driftfleet | Starships were meant to fly

Two years ago.

[ It makes her heart clench, and she feels as though her stomach is churning. It makes her feel as though she's going to snap into pieces, but she holds herself together somehow. ]

That sounds like him. Quiet, keeping to himself, painting everywhere he can.

[He notices, mostly due to his own...skills in detecting emotion, but he doesn't draw attention to it. He gives her that breathing space. ]

And, of course, whenever he appeared from his room, reminding us all of how much he knew compared to the rest of us. Can't forget that.

I'm guessing you knew him. Know him?

That's because he did know a lot. He just wasn't very good at telling us without sounding a little bit condescending.

[ She laughs, softly. ]

He was my friend, yes. [ More than that, but -- ] Was he happy here? Did he actually make any friends?

Hmm, I could tell he was lacking a bit in the people skills department.

[He shrugs.]

I dunno. I didn't really see enough of him to make that judgement call. He didn't seem unhappy? But that might not mean that was necessarily the case.

But his friends? I know Varric was here...

[ She's desperate for any kind of information, that's obvious, and she tilts her head up to smile awkwardly. ]

He was a very close friend of mine. It would be nice to know that he was comfortable here, even a little.

Oh right. Varric. I guess they spoke on occasion. [He shrugs. ] A lot of people from Thedas have passed through here. It's hard to keep track of you all, honestly.

[And now he'll say something that probably won't be all that comforting, oops.]

There was Jove. Pretty sure they were an item. She lived on the ship, too. I talked to her a lot.

That is understandable. We are a rather difficult group at times.

[ Smile! She just keeps smiling. ]!

Ah, so he was - involved? That’s interesting. He doesn’t seem the... Type.

That's an understand.

[He nods, smiling. ]

Yeah he doesn't, but there you go, they were pretty close. She was an elf like you, actually, Jove. Uh...Lavellan, I think her last name was. She had these tattoos on her face- if that helps.

[Because they might know one another because they're both elves. Just casual elf racism here.]

[ A Lavallan with valasslin.

She doesn't reach up to touch her own face, but it's a very near thing. Instead, she turns back to face the murals, staring at the familiar shapes, resisting the urge to touch those too. Another Lavellan, another time, another love story. It's not fair to be upset, she supposes, not when she had known that Cyril was here and he, too, had lived her life, but...

This was different. She had thought that her love with Solas had been as he'd said - unique. Now she's recognising that she's not special at all. ]

Vallaslin. Blood markings from the Dalish. That's what the tattoos are called.

[Crowley snaps his fingers.]

Yeah! That's them, forgot the fancy elf-word for them. She had this uh...glow-y hand, too. Which was-

[He looks down to Leilai's hand and his smile fades. ]

Oh...balls, you're another Inquisitor aren't you?

The Anchor.

[ Tilting her head up, she offers him a slightly wider smile. At least her years of being Inquisitor had taught her a little bit about how to act and hide her emotions. ]

My name is Leilani. It's nice to hear that Solas was happy, somewhere.

Right. Dangerous bugger, it was, too.

[He knows there's something off, but that would mean talking about how much he can peek into the minds of others and that never goes well, so he'll take the smile at face value. ]

Yeah well. As happy as you can be in space, I guess. I'm taking it he's not happy in your version of your home world?

Well. Yes. It's killing us.

[ Suddenly, this feels incredibly awkward and all Leilani wants is to escape and maybe open a bottle of wine or something like it. ]

Not as happy as he might have been, once. He carries a great weight on his shoulders and he's walking a path that's going to destroy him.

Yes, that's what I gathered.

[This is why he doesn't talk to people. This is exactly why. ]

Well, that sounds delightfully cheerful. Yippie for Solas, I guess.

[ It's fine, Crowley, just breathe. ]

You sound positively thrilled.

Of course. This is my thrilled tone.

...I'm getting the sense you probably don't- but if you do want to learn more about Jove, her messages will still be on the devices. I can always pull them up for you.

[Actually, you know, do his job as a communications officer for a change. ]

... It would be... Interesting. To learn about her.

[ She glances up, carefully. ]

Would she mind, do you think?

[The demon gives a shrug of his shoulders. ]

Can't see why she wouldn't. She never really minded getting to know the...uh [other versions of her???] other Inquisitors.