[It isn't often Fenris comes to the Gallows. Less often still he chooses to take his meals there, but sometimes needs must, and there are worse things to eat than a communal stew. Besides: it's better than his own meager efforts; Fenris has lived on his own for a long time, but that hasn't really translated to much in the way of cooking skills.
He's settled next to Abby, pleased to have spotted her, content to pass a meal with her. They've talked of idle things up until now: struggles in training Ataashi, various fighting techniques. Maybe an upcoming mission with Forces, who knows? But what it circles around to, sooner or later, is:]
Ellie has made it habit to break in.
[He doesn't sound displeased.]
Not often, but sometimes. And to visit Astarion, not me. But I suppose it is nice to have refuge away from the Gallows.
[And . . . he isn't quite sure of how to say what he wants to say next, fearing it coming out too soppily. It leaves him with a mild grimace, his expression unsure, before he adds:]
You are welcome to do the same, if the need takes you, though I ask you use the front door, not a window. We have a great many rooms, and use very few of them.
(Fenris has also been fed a funny story about a rambunctious puppy meeting Ataashi for the first time earlier in the week, so even stray mentions of Ellie can't sour Abby's evening. She's comfortable as she is, sandwiched into a corner across from Fenris as they chat over their empty bowls. What he says even gets a rare smile out of her.)
Don't worry, (she jokes,) crawling through the Chantry window got it out of my system. (She will be a normal person, Ellie. She will knock on the door and go through that door.
... But be honest, Fenris,) Are you inviting me to a sleepover?
[No is what he means to say. Not indignantly, he's not that kind of man, but bluntly, dryly, oh, yes. No, I'm not a teenager, but if you wish to come by, oh, something about company, for that is what he's after, but still, with dignity. He's never been good at making friends (Hawke just sort of recruited him and they all became friends via proximity), so you know, he's doing his best.
But what he actually says, honestly and truly, is:]
Sort of.
Er. Not . . . it isn't about you sleeping over, but if you wish to visit—
[Mmm. His mouth twists. Are the tips of his ears red? Maybe!]
(Abby's eyebrows fly up to her hairline and she looks in abrupt danger of laughing at him. The only thing that stops her is thinking that he may get up and leave the table when she's enjoying his company, but. Whewf, it's a close thing.
Even so, she's grinning almost from ear to ear.)
Yeah? Okay.
(She won't tease, she won't say something dumb like woooww don't you have a boyfriend, she'll just... take this moment for what it is and bask in it, because it actually makes her really happy. And poor Fenris has red ear tips already.
She adds,) I'd invite you to visit me too, but it's kinda small. (Just a room in the Gallows that she shares with one other person and a dog, so.)
[Friendship was a mistake— no, but also, stop looking at him like that, please, this is stupid and embarrassing and he doesn't know why he felt so compelled to be honest. Perhaps it's hanging around Mobius too much; Chantry teachings rubbing off on him.
Ugh. At least she doesn't tease. She gives him a look, but even then it's a happy look, not necessarily mocking.]
Hush.
[She didn't say anything. He grumbles it anyway, busying himself with eating. And mercy, for she continues on, and his glance raises curiously.]
In the Gallows or Lowtown?
[Surely not Darktown, not for the likes of her. She can more than handle herself, but still. It's an awful place.]
Gallows, (she supplies, wiping the smirk off of her face by putting bread into it,) In one of the shared rooms. You'd like my roommate. (She's very weird (affectionate).
She soaks up soup with her last bit of roll idly, and adds,) I've actually been looking at the houseboats out by the pier.
(Might be nice to live in something like that... she'd take River with her, obviously, and the dog. Feels a little familiar. She adds, impulsively,) I dunno why. Almost lived on a boat back home but I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, or anything.
(Not important. But that isn't true, and so she can't finish the sentence. God, she never knows how to interpret Owen out loud these days, does she say he was her friend or her ex or what... Eventually, after a conflicted pause, she pops that bit of soup-logged bread into her mouth.
Said through it, because she has no manners,) Some guy I knew back home wanted to take a sailboat down the coast. He wanted to get out of the city we were living in 'cuz it was dangerous. More dangerous than usual, I mean. There was a big war going on, over land. He said I could come.
(Easy. And then for some reason, she adds,) But his girlfriend uninvited me at the last minute, so. (Uhh. What? Abby processes the involuntary slip with very obvious surprise, and says,) ... I didn't mean to say that. (The drama of the situation really doesn't matter to the story. Yikes.
She clears her throat, and forces her way past it, tone casual, like she couldn't care less.) It didn't work out in the end anyway. He- had this vision of the five of us living on a fucking sailboat together, it was never going to happen. We probably would have starved to death.
Edited (bowl of soap??? soap????????????) 2022-07-20 03:06 (UTC)
[It doesn't take a genius to see that there's more to the story than that. What it might be is another thing entirely; his mind darts towards several explanations, but ah, what's the use in mere speculation?]
Perhaps.
[It's a gentle sort of placeholder, not dismissing that so much as setting it aside. Maybe they would have starved, but almost assuredly that's not why things didn't work out.]
What caused her to uninvite you? That seems . . . callous, especially given your world.
[Actually, two questions:]
Your friend, his girlfriend, and you. Who were the other two?
(Abby promptly gets a look on her face. Ughgh, Mel. She really doesn't want to think about Mel if she doesn't have to. Mel is complicated for several reasons, more so than what happened right at the end of their relationship. The notion of her still sits in Abby's throat from time to time as a weird knot of guilt that's too hard to swallow around.
In the interest of clearing that question quick so she can move onto the next (she would like to talk about Lev to Fenris, actually,) she explains offhandedly:) I guess she figured out I fucked her boyfriend behind her back.
[He blinks just once, stark surprise on his face— honestly, half for the revelation and half for the sheer bluntness with which it was said. For a long moment they stare at each other, and oh, look at how red she's gotten . . .
Honestly? He doesn't judge. He cannot say he approves, but he doesn't know Owen and Mel and he never will, and he won't be so pretentious as to be morally outraged on their behalf. Besides: they all of them have done things they aren't necessarily proud of. It happens.
But oh, that sentence, and he frowns.]
And yet you did.
[Like, duh, but his point being:]
Perhaps you wish to speak of it . . .?
I will not say there is no shame in sleeping with someone's partner, but there are worse crimes, too.
(Short of getting up from the table and abruptly leaving the room there isn't much else to do but sit here and squirm for a moment. Abby looks away while she gathers her composure, one hand curled protectively around the nape of her neck; eventually it drops, to tug idly at her braid. She mumbles,) You're the first person I've said that to, (just to underscore that she really, truly, did not mean to fucking say it at all. The hell has come over her?
A pause. She has no idea whether she's saying this to save face or not but-) I didn't plan on it. He... (ururughghh no she really doesn't wanna start thinking about that night, not right now! If it isn't clear, she's mortified.
Even so, she'll try again.) We used to be together. Me and him. We were arguing about leaving Seattle and it just... happened.
[It isn't the time nor place, but still, some part of Fenris is quietly pleased that she'd say something like that to him. You're the first person I've said that to, and he'll realize later it wasn't so much a marker of intimacy as it was forced honesty, but still.]
I have had—
[Well.]
It is not quite the same. She was not attached to anyone at the time. But I have had evenings with a woman where such things just happened. Attraction is a powerful force. So is anger. And the two combined are . . . formidable.
[And maybe Astarion is rubbing off on him a little, for he cannot help but ask (sympathetically, but still):]
(Abby exhales in a rush and returns to fucking with her braid, fiddling idly while he talks. What he says is true, it was... definitely a combination of lingering tension and being angry and– she supposes, deep down, what she really wanted was something, anything to be normal, like it used to be, before everything around her went to pieces.
But–) Nope. (Shaking her head, now.) It really wasn't, it just... made everything weird.
(She supposes she gave him more of the exact same false hope Santa Barbara did. Owen didn't deserve that. Her cheeks are still pink when she goes to scrub at her face, giving Fenris a little look over her empty bowl.) Can you keep that between us? Please?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truth event, action
He's settled next to Abby, pleased to have spotted her, content to pass a meal with her. They've talked of idle things up until now: struggles in training Ataashi, various fighting techniques. Maybe an upcoming mission with Forces, who knows? But what it circles around to, sooner or later, is:]
Ellie has made it habit to break in.
[He doesn't sound displeased.]
Not often, but sometimes. And to visit Astarion, not me. But I suppose it is nice to have refuge away from the Gallows.
[And . . . he isn't quite sure of how to say what he wants to say next, fearing it coming out too soppily. It leaves him with a mild grimace, his expression unsure, before he adds:]
You are welcome to do the same, if the need takes you, though I ask you use the front door, not a window. We have a great many rooms, and use very few of them.
no subject
Don't worry, (she jokes,) crawling through the Chantry window got it out of my system. (She will be a normal person, Ellie. She will knock on the door and go through that door.
... But be honest, Fenris,) Are you inviting me to a sleepover?
no subject
But what he actually says, honestly and truly, is:]
Sort of.
Er. Not . . . it isn't about you sleeping over, but if you wish to visit—
[Mmm. His mouth twists. Are the tips of his ears red? Maybe!]
It is an offer, nothing more.
no subject
Even so, she's grinning almost from ear to ear.)
Yeah? Okay.
(She won't tease, she won't say something dumb like woooww don't you have a boyfriend, she'll just... take this moment for what it is and bask in it, because it actually makes her really happy. And poor Fenris has red ear tips already.
She adds,) I'd invite you to visit me too, but it's kinda small. (Just a room in the Gallows that she shares with one other person and a dog, so.)
no subject
Ugh. At least she doesn't tease. She gives him a look, but even then it's a happy look, not necessarily mocking.]
Hush.
[She didn't say anything. He grumbles it anyway, busying himself with eating. And mercy, for she continues on, and his glance raises curiously.]
In the Gallows or Lowtown?
[Surely not Darktown, not for the likes of her. She can more than handle herself, but still. It's an awful place.]
no subject
She soaks up soup with her last bit of roll idly, and adds,) I've actually been looking at the houseboats out by the pier.
(Might be nice to live in something like that... she'd take River with her, obviously, and the dog. Feels a little familiar. She adds, impulsively,) I dunno why. Almost lived on a boat back home but I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, or anything.
(hrm)
no subject
Almost? What happened?
It does not seem the sort of thing that happens by chance. [Like, you don't just stumble into that . . . although who knows in her world?]
no subject
(Not important. But that isn't true, and so she can't finish the sentence. God, she never knows how to interpret Owen out loud these days, does she say he was her friend or her ex or what... Eventually, after a conflicted pause, she pops that bit of soup-logged bread into her mouth.
Said through it, because she has no manners,) Some guy I knew back home wanted to take a sailboat down the coast. He wanted to get out of the city we were living in 'cuz it was dangerous. More dangerous than usual, I mean. There was a big war going on, over land. He said I could come.
(Easy. And then for some reason, she adds,) But his girlfriend uninvited me at the last minute, so. (Uhh. What? Abby processes the involuntary slip with very obvious surprise, and says,) ... I didn't mean to say that. (The drama of the situation really doesn't matter to the story. Yikes.
She clears her throat, and forces her way past it, tone casual, like she couldn't care less.) It didn't work out in the end anyway. He- had this vision of the five of us living on a fucking sailboat together, it was never going to happen. We probably would have starved to death.
no subject
Perhaps.
[It's a gentle sort of placeholder, not dismissing that so much as setting it aside. Maybe they would have starved, but almost assuredly that's not why things didn't work out.]
What caused her to uninvite you? That seems . . . callous, especially given your world.
[Actually, two questions:]
Your friend, his girlfriend, and you. Who were the other two?
no subject
In the interest of clearing that question quick so she can move onto the next (she would like to talk about Lev to Fenris, actually,) she explains offhandedly:) I guess she figured out I fucked her boyfriend behind her back.
no subject
She clears her throat. Her face is burning.)
... I didn't mean to say that either. (Feels like the weakest defense.
Hey, uh. What the fuck is going on??)
no subject
Honestly? He doesn't judge. He cannot say he approves, but he doesn't know Owen and Mel and he never will, and he won't be so pretentious as to be morally outraged on their behalf. Besides: they all of them have done things they aren't necessarily proud of. It happens.
But oh, that sentence, and he frowns.]
And yet you did.
[Like, duh, but his point being:]
Perhaps you wish to speak of it . . .?
I will not say there is no shame in sleeping with someone's partner, but there are worse crimes, too.
no subject
A pause. She has no idea whether she's saying this to save face or not but-) I didn't plan on it. He... (ururughghh no she really doesn't wanna start thinking about that night, not right now! If it isn't clear, she's mortified.
Even so, she'll try again.) We used to be together. Me and him. We were arguing about leaving Seattle and it just... happened.
no subject
I have had—
[Well.]
It is not quite the same. She was not attached to anyone at the time. But I have had evenings with a woman where such things just happened. Attraction is a powerful force. So is anger. And the two combined are . . . formidable.
[And maybe Astarion is rubbing off on him a little, for he cannot help but ask (sympathetically, but still):]
Was it worth it?
no subject
But–) Nope. (Shaking her head, now.) It really wasn't, it just... made everything weird.
(She supposes she gave him more of the exact same false hope Santa Barbara did. Owen didn't deserve that. Her cheeks are still pink when she goes to scrub at her face, giving Fenris a little look over her empty bowl.) Can you keep that between us? Please?