I want to be a burrito when I grow up

Vincent was looking forward to seeing Rosie again, with her busy with school and him busy with the grey wardens, their schedules didn’t line up too terribly well. Seeing Rosie was always a highlight of Vincent’s day, probably more so than he even admitted to himself. She was like a breath of cool air on a hot summer day.


The cafe that they’d decided to meet at wasn’t the sort of place that Vincent would usually visit, bit cleaner than the taverns he was used to and he felt slightly out of place in his dirty grey warden gear. He ordered a chai tea while he waited. A bouquet of Rosie’s favourite flowers sitting off to the side, felt like a silly gesture really, not like he had a chance with someone like Rosie, but he did love doing anything that resulted in her smiling.

Rosalie arrived in a rush to the cafeteria, strands of blonde hair falling out of the bun as she looked around the café looking for her friend. When she spotted him, a very tired but eager smile was directed in his way and she ran towards him to hug Vincent, trying to not drop her books in the process “Vincent!!! I am so glad to see you!” after all the time that she had been in Orlais, she spoke the language quite fine but the strong Ferelden accent lingered.

She put her books on the table before ordering tea and grabbing his hand excitedly “I have news!!! But those can wait!! I want to know how are you doing?” her cheeks were slightly red, and hopefully Vincent would think that the cause was that she had came in a rush, but the truth was simpler: Rosalie forgot how much attracted she was to the warden in the gaps that they were apart, and it always hit her full force in the remeetings.

Vincent smiled as soon as he saw Rosalie arrive, seeing her was always a bit like seeing the sun peek through the clouds on a very rainy day. At times it was a bit unnerving, mostly because deep down he didn't really feel like he deserved that sort of happiness, even though those feelings were really just all in his head and completely absurd.

Rosalie! It's good to see you! He slid the flowers closer to her side of the table so that she'd notice them. I got these for you, remembered you'd said something about this sort of flower. As far as how I'm doing, good I guess I mean there's still the blight to worry about but so far the vast majority of devastation has been in the Anderfels and under the surface with the dwarven cities.

“You brought me forget-me-not? That’s so sweet Vincent!” her cheeks were incredibly red; she felt incredibly flattered about the fact that Vincent had remembered her favorite flower and of course she loved the detail. “You have to tell me what you like for the next time that we met! You can’t be the only one giving gifts, that would be unfair!”

“Poor dwarves…I hope that they can rebuild with the help of the wardens” said the blonde as she added sugar to her drink. “You guys do a lot for people, I admire you a lot for working in such a selfless order” sure, there were rotten apples, but those happened to be everywhere

“Actually one of my news is related to the wardens, in a sort of way?” she said “but it’s kind of a secret because I don’t want to share the full information until I complete my research” she said lowering her voice after checking that people weren’t paying attention to them “A lot of people has died and will die because of the taint; I might be on the right path to avoid that, at the least temporary”

Vincent smiled warmly as Rosie thanked him for the flowers, though when she commented about knowing what he liked he just sort of shrugged, to be perfectly honest he wasn't even sure what he liked but if it would make Rosie happy to get something for him, he made a mental note to ponder on what sorts of things he might like. 

He definitely felt bad for the dwarves, they'd always gotten the worst of things where blights and darkspawn were concerned. From what he could tell the last of the remaining dwarves were now all on the surface, though despite losing their homes the king was still honouring his alliance with the Grey Wardens.

The Orzammar dwarves have been given some land where Ostagar once stood by King Byron to rebuild, it was quite kind of them. Vincent wasn't sure what to say about the Grey Wardens being selfless, there were those that had joined the order willingly that didn't have a death sentence or a life of prison hanging over their heads, then again one could be guilty of doing criminal things while also being capable of doing selfless things he supposed.

He tilted his head to the right curiously as Rosie mentioned her news was related to the Grey Wardens in some sort of way. An eye brow raised when she mentioned it was a secret, he did love secrets.

Avoid dying of the taint? Hell even just temporarily would be an amazing feat, are you serious? Not that he thought Rosie would kid about such things, but considering how close to home the topic hit, he was definitely exceedingly curious, while also not wanting to get his hopes up.

Rosalie nodded; indeed that was quite kind of them, although she could not give further input on the topic. The doctor was a civilian, and the way these things were handled were not her area of expertise, she guessed that maybe people like her brother felt the same when she spoke about medicine
Seeing him so excited made her heart warm, and Rosalie nodded as she directed her brightest smile at Vincent’s direction “Indeed, I found a couple of older texts which lead me on the right path. Hopefully it all will work out!” said the blonde cheerfully as she took a sip from her mug

“I…I might have some selfish motivations behind my implication in this research” said Rosalie, a blush appearing in her cheeks as she gazed at Vincent over her mug “I know how hard the wardens fight, and don’t get me wrong I do really want this to work out for everybody, but maybe hopefully I can help you…” Rosalie blushed harder before adding quickly “all”

Vincent definitely wasn't a book person, he'd really never even read for fun. There was one time he'd gotten bored enough at the Keep that he'd read a book on the History and Lineages of Orlais, but he'd only gotten about five pages in. Her excitement on the topic of the taint was intoxicating though, she definitely seemed like she was on to something, even if he'd probably never understand the technical shit behind it all.

Selfish motives? Weird thing to say, for a moment it seemed like she was particularly keen on specifically himself getting the cure, but then she said all. You all. Now he wasn't so sure if she'd meant she was most interested in helping him or just everyone.

As far as I know the only things the taint does for us is making us immune from darkspawn and helps us sense when they are near, handy in a blight but that's about it. A lot of grey wardens, including myself, would love to know that one day we could just retire and not worry about the calling forcing us to end our lives sooner.

“I have yet to figure out if I can keep the darkspawn immunity, although I can’t promise it, not until I find out which mechanism causes it. I assume it has something to do with the brain since it’s the one that processes like the information that we receive from the environment” there was not a lot of info about how it was done, and only a few erudites from tevinter spoke about biological wires that passed the information in ways that worked in a similar fashion to magic.

“I want that too. To save wardens from the calling, and civilians from an early death.” Said Rosalie as she finished her coffee “Someday you will be able to retire to a beautiful house with an amazing partner, I’ll work my hardest to ensure a future for all the wardens if it’s in my hand” promised the blonde with the seriousness that she reserved for her research topics.

“I mean, or you can travel around I don’t want to force you to pick a future or anything” said Rosie awkwardly “I don’t even know mine! I have spoken with Cullen and after a long time pondering I think I will stay in Orlais after my studies instead of returning to Ferelden, as I originally planned. I’d like to return eventually and settle there, but I have left too much to do and to learn and the chance to do so is in the university” and maybe she was oversharing because Vincent was here to have a good time and not to hear her rambling. “The good part is that I get to see you more often if I stay! Like if you want to of course, like maybe you have cool warden business to do”

Vincent nodded a couple of times as Rosie spoke, he had no idea how any of it worked, hadn't really thought much about it before. As little as he knew, somehow it did make sense that the brain would be involved, he at least knew that much about human anatomy to understand how important the brain was. He smiled as she talked about wanting to save the wardens from the calling, and from civilians having an early death. It made him imagine a world where people could join the wardens and perhaps not worry about dying from the joining. He still remembered his group of recruits that went under it, out of five people only two survived, two!

He chuckled the way she talked about him having a future, whether that future was a family or just travelling or whatever it was. Not that what she said was funny, it was how she said it, she spoke so fast when she got excited about a topic and it was truly adorable. He smiled as she talked about being in Orlais after University ended and how it would mean getting to see him more, which made him really happy, happier than he imagined he'd feel.

I'm looking forward to it, all of it really but especially you staying in Orlais. Not that there's anything wrong with Ferelden, I mean any place that produces someone like you had to be a pretty great place. Fuck he sounded pathetic, or corny, he wasn't really sure which.

“I know what you mean don’t worry” said Rosalie with a warm smile “but someday I need to take you to Ferelden. Denerim is impressive, even if it’s widely different from Orlais. Honnleath is cozy and small but since it’s where I was born, I would love to show it to you too”.

At the mention of her birthplace, she remembered another bit of her conversation with Cullen “Oh! By the way! Before I forget, you are invited to my graduation! It’s after my exams, in two months to be precise. My brother Cullen and his family will be there, and I’d like you to come if duty is not keeping you away” of course Rosalie would not press further, but she’d be very happy to see him in the celebration.

Vincent smiled as Rosalie talked about Ferelden, especially when she spoke about her home. He never imagined he'd ever actually be excited about visiting Ferelden before, but there it was. He was about to say something when she spoke up about the graduation, he smiled warmly and nodded his head eagerly, perhaps a bit too eagerly, or perhaps he was just being paranoid since being around Rosalie made him feel like a thousand butterflies had taken root inside his stomach.

I'd love to be there, it's enough notice I should be able to, though due to my position in the wardens I can't make a determined promise. There's always the possibility of things coming up that I can't avoid. I really do want to make it though. He felt the need to emphasise how much he wanted to be there, despite the fact that there was a chance his duties would take precedence. Speaking of duties, he sighed and checked the time.

Well, I really should get going, I have a group of recruits to make sure are up to snuff and a blight to check on. I'll be sure to write when I get a chance, otherwise I'll hopefully see you at your graduation!!! Leaving made him feel sad, but it was unavoidable.