"And I love you, Marian Hawke" Who: Marian Hawke, Thackery Binx What: Talking about serious things, so many feels. When: 02/14, Valentine's Day! Where: A beach somewhere in the OC. Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for some dark themes RE: Darkspawn. Otherwise 5/5 adorbs. Status: Complete!
There had been a wide selection of food trucks to pick from, as it happened. Marian wasn’t really sure what she’d been in the mood for when her and Thackery went out, but by the time they’d gotten to the food truck park she’d been starving.
The end result was that she’d picked up not only one very large gourmet grilled cheese sandwich (with fancy cheeses, onions, and marinated steak in it) but also a bowl of curried chicken, and a few tacos. The mixture of food seemed a little insane now that they were parked at a beach and ready for their impromptu food truck picnic, but she didn’t mind. In fact, she chuckled a bit as she looked everything over. The sandwich had come with a bag of crisps and she had not only a bottle of water but a delicious cherry lime drink, too, “I feel as if my stomach is going to mutiny on me later, but I just couldn’t help it. I wonder what’s safest to eat first?”
Food trucks were one of Thackery’s favorite recent inventions. The fact that they all lined up multiple blocks and had all different kinds of food made it that much easier to decide what to eat. The budget for a fancy restaurant could be used to buy far more food than it would buy in said restaurant. She picked out her food and he picked out a trio of different burger sliders, fried pickles, and a fish taco. He grinned over at her as they took a seat at the beach, “I would go with the tacos first. Your body will not mutiny once it tastes how good this food is.”
"The tacos smell the most delicious of all three of these offerings, and that's saying quite a lot," Marian agreed, nodding her head. She was carrying the food with one hand (and an arm) and had a blanket in the other hand. She tossed it down on the sand after Thackery picked a good spot, and made herself comfortable on top of it, "They go with my lime drink, too. There's something to be said for matching things up."
“You picked a wide variety that all looks good, so I think that you’re safe no matter what you eat, but I know that my fish taco is calling my name,” he pointed out and helped her spread the blanket out. Once it was set he moved to sit beside her and lightly pressed his hip against hers. He would have wrapped an arm around her but his hands were currently occupied and things could get messy while they attempted to eat, “Good job. Although if you really wanted it to match we should have found a truck with margaritas or something.”
"...Now that's an idea I could get behind. Margarita trucks? I didn't see any trucks handing out alcohol, which is a shame, because one of those would have gone marvelously with this." Even the curry, Marian was sure of it. Some acid would probably help with just about everything she was eating.
Keeping the tacos close at hand, Marian set her other offerings down in her lap. The food was too delicious not to dig into nearly immediately, though she did press her hip against his a bit to show she appreciated that extra feeling of companionship. It's not like they could hold hands or cuddle while they ate!
“Maybe we can figure out how to get a liquor license and start selling margaritas out of a truck,” he mused aloud and a playful expression on his lips. He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek before he took a bite of his taco and let out a noise of approval. Once he finished chewing he was finally able to exclaim, “Oh man, this is fantastic! I almost want to go buy like 10 more that I can store in the fridge until the next time I can go to the food truck.” He quickly grabbed his phone to make a note of the name of the truck so he could looking it up later and then snapped a picture of her eating with an innocent smile.
She squinted at him somewhat suspiciously while she finished her own bite of food. That innocent look was a sure sign that he'd just done something she wouldn't approve of. Since he had his phone in his hand it was probably a photo, which made her eyes squint at him a bit more. She smirked, though, as she finished her taco and wiped a bit of sauce off her cheek, "What a fetching photo that must make. Your girlfriend looking a mess with taco sauce all over her face."
Marian was joking, of course, and she pondered the idea of getting extra food to store away AND the one of making a margarita truck, "I think some of this food would reheat nicely enough in an oven. Or a microwave. But it's probably better simply to stalk the trucks so that we can indulge in fresh tacos whenever we feel the need. And I think that we're much better off in the professions we're in. I think I'd be horrible at running a food truck business. All of that driving around and carding people. Though I do make an excellent margarita."
“It will be my favorite photo,” he retorted quickly before leaning over to kiss away some taco sauce that was on the corner of her mouth that she did miss. It wasn’t a lot and it certainly wouldn’t show up in the photo, but he liked basically every photo of her. He knew he was lucky to have someone as attractive as her and it wasn’t lost on him. Ever. Besides, it was just too amusing to take photos of her like this and watch her get that look on her face while she tries to figure it out.
“A microwave for you,” he pointed out quickly. He was halfway tempted to take the oven out of her kitchen so she couldn’t potentially start a fire. But he did want her to learn how to properly cook things, so he would never do that, “I like the idea of stalking food trucks for fresh tacos. Way easier than making it ourselves. And maybe I’ll just have you make us margaritas so we can bring them with when we get our tacos. I do think you’re right about sticking with our professions for now.”
The kiss was such a sweet gesture that it threw Marian off momentarily. She knew she was lucky, too. Not just to have a good looking man, but one that tolerated her and her many faults as much as Thackery did. He was on such an even keel compared to some of the people she knew in her dreams that it still shocked her when he took things like her setting the oven on fire in stride.
She ducked her head a bit and focused on finishing her tacos to recover. When those were done, she licked her fingers and nodded her head, "I quite like that idea. I can mix them up and we can pour them into little travel cups made for cold drinks. No one will suspect a thing and as long as one of us can drive home, we'll be all sorted. I think we may even have to make this a regular thing."
“I think it might have to be a weekly date for us. We could always find a place that’s near one of our places and then we wouldn’t have to drive home. Or else we make sure to buy enough food to soak up the alcohol before we leave,” Thackery pointed out with a bit of a grin as he finished his taco as well and then started on some of the fried pickles, holding them out to Marian as an offer, “So, I know you wanted to talk to me about some things. Dream-related, correct?”
Marian had never had fried pickles, but they smelled good and she took the one he offered, keeping an open mind as she bit into it. It was actually quite good and she thought it oddly went with the curry she was eating.
"I like the idea of making it a weekly date. We both know I can't cook so it's better if we make inexpensive food plans that involve no one having to be near a stove," She joked. She was trying to cling to that joking mood because the stuff she wanted to talk about was slightly more serious.
"Yes, I do have... dream stuff. To talk to you about, and I'm really not sure how you're going to take any of this. Are you sure you don't want to finish your food first?"
“I know that I can be fairly decent at cooking, so I am willing to do most of the cooking in this relationship if it’s needed. I am tempted to buy you an Easy Bake Oven to see if that helps you out at all. But I do think that cooking classes would be a good idea,” He nodded solemnly at that last statement because he was willing to do what he had to in order to help her out, “And nah, go ahead with talking as long as you don’t mind me stuffing my face with food while you talk.”
"Easy Bake Oven? That's so you can watch as I burn tiny little cupcakes and brownies. I'm onto you, Thackery Binx." Marian teased, then shook her head a bit, "No, I don't mind. I'll probably peck at mine a bit while I go."
In fact, she took the chance to finish off her last bite of curry and wash it down with the rest of her lime drink before continuing, "So you know I'm a mage, right? I set things on fire literally, too, not just when I cook. I've got some other things like that, too, but nothing that can change anyone into a cat, so you've no worries there."
“Yeah, a mage is definitely different from the witches in my dreams. The witches there are just...horrible. They steal the life forces from children to keep themselves young. But I will admit that I’m quite glad you can’t turn me into a cat here. But if it ever happens you better take good care of me,” he commented with a bit of a smirk. If he did turn into a cat he would probably get along with Carver and it would be hilarious. He wasn’t sure what else she had to tell him about her dreams though.
"You know I would, but it wouldn't ever happen. Shapeshifting is a very hard magic to learn in the dream world, and then you only really learn how to shift yourself. It's more likely that I would get stuck as a cat. I know if that happened, you'd take care of me."
Marian chuckled a bit at the thought, in fact. Thackery was the best with animals and she knew she'd be in good hands if she ever decided to dabble in sorcery outside of her regular ability. She frowned, though, and got more serious than she had been before, "But there's a more serious dream threat. We call them Darkspawn. They're... tainted monsters that cause a lot of trouble. It's worse when an Archdemon rises up to organize them - the rise up to the surface in a huge army and destroy everything they touch, tainting and warping the land and killing everyone. We have special soldiers that fight these things, called Wardens. My cousin, Maia... well, suffice it to say we have undeniable proof that they're coming here. To this world, and soon."
“So, the Archdemon would be like Satan and the Darkspawn would be like his demon army?” It was easier to understand things when Thackery put them back into basic terms that most people recognized. It didn’t sound anything of biblical proportions, but it had the same basic idea as the apocalypse in this world. He had let the hand holding his food drop to his lap as his face displayed a confused look as he continued to listen, “Wait, they’re coming here? This horrible dark army is coming to this world? How do you two know this? That isn’t a good thing, Marian.” He wanted to be more in shock about something like this, but this place had such strange crossover to other dream worlds that he couldn’t be completely shocked. But this wasn’t sitting well with him period and he was nervous about what else she could say.
"Well... something like that, yes." It was a good summarization, anyway. Marian thought she should have broken it down like that from the beginning. But from where she was sitting, she hadn't even told him the worst yet. She looked down at her abandoned grilled cheese sandwich and frowned, "We know this because Maia is a Grey Warden. Uhm... like a holy warrior. She can feel them coming. She can hear the Archdemon's voice, sort of, and she has nightmares about it."
“Well if you’re sort of hearing the voice and having nightmares that doesn’t definitely mean he’s coming? Are there other things? And what does it mean if he does come?” He was a little shell shocked to say the least and it took him a moment before he realized food was still in his hand and he lifted it up to take a big bite so he could free his hands a little more quickly. This wasn’t sounding like a good thing at all.
That was actually a good question, and one that Marian had no answer to. She glanced at him, trying to look reassuring, but she didn't really feel it. She was sorry for how shocked he looked, "The worse they get, the closer the Blight is supposed to be, in the dream world. But I suppose you could be right. Maybe it's nothing at all."
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just trying to reassure myself that it’s nothing. I care about you and I feel that this is something that might hurt you,” He set the food in the little paper tray down on the ground as he scooted closer to her and reached to grab her hand, “Which leads me to ask you - what’s your role in all this?”
Marian squeezed his hand, then took a deep breath in, and let it out, "When she first started hearing the voices... it was before you and I. I made her a promise then and I feel very guilty now, because I should have talked to you about this before now. But my role in all of this would be that Maia is going to need support. She's going to need other Wardens. Only the Wardens can really fight these monsters efficiently. So at the time, I offered to join her."
That was exactly what he thought she was going to tell him. The idea of her going off into battle against these Darkspawns wasn’t something he enjoyed, but he understood why she made the promise. He squeezed her hand back and leaned over to kiss her temple, “I understand your promise. She’s your family and you can’t predict things like this. You have the power to help defeat these things, so I’m not going to demand that you don’t do it. I just wish I could help keep you safe.”
Of course Thackery would be this wonderful and understanding. Marian leaned against him and closed her eyes a bit as he kissed her, "There's... more, you have to know before you just give me your hesitant blessing. The process isn't... guaranteed. I might die becoming one. And if it works, my life span is shortened considerably. I probably won't be able to have children. Lord... listen to all of this, I don't even know if it's worth it. You deserve better. You really do."
She suddenly wanted to get up and start pacing, or maybe run away from him before he said something damning. Or maybe run away from him before he was any more kind. Her insides were twisting.
“Shit,” he commented in barely a whisper. Those were big things that could happen to her and there was a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. Were the odds in her favor? He doubted that anyone actually knew the odds that she could be perfectly fine and they didn’t sound that great. Then there was the shift in her after she declared that he deserved better. He drew her closer to him and moved to look into her eyes, “How could I deserve better? You are sitting here talking about sacrificing yourself for the greater good. I feel completely inadequate next to you right now because I’m just an ordinary man. I don’t have any special powers that could help you out with this and I so wish I did. I can’t tell you what to do about this, but I will support you no matter what decision you make. I may be a nervous wreck during all this, but I’ll be here.”
His words were so supportive and understanding that Marian almost thought she wouldn't be able to survive it. How did she get blessed with a man like this in this world? She wasn't one to cry that often, but tears sprung to her eyes as he spoke. She didn't look away from him, but just smiled and let her eyes do whatever they were going to do. It wasn't a show of weakness. She didn't need to prove anything to this man. He already knew how strong she was.
"You do have amazing super powers, you know. You put up with me. You love me, and I can't even imagine how that's possible sometimes. I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never does, and I don't imagine how it can be anymore. You just... have no idea how worried I was about this and then you say these things. You're the best person in the world, Thackery Binx. I mean that. And I love you."
“And I love you, Marian Hawke,” he reached up to brush the tears from her eyes. He hadn’t known anything like this was going to happen when she wandered into his vet clinic, but he wouldn’t change anything for the world. She made him incredibly happy and he hoped that he made her just as happy, “And because I love you that I put up with you, as you so eloquently put it. I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t have to worry about the other shoe dropping. I love having a girlfriend that can shoot fire, but can’t cook spaghetti. And I love that she is so willing to help mankind that she would do something that may have some bad odds stacked against her. I will be there every step of the day if this thing does show up. You better believe that.”
There weren't enough words in her vocabulary to respond to him. She wasn't even sure she was capable of the words. Honestly, right at that moment the Blight could have arrived or the world could have ended or the ocean could have been rising up all around them. To Marian, the only thing in the world right now was Thackery.
She leaned in, and kissed him. It was probably the most emotional kiss she'd ever planted on his lips, and she just hoped it said everything she couldn't.