driftfleet | [muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

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[muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

Who: You! Me! Everybody!
Broadcast: idk but we've sure got a pretty broad cast of folks eh, eh
Action: HECK YEAH PLANET MINGLE
When: 10/7 until plot update or recaptcha

It's a deep, deep forest filled to the brim with fungi, mysterious life forms, and pitch black darkness. Explore if you dare and discover all these things and more! Just don't get lost...

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As long as you two have been together, I suppose vows wouldn't make much of a difference. Though, there is something to be said about standing up there, saying those vows out loud and putting that ring on your beloved's finger.

[She smiles at the memory of her own wedding.]

You sound a bit like my mother.

[He snorts, but it's in an affectionate way, and maybe a touch sad.]

She always said there was meaning in symbols like that, and in the way a thing is done. Even as much as the thing itself. I guess I can see how there's a comfort in following traditions. A statement too, if not for yourself then for the people watching.

[Hmm...]

I'm pretty sure the Fleet wouldn't hold a week-long coronation-wedding holiday for a simple mage wedding like I heard was held in Ferelden for yours. Or was that just rumor that got ferried up north?

I think that's what I liked the most, making that statement. Making it... official, in a sense. Saying those words, making that vow...

[A promise, to him and to herself. And, okay, maybe she enjoyed putting on the dress and everything, despite how nerve racking the whole affair was.

And speaking of-]

It was not a week long, no. [She shakes her head in amusement.] Remember, half the city was still a wreck when we married. We couldn't quite swing such a long holiday. But it did last three days. We wanted the city to have a break and celebrate something.

It was the right thing, definitely. I'm only sorry I missed it.

[He was too busy doing work for the Red Iron mercenary band trying to pay off the debt they'd racked up in getting help into Kirkwall after fleeing the Blight.]

I've only been to a royal funeral, not a wedding.

You might not have enjoyed it much. Lots of nobles and formalities. [A pause.] Though you did miss my friend Zevran nearly scandalizing a few of the noble women.

[She tilts her head.]

A funeral? For whom?

[He pauses, making a noncommittal noise. This could be something she shouldn't know yet, but it's far enough removed from Ferelden politics he thinks he can get away with telling her.]

Viscount Dumar. I guess it wasn't technically royal but he was the head of state. He was a good man. I wish I'd been more cognizant for it so I could pay my respects properly.

[He lets out a breath and smiles.]

I have met Zevran, though! Helped him out of a spot with some angry Crows actually.

Ah. That's unfortunate. Were you ill when the funeral was held?

[Riona asks carefully, all too aware of what too many questions sometimes leads to.]

I heard! Or, at least, Fenris told me he and his Hawke did, so I wondered if you had as well. Thank you for helping him. He's one of my dearest friends.

Recovering from injury, but it amounts to the same.

[That's vague enough he thinks it's okay to say.]

I like him! Though ah... Anders got a little overprotective with his flirting. Actually that was pretty funny. Anders just gets so... catty.

[He grins like a huge dork at the pun.]

[Riona snorts, her shoulders shaking from barely contained laughter. She withholds it purely to not make too much noise. More than they were already making, at any rate.]

I can believe it. Zevran is such a determined flirt. And a good one, at that.

Oh he is. Is that something they teach all Crows? Or, well, I guess he's a former-

[Adalwolfe stops short, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye and immediately spinning his staff from his back as he turns to face it, falling very suddenly silent.]

Well, I'm not-

[Riona stops as well when Adalwolfe takes out his staff. She listens, brow furrowed. She thinks she hears something in the forest, and immediately her shield is out as she steps ahead of Wolfe.]

Did you see what it was? [her voice is low.]

No, but its big.

[His voice is low too, trying to keep their position secret. Another moment and the tall brush ahead of them begins to rustle against a large boulder, as if the small leaves are being pulled at from the other side.

Adalwolfe tilts his head right, indicating circling around the boulder, then raises an eyebrow at Riona for her approval.]

[She nods, moving around the rock as quietly as she could. Hopefully this is just some huge herbivore who'll be more scared of them than the other way around.

But with their luck, who knows.

As she circles around, she steps slowly through the underbrush. The creature is hard to make out, but she ... thinks she sees its head and-]

...Andraste's bloody tits. What is that?

[Even at her outburst, the enormous nug simply turns its head laboriously to stare at her with its beady eyes as it chews on the branches its liberated from the bush they'd just rounded. It either senses no danger from them or is just too stupid to realize.

The thing is certainly not nug sized, despite clearly being related. It's larger than a druffalo with similar horns that split at the end of their curl into two smaller barbs on each side. It's got the same naked rat appearance as the common nug, just on a much grander scale. Right down to the weird off-putting almost human hands for its front feet, curled into fists so it walks on its knuckles instead of its palms.

Adalwolfe breathes in sharply, looking at the gentle monstrosity with a shine to his eyes.]

I wanna ride it. [He whispers.]

[Riona, for her part, stares back just as dumbly as the creature for a time. Her first thought after the initial shock is We cannot let Leliana find out about this. There is no way she was letting her friend hear of this, because next thing they knew, she would try and find one and that would not end well.

Wolfe's whispered declaration draws her attention away finally as she shoots him an incredulous stare.]

You want to ride it?

Absolutely.

[Thrilled to pieces, Adalwolfe scrambles out of the underbrush and starts to circle around slowly, leaning in a bit as he creeps towards the serenely breakfasting gigantic nug.]

Alright Nuggie, nice and easy, you just stay right there...

Nuggie?

[She snorts, watching with crossed arms as Adalwolfe approaches the beast. If he manages to mount it, she'll be impressed. And she'll totally join if he does, despite her... hesitation about taking a ride on a wild animal. Because it does look pretty darn fun, danger aside.]

[What ensues next is hard to say. Adalwolfe gets close enough to make a leaping grab for one of the thing's horns, and then gets tossed about like a rag doll for a solid half minute before somehow getting his legs around the enormous nug's neck. Confusion reigns, complete with kicked up dust a foliage and a very loud thunk of Wolfe's back hitting the boulder as he tries gamely to hold on, but ultimately the scuffling ends with the dust clearing to reveal Adalwolfe Hawke perched at the giant nug's shoulders with a split brow, the beginnings of a black eye, and a triumphant grin. He looks down to Riona, wiping the blood from his eyebrow before it runs into his eyes. The nug seems to have calmed down and gone back to chewing bushes, deciding that this might as well happen.]

Care to join me?

[Riona, like any sane person with a sense of self-preservation, backpedals far away from the cacophony unfolding around her. Not that she wants to abandon Wolfe, but frankly, she has no idea what's going on in there and she's not about to get herself injured in the process. One of them needs to be unscathed if they have to drag the other back to the ships.

When the dust clears and Adalwolfe shoots that ridiculous grin at her, she sighs quietly in relief before smiling.]

You're going to have fun explaining those injuries to Anders.

[But okay, despite the obvious risk, she's got to try this thing out. Watching the nug carefully, she climbs up it, taking a seat behind Wolfe.]

I'll just tell him the truth. He'll scold me and heal me up. Its our thing.

[He helps her up as best he can without getting unseated. The nug doesn't seem to care too much now that it's been subdued, though it does roll its eyes back at her for just a moment as she climbs on. Then it just goes back to eating the bush they'd found it behind.]

Comfy?

Such is a healer in love's lot in life.

[But then, she supposes Anders damn well knows what he's gotten himself into.]

As much as I can be atop a giant nug. What are the chances that he'll actually move?

Let's find out.

[Adalwolfe settles himself on his perch for a moment, then gives a great HIYAH! and practically digs his heels into the beast's sides. Its hide is thick and mostly it just seems annoyed, but it starts walking at least.

About ten paces.

To the next bush.]

...Well that was rather anticlimactic.

[Riona bursts out laughing, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle it.]

Ah, what a noble steed you have here, Champion.

[Sorry not sorry, Wolfe.]

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[muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

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