So I always wanted to write something without an actual commitment and try out all my attempts to be funny in a single space. Also Whenever I played the game I always had this as a wonder. So without further adieu I shall begin. I don't own anything.
Simon Hawke had been pacing back and forth in his foyer for upwards of fifteen minutes. He had faced demons of all kinds, including Pride, by the way, dragons, and more crazy mages than he even knew existed in all of Thedas. And that wasn't even close to the legions of other things he'd faced in six years of living in Kirkwall.
However none of what he had faced was nearly as terrifying as what was about to occur. In Simon's many years he had actually managed to throw together this group of people, warriors, mages, rouges, an absolutely ridiculous combination. The thing was though, never once had they all been in the same place for an extended period of time. But now it was time. He was going to have them all over for dinner.
This is insane, what am I doing?! The thought passed through his mind every few seconds and each time it made him want to call it off. But he knew he couldn't. He decided to distract himself by setting up the table. First there was seating. He had to pick the right place for them all to sit because, well when you have a bunch of friends, that doesn't necessarily mean that they all like each other. He was about to begin when he heard a knock on the door, followed then by the barking of Karr, Simon's Mabari.
A stout dwarf walked quickly out of the kitchen in response to the knocking. "Would you like me to get the door, Master Hawke?"
"No thank you, Bohdan. I've got it. You just focus on keeping Sandal and his 'boom' out of all the food." The dwarf nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Simon walked to the door and quickly flung it open, eagerly anticipating who the arrival of the first guest. To his surprise it was actually his younger sister. A surprise because his sister was not actually part of his little team he had put together. There was only one other in that situation. That cursed assassin, who stole his heart, Tallis. With everyone else he could just give them a letter and tell them when to arrive, but her, all Hawke could do was stand on a really high place and let the invite fly in the wind. It was the most hopeless thing he had ever done, but yet, it had to be done.
Simon's sister, Bethany gave the biggest smile in all of Thedas as she wrapped her arms around her older brother. And admittedly Simon gave a pretty big smile as well. The last two times they had seen each other were both quite negative. That whole business with Corypheus and their father was quite nasty. And then there was Tallis again… It was always nice seeing Bethany, she was the only mage he knew that wasn't completely nuts and she was never bitter about the mages situation despite their troubles. "What are you doing here so early, Bethany?" She looked up and smiled.
"I thought I'd come early and help you set up. You are still having dinner right?" Simon paused for a second as the repeated thought was repeated yet again.
"Yes, of course." It ended up coming out much weaker than he had anticipated. Bethany looked at him for a quick moment before walking inside. Just as Simon was going to close the door an armored foot blocked its path. Simon looked up to see a templar standing in his doorway. Simon paused for a minute. "Can I help you?" The templar stood stoic as they always do for a moment. He was in full armor and Simon could not tell the mans expression.
"You are the Champion correct?" Simon nodded warily. "Good I just wanted to be sure." The templar removed his helmet revealing a young looking man. He had dark brown skin similar to Isabela's and a shaved head. A large grin was plastered along his face.
"Sorry, brother I forgot to mention," Shouted Bethany from the foyer. "The circle needed to send a templar with me to prevent 'malicious' intent or Maker knows what." Simon turned back to the templar.
"Champion," The templar bowed. "It is a real honor to meet you! When I heard amongst the others that Bethany needed an escort I immediately volunteered. I'm a huge fan." Simon sighed.
"That's very nice, thank you ser…" The templar took a moment before realizing what happened.
"Oh it's Edward, Ser Edward."
"Nice to meet you then. So if you have to watch Bethany the whole time she's here than would you just like to join us?" Edward's face lit up as bright as mage fire before he nodded his head.
"That would be amazing! Do you jest?" Simon laughed.
"No jest, however if you do there are some conditions."
"Name them and I will follow to the letter."
"For one, you have to change out of that uniform. And second, under no circumstances can you attempt to apprehend anyone in my house. Is that understood?" Edward pondered for a moment.
"I am a knight of the templar's, I have a duty… However you are the Champion, so sod them I agree." The two shook hands and Simon welcomed him in.
Finally to preparations. The table they would be eating on was rather large so seating wasn't an issue. At the head would of course be Simon and Bethany, next to Bethany he would put Sebastian, then Fenris, Edward then Aveline to clear up one side. After which would come Varric, Isabela, Merrill, Anders and finally Tallis…
Simon could smell, the food, whatever it was anyway, from the kitchen door and realized he still had some time before guests arrived. He decided to make small talk. "So Edward, how long have you been a part of the order?" Edward had finally switched out of his armor into something more mage acceptable.
"Let's see," Edward began to rub his chin. "I would say about five years. I began the process ten years ago at age fifteen, and it took me five of those ten just to get the armor on."
"How do you like it? Many people find it strenuous." Again Edward took a moment.
"Can I be honest with you, Champion?"
"Just Simon, or Hawke if you prefer is fine. Sure you can be honest." Edward took one last moment of thought before his answer came.
"It's well… It differs day to day. Some days, I have to tell you, I see why the mages rebel. And then other days I see why the chantry needs us. Just as well I appreciate the discipline we have. They teach you well and train your mind. Sometimes it's pretty tough though." Edward lowered his gaze. Obviously he had seen some intense things in his time as a templar. Simon felt for him for a second. Having two mages in his own family, he too understood both sides of the equation. Simon couldn't focus on him though he had his own war to wage at his own house.
All preparations were complete. Bohdan had informed him the food was finished and now all they could do was wait. Bethany then walked up to Simon with a curious look in her eyes. "So who all is coming to this dinner of yours?" Simon looked to her.
"Everyone, I guess." She looked off in the distance.
"What about Sebastian?" She seemed to turn a slight shade of red.
"Yeah I guess. Why?" She stayed silent and just walked away from Simon to sit at the table. At that time he heard another knock on the door. He walked to go answer it. Beyond the door the first three guests appeared. Simon heard a very familiar "No shit, Elf, there I was…" Immediately Simon knew at least two of them. He opened the door to reveal the trio of Fenris, the tattooed elf, Varric, the beardless dwarf, and Sebastian, the exiled prince.
Sebastian walked through first, he seemed eager to separate from the other two. He respected them both well enough, in fact, he has been talking to Fenris for quite a while about the Maker and he might have even gotten him to believe. And Varric, well, archer-to-archer cutesy. Simon and Sebastian had a quick embrace. "Good to see you, Hawke."
"Always a pleasure as well, Sebastian. Would you mind giving Bethany a hand? You've always had an eye for details." Sebastian's face lit up a bit.
"Nothing would please me more." He quickly walked off after that. Simon greeted Fenris and Varric similarly before he continued telling his story to Fenris. He shut the door and walked back into the foyer. Varric and Fenris were already seated while Simon noticed Bethany, Sebastian, and Bohdan bringing out some of the appetizers. All the while Edward was entertaining Karr. Simon leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. He waited for a minute before being joined by Edward once again. "Trouble, Champion Ha- I mean just Champion?" Simon smiled.
"No, not quite. It's just that my friends you will soon meet are all very eccentric I would say and when you put them all together it creates…madness."
"Is it possible you are over thinking? I mean it can't be that bad." Simon just looked at him for a moment before responding.
"You'll see soon enough I guess." Within the next ten minutes, the rest of the guests arrived. First it was Merrill, the elven blood mage who was so air headed it was like a tornado. She and Simon always disagreed on her magic and he felt sorry every time he had crushed a dream of hers, or stood in the way of her goal. She would probably never understand but Simon loved her like a sister and everything he did was to protect her from going down the darkest path a mage could take. Simon wondered often if the Maker had sent him Merrill just to test his patience.
Next came Isabela, then Aveline who had to apologize that her husband Donnic couldn't make it. Next was Anders, the one that Simon had to almost beg to come, just because of the inevitable trouble he might cause.
Everyone was inside now, all of his companions, yet he could not go and sit down. "Waiting for someone still, Master Hawke?" Came the voice of Bohdan. Simon paused.
"No, it's just…" He opened the door and took one last look outside before returning in. He shouldn't have been that surprised, how could she have even gotten the invitation? It was impossible. He slapped himself for a second, turned and walked in.
It was perfect actually. The seat he had saved for her was taken by Edward so Simon tried not to think about Tallis. The dish he had selected for the occasion had been the finest Orlesian steaks he could find. Complimented with a special spice developed by Sandal that was, as he described "not boom" so that was a hit or miss. For sides were chicken bits, Orlesian chesses, various kinds of bread and whatever ridiculous foods the merchants could convince him to buy. Before the feast began Simon stood to say something. He held up a glass of wine and cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming. Actually, scratch that. Thank you all for tolerating me and each other for the last six years. We've never met up like this all together so let's make it enjoyable. Because it's likely this won't happen again."
"Woooo, Hawke!" Isabela yelled from the far side of the table. Simon sat down and was about to begin before another outburst from Isabela stopped that notion. "Ugh, Hawke, what is this?! Is this red wine? Where's the ale, the hard stuff?" Simon looked up at her and so did the rest of the table.
"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go with the Rivani on this one, Hawke." Varric decided to add. Simon sighed.
"Oh, Isabela, let's not pretend that you don't know where the 'hard' stuff is." She looked at him for a moment and smirked.
"You're right. Good for you." She got up and walked out of the room followed closely by the dwarf.
It took a few more minutes before things got underway but before long it actually seemed like everyone was having a good time. Bethany spoke mostly to Sebastian and it seemed so friendly, almost to a weird degree. It was almost as if they were interested in each other. No way, it's impossible. Not that Simon would have minded. Sebastian was one of his closest friends and there was definitely no one at this table better for her. Fenris spoke mostly everyone, minus the mages. He would occasionally make bets with Varric on the table, which would lead Fenris to gather even more debt to Varric than he already had. The food was surprisingly good as well despite all of his previous apprehensions as well.
It wasn't long before a few hours had passed. The food had winded down and now everyone was just focusing on conversation. Except of course, Edward and Anders. Anders never really got along much with anyone in the group aside from Varric and their conversations were pretty brief. Edward talked mostly to Simon, asking him often of his adventures and how he felt fighting the Arishok one-on-one. Simon asked him about some of his history as well.
Edward was apparently a half-elf, a rare mix of elf and another race. He told Simon that his mother was an elf and as a result she had two magically attuned children, with Edward being the odd man out. But instead of growing bitter and jealous he ended up feeling sorry for them and chose to become a templar to look out for them other than oppress them. Apparently they both were being trained at the tower.
They talked a bit more until Simon noticed Merrill silently looking into space on the other side of the table. "Merrill, come here." Simon yelled across. She looked his way before getting up and walking over. "Excuse me for a moment Edward. I have a duty to attend to." Edward nodded and went back to watching the others.
"Yes, Hawke? What is it?" Simon patted the arm of his chair as a sign to have her sit on it. She took a moment but figured it out in the end.
"Actually I just wanted to see how things were."
"Things? What things?"
"Life, magic, whatever you want to talk about." She looked at him for a moment before responding.
"I've never gotten the feeling you wanted to talk about life and magic with me." Simon could tell this was already going south.
"Whatever do you mean, I love talking to you."
"Like that time you talked the keeper into keeping the Arulin'Holm?" Oh Maker, I knew she'd bring that up. Look, Simon, keep it together, you love her remember.
"Look Merrill, can I be straight with you?" She nodded in agreement. "All those things I've done to you, all the times where I've stood in your way. I did those to protect you. I think you are dealing with some dangerous things and I don't want you hurt."
"You've hurt me more than any demon or blood magic has." All those times we never spoke, she's letting it all out. I must use my trump card. Simon stood up and no one seemed to notice. But then he did something he hadn't done to any girl in his company before. He gave her a hug. Such a simple thing but the way the table got really silent said otherwise. A moment later he retracted and they stared at each other for a moment. "You're doing some dangerous things Merrill and you've done stupid things. I've berated you, we've fought and yet you still follow that path. However I will always stand with you. Why? Because I love you, and you are like a sister to me. In fact," Simon turned to the rest of the table. "You're all like family to me, and as long as I see you all about to make stupid decisions, I will always come to your aid and try to point you on the right path!"
Simon took a deep breath, and there was silence. He looked back to Merrill who looked on the verge of tears but yet was smiling anyway. She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Simon and cried into his chest.
"I'll be the first to say it: that was beautiful, Hawke." Varric added.
"Said the dwarf sarcastically." Simon responded. Merrill looked up at him and was about to say something but a loud noise interrupted her. The loudest burp Simon had ever heard in his life came from across the table and it came from none other than Isabela. Who Simon could tell was already drunk.
"Maker, Hawke that speech and all the hugging has made me moist. Elf! Tattoo boy. Fenris! Get upstairs now!" Everyone looked to Fenris. He seemed red, Simon had never seen him embarrassed before.
"Uh, Isabela don't you think it would be better to-,"
"Now!"
"Fine." Fenris and Isabela got up and began to walk upstairs. Everyone watched in silence until they were both gone. Simon didn't even realize until it was too late that, they were obviously going to have to use his room.
"Damn it! They're going to use my bed!" Karr barked in agreement. Apparently he should be the only person in Simon's bed other than Simon. Despite that though everyone got a good laugh out of it.
Another few hours passed and everyone left. Varric, Sebastian and Fenris left the same way they came albeit with Varric asking him "how was it" and the others just went their separate ways. It wasn't long before Bethany and Edward left as well however they were last. Simon helped Bohdan and Sandal clean up afterwards if only to take up time in case anything had to dry in his room before he decided to sleep.
He took a moment to write everything down in his journal and took a moment to speak to his mother. "I wish you could have been here, Mother. It was some of the most fun I had since you died. I even fixed things with Merrill. You know, she was one of the few who came to show their condolences that night. I think you would have liked her had you gotten to know her. Anyway, I'm tired now, so I'll talk to you later."
He was just about to blow out the candle light in his room when he heard the clicking of a window. He turned fast and to his surprise, a figure stood in his room. It was a girl, he could tell but she was wearing a hood.
"What's up, lover boy?" The voice was easy to recognize.
"Tallis. You came. A little late but…" She took off her hood to reveal that elven, flame haired face of hers.
"Sorry, I don't like parties. I got enough of them with the Duke, remember."
"Of course." They both laughed and she walked over at sat next to him on his bed. "I missed you, you know."
"And I you. But the Qunari has missions for me, it's likely we'll never see each other anyway."
"I don't care about that. Just give me your time now." And with that they locked lips. It was a passionate kiss that seemed to last an eternity. But Simon did not mind. They separated after a while and Tallis spoke.
"Look, I have to go, Hawke."
"If you have to go then at least give me the night." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm not having sex with you. I'm not that kind of girl, you know." Simon laughed.
"Of course not." Tallis laughed in response.
"But how about this." She crawled onto the bed completely and got under the covers. "I'll sleep with you, Emphasis on the sleeping part."
"Works for me I guess. Simon did the same before they kissed once more and went to sleep. However as Simon had expected she was gone by morning. It wasn't so bad though, he considered it better than nothing and he just had to hope they would see each other again.
So that's it, my one shot. It had been in my head for a while and I did it. It ended up being longer than I anticipated and I even cut stuff out. Be sure to let me know what I can improve on in the future, I would love to do this again.