in which cassandra explains romance novels

[hurtcomfort]

Occasionally, Cassandra would read those novels she liked to Cole. Of course, he didn't mind. She liked reading, he liked listening. These things made her happy so he wanted to see what they were and just why and how they made her happy in the first place. And...honestly, they made Cole happy as well. These stories always had nice endings. Dramatic twists and turns, of course, but most of the time people ended up happy. And that, of course, made Cole happy.

However, the fact remains that Cole and his very single-minded way of thinking didn't exactly get some aspects of the romance genre. Most notably, the entire concept of 'will they won't they' as well as the idea of people not telling others things. It's silly. The girl liked the lord of the manor, not the soldier, so why was she even pretending to like the soldier to begin with?

So it's one of those reading sessions, when Cassandra and Cole are sitting in some more secluded part of Skyhold that Cole decides to voice his frustrations. After Cassandra pauses in her reading, Cole decides to ask.

"Why don't they talk to each other?"

Well, he tries to ask, at least.

Comments

[ughs]

She is becoming less wary of Cole, although she cannot fully shake the feeling that she should be keeping more than one eye on him. Sometimes it's almost like he is nothing more than a young man, if one who has never eaten a full meal in recent memory, or seen the sun. Knowing who is at fault for that, too, twists at her. But she can do nothing to change the treatment the original Cole received at the hands of the Templars.

Perhaps the thing that makes Cassandra more endeared of Cole is that he doesn't treat her choice of reading material as the subject of a joke. And while she edits out the parts that young men shouldn't hear, or the parts Varric would chastise her for reading to Cole, it's a calming activity.

At least until the question. Cassandra pauses, lowering the book slightly to look at the young man. "I-- it would make things simpler, yes." And a lot less engaging to read.