[Andraste's Ass, if there was a way to make this conversation more strained and awkward, Varric couldn't think of it. The Seeker could stroll through and jam a knife straight through that book and it would still be a less tense moment than this one.

Varric drew a deep breath and fought the urge to grimace sympathetically--Maker knew this guy? Probably wouldn't notice the sympathetic part of the grimacing.

It bore a moment of thinking. If this guy had a book that dog-eared and that old, he'd read it a few times--hell, probably a few hundred times. Varric was probably the only other person who'd read Hard in Hightown quite that many times over and he couldn't really appreciate the whole escapism thing as much as, well, literally anybody else.

If this guy had read that book that much, and it helped him out, Varric wasn't about to ruin that for him.

After a beat, Varric grinned, wide and welcoming. Surprise was something he could manage, it was a believable transition from stunned silence.]

You know I don't think I've ever gotten a better compliment than that, that really means something.

[Startlingly, that was the honest truth.]

I like you, Bruce--shit, now that won't work. I'll have to come up with something better to call you from now on. Anderfels? No, too on the nose.

I can't just swing by to harass you and call you Anderfels. I can do better than that. How about--Hightown?

Could work--I was hoping Scout Harding would volunteer for that one but, you know, she's really more of a Marigold.