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[aintwejust]

I ain't here, leave a letter.

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[aintwejust]

Ten gold says he eats it. [ What, it seems an Asher thing to do. ]

[girlinthebox]

Not...no. Not the ones here. They're safe, they'll keep you safer. The one who hurt...they're hunting through the brush, dust on their bellies, searching for what they lost.

[ Finally, she unwinds herself from him, peering up at him with dark, solemn eyes. ]

The tracks should lead elsewhere.

[gatheringstorm]

I'm not taking a sucker's bet, Mal. Of course he will.

[aintwejust]

[ He smooths a little of her hair out of her face with a gentle hand, eyes soft and sad. ]

...Not much I can say to make you stick it out here, is there?

[ He'd know she's safe if she stayed. Know that she's learning, she's laughing, that she's be'n a kid again with friends and family and that she's got somewhere to run around barefoot without fear.

But he can't keep her. ]

[aintwejust]

I hope it don't kill him but- hey. Maybe it'll cure him.

[girlinthebox]

[ There have been bad days. There will always be bad days. But living here at Skyhold with him, with the rest of them, has made her heart light in ways that can't be counted. She has to say goodbye to all of them, to all of that, and go back to what they'd been before. Two fugitives on the run, always looking behind them.

It's not what she wants. But if it saves them...

Her lip trembles and she bites down on it hard, her eyes stinging. ]

[aintwejust]

Okay.

[ She don't need to say it- that face is more than enough. His hand finds its way 'round to the back of her head, tugg'n her in as he tucks her close. Never really had a sister, growing up. Never had a chance to have a kid, didn't rightly want one after the blight. But there's a mix of feelings here he don't look at all that hard. He just feels 'em. ]

Okay, li'l bug. S'awright.

[girlinthebox]

[ Those feels are warm, a shelter and a comfort that now she has to learn to try and live without. There will always be her brother, and all he does, but the Captain and his dried apricots and odd trinkets, his not-quite parental sensibilities, remind her of gentler days.

Family.

She doesn't want to go away and come back a stranger, or just fade from memory. Her eyes squeeze shut tighter as she burrows in against him, trying now to hold back a sniffle. ]

[aintwejust]

You'll always know where t'find me, right?

[ She's got a talent for that. ]

And you'll still have the sending crystal. You ever need me for anything you holler and I'll come runn'n.

[ Ain't a power in the verse that can keep him from someone what needs him when they call. He'd like to go with her. Keep her safe. Keep them both safe but- that ain't how it is. He's gotta make due with the cards they got. ]

[gatheringstorm]

Weirder things have happened, right? Like walking trees, holes in the sky, and too much other shit to possibly keep track of.

[aintwejust]

You find'n your not-wife after she fell outta what Asher calls 'sky vaginas'.

[gatheringstorm]

[And she snorts at that, unable to help herself.]

If I keep calling them that now, I'm blaming you, not Asher. Well, also Asher.

...I'd be careful around Lena for the next while, by the way. The Fade did some things to her that were an emotional punch in the gut. And when she's hurting, she lashes out.

[aintwejust]

Not my fault, he started it.

[ Seriously, now it's stuck in his head and he can't look at rifts the same way anymore. He's one bad fisting joke away from never taking a mission to close the damn things seriously ever again. ]

I ain't heard much just yet, but it sounds like it was a bad time all 'round. You wanna bring her for the drink'n and catch'n up? Neither of you need to talk about what happened. Sometimes it's better to let it settle.

[gatheringstorm]

I make no promises about her, but I'll mention it at least.

And I can talk about it some, when I have a bit more distance from it. For all we know, it could happen again. I'd rather you both be warned about what it's like.

[aintwejust]

She's always welcome. Shit's rough even when you've been pok'n around this weirdness for awhile. To get here, get sent out to kill things like normal, get dragged in?

[ He shudders audibly, one hand scrubbing over his face. One thing he'll never like doing is worrying about his crew- but Korrin's always been solid. She can handle herself. It's hard to remember that when apparently she's gone and tripped head over ass into the shitting fade.

But she's back. It'll be fine. ]

...You know I've been worried 'bout this thing in my hand do'n the opposite of what it' supposed to and tear'n one of those rifts open. Now I gotta worry about falling in. Shit.

[gatheringstorm]

It fucking sucks, I wouldn't recommend it. Though if it does happen, stick with a mage. Not that all of us are Fade experts, but I could still sense where that rift was, even if it took me a while to get there because the landscape kept changing on me and separating me from people.

I don't know that you'll have much to worry about, though. That whole shitshow came about because they were experimenting, trying to draw the Nightmare demon over onto our turf. If you don't fuck around with it, you might be safer.

[aintwejust]

Short story is: Don't trip and end up in the fade. Don't play with the pain laser- oh great now he's got me call'n it that.

[ And he ain't much a one to call things by odd names, but if the boot fit? And here it fit. Pretty well. ]

I try t'not mess with it if I don't have to. Unless there's a rift? I don't have to.

[gatheringstorm]

'Pain laser'? Seriously?

As far as I can tell, there's never a good reason to mess with it. Putting our people at risk for dubious again...that's not something I want to see happen without a damn good reason.

[aintwejust]

I'm not the one that named it! That squirrely fella that can't hit noth'n, Church. With the mouth that does go on and com'n from me you know that's say'n somth'n- him.

[gatheringstorm]

Oh, we've met. There has to be a better name for it, though. If you want that to change, you'd better come up with something else.

[aintwejust]

You, me, and Asher can come up with somth'n when I talk you through what happened. That way it ain't all on me.

[gatheringstorm]

...fair enough. Don't let me forget it.

sending crystal; post-message from korrin

[hlif]

Mal?

[It's not a pause to cover a cough. It's a considered manly pause as Asher tries to think of how to word this so Mal doesn't do the whole brushing him off thing.]

A sky vagina ate Korrin and we all know that lady luck shits on you. And I'm not above getting an augur to sort it so I can come bellow at you if you die getting mixed up in Warden shit.

[aintwejust]

I won't. See you soon, Korrin. I'll have a pint waiting.

sending crystal; post-message from korrin

[aintwejust]

Not dead. Mission didn't go smooth, color me surprised. Got some right interest'n cargo for the ride back that's less a ride and more sprint for our shitting lives and uh. Wardens mighta deposed the king? Or somth'n.

Crazy shit happening, Asher. Whole world's gone nuts. Please tell me you're still the same.