Kessie's Short Stories

[Dragon Age] Oreos

Originally posted 6/19/2021

"Now where did I put them?" Varric mumbled to himself as he looked through the pantry. He cursed to himself when he tried to reach a bit higher up. Curse the Maker for making him vertically challenged. Had to use a stool in his own home and still couldn't reach the top shelf. Go figure.

"Got it!" the dwarf exclaimed as his hand got a firm hold of the plastic packaging. After a very careful extraction, Varric held the Oreo package close as he then moved the stool to its rightful corner. He placed the Oreos on a serving tray he had arranged on the kitchen counter. Humming some Kidz Bop song he heard earlier, he then went into the fridge to pull out the milk.

As he poured the milk into three glasses, Varric kept an ear out for the living room. The sounds of a young voice were easy to make out, but was she talking to someone else or just herself again? As he put the milk back in the fridge, Varric really wished that Hawke kept her medicine in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. The last time he checked, her prescription needed to be filled again, and Hawke had yet to do so. It worried him. It worried him a lot more than he was willing to admit.

Varric let out a sigh before taking the tray and heading into the living room. Varric had his own kid to tend to, and it wasn't Hawke. Still didn't stop him from letting out a sigh of relief in seeing both Hawke and Hana sitting at the living room coffee table. He wouldn't have to force her out of bed today. Good. Not that the promise of deliciously nasty cookies was anything to ignore. Hawke was a sucker for sweets whether she was aware of it or not.

Hana seemed rather chipper though. Actively serving as the only genuine energy in the room, Varric's daughter had her straw yellow hair pulled into two low pigtails today. She was gladly going on about some topic that Hawke couldn't feign actual interest in. Was she going on about how pretty Selena Gomez was again, or that game that her birth giver introduced her to a few weeks back? Oh well, it didn't matter now. Now that Varric had gotten everything today, it was time for the main event.

"We have gathered here today for a very momentous occasion." Varric announced, striding over to the girls and effectively earning their attention. "Today is the day that we teach 7 year old Hana Tethras how to properly dunk, and eat, Oreos."

Hana put on a wide smile. Hawke even gave a rather generous round of applause. She even peppered it with a few "That's our girl!" and "She's getting so big!" cheers for extra effect. It only helped the younger girl beam with pride. Even Varric gave a light smirk of appreciation.

"Now teenybopper," he said as he took a place across from the girls, placing the tray right in the middle of the coffee table. "How do you feel? You nervous? Already got a preemptive tummy ache from all the sugar your old man is going to let you consume?"

"Nope!" Hana told him with a firm shake of her head. She then slammed her hands down with determination before saying, "Bring it, Papa!"

"Rein it back kid," Varric laughed, "Don't want to get the milk all over the coffee table, do we?"

"Sorry." Hana sheepishly apologized. She carefully took her milk glass from her father and placed it to her left. She even gave it a good, hard stare, as if she was pressuring it into not falling over later. Varric snorted before handing Hawke her glass as well, then went about divvying up the cookies.

"Ah, Oreos," Hawke thinly mused as Varric gave her share. "The only cure for my depression."

He tried to hold it back, Varric scoffed. "They are not. That's what your medication is for."

"Well, you don't have to act so sure about it," Hawke frowned. "Give me my delusions and plausible deniability, Varric. It's all I got in this world."