The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Varric]

Varric considers for a moment, debating on whether this The Right Moment. No, not yet. Not enough warning. Find out who and why first anyway. Reluctantly, he doesn't start to collect the small, innocuous things around his cell that he's painfully gathered, the ingredients for a (make-shift) dragon-breath infusion. Instead, he reclines on the padded foam stuff glued to his floor that serves as his bed. And waits.

[Helene Dakesh]

A small blue hand turns the knob, opens the door. Quickly, without making a fuss, Helene slips into his cell, eyes wide, looking him over as they pull the door shut behind them. 

"Are you well?" they whisper, urgently, in perfect Dwarven.

[Varric]

Well. Okay, not expecting that. Hells, I would have put an assassin higher on the odds. ''I... am, yes. Thank you,'' he replies in flawless samsaran. Well, mostly. His accent is more elven than samsaran, though in fairness, there is a lot of regional variance in that, given the disparity of cultures that samsaran have. ''Are you well?'' He doesn't sit up, not entirely, completely, sure he won't flinch as his abdomen bends.

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene's hands flutter, briefly, before they are stilled. "You should do as they say," she whispers bluntly, still in Dwarven, not trusting her Samsaran. "They stop hurting you if you're good. It will get worse if you're bad. Please don't make it worse."

[Varric]

''No. I can't,'' Varric says simply. ''I will not be their pet, their slave, their puppet. This is torture and I refuse to bend before I break.''

[Helene Dakesh]

"They will break you," she whispers, shuddering. "Be a good girl," she adds, in Common. "Be a good girl and do as you're told."

[Varric]

''Then I break. I break and they bleed to death on the jagged edges,'' Varric says softly, the fear in his eyes not in anyway diminishing his resolve. Instead, that fear is half the reason why he'd do it. ''They- I've heard people saying you leave and come back. Why would you come back here? To this?''

[Helene Dakesh]

"Not well," she says, in Dwarven again. "Broken. Need to be fixed. Need to be functional. Cannot serve." A deep breath. "This one cannot serve if this one is not functional. And this one must serve Alydra."

[Varric]

Tch. Spare me from the faithful. Just a way to avoid thinking, even the Seekers. ''Broken how? All the things they punished you for were bullshit reasons. Bunch of torture loving pedophiles.''

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene flinches. "This one is not a child," she whispers quickly, in Dwarven. "This one serves Alydra. This one is cursed. This one is defective. But this one complies. This one is treated. This one will be whole again."

[Varric]

''Acknowledged and my apologies for the mistake. Still. Given your appearance- no regardless of your appearance, the way he... strokes your hair every five damn minutes is sick.'' Varric can't hide the shudder of revulsion. ''Healers should not be so familiar with their patients. It's twisted and fucked up.''

[Helene Dakesh]

"It is a reward," she says dully, eyes going distant. "This one must be acclimated to touch. This one must be able to function. This one must become acclimated to hugs, to affection, to gentle touches. This one is only exempted from those interpersonal relationship skills that require an adult body." 

[Varric]

''...run that by me again?'' Fuck dragon breath, I'm making a fucking bomb. ''Because that really sounds like this place is also training whores.''

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene flinches again. "No, no! Not.. not.. nothing.. improper, only... only... "

Fumbling, losing track, grasping for words, Helene picks up something they've heard said: "We aim to produce complete, whole adults, capable of responding appropriately in any social situation. The goal is to make them indistinguishable from healthy individuals."

[Varric]

Varric stares a moment, then scoffs. ''As if any of these sick fucks would know what healthy looks like. I respond just fine, thanks.'' Studious Sage, what is wrong with this place? This is sick. Wrong. And it doesn't even make sense! You can't... give scripts to people for every situation. Actors can only memorize... what, a dozen scenes worth of reactions and dialogue at a time?