Blood from Stone [AU]

[Varric]

"I'd like to hear what you'd like to hear," Varric replies with a slight smirk.

[Marian Hawke]

"Anything," she whispers. "I just... please, just talk to me."

[Varric]

Alright, enough pushing on that angle. Hells, that's almost an opinion and is a request. "Alright," he repeats out loud. "I ever tell you about my first attempt at blacksmithing?" At her tiny head shake, he grins. "I was,. oh, twenty and two maybe? Just starting to shave and I figured, 'time to start doing real, honest work' and snuck into my mom's forge while she was taking her lunch..."

"...and then my dad comes in, with a full group of potential clients here to tour the forge, to see me, covered in soot and no pants, desperately trying to pry a chisel out of the back door of the forge while the damn lizard is still wailing from inside the bellows!" And that story is even like, ninety percent truth. Well, eighty-five. Eighty-ish.

[Marian Hawke]

She giggles, a blessed, joyous sound. As he spoke, she's looked less and less small and afraid, more and more herself. "No wonder you became a merchant," she teases now, shifting a little to get more comfortable in her new cross-legged position. 

[Varric]

"Gods yes. Give me numbers and people over sweat and, shudder, manual labour anyday," he says with a grin. "Poor Rill never did forgive me for that little incident. Always hissed at me whenever I got near him. Eh, always was mom's lizard more than the family's anyway."

[Marian Hawke]

"Lizards are pretty cool, though. I mean, I can't have one now that we have cats, but..."

[Varric]

"Why not? Most lizards are blase about things as long as they have heat, food, water and a place to sleep," Varric replies easily. "There are a few kinds that are big enough that your queen won't go after them but live off of bugs and such so they won't go after your cats."

[Marian Hawke]

"I've seen Whiskers kill and eat lizards before," says Marian, dubiously. "And Vigilant is larger than Whiskers."

[Varric]

"That's what you ended up naming your tom? Good name, damned cat is almost as bad as mabari about watching over 'his person.' But Rill's not like a little forest lizard, like you're probably thinking of," Varric explains, holding out his hands to show the size, roughly that of a typical cat. "No, I'm talking about a good twenty, thirty pounds. Denser than a cat due to the tough skin but about the same size. Well, the tail is about three feet long, but they mostly curl that up."

[Marian Hawke]

She blinks. "I didn't know they came that big."

[Varric]

Varric chuckles. "You go a bit south to the islands off of eastern Outlands, and you can find lizards- not dinosaurs, lizards- that are bigger than you. Heavier than you, me and both your cats combined." He shrugs a little. "Threw me a bit, realizing that lizards and dinos aren't the most common animal upside, so I looked it up one day."

[Marian Hawke]

"Is that where you're from? The islands?"

[Varric]

"Nah, Orzammar. Dwarf citadel, deep underground. Didn't see the sun until I was eighteen," Varric replies. "Just a strange quirk- big lizards are found on islands and underground. No idea why, you'd have to ask Merrill. Or Helene, obviously." He grins. "Depends on whether you want bright and rambling or detailed and academic."

[Marian Hawke]

"Wow, I can't imagine--"

Something pulls her up short; she falters, as he's seen her do from time to time, then rallies. "Well, I suppose that's the difference between dwarves and elves, anyway."

[Varric]

-not seeing the sun for that long (well dumb, well dumb). Can you use it? "Yeah, it's a strange thing to get used to," he says evenly, eyes kind. "You spend all this time with a roof over your head. Light's only something mortals make and you know the limits in every direction. Then you step out onto the surface and suddenly... Brilliance. Freedom. So much it feels like a weight on you. But you adapt, eventually. Easier with a guide, someone to talk you through it."