The righteous destruction of terrible handkerchiefs? Of course.
[ okay, okay, she promised. 'but so did you,' says the look she passes over to Kitty. ]
As to the other, I do. The alternative is that there is no true order to the world at all. If everything were accident combined with man's devising, then there is no reason to respect any structure of any society, nor any reason save what one can dream up for oneself to care for those within it. 'You ought to because I think it is good to do so and I say so' has far less power than 'so it has been ordained'.
[ another sip of her drink, mostly for punctuation. ]
And I trust the motivations of men far less than I trust the motivations of the Maker.
[ and she doesn't even think about the Maker all that often. ]
[ Kitty shakes her head slightly, then responds: ]
Well, I was born about as low as you can get. Born to die in a factory or die after pouring boiling tea in a magician's lap. And - oh, sorry.
[ She's accidentally yanked her hand out of the attendant's grip as she's gestured broadly to emphasize her point. Rather embarrassed, she hands it back over, then goes on: ]
Anyway. I've never seen any sense to it. I'm cleverer than nine-tenths of those who are supposed to be my betters, and more thoughtful, and better-read, and harder-working. It doesn't make sense that if there's a Maker or something like him, he'd want me to serve people who frankly aren't half so good as me. The only thing that makes sense is that they had the good fortune to be born in the right circumstances.
[ Alexandrie frowns thoughtfully. After all her espousal of the concept, hadn't she come to join the Inquisition specifically because of the bridges it was building that removed such barriers? Simultaneously, however, it's difficult to believe that anything good could come of Kitty's view either. ]
You would have what then, a society based entirely upon merit and skill? But who judges what is meritorious? One might say that Tevinter—of which you heartily disapprove—is such a society, it is simply that the merit they have chosen to value above others is strength of magical gift. Those who have such a thing are able to rise beyond the class they were born to. If you argue that such a thing is also an accident of birth, I might counter that your clever intelligence is as well, but yet you consider that to be a merit that makes you worthy of higher standing than you possessed.
Your cleverness, were it not accompanied by your heart, could as easily be a tool for ill. On the other side, the 'fancy births' of my family, as you call them, allow us to improve the quality of the lives of all who toil on our behalf, and the magic in Tevinter is used also to create amenities for the public that would not exist without it, to heal injuries that would otherwise kill. I know not how it was used in your world, but it is not simply a destructive force here.
All depends on the spirit in which such things are used. There is nothing inherently good or inherently bad: things simply are.
You agree that healing injuries is inherently good, don't you? That was what you implied, right there. And building amenities for people. That's inherently good. Right?
Then if actions can be good - then that's fundamentally incompatible with that statement that things simply are. If actions can make the world better, then that means that things can be improved. Then that means that a lack of change is evil.
[ Kitty hesitates, biting her lip. She realizes abruptly just how dangerous it is, what she's saying. And she's speaking it freely. She bites her lip, and shakes her head, going abruptly reticent. ]
[ unfortunately, Alexandrie is like a hawk. Once she's bound her claws into something, simply trying to take it away will only make her clench tighter, and she's generally too clever for distractions unless she lets herself be drawn aside. ]
It matters not what the world becomes as long as it changes, or it matters not what you think about such things?
[ her eyes sparkle with amusement, and then, not unkindly: ]
"Ah, I believe shortly after my arrival in this new and strange world I shall publicly threaten to fiercely injure every Altus from powerful Houses in Tevinter who have come to aid the organization I now depend on! I think I shall also do the same to an Orlesian noblewoman! As a little cake for dessert afterwards, do let me insult the governance of every country in this world!
What? Certainly I can keep my mouth shut if the situation calls for it!"
[ Kitty sighs, transparently annoyed by the comment (though not angry over it). ]
The place I'm from is a lot worse than this. I survived there by keeping my mouth shut. And anyway, the day someone gets in trouble with the Inquisition for slapping Benedict Artemaeus is the day I eat my boots without sauce. I expect that most of the higher-ups want to see him slapped themselves.
[ both the annoyance and the mention of Bene's eminent slappability make Lexie chuckle quietly. ]
I am only teasing, cherie. Your stubborn insistence on being stubborn has grown on me much like ivy. Eventually I imagine, much like ivy, it shall weaken the structure of my stubborn insistence on propriety.
[ she clucks ruefully ]
You are a danger. But a kind one, I think, at your center.
[ With a puff, she blows her hair from her face. ]
I hope it does. Weaken all that.
[ Anyway - ]
And I don't know about kind. I'm not really that. But as long as I'm going to be here, I want to help people in this world and make things a bit more decent and just. And stop us all from getting murdered by a mad magister.
Oh. [ A shrug. ] Kostos. The grouchy one. And his - I think it's his twin? The other one. I never actually got his name. Gwenaelle, too. And Petrana made it pretty clear that - you know - it looks like there's nothing else for us Rifters except this. That once we're gone, we're - quite gone.
Ah, all the friendliest members of the Inquisition!
[ she loves Gwen dearly, but the woman is not a font of optimism or kindness. From what she's heard and observed, the others are either prickly and abrupt by nature or not given to mincing words. ]
I imagine we can truly know as little of what happens to Rifters who disappear as we can about what transpires upon our own deaths. There are those who have been here since right after the death of the Herald, there are those who have come and gone.
[ she waves her unoccupied hand dismissively ]
Even if they are right and you are here for only a short time before dissipating, you may make as much of a mark as any of the rest of us do before we are poisoned, or shot, or stabbed, or any of the other lovely things that befall us in this world. It is not as if the impacts of the departed are destroyed with them.
[ another such wave of her hand. how dare, she isn't sweet. ]
They were not required to attempt to cause you to feel poorly either. Perhaps they and I together shall cause some manner of equilibrium.
[ speaking of hands, her first is complete, and the attendant moves to sit on the other side of the lounge. Alexandrie examines the first with a satisfied smile, and swaps her wine glass into it to offer the other hand. ]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 07:24 pm (UTC)[ She shakes off her funk. Or tries to. She can't help herself, though, saying instead - ]
Do you really think it's been ordained that way?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 07:51 pm (UTC)The righteous destruction of terrible handkerchiefs? Of course.
[ okay, okay, she promised. 'but so did you,' says the look she passes over to Kitty. ]
As to the other, I do. The alternative is that there is no true order to the world at all. If everything were accident combined with man's devising, then there is no reason to respect any structure of any society, nor any reason save what one can dream up for oneself to care for those within it. 'You ought to because I think it is good to do so and I say so' has far less power than 'so it has been ordained'.
[ another sip of her drink, mostly for punctuation. ]
And I trust the motivations of men far less than I trust the motivations of the Maker.
[ and she doesn't even think about the Maker all that often. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 07:58 pm (UTC)Well, I was born about as low as you can get. Born to die in a factory or die after pouring boiling tea in a magician's lap. And - oh, sorry.
[ She's accidentally yanked her hand out of the attendant's grip as she's gestured broadly to emphasize her point. Rather embarrassed, she hands it back over, then goes on: ]
Anyway. I've never seen any sense to it. I'm cleverer than nine-tenths of those who are supposed to be my betters, and more thoughtful, and better-read, and harder-working. It doesn't make sense that if there's a Maker or something like him, he'd want me to serve people who frankly aren't half so good as me. The only thing that makes sense is that they had the good fortune to be born in the right circumstances.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:12 pm (UTC)You would have what then, a society based entirely upon merit and skill? But who judges what is meritorious? One might say that Tevinter—of which you heartily disapprove—is such a society, it is simply that the merit they have chosen to value above others is strength of magical gift. Those who have such a thing are able to rise beyond the class they were born to. If you argue that such a thing is also an accident of birth, I might counter that your clever intelligence is as well, but yet you consider that to be a merit that makes you worthy of higher standing than you possessed.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:14 pm (UTC)My cleverness can make the world a better place. Fancy birth can't. Nor can the ability to murder someone else with magic.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:21 pm (UTC)Your cleverness, were it not accompanied by your heart, could as easily be a tool for ill. On the other side, the 'fancy births' of my family, as you call them, allow us to improve the quality of the lives of all who toil on our behalf, and the magic in Tevinter is used also to create amenities for the public that would not exist without it, to heal injuries that would otherwise kill. I know not how it was used in your world, but it is not simply a destructive force here.
All depends on the spirit in which such things are used. There is nothing inherently good or inherently bad: things simply are.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:25 pm (UTC)You agree that healing injuries is inherently good, don't you? That was what you implied, right there. And building amenities for people. That's inherently good. Right?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:44 pm (UTC)It - doesn't matter.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:49 pm (UTC)It matters not what the world becomes as long as it changes, or it matters not what you think about such things?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 08:53 pm (UTC)What I think. My opinions have never mattered a whit to the world at large.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:00 pm (UTC)[ so why stop now, hmmmm? ]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:05 pm (UTC)That's hardly true. I wouldn't have survived this long if I didn't ever keep my mouth shut.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:16 pm (UTC)"Ah, I believe shortly after my arrival in this new and strange world I shall publicly threaten to fiercely injure every Altus from powerful Houses in Tevinter who have come to aid the organization I now depend on! I think I shall also do the same to an Orlesian noblewoman! As a little cake for dessert afterwards, do let me insult the governance of every country in this world!
What? Certainly I can keep my mouth shut if the situation calls for it!"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:20 pm (UTC)The place I'm from is a lot worse than this. I survived there by keeping my mouth shut. And anyway, the day someone gets in trouble with the Inquisition for slapping Benedict Artemaeus is the day I eat my boots without sauce. I expect that most of the higher-ups want to see him slapped themselves.
spoilers, god ;)
Date: 2018-07-31 09:28 pm (UTC)I am only teasing, cherie. Your stubborn insistence on being stubborn has grown on me much like ivy. Eventually I imagine, much like ivy, it shall weaken the structure of my stubborn insistence on propriety.
[ she clucks ruefully ]
You are a danger. But a kind one, I think, at your center.
whoops gave it away
Date: 2018-07-31 09:43 pm (UTC)I hope it does. Weaken all that.
[ Anyway - ]
And I don't know about kind. I'm not really that. But as long as I'm going to be here, I want to help people in this world and make things a bit more decent and just. And stop us all from getting murdered by a mad magister.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:50 pm (UTC)There is nothing wrong with a little propriety.
[ and then, with the 'as long as I'm going to be here' she is reminded of something Kitty had mentioned earlier. So, gently: ]
Who was it, who told you your time here was limited?
[ and all the rest that went along with that. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 09:56 pm (UTC)[ She sounds pretty steady about it. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 10:47 pm (UTC)[ she loves Gwen dearly, but the woman is not a font of optimism or kindness. From what she's heard and observed, the others are either prickly and abrupt by nature or not given to mincing words. ]
I imagine we can truly know as little of what happens to Rifters who disappear as we can about what transpires upon our own deaths. There are those who have been here since right after the death of the Herald, there are those who have come and gone.
[ she waves her unoccupied hand dismissively ]
Even if they are right and you are here for only a short time before dissipating, you may make as much of a mark as any of the rest of us do before we are poisoned, or shot, or stabbed, or any of the other lovely things that befall us in this world. It is not as if the impacts of the departed are destroyed with them.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 11:00 pm (UTC)You don't have to try to make me feel better. But thank you. That's sweet.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 11:17 pm (UTC)They were not required to attempt to cause you to feel poorly either. Perhaps they and I together shall cause some manner of equilibrium.
[ speaking of hands, her first is complete, and the attendant moves to sit on the other side of the lounge. Alexandrie examines the first with a satisfied smile, and swaps her wine glass into it to offer the other hand. ]