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You're like a big brother.

[ It makes her smile, though, and she huffs a little noise. ]

I only learned it because I had to. When you're practically fighting a war at age twelve you need to make sure you're ready, and that was only the first one.

I am a big bother.

[He grins.]

Twice over at least. Three counting you.

[He has to resist the urge to boop her nose. That would be too much. Especially considering he sobers up a little with her talking about war.]

That's quite young. My little brother was eighteen when he joined the king's army. Some battles just have to be fought, though. The alternative is worse.

Counting me?

[ Her cheeks go a little red, and she lifts a hand to try and cover her mouth. ]

That's how I felt in the Drabwurld. I had to do something to help otherwise I'd lose my mind.

Yes, counting you.

[He's rewarded with blushing and is entirely satisfied.]

That's how it is, sometimes. I hope it ended well for you there, at least, if it was ended before you were taken here.

Oh. I - Hawke.

[ Now she's definitely red, and she can't keep the smile off her face. ]

I suppose it did end, in a way. We were all sent back in time.

Back in time? Is that possible? I mean, I know it is, but that's a long way from being perfected. Sounds more dangerous than it's worth, if you ask me. No one ever knows the whole picture and all the consequences.

[You'd have to be some kind of god, and even then...]

Well, I did it at home. So that I could go to more lessons.

[ She might flare a little pink, then. ]

But in the Drabwurld it was done by the power of our shards - which were far stronger than any magic in the entire world. We all wished for more time to save our worlds, so... We were given it.

[Only you, Hermione, would bend the temporal fabric of reality to attend more school. Not that Adalwolfe is against the school thing. He'd love to have had a safe opportunity to learn like she had, but warping time to do it? That's a bit much even for him.]

Shards?

[He's curious about the many people she makes this sound like were involved all having worlds that need saving, but that seems less confusing than whatever a shard is considering every world probably has something that needs fixed. His certainly does, and Hermione's hinted that her original world had needed help too. Not surprising at all.]

The Shards were... Part of a giant gem that all of us hard. The Drabwurld was said to be the origins of all the worlds, you see, and so when a new world was created it was because the gem had been split and parts of it had gone to form new worlds. I'm not sure if it was to hide or because someone wanted it to hide, but... Either way, there were people born into those worlds that had the Shards inside of them and, eventually, they were brought to the Drabwurld to fight for either the Seelie or the Unseelie.

[ Pursing her lips, she crosses her arms. ]

Shards are powerful, incredibly so. You can literally enter someone's mind and manipulate their thoughts and dreams or their memories. I had only managed to learn how to share memories with mine before I was brought here, and even that took so much strength that I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

I'm not sure I like that sound of that anyway. Having your mind manipulated isn't a pleasant experience and it's incredibly difficult to break out of. I had that done to me once. Wouldn't recommend it.

[He rubs the back of his neck, slightly uncomfortable. He didn't like that feeling of knowing he wasn't in control of himself. Like watching events unfold out of someone else's eyes.]

No. I've had curses and mind tricks put on me more times than I can count - I don't think I'd ever have been able to do that to someone else. What happened in the Drabwurld without the shards was bad enough.

[Not for the first time, he wants to just gather her up and protect her from everything that went before, if that were possible. The Drabwurld sounds worse than some of the things he'd experienced back home and considering the shit hole Kirkwall was, that's saying something. At least there were some redeeming qualities about it. Hermione just sounds like she was used and spit out by Drabwurld.]

Well, enough of that depressing talk. Do you have any birthday plans?

[ The Drabwurld had been hell, it's true, but... It had also been home. Hermione is desperate to get back there, to make herself comfortable there again, and she can't deny the fact that there's a pang inside of her when she thinks about it. Homesickness doesn't quite cover just how much she feels right now. ]

Plans? Not really. I had almost forgotten about it, honestly.

Well what would you like to do? I'll do my best to spoil you.

[He grins happily, knowing that they're all away from their friends here. He's luckier than most, with Anders here, or so he's come to understand. All the more reason to be there for others, especially considering he's all but adopted Hermione as another younger sister.]

Oh. Oh, um... I don't know, actually.

[ It's the first time in a long time that someone has asked Hermione what she wants to do, and she's speechless. ]

No? Well, that's alright. Anders is the same way, he never knows what he wants to do besides work. We'll figure something out.

[Hmm...]

We could... find a film on the network to watch and make fun of? Or tie sticks to the little cleaning robots and make them sword fight. Or we could find every blanket in the fleet and build a fort.

[A beat.]

Actually there's no reason we can't do all those things.

[ The suggestions make her brighten a little and she tilts her head, considering. ]

I think... Watching a film with a brother in a blanket fort sounds lovely.

[There's a touche twinkle in her eye as he claps her on the shoulder, glad she returns his familial affection in the same way.]

Let's see where we can get some extra blankets. I know I have some I bought on the hand holding planet, and we can move storage crates together for support.

[With a brief kiss to her forehead, Wolfe moves back to the transport, needing to run that errand.]

I'll make sure I get enough to make a blanket fortress! Don't you worry, it'll be the best birthday blanket fort ever.

[He winks as he goes, and when he returns, he intends to make certain that Hermione does little but smile for the rest of the evening.]

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