Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"Good. Beth doesn't care about me," he snaps, still pacing. "She needs a hound, not a man."

[Varric]

Wait, what the hells? Attention coming back to Carver in full, Varric stares a bit. "...alright, that's not... the read of things I got. Where are you coming from? Can you lay out your reasoning, why you... think that?"

[Carver Amell]

"She needs someone who will always protect her. Who won't leave her no matter what she says or doesn't say or how many secrets she keeps or what she-- someone who doesn't have opinions, someone who doesn't disagree with her, someone who puts her first and won't cause trouble. I, I cause trouble. I get in fights. I say the wrong thing. A dog wouldn't."

[Varric]

"Okay... so... I can support the protecting and not leaving, mostly. You should- anyone should- have limits though. Things that they can't accept, that you'll fight her on. If Bethany... decides she's going to go around killing all mothers that don't measure up to her ideal of motherhood, for instance, I'd say it's our duty as her family to sit on her. And also smack the stupid and crazy out for that matter." 

[Carver Amell]

"You're her family," he says bitterly. "I'm her dog."

[Varric]

"Except you're not," Varric says firmly. "She looks up to you, Carver. And she wants you to like her, respect her. She's trying to find her own... place, her own path, as well, which is... making things hard, I suspect. But she's hoping it'll be a path you can be okay with." He frowns slightly. And there's something, something since I got back (damn guard, gods damn Sgt. Vicky and the Bitch), that she's hiding. It has to do with Ari and Brienne... I wonder if she's... with one of them (ick)? Or both of them, hells if I can figure that shit out. "She's worried about something, that might I've figured out but... I don't want to press too hard, on either of you."

[Carver Amell]

"I walk her to and from her temple every day. If she's worried about something, she didn't tell me about it. She doesn't tell me things, anymore."

[Varric]

"Probably afraid you'll leave her, like everyone else," Varric says softly. "Marian to death, Leandra to hate and disgust, me to the guard... your father to... whatever." Follow up on that, knowing is probably better than imagining. "You're all she has left of her old life and she's terrified of losing you again. But that very fear is what's driving you both apart, I think. Maybe not all of it but..."

[Carver Amell]

"I won't leave her side. I can't." His voice is flat, and oddly familiar. He's said this before -- almost this exact thing, months prior, by the riverside.

[Varric]

"Yeah- that? That right there? It comes off either creepy or insincere. Everyone has limits. And if you don't, then you're not well. Mentally."

[Carver Amell]

"Well maybe I'm not," he snaps. "Maybe I'm stupid, maybe I was dropped as a baby and I'm just not right."

[Varric]

"You're stubborn, impulsive and emotional, yes, but you're not stupid. I'll grant you that you're not as smart as I am. Or as smart as Marian, I think. But you're not stupid. And there's nothing wrong with that, with not being on my level. I know... six people, personally, that can reliably keep up with me. I'm a genius." His tone is frank, unimpressed with the label. "You have different strengths. More faith, for one. More honesty."

[Carver Amell]

"I've never been any good at school. I've had detention nearly every week. I'm an idiot. The only things I'm good at are dog things: hunting, tracking, guarding, being loyal."

[Varric]

"You're also good with you hands. Might not be a proper carpenter but you kept your home in good repair. And so what if class learning isn't your thing. You did well when I taught you one. Maybe you just need a mentor instead of teachers."

[Carver Amell]

"Then I'm no good to Vangal." He scowls. "They stuck me in a classroom with younger kids, to get caught up, and I can't even manage that."