ACTION! Meeting people!

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and anyone who stands still long enough to be talked to
Broadcast: No.
Action: One ALL fleet ships except The Tourist and The Three Twins
When: During the week.

Cole doesn't like the communicators. He finds it too disorientating to talk to people and have that vast distance between them.

Instead, he's setting out to visit each of the ships and meet the people on board. He likes people and he likes meeting and talking with people and he'd far rather do that face to face.

Don't worry. He doesn't take up much space and he takes up no supplies. He just wants to meet people.

But... he gives The Tourist and The Three Twins a wide berth. Fenris had been very clear that he was not to see Cole again and Cole will respect that by avoiding the places he seems to be.

Anyone from those ships will have to be visitors somewhere else to run into Cole.

Comments

[merchantprince]

[Ah. Yeah, that might be confusing to a spirit. He nods, encouraging.]

That's right. Sometimes the pain is so bad that... that you feel like you're better off dead. Even if you just go through the motions, talk to people, do your job-- it doesn't feel like you're in your own body. You feel empty.

[He adjusts his coat.]

But... you can come back from that. Sometimes you just have to see it through.

[killedwithlove]

[Rhys had never explained that. Hadn't thought he needed to, but to Cole, death had been the only end of suffering. He hadn't realised people could be like that and get better. He's still really wrapping his head around it, truth be told.]

Empty, but not actually empty, like the Tranquils.

I think... I understand. You say things in ways that make sense to me.

[merchantprince]

[Ugh. The Tranquil. That's definitely not... a good fate. He feels bad about mages in general. They deserve better. He just-- doesn't vocalize it a lot.

Also Anders really didn't need to blow shit up, but that's neither here nor there.]

Yeah, it's a little different.

[He smiles a little, and reaches out to adjust the brim of Cole's hat. Which means he has to reach up quite a bit. whoops.]

That's kind of what I do, Kid. I put things into words, then I put those words on paper.

[killedwithlove]

[Varric reaches and Cole comes back, sitting down on the floor near Varric to let him adjust his hat. He hugs his knees to his chest, watching over the tops of them.]

Lots of people try to do it, but you do it in a way I understand.

[merchantprince]

[He's hesitant about it not because Cole's a spirit but because some people respond really badly to touch. (Fenris is one.) But he does adjust the hat a little bit so it sits more comfortably, and so Cole can actually see.]

I'm glad, then. Bestselling author or not, I don't really hear that much.

[Varric, your altruism is showing.]

[killedwithlove]

[Cole doesn't always react well to being touched, but he likes Varric, so Varric can do it.]

Cassandra reads me Hard in Hightown and Swords and Shields sometimes, and I don't always understand, but she explains it to me. I like your words.

[merchantprince]

[His eyebrow jumps up.]

Cassandra does? Really?

[Then again, she'd read Tale of the Champion. But, still... He didn't think she was a fan. He rubs at his nose. Maybe there's more to the Seeker than just literary abuse and fury.]

Swords and Shields isn't really my best work, but I'm... glad you like my stuff. [He is. And a little embarrassed, somehow, because there's always a risk in putting your art out there. It's like sending out a little piece of yourself.]

Give yourself some time. When you know a little more about how the world works, maybe you can write some words down too.

[killedwithlove]

Yes. She likes Swords and Shields best. I like when she reads it because it's her favourite.

[His feet slide out and apart to he can lean forwards, all angles and awkward poses but he's comfortable.]

Spirits don't use words like mortals do. It's interesting, but strange. I don't really feel a need to put words down. I can copy writing, but I'm not very good at it.

I'd rather listen to your stories.

[merchantprince]

So the Seeker has a heart beneath all that armor after all. Could've fooled me.

[He doesn't want to be too bitter around Cole but it just. happens. Cassandra is not his favorite person right now, not after she interrogated him just to try and drag Hawke into the Chantry mess. And now he knows there's demons involved and Varric got dragged into it instead? Yeah, not his favorite person.]

All right, fair enough. You keep helping me write, and I'll tell more stories. How about that?

[He'd do it anyway.]

[killedwithlove]

She cares very deeply, but she knows how to make herself not care when she has a duty to do.

It's uncomfortable. She becomes a little less real. It's how I know she's going to make herself do what's right rather than what she wants.

[Cole is actually quite fond of Cassandra, for a lot of reasons.]

I'd help you anyway. And you'd keep telling stories, the voices get too loud and demanding when you ignore them.