Haha.. that's funny. I felt the same way when first meeting him. I don't think I even played much after that actually. It wasn't awhile until I tried again, and for some reason, I got hooked. And Varric won me over. I didn't have the best impression of Aveline either, but both of those two are my favorites now.
Same here. You can't judge a book by its cover, right? Varric with his open shirt, smooth personality, and eagerness for my money made me sure he was going to screw me over. But then I thought, "I know I don't end up killing him at least since he's narrating the story."
I found it ridiculous at first that Aveline, a city guard and then captain, would be accompanying me when I fully intended to break the law whenever possible. I thought she'd be repeatedly wagging her finger about it but she never did. She's very agreeable to unethical activities when it comes to her friends/rivals too like Isabela. She actually supported letting Kirkwall burn basically by letting Isabela keep the relic to give to a slaver as payment for freeing slaves. Then Aveline says nothing and gives friendship points (a bug?) for letting Castillon go with his slaver documents. So yeah, my early impression of her was off.