Who: Hawke and Anders What: Arrival plus finding their way around Where: Sadler complex and around When: A little after their arrival Rating: Language, mentions of events in Dragon age 2, some mentions of violence (talked about, not committed) Status: Complete G-Doc Notes/Warnings: They're both so grossly adorable. also, super long. Sorry :|
This...was most certainly neither Weisshaupt, nor really anything she recognized thedas to be like. So yes maybe it wasn’t the best idea to come out swinging, but in her defense she’d just been done with clearing out the Warden’s mess. She’d been keyed up, violence and the lingering images of blood magic making her more prone to defense than anything. Suddenly being thrown into a different thing? Waking up and being told she wasn’t even home anymore? It hadn’t been the best thing.
Sword gone, they’d made her listen. Explained everything. She’d had no choice to listen. They’d given her a device she couldn’t make heads nor tails of and once assured she wasn’t going to break more let her go. She went unwillingly and it showed. She always had issue with hiding her feelings.
She cracked her knuckles as they looked over her sword before handing it back. Just to show she could she slung it over one shoulder with a grin before turning at a bark. She blinked, then once more. That had her put the sword down and she dropped to her knee’s folding her arms around the dog. “Hey baby,” she gave quietly before ruffling his fur and drawing back to kiss his nose. “I missed you. But, you’re supposed to be home. Guarding Beth.” A softer woof and she frowned, “we’ll figure it out. Maker but it’s good to have a familiar face.” She set one more kiss on the dog’s head before she rose, before being told there was someone to see her. She frowned and idly scratched Dane’s head “Who?”
---
Anders had been, well okay shocked, to find Dane wandering around - how the hell that dog had gotten away… actually, okay so he wasn’t really surprised about that. Dane was smarter than most people he knew. As much as he was a cat person, Anders had a real affinity for that dog - even if only because of Hawke.
Hawke.
If Dane was here, he was pretty sure that Marian had to be around somewhere - he only had to hope that she’d taken things peacefully and with grace and he knew that was absolutely not in the cards and so while he aimlessly followed Dane around in all of the confusion of people bumping into each other in the halls and all of the - well there was an overwhelming amount of technology, just overwhelming. Anyway, he wasn’t surprised when Dane happened to lead him to a room that seemed very…shouty. That was definitely her.
He gave Dane a little nudge with his leg - coaxing the hound to stay back until it seemed to get much quieter for a few moments. Hawke may have been one that was easy to rile, but she was also smart enough to know when to pull it back in until she was in private and then let it all out some more. Either way, he was just glad she was here - it’d been… well, it’d been too long and he’d meant to meet up with her in Weisshaupt but just sort of hadn’t made it quite there yet. Better late than never, at least. Once the hound was off and away and getting precisely the attention he wanted Anders slipped around the doorway - leaning against the wall just inside of it. “You know, love, its a little early to already be ruffling everyone’s feathers.” He said, a glimmer of a smirk on his otherwise probably tired looking features.
--- If she was surprised to see Dane, who she’d left with Beth with clear instructions to sit on her sister in case the whole Calling that Wasn’t became too much, you could probably knock her over when she saw Anders. Who she’d had to leave behind because she’d dragged him in the face of Corypheus once and wasn’t going to do that again. Who, if she was honest, she hadn’t thought to see again during that whole trip into the Fade business.
She had enough of a mind, somehow, to set her sword down before walking over to him and going to pull him into a hug.. Generally, she held onto her own self of having to be ‘Hawke’ but right now...well she was owed a little bit of being herself and right now she couldn’t care. This was Anders, and with everything else. She held on, and she held on tight.
She only drew back when Dane nudged her leg, ever gently, and went to set her hands on Ander’s cheeks. “You bloody better be real.” She watched and stroked his skin with her fingers. And while with many she’d put up walls, he’d always had a habit of getting under them. They could talk about this whole ‘so things got worse’ later. For now she just smiled. “You alright?” She’d probably break down a fair few walls if not. Wouldn’t be the first time. ---
He couldn’t do much more than watch her at the moment. The last year had been… it had been long. It had really been for the best that he’d been off, alone. But that didn’t stop him from worrying about her being right back in the thick of things - he just knew she’d be better off without him showing up and that was confirmed even more when he finally got whispers of what happened to the Wardens. Thank the Maker Stroud had had the sense to see the madness, too many Wardens didn’t have the sense in them. That’s why he would have never gone back - no sense to so much. No sense to follow with the madness that always came with The Calling, that came with fighting darkspawn. You had to be bloody crazy to want to willingly go into it - not that he hadn’t made much, much worse decisions over the years that made being a renegade Warden basically look like child’s play.
The hug was more than enough to pull him out of the thought, however, the thought that could wait until later. That hug was much more important, partly because it soothed him in a way nothing else could, partly because it’d been too long. Managing a gentle kiss to the side of her head before she pulled back, he arched an eyebrow, “Figure I’m okay.” He answer, it was mostly true - at least if only because things were… quieter here, and quieter was something Anders could definitely be thankful for.
Letting one hand fall to rest on her hip, he looked over her shoulder at the room they now stood in. Looked much the same as the one where they gave him a talking to - he may have left a little bit out of his… what did they call it, arrival interview or what have you. You don’t exactly go around telling strangers in what was apparently another dimension all together that you have a Spirit trapped in your body that might go a bit fucking crazy time to time. That was if… Justice could even survive in a world where there was no Fade - Anders actually had no idea and of course, Justice wouldn’t just show his head now. He’d wait until it was thoroughly fucking out of place and then decide to flaunt. His attention snapped right back to Hawke, however, before chuckling down at Dane. “Don’t insult the hound with thinking I might be a ghost now.” He joked, a little sparkle in his eyes as he looked back to Marian.
---
The joking, the ease of it all made her smile. She’d missed him more than she could say. When everything had fractured, he’d been by her side. Having to leave him behind, although she was grateful for it considering the entire mess she’d found herself in, had been hard. She knew him well enough to know his attention was all over the place but that wasn’t something she could blame him for. “You go into the Fade once, everything gets a bit wonky. But you’re real. Both of you.” She patted Dane, but as much as she could bitch about Justice, and she had a list, she figured that if anything he would keep Anders safe.
Although their opinions on ‘safe’ kind of differed. It was part of the list. She stole a kiss and then smiled. She could talk later. Privately. About everything. She still held on, making sure before smoothing out the feathers. “Still with the coat.” It was honestly the best thing she had because anything else would just make everything come out and well. Not here. Her armor was up, and that meant not letting anyone near. Safety first, talk later. “Right, come on we’re leaving. They said there’s somewhere to go.” Some would call her a bit cold, a bit prickly. But Kirkwall had taught her never to let too much show, and she didn’t trust anyone here. Everything smelled too clean.
Once she finally let go of Anders she picked up her sword and set it over her shoulder. IT was casual, a show of strength. And also a bit of ‘anything between me and a door is going to regret it’. She gave Dane a nod and he settled closer to Anders. Another casual thing, but now there were two between him and anything else. He might not need it, but she’d defended all her life. Habits were hard to break. ---
Anders chuckled openly, it felt nice to have her so close, felt nice to hear her joking. Everything back in Thedas seemed hellbent on staying as much of a mess as all the bastards running around could make it so to hear her joke? That was a damn miracle in and of itself. Clearly they had a lot to talk about, but this was Marian Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall, steadfast defender of everyone within a 10 kilometer radius, stone cold fox until you got her to warm up a bit - sometimes that took ale, sometimes that just took them being alone. Right now, he wasn’t going to question anything - he’d leave the worrying to her. He’d done enough questioning alone in the woods for a fucking lifetime and he wasn’t going to let that pop up yet. The laugh that echo’d from his lips warmed him in a way that almost felt like a nice, hot bath - something he hadn’t really felt in awhile. Something he always trusted her to be able to do and it made him grin, stupidly grin, grin to the point there was definitely no hiding it and he wouldn’t have wanted to.
“Who knows, it might even be fashionable here.” Jokes about that shit bird mantle that Cullen wore like a pretentious asshole were kept to himself, at least for now. His coat was magical, it was different and he’d be damned before he was parted with it. “Lead the way, love.” He said, his tone softer - even through his grin - as he let his hand slip away from her and fell somewhere in line between her and Dane. More than used to, and very much over any insinuation he couldn’t protect himself. He knew it made Hawke feel better, he knew it was what came naturally to her.
He mustered up a little lean and quick scratch behind Dane’s ear. “How d’ya think they keep everything so damn clean here.” He sort of half-mumbled in a way too common for Anders when he might be letting it known that he was, perhaps, maybe a little overwhelmed.
---
She'd gotten him to smile, and laugh. That was a point in her favor. Anders was always so serious, so tired. Even before everything she'd at least ensured he smiled once in a while, and then once they'd come together she'd made it her mission to have him smile even more. The laugh was even better. It was good to hear. Justice hadn't been a total ass then. She just tilted her head at the comment about the feathers, "Maker be good, if I find nothing but feathers here.” an old joke, because honestly how many pairs of socks had she found, how many stray feathers just laying in boxes for no good reason? Kirkwall had been weird enough with just that.
“You know. It’s on a list of questions.” She wasn’t at all comfortable here. She’d had the estate, and the few people who kept it from too much dust but this was...eerie. Almost cold. And she’d been too worried to ask more then the more pertinent questions. She’d ask later. She straightened, her hand resting on the hilt of her blade just a bit tighter before following the guides. No one stopped them, which was good, and she’d be the first to be grateful for the guide. Her sense of direction had been poor, before being thrown in this new place.
She didn’t talk much during the walk, focused on everything and keyed up for any surprises. It felt like Kirkwall, having to be on her guard so. If a blood mage or bandit fell from the sky, it wouldn’t surprise her. She only let out a breath once she opened a door and stepped inside. But even then she was tense, making a quick round before setting the sword down. Within reach and close to hand. She gave Dane a whistle and nodded to the door. “Guard.” It didn’t ease her tension much, but it helped. She’d felt this way before, back when she’d gotten out of indentured servitude and saw a city full of Templars looming over her sister. Now she had a place she had no idea about. And didn’t know what might come hurt her or Anders. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked around again. “Safe as any place I think.” --
Anders definitely wasn’t going to be the one to press conversation when he could feel the stress radiating off of her, he was good about that - even if it was for twofold reason, firstly because when anything was going on he either defaulted right back to utter silence or it was nothing but grumbles about Andraste’s knicker weasels or grumbles about mages ill treatment and okay maybe a fair bit of fuck Sebastian that stupid twitwad. There wasn’t much of a middle ground with Anders, he tended to either be comfortable or annoyed enough to talk - or he just wasn’t. But he’d grown comfortable enough, at least around her and okay maybe the Warden and some of the others in their more close circle, that he could read when his silence was appreciated now. The walk from the building they’d been… awoken? Unfrozen? Unlocked? However the hell you wanted to talk about it, didn’t really matter to him, anyway the walk from there to the complex (which was… with its glass sides and lofty promenade and the park next to it… well, it was a lot to take in to be sure) probably would have been more overwhelming and probably made him a fair bit skittish if they hadn’t had someone showing them right to their living quarters.
He was glad they were letting them stay together, he didn’t really trust himself enough to be alone here. Not that he was about to say that outloud. But things were still too unpredictable and with no fix in sight, especially if they weren’t back in Thedas (the only place Anders could conceive there might have been a fix beyond death - though she’d already flatly denied that the one time and he didn’t really want it any more, but he still wasn’t sure he saw any other solution - he just knew better than to ever, ever bring that up again). So it was a relief to walk into the, well, the apartment was way too sterile as well. Too clean.
“Bloody…” He mumbled, trailing off as he walked past Dane, “What is it with these people and white walls. Have they run out of coloured paint in this era?” He forced himself to smirk over towards Hawke - closing a little distance between them. “Something this fancy’s gotta be safe, no one spends money like this and doesn’t have security.” Not that he had any damn clue what security would look like in this place… (CCTV and card keys and all that were, of course, a bit out of his ability to reference) but he knew damn well no one spent this sort of crazy money and didn’t lock their shit down. Rich people didn’t do that.
---
"'S like Kirwall's estates. Too fancy, too polished." Which was more or less the crux of her stress. And that she couldn’t make heads or tails of this. She’d been leaving Weisshaupt just...well yesterday or whatever went for time here and now she had been awoken in this strange place with it’s devices she couldn’t understand and been told that going home wasn’t an option. And when home had been a person, two with Beth, things were all sorts of messed up. Which was another concern. Beth. “I’m just…” she ran both her hands through her hair and paced. It was a bit of a habit when she couldn’t go anywhere to just pace. The moments before the showdown with the Templars in the Gallows she’d paced, convinced they were all going to die and she’d signed them up for that. She pretended it let her think, but in truth it just let her run off energy. Back then, it hadn’t helped because Orsino had gone off the deep end, and then there’d been Meredith going fucking bonkers too, but now it did. Her energy had nowhere to go. And she could think.
Right now it was grab Anders, get out, find safety. But it was enough. She slowed, then stopped and gave a sigh. “Fuck.” Then she closed the distance to hug Anders again. If anything he was a calm spot. Her refuge and sanctuary. He helped her steady herself and knowing he was here, knowing he was okay. Well. Her nerves were still on edge, and everything was all fucked up. But he was here. And it helped.
She kept quiet for a long time, and usually her quiet meant either she was too emotional to talk or needed to think before she finally let out a breath. “‘M gonna fall out of that thing, just so you’re aware.” Who made beds float even? Given that despite the fact that she was quick on her feet and a lot more agile than people thought for someone who hauled around a piece of metal larger than herself getting used to the fact the bed was off the ground would take getting used to. She drew back then and watched him for a moment before going to kiss him. It had really been too long. --
Anders could have just listened to Hawke ramble about the cleanliness, about how posh it all was, about anything for… hours. It felt like it’d been an age since he’d heard her voice and with how much he relied on her? It was just too long. Watching her pace like that was just as good, however, because it was familiar and familiar was grounding to him. Familiar is what gave him a glimmer that this just might work out okay. Might work out in favour of them not getting blown to fucking bits by some apostates gone mad under the stress of the Chantry - admittedly that whole problem was at least his fault, but he still stood firmly behind his decision and he was going to have to ask her if the whispers that the Circles were dead was true… he wasn’t exactly too keen on scoping out Divine Victoria’s whole schtick - he wasn’t sure if he trusted Cassandra to truly allow mages the freedom they deserved and he, well, he wasn’t sure he was up for another loud boom. Actually, he damn well knew he wasn’t. It was too much weight. And he’d already made his point.
That was far and away from the here and now though, and Anders had a feeling that Hawke might need a little grounding to the… well… here and now. Particularly the here part. The here that was not Kirkwall, was not the Free Marches, was not Fereldan, wasn’t Thedas. Was some place called Earth, a city called New York. It was beyond unfamiliar, it was alien. Not that he liked that word - it reminded him too much of alienages and that made him uncomfortable.
What didn’t make him feel uncomfortable was the slow move of her arms back around him, the smile settled onto his features again. He took in a deep breath, just the smell of her near was nice. He hadn’t distracted himself nearly as well as he could have off in the woods and really, the stupid smitten man was all too preoccupied with the fact that she was just here, magically here in front of her. He hadn’t had to go traipsing off to the Anderfels. He hadn’t had to go on an adventure just to find her amongst the rubble that Corypheus had left again. She was simply here. “Floating beds, still somehow a step up from Darktown.” He said jokingly, a hand moving to her face as he more than happily received the kiss.
---
If anything, the kiss settled her, let her just be and just...forget for a little bit. There wasn’t anything beyond that, and Anders. She’d spend three of their first years wanting to do that and then the rest of the time making up for when he tried to keep her away. Having to let go again, and have a bit of ‘I might not come home’ during the whole Fade trip made it so she definitely made sure to enjoy this. To have this again. It allowed her to shed a bit of armor, mold more into Marian then Hawke. Above all other things, Anders let her be Marian. Even before they’d gotten together, when she was still trying to convince him he’d let her be that.
It was a big reason why she’d fallen so hard for him. No one else really saw more than Hawke. Not even Varric, who saw everything else.
She wasn’t sure how long she kissed him and didn’t care. It had been ages and while a part of her was a bit keen on getting the blasted coat off him and see what that bed was all about there was the more responsible part of her that knew they needed to talk.
Still, letting go was hard, but she did. She smiled and said “hey,” very gently. She didn’t release him though. He was her anchor, and she very much took comfort out of it. “Figure all this out tomorrow. You okay? Is Justice...okay for whatever passes for him?” She wasn’t keen on the spirit, but he was part of Anders and thus fell into her circle of ‘to look out for’. It made her feel better to know it probably disgruntled the spirit to know he was being fussed about.
“Oh. Right. So, good news I went into the Fade physically and got out without causing another Blight. Bad news, spiders. Won’t recommend it. And why is it green?” It eased her to talk about the one thing that sat heaviest, because everything else was par the course, but physically being in the Fade was not part of her daily routine and it had rattled. “The Maker needs a bloody new decorator.” --
There wasn’t a chance on any world that Anders was going to be the one to break that kiss, and he’d be a liar if he said his mind hadn’t wandered to where her’s did either. Maybe with a slight bit of disappointment that they both knew better, for now. But there was a lot to talk about, a lot to get through. Things that would need to be in the air before either of them could hope to even have the mirage of settling - though anywhere she was, Anders could settle. He wasn’t entirely sure how well Hawke would settle, especially with the uncertainty about home, the uncertainty about what was going on there, what them being here meant. She was a protector and so that sort of thing was a lot more difficult for her, Anders, on the other hand just cared - definitely way too damn much - and so he sort of funneled her stress into his own brand of it. It was just a different sort of beast. She’d be paranoid, he’d fret. That was just how it went - though he could always be counted on to be the overdramatic one when it came down to it, even though he swore he was getting better at that. Swore to it. Because running off and being a bloody hermit out of fear of The Calling was obviously getting better at dramatics. It was, it absolutely was, because it meant the dramatics were private - see, better.
He held back a sigh when she pulled back, he’d known the more direct question was coming and he’d sort of braced himself for it. The pull at the back of his mind - he could feel Justice’s confusion, he could feel… “He doesn’t know what to make of things. Completed separated from the Fade like this its, I don’t know. I think he feels disjointed?” Anders didn’t dig too far into the feelings, too far always made him feel like Justice might actually just push forward - and he wanted this moment, this was his fucking moment damn it. But he wasn’t actually that worried about Justice right now, the Spirit may have been an asshole - but it wasn’t a stupid asshole. It had motives and right now, he seemed as fucking clueless as the rest of them.
“So… all the rumours and everything, true?” He said, eyeing her face - not that he thought she’d lie to him or anything, it was more so just because he wanted to look at her, continue just taking in that she was there. “Corypheus. Rift closing Dalish. Dragons.” He cleared his throat, “I wager a lot of dragons.”
-- She knew bringing up Justice was...never a good point but he was there and she’d long learned to make the best of it. But she also wouldn’t push. Holding Justice back, here, when she wasn’t sure where he’d go? She’d let the sleeping dog lie. “Well tell him his most favorite person says hi.” Justice and her were...well she wouldn’t call them friends. But they had an agreement. She hoped. Plus when Anders ahd said Justice called her a ‘distraction’ she’d gone for being the most distracting person she could be.
Served the spirit right, for everything.
She sighed, “apparently not so dead as first assumed the gigantic Tevinter dick that he is.” And that still burned. Her fault. Her blood had woken the asshole, in all essence let him out. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were dead and the fault could be traced to her. “I didn’t get near the dragons, let the Inquisitor manage those but yeah. Rifts. Fade.” She shook her head. “If I read about it I’d call it bullshit. And it’s worse too. Because when is it never not. Blood magic. Again.” One of these days she was going to walk into a situation and it wouldn’t be blood magic.
She wouldn’t be sure what to do.
“Glad I send you away. Stroud was right, all of the Wardens hearing the Calling? Turned out to be a demon behind that. Corypheus had found himself a bunch of other Tevinter assholes, they had the mage Wardens kill their non mage compatriots, and use it to summon a demon. Bound them all to Corypheus, of course” Her fingers plucked at his feathers, a distraction if nothing else.
“They thought they could defeat the Blight. Just, all of it. And they got scared.” she let her emotions show because this was Anders. He was safe. “‘S my fault. I set him loose. All of it, everything. Adamant. The Inquisitor. The Wardens. Weisshaupt. If I hadn’t been stupid none of it would have happened.” which was why, in the end, she’d volunteered to stay behind. Her doing, her fault. It was a regret she knew she’d carry to her death. --
He almost chuckled, but it came out as more of a sort of lazy, amused huff than anything else. It was hard for him to actually chuckle about Justice, even if all things considered he had still landed on the better side of the possibilities with the Spirit - the results still hadn’t been… good, and it definitely helped him share an understanding of what blame and guilt and all that came with it felt like that resonated from Hawke as she talked about what had gone down in Orlais and Fereldan. What Hawke had gone to deal with and of course Stroud had been right. About the only damn Warden left with sense. Anders had known something was wrong, he’d just hoped it hadn’t been what he thought, what the paranoid little nagging in the back of his mind said it felt like. Unfortunately it had been exactly that.
But as unfortunate as it was for a man who knew he’d never actually escape being a Warden (unless Fiona managed to grow some balls and actually tell people how the hell she rid herself of it, he admired her for starting her own rebellion - but there was a lot else he didn’t admire Fiona for, even if it was out of jealousy), he knew it weighed even more on the woman he loved because of the way she perceived it having been her fault. “Well, at least it wasn’t Varric writing about it - then I might not have even believed that you actually made it there.” It was a lighthearted remark, Anders was like that, always the bright side of things. “Would of had a hell of a time coming back and finding me in those woods though.” At least he was pretty sure he was in the woods, actually, a lot of the tie Hawke was gone was more of a blur than he’d ever tell her. He’d survived it, he’d not gone off the deep end, he didn’t need to be offed… yet. And here without the Fade or darkspawn things were quieter so there was… he didn’t need to worry her with that. She’d dealt with enough.
“So the Vints turned out to be assholes again, real shocker there.” He smirked softly as he reached up and pushed his hand into her hair so he could cradle the side of her head gently, “Stop.” He said softly when she was almost finished putting all that blame on herself. He didn’t force her or shut her down entirely, but once she had clearly stopped speaking he repeated himself, “Stop, Marian.” He said, no less soft than before. “As if those Carta bastards were ever going to give you a choice in that.” The way he said it, even if cutting to the Carta, was with a kindness that came naturally to Anders. “You’d have been running your whole life just to get away from those bastards and now? Now, instead we know that magister asshole is dead.” He looked her face over slowly, considering if he should even say more or not… “There is not a damn thing Thedas can do to save itself except to keep fighting and if it hadn’t been you it would have been Carver or Beth - they would have found one of you. The Wardens were always going to go some stupid place anyway - there was never going to permanently be a Wardens. Too many assholes. Too many self righteous assholes who think they can fix it all.” He cleared his throat and pulled her in tightly against his chest with his other arm, “Can’t be at fault if the agency wasn’t your’s, love.” Once there were even whispers of Corypheus he’d expected this conversation, he’d been prepared for the amount of guilt she’d throw on herself, it just didn’t mean he was going to just let her do it.
--
Whenever he called her ‘Marian’ it just stopped a lot. It stopped her too. Which is why she’d told him. Her name, the one her father had given her, had not been something she’d used in a long time. Ever since Lothering, she figured. Before, maybe. People had called her ‘Hawke’ more than anything so it had become a piece of armor. A shield. But after the first time she’d just said her name. She’d wanted him to have it then. It had become more or less a way to pull her out of her thoughts.
She wasn’t sure she could put into words the gratefulness for it.
So she let him hold her into the embrace and let herself relax. The tension just drained away, and she inhaled his scent and listened to him. Really listened. She’d picked up the whole Corypheus thing for Beth. Knowing her sister might be haunted by the choice of their father wasn’t something she’d let happen. Not on her watch. If that meant giving some ass old Tevinter the way out? She’d still do it again. And she’d tackle the Wardens again for Anders. They were her last pieces of family and she’d burn the world in fire if it was necessary to keep them safe.
She couldn’t put it into words how much she loved him for making her stop. She’d run into walls in helping the Inquisition. Her whole bit in the Fade proved it. “I love you, you know that.” she gave after a while. “I stopped. Everything’s just so Maker damned messed up.” She took a breath, put some pieces back together. She still held onto him because she hadn’t been able to in some time. “I’d find you you know. Stuck with me,” which she meant. She needed him.
“Glad you’re here. All of it, easier with you.” Kirkwall might have taken everything else but she still had him. She had a lot more strength with him walking with her. “Trust me, I wished I had Fenris’ little trick plenty of times.” She’d been tempted to write to him. She was sure he’d get one hell of a kick out of tearing one of the first Tevinters and his cronies to pieces. There just hadn’t been time. “Just next time they need someone I’m out. I helped save the world. I’m taking time off.” She’d never be one where a life of idleness would sit too well but she could certainly do with a lot less of it. And despite everything, she knew she wasn’t getting younger. Hauling around a big sword was great, but also probably not so great. She wondered what it would be like to actually not need to think of the ‘what if’. She wondered if she even could. “Alright. You.” she looked up at him “What’s your take on all of this? You said there’s no Fade, what about darkspawn? What about all the rest of it for that matter?” --
Well that little trick still worked apparently, and Anders was glad for it. It was nice to have something between them that was sort of just for them - like the way he said her name - something that seemed removed from all of the chaos and calamity of the rest of their world. Maybe that would be the same here, maybe it would evolve differently because… even from the little glimpse he’d seen this world couldn’t have been more different than Thedas if it tried. It wasn’t only the lack of the Qun or elves or the tech - it was, well, it was bloody everything. And, honestly, that was probably for the best.
If this was going to be retirement, he could live with that. He just had to figure out what it meant for him as a Warden. What it would mean for Justice being in a world with no Fade. It seemed quieter already, but he didn’t fully trust that. It was too hard to fully trust that - even if Hawke pressed up against him and home relatively safe and seemingly sound was something that made him more trusting than normal… he wasn’t going to jump the queue here and have it screw him over. Have it hurt her.
She had stopped, well mostly, she’d stopped beyond the rambling he’d expected. The rambling that showed how much it all did weigh on her - whether exhaustion or misplaced guilt was the cause. But… it made him smile. Seeing her soften up always made him smile. It was something almost no one else got and it was one of those brightest of bright spaces in his life that let him, hell or high water, remain infallibly able to look on the lighter side of things. “Love you too.” He interjected without missing a beat as his thumb moved slowly over her hairline near her temple. The rest he just took in with the stupidest of grins - knowing full and well if there was a person who could manage to track him down in the middle of fuck all nowhere - well, it was her.
“Speaking of time off…” He said, slowly moving his hand from her hair - thumb tracing her jaw for no better reason than sort of be an asshole, before he let it rest against her side. “No Fade. No darkspawn. At least not that I can hear. Honestly this is… this world doesn’t even compare to ours…” He trailed off for a moment, a quizzical look on his features and he furrowed his brow, “If they’ve got some shitty equivalent of it all here, its not something I can tap into.” Whether that was good or bad, only time could tell. But at least it meant no more Blights. ---