faderift | { OPEN }

WHO: Christine and OPEN
WHAT: Returning from the Frostbacks with gifts.
WHEN: sometime after mid-Harvestmere
WHERE: Kirkwall (Inquisition holdings like the docks and stables)
NOTES: She put out a call for people to request items so now she's arriving with them.

{ stables }
Arriving back in Kirkwall doesn't feel like coming home, but it does feel like a relief because now Christine can settle back in after days of traveling by horse and ship. Her horse, Ambrose, is carefully brought off the ship, laden with furs and full saddlebags, but he's a large draft horse with a good temper, so he bears his burdens well. Making her way straight to the stables, Christine is helped by a stablehand and together they set the furs across the wall of Ambrose's stall and the saddlebags are set down in the aisle by a bench.

After feeding and watering her horse, Christine takes a seat on this bench and puts out a few calls to those who requested items from the Avvar hold she made contact with. Then she leans back against the stall and sighs, her journey at an end. She makes quite the picture, surrounded by animal furs and bags overflowing with mead and dried herbs.

{ lowtown }
There's tension in the city now that the Inquisition has elevated rifters to positions of power within its organization, and Christine knows it's ignorance that is leading people towards fear and lashing out. Despite being glad to be done traveling for a bit, her time with the Avvar makes her wish she could be back there, where they don't fear the Fade, or spirits, or strange magic. They take everything in stride and treat everyone equally as long as they're willing to pull their weight. But here in Kirkwall, she worries for the rifters.

She walks the streets on her way back to her house, looking out for any signs of trouble. Any raised voices have her on the lookout to see if it's a rifter getting harassed, or even a native member of the Inquisition. Perhaps they've outstayed their welcome here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, no. This isn't a bad reaction, but it's certainly animated, and Christine starts to panic a little. This is too soon, isn't it? Things are too uncertain and she should have just ignored those mothering instincts of hers that kept cropping up. But it's a little too late to ask him to forget about it, isn't it?

Her shoulders slump and she takes a long drink from her cup before answering.

"Yes, all the time. I have always feared you disappearing on me." And while Christine wouldn't want to put her children through losing their father like that, if they were among the Avvar, there would be a community raising them anyway. "I fear you falling in battle. I fear you becoming infected with something that I cannot cure. I fear you tripping and falling down a mountainside. I fear a bear mauling you." She stops and lets out a self-deprecating laugh. "You know how I worry. But I think of my father, and how he was taken away too soon. Should we stop living our lives because of what might happen? I did not want to have feelings for you because I knew you could disappear at any moment. But my heart would not listen to my head and I did end up having feelings for you. And had I not acted on them, I would be living a miserable life right now without you."

"You might've found someone else." Anyone else. Someone better for her. "I just--I don't know, I never thought that far ahead. You know how I am. And you, you'd make a really good mother. A great mother. Even without me around. And...I would never want to take that away from you, if it's something you're sure you want."

"Perhaps." It's not like she can sit here and admit that's he's her soul mate or one true love. Christine thinks it's impossible for such a thing to exist. But she exhales slowly and moves to rest her head on his shoulder.

"I do want that. Someday. But for now, I want you."

"...Okay. Then...maybe someday I'll be ready for that. It's--not now. I mean obviously not now. I don't uh...I don't know how good a father I'd be anyway? I'm amazed I even make a good boyfriend. Last time I thought of proposing to someone, things happened and it probably wasn't real anyway." But uhhh Tex can probably be a conversation for some other time.

He holds firm, arm around her. "Is this enough for you? For now. I mean."

"Not now," she agrees. "It would be poor planning to have a baby during a war, no?"

At least they're able to plan, what with that wonderful plant witherstalk being available. Things would be quite different if such a thing didn't exist.

"You give yourself too little credit, you know." A hand goes up to her necklace, fingering the blue jewel lightly. "This is enough. This is perfect."

"Secure the future first, then get around to planning it." It's not a no from him, just...wow, he's not sure where to go from there is all. With kids.

At her assertion that, once again, he is good and doesn't get enough credit and, yes, she genuinely loves him, he eases up and kisses her head, breathing deep her hair. "Eh, kind of a long way from perfect, but if you wanna go around telling people that's what I am, I'm not about to stop you."

Christine lets out a soft laugh and takes a sip of her mead. She has a feeling others wouldn't really understand what he means to her. They'd think she was mad, or she must mean some other Church, surely. But, no. She just has the weirdest taste in men.

"You are my kind of perfect, which would differ from others' definitions, I am sure." She draws in a deep breath. "It is good to be back. You must tell me everything that has been happening around here."

{ OPEN }

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