Open Action: Fleet Wide

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and EVERYONE
Broadcast: No
Action: EVERY ship in the Fleet, bar Marsiva, Three Twins and Tourist (Though you can easily find him on another ship if you're from one of those)
When: First week of the month?

[This is a thing Cole does.

He travels the Fleet a lot, from ship to ship, meeting people, talking to people, hanging out. He sees people he knows and meets new ones, or ones he just didn't encounter before

He wants to help everyone. Which means meeting them first. Or finding them. Doing that might involve poking through the ships, even if he really shouldn't. Or going through personal belongings. Sorry about that. He's curious.

And armed. It is worth mentioning he's got a pair of wickedly sharp fighting knives on his back. Sorry about that as well.]

Comments

ss starstruck;

[mysterzie]

[ This isn't what Aaron wants to see when he comes back into his room. This whole ship is too small in general and when they've left the waystations, his options are vastly more limited. Now that they've gotten themselves rooms, however, at least he has some form of space.

Then there's this asshole. Down in his little cubby of a room where there's nary a trinket, only a pile of clothes on a small shelf in the corner. ]

What the fuck are you doing here?

[killedwithlove]

Visiting.

[Let it never be said Cole gives helpful answers.]

You. And Emily, if you want to let her out. But it's okay if you don't.

[mysterzie]

You weren't invited.

[ He doesn't even want to acknowledge that second part with an answer. Of course he doesn't. She doesn't belong here; Aaron does. Aaron is the one pulled in, the one people know (the one who hides when even Aaron isn't enough). Emily just isn't needed. ]

[killedwithlove]

No. Should I have been?

You need me, so I came.

[mysterzie]

I don't need anybody. Especially not you! Why don't you find somebody else who wants help?

And by the way? You don't go into peoples' rooms without permission! Get out.

[killedwithlove]

Everyone needs Compassion. Especially those who think they're least deserving of it.

[He stands up off the floor and doesn't try to leave.]

The room doesn't mind me being here.

ss golden

[coppermarigolds]

[Aveline is... not nearly as well-armed as she would like to be (i.e. not at all, because this is something that is woefully neglected in her opinion), but coming across an unfamiliar person in a corner of the ship is... alarming. And the knives are worrying, oh yes.]

What are you doing here?

[A demand, with narrowed eyes. Hi.]

[killedwithlove]

[He's petting the wall. Which makes sense if you know he's checking on the ship itself.]

Hello... oh! You're Varric's guard captain! You're Aveline.

[mysterzie]

It isn't about deserving, it's about wanting.

Rooms aren't alive. This is my room, you're in my place.

[killedwithlove]

It's not about wanting. It's about needing.

I want to help your hurt. I can, if you let me. I can see how it hurts. I can help it heal.

[It's possible that it will take more than just tell him to go away.]

[mysterzie]

Why would you do that?

[ He doesn't look happy. Just helping it heal without solving the root problem — grinding down the callouses until only fresh skin remains, nerves raw and open and ready to be wounded again. Is that was this guy wants? ]

[coppermarigolds]

[Okay, not what she expected. She jerks her chin up defensively, watching him.]

You're... a friend of Varric's, then?

[That may or may not be reassuring.]

What are you doing here?

[killedwithlove]

Because I want to help. I don't want you to hurt.

[Not necessarily removing the callouses. Thinning them enough to get to the poison under them.]

[mysterzie]

Meaning what? You just want to meet her and everything will be hunky-dory?

[killedwithlove]

I am. But the Varric here didn't know me and now he's gone. I hope he went back to Kirkwall.

[He rocks back and forth on his feet, face down and hidden in shadows from his hat.]

I'm visiting.

[killedwithlove]

No. But it would be a start. Some hurts are easy to heal. Some aren't, but you can make them a bit better.

[mysterzie]

I don't... get you! Nobody would give a shit if I—if she—

[ He doesn't want to be a kid, powerless and disrespected and unable to control her own life. That isn't how Aaron is built to be. ]

It's not going to heal anything.

[killedwithlove]

It hurts you, every moment of every day.

People here would care. I would care. Others would care. They care for the other children here. You shouldn't have had to go through what you did. You shouldn't have had to do the things you did.

It won't heal it. It will start lancing the pain.

[mysterzie]

Not if they knew. They wouldn't care, because I'm not...

What the fuck do you know? You just read it. You didn't live it. You aren't living it right now.

[coppermarigolds]

Ah, that sort of situation. I understand. I... hope he's in Kirkwall, too.

[As safe a place as Kirkwall might be, which isn't saying much. Meanwhile, she's got some a more immediate problem on her hands: there's a mysterious young man on her Anders's the ship. She frowns, more thoughtful and concerned than anything else.]

What's your name?

[killedwithlove]

Not a nice, pretty child? Because you've done things, awful things, and you don't always regret it?

No. I'm not. I just know it hurts you terribly and I know how to help it. That's what I am. It's what I want to do.

I will care. I already know. Seeing her won't change what I know. But it will let you see that I don't treat you differently.

[mysterzie]

Because I'm not a kid. I don't need a parent, or a guardian, or a babysitter... Just let them see this, and that's what I am. That's it!

Yeah? How do you help this?

[killedwithlove]

Cole.

[He looks down and then up at her, head tilting slightly.]

I knew a templar with hair that colour. Are you angry at Anders?

[killedwithlove]

But... you are. You are a child.

I don't know if you need a guardian. But having people looking out for you is nice. Being alone and angry all the time is exhausting. Your temper is frayed on the edges and your emotions sit close to the surface, poking through the threadbare patches.

You start by not being scared of Emily.

[coppermarigolds]

[Her mouth opens, then closes again. Congratulations, she's been taken off guard.]

Yes. No. It's... complicated. What do you know about it? Have you been talking to him?