i.

[serves]

Who: Cullen Rutherford
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: The Marsiva
When: Now.

[It's with some hesitance that Cullen even touches the console. He knows how it works (somehow), but he's not exactly comfortable with the concept of broadcasting. His lips are set in a thin, grim line for a few moments as he thinks of what to say.]

--Maker's breath, this is absurd.

[That just about sums up his thoughts right now.]

Comments

[dawnwillcome]

It isn't that bad, is it? I'm sure you have to have been through at least one thing that makes less sense than this.

[She's teasing, making light of this, but there's no mistaking how glad Jove is to see Cullen. She's felt homesick since the start, but seeing this familiar face and hearing the exasperation in his tone that she remembers so well eases it more than she would have expected.]

[serves]

[That's a familiar face, and Cullen isn't sure whether that feeling in his chest is because he's glad or horrified that she's here, too. It takes him a moment to find her name--Jove, but this is public. Even here, he makes an effort to be appropriate.]

Inquisitor. [Oh, but he's relieved to see she's well if she must be here.] Are you all right?

[dawnwillcome]

[Oh right, that whole thing. Well shit.]

Just Jove is fine here. [There's some pointed insistence there, because bro don't blow her cover, but it doesn't dim how pleased she is to see him.] I'm fine, don't worry. Dorian is here as well, we've been getting along alright.

video;

[howcanihelp]

[ Here, have a very shocked Warden-Commander who has turned on the video and... seems to be attempting to say something, but it doesn't seem to be working out.

Give her a moment. ]

...Cullen. You're-- older.

[ A+ conversation there, Steffa, you don't even know if he'll recognize you. ]

[serves]

[Andraste preserve him. Cullen might as well have seen a ghost--she's the last person he'd expect to see here. Or at home. But he's often thought of what he'd say to her, if he got the chance. To apologize... and thank her, for not listening to a frightened young man.

But none of that comes out.]

I--

[Is he? It occurs to him that yes, she looks just as she did then. He can't help but stare.]

[howcanihelp]

[ Funny - she's often thought about how she'd apologize to him if she saw him again. For not being able to stop it from happening, for not being there sooner, for what he went through, and for not being able to do as he asked even though she really thinks it was the right choice not to. ]

It's--

[ she starts twisting a loose lock of hair between her fingers, a nervous habit she's had most of her life. ]

That wasn't an insult or anything, mind you, I just wasn't-- I didn't think we'd ever--

[ she hesitates, then smiles weakly ]

It's... good to see you.

Video

[wolfuncaged]

[He's squinting for a second, trying to place the face and voice. Give him a second.]

...Captain Cullen?

[When did you get hot? Did you do something to your hair? It's the hair, isn't it? ]

[serves]

No longer. Commander, now.

[He's very happy to put that title behind him, thank you very much.]

... Fenris, was it?

[He's good with names, so maybe, just maybe, he's trying to be a little funny. Of course he knows all the names of Hawke's companions.]

video;

[ino]

[ Hello Cullen, have a cheery-looking blonde giving you a sympathetic smile. She can kinda guess from the medieval looking armor that all of this is gonna be a bit of a culture shock. ]

I have a feeling you're in for a few more nasty surprises, if it's already weirding you out.

[serves]

I have no doubt of that. [His tone could not be any more flat if he tried. Fortunately, he's no stranger to weird shit.]

I don't suppose I could ask for a warning?

text

[theboogieman]

[a mysterious text appears!]

it doesn't get better.

text

[serves]

[Give him a moment, and--]

Why do you say that?

[serpentis]

I never doubted your tenacity, but to come all this way for a game of chess is a bit absurd, Commander.

[hello hi welcome]

[serves]

A warm welcome as always, Dorian.

[Hey bro he's actually really fucking glad you're here keeping the Inquisitor out of trouble.]

video;

[unconfines]

Oh, you cannot be serious.

[It's been what, a few weeks? A few, blissful weeks templar-free, and now the fleet is down the one thing it had going for it, in his estimation. Stop the ride he'd like to get off now, thanks.]

[serves]

[Oh, look. It's the guy that blew up the Chantry, and he has the nerve to take that tone with him.

Cullen will gladly assist you into the nearest sun, Anders.]

You. Isn't there a cave around here for you to slither into?

[He can only assume that's where he fled to, after Kirkwall. Nevermind that he looks somewhat different than Cullen remembers.]

video;

[howcanihelp]

[ exasperated ]

Anders, please. It's not his fault he's here any more than it's your fault you're here.

text

[mortalcoil]

[and more cryptic text is going to pop up on his screen. because, oh, the sender feels your pain.]

It gets worse.

[serves]

So I've heard.

How much worse?

Action

[innercactus]

[ Oh look another person is here- ]

If you have a "maker", does that make you a golem?

[ Sorry, Asteffiel doesn't know about personal space, so he'll be coming over to peer closely. Yes, he is made of plants. ]

... You are a very good golem, if you are a golem...

[serves]

[Cullen just about jumps out of his armor--and skin, for that matter.]

What in the name of Andraste--[The Maker, Andraste, even the elven gods... really, if any of them could stop by and give him an answer to the creature before him, that would be super.]

video

[blindoptimism]

[she really does always feel bad for the people who have to go through arriving here]

I'm sorry. But at least there's comfort in that it's more often absurd than dangerous.

[serves]

[Is this young girl... blind? Why would she be brought into this madness? His tone is gentler, softer with her.]

In what way?

Video

[save_the_souls]

[Seeing someone in full armor is enough to catch his interest. For what once was almost a daily norm for him, it had become a bit of a rarity here in the fleet.]

[...Though okay, even in Paradisa you didn't see many people with fur lining that fluffy. Just what was that made of?]

I believe that's the general consensus. I'm sorry you got dragged into it as well. [Not that he has any idea who you are, but the sentiment is the same]

[serves]

[It's bear fur, okay. He has a lion motif going on... it'd be more obvious if he had his helmet!]

So I'm beginning to learn. I suppose it helps, knowing we're all in a similar dilemma.