driftfleet inbox.

[merchantprince]

Why is it nobody ever seems happy to see us?
VOICE | TEXT | ACTION

This is a catch-all post for contacting Varric in driftfleet. Leave the date and method in your subject line while replying.

Comments

Voice; Jan 30ish? After the Robin stuff

[wilder]

So...you weren't bluffing when you said you had people to look after that Nel kid, right?

[Not that he doesn't believe you Varric, just you know...seems like a thing worth following up on]

sounds good to me!

[merchantprince]

[Oh hey, one of his contacts. Varric answers the comm immediately and braces himself for bad news.]

I can send Prickly to come get him right now if he needs a place to stay.

[He shuffles some papers.]

But it'd be easier if I could just have people on his ship give me progress reports every once in a while.

[wilder]

[It's the worst news: all the vodka is gone]

Prickly? I'm assuming that's not his real name.

[Then again, who the fuck knows in this fleet, half these names are weird]

His ship? That'd be the Three Twins, right?

[merchantprince]

Chris. He's the captain-- not that anyone listens to him.

[Haha. Varric included.]

That's right.

video, 2/7, afternoon

[serpentis]

[Dorian is positively -smiling-, like an honest smile, and it seems a little out of place on his features. A cutting smirk suits him more, a smile like this is rare.]

Never say I do not hold up my end of a bargain.

video, 2/7, afternoon

[merchantprince]

[Varric rubs at his eyes a little. He was obviously taking a siesta. He's happy to hear from Dorian though, and he brightens a bit.]

Hey, Sparkler. Good to hear from you.

You didn't have to get me something, you know. [It's hard to tell if he's kidding or not, actually. He's a dwarf, it's better to tread on the side of caution.] I would've lived. Probably.

[serpentis]

Likely you would have survived, but can it be said one truly lives without the finer things in life?

[Dorian gives him a smirk.]

I'll need to know where you are, or where I can have them left for the moment.

[merchantprince]

I knew I liked you for a reason.

I've got a base on Accendo, a couple of contraband steaks and a pack of cards. If you don't want to join me, though, you can leave it with one of my guys at the port.

Video; 8th

[wolfuncaged]

[Well, now that there are two Dalish Inquisitors running around the place, Fenris knows he can't avoiding having his conversation any longer. He could have left it to Merrill, but he's ninety per cent certain she'll get it wrong. ]

There is something I need to tell you. Concerning our world and...well, being trapped in a place such as this.

Video; 8th

[merchantprince]

Oh, brother. [Varric sets aside whatever he was working on. Smuggling papers, no doubt.] Did someone else get killed?

[wolfuncaged]

What? No. This is about Hawke.

[He realises there is no easy way to explain this so... ]

Have you noticed that there are two Inquisitor Lavellans running around now?

[merchantprince]

I noticed there's a couple more elves than usual, but... wait... they're both Inquisitor Lavellan?

-- Did you eat the mushroom pizza at the bar? Is that what's going on?

ACTION; SOME NEBULOUS TIME AT THE END OF MARCH/START OF APRIL

[serpentis]

[Dorian has been meaning to see Varric, but unfortunately, the dwarf is sleeping in a way that he hasn't awoken for weeks. It unsettles him, deeply, but he settles down in a bunk across from him, sitting and managing a small smile.

Odd, when no one is around, he feels safe enough to be honest.]

I know what you'll say. Ah, Dorian, so good to see you. Are you looking forward to settling the future debts you owe me? You'll call me Sparkler a few times, and I'll laugh. You'll laugh, and then you'll do that thing where you look someone over, like you're deciding how best to describe them.

I'll have you know that of my qualities you remark on in your writing, I'd like you to focus on my good hair, impeccable mustache, and flawless eyeliner.

[He settles back, his face unguarded for a moment, expression almost uncertain.]

Before I came here, everything seemed so simple. I would do my work with the Inquisition, good work, and then I would help save the day. Return to Tevinter. Cause a good deal of unrest among the Magisters, murder the few Venatori that remained. Push for reform, and this time, I would see that it would stick. Oust the crooked and broken Magisters, promote the ones that wanted to see Tevinter a place to be proud of again. Like Maevaris, like her. If only there were twenty more women like her in the Magisterium...

[He shakes his head.]

But now, I'm not entirely certain. I've...things have changed, Varric. I'm not certain where to go, or what to do. Arhen showed up, offered me something I had thought impossible for myself, and then he vashied as soon as he had arrived, and Fenris, I...

[He looked down, shaking his head softly.]

I kissed him, and I'm not entirely certain why, be he kissed me back. Could you imagine? A man like me, stolen away from my home only to go stumbling toward a man from the same city as me. Isn't it odd, Varric? And yet...fitting, I suppose. We must have narrowly missed each other for years. And I found him, here of all places. And somehow, he trusts me. I'm not entirely certain how, I barely trust myself, but...

[He smiles a bit, softly.]

You're missing a great story. There was a dragon, and all of this, and an angry mob, and...something decidedly more human. A girl, not a human, like a spirit almost, and she is my friend, in a way. And Ino, dear Ino, and Jove...well. It's been quite busy without you.

And we miss you, our height-impaired friend. Please come back to us, I would so hate for you to miss the entire story.

[And he chuckles softly.]

Besides, I need someone to write something for Fenris to read. He bores of fairly tales, and the books here are bereft of heaving bosoms and whatnot. How else can we hold someone's attention when he's outgrown fairy tales? I doubt he'd want to read any of my books, decidedly not. They're entirely too dry. We need something with fighting, with romance, with all of the titillating adult bits that make a story good.

[He stands, stepping forward and gently touching Varric's forehead with a many-ringed hand, his nails painted black. Varric's skin is warm, oddly, and Dorian knows he is alive, but not necause he can sense that, but because he senses an absence of death, here.]

You're missing a great adventure, my friend.

[He smiles, almost sadly, gently kisses Varric's forehead, and then leans back.]

[merchantprince]

[Varric hadn't stirred when he'd been moved from his bunk to Chris' captain's cot, so he doesn't stir when Dorian comes in and starts speaking to him like one does at the bedside of a loved one in a coma. It's sad-- really sad, actually.

His dreams aren't much better. He dreams of being in the Fade, of being chased by demons. He dreams of a woman's familiar round face smiling and winking at him, and when he reaches out to touch her, she morphs into the woman he took care of throughout his developing years. Her arms wrap around him tightly. She smells of cheap wine and cheaper company. He can't move, he can't breathe, and he doesn't let himself...

He feels her lips on his forehead and for a second he swears he's four years old again and nothing can go wrong even though his father is--

He startles into wakefulness, nothing pretty, just his eyes snapping wide open and Varric trying to sit up. Which, despite Dorian leaning back, might mean he gets a forehead to the nose.]

What-- uh, Sparkler? [He rubs at his forehead.] ... Did you just... ah, shit.

[He's not firing on all cylinders yet, but he's embarrassed that someone was concerned enough to actually try kissing him to wake him up. And of course, now it's tied into the maternal feelings he was reliving in that dream so he's just flailing all over.]

[serpentis]

[A forehead, indeed, he curses, holding his nose.]

Vinhedis!

[It's not bleeding, though, so he just rubs at it, irritably. And then he laughs. Dorian laughs, because life is entirely absurd anymore, and he has to laugh, because that is preferable to quiet screaming.

He sits back across from him, covering his face with a hand.]

Welcome back, Varric.

[merchantprince]

I've actually heard that one before.

[Now he's getting his bearings. But he is still very much the grumpy dwarf Dorian has come to know and love (no romo).]

Thanks. Can we agree just not to mention this? Ever? That'd be great.

[He's going to say more, but he's interrupted by a big yawn. Varric looks and feels like he just woke up from a hard nap. He doesn't know just how true that is, though.]

Maker's breath. I don't remember drinking enough to pass out, but I guess I did. [He adjusts his shirt, which is all out of sorts from sleep.]

Voice;

[wolfuncaged]

[It's probably some ungodly hour in the morning - because Fenris doesn't sleep and only checks the communicators at hours most people are unconscious. Still, he's seen something that's NOT OKAY and Varric is the one who'll get the brunt of it. Lucky Varric. ]

Varric. Varric. Varric wake up. Varric I need to speak to you right away.

Varric. Varric this is not the time to be sleeping. Varric. Varric I will not go away until you answer me. Varric.


Varric.

Voice;

[merchantprince]

[Varric groans and flips over, grabbing his communicator drowsily, yet managing not to drop it. He squints at it to see the sender. Fenris. That's... unusual? Yeah, it is.]

Elf? What the hell is going on?

[He strains his ears for the sound of fire or explosions.]

Someone dead?

Voice;

[wolfuncaged]

[No fire or explosions yet. It's what he wants to prevent. ]

Varr- oh. You're awake. Good.

No. No one is dead, but Atroma have done something exceptionally foolish and it needs rectifying as soon as possible. They made me captain, Varric.

[Him. You've SEEN where he lived back home. Please don't let him stay in charge of everyone on this ship. There'll be corpses everywhere. ]

Voice;

[merchantprince]

[He's still waking up when Fenris starts to go on about stuff that barely makes sense.]

Huh? Wasn't the redhead...

[He stifles a yawn and tries to get his brain going.]

Oh... shit. You're captain? You're captain. Okay. Listen up, elf. This is only going to be temporary, but if anything crops up-- [He shakes his head, trying to clear it.] Let me do the talking.

I think there's some paperwork somewhere I can... yeah, we can fix this.

video -

[invigorates]

[ at some point during the end of their first week stationed on the starlight, varric will get a call from the resident glowing dark elf in regards to another job she might be interested in taking on. atop the three or four she is already doing because she has no need for sleep and plenty of energy to expend on menial tasks for coin. coin she won't even use.

but i digress. she's calling for a reason, i promise. ]

Varric! I've a proposition for you, should you choose to take it. [ how vague. surely that will catch his interest! ]

[merchantprince]

[He snaps on the communicator without delay.]

You're speaking my language. I've always got time for you, Velvet. What can I help you with?

omFG

[invigorates]

Velvet? [ momentarily deterred by that, she thinks maybe he's mistaking her for someone else. but that is... more or less impossible given that she's the only tiny glowing dark elf lady aboard the fleet.

well whatever, she is supposed to be asking him something - propositioning him, even. ]

Ah - well you see, it would seem I have found a fondness for a particular line of work whilst we have been docked upon the Starlight. And it occurred to me that a certain dwarf I know runs an establishment akin to those here, and could perhaps provide a more permanent position. [ in other words: ] I would like to work at your bar, if you will have me.

:)

[merchantprince]

You're dark and soft around the edges. Like velvet.

[He winks. He's a terrible flirt, sorry Lioriley.]

And here I thought you were going to ask me for smuggling tips. Can you hold your own in a fight? That's really all I'm concerned about, just in case someone decides they can't take it outside. Or they don't want to pay ten credits.

Mixing drinks happens, but most of the time people just want "wine" or "beer", so you can learn the other stuff while you're on the job.

gift battle. 2.24.16

[invigorates]

[ i will have to repay you somehow, she had said a few weeks ago when varric hired her for a job at his bar, let her try on one of those fancy dresses, and then decided to buy her new shoes and a whole bunch of other things. and she intended to keep that promise it just... took longer than she would have liked.

she had already thanked him verbally for everything - but she still wanted to do more. so the elf worked between shifts on his gift, dedicated far more money and time than she probably needed to just for a thank you. and when it's finally finished, she brings it right to his bunk, leaving a box outside his door just as he had done for her.

inside is a bracelet. the four wooden circles look to be hand-carved, with various symbols etched into them. the note underneath it explains what each one represents. strength, protection, friendship, appreciation, along with a simple: Thank you for everything. - Lioriley.

and if varric looks very closely, the 'protection' rune seems to be glowing very faintly - a blue almost akin to lioriley's leylines. ]