Thanks for all the reviews so far people :) - time for a little bit of comic relief amongst all that angst! Haha! Now with 100% more of everyone's favourite pirate...
I don't own Dragon Age. Clearly if I did, this would be a cut scene.
CHAPTER TWO
As the sound of rowdy singing, the thudding of goblets, and puke hitting the floor assailed her pointed ears, Merrill knew she was near the infamous pub. For some reason, The Hanged Man had been the first place she had thought to look for Hawke at, but the closer she got to the heaving building, the less certain she became that this had been a wise choice. She wasn't even entirely sure what she expected to find here; Isabella sat on Hawke's lap? A drunken Hawke surrounded by a crowd of patrons regaling them with the tale of frigid Dalish Elf who had turned her down? Merrill stopped in the middle of the street and bit the ends of her cold fingers, rooted to the spot with trepidation. Her feet seemed unable to make a decision of which direction to turn in next: round the corner to the entrance, or an about-turn back to the alienage.
As she stood there, getting rapidly colder, her discomfort increasing by the second, torturing herself with the worst possible scenarios available; she began to realise she may have misjudged Hawke in coming to look for her here first. Would the noble, kindly Hawke (that she thought she knew at least) really turn to such gaudy comforts in a matter of minutes just because her elven friend had taken a shy turn to her advances (if they had been advances at all)? Were there not more salient places that she would have visited first; her Hightown home to speak to her Mother? Perhaps even her Uncle's Lowtown dwellings? Merrill felt misery begin to consume her, it hadn't occurred to her earlier that she may have even upset Hawke or seriously hurt her feelings. A warrior like her was bound to have an enormous pride with a great potential to be wounded- that is if she wasn't being presumptuous in thinking she had the power to do that to Hawke. Merrill's brow began to feel inordinately heavy as she evaluated all the new considerations compounding her choice. She stared aimlessly at the walls of the cream coloured, dusty alleyway, feeling foolish.
"I shouldn't have come…" she whispered. Merrill hugged her gangly arms around her spindly body and held back a frustrated sob.
Just as she began to turn on her heel back towards home, Merrill's eyes were drawn suddenly to a swaying figure stumbling and swaggering around the corner precariously. Squinting her green eyes – Merrill recognised a familiar scantily clad woman – blue bandana askew on the top of her head. The woman steadied herself on an alley wall, before rubbing her eyes and staring at Merrill. Merrill gulped in panic and embarrassment, and made a futile attempt to skulk in the nearest shadow.
"Kitten?" Isabella regained her composure by tugging her corset up, "Are you actually there or am I imagining you?" she pulled at the sash at her waist and took a backwards glance at the male silhouette walking in the opposite direction behind her.
"I'll catch up with you for round two!"
The man acknowledged her with a nod, and carried on walking.
Merrill scurried half-worried, half-cursing to Isabella's side and helped to steady her to a straight(ish) standing position. Isabella tottered unevenly on her pirate boots.
"Kitten…" she pointed at Merrill's chest and poked her sternum accusatorily, "Why in the name of Andraste's underwear are you out here alone at this time of night" she slurred.
Merrill felt her face flush, hoping that it was too dark and Isabella was too drunk to realise how flustered the elf was,
"I…I was trying to…find…someone" she murmured.
"Oh." Isabella leered, "Well I'm busy tonight, but I suppose, if you wanted to join in…"
"IwaslookingforHawke!" Merrill rushed out before Isabella could finish her sentence. Isabella raised an eyebrow, paused to consider the implications of Merrill's statement, and smirked.
"I seeeeeeeeee" she winked at Merrill conspiratorially.
"No! I…" Merrill threw her gaze to the floor, wondering how Isabella could have possibly guessed her motives that quickly, "I mean she is lovely but I just needed a chat, y'know? About…" Merrill desperately tried to think of any excuse, "Things! Adventury…questy...things. Not…." Merrill cleared her throat, "Dirty...things. Not-"
"It's okay Kitten" Isabella put her hands on Merrill's shoulders and brought her ale-smelling breath to Merrill's ear, "Nothing escapes-"
Isabella pushed Merrill sharply aside to throw up against the wall violently. Merrill retreated and hung back, watching the women wretch against the wall. Awkwardly, she placed a tentative hand on Isabella's back – only to withdraw it quickly when the pirate uttered a guttural groan.
"I should go" Merrill spoke.
"No!" Isabella turned too fast and stumbled over, "No…" she repeated, picking herself up, "Where are you going?"
"Home -" Merrill began.
"Pfft" Isabella grabbed Merrill's wrist, "No you're not! We're going to find that human of yours."
"No, Isabella – I don't think –" Merrill babbled.
"Don't worry Kitten, something tells me Hawke might have a thing for elves" Isabella sniggered mischievously.
"Is that why she is always so nice to Fenris even when he's so moody?"
"Not exactly Kitten" Isabella began to drag Merrill around the corner, "I think it might be a specifically female thing."
"Well that will be why the Keeper likes her so much too" Merrill stated, matter-of-factly.
Isabella shot Merrill a dumbfounded look and burst into a fit of laughter.
"Oh Kitten you really are precious. Come on, you'll need protection!"
Merrill disguised a laugh with a cough as she surveyed the mess before her, not convinced Isabella could even protect herself at this moment.
"Isabella, where are we even going? I'm not even sure where Hawke is."
Isabella turned sharply and knocked into wall face first, reeling back she half-focussed on Merrill's eyes, her gaze uncertain.
"Any ideas?" she asked, apparently ignoring the previous blunder.
"Well, she might have gone to visit her Unc-"
"Great idea!" Isabella tugged determinedly at Merrill's arm, "Let's go see Gamlen! The miserable old dog will love a visit from two gorgeous young women!"
"I…" Merrill began to protest, no longer sure she wanted to visit Hawke's slightly lecherous Uncle in his run-down Lowtown shack when Isabella put it like that. Isabella had, however, already begun to drag her along in zig-zags. Repeatedly cursing herself for ever leaving her house, Merrill allowed herself to be pulled along by the pirate's unusually firm grip, guiltily wishing that her rogue friend would pass out soon and let the elf skulk back home and pretend this incident had never occurred. Tripping over her petite feet, Merrill seriously doubted Isabella could remember the way to Gamlen's house any more.
"I don't know what you would have done if I hadn't found you!" Isabella shouted back at the elf.