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 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. ]