faderift | We're Back! A Gallows Tale

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We're Back! A Gallows Tale

WHO: Athessa and YOU!
WHAT: Oh, you know. Getting back from the jungle and getting way too into her work.
WHEN: Now, Post-Jungle
WHERE: The Gallows & Kirkwall in general
NOTES: shrug.

I. Back on her Bullshit...or...not.

Athessa is quite possibly the best rested of the whole group that returns from the jungle, having found sleeping rough a lot easier than sleeping in a bed here. Weird. But in the few days that follow, she once again gets back to her habit of not sleeping well and prowling around in a cloud of root-smoke. She also has a small dagger strapped to her hip instead of going unarmed or strapping on her dual-wield blades, and an unusually heightened work ethic during daylight hours. Minimal antics, maximum...something else. Something like responsibility? Weird.

II. Can I Raas you a Question? (Closed to Raas, if that wasn't clear)

They don't know each other. They've never even interacted, at least as far as Athessa can recall. But where else is Athessa supposed to turn, when she doesn't know anyone else who speaks qunlat and doesn't want to snoop around unnecessarily before handing over what she found to the boss?

"'Scuse me..." She isn't timid, just a little awkward. It's not typical for her to introduce herself to someone just to ask a favor. "Do you have a minute?"

III. A New Kind of Office Visit (closed to Yseult)

Athessa knocks before entering, same as usual. But this isn't one of their scheduled check-ins or typical scout work that either of them expect from one another. They're barely settled after getting back from the jungle when Athessa is reporting to Yseult with a missive in one hand, and a qunari dagger in the other. Both are set on Yseult's desk.

"I...figured I should report this to you. I dunno if it even really matters, but I found these in De--in Sten's room."

IV. Wildcard

[ you know the drill ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bene gets a flat look. That's what you're hung up on? And she laughs at Colin's attempts to right himself, but all his tugging on her arm gets is a reactive swaying from her. It's not a refusal of the hug he wants to give, just a refusal to lay down for it because then she can't stare dazedly out the window.

"Dunno," she says. "I found a letter in his room, I guess from some other Qunari giving him orders, but...I dunno. It was weird."

Bene, still flat on his back, stares at the ceiling and listens with a look of deep concentration.

"Qunari," he remarks, as if it just occurred to him.

Colin finally manages to sit up and wrap his arms around Athessa.

"Weird because he just...left? You clearly meant a lot to him." Since he killed Devigny for her.

He did do that for her, didn't he? That's not nothing, and yet there he went, without a word.

"Sure. And because of some stuff Raas said. I had her translate the letter before I handed it over to Yseult."

Was that the right move? Should she have investigated more on her own, or kept it to herself entirely? Athessa sighs, leaning into Colin's hug, bonelessly.

"I keep trying to think about whether or not I did something wrong, or if it's really just outta the blue, ya know? First Ciara, then Derrica, now Deimos...maybe there's something wrong with me? Maybe I should just stop talking."

Still listening, Bene brings the hose to his mouth and draws from it. He doesn't know any of these names, or what they mean to anyone, so silence seems like the best tactic.

"I understand the feeling," Colin sighs, cheek against her hair. "Wait, what happened with Derrica?"

"Ahh, I just fucked it up, is all," She scrubs her hands over her face and fetches up the hose again. The smoke billows out on a heavy sigh. "Told her I loved her."

Benedict's brow furrows in his silence. That seems like a good thing to tell someone.

Colin's expression and Bene's match quite unknowingly, almost in sync.

"And she...didn't like that."

"Neither of us did! We were just having fun, ya know? And then I--" She wants to smack herself in the forehead, or drag her hands down her face, or shed this mortal coil and live the rest of her days incorporeal. But she just rolls her eyes at herself. "I realized that it wasn't just fun and casual for me anymore. So I told her how I felt and that we should probably stop seeing each other."

She doesn't offer up that Derrica said she couldn't love her back, or that having two people tell her the same thing makes her wonder if she's even lovable at all.

Qunari, thinks Benedict.

Do Qunari love?

"And she agreed with that? With not wanting to see each other anymore?"

More smoke will probably make this better, right? Athessa nods.

"She said she couldn't love me back."

They're so frightening. And powerful.

Fucking one would probably hurt, or it would be great. Maybe both?

He looks at Athessa, deliberating.

Arms wind back around Athessa, harder than before.

"I love you back," Colin tells her, then reaches out to try to drag Bene into the fray. This is friends. This is what we do for friends. We hug our sad friends.

Even when we are stoned.

That's so sweet and embarrassing, gosh. She smiles, even if it's sad, and doesn't resist any part of the hug. She does, however, take note of Benedict's peculiar expression.

"You're still thinking about Qunari, aren't you."

Jostled like a rag doll, Bene slumps over in the other direction and is idly taking another puff when Athessa addresses him.

The question surprises him, causing him to inhale at the wrong time and start coughing violently, smoke coming out his mouth and nose.

After a few seconds of that, Colin reaches out to give Bene a pound or two on the back.

"If you're that curious about it, I can describe it for you." She doesn't expect him to take her up on that offer, but whatever.

A few hacks gets things more or less back to normal, and Bene, slightly sobered by the experience, has the decency to blush.

"No, I just--" he stammers, and, after losing his train of thought once, twice, "...sorry."

Colin looks back at Athessa as if debating with his own curiosity. Since Bene turns her down, he lets it go and reaches for the gingersnaps. That's right, he was going to put them in a more central location. He does so, setting them between him and the hookah before snatching one for himself.

But Colin still got that look about him, and Athessa can't help but laugh about it. She gets herself another biscuit and leans back on the heel of her free hand, merrily munching along.

After a moment of nothing, she clicks her tongue against her teeth. "Best cock I've ever had."

She says it wistfully, but can't keep a straight face afterwards because she can only imagine the reactions such a statement will elicit.

Since Colin was leaning on him before, it seems like fair game; and it's not like Bene has any effort left in him to make. He sinks gradually until he's draped across Colin's lap, head resting on one of his folded knees like a pillow as he reaches for the bowl and takes another biscuit.

He's definitely comfortable as he chews on it, though he still looks troubled.

"Wouldn't it hurt?"

"Some people are into that," Colin says with a knowing smile as he reaches for a hose.

Athessa is definitely some people in this instance, and she nods slowly. Damn good biscuits, still.

"Probably hurts more up the ass. Less...accommodating."

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