faderift | [Open] You can take the Captain out of the Gaurd....

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[Open] You can take the Captain out of the Gaurd....

WHO: Character(s) Aveline + You!
WHAT: Aveline has been "promoted" to Emissary of Kirkwall.
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: It's a PR nightmare for Kirkwall's newest ambassador. Food shortages, cold weather, and people are turning blue.

It had been all of 48 hours since she had been told she would now be an Emissary of Kirkwall instead of Captain of the Guard. To say the news hadn’t been taken well was a understatement. She was well aware that she was probably the worst choice for this sort of thing, but the point was made that she was the only choice. It didn’t do well to inspire confidence, but, there was little left to argue about after that.

They required her to attend etiquette lessons with a pompous ass who delighted in teasing her about her un-femininity so much she ended up socking him in the jaw halfway through. But, she now knew the difference between a salad fork and a dinner fork, so she counted it as a success. She was given a frilly new uniform, which immediately refused to wear and a “compromise” was eventually reached after some heated words were exchanged. She would still wear her own armor, but she would also be swathed in a half cloak with the Kirkwall crest on it, to make her easily distinguishable.

This, of course, was before everything had gone to pot. Things were a mess before, but now things had become dire. The people of Kirkwall were desperate for food, for warmth, and especially for a glimmer of hope that things would turn around somehow. The guard were on round the clock posts to try and keep the populus calm, but they could only do so much. She would never ask her guard to do anything she would not do herself, so she had parked herself in the main entrance to lowtown, hoping to calm as many as she could. She had “requisitioned” (strong armed) two carts full of blankets, and several dozen loaves of bread to pass out to the citizens until she could approach the Inquistion for aid.

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He'd had a lot of stressful walks fantasizing about everything he would say if he ran into her again. None of that practice seemed particularly applicable today, though, because all of it had involved him traveling with other people too. He'd avoided thinking about running into her alone, especially since she'd voted for his death.

No longer Captain of the Guard is a surprise that has him blinking. Why? She'd always been diligent, and this had to be a recent development. ...Or it's possible the guard he's paying off just hadn't seen that as important.

Anders contemplates the questions, visibly looking past her as if considering still making a break for it. That would be idiocy, though, so he sighs and leans against the alley wall, petting his cat as stress relief.

"The sane wardens, the ones not under influence of Corypheus," because she saw how things went down in the guy's prison, "are with the Inquisition, working alongside it to bring him down. I'm... I'm back with them. It's complicated. I joined the Inquisition to help a little and then die, and then the Wardens decided they wanted me alive. It's official and everything, so I'm, they can't kill me, but it could be a mess, which is why I'm keeping my head down while I help. Why aren't you Captain of the Guard anymore?"

All the thoughts she had racing through her head stopped. She stood mouth agape, thinking she misheard him.

"You went to the Inquisition to die?"

That did not sound like the Anders she knew. He was a fighter. He was passionate, and once he dug his heals into something, he didn't back down. It was something she always admired about him, even though it drove her insane and often drove a wedge between them. But the man before her seemed to lack the bravado he once had, and lacked the spark, that flicker he had inside him. Had that been Justice? Had loosing him meant loosing that part of himself? Was that why he actively sought out his own death?

All of her ire dissipated. She could not scream him. Not now. She reached out to him tentatively, then pulled back. He had never sought comfort from her, and to try to do so now would likely be unwelcome. She cared for him, in her own little angry way, but she was awful at expressing that concern with words. And then the explosion happened, and she had never been so angry. Angry beyond measure. But years alone had given her time to think, to stew, to reflect. Her anger dulled, and she was left with sadness and loss. Perhaps she was not the only one.

"What has happened to you?"

He sees the change, the fade of anger, the move of her hand and he finds himself looking at her hand. It's been a long road for both of them; maybe she's not talking to him just to appease her conscience before calling the guards.

Anders takes a breath and meets her eyes. He'll try honesty. If it backfires, at least he'd given it a fair shot. "I killed something like a hundred people, and some of them innocent." For a long time his belief in it being justified and needed had sustained him, but that barrier had eroded bit by bit. Now it's Nathaniel's faith in him driving him, the faith of a growing number of friends who didn't have to shout to be heard over Justice.

"I spent so long fighting and running and hearing Justice's desire for more only increase, and I decided to try to do a little good to add to the unbalanced scales before the end because I was tired." He'd lost everyone, time and time again. His friends in the Wardens, Karl, his network, Hawke and her party, and then even the rebels had pushed him out. Anders was not made to be lonely.

"I'm..." He trails off, giving her a weighing look before continuing. "I'm better now. In a better place mentally and emotionally, if not physically." He is always going to feel negatively about Kirkwall. It took Karl from him. "I wish the Inquisition had stayed in Skyhold, but at least I can help in Darktown again."

His admission was so unexpected it could have knocked her over. She remembered how sure he was after the explosion. She remembered how their uproar fell on deaf ears, and how disconnected he seemed to those who had caught inside the explosion. It chilled her to the bone, and fanned her horror into a desperate rage.

He did seem different. Less cocky and he seemed... open in a way he had not been before. And she couldn't help but notice the irony of her situation. A mysterious illness was wrecking havoc, and the best healer she knew just happened to be about. The Maker had a sick sense of humor. She wrestled, trying to think of the right thing to do. The right thing to say. She was the Captain of the Guard, and her duty in this should have been clear. But, the change in him made her pause. She had her fill of death, of destruction. It filled every waking hour of her life, and she couldn't bring herself to lock a repentant man away when he could good outside. A thought nagged at the back of her head and she couldn't shake it. Hawke wouldn't want him caged.

She looked at him again, resolved in her approach.

"For years I-" she stumbled over herself, and had to find the words. "I couldn't help but think if I had just...listened more. Been more of a friend to you, I could have stopped it. I know your time here wasn't happy for you."

She paused, knowing she was shit with words, but this next part had to come out right. "Kirkwall's people need help, help you have already been giving. I-I need help. I will do what I can to make things easier for you while you are here. I want you to be able to come to me if you need, and I promise to listen. I may not like what you have to say, but I promise to listen, to be mindful of different solutions and work with you on those solutions. I know better than anyone how hard headed I can be. I know you never felt anything akin to friendship with me, but I hope we can help one another with a purpose that is the same."

He waited, tense and nervous. There were a thousand ways this could go, and many of them disastrous. But the words that come out aren't condemning, aren't threatening. They're the opposite and she surprises him the way Merrill had.

"We weren't friends," Anders confirms quietly, "but we... we could be. I will try to listen in return." The first time around he'd never been able to trust her. The guards had hauled runaways back to the Gallows, she'd been married formerly to a Templar, he hadn't had much in the way of faith in someone upholding the law.

"We both want to help Kirkwall. I hope to help mages on top of that still, help us to stay free, but we've the one thing in common." Anders pushes off the wall and holds out a hand, watching her. He's no longer feeling so nervous; a majority of the wariness has left his expression though he's still a little watchful. Hawke would be happy to see this, he thinks, wherever she was.

Relief flooded through her veins once he accepted, and she was even more surprised when he extended his hand out to her. A small genuine smile worked it's way out as she grasped the offered hand, and she shook it gently. It was more progress than she had hoped for honestly.

"Agreed." As happy as she was about the lessened tension between them, there were bigger things to worry about now. "Have you seen this blue illness that has been going on? Can you tell me about it?"

That went... far easier than expected, and he's very surprised when she shakes his hand. No name calling, no standing resentment, no orders about what she expected of him? Maybe the years have changed her as much as they've changed him.

Once he's got the surprise off his face, he's nodding and getting to business.

"I have. It seems limited to Rifters and Templars alone, so I don't see there being any risk to Kirkwall. But it's worrying. I've more than a few friends among the ill,and they're not responding well to magic. The opposite, in fact. Trying to heal them makes the symptoms go away for a short time before they return worse. I'm on my way back from the Clinic for a little more work in the Gallows; we've no leads on cause or cure yet."

There's a little exhaustion in his voice. He's already been working for 14 hours today, seven and seven, and this isn't his first day of very long hours. It was easier to go on and on when he was possessed.

She saw he was dead on his feet, which likely was why there was so little arguing before. To be honest she was immensely relieved he was here to help, even more so since now he wasn't possessed by a spirit. But, knowing him he was working non-stop with little thought to his own health.

"Anything you need, I will try to see that you have it. Have you eaten? Slept?"

The offer and the questions take him even further aback. They're genuine. Aveline always is, there's no subterfuge with her, and it's a little overwhelming to have her concerned about him.

"I, um." Anders shakes his head. "I've someone making sure I sleep at night. Do you remember Nate? Nathaniel? We found him in the Deep Roads, and he came and helped fight Meredith at the... end. He's, we're, he makes sure I sleep."

The other question isn't answered. Deliberately. He'd grabbed a piece of fruit this morning and then launched himself into healing and work on finding a cure, and that's absolutely not going to pass muster.

She tried to hid her surprise, but she was never very skilled at it.

"Tall, brown hair, gravelly voice, foolishly loyal. Yes, I remember Nathaniel." She sighed, and let out a ghost of a laugh. "I always thought you had more charm than sense at times, and Nathaniel seemed a dependable sort of man."

Everyone needed someone to lean on. That was painfully apparent to her now that she had no one herself.

"It is good that you have someone. But you didn't answer my question about food. So that probably means you haven't eaten anything substantial. We should fix that. Do you need anything else?"

There's a lot that she's saying, but one thing stands out above all of the rest: Aveline approves of Nathaniel. He'll have to tell his husband later, when Aveline isn't picking up on Anders' weak attempts to not answer things.

The look he gives her as he shifts his cat back to his shoulder is rather wry.

"Certainty that mages will remain free and treated like people? Corypheus dead? Warm weather? More support for my Clinic? There are a few things I could use. But a meal is at least attainable today, so lead on and I'll follow."

There's a short pause as he straightens his robes and finds more words. "And you can tell me how... how you've been?"

He's testing her, and she knows it. She gives him a huff and one of her looks, but it had less malice behind it than normal.

"Well the first three I can do shit all about at the moment. But, I'll get you support for your clinic, and if there are supplies that you need, I can send people to gather them, or see if we have anything stocked."

"As far as a meal goes, there's always the Hanged Man. The food is still just as horrible, but we could go....for old time's sake." She quirked up an eyebrow. "What should I call you anyway? I doubt calling you by your actual name is an option..."

She didn't answer the one serious question, which tells him the answer. As she's always been on the bristly side Anders decides not to follow up. They've made huge progress today, at laest.

"Not like you know my real name," he says with a little amusement. "Garrett is what I go by when people might need to address me in front of non-Inquisition members or non-Wardens."

Anders starts heading in the direction of the Hanged Man before glancing back over to her. "And to answer the next question, I don't even know it anymore. The usual works. Or you can call me Mr. Howe if you feel like being formal. That's... That is an actual name now."

No one will recognize a marriage between two men, or a mage's marriage, but they've traded the vows and that's what matters to Anders.

Her eyes flew up in surprise, but then settled as she shook her head with a chuckle and a sigh as she followed him. Always one for drama, this one. But, deep down in her cold heart lived a long dormant romantic, and she was more than a little intrigued at how the two of them came together.

"I suspect there is a lot I don't know about you... Mr. Howe, your many names included."

They had made their way to the Hanged Man by now. She paused before opening the door, chewing on what to say, worried about how it would be received. "I'm happy for the two of you. Genuinely." She hoped he would take it a face value, even though she knew it came out a little awkwardly.

She opened the door, and moved to their old band's usual table out of habit more than anything else.

He doesn't mean to stop and stare at her, but he does anyway. Happy. For him. Usually he works very hard to keep the walls up when running into someone he doesn't expect to have positive feelings in regard to him, but here she is being happy for him and he doesn't quite know what to do with that.

"I... Thank you." There's no hiding his surprise as he follows her to the old table. Anders pauses again before he takes a seat; while he's returned to the Hanged Man to lurk in the shadowy corners before, he'd not dared to sit here. It takes serious force of will to not look around nervously.

"I didn't see it coming, truth be told." He had a life. After everything he's done and been through, he now has a life. "If there's something you'd like to know I'm a little, mm, more prone to being open. And you should, you should hang out with him. He can certainly do stoic and very serious, and that's your main speed of things." He means it as a compliment, though he's not sure it sounds like one after it's spoken.

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[Open] You can take the Captain out of the Gaurd....

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