exsiliumlogs | human kindness is overflowing

Entry tags:

human kindness is overflowing

Date & Time: March 6th, around 8pm
Location: whatever hole-in-the-wall Zevran frequently drinks in
Characters: Zevran Arainai (

bloodyantivan), Kate Kane (

gevurah)
Summary: beers and bro-ing out
Warnings: Some references to violence. Will warn for anything else as appropriate.

[What is it, Zevran ponders as he watches the door, about me and redheads?

If Zevran were suspicious, at least more so than any Chantry-educated Antivan elf, he might think that they were an omen. A bad-luck omen, a reminder of the violence he's done, a symbol of penance or even oncoming punishment. Red is the color of blood, of sin and desire, and he's known plenty of those things, and been beholden to their power more times than he's likely to ever admit. He paints himself as a master, but what man ever is?

He remembers Kate's vivid red from the hazy mess of childish emotion he recently experienced. He is curious to see what sort of adult she grew into. She sounds beautiful, elegant, and completely in control. She sounds strong. He has no doubt of that, if Leliana was at all fond of the woman she must have been rare indeed. Leliana and he held very similar tastes, after all.

Leliana. Another redhead. His charming Orlesian coquette, a rose, he'd call her, if he called her at all. Sadly, they understood each other almost too well to ever have happened. There was little trust between people who seduced and lied and laughed and looked pretty for money. Whether whores or assassins or bards, those who could see the ribbons tying on the masks were always a little bit wary, readying swords behind their backs just as flash-quick as smiles.

Zevran had meant to speak with Leliana, meant to take her into his confidence about a personal matter some time ago. Alas, he missed the opportunity, and she is gone, and his mind, no, his heart is quite full of worry about another redhead. And now he is here, waiting for yet another redhead still, to have drinks and be charming and friendly and see what worth this Kate woman has to offer as friend and ally. If there is nothing at all, at least the company seems like it will be good.

His instincts him tell him otherwise, however.

He's honestly a little relieved Kate is not the least bit interested in him. Otherwise, he'd feel almost obligated to throw himself at her, if she is even slightly as pretty as she was a child, and half as fascinating as she sounds. He is already quite fond of her, and Leliana seem quite interested. He and Leliana quite often shared tastes, in both clothes and women. But lately the prospect of all those games seems exhausting. It is perhaps the fatal illness known as being in love.

Horrible. However is he supposed to work like this? Zevran is a little disgusted by himself.

But he thinks no more on it, tapping his boot against the base of the table.

Much to the chagrin of the server, he drinks only a glass of water with a lemon sliver while he waits. He is early. He almost always is. Though it's a familiar venue, he hates settling down in a place he intends to stay for any length of time without getting to know it.

Whatever will Messere Shem-lina Kate think of him, he wonders. He has gathered from some interactions that women from other places and eras find him a bit strange. She has so adamantly told him she's does not know elves each time they've met. It is a little splinter beneath the skin, the "I'm not sure elves really existed" he keeps hearing from humans. Zevran is not sure how to work it free yet, but infection hasn't set in, so what else can he do but learn more? Outright inquiry, directing questioning into history and archaeology would be strange. Still, he intends to find out more about that, too. It almost feels like being on the job, to have such a mystery to ferret out.

The part where he's pretty sure he doesn't want to know the truth is familiar, too.]

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Ah, yes, Wherever! [He gives a theatrical laugh, and finishes his ale.] I was headed there after I left Antiva and found myself in the most unpleasant country, full of dogs and mud and darkspawn. And then here.

But tell me, which part of Wherever do you prefer? There are no elves, it seems, but are there perhaps dragons? Is there dancing? What are the parties like?

No elves or dragons. [ She almost snickers. ] If there are, they hide themselves well.

Parties can go on till late night. Always loud and always energetic. But there's no fun in a party where everyone's standing around.

You are better off not having to deal with dragons. Or darkspawn, for that matter. They have an unrepentant love of destruction that would be admirable if not for the smell of them. [Zevran laughs.] So is there dancing at these parties? Small games, orgies, other such entanglements?

[ She's about to down the rest of her drink when she hears "orgies" and pulls the mug away from her mouth, letting out an amused noise in the back of her throat. Just so she doesn't spill the drink, she sets it down on the table. ]

Depends on the kind of party. Orgies are... frowned upon. Public display of sex can get you fined by the authorities.

Such a shame! [Zevran 'tsks' quietly.] I must admit the world outside Antiva is less exciting than I imagined it. It seems everywhere I go people are missing perfectly good chances to have fun. Chantry services, mage's towers, and even faraway parties... [He sighs dramatically.] I suppose that the only place orgies are in style are in brothels, and Imperium parties.

[Somehow he'll have to live through that disappointment.]

I do believe it's your turn to get the drinks...?

Have you lived there your whole life? [ He's mentioned it a couple of times to pique her curiosity. She wonders what it's like. ]

Sure. [ She waves over one of the barkeeps and orders another two, tall drinks for herself and Zevran. ]

Most of it. I only left just recently. Unfortunately, everywhere else seems quite cold in comparison, and nowhere near as amusing.

[Zevran smiles when the drinks arrive, and raises his glass.] ¡Salud!

[ She raises hers once more and her head pulls back as she takes a shot. As soon as she's swallowed, she wipes the corner of her mouth and continues to pursue the topic. ]

Moving onto better things? [ She remembers their first conversation. Hard not to wonder what's going on with a man covered in blood, after all. ]

Ah, more that I was taking a small, well-earned sabbatical. [He had been running away, though toward what, he never was quite certain.]

As I said, I had never before been outside Antiva. I ended up taking a contract in Ferelden, and, failing in that, was taken in by the very woman I was hired to kill. Thus, in Ferelden I have remained, to fight by her side.

[Normally this is a story to be told with great romantic embellishment, but Zevran hurries past it.] And what of you, my friend? You have the worldliness of a traveler, if my impressions are not mistaken.

[ It sounds more like the plot line to a romantic thriller. She used to wonder if that really happened, falling for someone you're sent to terminate. Kate has no idea herself, being on the Batman rule when she began her training back with her father's little "murder of crows". ]

I did quite a bit of traveling a couple of years back. [ She shrugs, like it isn't that big of a deal. ] I needed a break.

A break from what? Trouble on the job, or... perhaps it was a woman? [A raised eyebrow. Zevran isn't aware of how romantic he's made his own story sound, which conveniently spares him the trouble of attempting to deny his feelings.]

[ To get away from the mess of herself she'd made. If Kate had always been one thing, it was a soldier.

And she botched that up terribly after separating from the Army.

Zevran did hit a raw nerve, however. Kate's expression falters. ]

... Something like that. It was a long time ago, anyway.

[ She wanted to recreate their relationship, but Renee had changed. For the worse? Kate doesn't know. She worries about her and still misses her. ]

[Zevran has the good sense to look sympathetic. It's no challenge, because he is, rather. He knows all about wanting to run from that kind of heartache, though if Kate is lucky, it isn't because she more or less killed her last girlfriend.

And came around covered in the blood of her last boyfriend. Well, that last part is not likely a problem she has.]

Nothing like travel to clear the head, hm? So aside from being kidnapped by the Initiative, what is it you do? You do not strike me as the sort who occupies herself with idleness.

I'm starting to get asked that a lot. [ She lightly chuckles. ] If you mean here, I mostly workout or explore the city.

There's not a lot to do here.

I have found myself preoccupied with learning some of these new things - of electricity and guns and flushing toilets. These are all well-known to you, yes? How is it that everyone is not tremendously lazy? The people here have known a long war, is it so where you are from?

[Zevran sips his beer thoughtfully.]

[ She snorts a bit. ]

They were made to make living easier, not lazier. Fire doesn't quite cut it anymore in big cities with millions of people. Toilets for hygiene's sake.

[ But she pauses at the war bit. ]

We've been to war a few times. My home country, at least. Lots of countries have been in wars at some point.

And have you been to war? That must be quite a sight. The guns and other weapons must make the killing so much less personal.

[Zevran sounds amused at the idea.]

And yet perhaps no less messy, come to think of it... hm, well, one must get one's hands dirty to kill in such great numbers, anyhow.

No. [ Yes, but a different kind of war. ] My [ a small pause ] father's in the Army.

[Zevran raises an eyebrow. That is surprising news. Then again, many nobles serve in their king's armies. She doesn't strike him as the simple daughter of a soldier, though there is a fighter's quality about her.]

Oh? Is he a brave man?

Incredibly brave. [ It took a lot of stupidity, but bravery to hide secrets from family. To look them everyday in the eye for twenty years and hide the fact her sister wasn't dead all this time. ] Soldiers always are.

Are they? It seems to me that baring arms in itself does not make a brave woman or man. [Truly, Zevran has known soldiers both brave and cowardly, loyal and mercenary. And some of the most fearless people were those overlooked by the armies of kings...]

It's a different process... hell, even thinking process. Those who enlist [ kind of ] know what they're signing up for.

Serving your country is the highest honor.

Can anyone truly know war before they have experienced it? Even I was surprised at the brutality of battle the first time I experienced it, and that was after many, many years of training and preparation. [Then again he hardly enlisted as a simple soldier - though the cruelty he's experienced ought to have made him even more prepared, he thinks.]/small>

--I have heard that serving a cause is a high honor, true, but it is almost always from the ones who require service.

[ She could say the same, but she has to play the part of the merely concerned civilian. ]

Not all... you're right. I suppose you can prep your mind for it, but when it comes down to what you need to do on the front lines... [ Her dad had killed lots of men. Never came back maladjusted. ]

--I have never had trouble doing what needs to be done. [Zevran is, above all other things, a killer: he will never question that. He will never stop being an instrument of murder.] But the chaos of the battlefield! It is so noisy, with the clang of weapons and the dismayed shouts of the dying. That took some getting used to, the first time.

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