Under Darkness [AU]

[Marian Hawke]

Tethras moves toward Zevran, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I know you. You're not like that. You're basically the total opposite of that. Don't feel bad, okay?" 

[Tethras Clan]

Zevran's gaze snaps over to Tethras, eyes a touch wild. "I... I am glad you think so," he manages. "So. About these flowers?" he says tightly.

[Marian Hawke]

She steps back again, giving him his space. "Right. These flowers all relate to Jadan," she says, and his name holds no anger or hatred at all, only a gentle, kind sound. "Anything in particular? First meeting, date nights, ah, date nights, the trip to the Underdark?" 

[Tethras Clan]

"First meeting," Wynne says before Varric can stop growling.

[Marian Hawke]

"This way," says Tethras, leading Wynne to a particular rose. It's large, well cared for, with a minimum of thorns. As Wynne touches it, she's transported back...


The bar at the Baker Playhouse, sitting there during intermission. It was a love story. Right now, [Wynne] didn't want anything to do with love stories. Not when Aveline had looked at her like that. Not just after she'd said those words. She'd snuck out partway through act 1 to get a drink, and had been nursing it until now, the intermission. 

A half-elf sat beside her, smiling warmly. She forced herself to smile, to be friendly. 'I probably saved your life,' she thought. 'I should at least pretend to care about that.'

"You look lonely," he had said, by way of introduction. "Let me buy you a drink."

"Sure," she'd replied, trying to sound less listless, more interested.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he'd asked, after flagging the barkeep and indicating another of whatever she was having. 

"Just, relationship troubles."

"Sometimes the worst kind," said Jadan, neutrally.  

"It's not that bad. She's... She's a good person. I'm the one that fucked up."

"Even worse," he said, with a sigh. "I have a box, if you want to move somewhere more private?"

"You don't want to hear my problems."

"Nonsense. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be so downcast. If I can help, even a little, I'd love to hear them." 

[Tethras Clan]

Pretty. Telling, that of everyone in the bar, he finds the sad pretty female to approach. An offer of assistance, isolating you. Subtly done, mind you, he's not- or I should say, he was not unskilled.

[Marian Hawke]

They walk to his box, carrying their drinks; it's comfortable, with a servant on hand refreshing the fruit he's had sent. He dismisses her, and she shuts the door behind her, giving them some privacy. 

"So. What's troubling you?" 

She sighs. "I screwed up, pretty badly. I'm not sure she's ever going to want to see me again."

"That's unfortunate." His voice is gentle, soft. Tears well up in her eyes. 

"Sorry, I shouldn't be-- sorry." 

He reaches up with his thumb to wipe one away. "Never apologize for your pain." 

"You must think I'm a total disaster," she admits, ruefully. 

"No," he says, his tone gentle. Compassionate. 

Wynne feels a swelling of love as the memory lets her go, almost like a lover's caress. 

[Tethras Clan]

"...he was very... skilled at that," she says after a moment. "I cannot sense auras or emotions through her memories, so it is just skill and experience in play. Still, the fact I could not detect any sign of deception or... predation."

"Some of that is that it's her perception of him," Varric points out. "Some of the stuff you'd normally pick up on might not be... recorded, so to speak, if she didn't notice it at all. If she noticed and ignored it, sure, but..."

[Marian Hawke]

"Hey, these flowers are highly accurate, thank you very much."  Tethras sounds faintly offended. "We pride ourselves on growing precise, detailed flowers around these parts." 

[Tethras Clan]

"No-one's... flowers are completely accurate. We're mortals, not divine," Varric says firmly. "We can only try to do as best we can."

[Marian Hawke]

"Sure, sure, but still, we notice details even when we don't know what they mean. You should head this way, to the Papa chamber, there's some choice early blooms where with hindsight we noticed a lot more." 

[Tethras Clan]

"I think we want to focus on one relationship at a time," Aveline says firmly. "Could you point out which flower.... which flower holds the memory of when Hawke first really opened up to him?" What was the moment you were taken from us? When did we fail you?

[Marian Hawke]

"Ah," she says, flushing faintly. "Define 'open up'? There's one over here, but it's rather, ah, intimate, if you know what I mean. Would you rather see when it was discovered that Merrill had stowed away? Or, there's a great one here, where a meal was shared and there was declaration of love on both sides," she says hurriedly. 

[Tethras Clan]

"About her problems," Aveline says stiffly. "When did she start confiding in him about deeply personal matters?"

[Marian Hawke]

"Well, there's no one moment really. A handful of smaller declarations here and there. This one's choice: I don't have Marian's skill with pulling in context or controlling where they start, but this one's right after we started lying to Papa about how we were feeling, and needed an outlet." She gestures to a bunch of wysteria. "Or this one, here, when we first realized we were in love." Another large, healthy rose.