driftfleet | Eleventh Blight

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Eleventh Blight

Who: Riona and you folk
Broadcast: A very brief one
Action: On the Blue Fish. At your own risk
When: After everyone's back on their ships

[Emotionally wrought from the calibrations, Riona sets out to find Leliana and unload a bit. Between what everyone saw of her, and what she saw in others' minds, her head's spinning and she's not sure where to go with it all. There's so much to process and sort through, and her best friend's always been good for that.

But Riona can't find her anywhere. Even Kiter aids in the search as they tear through the hauntingly empty ship, but when they come up with nothing, she finally tries her room. And it's empty.]

No. No no no...

[She pulls out her communicator and looks for her in the directory. Her name's missing, like she'd never been there. First Beverly, then the Starks, and now Leliana.

Riona's officially hit her breaking point.

She screams, agony and rage all coiled into one verbal assault. Kiter runs for the hills (or probably the cargo bay to hide) as Riona pounds her fist against the wall. Obscenities and pleas are hurled as she stumbles to her room, not bothering to stop the tears and the sobs that follow behind. She slams her bedroom door behind her and collapses onto her bed.]

[What seems like an age later, she finally regains enough control of her emotions to send out one text to the fleet.]

To those who knew her, Leliana has gone home.

[That's all she sends. It's all that's needed. And with that heavy burden done with, Riona breaks out that champagne and the rest of her alcohol stash. She's been crying so much that the alcohol is mixed with salt from her tears. Vaguely she realizes she shouldn't be doing this, not when she's still so upset, but she doesn't care. What's the worst than can happen? Frankly, at this point, she doesn't care. She just wants it to stop, and that's gonna be found at the bottom of a bottle.

Those on the ship or who want to stop by can approach her, though don't expect a sunny welcome. Bringing booze might help gain entry.]

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Misery does love company. I'm on my ship if you are sure about coming.

[It's a bit of a warning in her words, though she supposes it's obvious that she's not going to be a ray of sunshine.]

That it does. I will be there shortly.

[Because it's better than being miserable separately, right? After a short time, he'll get to the Blue Fish, heading to her door to knock.]

[It takes her a moment to answer. When the door opens, she's donned in one of those ugly jumpsuits the fleet provides. If she's going to be a mess, she won't do it in her own clothes.]

Hello. [She steps back to let him in.] Sorry for the mess. [There's already one empty bottle, and another one partly emptied already.]

[Wow, if she's in the jumpsuit, things must be bad. He moves inside and stays standing for the time being, concern on his features. ]

Given the past month, that is perfectly reasonable.

[She almost hopes she does make a mess on it. It'll feel like a silent, tiny "fuck you" to Atroma.]

I could have handled the calibrations, I really could have. But this on top of them? [It's just too much. She plunks down on the floor, inviting him to sit with her if he wants.]

[He hesitates for a moment, before moving to sit beside her with a heavy sigh. ]

Yes. They have decided to knock you when you are down, that is for certain.

[She grabs the partially empty bottle of booze and takes a drink, before offering it to him.]

What's that phrase? "Par for the course"? Think it's a golf thing, but whatever. Point is, I shouldn't be surprised. I just keep comforting myself with the hope that one day I'll get to stab them. Repeatedly.

[He'll take a swig. Only polite. ]

That is a comforting thought. I think I shall try that one for myself. They cannot bend us to their will forever.

If we can ever reach them. [There in lied the rub.] But I will enjoy the mental imagery in the meantime.

[A pause. For once, Riona's not sure how to fill the silence.] ...talk to me about something. Anything.

We defeated the United Earth in Exsilium, and they were far more powerful than Atroma. I have some hope we will get there eventually.

[Oh, Maker, Riona, don't ask him for small talk he has no idea what he's doing with it. ]

Um. There's- no. [Give him a second, he has to think. ] I wonder what the next star system will be like.

That is, actually quite comforting. Though I'm afraid to ask how long that took.

[Still, at least it was possible. Hopefully.

In any other situation she'd never do this to him, but she's just so scattered right now that she needs a hand. Consider it practice, Fenris.]

Hopefully someplace nice. We've been cooped up on ships for too long. [Thanks, Atroma.] Wherever it is, I hope it has a lot of nature and room to roam. I'm getting cabin fever, and Kiter is, too.

I was a part of the war effort for about six months. It had been going on for about a year or two before then. So relatively, not long.

[But it was absolutely possible. ]

Hmm. We have spent far too long confined. I relish the thought of stretching my legs once again.

[She nods. She wishes they had an actual war on their hands. At least it'd give her something to do, to tangibly fight against. Right now it was all mysterious people over communicators. Hard to stick a sword in that.]

Hopefully with supplies to restock. Our real food store must be getting low. [Then, mournfully:] Not that are a lot of mouths to feed on the ship anymore.

[Maker, yes. Give him something to punch, something to kill. He'll be a lot less antsy then. At least Exsilium gave him that much. He felt much less like a caged animal there.]

Hm. You have taken a lot of losses lately, haven't you? It must be difficult.

[Maybe someday they'll get their chance. For now, she'd take being able to fight something else, even if it's not Atroma. Perhaps get into some trouble on whatever planet or station they're heading towards.]

Quite a few. We went from around a dozen crew down to five in the span of a few months. There's been no time to process one loss before another occurred.

That's...considerably cruel of them. Your group has been together for a long time, too.

[Fuck you, Atroma. ]

I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?

Our ship rarely saw the rotating door of arriving and departing crew mates like the other ships have. And now this. I suppose they got bored of the stability.

[Was it some kind of quota each ship was supposed to fill? Having a certain number of departees and newcomers? She just didn't understand.]

I'm afraid not. That's just it, isn't it? There's nothing anyone can do but grit their teeth and bear it.

Perhaps they did. They expect to get their pound of flesh some way, after all.

[He wouldn't be surprised. He wouldn't doubt if the Tourist was next- it has been stable since Winn left. ]

And hope that perhaps one day, we will be able to wrest control from them. Until then, I find it best to live day by day. Take each one as it comes.

I suppose I will have to. [She snorts humorlessly, taking another drink.] Certainly have had to do it often enough in my life. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

Hm. And yet life can still sometimes hit you with something to had not expected. None of us can roll with the punches perfectly.

Well now you're just being sensible. [Said dryly. Riona offers him the bottle.] You're making it exceptionally difficult for me to be hard on myself.

[He lets out a soft 'heh', taking a sip. ]

Sorry, I consider it my duty to keep you from that tonight.

Such gallantry. [So gallant. But also kind of grating in a good way because she was all set to do that and he's ruining it.] Do said duties also involve distracting me? Because I could use one.

I could give it a try. Depends on how you wish to be distracted.

[Do you wanna go egg a ship or something???]

Well, conversation is only going to do so much. [And she knows he's not much of a conversationalist.] I wonder if there's any kind of trouble to get into. Admittedly, I haven't been off the ship much.

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