Sundermount Shenanigans?

[avisionofhawke]

Things were going just fine right up until the revenant showed up.

Hawke had just been minding her own business, looking for reagents with Anders, Fenris and Sebastian (and wondering what had possessed her to bring that particular trio on this trip). It had been going quite well, she thought. They had found lots of elfroot, at least.

And then the revenant happened, and Hawke had pulled a rookie move. She had leapt without surreptitiously testing the ground she was going to land on first. The last she'd seen of her companions was their horrified expressions as she fell through that thrice-blighted hole.

Needless to say, she wasn't pleased with where she'd ended up.

Ten minutes out of that cavern and she already had no clue where she actually was, other than that she was still on Sundermount. She couldn't even find the cavern entrance again.

Damn it.

Damn it to the Void.

Comments

good gracious, hawke

[cattymage]

"You must be Ferelden," he snarks, Maker's breath drink the fucking water Anders your fucking throat. "Like a big puppy, all this licking." Slow wink. "Not that I mind."


And finally, Anders drinks some fucking water, and passes the cup back to Hawke, doing that briefly-heavier-breathing-after-glugging-a-lot-of-water thing.

She's SO Fereldan

[avisionofhawke]

"I'll have you know my warhound is bigger than I am," she teased, accepting the cup and draining it.

the fereldiest

[cattymage]

"Nope, no, not taking that one, too easy."

He turns away as he says that, taking in the horizon and -- exactly how much mountain they have left to get down. Damn.

"You know, while I was going up the mountain? I didn't realize how much mountain this really is."

[avisionofhawke]

"Aw, but I left it open just for you."

She sighed in mock disappointment and collapsed the cup before tucking it away.

"Well, it's been the same amount of mountain for Maker knows how long. It just seems like more because there's nothing chasing us right now."

Well, it was true. When being chased, one covered much more ground without noticing...

[cattymage]

"Wasn't being chased! Not in an active, within a hundred yards of your heels chased, anyway. I took a nice, leisurely stroll up, at the pace of a stubborn, lazy, three-legged mule. I think having somewhere to get could be worsening it, too."

[avisionofhawke]

Hawke offered a hand, smiling.

"Then let's take a leisurely stroll back down, shall we?"

[cattymage]

He sees her hand, blinks at it, and in that moment, in countenance, seems terribly reminiscent of a conversation she'd seen him have with her Mabari, once--

"I-I really don't like all this... open... slobbery... affection."

He shakes his head slowly with a small snort, and mutters to himself, _{"Giant puppy,"} before reluctantly taking the proffered hand.

[avisionofhawke]

"What do you expect from a Fereldan?"

Such a teasing tone. She started to stroll down the path, trying to look on the bright side of things. She wasn't alone on the mountain, after all.

She wasn't in immediate danger.

She wasn't dead.

She supposed she should be grateful for all that, but her thoughts kept returning to her Anders and how he was holding up. He was probably worried out of his skull...

[cattymage]

On the one _(heh) hand, linking hands meant Aisling couldn't leave him in the dust again. On the other, she was much shorter than him. He was in danger of tripping if he stayed with the walking-along-behind-her pose they'd initially assumed.

Linking arms would be much more economical. But he... wasn't sure if he wanted to?

He felt a droll amusement at that thought - at his own absurdity. A vivid, enthralling, gorgeous woman, who he'd quite literally made it _{(and out)} with, in both the recent past and -- future. Hah.

Intimacy based on sheer physicality, that was fine. But gestures that were just outright affectionate and nothing more? It felt..

Like cheating? whispered a far little corner of his mind.

No, none of that mess, stomp out that thought. Absence made the heart grow fonder, that was the saying; he was sure the cuddling and secrets and spending years with the man didn't do him any favors, either. They'd never had exclusivity, so why should he even think of it, concerning this?

It would be unfair. It was going to be unfair of him, Anders admitted to himself, going to these dramatics for a goodbye. This escape was as good as a farewell tour, the climb up Sundermount had given him enough time to painfully accept that, except then Aisling happened and it all got strange.

Fine, then, fuck it. He shoved his discomfort and selfish boyish mooning aside, and shifted so that they were walking side by side, arms linked such that his hand could come to rest in a loose curl around Aisling's forearm. Aisling in the gentleman's pose.

It was less uncomfortable than he'd anticipated. It was more comfortable than he'd dreaded. Damned enthralling girlfriends from the future.

[avisionofhawke]

Well, there was a change. He was actually the one to make an affectionate gesture this time. Hawke felt slightly comforted by that; it was more like something her Anders would do.

Wandering down the path was relatively nice, she thought. Here and there, she would pause for only a moment to listen for trouble, but she heard nothing and so she would continue.

What in the name of the Maker was actually going on, though? Was Justice gone? Had he ever been there? Why was this man with the face and voice and body and so many of the same tendencies as her lover here, and what did it mean for the Anders she knew?

Would she ever see him again...?

No, stop. Look on the bright side. That cloud. Think about the cloud.

"Does that cloud look like a rabbit to you?"

[cattymage]

He follows where she points, squints, then hmm's.

"Ears are too curly. But the back legs do look right."

[avisionofhawke]

"What does it look most like to you?" she said in the hope that they could strike up another conversation and she could drag her mind away from the thoughts that kept circling unwantedly.

[cattymage]

"If you think of the ears as horns instead... a goat!"

He points to a different cloud with his staff.

"How about that one?"

[avisionofhawke]

Oh, thank the Maker.

"Hmm... A Qunari with a headache?"

This was a good distraction. A very nice one. Hawke's easy smile found its way back onto her face as she contemplated the fluffy shapes above them.

[cattymage]

"...Thinking about it, then I'll back what I said about the goat. I think it's a whole bloody unit of Qunari up there, from how most of them are shaped."

[avisionofhawke]

"That one looks like a mabari about to bite one in the ass," Aisling chuckled.

[cattymage]

"No, no, look, that thing's clearly got a tail. Mabari don't have tails for nothing. I think it's a panther."

[avisionofhawke]

"No, not that one, that one," she giggled. "On the other side of the one that looks like the Arishok."

A pause, then glittering lyrium eyes turned toward him.

"Cats and dogs can work together sometimes, you know."

[cattymage]

Sorry, he's distracted. "You've met an Arishok? So, I missed the rest of the Blight, did I miss a Qunari invasion, too? That would be important information."

[avisionofhawke]

"Oh, only a few hundred who wrecked their ship and have been waiting on another one for the past three years. No big deal," she smirked.

"The Arishok asked for me by name recently just because I made an impression when I took out a bunch of Tal-Vashoth a few years ago. You were with me then, too, and it's a good thing - otherwise we wouldn't be talking now. Those spears of theirs hurt like mad, you know."

[cattymage]

_{"No big deal,"} he echoes sarcastically, under his breath. "Andraste's knickerweasels."

[avisionofhawke]

Hawke smirked and nudged him lightly. "They have a code of honor that binds them, odd as it sounds. A strange code, but I don't think they're an immediate threat. Besides, I think the Arishok doesn't hate me."

That in and of itself was a feat, she knew.

[cattymage]

"Forgive me if I'm not too interested in any codes of the Qun. I have a terrible fixation on possessing my faculties of speech." He shrugs, in a hapless 'what can you do?' kind of way. "Odd as it sounds."

Will he ask? Will he? *eager*

[avisionofhawke]

"I know. I killed an Arvaraad personally for trying to infringe upon that," Hawke sighed, sadness tinging her voice and her smile. "I was trying to get a Saarebas that Sister Petrice called Ketojan out of Kirkwall. Turns out, she had set us up from the beginning so we'd all be killed, but she underestimated us. The Arvaraad tried to get us to hand Saarebas over, and naturally I tried to convince him mages aren't a danger. But having figured out that you're a mage, he ordered his unit to neutralize the threat.
"He ordered Saarebas to attack, but Saarebas refused. Everyone else had their go at the Karashok and Ashaad, but I made sure I drove a dagger in Arvaraad's heart myself..."

Near the end, pain leaked into her voice to join the sadness and she fell silent again.

[cattymage]

"I have a feeling this story doesn't end with daisies and rainbows," he said in a mild tone.