Hazelnuts and plaid

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

Niko blinks at him blankly. "Why?"

[Varric]

"Asked and answered," Varric replies dryly instead. "How about background checks? You seem the contentious sort, can't imagine you'd be too eager to possibly hire a Tessline assassin or the like.

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

"Yah, yah, did them myself. She worshipped Mileen. A recent immigrant from Sweetwater. Not too bright, either."

[Varric]

"How sure about that are you?"

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

He shrugs a shoulder. "Sure enough to hire her. But everyone's got secrets."

[Varric]

Varric looks around, then leans back to peer out a window. "Yeah... secrets. Big ones sometimes."

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

"Not my business unless it bothers my business."

[Varric]

Varric pulls back from the window to look at Niko. Then at the store around them; dark, messy and half ransacked as Niko picks the place over for the most valuable items. He then looks back at Niko and raises an eyebrow.

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

"You think that," he says, gesturing to the window, "has something to do with Nori?"

[Varric]

"You can't think of how it might be" Varric asks, honestly curious.

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

"Nori's in prison. I don't know what that's about, but unless there's been a prison break..."

[Varric]

"Then why are you running?"

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

He looks at him like he's stupid. "At this rate there's going to be a purge. I expect rioting in the streets and I don't want someone breaking in here and stealing the goods I can't afford to lose, I don't have insurance."

[Varric]

Varric stares a moment. "What the-- I've just got back in town; the hells is happening?"

[Nikolaos "Niko" Kingfisher]

"You can't have missed the protests, just a few streets over. Some cat was caught doing something. That's always how it starts."