Meanwhile on the loveboat (mingle log)

[destinyembrace]

Who: Crew of the Blue Fish, anyone who's been invited, and any visitors! So basically everyone
Broadcast: Nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, mostly probably in the kitchen and the mess hall because PARTY
When: Today~

[If there's anything this freaking ship loves, it's food. Somehow, a dinner got planned to welcome the new member. And then other people got invited. And then the dinner pretty much turned into a party with a lot of food. Needless to say, Kairi has been very busy preparing food all the day for this.

There's a lot of meat, per the captain's request. But there's also veggies, some fruit, pasta, and even brownies! There are also two pizza pies. Basically, Kairi just cooked a bunch of food and hoped it would be enough, as she had no idea how many people were coming.

SO DIG IN, BLUE FISH AND GUESTS. Also mingle and be social and all that jazz!]

Comments

[unconfines]

[Pizza is interesting. Anders is every bit delighted by new food that comes by anywhere, which could possibly have accounted for him being here, if not for the fact that he's a frequent visitor of this ship anyway.]

I like the ones with the little red sausages on them. [He means pepperoni. They have zing to them!] If you're curious. They've got a little more bite than the other kinds of sausage. Maker, there is a lot of meat in this room, isn't there?

[He's actually not even making a dick joke right now. But he could be! Only time will tell.

Hi, Aveline. If he's been paying attention to the network closely enough to know that she's probably not someone he should be talking to, well. Nobody was ever about to give him a "best decision maker of the year" medal anyhow.]

[coppermarigolds]

... Anders.

[Well, this is awkward. Now, Fenris already warned her about Anders, and how this isn't quite the Anders they knew, and she can look at him here and he is definitely younger than the last time she saw him.

That doesn't make things any tiny bit easier or less weird and how in the Void can she justify wanting to lock him up for a crime he won't commit for years to come? No, no. She has to make nice, right? She has no idea how to do that. None at all. So she just sort of stares at Anders with all the judgemental glare she can muster.]

[forcemageure]

[ So Hawke is here, because he lives here. And both Aveline and Anders are here because he ....l-words somethings both of them in at least some fashion, right? What is his mission in life* if not to dilute judgmental glaring. ]

You can thank Sokka for that. I've been told leafy greens give him some sort of terrible rash on just on sight!

[ He loops a couple fingers loosely through a couple of Anders', seemingly without his own notice. ]

Aveline, perhaps you'd like to do introductions? For this gentleman clearly looking at you as though you haven't met. Ever.
* or, uh, whatever

[unconfines]

[Anders' smile does not wither in the slightest, even up against said judgmental glare. It might sharpen at the edges, though, in the moment before Hawke's interruption; he's gotten to the point where he can tell within a few words whether a conversation with someone from Thedas is worth bothering with or not. This one isn't looking promising.

He does reach for a slice of pizza, though.]

I'll take that as a no on my food recommendation. That's all right, more funny little sausages for me.

[He takes a bite, eyebrows raised expectantly. Introductions?]

[coppermarigolds]

[Her expression softens a little, giving Hawke a look that tries to communicate how can you ask this of me and okay fine I'm trying but this is for you and not for him. Unfortunately, facial expressions aren't usually quite that eloquent.]

Right. Fine. I suppose I do have the advantage. My name is Aveline Vallen, and I know you even if you don't know me.

[There, see, she's trying?]

I'm sure the sausage is... very nice.

[forcemageure]

[ Maybe not usually, but Hawke can pick up the general gist. Maker knows direct communication such as what was just passed with expression would be quite a rarity in words. Between Hawke and...anyone. Either way the returned lilt of his eyebrows like, totally super obviously conveys this is one of those situations where Hawke's hideous faith begets asking--well, exactly this. Aveline tolerating Anders for his sake might be somewhere to start, but the truth is that he's asking even more than that. He's asking her to trust that Anders isn't a monster waiting to happen, to peel back all those layers of grief and disappointment and anger and start over again.

For what it's worth, he wouldn't ask anyone else. Anyway all that nuance of expression is gone quickly, leaving behind the hyperbolic version of relief someone might express upon, say, realizing they hadn't used the wrong fork and dessert can be salvaged after all! Some sort of aborted movement happens where he clearly considers moving in ...some mysterious capacity, but he kind of doesn't want to risk dropping Anders' fingers, tenuous as the hold actually appears. ]

There we are! If the Maker didn't intend for awkward small talk about sausage to bring us together, I don't know why he gave us lips.

[unconfines]

Well. You know an Anders, if we're going to be precise about it.

[The most pleasant way he can muster to phrase "You don't know anything about me." This time it isn't so much that he thinks of them — himself and their Anders — as separate (though that's true as well) as it is that he dislikes when people assume they'll know his reactions and then get frustrated with him when he doesn't live up to them.

He's had a lot of practice with conversations like these.

He isn't any more comfortable or encouraged than he was when Aveline was still actively glaring at him, but the odds of there being a scene that would force him to leave are diminishing quickly, which is something. And he started this, anyway. Might as well take advantage.]

I can think of a few other reasons, anyway. [This to Hawke with a flash of a grin, bulldozing over his own passive aggression.] Shall we small talk about something more exciting? The weather, perhaps? Endless void yet again, and no sign of spring in sight. Or maybe that this crew finally learned how to put some color into their interior decorating. That's perhaps the most dramatic twist yet.

[coppermarigolds]

Yes, I suppose you're... not precisely the same.

[Which makes sense. This one is younger. This one is not harbouring a spirit of Justice. This one hasn't been stuck in the pit of blood magic, bandits, and qunari that is Kirkwall for the past seven years. Still, she sounds like she's trying to convince herself, and she is. There was a time when she didn't automatically want to glare down Anders, and she's trying to remember that. Should she apologise? Probably, but apologising to Anders for being angry with him is just a little bit beyond her, right now. She rubs the bridge of her nose, pained.]

I didn't think there was weather in space. Maker, this is... strange.

[She doesn't mean space. For once.]

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke will take uh, the step back from open hostility, frankly, and he's pretty sure as far as Anders is concerned if Aveline actually apologized he'd probably suffer some kind of seizure. So he is prepared to take all openings at once, though of course he must first take the opportunity to smile in about seven hundred degrees of filth back at Anders. He'd take more trouble not to make Aveline uncomfortable except that she's seen him interact with like ...anyone before, ever. If he's not inspiring awful innuendo he's probably bleeding from several major arteries. ]

No real weather to speak of, no, Unless we count the absolute storms of emotion sweeping us at all times, and if either of you like me even the eensiest iota, you won't.

[ He brightens visibly at the prospect of discussing the Blue Fish's fabulous interior decor, a brightness which is ...much more honest than the brittle balancing act he'd currently been doing. ]

He - he, being Anders, the one we're currently engaged in conversation with, and not any others confusing everything terribly - means my dragon. Mostly. I assume other people painted trifling little details as well, but does that really matter, in the grand scheme of things?

[ Usually Hawke is less inclined to actually draw a distinct line between ...Anderses, but under the circumstances an exception seems warranted. ]

[unconfines]

[Anders doesn't care about making Aveline uncomfortable or not. In fact, endeavoring to do so might be a bit of a bonus. Whatever trepidation she's experiencing right now doesn't seem to have an effect on him whatsoever, in any case. Though it's true he might lose his lunch if anything like an apology came his way right now. Or laugh himself to death, one of the two.

He swings his and Hawke's hands idly where their fingers are linked together, and makes a great, surprised sound around his mouthful of pizza.]

Is that what that is? [Fondly. He probably did know that already.] And here I thought you just had an affinity for abstract lines. It all makes so much sense, now. Well, relatively speaking.

[The dragon thing. It's weird, right? Like, in a charming sort of way, but still. Is he the only one who thinks so?]

We should get something like it on the Golden. [And there it is, the piece de resistance. His smile is wide and as unobjectionable as can be.] Maybe not... exactly that, but I rather like the colors. What do you think?

[coppermarigolds]

I'm sure I have no idea.

[She's trying not to be dismissive. That's an answer that comes of uncertainty. Because, really, she's not going to try to approach anything in the realm of art criticism. That is not her thing. That is so far away from being her thing that it's the thing of anti!Aveline, which may or may not be another way of describing Anders. That's debatable.]

If you want to have a dragon, who am I to argue? But I'm not doing it. I'm the last person who should be.

[She rubs her nose. She is completely unsurprised to hear that the dragon is Hawke's. Of course it is.]

How about. Look, I suppose you're my... captain... [and he is entirely unqualified for that auuuuuuugh] Maybe there's something about me you want to know?

[forcemageure]

[ Uh obviously yes, Anders, you are the only one who thinks so. Everyone else recognizes how infinitely cool dragons are. (No.) ]

It was a Kirkwall thing. Someone's idea of a political statement. If they want to make it with a dragon far be it from me to criticize. Anyway! Not that I would ever ask the two of you to engage in polite conversation, but she is a good resource for whatever...captainy things you might be called on to do. I'm deliberately avoiding knowing what those are in case anyone ever asks. Then I can throw up my hands and claim never to have seen the manual. Is there a manual? Or did they just throw you in by the seat of your trousers with a pat and a hearty 'try not to die'? That's more or less what happened to Aveline.

[ One would think he's talking this much because he's apprehensive about being in the middle of this magical configuration, but actually he is far less so than he was five minutes ago. ]