on her and it's successful. What a time to be alive.]

I'm glad a lot were able to escape. But it might have been prevented, if it weren't for a certain someone making a certain retreat. [FUCK YOU LOGHAIN.]

[ofkirkwall]

Yeah well, he was an ass and had nothing to do with you so don't feel guilty about it.

[ It was a miracle that her family managed to make it out at all, that Carver was able to get back to them before the Blight reached Lothering. She shakes her head and drinks. ]