THE PLANET MINGLE

[princessia]

Who: EVERYONE!
Broadcast: Maybe, if you want?!
Action: The Planet
When: From May 11th until the end of the month

[ Willing to venture away from the casinos and investigate the nearby green planet? Here's your chance, now that it's in range!

THIS IS A MINGLE. GET HERE. ]

[ Make your own prompts, explore the planet, spend a night there, piss it off by taking its plants, whatever! MAY STAR SYSTEM OOC POST for your reference on getting through the orbit, what's on the planet, etc.! ]

Comments

[dirth]

[ Solas walking, thinking, considering - and he says nothing when he feels a familiar prickle, something that he recalls from Thedas, and he turns his head.

He stops. He pauses. He bows his head in recognition. ]

Hello.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole's feet make no noise as he moves, unerringly finding the barest patches of dirt to step on. He comes into clear focus after a moment, heading ducking slightly.]

Hello, Solas. The Fade is here, hearing, harkening, harnessing what is around it.

She doesn't understand. I know why you can't tell her. The anger will pass.

[dirth]

[ He can feel it, too, a familiar thing, a prickle around him, his eyes moving around until the spirit appears - Cole, but not Cole. Something more and, yet, at the same time, incredibly familiar. His smile is soft as he gives it, adjusting his stance, arms behind his back. ]

Of course. No one could understand, I know that.

[ Not even Jove, he thinks. He tilts his head down, watching. ]

I can understand the frustration.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole but not Cole. Something a little less... a person. A little more a concept driven by sheer bloodymindedness.]

I understand. Am I no one?

[He does. He always has.]

You had to leave, without a word, because you might not have been able to leave with them. You had to leave, so no one could find you, because otherwise, they might refuse to let you go.

[He reaches out, brushing the backs of his fingers softly down Solas' cheek. An almost parental gesture.]

[dirth]

You're more than no one. You and I both know that.

[ Cole is no one and everyone, a spirit and a friend and family and nothing all at once. It's difficult to put into words. ]

There are things that had to be done. I made mistakes and I had to be the one to undo them. I don't think any of our fellows would have allowed me to do that alone.

[ He hesitates before he leans into the touch, fond. ]

[killedwithlove]

Yes, we both know that. I'm Cole... and many more people than just Cole.

[His touch doesn't linger, just pressing and his hands dropping again.]

You didn't have to be alone. But you felt unworthy to place that burden on anyone else. I already knew. I didn't know what I knew, but I knew. You had to do it alone because that's how you protected us.

[dirth]

You are unique and I have always appreciated that.

[ His eyes turn away and, for the first time in a long time, Solas is hesitant. ]

Is it protection? We are both aware of what I have done, the ties I cut with you, even before I left. [ He forced Cole out and away from his head, some hurts even he cannot heal. ] Perhaps I was only protecting myself.

[killedwithlove]

[Compassion is patient, and simply waits for Solas to work through what he wants to say, watching him attentively.]

You want to hurt. You think you deserve to hurt for what you have done. And failed to do.

You wanted to protect the people you knew. From you.

[dirth]

And why not? I made the mistake; it was mine to undo. No one else should have that burden.

[ He turns his gaze away, careful. ]

My story is not something for legend.

[killedwithlove]

Why do you look away from me?

[His voice is still gentle, understanding.]

People shouldn't be hurt for mistakes. And that choice could have been theirs to make. If you'd let them.

[dirth]

But I did not let them make that choice. I knew what they would decide long before I put into motion the things I did.

[ He can't look; he knows why. He is not ashamed, exactly, but he is confused, lost in his own understanding, in the mistake he made and what it means now, in what undoing it will cost him and the people around him. ]

You've read the stories - we have all heard the tales of him.

[ Of me. Of Fen'Harel. ]

[killedwithlove]

You didn't let them. And you don't know what they think. You think you do sometimes, but that's why you called yourself Solas. You can't read their minds. You don't know what they would've done.

[Compassion is more confident than Cole in many ways.]

No. I haven't read the stories. I know what you think and feel about him.

[The name he won't say, not if Solas doesn't want to hear it.]

[dirth]

[ Solas shakes his head, turning it away with a frown, forcing himself to steel as much as he can. It aches, it hurts, and he knows Cole - Compassion - can feel it. ]

No. I do not know what they think, I never did, and that was the mistake of my youth. I thought I knew best and I was proven to be wrong.

[ He frowns, lips pursed. ]

The Trickster, the Wolf that will catch a scent. That will find you in the night and steal you from your clan... Many stories.

[killedwithlove]

But you often presume to know what they think, or would think.

[Then he winces, a small gasp as he's cut off. he knows Solas can do that, but he doesn't like it, feeling empty and lost.]

Rebellion. Refusal to accept an unacceptable status quo. You have to fight, but you don't have to fight us. Me.

[dirth]

I was young and foolish, made the mistake of a young man who thought he knew best.

[ He finally looks back at Cole, almost apologetic but not quite. ]

Once, in Thedas, I told you that there are some hurts that cannot be healed. This will always be one of them, Cole. I am sorry.

[killedwithlove]

You still do it...

[Cole would've tried to hug Solas. Compassion doesn't think to do so and instead shifts restlessly, mildly distressed at not being able to help.]

I'm sorry. I can't read you. You have to tell me what would make you feel better. Not healed. Just better.

[dirth]

I do.

[ And he will continue to do it, without shame or regret. It is easier, despite what Cole knows, to shut down and lock him out, to keep him away from that particular hurt. ]

Your company is enough, for now.

[killedwithlove]

[Cole still doesn't look content with that answer, but he comes closer to Solas, offering his presence.]

The Fade isn't here. But it is at the same time. I like that. Can you hear it too?

[dirth]

[ And Solas takes it, relaxing a little as the spirit moves closer. ]

I can. It is distant, like bird call across the way, but it is there. I miss it.

[killedwithlove]

Come closer. Let me help.

[Cole can do this, but for Compassion, it's far easier. he comes close and tries to slip into the fine mesh of compassion and empathy and healing that he knows is in Solas, pushing it outwards to try and let it run the other way. To let Solas feel the magic and Fade through him.]

[dirth]

[ And, for once, Solas allows it. He basks, almost, in the feel of the Fade, in the strength of it, the grip he has through Compassion, and his eyes slip closed. He feels warmed from it and it settles in his chest, lighter than anything else. ]

Cole...

[killedwithlove]

[Cole stays close, breathing slow and even and letting his awareness flood Solas.

Some people would use the chance to try and find information.

Cole doesn't. This is a gift.]

Yes?

[dirth]

[ Solas could do the same, he thinks, as Compassion, as Cole is doing. He could reach back and feel so much from this boy that wants nothing more than to help him...

But he doesn't. He simply smiles, softly, his eyes closed and his head tilting down.

For a long moment, he missed Thedas, violently. ]

Thank you.

[killedwithlove]

[Compassion rests against Solas, following various curls of emotional connection. Solas to Jove is one of the clearest, from Jove out to others and he feels a spike of pain there that he'll need to go and help with later.

He slowly starts unpicking himself from Solas.]

You don't need to thank me.

[dirth]

[ Solas breathes out as they separate, drawing back and, carefully, turning his head to look over at the spirit again. ]

All the same... You have it.