Video 01

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and anyone
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: Marvisa
When: Now until the next shuffle?

[Cole doesn't usually sleep, so waking up is very unfamiliar. He doesn't usually feel the cold or heat much, so the deep coldness in his bones is alien.

He jerks upright with a gasp, hands scrabbling at the back of his neck and then he vanishes in a puff of black-green smoke and reappears in the corner of the room, pressing himself back into it, staring around with wide eyes.]

Whispering, watchful, wakeful, wondering, where?

[He then spends a while patting things around him like the floor and wall, whispering under his breath.

In all honesty, he'll stay in that room until someone convinces him to leave and go elsewhere. It's not like he has to leave for any reason.]

Comments

[unconfines]

Well! You're chatty, aren't you.

That's wise, though, the bit about Wicked Grace. Only play that against people you're certain you can beat, personal rule of mine. Learning the difference is half the game.

[He literally never follows that rule.]

[killedwithlove]

Am I? Yes. Vivienne complained about me talking, she didn't like it, but it's hard to keep things inside and not put them outside as well, I can do it, but sometimes it's too much.

I like talking to the cards, but Varric tells me not to and then I get distracted, because cards have a lot to say.

[unconfines]

Ooh, this I definitely want to hear. Tell me, what do cards have to say? It must be scandalous, I imagine. All the ill-conceived bets they witness on a daily basis.

[killedwithlove]

It depends on the cards. Josephine's deck whisper confidence, her pages whistle innocence while the queens find their kings and settle against the numbers.

Varric's deck tries to take his hurt, why, blondie, why did you do it, why couldn't we have stopped you before it went this far, and sometimes it tells me about the stories he's going to tell, shuffling them while he plans out the next issue.

[unconfines]

[Blondie hits him like a pile of bricks. It's unmistakably the same name Varric called him when he first arrived, and he hates that he still remembers that, that he can make the connection before he's able to tamp it down.

It could nearly be comical, the way the smile falls off his face, if it was about anything else.]

Oh.

[A lengthy, awkward pause.]

I have to admit, that's... not what I expected to hear.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole frowns slightly as the smile vanishes.]

Oh. I hurt you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you!

[unconfines]

[Zeroing in on the vulnerability like that sets him fast on the defensive. He laughs, trying to recover, but it's strained.]

No, no, no. Nothing to apologize for, you'll find I'm remarkably resilient. [Breezing past, leaving that topic as far away in the dust as he can manage.] Though I have to say, I am a little disappointed. Seems like a waste of an excellent opportunity to cheat.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole is not buying that change of view, and it is clear by his expression, but he's going to let this slide because he's not close enough to pick at the hurt.]

Cheat?

[unconfines]

[Confirming:]

Cheat. How else do you expect to win a proper game of Wicked Grace? That's why your friend Josephine is so good at it, I'll bet.

[killedwithlove]

I don't mind if I win or not. I just like spending time with people and seeing them be happy and having fun.

Josephine is very good at convincing people to bet their clothes. And then Cullen and Blackwall have to get back to their rooms without clothing.

[unconfines]

Ha! I think I'm beginning to like this Josephine. If she ever happens to drop by here, you'll have to introduce us. She'd wipe the floor with everyone.

[killedwithlove]

She doesn't do the cleaning and if she did, she wouldn't use people. That's just really not nice.

[unconfines]

Not— literally. [Bless your heart, Cole. He loses momentum, which is probably good for the purposes of this conversation.] Maybe we should back up a touch. What I meant to say was that she'd beat everyone here at cards.

[killedwithlove]

Oh. Maybe. She's very good at playing cards. Varric says it's because she's Antivan.

[unconfines]

That would do it. It's in the blood, I think. [A small, wistful sigh.] The rest of us just don't have any chance to measure up.

[killedwithlove]

How can it be in the blood? There's magic in the blood, not playing cards.

[unconfines]

Ah, but isn't Wicked Grace a kind of magic?

[Yes, this time he's doing it on purpose.]

[killedwithlove]

No.

No. It isn't.

[unconfines]

[He clucks his tongue, shaking his head.]

We have so much to teach you, my friend.

[killedwithlove]

Yes. I have a lot more to learn about this world. I've been in the physical world for a few years, but there's so much to it.

[unconfines]

[A pause, not quite so much hesitation as thoughtfulness. He debates whether he really wants to know, how far down this rabbit hole he's willing to go.]

So it's true, then? You being... [A vague hand gesture.] Not quite of this world.

[killedwithlove]

I'm a spirit. Or I was. Now I'm a spirit but also not a spirit. I was Compassion before I was Cole.

[unconfines]

Is that so? Odd place for a spirit, if you don't mind me saying so. Most spirits I've known are a bit put off by our world.

[By "most spirits" he means... Justice, pretty much, at least to start.]

[killedwithlove]

This world is painful, confusing, enraging, engaging and enamored. Spirits don't belong in this world. They shouldn't be here.

But I can't go back. I have too many people to help.

[unconfines]

[Justice had been coming to adore their world, he remembers. He talked frequently about the beauty of it, the confusion in it, all the injustices that he'd wanted to see righted.

He doesn't want to think about it anymore.]

That would be what Compassion does, I suppose. How are we defining help here, exactly? Help them with their love lives? Their financial struggles? Petty squabbles over which of their sisters really took the last cookie from the cookie jar?