action/video ♪ tfw no bianca

[merchantprince]

Who: Varric and open
Broadcast: Video, and open!
Action: The Huntress crew & visitors.
When: The end of March (after dragon stuff I guess?)

[action;]

[After taking a nice hot shower to wash off a month's worth of dust, Varric is back in business being his nosy self. You bet he's checking the food stores to see how much of the crap he imported is still there, as well as the cargo bay because 1. that's where his desk is and 2. he had a buttload of alcohol there last time he checked.

But really, he's just wandering around so that he can check on his crewmates. He's worried by some of the things he's reading, and he hasn't even set foot on the planet yet.]

[video;]

[Varric eventually settles at his desk and turns on the nearest comm console. Honestly, he looks like nothing's changed. At all. But there is a nervous energy in how his fingers dance along the edge of his makeshift desk, rustling some papers.]

Good evening. Did you all miss me? Don't be shy, we have all night. [Is his chest hair visible? Yes it is.]

I think I'm mostly caught up on what I missed during my exceptionally long beauty nap. [His brown eyes glimmer dangerously in the low light.] Something about peasant uprisings and dragons? Sounds like home.

Comments

[merchantprince]

[That is a pretty impressive jaw. It puts Varric's own to shame... almost. That smile remains the same no matter if that's Hawke the lady or Hawke the man, though, and in the end that's what really makes Varric give in.]

Did you bring candles and dinner, too?

[And that's followed by a sigh.]

I know you're not the Hawke I know, but... [He looks away, rubs the back of his neck.] Shit, I'm no good at this. It's been a long time since I saw you. Any version of you. Letters just aren't the same, you know?

["I MISSED YOU AND I'M HAVING A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT AND I AM BAD AT FEELINGS."]

[forcemageure]

No, but I did bring a bottle of truly horrible wine.

[ He did, too! What else are you gonna buy in a medieval tourist trap besides like .......useful things. Oh. ]

We both know it's all downhill from there.

[ After that he's a bit stymied, although there was probably a joke coming about how as a mage he can make his own moodlighting. What a great joke. He'll save it for later. Meanwhile: ]

I don't know, I rather liked the letters. I was keeping them all in my hope chest, bundled with ribbon. [ ...he'll just. ] It's good to see you in one piece, Varric.

["MY BADNESS ABSOLVES YOUR BADNESS ILU ANYWAY"]

[merchantprince]

Is it the kind that tastes like a prostitute's perfume smells? That's my favorite.

[Oh my god, he even flirts back. This is definitely Hawke. It's strange having those kinds of lines come from someone who is decided not a lady, but Varric doesn't really care. He doesn't. The soul is the same. Hawke is Hawke. This one's a little funnier than the lady he traipsed around with, but that's not a bad thing. His Hawke had a tendency to only open up like that around him, and was more diplomatic in her relations with other people, but...

Ugh, Maker. He hates this fucking contraption of a network. He wants to punch Hawke in the arm and have a drink and play a game of serpents and--

-- Varric can't help smiling at that last bit, but it hurts.]

Same to you, Hawke. [He breathes in deeply, steadying himself.] If you've got some time to kill, I've got a cozy office and a couple cases of questionably-imported alcohol on the Huntress. It's not as cozy as my suite in the Hanged Man and the food is just as unrecognizable, but it's not bad.

[forcemageure]

Only the best of the worst for my trusty dwarf.

[ Hawke pr...obably knew how to communicate with Varric sans flirting at some point? Like, the first day they met, possibly. Really though, what is that sexy story with STYLISH PICKPOCKET THWARTING if not a meetcute? Go on, argue that point. ]

I'll see if I can't clear a minute or two from this brimmingly full plate.

[ The brimmingly full plate of nothing, yes, his lopsided smile utterly self-aware and disbelievingly amused. The last time he had nothing to do was approximately never ago. Mercifully they are still docked; shuttle augment or no shuttle augment he expects to return to the Blue Fish drunk as at least eight lords, thank you. Leaping optional. ]

[merchantprince]

[Varric smiles at Hawke's never-ending wit and he feels, for a moment, like he's home. Maybe if he closes his eyes and wishes hard enough he'll be able to forget the hell that was Kirkwall on fire, people screaming outside the Chantry, the fervent cleansing and rescuing and flailing that followed. The pain of parting ways.

No. No, he's got a good imagination but he's not about to go into flat out crazy denial.

He drags an ungloved hand down his face. He's as tired as Hawke, all things considered.]

Here's my number for whenever you feel like talking about your life choices. [It's attached to this transmission.] I'll be thinking about your awful wine while I edit this manuscript. And sighing. Longingly.

For my crossbow, of course.

[forcemageure]

I'm more surprised by her absence than I am anything else in this mess, if I'm honest. I'd always thought she was more or less sewn to your body.

[ Hawke likes a little denial, considering he can almost never afford it. So for maybe the next minute he is going to pretend exactly Varric's wishes. ]

[merchantprince]

[He places a hand on his chest.]

If only. It hurts me every day, you know. Nothing can take the place of my beloved Bianca, not even a self-aiming, reloading firearm that shoots through five people at once. It's just not the same.

On the other hand, I found something I thought I'd lost from home. It's not Bianca, but...

[He holds up a familiar ring.]

Both you and this ring found a way back to me. If I didn't know better, I'd call it romantic.

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke's eyes grow wider and wider as this description grows ever more adjectivey. Adjectivey being the sophisticated literary term of course. ]

Maker's breath, what daft bastard gave you one of those? Who wants a entire planet peppered with fist-size holes?

[ Only the finest of compliments exchanged between these two. He's distracted momentarily by the appearance of the signet ring anyway, double-blink actually legitimate this time. Or at least more legitimate, since his surprise reflex has basically been broken since Act I. ]

Just wait for the third. Then you'll know it's meant to be. Where did it turn up this time? Masquerading as the eye on a cyclops? The belly of the dragon you made up last time?

[ Fun fact: this is the third. ]