Tuesday Night
Sirens wailed outside of Tethras. This was the seventh time this month that the cops had been called to the bar Marian co owned with her friend Varric, a fact that Aveline had mentioned several times to Marian as they sat outside the establishment while her squad mates investigated the disturbance inside.
Being the only bar in the small college town large enough to hold a few pool tables and a karaoke machine, Tethras attracted quite a lot of business, mostly from college students and town residents. Bar fights were fairly typical, and this one had been particularly nasty.
Always in the heat of the fight, whether instigator or mediator, Marian had received a rather nasty looking gash from the bridge of her nose to her right cheek when a broken bottle was swung right into her as she pulled one man off of the other. The paramedics cleaned her up as soon as they arrived and now Marian was sitting on the curb, focusing on the burning sensation that spread across her nose from the rubbing alcohol they had used to hurriedly cleanse the scrape. They said it would probably leave a scar, but it wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches.
"Hawke, pay attention to me. I need to get a statement from you on what happened." Aveline waited impatiently, notepad open and pen poised for writing.
Marian pushed the rubbing alcohol to the back of her mind and let her eyes focus on the demanding officer addressing her.
"Right. Uhh, I think some sharks were pulling a fast one over some new kids in town. You know, pool games and money and alcohol really make the blood rise. Anyway, the bastards decided to voice their complaint by breaking some bottles on MY pool table, demanding their money back. Sharks said 'fuck you', typical, and some brawls broke out. Snapped a few of my queue sticks too." Marian summarized, she'd leave it to Varric to calculate the property damage.
"And how did you get involved?" Aveline asked, her pen not once breaking from the paper as she scribbled down the timeline of events.
"Well, I told them to knock it off, but they didn't listen. Nobody listens. Anyway, I got pissy, I hate being ignored in my own bar you know, so I just walked up to them and did my best to pull them apart. That's when I got this," she motioned to her nose. It still burned from the damn rubbing alcohol.
Once she finished writing, Aveline gave Marian a good once over, clamping a strong but supportive hand onto one of her shoulders as a friendly gesture of sorts.
"I really think you should look into acquiring some hired help. You know, some muscle to help keep things in order. I can't imagine you guys can afford to keep having bar fights every week. 911 is expensive, you know." Aveline smiled slightly before letting her hand fall from Marian's shoulder as she collected herself and headed towards her squad car.
Marian cupped a hand to her mouth as she shouted after her, telling her she'd keep that in mind, before she headed back inside Tethras to investigate the damage with her coworkers.
Before the door could close behind her, Isabela was already by Marian's side.
"Oh sweetie, you're such a scrapper." Isabela cooed, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"It's not bad is it? The nose? They said it'll scar, probably. It doesn't feel too bad though." Marian explained
"I think scars are incredibly sexy, definitely adds to the scrapper rough-and-tumble barkeep look you have going for you. If you're concerned though, I'd be happy to drop by your place later and we can play nurse together," she propositioned.
Either the burning sensation from the rubbing alcohol was spreading, or Marian was blushing.
Scanning the scene in front of her, it seemed the bar actually escaped a good deal of damage. Merrill and Anders were still setting upturned bar stools right side up, and some peanuts needed to be swept from the floor, but all in all the bar seemed to be in pretty good shape.
Someone (Merrill, probably) had already discarded the broken pool sticks and swept up the majority of the broken glass, leaving the place look a right sight better than it had immediately after the fight.
Still, something did need to be done about the frequency of bar brawls these walls were seeing. She would have to go see Varric in the morning, fill him in on what transpired and start talk about hiring some muscle. She was hoping that simply by having someone menacing stand on guard might reduce the amount of tussles she had to break up.
Wednesday Morning
Talking to Varric was a pain, and now she was thoroughly put out. While Varric was the life of the party after hours, talking to him about business and finances made Marian's head spin. They had argued for hours over whether the money they lost from all the bar fights they had would outweigh the money it would cost them to hire another employee. Too much financial jargon for Marian, and now she had a headache and a bad mood. Of course, all this meant was that it was the perfect time for Carver to show up.
Carver walked in to find Marian sitting at the bar, knocking back a few excedrins with her glass of water. Since Tethras was technically closed for another twenty minutes, she hadn't put on her apron or taken her usual spot behind the bar.
"Skim from the top of the inventory last night?" Carver smirked, folding his arms over his Kirkwall State University shirt, cut sloppily into an impromptu tank top
"Ugh more like talked to Varric for one too many hours. What the fuck do you want, I'm opening soon." Marian snarled.
"You talked to Varric; is Tethras in trouble?" He readjusted his footing a bit
"Whether it is or it isn't, it's none of your concern. I've told you too many times but I'll tell you again: you don't work here and you will never work here, so leave the worrying to me." Marian recited. She was being condescending, but it was mostly in an attempt to get rid of him. It had its affect though, as she noted the slight furrowing of Carver's brows.
"Merrill told me you were looking to hire someone to play bouncer. I don't see why you think I can't do the job, I mean I've got the muscle." Carver interrogated.
Marian stood, her hands settling at her hips. While she was tall, Garrett and Carver both had a good two or three inches on her. She thought she heard the front door open but dismissed it as Merrill coming in early for her shift. She did that a lot.
"Listen Carver, I've had a hell of a morning and I don't particularly want to listen to you whine and bitch at me. I'm not hiring you, not because I don't think you could do the job, but because I don't want to. I don't want to work with you and I can't even imagine what makes you want to work with me so badly. So how 'bout you hop off my dick and run back to your dorm to have a good circle jerk with your frat bros and leave me to worry about the bar, ok?" Marian's face was flushed from speaking so hurriedly and aggressively and she pushed back the bangs that had fallen into her eyes with one hand before placing it back on her hip.
"Fuck you." Carver projected
"Ooh yes good, better make sure you get the last word in." she provoked.
Carver scoffed, before turning around to leave only to find a man standing next to the door, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"Hey man, the place doesn't open til noon." Carver informed him. The man opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it and simply nodded. Carver shrugged off his reaction and walked out the door, allowing it to slam shut. Instead of heeding Carver's words, he walked further into the building, stepping into Marian's view.
"Aveline sent me? To talk to a uh.." he checked the paper he held in his hand, "Marian Hawke?" he asked, looking at Marian.
She gave him an appraising look. He was short. Well, he wasn't short, he was just shorter than her, by an inch maybe. In sneakers and tight jeans with an equally tight tee, all wrapped in a leather jacket that looked more like a security blanket than a fashion statement. Bright blonde hair, probably dyed given the darkness of his eyebrows, and some curly q tattoos that snuck from his chin and disappeared beneath his shirt.
"Aveline sent you? Why?" Marian stood up straight and walked behind the bar.
"She said she 'd call and let you know she was sending me. She said you were hiring." He explained, looking more uncertain. Marian grabbed her phone from a shelf behind the bar. 12 missed calls, all from Aveline. She was going to have hell to pay for missing all of them next time she made her way to the station.
"Right." She said, setting her phone back on the shelf before motioning to a barstool, "Well, sit."
He folded the paper he carried and tucked it into his jacket before taking a seat on the stool opposite her.
"So, what's your name?" She asked as she pulled a glass down, scooping some ice into it before filling it with water and sliding it to him
"Fenris."