The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Marian Hawke]

"I would," she admits. "I'm not sorry for what I did, just what it cost." She shrugs. "I was born to be bad, I guess."

[Varric]

"Getting in trouble doesn't make you a bad person. Way too many rules that have nothing to do with morality- which is much less cut and dry than people like to admit- for that to be true. What about different ways? You seem to think the result is still worth it but have you learned of a better process?"

[Marian Hawke]

She shrugs. "Not really." 

[Varric]

"Well, maybe you should work on that. What was the problem you needed to solve?"

[Marian Hawke]

"It's not really that complicated," she says, after a minute. "I beat up some assholes, and I got caught running with gangs. When I hit someone again, that was strike three, but I'd already had my apprenticeship lined up and Master took me anyway, despite being expelled."

[Varric]

"Ah. A bit direct. Sounds like you need subtlety more than anything else. Beating people up- openly- feels great in the moment but unless you kill them, they win the war because you almost always get in more trouble than they got pain or damage."

[Marian Hawke]

She scowls. "Shoulda killed him, then. I'd have been expelled either way, might as well."

[Varric]

"Bit more than expelled, I warrant. What did he do?"

[Marian Hawke]

She hesitates. "So there was this girl..."

[Varric]

Varric nods, making a 'yep, listening with honest interest' noise in his throat. 

[Marian Hawke]

"She was just... I don't know. Good. Pure. Sweet. Kind. Gorgeous, in a delicate, slim sort of way. But she had this boyfriend and he was a nasty fuck and I just... We walked in on him talking shit about her to his friends, and she burst into tears, and I couldn't stop myself. I beat the shit out of him and he turned around and took it out on her. She wouldn't speak to me again. Last I heard they were still together."

[Varric]

"So... not the result you wanted then? Think it out... what was your goal? What did you want to happen?" He pauses, then laughs, short and harsh. "Not, mind you, that I disagree with him needing to get the shit kicked out of him."

[Marian Hawke]

"Impossible things," she sighs. "If I'd have killed him she'd not have gone back to him. He wouldn't have hurt her anymore. That was my primary goal. There was no way in hell she'd date me instead, no matter what my stupid heart said."

[Varric]

Date... Well, mark a solid tick in the LightScribe romance potential column. "Can't really speak on the dating stuff, but getting rid of him? Lot's of ways for that. Framing him is a good one. Arrange for him to get caught cheating- or make it look like he did- either academically so he gets expelled or sexually so he gets dumped. Blackmail him into breaking it off- someone with that character probably has some buried bodies somewhere. Killing is an option, sure, but a bit heavy for being even a serious asshole as a teenager."

[Marian Hawke]

"I didn't-- I didn't realize I was going to hit him until I did. And then I could either stop or not. I stopped, and I shouldn't have."