23: Resistance

How anyone could be so sweet and innocent yet consort with demons willingly was beyond Beau. She eyeballed the cup of water Merrill was offering her, finally taking it and sniffed it. "I'm not going to lie, the water here is dangerous."

"I've boiled it," Merrill said quickly, trying not to wring her hands as she finally sank down into the other chair at her small table. It creaked and swayed dangerously beneath her already underfed frame and she paled. "Three times actually."

Beau tipped the cup but did not let the water touch her lips. It occurred to her that she was a shitty friend. Though, in all fairness to herself, she had made it abundantly clear that she didn't WANT to be friends with the weirdo blood mage. Was Merrill a blood mage? She didn't use blood magic, not that Beau seen, outside of that one time at Sundermount. The problem was she thought demons were 'okay'. Why was she here? Oh yeah, she wasn't talking to Fenris, or more importantly, Varric. Isabela was off hunting for her 'relic' again. She had already bothered Aveline for the day and that had been embarrassing for them both.

"Merrill…" Speaking of Aveline… she was going to her best female friend a favor and she was both dreading it and anticipating a lot of laughs. "I'm going to the Hanged Man tonight, with a group, would you like to come?" Not really as a group, but Isabela might turn up, she was avoiding Varric and Fenris could screw his broody self.

"Oh well, I don't really have much money, Hawke."

And she had another bit of 'it occurred to her', frowning slightly. "Haven't you found a job or something?" she asked curiously.

"No, not really. I spend a lot of time wandering around, find myself in the oddest of places. Then, I help you out and sometimes we find coin doing that."

Merrill needed a job. Or at least paid for the work she did do. Hm. "Drinks are on me tonight." She'd have to think about this, there must be something Merrill was good at, besides consorting with demons.

Right?

She was such an idiot, doing this. Where was Merrill? Beau was fairly close to feeling embarrassed as she sat at the table, with Donnic opposite her. He was cute, she supposed, in a law-abiding, boring sort of way. Right up Aveline's alley, too bad Aveline wasn't capable of actually sacking up and doing this herself. Speaking of her friend, Beau's green eyes searched for her, frowning slightly when she realized Aveline had slipped off.

"There were supposed to be others, right?"

He sounded as uncomfortable as she felt. "Yeah, there were, plans changed apparently." She raised her tankard, glaring at the ale in it before swallowing a few mouthfuls. "Rotten bastards."

"I beg your pardon?"

"They're coming, I'm sure of it." She flashed him an easy grin. They'd better be coming.

"Right…" He was pushing himself up. "Look, I should really-"

"Please, stay, have another drink." She was giving the tab over to Aveline, she was owed some serious compensation for this debacle. It did not get better, at all. Beau didn't know Donnic nor he her, outside of Aveline, but Aveline had requested Beau not talk her up. Poor Donnic was positively glaring at her by the time their third round had hit and she was searching the room, promising herself she was going to buy new friends. She had money now, she could do that, right?

There was Merrill! Beau about stood up to wave her over only to realize Merrill was not alone. She had brought Anders. Beau sank further down in her seat, closing her eyes with a groan when he immediately looked over at her and Donnic. "So, uh, Aveline is great?" Aveline was an ass.

And bam, date over.

Beau was left there sitting by herself with her jaw on the table as Donnic walked off. She was going to murder Aveline, groaning more when Merrill and Anders joined her. "What took you so long?"

"I got lost looking for him." Merrill shrugged her shoulder with an apologetic smile. "Darktown is so dark, and scary."

"She said there was a group having drinks." Anders would not call Beau and Donnic a 'group' so much as a date and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He knew he had no claim on her, if anything, he had been pushing her away. Emphasis on had. Lately, he wasn't sure anymore.

"That was the plan." Aveline was coming and Beau stood up, planting her hands on her hips with narrowed eyes.

"I couldn't do it," Aveline said apologetically, her cheeks tinting pink. "What did he say?"

"Aveline! He thinks I like him!" And she did NOT. She dropped back down with a grunt, watching as another round was set out before everyone. Anders even took a sip. "I thought you couldn't drink."

"I can't get drunk." He clarified with an easy smile, feeling relief sinking in. She hadn't been here on a date of sorts with Donnic. This had something to do with Aveline and he took a larger drink, his mood rapidly climbing. "Besides, who would tend to you during a massive downward spiral if we were all drunk?"

"Fair point." Her own mood was back on track, watching Aveline fidget was helping.

"Hawke…" Aveline groaned, joining them at the table and buried her face in her hands. "I blew it…"

"Yes, yes you did." Beau was feeling so much better, returning the smile Anders gave her and leaned back in her chair. Now that the awkwardness with Donnic was over, she was going to properly enjoy her drink. "You're not usually such a…" She almost said coward but refrained, knowing that would be hitting way below the belt given everything Aveline had done and accomplished since Lothering. She would never call a woman who performed a mercy kill on her own husband a coward. "You're not normally so shy."

"No, I'm not. I'm- I've spent so long focusing on my job that I didn't focus on me and now I'm totally lost on how to do this."

"Not with a sheath of wheat and three goats."

"Oh, shut it you!" But Aveline was laughing, shaking her head when Merrill and Anders both looked at her curiously. "If Hawke wants to be an ass and tell you, she's more than welcome too."

She was definitely an ass.

"So, all that was because Aveline has a crush?"

Tonight, Beau had refused Anders walking her home. She had insisted she walk HIM home for once, figuring she'd use the old tunnels to get back to Hightown. "Yes, though I think crush is a bit of an understatement. I think she loves the guy. I don't know who to feel sorry for." Donnic was boring, to her. Aveline was… focused and driven, she was being diplomatic.

"Both, feel sorry for them both."

She was snickering as he let them into his clinic, noting the fresh new locks. It seemed like he was constantly changing them, not that she blamed him. "Do you remember when we first met?"

Anders didn't look at her, just moved to begin lighting the candles and various lanterns, bathing them in the warm glow. "Yes, I was healing a boy. Justice sensed you as a threat."

She followed him when he disappeared behind the partitions that separated his area from the rest of the clinic. Over the past few years, she had noticed how it had gone from definite bachelor pad to something that was almost homelike, something tidy and inviting. She wasn't sure if that was her own perception or if… no, things had changed on his end. It was as if he cared. Though, she noted his desk was still as messy as ever, it made her smile. "You lit up at the sight of me, literally," was she drunk? No, but she was pleasantly buzzing.

That had him laughing as he began tugging off his robe, revealing a pair of breeches and a plain cloth shirt beneath it. "You make it sound romantic when it wasn't." He draped his robes along the back of his chair, finally turning to face her. "That feels like a lifetime ago, sometimes." He accepted the bowl of water she ladled for him from his bucket, holding it in one hand while reaching out with the other to cup the side of her face. Just the feel of her skin beneath his calloused palm was enough to set his own flesh tingling. He hadn't been this close to her, in this way, since the night of their 'tea' and Bodahn interrupted. "After our first meeting and that night at the Chantry, what had happened with Justice and when you wanted to hear about it… I hadn't thought to find a woman who would look past all that."

Beau's heart had just went into overdrive and when his palm slid down to the side of her throat, she knew he could feel it.

"And now, now I worry about you. What if your money and position aren't enough anymore?" Because the templars were cracking down even more, if that were possible, under Meredith's orders. "But I'm still a man, and I've tried resisting, Beau…"

He was impossibly close, their bodies nearly touching and she knew it wasn't the drink she had had earlier making her dizzy now. "Anders…" Her own hands were now on him, holding him right where he was incase he regained his senses and tried backing away. "I don't want you to resist."

Whatever had been left of the resistance that had been whittling away day by day was gone and that bowl of water hit the floor before her back hit the wall a second later. His hand was now gripping the back of her neck whereas hers had instantly gone for his hair, letting it down from the tail he wore it in, it reached his shoulders now, she buried her fingers in those dirty blonde locks. "Anders?" If he stopped now, she'd probably go mad.

"I'm done resisting."