Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Varric]

"Humans tend to take after the people that raise then," Varric corrects Carver. "So in your case, there's a bit of bitch and wastrel, I suppose. But there's a lot more of Marian and Beth. And, uh, maybe a little dwarf."

[Carver Amell]

"I don't want to be that. I can't stand that I'm... that my blood is tainted like that."

[Varric]

"Tainted is a bit strong," Varric protests. "Try... look at it this way. By coming from them, from those... flaws, you know them. Understand them. You've faced cruelty, both selfish and careless. Learn from it. Don't obsess over the scars but never forget them. And when you have children of your own... do it differently. Be there for them, but don't try and control them. Take that bit of them that you were given and use it to judge your actions so you can be better." I'd use an analogy about taking small doses of poison to build a tolerance up, but I think that might be lost on him (in more ways than one).

[Carver Amell]

"I'm never having kids," he protests. "I'd be worried I'd fuck it up and hurt them. Beth should have kids, and I'll help protect them."

[Varric]

"Bullshit," Varric says flatly. "You'd sooner peel the skin off your own hand with your teeth than hurt a child on purpose. And like hells you'd be doing it alone anyway. Beth and I'll be around. Between the three of us- plus your spouses- we'll do just fine."

[Carver Amell]

Carver is quiet for a moment, thinking. Finally, he nods. "Okay. I... not now, but someday maybe."

[Varric]

"Well, no, not now, obviously. You're not even of age yet, you have..." Human, so... "Five, ten years before that's expected to start happening. Something like that."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "I'm almost of age," he points out.

[Varric]

"Which means aren't yet," Varric counters. "Two of you alright blitzed through your teens, give me what time I can get. Swear the two of you were still lisping and shouting about cooties just last week," he grumbles good-naturedly.

[Carver Amell]

Carver blinks. "I keep forgetting you're long-lived." Meaning all this, this whole time, has been just an eyeblink to him. Maybe it doesn't mean anything. Maybe he's going to get bored of us in a year or so and move on, just like Malcolm.

[Varric]

"Not as long as some, but yeah. I spend more time with humans and other short-lived, so I'm used to moving at the speed mostly but I'd never been around kids. Kind of a ride, seeing you both grown up so damn fast. Can't image how the hells Mal-" Varric breaks off, wincing. "Sorry. I shouldn't... Not an ex-spouse, but probably shouldn't bad-mouth him like that around you anyway."

[Carver Amell]

Carver looks down. "Are we... Malcolm didn't... are we just a temporary family to you too?"

[Varric]

"No," Varric says without even a hint of hesitation. "You're..." The dwarf pauses a moment, then winces. Never did really... "Had this talk with Beth, when she... because of her own sexuality, but I never did really explain me, did I? About how I'm asexual? I can't... sex, the idea of it, of... doing that, with anyway, sickens me. I don't look down on others, I'm aware that it's me that's abnormal, but I just... can't. So. I always figured I'd just... never have kids. Never have a legacy, never be able to pass down my knowledge, my skills, my history. That's... a hard thing for a dwarf, an Orzammar dwarf anyway. I tossed around the idea of adopting but... it seemed... I don't know. By the time I was old enough to feel ready, I was just... set in my ways. Then you and Beth found yourself arguing in my front yard and it... just happened. Like breathing."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods slowly. "What if it just... unhappens?"

[Varric]

"I don't think that... Malcolm never... Malcolm was bound to you by cheap glue. He never tried to really make the effort he'd need. He slipped up and then half-heartedly stuck around out of some lackadaisical sense of 'supposed to.' I might not have planned to start this, might not have went out looking for you, but I chose the three of you. I want to adopt you, not as wards but as my children. Marian too, if the pair of you think she'd have wanted it. I.." He coughs a little, gaze sliding to the side for the first time this conversation. "Mother- my mother- wasn't Astean. But I like to think that she'd... find her way to your sister and look after her for us. Be a bit less alone, the both of them."