Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"I'm not sure. He talks a lot, but I don't think he's quite... I'm not sure if he doesn't mean it or if he means it but in the worst way or what, but he just doesn't sound like a real person sometimes."

[Varric]

"You've got pretty good instincts, enough that I'll take a harder look at him," Varric decides. "What's this about stealing then?"

[Carver Amell]

"With the Bandannas." He shrugs. "Ever since I got in a couple scraps I maybe didn't talk so much about, after that one time I killed someone. Oh, and she found out I know where to hide a body, so that's not helping."

[Varric]

"I can see how that'd bother her a bit, yes," Varric says dryly. "But what I'm hearing is that it's not that stealing that bothers her so much as the danger it puts you in" He frowns, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Why does that sound familiar? Like I've just heard something real similar to that idea just recently... hmm..."

[Carver Amell]

He flinches. "It's different. I don't--" 

He looks down at his hands. ".... I say that a lot, don't I?"

[Varric]

"Yeah. You... starting to think it's a family trait. Clearly skips generations, but it's all three of you the same way. Value everyone else more than yourself, like you were comparing tin to gold."

[Carver Amell]

"Beth doesn't," he says quietly. "Beth understands she's important, she's just more worried about being free than being safe."

[Varric]

"...more than you or Marian did, maybe, but not as much as she should. That's part of it, I think. Of why she's willing to do whatever she needs to in order to help at Shiny Cat. But yeah, she... Girl can't abide any sort of limit she doesn't agree with. Guess that's not uncommon really, but her threshold is a lot lower than most."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "And I can't stand to think of her being hurt."

[Varric]

"She could do with learning to take care of herself better," Varric agrees. "But you also need to learn to step back some. At least work on how you try to protect her."

[Carver Amell]

"Do you think she should be whoring?"

[Varric]

Varric holds up a hand, asking for time to think. "I think... I think I'd prefer she not. I think that she's only doing it because she thinks she has to in order to help. If she... wanted to do it, for its own sake, because that's her calling," he can't help the shudder of revulsion at the idea, "then it'd be another story. But it's no. So no. Doesn't seem like it helps more than it hurts."

[Carver Amell]

"Whores go missing all the time," he says quietly. "I know you're running the place now so it's safer, but, she was doing it before then, and-- and maybe she's not going to get some disease but maybe she will, or drugs, or just get hurt by a client like Brienne did. The Bandannas are great guys but we're not very strong, not really."

[Varric]

So glad I can resist just about every kind of Truthing there is. "Yeah, her getting involved back then was pretty stupid," Varric agrees. "The disease part I wouldn't be all that worried about, that can be fixed without issue. But streetwalking is very dangerous. And even if she was never attacked or worse, it wears on a person."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "The world already has one Brianne. It needs a Beth too, not two of her."