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[thecookery]

(sending crystal, notes and letters, surprise visits, etc. etc.)

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[ichaer]

Quite true. I wouldn't know about that since that usually requires trust which we Wardens are quite short on these days.

[ She takes another big gulp, sighing and sinking into the water a little deeper as she fully opens her eyes to look at Avery. Her own brows are raised in return and she ultimately shrugs. ]

But considerable nicer than I looked before but enough about me. I'd say hurry up before the drinks got hot but I got someone to chill them with that fancy magic and they'll be cold awhile.

[thecookery]

Yeah, yeah...

[Whatever worry she might have had about this being awkward somehow, one thing that Avery has never been accused of being is shy or worried about her body. She carelessly begins stripping off her clothing without a thought, revealing a number of scars of her own. Including a familiar set on one of her legs... as well as a large burn scar that covers most of the left side of her abdomen and hip, probably a year old at most.]

[ichaer]

[ There's a chuckle from Ciri but it is mostly hidden behind another sip of her drink. She has enough decency not to outright stare but the scars and burns are hard to miss. It remind her of her own scarring on her back, her gift from the fires at Weisshaupt and shakes her head.

The very last thing she wanted to think about was scar, burns or anything of the sort. Instead she turns, grabbing for another bottle and holding it out for Avery to take. ]

Damn good stuff from Antiva.

[thecookery]

[Avery pauses just a moment before taking the bottle and entering the water.]

You sure? I've seen a lot of bottles that "came from Antiva."

[ichaer]

[ She laughs and slips back into the water, leaning back into a needed relaxed position. ]

Swear it! Nothing like the piss water they pass off to the pretty Orlesian nobles.

[thecookery]

You've been drinking with a lot of pretty Orlesian nobles, have you?

[Avery sinks down to her shoulders and sighs as she starts rolling her neck again. Maybe THIS will finally get that stiffness out.]

[ichaer]

I've just stolen wine from a lot of pretty Orlesian nobles.

[ Not that she certainly hasn't flirted her way into several of those wine cellars. ]

[thecookery]

[Okay, that earns her another cocked eyebrow.]

You make a habit of that?

[ichaer]

Something like that. I suppose a lot of things become habit when its your way of life.

[ She really can't remember too well the ideas she had for herself after leaving Ferelden but it certainly hadn't been joining a band of teen outlaws. Never mind it had easily been some of the happier times of her life. ]

[thecookery]

[Avery doesn't say anything, just grunts a small, curious "huh" and eyes Ciri like she's trying to take the measure of her again, giving her a chance to either expand on her last thought or not as she chooses.]

[ichaer]

[ She hums thoughtfully, rolling over onto her stomach and allowing herself to float for a moment with arms folded atop the side of the bath. Taking ano ]

After I got out of Ferelden but before I ended up a Warden, I ran around with this group of other kids stealing shit from whatever place we could break in. Most of the stuff we fenced off, gave it to folks that needed it but we also kept what we wanted or just liked best.

[thecookery]

[Good. Great. Sounds like they're both taking their time with this conversation, because Avery seems to mull that over for a while as well.]

Not the easiest or smartest life, that. How long were you at it?

[ichaer]

[ The silence is a nice change of pace to the noisiness of the last few days. Floating, she idly sips from the bottle thinking back on those times with a frown. It definitely wasn't smart even if they thought definitely at the time.

Now she's trapped in this life with tainted blood that'll kill one day if this war doesn't kill them all before then. ]

Around four years from right around the time before I turned fourteen. Though it wasn't so bad until the when we ran the wrong carriage off the road, threatened the wrong noble girl.

[thecookery]

Maybe you ought to've drank with her instead.

[The line isn't delivered mockingly. Just quiet and matter-of-fact.]

[ichaer]

Maybe in another life. Maybe if I hadn't watched her mockingly hit a boy, smaller than her and laugh when he spit up a tooth.

[ It is said quietly and even a little tiredly. ]

[thecookery]

[She lifts her drink like a toast.]

Fair enough.

[ichaer]

Mm. I thought that too.

[ She raises her own drink, finishing off what little remains before lifting herself from the water in order to set the empty bottle aside and grab another. ]

What about you? Any sort of shady past brought you here into the arms of the Inquisition?

[thecookery]

[Judging by the kinda uncomfortable look that passes over Avery's face for a moment, this swallow of her drink may or may not be an attempt to stall for time.]

Not really. Those were two completely separate things.

[ichaer]

[ And Ciri simply stares quietly for a moment, brows furrowed before opening up her drink and settling back into the water. ]

Right, well... change of subject then. Hiding any tattoos or questionable piercings? [ A chuckle. ]

[thecookery]

Do you see any?

[The sarcastic response is automatic, but after, Avery frowns, now aware that Ciri picked up on her moment of discomfort there.]

Look, it's not--

It's stupid. [And the last time she tried to talk about her reasons for joining the Inquisition with someone, it went very poorly.]

[ichaer]

I can't see all of you, you know.

[ It is said with a shrug as glances over, listening quietly before speaking: ]

And that's fine. Listen, I'm not here to poke and prod about shit that folks don't want to talk about. I know how much of a pain in the ass that can be.

[thecookery]

It's not some great tragedy or nothing, where all my children were eaten by demons coming out of a rift or whatever.

I got hurt in the fighting between the mages and templars in the Hinterlands. [Her hand sort of subconsciously drifts to her burned side.] An Inquisition healer helped me, so I thought I'd help them in turn.

[All said in a way that attempts to convince Ciri this WASN'T the worst experience of Avery's life, spanning several months of incapacitation, horrible pain, and the certainty that she was going to die. How well she manages this feat is... debatable.]

[ichaer]

[ Again, Ciri listens on in silence besides the slow sip of her drink. The fighting in the Hinterlands had been rough from what she had heard while holed up in the Anderfels. It had been angering to imagine considering how stupid the mages and templars had to be to get innocents caught up in their stupid war. ]

A good a reason as any. Besides we need more people around here without great tragedies because the Inquisition is starting to sound like a hastily written story in the back of those dirty magazines.

[thecookery]

[She scoffs, unsure of how to feel about that response.]

Tell that to the last arsehole I told that story to. He said I was whining wannabe martyr for even bringing it up when mages have it so much worse, and I had it coming anyway, and more, because of how little I cared about them, by his numbers.

[ichaer]

Seriously? Give me a name and I will. [ Honestly, she looks offended. ]

Those mages put themselves there by their own choices. I lose sympathy for anyone that drags innocents into their trouble because, by their fucking excuses, they have it so much worse.