The RPG Brainrot ZoneTM

“Hawke?”

The mage jumped when he heard his name called, freezing up as he recognized the voice. He only knew one man with a Starkhaven accent who would be in the Kirkwall chantry. He considered that man a friend, but not the kind of friend he wanted to see right at this moment.

‘I never should've come here.’

“I apologize,” Sebastian said, his voice growing louder as he approached. “I didn't mean to frighten you. I've just… never seen you in the chantry unless you've business to attend to.”

Hawke wiped at his eyes with his sleeve in a pitiful attempt to hide his tears. “I am attending to business,” he replied. “Very personal business. I was trying not to draw attention, but,” he looked down at the candle, tipping it a little to drain the liquid pooled at the top, “I suppose that was foolish of me.”

“You are here to pay your respects to someone?” His friend asked.

“Yes,” Hawke answered, his tone rather short. “I… don't want to talk about it.” His eyes remained fixed upon the candle, unwilling to show any more vulnerability than he already was.

“That's all right. May I sit with you?”

‘Not right now,’ he wanted to say. What came out instead was: “sit wherever you want. It's not like this is my house.”

Sebastian chuckled and knelt beside him, seemingly unphased by his grouchy response. “You're right about that. It's the Maker's house.”

“Why would He need a house if He's not even bloody here?” The mage mumbled, not quite clearly enough to be heard.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

In his peripheral, he could just barely see a smile on the other man's face. He knew exactly what he'd said.

“It's quite easy to think the Maker doesn't care for us when we lose the ones we love, isn't it?” Sebastian prodded him.

“I said I didn't want to talk about this,” Hawke grumbled, his grief giving way to annoyance.

“You act this way all month, and then you're back to your usual self when it's over. You really think none of the people you spend your time with have noticed?”

“If they did, I would hope they'd respect my decision not to talk about it.”

“Now you sound just like Fenris,” the prince remarked with a chuckle.

“Don't tell him that,” Hawke said flatly, recalling the tense conversation at the Hanged Man. “I don't think he likes me, even though I really haven't given him a reason not to. Besides being a mage.”

“He respects you enough to follow you around.”

And yet, he was not only willing to fight the most dangerous type of wyvern and harvest its heart, (even though it was actually a gurgut,) but when her potion didn't save her beloved, he expressed his condolences. He could have kicked her while she was down, and she probably expected him to, considering the way he argues with her about the Circle and his actions, but he didn't. She doesn't know why that is, but I think he'd be empathetic to her in that situation because he knows what it's like to not be able to save his lover; also, I don't believe Justice would approve of being nasty to her right after watching her partner die either, no matter how much he would dislike her and her opinions. (I know Anders can be extremely petty in DA2, but it's been five years, and he's not going to be the exact same person he was in Kirkwall. That's not how people work.)

I did not expect to be attending church with my grandparents today, but these are the shirts I've brought and I'm having a bit of a dilemma, lmao. They said it's a very welcoming church but which of these is least likely to get me weird looks? Shirt with cats coloured like pride flags, or shirt with kittens on it that declares my emotional instability??

Thedas doesn't have veterinary care, and they definitely don't know to keep their cats indoors. Considering how many kittens just one cat can have, plus the fact that Amaranthine is a port city which is likely to have lots of cats hanging around to catch mice coming in from ships... you see where I'm going with this, right?

Basically what I'm saying is, much like the way Anders himself used to sleep around for fun whenever he managed to escape the Circle, his cat has definitely been running around and doing the same with the local strays. Which means that by the time Inquisition happens, even if Pounce has passed on, his descendants probably make up like... at least 30% of all the cats in Amaranthine.