Stone's Throw

[Carver Amell]

"Intelligence is what you do with your brain. Skill is what you do with your body."

[Varric]

"And teaching, training others, doesn't evolve your brain?" Varric points out with a smirk.

[Carver Amell]

"....no? I mean, maybe, but that's not like, genius. That's just hard work again."

[Varric]

"Genuis can be unlocked by hard work, just the same as being powerfully strong can be unlocked by hard work."

[Carver Amell]

"What? No, genius is when intellectual stuff comes easy, like it does for Marian."

[Varric]

"Can I point out the irony of you telling me I'm wrong about what genius means in the same breath as claiming to be stupid?"

[Carver Amell]

"I am stupid. You just make shit up to prove a point and expect because you're a genius people will assume they're wrong. I've lived with you, what, twenty years now? It took me a while to catch on but I got there."

[Varric]

"Oye! I never make 'shit' up, thank you," Varric protests. "If I lie, then I damn well come up with some pyrite at the very least."

[Carver Amell]

Carver just rolls his eyes and sips his beer. 

[Varric]

"So yeah, you've got some smarts and so does Aveline. Besides, Helene did nir big family tapestry project, remember? Do you really think ne would have marked him down as yours and Aveline's if it was inaccurate information?"

[Carver Amell]

Carver hesitates. "Well... no... not really."

[Varric]

"Right. Remember, kids are sometimes just... different than their parents. Doesn't mean anything bad." He hesitates a second, then adds, "like Bari, for instance." The sweet, swimming obsessed toddler is nothing like his blood father Bartrand. 

[Carver Amell]

Carver's face softens a little. "Bari's a good kid," he says. "But partly that's because I'm raising her. But there's no way I can teach someone to be smart."

[Varric]

"Well, good thing you're not alone, huh?" Varric smiles at his son. "You keep teaching him to be a good man, honest and strong, and I'll help him reach his mental potential. Helene too," he adds quickly, fighting the urge to glance around, to check if ne heard him almost forget that part.

[Carver Amell]

"Yeah." He pops a bit of salami into his mouth then asks, "So what's this I hear about you taking a trip?"