driftfleet | Open Action: Fleet Wide

Entry tags:

Open Action: Fleet Wide

Who: Cole and anyone who isn't fast enough to get away
Broadcast: n/a
Action: Any ship, though he won't venture onto the Three Twins or Tourist still. He will park next to them, now!
When: First half of the month?

[Cole does this thing. He does this thing where he goes everywhere and sticks his large nose into everything and meets people. He hasn't done it for a while, so clearly, it's time again.

The Pathstone comes in next to a ship, docks and then they spend a while there. There's no pattern to which ship it is. But he'll bring them around to your ship eventually.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes. Cole and Bunny.

[He finally starts drawing. A small girl, with pale, pale hair and watery blue eyes. She's wearing a grey dress with small, fabric flowers in a yellow.]

Bunny...

[ Elize repeats it with a small smile. She thinks it's a nice name. Cute. Resting her head on her free hand, she watches him draw. ]

What was she like?

I... don't remember a lot, not clearly. She was only six when she died.

[Unlike most of his drawings, this one has nothing of the spirit sight in it. This Cole never saw Bunny, only the mage Cole did. And he didn't see emotions.]

She liked skipping. She could skim stones over rivers really well.

Oh...

[ She says quietly, lowering her gaze, awkward and apologetic. Six is awfully young.

Setting down her pen, she starts drawing on her own paper. A little girl wearing warm long-sleeve clothing with fur trim, much like how most fashion is in Au Joule. One of the children who helped her sneak out of her room in Hamil. She never got the girl's name. ]

She sounds like she had a lot of talent. I'm not even sure how to skim stones...

[Cole slides the picture of Bunny over to Elize and takes another piece of paper, sitting and thinking quietly about what to draw for a moment.]

Cole taught her. I don't know if I remember how to do it. When we stop somewhere with a lake, we can go and see if I remember how.

And if I don't, I bet Jove or Cullen will know how.

I'd like that.

[ Hopefully the next planet is nice. Whether or not he remembers how, she'll still have fun. As far as she knows she was an only child, but it's beginning to feel like she has an older brother...

She silently accepts the drawing of Bunny, planning on sticking it up on the wall of her personnel room later. ]

I've always watched other children skim stones. And play all sorts of games together. Their parents didn't want them getting involved with me...

Us either. We lived out away from the town, and everyone thought I was strange. Eerie.

[He doesn't go into it any further. But he understands being the child no one is meant to go near.]

We can play. I don't know a lot of games, but we can work something out. Jove will know games.

[He finally starts another picture. It's on of his spirit pictures that doesn't entirely make sense, but there seems to be a person with a beard in there.]

[ Eerie, strange. All too familiar words. She was called an "evil brat". She'll never forget the time the villagers threw rocks at her... ]

Sometimes I play hide-and-seek with Cullen. It would be much more fun if you played with us too.

[ Seeing his spirit pictures doesn't surprise her as much anymore. She just lets him draw however he wants. But she still finds herself tilting her head at the drawing. ]

Who are you drawing now?

I can hide so no one can see me and I can feel where people are if I know them. I think that makes it less fun for everyone else.

[He knows how to play, like a person. But he doesn't know how not to make those things happen.]

Rhys. I miss Rhys. Maybe even more than I miss Solas. I'd forgotten what kindness was until I met him.

...oh. [ That would be cheating. Then she'll try to think of a different game. ] What about a game of tag?

[ She remembers the name Rhys mentioned before. She also remembers when Solas disappeared and Jove made a broadcast about it. Admittedly, she never thought too much about where people go when they disappear... ]

Did Solas go home?

What's tag?

[He doesn't know the name. He probably does know the game though.]

Yes. He went home. So did River. She was a person who was made like a spirit. I'm a spirit made like a person. It was nice, being with her.

I still have some of Solas's paintings.

In a game of tag, one person chases everyone else. If they manage to touch someone, then that person becomes "it". Then the person that's "it" chases everyone else.

[ She slowly explains. That's the traditional game of tag she knows of anyway. She has seen children try to change up or throw in new rules. ]

Why does Atroma send our friends away?

[ The thought of people going home is distracting her, keeping her from drawing another picture. She wanted to draw Jude, but her mood is beginning to dampen. For someone who has been with the fleet for a few months, just now she's starting to think more deeply about the disappearances. ]

Oh., chasey. I know that. The other children played it sometimes. And in Skyhold, they played it too.

[He can feel her mood starting to curl down.]

I don't know. But... while it's sad, it's good that we got to know them at all. We made them happier for a while, and that warmth brightens the whole world.

And we know they went home. Which is good for most of them. They're back with family and friends.

That's... good. I guess.

[ Her heart is sinking. Still, she sounds unhappy. She places her pen down on her paper, lightly making marks on the surface. ]

You'll be sent away someday too. Jove, too. And Cullen. [ She finally feels like she has a father. A family. But even he'll go away eventually. She doesn't want that at all. ] Everyone.

[And the problem is, Cole can't help assuage this fear, because he knows it's true. Everyone leaves. Death, business, troubles, something will take everyone away eventually.]

You make Cullen happier than he's ever been. And... if you only think on that time, then you won't enjoy him while he's here. Losing people happens. But you have to enjoy them while you have them. Or you lose them and have regrets after they're gone.

[ The lines on her paper don't form any sort of drawing. Just a bunch of restless scribbles. She's quickly tired of trying to doodle anything and drops her pen, burying her head in her arms in frustration.

Her voice remains audible, but it comes out like a muffled whine. Please don't take her newfound family away soon, Atroma. ]

I don't want to lose anyone...

[Cole curls up, rocking and feeling hopeless. He knows what will make her feel better, but it's impossible and these are the aches he hates most, because he can't help and because he's caused it.]

I'm sorry. Should I go get Cullen?

[ Elize rolls onto her side, uncovering her face. She's just lying pathetically on the cold floor of her personnel room now. ]

Why? Cullen can't stop Atroma.

[Cullen and Jove wouldn't like that.

Cole stands up and then scoops Elize up with very little apparent effort. He's a lot stronger than he looks.]

Because he makes you feel better. He makes things better for you. I don't know how to make it better, not when I made it hurt.

Huh? [ A small noise of surprise as he scoops her up. ] I-I don't know if he can make things better this time.

[ She wiggles a little, but she hardly feels like putting in the effort to get out of his grip. ]

Cole, I'm not a baby...

[He starts off, using his familiarity with Cullen's echoing pain and the soaring self to hone in on him.]

I know you're not... Why would I think you are?

[ ...Nevermind. She's not going to bother explaining, but she honestly doesn't mind being carried. Not going to admit she's fine with this. Jude and the others sometimes had to carry her whenever she wound up dozing off on the ground. Difference is she's wide awake right now.

She'll continue to quietly pout, sulk, and keep wishing she could stay with Cullen and the others for a long time. On the fleet, probably. Or, just go back with him to Thedas somehow... ]

[Cole thinks nothing of carrying her. Sometimes, you have to carry people. It's nothing to do with age, just need. He needs her to be with Cullen, because she needs that, and she was lying on the ground, so naturally, she's being carried now.

He can feel her longing. It's a chill along his spine.]

You don't want to come to Thedas. It's, a very harsh world.

But you're there! Cullen's there. I want to go too...

[ Elize is not aware of how harsh it may be. The stories she heard of his world have been watered down. Maybe it's dangerous, but she'll still want to come with no matter what. She's only thinking about the people she wants to be with. ]

Be happier here with us. There isn't nice. They hurt people who can do magic.

Cole could do magic. The real Cole. His only wish in life was that he couldn't. That he was like everyone else.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject