driftfleet | 01: I turn this corner, get on this spaceship...

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01: I turn this corner, get on this spaceship...

Who: Ray Kowalski
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: 16/4, pre-Shuffle

[A]

[It's not like Ray's graceless-- he's a dancer, right, he can be light on his feet, one-two-three-end-up-in-space, but right now it looks like he's mostly forgotten how to move at all. You can laugh at him (and you could, because in the kerfuffle he's managed to turn on the communicator) but only as soon as you figure out that there's a person underneath the sheer amount of winter clothes currently on the Marsiva. There's a mostly-empty backpack, a hideous parka, a warm (holy shit too warm) middle layer, and a suffocating base core layer. Then there's the hat, the weird-ass circular scarf-thing, two types of gloves, snow boots, sunglasses--

There's some muffled cursing coming from underneath all of this, but eventually there's a frustrated groan and a thump as about half of the aforementioned layers fall to the floor. All through the process, there's muttering.]

Look, Frase, not that I'm callin' you a liar or nothin', but all this time you been bragging about how freakin' cold it gets up North, but I'm kinda disappo-- [He pokes his head out of his last layer, hair mussed, eyes big.]

Fraser?

[B]

[However things get explained to him, he suddenly knows a shit-ton about space. And spaceships. A lot about space ships, actually, so much that his hands get a little itchy. It's weird to be here, without Fraser, when they've spent so much time together since starting his undercover assignment-- especially after they'd left for their Northern Adventure. It makes him feel a little anxious, like he's not sure how to behave without the Mountie at his side.

And when Ray gets anxious, he has to find something to do. So he starts walking around the Marsiva, and he finds things to do-- because he's a Detective, more than anything, and Finding Things Out is his gig, his jam. Specifically, he finds things to take apart, carefully, decisively. With the world of knowledge now inside his head, it all makes sense, and he settles into the work, seeing it, feeling it. It's cool. It's really cool.

The communicator's with him, on a table or on the floor, and despite the whole 'Engineering Augment' thing he keeps turning it off and on accidentally. Feel free to tell him not to take the ship apart.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Cassandra is seated in the viewing bay, looking out into the infinite void. Over the past few months, she's seen things she once thought were entirely impossible. But this? This whole situation manages to trump everything.]

[It's not comforting to look out into space. In a way, it's terrifying seeing so much nothing out there. But in another, it's grounding that all of this is real. Or as real as she's willing to allow it to be.]

[She does stop gazing outside to look over at Ray when he enters.]

Getting your bearings?

[He's fiddling with a remote when he walks in, focusing on that instead of where he's going. Most doors open just by walking up to them, and it's making walking around aimlessly pretty easy.

He only looks up when she addresses him, and a slow grin spreads out over his face when he sees the vast infinite expanse of space. After the initial shock had died down, it's now only inspiring an almost child-like wonder in him. The endless tundra and space have more in common than he would've expected. Both are beautiful in their own way, even when he doesn't get it.]

Yeah. I mean, as much as a guy can get his bearings in a place like this, right? [He flashes a grin at her and flips the remote in his hand, obviously showing off.]

[Cassandra doesn't reflect back a grin. Not even a mild smile. He seems to be taking all of this remarkably well from the way he's acting and she can't really understand why. It's one thing to keep whatever anxiety or distress he might be feeling to himself, but it's another to be able to smile or...play with the technology here.]

[She doesn't ask about the remote even as he shows it off.]

I'm told we won't remain on this ship for long and will be assigned to a different one. I wouldn't suggest getting too comfortable.

[Whatever, he'll flip it a few more times anyway, see if she gets impressed then.

And even if there is distress (and there is, because he's thinking about his partner, about him suddenly being alone in the vast, cold desert) it's no use showing that to everyone else around him. Goofy Ray is a lot easier to be than scared Ray.]

Space ship's a space ship, right? I figure, wherever I'm gonna end up, I might as well get used to the tech.

[Hmm...nope. Still unimpressed by his remote-flipping skills. But she is surprised, given his demeanor, that he would think to attempt to familiarize himself with the devices here.]

A wise choice then, [she notes.] I am Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast.

[C'mon, give him something! Alright, how about this little foot-shuffle he does to get close enough to stick out his hand for a handshake?]

Nice to meetcha [Seeker?? Cassandra? Miss Pentaghast? Aaah shit he's just gonna not say her name now, moving on], Detective Ray V-- Kowalski.

[Cassandra actually would not be horrifically offended if he asked her preference. But given that she has the tendency to intimidate everyone the first time she meets them, it probably wouldn't come as any surprise to her that he's wondering without asking. That doesn't mean she won't get mad at him when he (possibly inevitably) screws it up though.]

[She looks at the offered hand for a moment before it clicks that he is expecting her to shake it. Right. She humors him and shakes his hand, still wearing gloves herself.]

A pleasure, Detective. [She takes her hand back, folding her arms and leaning back into her seat.] Have you just arrived?

[If she continues to be this intimidating he is just going to avoid ever having to say her name. That seems like a pretty good solution right now.

He gives her hand a firm shake, smiling wide but polite. He doesn't sit down, instead remains sort of-- shifting, nearby her.]

Couple days ago, yeah. You too, I guess?

[Safest choice he could possibly make for himself.]

[She does eye him as he shifts about. Either sit or stand still, jeez.]

Yes. I don't like this waiting around.

Yeah, me neither. [Which is obvious-- even if he were sitting down he'd still be antsy and annoying.] Not used to sitting still this long, y'know?

I wouldn't have guessed, [she says dryly.]

[Cassandra is used to sitting still. But even when still, she still has something to do. This just feels like she's sitting on her laurels.]

[He decides to ignore that, because he knows it's kinda true.]

So what do you, uh, what'd you do back where you're from?

Recently, I have served with the Inquisition. I was the Right Hand of the Divine and it was Her Holiness' will that the Inquisition be restored to put an end to a war that threatened all of Thedas.

[Of course, the Inquisition ended up serving a far greater purposes than that, something beyond what Divine Justinia could have predicted.]

Uhhh... [Yeah, he zoned out about halfway through that explanation.]

You gotta back up a little, lady. Who the heck's the divine, where's Thedas, and who were you inquisitioning?

[She narrows her eyes at the "lady," but she will answer his questions with a modicum of patience.]

The Divine leads the Chantry. It is her duty to maintain the Chantry as well as to spread its message across Thedas, a continent does not likely exist on any map of yours.

In the past, the Inquisition protected Thedas from magic and heretics after the first Blight. It became two branches that are now known as the Templar Order and the Seekers of Truth after it became part of the Chantry. This Inquisition was meant to serve a similar purpose after the Templars and many of the Seekers turned their backs on the Chantry.

[The last of which is said with no small measure of disapproval. Cassandra, clearly, remained loyal to the Divine.]

Divine Justinia hoped to negotiate peace between Templars and mages, and end the war between them. But she knew it would be a difficult, if not impossible task. The Inquisition would have protected the Chantry and put an end to the war.

[He's sort of... making gestures throughout her explanation, so that he can remember all that better. He still doesn't understand all of it, but in the end at least he looks like he gets most of it.

It sounds rough. War always does, and he looks thoughtful when she finishes.]

'Would have'?

[Cassandra sighs a little because it's not something that is a straight-forward explanation. At least not without some minor knowledge. She must take a moment to put it in as simple terms as possible.]

A creature that called himself Corypheus tore a hole in the Veil between our world and the Fade, allowing demons to spill forth into the world. He did so at the Conclave.

[She's quiet a brief moment.]

Everyone in attendance died.

[It's both an old and recent wound at the same time. Cassandra lost a number of people to that monster, but she lost many in just that first day.]

Jesus. [He looks momentarily stunned, and then finally sits down. It's kinda freaky to hear someone talking about 'demons' and actually believing them, knowing that it's true. But here he is, and even if she doesn't show it explicitly, he can tell how much it must have affected her.

He's not a soldier, or a Seeker, or whatever, but he knows loss. He's seen what it can do to people.]

I'm sorry.

[Cassandra shakes her head. Although she can appreciate the gesture, it's not necessary. There was never any real time to grieve and by the time Cassandra found herself with any, she couldn't really find it within herself to dredge any of it up again.]

Corypheus was dealt with.

Good. You fucked him up good, huh?

[She arches a brow at his choice of words.]

He's dead, yes. And he will remain that way this time.

'This time'? Jesus.

Corypheus possessed the ability to pass on his essence to anything that had been tainted. He was able to cheat death. That is why the Wardens had sealed him away rather than killing him. They thought it completely impossible.

[And it had certainly seemed that way in the beginning at times.]

[He listens to that with a look of slight horror and awe, brows drawing together.]

Sounds like you're gonna have a pretty quiet time here, compared to that.

I hold no expectations one way or another about any of this.

[She doesn't know enough about this "space" thing to really determine it. It's better to simply be prepared.]

01: I turn this corner, get on this spaceship...

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