its_not_tuesday | it's like taking a guess when the only answer is yes (closed to Jo)

"Eh, that's life." He shrugged and smiled slightly. "Plenty of other bastards have had it much worse."

"That's probably true." She nodded her head before smirking at him a little. "You know, I'm not sure I could picture you as a fisherman."

"I would've been terrible at it," he agreed with an amused hum. "But...logically, that would've been the only real option for me in Redcliffe. It's a fishing village. People fish. That's their livelihood."

"Of course, I can't say anything because I'm not much of a fisher either." She offered, then nodded her head. "I wanted to be a hunter but, beyond that, there wasn't much else for me. I could have stayed at the bar."

"I suppose I've never really had the chance to think about what I 'wanted' to be," he admitted with a bit of a sheepish shrug and a smile. "I was sent to the Chantry young and always assumed I'd become a Templar. Then I became a Grey Warden instead. I never really thought to myself 'You know, I'd like to run an inn. Or sell pantaloons in the Denerim market place.'"

"So, instead, you get teleported to a strange village where you're given a bag shop to run and you're left at the mercy of wicked, wicked people." She chuckled. "Must seem kind of tame."

"As opposed to nearly getting eaten by dragons, constantly being ambushed by monsters, accused of treason, fighting to stop a civil war before it starts?" Alistair pretend to think about it for a moment, taking a long, contemplative sip from his soda. "I suppose you have a point. Though, well, there is a dragon here, so it feels a bit more like home at the moment."

"Did you want to strap on a sword and see if we can beat the dragon up?" She teased before eying him. "So I really don't have to take it as easy on you as you might think. You're used to crazy things going on."

"So are you bored here?" She knew that the others were at times.

"Oh no, I'm fine with letting the dragon be for now," Alistair drawled, making a face. "Did I mention how much the tail hurts?"

He leaned forward and set the bottle down on the coffee table. "Bored? Not at all. There's a lot here that's new to me, you know."

"I think I'd rather deal with the tail than the head." She hummed.

"Right, so it's still all a new learning curve for you." She nodded in understanding, reaching over to set her drink down as well. "I guess I take a lot of it for granted since it's all normal to me. Well, as normal as things can be in a magical village. Though, dragons are new for me."

"That's just it, though, you expect the head!" Alistair replied, pointing at her. "You're very aware of the head. You're watching the head very closely and then, all of the sudden, you're flying through the air and getting very up close and personal with the cliff face."

He studied her thoughtfully for a moment. "Are you bored?"

"Good point." She nodded as he explained how it was that one could find themselves getting acquainted with the tail of a dragon. "Good thing for armor, right? Which probably still doesn't' do a lot against a tail and a cliff face, right?"

She paused before shrugging. "I don't know. Not at times." But there were times, once in awhile, when she felt...restless.

"It sort of depends on the armor." He winced. "I cracked a few ribs, once, because of dented armor."

He thought about her response for a moment, and nodded. "It is a rather small little world we've all been pressed into, isn't it?"

"Ouch." She winced in sympathy. "I've done that just from being tossed around."

"Kind of. I guess a part of me is...waiting." She wondered if that would make sense to him though she supposed it wouldn't since she hadn't explained the whole being dead part.

"It's even worse when you have a giant piece of metal constantly pressing in on them," Alistair replied, making an unpleasant face.

His eyebrow went up. "Waiting?"

She drew in a slow breath, suddenly looking a little unsure of herself. "I...thought this place with Limbo or something when I arrived."

Alistair blinked, not really having any sort of frame of reference for the term 'limbo'. "Ah...sorry, I'm not...really sure what that means."

Crap.

"Uh, a place between life and, I guess, the after life." She rolled her shoulders in a shrugging motion.

He still wasn't quite following. "Why would you think that?" he asked, looking confused.

Jo took another breath to steady herself. "Because I died seconds before I arrived here. Or, I think it was seconds."

Alistair fell silent for a moment, still looking at her like he didn't quite understand, though it was different now...sadder and shocked rather than confused.

"Oh," he replied quietly, his brow furrowing as he looked down at his lap.

All the usual humor and the teasing was gone as she watched him absorb the words and their meaning. Instantly she felt bad as she lowered her own gaze. "Yea..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Then she sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's fine. Well, it's not fine, but it's fine that you told me." He cleared his throat a little and reached over to take her hand in his. "It just...makes me very sad to hear."

"It doesn't weird you out a little?" She asked, sliding her hand into his. "I mean, I'm alive here and everything." She reassured him.

"As I understand it a lot of people here are...ah, in the same situation." It was a little odd, but mainly because she seemed so alive and healthy. But no, mostly he was just...sad.

"I'm...very sorry," he remarked, squeezing her fingers and lifting his gaze to meet hers. "How did it happen? If that's not too invasive of a question."

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