Tales of a Child Eternal [NSFW]

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene nods, the only motion in their body. "Understood," they say, the words coming easy from long repetition. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Helene... can you look at me?" Varric asks softly. "You need to vent, before you rupture."

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene shoots a glance at his hands, swallowing hard. "Th-this one will c-cope."

[Tethras Clan]

"But maybe you can... cope less hard?" the dwarf suggests awkwardly.

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene closes their eyes, feeling the urge to motion well up in them. He's seen you go silent. He knows. Still, they can't bear to let him see flapping, moaning. They loosen one bit of control, just a little, and let their torso rock back and forth in the chair, eyes closed so they don't have to see his reaction. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Better, better," Varric says with purposely audible relief in his voice. 

[NPCs]

Interesting- it's not ritualistic behavior, but more emotional venting via physical movement? Or perhaps venting of stress though bodily autonomy use?  Or- no, don't' speculate too much, not with just a glimpse. "Take your time, dear Seeker. We all have plenty of it after all."

[Helene Dakesh]

Better? This is better? They swallow again, cracking one eye open, then the other, when they see the relief on Varric's face as well. They don't maintain eye contact, just peeking long enough to read his face, but it helps, some, not to see disgust written there. Not to see rejection.

Slowly, over the next few minutes, they become less agitated, the rocking falling into more of a comforting habit, less tension in their limbs.

[Tethras Clan]

"Better to vent some steam, give a small rumble or two, then to have a citybreaker come along after it builds," Varric explains his reasoning, figuring they'd not entirely buy his previous reassurances. "You feel better, right?"

[Helene Dakesh]

They give a small, miserable nod. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Then it's worth doing. No-one here is bothered if you need to rock or fidget," Varric assures them. "I've run into far, far more annoying traits. This barely even registers. Hells, I have far more annoying traits. Not everyone likes the whole nickname thing for instance."

[Helene Dakesh]

"Nicknames are..."

They grope for the right word, brow wrinkling as they focus. "Accurate," they conclude, shaking their head. "This one asks questions and receives answers. This is more true of who this one is than many things this one has been called."

[Tethras Clan]

"Eh, Q&A isn't bad, but sometimes I have dubs. I used to call Zevran Flirty, to go with Isabela's Flirts. Didn't think much of either of them at first, figured they were more or less interchangeable hence the paired nicknames." Varric smiles faintly. "Know better now but..."

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene shakes their head. "Hon-- Beinn Varric is-- this one is not--" Words are hard.

They take a deep breath. "This one tries to be normal. Respectable. This one must serve, and this... this, gets in the way of serving."

[Tethras Clan]

"...I can see how going non-verbal can make passing on your prophecies harder," Varric allows. "But- and I'm still learning, so I might be wrong- the non-verbal is the worst of it. The really bad days sort of thing- citybreakers. So wouldn't doing the other stuff, the fidgeting and such, be a good thing? To bleed off the stress?"