Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"She does sound pretty great," he admits. 

[Tethras Clan]

Aveline pauses a moment. "Not sure if you remember me mentioning it before, but she's a tiefling," she warns him carefully.

[Carver Amell]

Carver looks down at his hands, then, swallowing hard. "Oh," he says, before taking a deep breath, smiling, and looking up. "Okay. That's not a problem." I won't let it be.

[Tethras Clan]

"Carver... it's alright to struggle with it. It's good that you struggle with it. It shows you're facing a problem and doing something about it," the paladin says softly, squeezing his hand slightly.

[Carver Amell]

He nods. "I'm not going to let... I missed my chance, before, to get to know Andy. I'm not going to miss another chance."

[Tethras Clan]

Aveline's hand tightens, almost painfully, around Carver's, at hearing her own mental refrain spoken aloud. "Good." She clears her throat. "Good. That's a hard thing to do and I'm proud of you for doing it."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods, his eyes brimming. "I.. I'm sorry. I know he was... you were.... and I fucked it up, and I'm sorry. But the best thing I can do is keep going forward, I think. I--"

He stops, then, hearing himself. "Oh."

[Tethras Clan]

"Funny how understanding came strike from ambush, isn't it?" Aveline observes softly.

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "I've been trying to make it up to people. But... I can't ever make it up to Andy. He's gone. All I can do is be better. Maybe... maybe I can't make this up to Merrill, but I can try to be better." He blushes a bit. "Like you said."

[Tethras Clan]

"Somethings you can't learn on the first try," Aveline says with a shrug, taking her hand back to resume eating. "That's why we have people do drills more than once. Point is, you learned."

[Carver Amell]

"Can you teach me how to talk to people? How to... how to tell Beth no without sounding like I'm saying no?"

[Tethras Clan]

"Well... I'm not exactly the most... delicate speaker or gentlest of peacemaker but I can talk to most nobles without cursing, punching or smiting so... I can try," Aveline says with a half laugh.

[Carver Amell]

"I just need her to understand I'm worried about her and I love her and I need her to not do the thing. Whatever thing she's doing. But if I say that she'll yell at me."

[Tethras Clan]

"Well, Beth has some issues of her own to work out," Aveline says carefully, "but something to avoid is 'I need you to not.' That makes it sound like you're ordering the person. Which is fine if you have the right to order them, such as me speaking to a lower-ranked guard. But with family, skip that phrase. Give the topic, ask if you can talk about it and state your concerns. That you want them to stop or at least change something is a given, you don't need to say it."

[Carver Amell]

"So... I'd say something like... can we talk about how mean you get when you're scared?"