contact

[sketchycharacter]

"This is Nate. Leave a message and I'll probably get back to you."

video / text / audio / packages

Comments

[sketchycharacter]

I know, right? I can't even imagine whining.

[He doesn't have to when he can just remember doing it.]

[otiosity]

I bet you do whine though. You look like an ideal candidate for the man-flu. Collapsed on the couch with a stuffy nose crying for your wife to bring you tea.

[She flops more firmly against him. As if to imitate him prone on the couch asking for Elena.]

[sketchycharacter]

I wouldn't cry.

[He elbows her gently. Semi-gently.]

I'd stare at her mournfully until she decided on her own to bring me tea.

[otiosity]

If I stare mournfully at you, will you bring me tea?

[She glances over at him and does her best to look really pathetic.]

[sketchycharacter]

Nope.

[She does look pathetic, but that's the only successful part of the look.]

[otiosity]

Do I need to sniffle a bit more? Sneeze and groan some?

[She's mostly teasing. He's already letting her rest her head on his shoulder and that's really all she wants.]

[sketchycharacter]

That's going to make it even less likely. Just sit and relax and enjoy the show, you weenie. Your cold will pass.

[otiosity]

If you ever catch anything I won't show you any sympathy.

[She sniffles, wipes her nose on her sleeve, and settles against him. She's always surprised and yet not surprised at how comfortable she is around Nate. He's like Varric in that way, she supposes, everyone just feels at ease around him and he's good at drawing people in without being overbearing.]

[sketchycharacter]

[They also have the chest hair in common.]

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. And then it'll probably explode behind me.

[otiosity]

[Maybe that's what she finds comforting. She yawns a little.]

Perhaps your nose will explode too. That would be fitting.

[sketchycharacter]

And painful. Yowch.

[otiosity]

So perhaps you ought to be a bit more kind to the people around you.

Namely me.

[sketchycharacter]

Eh. What's in it for me? I'll think about it.

[otiosity]

Me doing my best not to sneeze in your face? Also the satisfaction of helping your sick friend who just fought her way through an entire slave arena.

[She's but an innocent lass with a head cold.]

[sketchycharacter]

Yeah, about that...you never did tell me how things went. Aside from obviously, you lived.

[otiosity]

[Hawke's entire form sort of crumples as she curls up against his side. She doesn't want to talk about this with anyone even if talking to Nate is easier than talking to almost anyone else. But she did call him in the middle of it and freak him out so she supposes she sort of owes him an answer, real answers, no dodging funny business.]

Do you ever do something hoping that it will make you feel better but in the end it really just made everything worse? Didn't fix the old problems and just made new ones? It went like that.

So, I lived. Yes.

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate just stares into the distance, memories of his life before the Moira flashing by. He could laugh, but there's nothing actually funny about it.]

I did that. Yeah. You wanna be more specific though? Because I doubt it's the same.

[otiosity]

I thought killing those slavers would make me feel better about being captured by their friends a few months ago.

[Her voice is cold. And there's an unusual bitterness to it that harshly cuts her normally blithe attitude.]

[sketchycharacter]

Killing generally doesn't, in my experience. Sometimes it's gotta be done, but there's not much good about it.

[He tilts his head slightly toward hers.]

You save some people when you did it?

[otiosity]

It's efficient. That's good enough at times.

[She slumps closer to him pulling her knees to her chest and despite being generally lanky, she's pretty good at making herself small.]

...I did. Or at least I tried to. Probably could have done more.

[sketchycharacter]

You could have not done anything, too. Clearly that's what most people picked.

[He pats her knee.]

Don't be too hard on yourself. Dumbass.

[otiosity]

[She groans softly but seems pleased by the kind gesture. Indeed, it reminds her of something Varric might do and Varric is the most comforting fellow she's ever met.]

Everything else is. Why not just go with the flow.

[sketchycharacter]

Because you're not a flow-goer, or you wouldn't have gone after those slavers.

[There's an edge of seriousness in his tone now.]

[otiosity]

[There's silence for a few seconds except for a loud sniffle. Hawke stares at the tissue in her hand, twisting it around her fingers, before attempting a casual shrug that's not at all casual.]

Maybe I was being selfish.

[sketchycharacter]

Maybe. Doesn't mean you didn't still do something good.

All those stories about the perfect selfless hero who only thinks about doing good for others? Not only are they boring, shitty stories, they're completely unrealistic. I don't know about your world, but I've been all over mine, and I've never met someone like that. So stop beating yourself up for not having totally pure motives, because that's incredibly stupid.