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[maximumcake]

"You've reached Max Maximum. Leave a detailed message and I'll call you back as soon as I can. Thanks."

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[maximumcake]

[Max, maybe naively, is not going to infer that the owner of the earring was a target for assassination. He could just be a lover. Right? Right?

Besides, Max is far more distracted trying to parse the rest of what Zevran has said.]

Wait. No! You don't have to go. Who was it that just showed up?

[A friend of Zevran's is here? Max would like to know more.]

[epicure]

( Why not both?

There's a soft clinking sound as Zevran sets the earring down, followed by the creak of what one could easily assume is his bed as he settles onto it. )

I spoke of the Grey Wardens, yes? ( He knew he did to a few people, but he couldn't recall, given how most comments were said in passing anyway. ) Solona, the one that I and a few others were traveling with...she is here. ( There's a fondness in his tone, and if Max is perceptive enough, just a touch of sadness. )

[maximumcake]

Yeah, a little.

[Max does pick up on that tone of sadness. His curiosity grows.]

Solona, huh. Are the two of you close?

[epicure]

I was hired to kill her, I failed, she spared my life and allowed me join her and her other companions on their quest to rid the world of the Blight.

Yes, you could say we are close, I suppose.

( A beat. ) The thing is - and I am uncertain if I should speak on her behalf - she is dead. I had not expected to see her again.

[maximumcake]

Oh. Uh... Wow. That's one hell of a first meeting story.

[Max would ask more, but the other half of this cautions him to tread more carefully. Meeting someone here who you know to be dead must be a shock even for an assassin. Maybe especially.]

I can see why you're troubled. Does she know?

[epicure]

She does. ( He'll just skip over the part where she had a breakdown over it in the hallway when she arrived. ) I am well acquainted with death, and though I was sad to see her go, we all knew what would happen when she struck the final blow. But I - I am not used to the dead returning, and while I am happy to see her I am...uncertain about a few things.

[maximumcake]

[She does. Well, that cuts down on some of the awkwardness, thinks Max, though probably not the pain.]

I'd think it's pretty natural for you to be uncertain. I mean, you had to mourn her and accept her death and now here she is again.

Can you be a little more specific? Did the two of you have some things that were unresolved still?

[epicure]

A fair enough point.

( Zevran is silent again, and when he speaks its with a faint hint of annoyance. )

No. ( no. he couldn't be more specific and no they don't have anything that needs to be resolved. definitely not. ) We were traveling companions, good friends - if I were to be so bold to call anyone such. Nothing more than that. ( The exhaled breath at the end of that thought sounds like he was about to say something else. but he doesn't. ) That is why I do not understand why the bloody fae would give me this.

[maximumcake]

[Nothing more than that? Then, why the annoyance in Zevran's tone? Unless... perhaps the assassin doth protest too much.]

Did you want to be more?

[epicure]

( Unfortunately, his displeased tone lingered, and grew just a little more aggressive when he spat out his reply. )

There was nothing more to be.

[maximumcake]

[That sounds like a touched nerve.]

I'm sorry...

[Max's tone is careful and soft as he adds.]

What did you intend to do with that earring?

[epicure]

Nothing. ( a lie. ) Really, I should have pawned it ages ago in Denerim. An item as beautiful as this could have earned me plenty of coin. But it is...sentimental, I suppose, for whatever that may mean to an assassin such as myself, with little room or need for such things.

[maximumcake]

I don't see a problem with being a little sentimental. But I'm not sure I understand the connection between this and Solona.

[Is it just that two things from his past showed up at once or... is there more to it?]

[epicure]

( there's more to it than that, but Zevran can barely comprehend the connection himself, let alone admit it out loud. )

Nothing, I suppose. I must have simply linked them together with how quickly one arrived after the other.

Now that I have spoken of it aloud, I see I am being a bit ridiculous. Ah, but even I have my off days.

[maximumcake]

If you say so.

[Max doesn't sound like he's buying it.]

I'm happy to act as a sounding board any time.

And, Zevran, you obviously care about her a lot. I don't see any reason to hold back now. this could be a second chance for both of you.

[Hint, hint.]

[epicure]

( Zevran hummed, his tone still leaning on the side of irritation. He opted to not give a serious response though, and offered instead, a joke: )

You are right, Max. I should take this chance to finally woo her into my bed.

[maximumcake]

[There's a huff from Max, almost assuredly accompanied by an eye roll.]

Well, sure. That's the name of the game here, isn't it?

But, here's a crazy thought: you could take her on a date.

[epicure]

Would you like to know what happened to the last person I took on a date, Max?

[maximumcake]

When you say it like that, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like the answer.

[epicure]

What do you mean, Max? I was just going to tell you that I took her dancing, swept her off her feet, shared a bottle of the finest Antivan wine and then made sweet, sweet love to her until the sun rose.

Oh, and then I plunged a dagger into her heart. Romantic, no?

[maximumcake]

[Well, that's something he would have been happier never explicitly knowing.]

Zevran...

[Heavy sigh.]

I'm sure that kind of... lifestyle didn't make forming attachments easy for you. But, is the idea of waking up next to her the next morning, you know, without putting a knife through her heart really that scary for you?

[epicure]

( wow max he thought you were his friend??? friends don't call friends out like that on their emotional vulnerability. )

I cannot imagine how waking up beside a beautiful woman could ever be scary. ( just going to dodge, duck, dip, dive, dodge over the implication that that has anything to do with love or whatever horrendous emotion he is currently feeling. ) Well, unless she is the one intending to do the stabbing.

[maximumcake]

[Tough love, Zevran. Tough love.]

That's not what I meant and you know it.

Do you like her? I mean like like her.

[epicure]

Of course I like her. She is beautiful and strong and granted me the chance for freedom - a sort of freedom at any rate, outside of the Crows.

Beyond that, I do not know what you wish me to say, Max.

[maximumcake]

[Okay, Zevran. You leave him no choice.]

Are you in love with her?