Varric glanced at Ashley, and her hand around her gun. Smiling wryly, he said, "Well this is awkward."
He slowly lifted the crossbow so it was pointing at the ceiling, then rested her on his shoulder, "Bianca, Ashley. Ashley, Bianca. Don't worry, she's not loaded. Isn't that right?" He patted the stock of the crossbow, like he was talking to a living thing, "I was making introductions."
He didn't stop to think how crazy this looked. But this was Bianca, if you couldn't accept his unusual attachment to an inanimate and archaic weapon, how could you accept Varric?
Forgetting for the moment it was an automatic crossbow, and thus a hundred times more intimidating.