faderift | ( closed ) with my fists in the air, if my body's alive

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( closed ) with my fists in the air, if my body's alive

WHO: Sarah Manning & Alexandra Karahalios
WHAT: disasters
WHEN: once Sarah's back from her mission
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES:

Sarah,

( she starts, before immediately falling into a long pause, chewing her lip and just looking at Sarah. Alex has a bag in her hand, and rubs her jaw with the knuckles of her other hand. )

What— what the— what the flipping Christ did you do?

( Her cheeks inflate, and slowly she exhales, before taking a step closer. )

Fucksticks. Are you feeling okay?

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( A sway from the push, and then back, grinning stupidly. ) Oh, trust. Lips are sealed. Your secret is safe with me.

( But, hmm. Alex taps her jaw, thoughtful. )

Though, you did say I wasn't trustworthy. Real hurtful. ( Look, look at her face, it's very devastated - if by "very devastated" you mean "not even remotely devastated at all." No, if anything she looks like she's having a great time. It's a relief, really, just having a stupid laugh with someone about normal shit. )

That's true. I did.

[ Sarah gives her a kind of thoughtful smile, then adds, ] It's not that I don't trust you, just that I don't really trust anyone. If that makes sense.

[ It's been nice, hanging out with Alex, shooting the shit about normal things, laughing over dumb stuff. It reminds her a bit of how she used to be, before Beth and the train. She'd had friends back then, too. Maybe not the best friends, but they were there. Now her world is very insular, and it sucks, but she can't change it. ]

I'd say it makes sense before we fell into Wonderland: Medieval Hell edition.

( A little shrug. ) Doesn't really give a lot of reasons to inspire trust. But, I mean—

( Her she smiles a little bit, the smile self aware and a little self deprecating, as well. )

I think sometimes not trusting anyone can get lonely. And, I mean, shit's weird enough without feeling like no one's got your back as well, y'know?

( Another shrug, hapless. ) I'm not saying trust everyone, I mean, I don't like most people, but— I'll try to have your back. I might be shit at it, but I'll try. ( Her tone turns a little silly-conspiratorial: ) Gotta protect the marshmallow, hey?

[ Sarah sighs, and scratches the side of her neck, more of an absent gesture to stall for time than anything else. It's true, the stuff Alex is saying—you have to trust some people—but there's "my ex cheated on me" trust issues and then there's "I'm patented" trust issues. ]

Thanks. I—yeah. It's complicated.

What? My shitty motivational speech didn't immediately resolve all your concerns with the world?

( A gently nudge, bumping their shoulders together. )

If you want to talk about the complicated shit, I'm around. If you don't, I promise I won't get weird and shitty at you. Just, you know, I think there's decent people around and finding some of them that you're a little comfortable with might make shit a little less shitty, sometimes.

( She rolls her eyes at herself. ) But don't trust anyone who tries to give you this weird dwarven ale. It's fuckin' rank.

[ She laughs, shakes her head. ]

Ugh, why the fuck are we even talking about this? Forget it, yeah? [ There's a beat, and then, ] Who the hell's giving you dwarven ale?

'Cause underneath my roguishly handsome and rugged exterior, I too am an emotional marshmallow.

( Thats why, Sarah. But, yes, moving on: ) I can't even remember. Some dickhead down at The Hanged Man.

What rugged exterior? And you shouldn't accept drinks from dickheads.

I'm so rugged!

( A flex, dramatic. ) Look at all this, look at my rugged jawline. I'm stunning.

( That said, she nods. ) Yeah, when I've had a few I don't really make sensible decisions.

[ Sarah scoffs, but she does reach out and press a finger to Alex's flexing arm. ]

Yeah, check out those guns.

[ As for the drinking, she can't really comment, because... well. It's not like she makes the best decisions when she's drunk, either. ]

I know. I'm a beast.

( But she drops her arm and rubs her jaw, a bit sheepish. )

You work out a lot?

[ Is she humoring her or genuinely asking, the Sarah Manning story ]

I do, actually.

( and, leaning into the absurdity of the situation, briefly hitches up the front of her shirt. The abs, the tattoos (and just ignore the bits scarring, thanks) a briefly flashed before the shirt falls back down. )

So buff.

No gyms here. What, are you lifting hay bales?

[ Sarah does glance down when Alex lifts her shirt, and raises her eyebrows in what could either be appreciation or confusion. Take your pick, Alex. ]

Nice tats. [ She doesn't comment on the scars. ]

Anything. Anyone. Hay bales, some horses, you know. Doing pull ups off the ramparts.

( She huffs out a laugh, self mocking. )

Lift me, then.

[ She's half joking but half not. Alex is even shorter than she is and pretty skinny, aside from being totally full of shit. ]

You don't think I could?

( She sits up, eyebrow quirked. )

No chance in hell.

'Scuse you.

( Alex pushes up out of the bench, a weirdly fluid movement, and looks down at Sarah. Gotta watch out for the ankle, make sure it's alright, but t shouldn't be an issue.

She bends down, hooks one arm under Sarah's knees, and the other behind her back, and hoists her up in a bridal carry. She's small, but she's surprisingly muscular, and begins to dramatically stomp around, a la King Kong. )

[ Oh okay well

Sarah is laughing but also sort of smacking Alex's arm to get her to put her down. ]

Oi. Oi! Oi, fuck off!

( One dramatic Godzilla-King Kong-"what the fuck monster sound is that" roar, and Alex laughs, cooperatively starting to move back to the bench. )

What's that? Is that the sound of Marshmallow eating her words I hear?

( Annnd carefully trying to put her down, to avoid wounding her ankle some more. )

I swear to Christ, shut up.

[ She's still laughing, and she attempts to struggle out of Alex's grip before Alex can actually put her down. She's not a toddler for shit's sake. Unfortunately that does have the added effect of landing hard on her ass on the bench and absorbing some the blow in her legs. It's extremely painful, and for a couple seconds it feels like she actually might have blacked out. ]

Oh shit, no, careful—

( Nope, there she goes. Sarah whomps down onto the bench, and Alex winces, immediately glancing to Sarah to see if she's okay even though she is probably in a horrifying amount of pain. )

Holy shit, are you okay?

[ You know that kind of pain where you can't actually suck a breath into your lungs to respond to the person asking if you're okay, so you just sort of lie there like a statue in agony for a minute??? ]

( It's okay. Alex dips into her leather messenger bag, a battered looking thing that's a bit ratty and probably third hand, and rummages through it to pull out a potion. Something for the pain, to a degree, something for the healing, and she gently takes Sarah's hand. )

If you need to squeeze out the pain, go for it. ( With her teeth, she pulls the stopper off the bottle. ) This'll help with the pain. Just, when you can, slow breaths. Okay?

( And, also: ) I am so sorry.

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