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[rathercommon]

crystal | letter | cease and desist notices slipped under her door | action

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[rathercommon]

[ Is he laughing? Its bloody hard to tell. ]

Anyway. So. That's why it got screwed up. I mean, it might have been a demon. I guess. But I really don't think so.

[exsecutus]

[He's not not laughing. So that's close enough, really.]

Aren't you meant to be a demon anyways. Rifter. It would be a matter of hierarchy then. Not your fault that you lost out to a monkey, it was beyond your control. You were too low a rank.

[rathercommon]

Eurgh.

[ That's all she has to say to that. ]

Shouldn't you be more upset?

[exsecutus]

[His snort this time is more dismissive than amused.]

I promise you I am not happy about the fate of the letters, or the failure of that part of the plan. Are you asking me, to be angry?

[rathercommon]

I don't know. No.

[ Well. ]

Maybe.

[ Ugh. ]

It'd feel more honest.

[exsecutus]

Are you accusing me of lying now, in some way?

[rathercommon]

I don't know!

[ She throws up one of her hands in frustration. ]

It just seems like you ought to be livid. I just don't get why you aren't.

[exsecutus]

[Nikos rolls his eyes but says, with a smaller measure of his usual bite--]

I suppose you can put my unnatural good mood down to Agathe's death. If it could lead to the election of the only candidate who might do any good for the people of Thedas, I'd prefer to see that done.

But if chaos is the only thing that follows, fine.

[rathercommon]

[ That quells her temper, sends her into a quieter and more meditative state. ]

Why's that fine?

[exsecutus]

Because chaos will lay plain truths of the Chantry. Expose its fouler inner workings. Call into question its infallibility.

Beyond anything else, the people must see that they cannot trust the Chantry to sit above them in judgement and authority. That authority is arbitrary. It can be bought, it can be taken, and its greatest strength comes from the faith that is placed in it. Remove that faith and it will begin to tremble. Grand clerics, reverend mothers, the Divine--they are women, who are doing a job. If they do not serve the people, they should be cut down.

Chaos is a weapon.

[rathercommon]

But what if it's a weapon someone else takes up? I mean - that's what happened here, isn't it? We effectively gave it away.

[exsecutus]

[Nikos' mouth twists.]

We didn't give anything away. The chance to implicate Benedetta's supporters and weaken her claim? That has been lost, yes. [BY YOU but he doesn't tack that on; could but doesn't.] Unless your enemy, the Antivan street monkey, decides to make a dramatic and last-minute appearance at the Conclave.

There will be others that try to claim the assassination as their own work, or fix the blame on some group they want to see defamed and questioned. That is chaos. Because there will be no answer, in the end. The Chantry can eat itself. I don't give a shit. Do you?

[rathercommon]

I care about the people.

[ Her voice is quiet. ]

[exsecutus]

[Steady, in response--]

So do I. I care about their freedom. About eradicating systems that would oppress or deny freedom to anyone, for any reason.

[rathercommon]

Yeah.

[ She nods, steadfast. No question there. ]

But they oughtn't suffer to get it.

[exsecutus]

[He gives it a few seconds before he prompts--]

And? I don't disagree.

[rathercommon]

Chaos causes suffering.

[exsecutus]

Oh, so it's better that life remains the same?

[rathercommon]

There's more than two possibilities.

[exsecutus]

[Flatly:]

No. There isn't. Not in any way that matters.

[rathercommon]

How do you know?

[exsecutus]

Because I've done this before. On a smaller scale, with less prolific targets.

[Not mentioning the king, their first attempt to strike against something bigger than themselves--Caspar, perfect in the moonlight as they stood outside the palace, unafraid to die for what they had tried and failed, ready to be a martyr for their cause, and Nikos pale and terrified, grabbing at him, you can't, with bells ringing all around them, you can't--he thinks of it every time, though he'd never say it, not to Caspar or to anyone.]

There is chaos. That is where people must step in and find their place. Or it is where they see the ruse that they have believed all along.

You grew up without wealth, correct. Without power. When did you first figure it out?

[rathercommon]

I -

[ The question is both unexpected and deeply personal. So she falters a moment. ]

I always knew. On some level.

[exsecutus]

[He makes an impatient, dismissive gesture.]

Good. Then you're sharper than most. Or, if I'm inclined to feel charitable and fucking poetic--there is that same knowledge of that unfairness, buried deep in ever man. Most leave it buried, a choice made either consciously, unconsciously--it doesn't matter for the purpose of this question. Tell me when you decided to dig it out of yourself. If there was one moment, crystallized--if there were two moments, ten, fourteen, which all led to the realization, when was that realization.

[rathercommon]

A magician hurt me and my friend.

[ She fidgets, uncomfortable. Her voice is quiet. ]

Cast a Black Tumbler on us for - we were playing a game, and damaged his property, so he did it. And so I took him to court, and they called me a liar and fined me six hundred pounds and all the while kissed their own arses about how grand and fair their laws were.