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Is there another way I should be remembering pulling you out of the water? You were coughing at the time as well. 'Course, more water was involved.
[Probably. He can't actually see her, but the dampness of that cough has got nothing to do with water, especially not as she's been back in the Gallows for hours now.]
[Probably. He can't actually see her, but the dampness of that cough has got nothing to do with water, especially not as she's been back in the Gallows for hours now.]
An overreaction! I was fine. I misjudged a swell at the last moment, that's all.
[ A tiny bit defensive even now, but not really serious. here are quiet background noises as she moves about her room, making tea or something, judging from the sounds. ]
What have you been up to while I was gone?
[ A tiny bit defensive even now, but not really serious. here are quiet background noises as she moves about her room, making tea or something, judging from the sounds. ]
What have you been up to while I was gone?
[What has he been doing? Nothing. Mostly. The question quiets Darras' humor a little, in as much as it ever quiets. He looks down at his hand, pressed against the table in the tavern. Lifts it so he can give his rings a compulsive turn around his fingers, each in turn. Plain gold last of all.]
Nothing thrilling.
[Keep it light.]
Errands. Little things. Kept an ear out for news. Left the other one t' be kept free for news of Tevinter.
Nothing thrilling.
[Keep it light.]
Errands. Little things. Kept an ear out for news. Left the other one t' be kept free for news of Tevinter.
Not yet. The word is encouraging on its own. I was beginning to think she was to be a Kirkwall street cat.
[He pauses, turning his rings around on his fingers again. Yseult's tone has lifted something in him, a lightness that has not yet faded. He wants to keep it.
When he speaks next, it's more measured.]
We shouldn't be doing this, I s'ppose.
[He pauses, turning his rings around on his fingers again. Yseult's tone has lifted something in him, a lightness that has not yet faded. He wants to keep it.
When he speaks next, it's more measured.]
We shouldn't be doing this, I s'ppose.
Not her. She'll be home soon, I hope.
[ She says it while he's pausing, which he continues to do thereafter. Then he speaks and it's her turn. She knows what he means, mostly. She's less sure what the right answer is, which is how they've ended up in this sort of limbo. After a moment, she asks, ]
Would it be easier if we didn't?
[ She says it while he's pausing, which he continues to do thereafter. Then he speaks and it's her turn. She knows what he means, mostly. She's less sure what the right answer is, which is how they've ended up in this sort of limbo. After a moment, she asks, ]
Would it be easier if we didn't?
Is any bit of this easy?
[No, is the answer. Darras turns his crystal around on the table, watching it catch the dim light.]
But eventually, we'll get back to it. And you'll be disappointed. And I'll leave, eventually, 'cos I'm not made for this, this isn't-- [He cuts himself off by rubbing a hand over his mouth, like he's got to gag himself.]
I don't want to argue about it. Any of it. That's all.
[No, is the answer. Darras turns his crystal around on the table, watching it catch the dim light.]
But eventually, we'll get back to it. And you'll be disappointed. And I'll leave, eventually, 'cos I'm not made for this, this isn't-- [He cuts himself off by rubbing a hand over his mouth, like he's got to gag himself.]
I don't want to argue about it. Any of it. That's all.
[ No. Yseult is silent for a long moment, half-waiting for him to say something else, brush it off and roll back to the shallow, pleasant conversation of before. It might save her having to say this, at least for a little while longer. ]
If you can't do it-- if you want to leave, I'll understand. I want you to be happy, Darras, and if you can't be here.... I don't want you to just sit here, miserable, waiting for me to change my mind. It won't happen, and you'll just come to resent me and everything we had will sour in your memory. Go be happy.
If you can't do it-- if you want to leave, I'll understand. I want you to be happy, Darras, and if you can't be here.... I don't want you to just sit here, miserable, waiting for me to change my mind. It won't happen, and you'll just come to resent me and everything we had will sour in your memory. Go be happy.
I'm not going to resent you.
[If he were stood in front of her, this might actually be more difficult. Because he would stop talking, at that; he would take her by the arms and pull her close, and let that stand for words. And maybe that's the trouble. They let a lot be said in action. Or he did, anyways, and does. For a man that loves to tell tales, he doesn't often use words. Not true ones, anyways. Not the ones that are raw.]
Couldn't. And I understand it better. I do. The way it fits together, the Inquisition and all. Only it's not mine the way it is yours. It never would have been. All the years I've been living and earning, earning everything that came to me. Where's that now?
[But where is it if the world bloody ends? He doesn't say it. Too large to say, to seem at all real. Nothing like the day to day, the in and the out of little problems that come one at a time, that make all the difference in Darras' world and in the world of so many others]
[If he were stood in front of her, this might actually be more difficult. Because he would stop talking, at that; he would take her by the arms and pull her close, and let that stand for words. And maybe that's the trouble. They let a lot be said in action. Or he did, anyways, and does. For a man that loves to tell tales, he doesn't often use words. Not true ones, anyways. Not the ones that are raw.]
Couldn't. And I understand it better. I do. The way it fits together, the Inquisition and all. Only it's not mine the way it is yours. It never would have been. All the years I've been living and earning, earning everything that came to me. Where's that now?
[But where is it if the world bloody ends? He doesn't say it. Too large to say, to seem at all real. Nothing like the day to day, the in and the out of little problems that come one at a time, that make all the difference in Darras' world and in the world of so many others]
[ It is easier this way. Harder, too, not to be able to watch him as he speaks and see all the things he isn't saying. But she has never been as good at reading him as other men, no matter how hard she tries. Maybe the trick is to stop trying, and just listen. ]
You can use all of that, here. All your skills--fighting, thieving, tale-telling, charming people out of their own skins--the Inquisition needs that. There's work here that would suit you, and if you don't like earning a wage, don't think of it that way. [ She can't help herself, already flipping back from telling him to go to trying to persuade him to want to stay. ] Do you think there won't be songs and stories about the people who stopped Corypheus and the end of the world? Earn your place in them.
[ It still wouldn't be what she wants, not really; it's still a selfish reason. But if there's any hope of bringing him around and making him see, he has to stay. Any reason to buy in is better than none. ]
You can use all of that, here. All your skills--fighting, thieving, tale-telling, charming people out of their own skins--the Inquisition needs that. There's work here that would suit you, and if you don't like earning a wage, don't think of it that way. [ She can't help herself, already flipping back from telling him to go to trying to persuade him to want to stay. ] Do you think there won't be songs and stories about the people who stopped Corypheus and the end of the world? Earn your place in them.
[ It still wouldn't be what she wants, not really; it's still a selfish reason. But if there's any hope of bringing him around and making him see, he has to stay. Any reason to buy in is better than none. ]
You could. Why not you?
[ She's pressing but not hard, no force in her tone, just the question, part rhetorical, part encouraging, mostly fantasy. ]
It sounds like a story. Dashing pirate forced into the middle of a war he thinks doesn't concern him. At first he fakes interest for his own ends but in time he finds himself drawn in and surprises everyone by becoming an unlikely hero.
[ She wishes it back once it's said, silly and sentimental in the face of very real conflicts. It's too late not to own it, but she still sounds a little defensive, self-conscious when she says ]
I'd believe it.
[ She's pressing but not hard, no force in her tone, just the question, part rhetorical, part encouraging, mostly fantasy. ]
It sounds like a story. Dashing pirate forced into the middle of a war he thinks doesn't concern him. At first he fakes interest for his own ends but in time he finds himself drawn in and surprises everyone by becoming an unlikely hero.
[ She wishes it back once it's said, silly and sentimental in the face of very real conflicts. It's too late not to own it, but she still sounds a little defensive, self-conscious when she says ]
I'd believe it.
[He doesn't quite laugh. Not because it is silly, what she's said; any time Yseult has indulged in storytelling, Darras has looked over at her with a surprised grin, pleased and proud and ready to encourage this indulgence. He's wearing the ghost of that grin now, alone in the tavern. He gives the crystal another idly spin on the tabletop.]
You'd believe it of a pirate or you'd believe it of me?
You'd believe it of a pirate or you'd believe it of me?
And then I'd let you down.
[There's half a city between them, streets and doors and walls. People. Obligations. Morality. Bigger than any cottage or cabin, nothing you can get your arms around, or close away by pulling the shutters.]
We'd do better apart. For now. Not--forever, you're-- [There's no word to follow that; Darras huffs a breath, like a dry laugh.] That's what you wanted, anyway. To do your work. What you're here to do.
[There's half a city between them, streets and doors and walls. People. Obligations. Morality. Bigger than any cottage or cabin, nothing you can get your arms around, or close away by pulling the shutters.]
We'd do better apart. For now. Not--forever, you're-- [There's no word to follow that; Darras huffs a breath, like a dry laugh.] That's what you wanted, anyway. To do your work. What you're here to do.
You're letting me down now.
[ In her work, it's an asset: the ability to flip a switch somewhere inside herself, an invaluable skill to be one thing one moment and something else entirely the next if that's what is required to survive. He pushes this moment away, rejects her faith, mistakes her demands, and just like that she shuts a door. Slams it, maybe. ]
Fine. I'll focus on my work, and you tell me when you've grown a conscience.
[ In her work, it's an asset: the ability to flip a switch somewhere inside herself, an invaluable skill to be one thing one moment and something else entirely the next if that's what is required to survive. He pushes this moment away, rejects her faith, mistakes her demands, and just like that she shuts a door. Slams it, maybe. ]
Fine. I'll focus on my work, and you tell me when you've grown a conscience.
I'm--
[What, is what he wants to say, he's doing what, how is this anything other than what they have been doing, what she said--they stay out of each other's ways, they work with the Inquisition--
It's the last bit that hits like a blow. They've been nasty to one another. It shouldn't come as a surprise, shouldn't feel like a wound. Perhaps it's the utter finality that she says it with.]
I just said, 'not forever', I said-- This is what you wanted, isn't it? You wanted me to stay out of your way so you can do-- what you want to do, you can help these people so, all right, that's what I've said I will do, and I didn't say I'm leaving or going to start--smuggling Venatori about, working counter to everything--
[What, is what he wants to say, he's doing what, how is this anything other than what they have been doing, what she said--they stay out of each other's ways, they work with the Inquisition--
It's the last bit that hits like a blow. They've been nasty to one another. It shouldn't come as a surprise, shouldn't feel like a wound. Perhaps it's the utter finality that she says it with.]
I just said, 'not forever', I said-- This is what you wanted, isn't it? You wanted me to stay out of your way so you can do-- what you want to do, you can help these people so, all right, that's what I've said I will do, and I didn't say I'm leaving or going to start--smuggling Venatori about, working counter to everything--
For fuck's sake, Darras, that isn't what I want!
[ She curses so rarely it adds an extra harshness to her tone like poison on a blade. ]
How many times do I have to explain before you hear me? I don't want you to stay out of my way and let me get on with it while you hang about moping, I want you to care. I want you to look at what is happening in the world and care that thousands of people are dying, and want to at least try to help some of them not because you think it might win me back but because it's the right fucking thing to do.
When you do that, we can talk. Not before.
[ There is, alas, no tell-tale click or satisfying clang as one hangs up a crystal, but the faint background noise of her room cuts off suddenly as she closes the line. ]
[ She curses so rarely it adds an extra harshness to her tone like poison on a blade. ]
How many times do I have to explain before you hear me? I don't want you to stay out of my way and let me get on with it while you hang about moping, I want you to care. I want you to look at what is happening in the world and care that thousands of people are dying, and want to at least try to help some of them not because you think it might win me back but because it's the right fucking thing to do.
When you do that, we can talk. Not before.
[ There is, alas, no tell-tale click or satisfying clang as one hangs up a crystal, but the faint background noise of her room cuts off suddenly as she closes the line. ]
[He doesn't much care about doing business over the crystal; he's been in the position to listen in on enough of Silver's supposedly private conversations that he can't help but be aware that anyone might be standing a person's elbow at any time.
But this is as of yet a simple matter.]
I hear you're headed North.
But this is as of yet a simple matter.]
I hear you're headed North.
[ Luckily, the Inquisition's information security is someone else's job. (Or no one else's job, most likely, but that choice is someone else's.) So while it gives her momentary pause to wonder how he knows this and whether that's wise, it's only a moment. ]
I am. Many are.
I am. Many are.
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