If you want to know the chant, my friend and I can help you.
Who: Cassandra and Aveline What: Cassandra needs a drink When: Sunday Where: A bar Status: complete Rating: PG
Cassandra didn't drink much. She typically saved that for a glass of wine while reading - lately, the book that had mysteriously appeared in her apartment. It was huge, and detailed a curious sort of tale. She wasn't sure how much was true, and how much was fiction, but this "Champion" was entertaining, nonetheless.
Tonight, though, she decided she needed to get out. Her first course of action would be to call Leliana, but she was in the kind of mood where she was certain they would have ended up in bed together. So instead she found a bar, and walked inside.
Aveline sat at the bar, nursing a beer. She was allowing herself some time to rest and unwind a little. It was a good excuse to get herself out of her house, too. It kept her from drinking while staring at Wesley’s shield, for one thing. She needed a break from the dream world.
Never drink alone. It was dangerous and led to dark thoughts. The Spaniard made her way over to the bar, sitting on a stool and ordering a beer. Domestic swill but it was better than nothing. She swiveled, looking out over the bar and wondering about each person there. Cassandra was naturally a curious woman. She wondered how they could get the Chant out there. It would answer so many things for so many people.
She glanced at the red-head and nodded at her. There was something oddly familiar about her, but she dismissed the thought.
Aveline glanced back at the dark-haired woman and raised her bottle in acknowledgement. She took another swig and sighed.
"Do you come here often?" Cassandra asked, in her clipped tone and betraying accent. It was cliche, but a good conversation starter, and the woman looked like she needed to talk to someone.
“Not as often as some,” Aveline replied. “But it’s a decent place to spend an evening now and then.”
Cassandra nodded her head, taking another sip of her beer as she studied Aveline with curious eyes, "I think that's what I needed tonight. It was this or potentially make a mistake."
“Drinking with no other people around can be rather...depressing,” Aveline noted. “At least in a bar there’s always going to be something around to offer a distraction.”
"And people to be distracting," Cassandra agreed. She held out her hand, "My name is Cassandra. To be distracting."
Aveline chuckled and shook the offered hand. “Aveline. To return the favor of distraction.”
Blinking away recognition, Cassandra shook it back and then offered, "Beer for your thoughts?" She felt like she wanted to know more about this woman. Aveline. That had been a name in her book and she was not a believer in coincidence.
“Well, I’m not going to say no to a free beer tonight,” Aveline said. “No promises on answering questions, though.” This was at least a diversion more pleasant than her dreams. And she really probably could do with the extra socialization.
"Then I'll have to be extra persuasive, Aveline." Cassandra signaled the bartender, "Another for my friend here, please?"
"Let us start simple. What do you do for a living?"
“I’m a detective.” Aveline smiled. “And an Army reservist.” That was an easy enough question to answer, thankfully.
"And what does the Army reserve you for, detective?" Cassandra smiled easily. This woman was already fascinating!
“Not much, lately. Can’t say I’m too bothered by that, though.” Aveline really did prefer being stateside.
"Being suddenly uprooted can be a lot of trouble. But sometimes it is worth it. It's how I came to this country." She took a long swig of her drink, "I was approached by several agencies because of my forensics work."
Aveline raised an eyebrow. “So you’re in law enforcement as well, then?” she asked.
She nodded her head, "Yes. Mostly lab work. I'd like to do field work but I think they would prefer I finish my citizenship first." It was being....fast tracked.
“Ah. Yeah, they probably would.”
"It's a little aggravating, but I can understand why they would. You would not believe what I had to sign to get this job." Despite her tone, a smile found it's way to her lips, "But I love it. Finding the truth in the world, and in the evidence."
Aveline smiled. “Putting away the bad guys to keep the rest of the world safer. It’s a noble profession.”
“And an interesting one. I’ve exonerated more than a few, which is just as good as putting the bad guys away. In some ways, better.”
Aveline nodded. “Worthy tasks, both of them.”
"Tell me. Are you doing what you've always dreamed of?"
The wording made Aveline pause, bottle halfway to her lips. “In a manner of speaking. Are you?” Who was this woman, and did she have strange dreams as well?
"I know I am not. I didn't even realize what it was I needed to be until recently," Cassandra admitted. "I have a..very close friend, who understands this, but I fear she and I have a hard time just talking when we are near each other."
She wanted to be more than just lovers with Leliana. The hard part was getting to there from where they were now.
“...I see. That could make it hard to talk about things, yes.” She wondered for a moment if Wesley would have had dreams, if he’d lived. But there was no point in dwelling on that thought.
“I don’t know.....” Perhaps the drink was loosening her lips, perhaps she just needed to talk about it, “Have you ever met someone who turns your world upside down?”
Aveline smiled faintly. “I have.” Twice, if dreams counted. Sending copper marigolds to guardsmen certainly counted as upside down.
"What did you do about it?"
“In the first case, they made the first move. In the second...I made a complete idiot out of myself before finding out they felt the same way about me while I was trying to apologize for being an ass.”
"What if.." Cassandra started to say, then changed her mind, "With Leliana and I, there was always the attraction, and the emotion, but I want..." She waved a hand, "I want to know there's a foundation to build the passion upon."
Aveline blinked. Leliana? As in that red-haired trickster? If that was the same Leliana, and this woman also had dreams of said Leliana...then who was this woman? She’d never been in Aveline’s dreams before.
“Ah. Yes, that’s the tricky part,” she admitted.
“I am sorry, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“I’m not uncomfortable. Not really. It’s just...been a while since I talked about...romantic things. And that name seemed...” How to put this? “Vaguely familiar.”
"Does it now?" Cassandra turned her head to look at Aveline, curiously, "Would it bother you if I said your name rings a bell, too? Not that I think we've ever met before." But I read it in a book
“It doesn’t bother me, no. Especially since your not remembering meeting me makes me feel better for not finding you familiar.” Aveline took as swig of her beer. “Does ‘Kirkwall’ ring a bell?”
"Kirkwall?" Cassandra asked. She decided to fish a little, "It rings a bell. Something about a Champion, I do not fully understand it yet. I remember more about - and I know this sounds crazy - Blood Mages and Andraste's Chant."
“Blood mages ring a bell,” Aveline said. “Bloody headaches, from what little I’ve dreamed that involved them.”
"They killed my brother," She replied, venom in her voice. "I trained to become a templar. To kill them. To kill all of them!"
KILL ALL THE BLOOD MAGES!
“Ah. My condolences.” As many people in and around Kirkwall who died from blood mages, she really wasn’t surprised.
"They wanted him because he was the best of our family at hunting dragons," she explained. The thought of Blood Mages wanting dragons was a disquieting one. "We refused, for the consequences."
She ordered another, stiffer drink, "Maker help me, it all feels so real...to think my family died, and yet to rediscover my faith.."
“It does feel all too real,” Aveline admitted, finishing off her beer. “It seems like a world where any loss had a high probability of being...supernatural and catastrophic.” Ostagar. Wesley. Bethany. Leandra. Ferelden and Kirkwall were dangerous places.
"Indeed." Cassandra fell silent as she worked through her harder drink. She wondered if Aveline wanted company tonight. She wondered if she wanted company tonight. She decided she should go, but she had to ask, first, "Do you know the Chant?"
“I expect I knew something of it, though I’ve not dreamt of it here.” Aveline gazed at her empty bottle for a moment. “My husband would have known more,” she said softly. “He was a templar, in that world. A good man. But...I think I’m glad he never had to see Kirkwall.”
"Kirkwall sounds like a terrible place." Cassandra put down her empty glass, "If you want to know the chant, my friend and I can help you. We dream of it often. It is...beautiful."
She looked at Cassandra for a long moment. “I’ll keep it in mind,” she said. She wasn’t sure she’d been much of a believer in the dream world.
"Please, do." Paying for both of them, Cassandra nodded her head, and then walked out. She didn't know if she felt any different, but at least she wasn't bothered any longer.