Blood from Stone [AU]

[Marian Hawke]

No. I'm never alright. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just not a lot to say. What would be the point?"

[Varric]

"So no. Same as most any conversation. Share your ideas and opinion," he points out. "Both of which I rather value."

[Marian Hawke]

"No you don't," she says bitterly. 

[Varric]

"Didn't say I agreed with all of them, just that I value them," Varric says blandly.

[Marian Hawke]

"If I said what I was thinking we'd go around in circles for an hour with you trying to browbeat me into agreeing. So it's better to say nothing."

[Varric]

Depends on your point of view. "Browbeat is a strong word," he protests lightly. "Though if you like, I can just lecture for an hour or four on how great you are."

[Marian Hawke]

"Please don't," she says quietly. 

[Varric]

"Just teasing you," he says gently. "Rather talk with you. About you, us, me, family... cats, lizards or dirt."

[Marian Hawke]

"I don't have anything to say," she says, pressing her face to her knees. "I don't have anything to say about anything. I just want to go home."

[Varric]

"...yeah, okay. Did a lot of talking about a lot of things," Varric says softly. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

[Marian Hawke]

"Okay," she sniffles, wiping at her eyes. "Thanks."

[Helene Dakesh]

After dinner, after dessert, Helene and Merrill spend some quality time together as step-parent and step-daughter, as they have taken to doing many evenings. Tonight, Helene is carefully braiding Merrill' hair; the girl's grown it out long, and it takes some patience and care to keep it well-maintained. 

And nobody says 'patience' like Seeker Helene-who-was-Dakesh. In fourteen languages, no less.

Tonight, however, something more weighs on the Seeker's mind than hair. "Merrill, you're much better with emotions than this one is. May this one ask a question about ethics?"

[Tethras Clan]

"Umm, okay? I've been told that I'm not very good at answering questions though," the elf warns her step-parent softly. Feeling that reproving stares of her dad, sister and Carver (he's hard to label) on her (metaphorically), she feels compels to add, "but those probably aren't opinions I should listen to. I mean, they aren't. Almost certainly. Yes. Sorry, I'm being-" She takes a deep, overdone breath. "Sorry. Twice. You had a question?"

Her hair isn't the only thing that had grown in the last two years. Merrill is still Merrill- amiable, energetic, good-natured, whimsical, thirty-four degrees off normal and awkward. But she's learned to stop and think, at least most of the time. She's learned to trust her family a great deal more than she did. She's continued her healer study, slowly shifting her focus away from typical combat and adventuring healing into more generalized, mundane fields. Unsurprisingly, this includes physical therapy and mindheaing. Her legs are still mostly nonfunctional- there are rituals to repair shattered limbs, replace missing limbs and even turn them into flippers or tentacles. But rituals that affect the mind are rare, delicate and never without great risk- and it's not her legs that are damaged but her mind's ability to move them.

Most of all, however, Merrill has been trying to figure out what she wants. She had always wanted to be loved and accepted, to have a family that cared for her. To have a home that would last for more than a season or two, a friend that was true and a maybe a pet. But she has all of that now, and more on top of it. So... what is she to dream and hope for now? She has very little idea. Save, perhaps, that she wants her family, each and every one of them- even the distant Lovan, separated by three degrees and rather busy, or the stiff and formal (and slightly scary) Cindy- to be happy and loved. Even more than they are now actually. But... but that's not entirely enough to fill a life, is it? Still, for now, she's focusing on them, on making them happy.

[Helene Dakesh]

"Many," Helene quips, with a fond smile. "As you are no doubt aware, this one has never had parents, or anything to stand in for them. This one is unsure the protocol when discussing one's parentage. This one has found potentially upsetting news related to someone's parent, and this one is unsure what to do with it. This one assumes telling the person is paramount, but how?"

[Tethras Clan]

Merrill ponders that for a moment. "Well..." She sticks her tongue between her teeth as she considers it for a moment. "Who are they? To you, I mean. And how are they. I would give big reveal news to Beth way different than I would to Lasy Huntinghawk for instance. Way less hugs and fudge. Probably not at night in bed either." She's very smart and her hands are so slim and sure but she's not much fun. Or sweet.