Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Bethany]

"Wine is awesome," Bethany agrees, refiling Marian's glass along with her own. "Have some dinner though," she adds, her maternal side kicking in. After they eat- and sip- a bit more, she gives Marian a look. "...no Drake tonight?" she asks carefully.

[Marian Hawke]

"I was going to, but you were missing," she says bluntly. Like hell Mother would have gone after her. I'm glad she isn't-- "Why are you drinking?" 

[Bethany]

Because I was... oh. Despite the accusation in Marian's tone, Bethany smiles softly, eyes warm and grateful. "Thank you," she murmurs. "For caring about me."

[Marian Hawke]

"Of course," she says, her own tone softening. "You're my sister." A pause. "Who is drinking! Why are we drinking? What's going on?"

[Bethany]

"Right, sorry. I wasn't trying to- it just helped, knowing that someone cares about me at least," Bethany says, tone going bitter. "And... why not? Why not drink?" she clarifies.

[Marian Hawke]

"It's illegal, and it's stolen," she says, scowling. 

[Bethany]

"It is not! Stolen, I mean. Varric's told me plenty of times I can help myself to whatever I like for meals, just to stay out of his workshop without him," Bethany fires back, looking very offended. Granted, I've never been interested in his booze before but he would have said they were off limits if they were, right? Right.

[Marian Hawke]

Marian's scowl softens. "Well, it's still illegal," she slurs. How come he's never said I could drink his booze? Well, of course he probably likes Bethany better than me. Good thing she's not interested in men. Can you imagine how much it would hurt to see him go out with Bethany instead?

...Yeah. I can imagine it pretty well. Ow.

She shakes her head, getting to her feet. "If he said anything, we should get out the good stuff. You always want to eat what the chef makes himself, right?" 

[Bethany]

"...I am always the chef," Bethany points out slowly, trying to figure out how Marian got from 'too young and blah blah blah' to 'let's get out the hard stuff' with nothing in between. As she watches Marian walk to the booze pantry, she finds herself staring at her blankly. I never noticed she had a nice butt. Not as nice as Summer's butt but- butt but. Butt butt. Woooh. My head feels floaty. "And so what about illegal? We're in private. Don't see you riding Carver about doing... stuff with Summer and that out in the field," she mutters darkly.

[Marian Hawke]

"What? What field? What are you talking about?" He's going to get her pregnant. Great. 

She browses the bottles, firmly resolving to deal with that. Tomorrow. When she's not busy. Cheering up Bethany. Which is totally what she's doing and not showing her up. 

"Let's see. If you want to get properly knackered, you want whiskey. Tastes good, and it's strong, whatever that means. Eat your dough balls, that's important for safety reasons. With whiskey you want the aged stuff. The older the better. It smooths out the taste, like, like a stew. You don't want just raw ingredients in water." She nods, trying to sound certain. "So, but, he'll notice if I take the oldest one, so I'm going to get us some of the, this one here," she reasons, picking a bottle. "These little glasses are for shots. They're little, like the bullets in a slingshot. So they're called shots. That's what you do with whiskey. You don't do glasses, those are for wine. Obviously." 

[Bethany]

Do... do we want to be properly... "Is knackered what you do to horses and cows to make glue?" Bethany asks, brow furrowing. She starts fighting with the other bottle of wine as she ponders this strange bit of word reuse. "And also tired. I don't want to be tired, I want to be upset and have a lot of fun. Because I can do adult stuff too, just as much as stupid Summer and her really nice butt." Wait, did I mean to say that out loud? Whoops. I should say something else, to distract her. "Your butt is nice too. I mean. Like... you're much better than her. Because you're Marian. And you came to find me." There. Perfect. Stupid wine bottle cork thingie.

[Marian Hawke]

Marian snorts as she pours two shots, recorking the bottle. She carries them over, placing one in front of Bethany. "Nobody will ever notice my ass. Butt. Don't swear." 

[Bethany]

"Thank you," Bethany says, beaming at Marian for scolding herself. "I noticed it," she adds after another sip of her wine. She studies the shot suspiciously. "You're much sexier than me. All... strong and striking and... and you. No-one ever notices boring, mousy Bethany unless they need some chores done." Wow, that came out super bitter. Umm. I should say something to smooth that over. Play it off. She sips her wine.

[Marian Hawke]

Marian laughs bitterly. "You're joking. Every guy in this whole damn TOWN notices you. You're all human and curvy and soft and I'm, I'm like a boy I'm so straight and flat and dull. I'm starting to wonder if Drake is gay." 

[Bethany]

"You mean fat and dull," Bethany fires back. "You have long legs and your eyes are so vivid and alive and your hair is beautiful and your lips and your legs and-" She shakes her head, pressing a hand to her temple as her vision swims for a second. "You're very desirable," she mutters.

Water. I should get some water to settle my stomach. Too much fried dough, that's the problem. She rises to her feet, wavers a moment, then remember she brought out a pitcher of water already. Just need to finish my wine first, then I'll have an empty glass, she muses, quickly following through on the plan. I'm brilliant.