You can check out anytime you'd like.. [Hotel Corona Mingle]

[thespaceopera]

Who: The Fleet!
Broadcast: If you want
Action: Hotel Corona or Planet Ikke
When: December 7th onward



[After the mystery and isolation of their last destination, the Marsiva seems determined to head to brighter, busier territory. After a long journey through remote, nebula-painted space, speeding along at a brisk pace for the Host ship, the Marsiva brings her Fleet to a sudden and prominent point of traffic.

It seems that the Fleet has happened upon some sort of vacation destination! Maybe Atroma thinks that the passengers deserve some rest and relaxation... or just wants to distract them with something huge and shiny.

Welcome to Hotel Corona! Feel free to enjoy yourselves and enjoy the sites! If a hotel resort isn't your thing, you can head on over to the nearby planet and explore it's icy wonders.

In order words: it's a mingle!! Everyone get in! ]

[>> Plot Post]

Comments

A

[wolfuncaged]

[Fenris remembers this game. He observed it being played during a mission for the Initiative. He wasn't convinced about how fun it was then, and he doesn't seem that swayed now. ]

I just don't see why you can't just knock the ball over the obstacle.

[bryces_pup]

[FENRIS PLZ]

That's cheating! Besides, it's not as easy to hit those things as you imagine. You'd probably hit it too hard and knock it out of the course.

[wolfuncaged]

Well...yes, probably. Neither you nor I were exactly trained to hit things lightly.

[Bash the crap out of it until it's dead. That's the warrior way. Still, he sighs, picking up a club, testing it in his hands.]

It's very flimsy.

[Fenris you're not gonna hit a dragon with it, chill out. ]

[bryces_pup]

All too true. Delicacy plays a larger part here than you might think.

[She watches him test the club, unable to hide an amused smile.]

Good thing it's not a weapon. All it's meant to do is hit a little ball around. [The one she currently has in her hand is a puke green one with purple and pink splotches on it. Garish, really.]

[wolfuncaged]

[Riona, that really is the most Maker-awful thing he's ever seen. He pulls a face. ]

Well, you could hardly do any real damage with it. It would snap on an orge's head in a second.

[He makes a soft, dismissive 'tch' sound.]

But I suppose I will give it a try.

[bryces_pup]

[LISTEN MISTER, she got handed this ball and she's gotta live with it.]

It'll be fun, I promise! Here, I'll even go first and demonstrate.

[She puts the ball down and goes into the trademark putt-putt stance. The first course is straightforward enough, with just a simple curve before the hole. She taps the ball, angling to bounce it off the far wall and down the path. It does as intended, though it stops a good few feet away from the hole.]

[wolfuncaged]

[He watches her with some faint amusement. His head following the ball as it's putted. ]

Impressive.

[With his tone, it's hard to tell if that's sarcasm or not. Still, he exhales, taking his down ball and dumb little stick and aiming to line up the shot. Of course. Fenris wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't good at delicate work, the ball overshoots by a lot, hitting the far wall with a clink, and coming back to mid course. ]

[bryces_pup]

[Riona watches it play out, smiling in amusement, though at least she doesn't laugh. Maker knows she was bad at this when she first started, too.]

Delicately. Like tip-toeing past a dragon. [Which works great... unless you have Oghren in your party.

As she walks over to her ball, setting up her shot, she suddenly grins. Uh oh.]

You know, I've often seen couples come out here and play together. Going on a date, as they call it.

[She shoots him an innocent glance.] Might be fun, you know. If you have a particular reason to take someone out on a date.

[....he had to know he was going to be teased about it eventually.

[wolfuncaged]

I don't tip toe past dragons. Hawk doesn't give us the chance. He just runs at them- bellowing.

[Aggressive Hawke is the worst, okay?

He does pause at that, half turning his head in her direction, giving a half-hearted roll of his eyes and a delicate scoff.]

How long have you been waiting to drop that hint?

[bryces_pup]

...ah. Well, uh, imagine what it would be like to do that!

[She takes a moment to tap her ball into the hole. As it clinks inside, she glances over and sees his look. Without meaning to, she giggles.]

Ages. Waiting for the perfect opportunity and all.

[wolfuncaged]

Loud and excessively dangerous, for the most part.

The perfect opportunity. [He exhales, giving a wave of his hand.] Go on, then. Get it out of your system.

[bryces_pup]

[She steps off of the green, waiting for Fenris to go again.]

Look at you, being such a good sport about it!

[Honestly, she expected more of a fuss out of him about it. Or at least more complaining.]

I am... pleased, for both of you. [She smiles softly.] Does she make you happy? You certainly seem to make her happy, judging by that little post of hers awhile back.

[wolfuncaged]

[He huffs, hitting the ball again, a little more gently this time. It still launches off, but at least it stays on the green this time. Progress? ]

I am glad to hear that. [That he makes her happy. That he makes someone's life better by being in it. ] She does. I...understand that it is something we can only have here. But it means a lot to me, all the same.

[bryces_pup]

[Definitely. She honestly expected him to rocket it off the course and into the other areas by now.]

All the more reason to pursue it. I think you two are going to make for a darling couple. [She smiles coyly.] So how did it all come to be? You've known her for some time, yes?

[wolfuncaged]

Perhaps.

[He's still working on that part. A couple. It's more than a little terrifying. ]

Almost as long as I've been away from Thedas. We met in Exsilium, so almost three years, now. I- suppose it just happened.

[bryces_pup]

Three years? Maker, talk about taking it slow. [A pause.] Not that that's necessarily bad.

[Not everyone up and gets married within a year of meeting their partner, Riona.

At his rather vague answer, she scoffs.]

Oh, it doesn't just happen. Unless you mean to imply you two tripped into a kiss?

[wolfuncaged]

There were...other factors.

[No there weren't. He just didn't know how to deal with her relationship with the other him. At all.]

I- no. We talked.

[And then banged like rabbits. ]

[bryces_pup]

[Fenris has never been much to give very long elaborate answers, but she's beginning to suspect he's growing uncomfortable, and not in the fun way. She's had her chance to tease a little; now it's time to back off.

Though, as she's about to urge him to finish his turn so they can move onto the next course, she pauses. There is something she wants to ask him about, though she's not sure how he'll react.]

All right, I'll lay off the teasing. Though, there is something I've been wondering about.

[How to word this...]

Leliana told me that the Hawke from our Thedas was in a relationship with you. Now, I... don't believe Marian is from our Thedas, Leliana doesn't seem to think so, but I was wondering if that was an... issue. [She lets out a breath.] If it's prying too much, tell me as such, but I couldn't help but wonder. I am with someone back home, Adalwolfe is with someone, and so I wonder if Marian is as well.

[As invasive as it may seem, there is a reason she's asking.]

[wolfuncaged]

[This, at least, he can answer. He doesn't look any less uncomfortable, because it's rooted in a lot of the worries he has about the relationship in the first place. He shifts uneasily, staring down at the golf ball and not really hitting it. ]

...Yes. With the Fenris from her world. Not me...obviously.

[bryces_pup]

[And that confirms her suspicions. Ever since Leliana mentioned that their Hawke had been in a relationship with him, she wondered. Maker, she does not envy them that complication.]

That's never an easy thing to deal with. [It's happened to her, and it's happening to Lark and Leliana.] You... don't feel like she's trying to substitute you for him? Or that she's being unfaithful?

[She encountered this, and thus she really wants to know how Fenris and Marian are handling it. Because she certainly didn't go about it well.]

[wolfuncaged]

[They are handling it with mixed to middling results. Fenris takes a moment to answer her, because this is something that's played on his mind for a while.]

She's being unfaithful to me, with me. But...no, that's not completely it. I just-

[He lets out a long, slow breath. ]

I just can't be that version of myself. She consistently tells me there is no difference between us, but given my fate in Adalwolfe's world, I can't see that being the case. Not truly.

[bryces_pup]

[And his frustration reveals the heart - or at least part of that heart - of the problem. She wishes she had insight for him, she really does. And it's a tricky line, respecting that the person they see in front of them isn't truly, exactly the one they knew back home. Made much harder when feelings were involved. Not because of malice, but...]

While I cannot fully speak for Marian, as someone who's been in her position, more or less... disentangling the feelings is, frankly, impossible. After knowing you for so long, surely she knows and understands you're a separate person from her Fenris. Logically. But, in her heart? Not so much. And maybe you're different from that Fenris she knows, but you can't be that much different. You've developed feelings for her, too, no? Regardless of what happened in-

[Wait. Her eyes narrow, the last of his words catching up to her. She'd been so caught up in the subject at hand that it hadn't quite registered for her what he'd say. Wolfe wasn't his Hawke, so why...?]

...what fate in Adalwolfe's world?

[Really, she should know better than to ask. A part of her immediately realizes her mistake, but the question is out there now, and she can't not know and ignore it.]

[wolfuncaged]

Yes, of that, I am aware. She has told me so herself. And of course I have feelings for her I just worry that I won't be...enough.

[If he got to a place where he could be happy with someone, then he's changed in the smallest of ways there. He's learned to deal with one of his hangups, something he's not sure he's capable of here. He's trying, Maker knows he's trying, but he can't trust it will ever truly happen.

He looks surprised at her question. He thought everyone knew by now. ]

You don't- I'm dead. Apparently, in that version of Thedas I do not take Adalwolfe's side in the mage rebellion. I attacked him, and he killed me.

[bryces_pup]

[Yeah, that thread of the conversation is gonna go by the wayside, at least for the moment. Not that it isn't important, but Riona's a bit too preoccupied with THAT bit of news he just dropped on her.]

What?

[Just when she'd finally moved past that whole false memory fiasco with him and Alistair, now she learns about this, and she's enraged all over again.]

He - he just killed you? And he told you this?

[wolfuncaged]

[One day, he will learn not to tell this story. No one reacts to it well. ]

Apparently. He told me when he arrived. He was rather surprised to see me alive.