SS Golden Mingle!

[cabbagedetective]

Who: The crew of the SS Golden
Broadcast: Nope
Action: SS Golden
When: 6/10 to 6/30


[With the exciting lights and sounds of the casino behind them, things seem to have really wound down for the fleet. With very little to do outside of the ship, what better way to try and stave off cabin fever than by socializing with one's fellow crew members? Compare casino winnings, swap stories about anything the other mysterious planet they left behind, or maybe just stare out the window together at the passing space debris. The choice is yours!]

Comments

[unconfines]

[Something gives. His facade cracks a bit, something sour and unpleasant making it to the surface.]

No, no. Of course you're not. That would be me, wouldn't it?

[Brutally, bitingly sarcastic. He knows it's not what she means, but he also doesn't think that makes it any less true.]

But you'd learn to trust me if only I would smile politely when I pass the salt, is that what you're saying? You'll have to forgive me for not clamoring for your approval.

[coppermarigolds]

Trust you?

[She's... not exactly angry. She's frustrated and wounded and yes, maybe just a little bit furious, and she could haul back and punch him in the jaw except he's a mage and would probably break she promised Hawke.]

I fought alongside you for six years. Trust isn't the word I would use. I'm angry with you, but I have the sense to realise that it wasn't you, exactly, who did that.

[She shades her eyes, unable to look directly at him because she might hit him after all.]

You were never my enemy, not even when you tried to be.

[Which is... true. Complicated and messy, but still true.]

[unconfines]

[There is an instant (literally, a flicker of emotion on his face that's there and gone in the space of a moment) where he looks like she really has hit him. He's so sure of himself and his assessments of other people that to be tripped up by something like this, something he hadn't expected in the slightest, feels... well, not good, anyway.

The moment of silence stretches, awkward.]

Could have fooled me. [Dismissive, as if he wasn't the one who jumped to a conclusion first. He's feeling a familiar urge to run and regroup.] What with all the glaring like you're hoping my skull might cave in. Perhaps it really is for the best if we just pretend the other doesn't exist. I won't tease you about your books, and you can act like it's the wall behind me whose skull you'd like to see cave in if I wander too close for comfort. Hm?

[coppermarigolds]

Maybe I haven't been... fair.

[It's a grudging admission, and it shows in her voice, but she's trying, okay? She's trying.]

I'm angry with someone who is and isn't you, someone I fought alongside with and called an ally and then committed an act I can't ever approve of, but... that's not you. You didn't blow up a chantry and kill innocent men and women. Punishing you isn't any sort of justice. I'll make you a deal.

[Aveline sighs, rubbing her forehead. She feels absolutely sick, and what she's going to offer isn't even all that much, but she can't think of a better situation. At least it's a start.]

I'll try not to hold you responsible for something you haven't done. You stop believing that I'm about to turn you over to the mercy of templars we don't have. Between us, we won't tear this ship apart. Deal?

[unconfines]

I'll stop and you'll try. Yes, that sounds exactly like the sort of thing that won't bite me in the ass later.

[Semantics, maybe, but there's really no part of him that feels a need to be charitable right now, and he's lost more on smaller conflicts of language before.]

But you know what? Yes. Fine. I'm not interested in chasing my own tail, and I doubt anyone else on this ship is interested in listening to it. If it keeps the peace [he holds both hands up, as if it's as simple as washing them of the whole interaction] have whatever makes you feel better. Deal.

[coppermarigolds]

All right, all right, I phrased that badly. No need to rub it in.

[Diplomacy is not exactly her strong suit, unless it's the sort of diplomacy that comes with whacking someone with a sword very hard. That is the best sort of diplomacy. And with her friends, sometimes diplomacy involves a certain amount of head-butting at the best of times.]

Anders, I... I considered you a friend, once. I want you to know that. I was captain of the city guard and perhaps some might have said it was my duty to turn you over to the templars, but I never did.

[She offers her hand.]

Deal.

[unconfines]

[He's silent, eyes flicking between her hand and her face, his expression twisted slightly like he smelled something foul in the same moment as bracing for her to hit him. I could have but I didn't has never been particularly reassuring to him, but it is... something. A flicker, and of what (positive or negative) he isn't completely certain, but even he knows effort when he sees it. It's more than some of the others have afforded him.

The past tense stings, another friendship he doesn't remember that's blocked off from him now, but that's not her fault. Even he recognizes that.

He shakes.]

Glad we could come to this understanding. [Stiffly, though not quite as aggressive as... everything else he's said so far. He doesn't intend to address anything else any more than that.] I'll leave you to it, then, shall I?