Room 322, Wednesday Morning

[not_every_mage]

It had been more than a day since the children left, and Anders wasn't sure his head was entirely back to normal yet. It was funny how deeply you could miss someone you'd known for such a short time, and who quite likely wouldn't ever exist at all.

At least it seemed like Leo was headed back someplace where he was safe and loved. Carys, though ... that was another story. He still wasn't entirely certain he and Kathy had done the right thing by making her go home. Her parents had lots of friends, sure, and he liked the idea of palling around with a Champion (whatever that meant exactly) but ... he didn't want to raise a child in a world where her father was an apostate. It seemed likely to lead only to heartbreak for everyone.

He tried to set aside his worry for the girl as he scrounged through his books until he found one on the history of Thedas. Maybe it would at least give him some background on Kirkwall to put a bit of what Carys had said in context.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"I dunno, I'd like to see Kirkwall, I think," Kathy mused. "Just to get an idea for some of the places she was talking about. Granted," she added, with a nod in his direction, "it's a lot easier for me to talk about visiting than it might be for you."

She'd be a tourist, with a given return date, and no cause to make anyone look at her funny. Anders, even if he were able to travel home freely, would constantly have to look over his shoulder for someone watching him.

[not_every_mage]

Anders made a face. "The worst part of my world this side of the Imperium and she wants to see it," he said, to no one in particular. "Why don't you save time and trouble and go crawl around some sewers somewhere?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Sewers don't come with restaurants?" Kathy suggested. "Okay. If you could somehow arrange for a visit, where would you take us?"

[not_every_mage]

"I really don't know," Anders admitted, suddenly serious. "It's not as though I've seen a lot of it, you know. I grew up in a village and then I was in the Circle. Even when I ran it was mainly farms and little towns. Anything I named would probably be something I know from books."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Then we'd get to explore it together," Kathy pointed out. "And that could be fun. Is there any place that you've read about you'd like to see? I mean, otherwise, Kirkwall's gonna win by default."

[not_every_mage]

"Now there's a threat," Anders laughed. "Rivain, maybe. The Chantry has next to no power there, and they have seers -- wise women. Besides, it's warm and the bazaars are supposed to be fantastic. And there are pirates."

Pirates made everything better.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why the heck do we go to Kirkwall when we could run away and become pirates?" Kathy demanded. "That sounds like terrible planning on our part! One of us had better get horribly seasick, or there's a version of me that's going to be very put out when she realizes what other options there were."

Fucking Kirkwall.

[not_every_mage]

Kirkwall was the quicksand of Thedas.

"I've got no bloody clue," Anders admitted, with the glimmer of a grin. "The girl, maybe? But even there -- she'd be just adorable with an eyepatch and a little hat." He sighed. "Our other selves were idiots. Tragic."

[spin_kick_snap]

"She might have a tiny little monkey on her shoulder," Kathy gasped, clutching Anders and willing him to imagine the adorable. "Those other versions of us are the worst at parenting."

If nothing else, Isabela would be completely behind this idea.

[not_every_mage]

Anders smiled even bigger at the mental image. if they ever saw Carys again, she was getting a pirate makeover.

"So, if the choice is bringing down the kyriarchy or being pirates, you pick pirates?" he checked. "Not that I disagree, I just want to make sure we're on the same page here."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I see no reason we can't do both," Kathy said. "We can use our ill-gotten gains to dismantle the kyriarchy! Maybe we could set up a deserted island home for wayward mages and work together to prove that our ability to plunder is only rivaled by our self-control."

In not turning into abominations and resorting to blood magic.

"But unless overthrowing the kyriarchy comes with cunning hats and tight leather breaches, I'm gonna say being a pirate wins on aesthetics alone." Beat. "Dibs on captain."

[not_every_mage]

"Fine," Anders said easily. He'd never fancied the responsibility of being captain anyhow. "Dibs on first mate."

He smiled over at her. "If we set aside the minor facts that we have no idea how to get there and don't like each other that way anyhow, we just imagined quite a nice life. Definitely better than arguing all the time in Kirkwall."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't forget that we don't own a ship and wouldn't know how to sail even if we did, you're right," Kathy said, knocking her knees into his companionably. "You can even bring Nathan along if you like. The Captain shouldn't sleep with her crew anyway. It's bad for morale. I'll just find pretty boys when we dock and make them pine for me when we leave."

Because if they were going to dream about being pirates, why not go big?

[not_every_mage]

"I don't know," Anders said lazily, bumping his knees back into Kathy's. "I love Nathan, but for the sake of the hypothetical, why am I stuck being faithful when there's a world of pretty boys and pretty girls for me? It doesn't seem very pirate-ish."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You make an excellent point," Kathy said. "Someone to keep you warm in between docking berths, maybe? If we're going all out hypothetical, maybe you guys have an open relationship where anything goes? Best of both worlds, no?"

[not_every_mage]

"Why not?" Anders shrugged. He couldn't see that actually working in the real world, but in the real world he wasn't going to run off to be a pirate anyhow. "You can have the same, if you want. Break a heart in every port on the Waking Sea and have your mysterious older man safe somewhere pining for you."

[spin_kick_snap]

HEY LOOK INSTANT BLUSH!

"W-What mysterious older man?" Kathy asked. "I don't really have one of those hanging around? Do you mean Ezra? I think he's eighteen?"

[not_every_mage]

"No -- though Ezra's not bad-looking at all - but ages ago, when I asked why we'd only had one date, you said you liked somebody else and he was older and barely knew you were alive," Anders explained. "Unless I got confused about something?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"And he'd be thrilled to jump onto our Polyamory Pirate Ship," Kathy said, because talking about Ezra was roughly a trillion times easier than acknowledging her stupid crush that would not die.

"...And, no. You're not confused. There was--is--whatever--this guy. Goes by Gorgon, at least when we're out vigilante-ing together. Pretty sure we're still in the same place we were a year ago. I think he's hot, he thinks of me as a kid. Except now we'r about three thousand miles apart, so anything is even less likely to happen now."

[not_every_mage]

"Oh," Anders said, because he wasn't quite sure how to react. It was hard to come up with words that would convey that it didn't sound like much of a loss to him without seeming jealous.

A moment later: "Too bad for him he has such rotten taste, then. You can do better."

[spin_kick_snap]

"With all those guys banging down my door, begging to get a piece of this, you mean?" Kathy asked, trying to sound amused.

[not_every_mage]

"Mmmm," Anders agreed. "Look, the boys here may not be old or mysterious or run around calling ourselves Gorgon, but -- there really isn't anyone here you're interested in? Even if he isn't throwing himself at you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, umm..." Kathy was back to blushing. "Well, actually..."

She coughed and started fiddling with her hair. "There was sorta a reason maybe that, uhh, Ezra and I had a kid this past weekend. I mean--we're not--not yet--oh god!"

She was just gonna snatch up his book about Thedas and hide behind it.

[not_every_mage]

Anders laughed so hard into his fist that he turned red. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked innocently, once he'd composed his face. "You study literature together?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nobody thinks you're cute, Anders!" Kathy growled, still trying to hide. "Not one person!"

Which was a lie, but SHUT UP YOUR FACE.