driftfleet | [Open] Text

Who: Anders ~~and the empty room~~, anyone else
Broadcast: Yes
Action: SS Tourist, if desired
When: Day after the shuffle

[It had hardly taken long to piece it together. He woke up alone, without the warmth of another person nearby. Opening his eyes revealed that the room was back to the size it had been before they'd merged their quarters and the bed really only had enough room for him and the three sleeping snow kittens.

It didn't matter that all of Wolfe's things were still littered around the room, what mattered was the absence of the man himself. He rarely left in the morning without telling Anders something.

He didn't even bother checking to see if he could send a message to Hawke once Anders spotted the ring he had offered Hawke nearly two weeks ago.

It took him a moment to gather himself, but, quietly, he did and checked the communicator just to make sure. How silly of him to even feel surprised or expect anything different.]

To those that knew him, Adalwolfe Hawke is no longer on the fleet.

It appears the same is true of Marian Hawke.

If anyone has any business left unsettled with either of them, please feel free to let me know and I will do my best to help.

[It hadn't taken long to find both missing when he tried to send a message to 'Hawke' and found no Hawkes listed in the fleet. He'd quickly followed up with checking some of the others as well, but it seemed most of everyone was still around. Mostly. Everyone from Kirkwall was gone except him.

He hesitated before adding:]

Fenris is gone as well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He smiles back. Maybe it wasn't so well-kept a secret, but he still hadn't known, so it still meant something to him.

But he shakes his head in response to that second part.]could unlearn it. Moving on might prevent loneliness or a cold night, but it's not exactly fair to the other person unless 'casual' works for them. [He met her gaze, a hardness at the edge of them.] I won't stop loving Wolfe the most, even if someone else were in the picture for however long I'm here.

I don't know...it just seems like too much. [And, in a valient effort to change the subject because he's fairly sure he's talking in circles:]

You know, if you need another option and it isn't too weird, my bed's an open option to you. So long as you don't mind sharing with kittens. It would be like a stay-over, but with more actual sleep. People still have those, right?

Yeah, that's...definitely the bigger problem, isn't it? [He nailed it. Even if she could get past it feeling unfair to Winn or even herself, how cruel does it feel to do to someone else unless they really seem to get it and understand what they're walking into? Even then it feels dicey.] Every other time the relationship ended because it didn't work. [But she'd still be with Winn if she could. If he came back she'd leave whoever she was with if she moved on.] This would just be letting someone know they are the runner up.

[And what a subject change it is!]

Well, I do like kittens. It's been awhile since I was shipping myself off to the Tourist for bed. [That alone might stop her from taking him up on it. Too familiar to sharing her nights with Winn—about half on his ship and half on hers.] I think we just called them sleepovers in my world. Although those usually involved more prank calls and less trauma. Less, not none.

[‘Runner-up’ was exactly it. Should Atroma bring Wolfe back again, Anders would be back at his Champion’s side in a heartbeat. It was hardly fair to another person if they thought something was turning serious.

It wouldn’t be impossible, but he’d have to be awkwardly upfront about anything with anyone. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

But at the mention of it ‘having been a while’ Anders winced. He hadn’t even really thought about it, he hadn’t remembered what ship Winn had been on, but he couldn’t imagine her coming here was all that easy for her. He lived here and he already knew it was going to feel so much more empty without Hawke’s vivacious presence. If the Tourist didn’t need a medical officer on board, he’d consider transferring. Maybe even back to the Twin Rose and the people he still considered his captains. But it was all academic anyway.]

I don’t know what ‘prank-calling’ is exactly, but I can guess. If the communicators didn’t log who was talking, we could definitely get away with that.

But, please, don’t feel obligated, it was merely an offer, should you need it.

[There would always be a place waiting for him if he wanted to come back. Okay, literally they might have to get an upgrade if they are at capacity, but she would make sure they got one for him and in the meantime there's still that bed in the cargo bay or maybe that sharing he mentioned.]

You'd do really well in a modern version of Earth. [She smiles at him, not actually being sure at all that he would, but he understood what a prank call might be and isn't that the main criteria anyway?]

It's a good offer. Thank you. I don't know if I'll take you up on it or not, but it means a lot that you'd ask. [If anything her hesitation might be that she has hesitation if that makes any sense. Her first thought was that Wolfe just left, but then why should that matter when it's only sleep? And yet it had given her pause so maybe it's been too long and it might stay simpler not to sleep beside handsome men. Not that Kurt isn't handsome! But they go so far back. That's never been their dynamic.]

I'm not sure. Perhaps. [He certainly wasn't great in his own world. But, then, his world had magic and he did love having that, so there was the good and the bad.

He smiled.]

Anytime you need anything, all you need do is ask, Kitty-Cat.
[He meant it whole-heartedly. She'd been a better friend to him than he could ever expect or ask for and he loved her dearly. There was little he wouldn't offer her, if she asked.]

[After all her time in these strange places she's sure there are worlds she'd call modern and he'd call magical being one and the same. At least a few.]

Are you trying to comfort me now? [She smiles at him and she gets it. It usually makes her feel better to concentrate on others instead of her own problems.] You too, you know? You may not be on the Twin Roses anymore, but you're still crew. [Family.]

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