And it's the stars, the stars that lie to you.

[neverheardofhim]

[This week, Varric opted to take a page from Vanille’s book. Gathering everyone together after the roller-coaster that the first trial had been proved to be somewhat cathartic for himself. He hoped that it would prove to do the same for the others.]

[He wasn’t alone, of course, having found himself blessed with the most ragtag team of chefs and party-planners. He might have had words for and thoughts on Elda and Kimbley, Mikazuki was welcome company, and he wasn’t about to turn away potential allies, even in a fight as simple as cooking dinner.]

[Once everyone’s set to a task, baking a cake, brewing tea, or stirring stew (the only task Varric could think to assign Elda to), Varric excused himself to his room. His first task was writing up cards, each personally titled and signed by Varric.]

Food in the Library. 5 p.m. Don’t spend the night alone.

[Each note was slid under a door and accompanied by a single rap on the wood.]

[With his tasks completed, Varric returned to the kitchen to put out any potential fires and, with luck, set the food out. A table in the library would be adorned with plenty of tea, cake, pancakes courtesy of Viktor, and stew thanks mostly to Varric (sorry, Elda).]

Comments

[matchbreaker]

[ Brave... ]

... What's brave about it?

[sportadork]

Not doing something that will get you what you really, really want, because you know that something is wrong.

1/3

[matchbreaker]

It wasn't for that.

[ She quickly tells herself that. Even if it might've been. ]

Who knows if Wordsmith can do it. And more importantly, if you guys found me out and I failed like Alani did... I can't leave my Ja--

[matchbreaker]

[ She chokes on the word.

James.

Her heart is suddenly in her throat. Tears are at the corners of her eyes. And... ]

[matchbreaker]

My family.

I need to get back to my family.

[sportadork]

[he's still a little cautious on the idea of physical contact-- would that be too much, too quickly-- but he can only hold back that natural urge to comfort so much. so he just. puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezes it.]

We all need to. [because hell, isn't that what's waiting for him back home, too? a home, a family.] But to do that, we need to keep making the hard choices. We need to be brave and find our own way out, not the Wordsmith's.

[he smiles] I hope I leave here with everyone. But, I'll be especially happy if I leave here with you.

[matchbreaker]

[ So many things come up in her throat in this moment. She doesn't care about other people's families. She doesn't care about them. She's watched Alani's world burn and she'll watch all of them burn. She'll kill them all.

But this man has just told her weakness is strength and that they need to make hard choices - the hard choice to Deny the conventional hard choice.

She...

Is sincerely unsure how to respond. She's frozen, her eyes wide and hurt and conflicted ]

[sportadork]

... [okay. he's probably never gonna get a better chance than this. he leans forward and embraces her, loose enough that even the slightest push could move him away.]

We'll leave here together. I promise you that.

[matchbreaker]

[ She accepts it for all of a few seconds.

And then pushes him off ]

You can't promise that.

[ She might kill someone, still. Other people will die. ]

[sportadork]

[that's a few seconds more than he thought he'd get.]

I can, and I will. And heroes never break their promises!

[he smiles at her.] You wouldn't want to make me a liar, would you?

[matchbreaker]

[ She... ]

I would.

[ She... ]

If things are better for me and my family, I will.

[ She... ]

But I'll try not to.

[sportadork]

That's all I would ever ask of you. All anybody can do is try.

[matchbreaker]

[ Ugh... she. ]

... Don't talk about any of this with people. No one needs to hear it.