[ A swirl of emotions goes through her, a variety of responses bubbling up - the prevaricating but you're ever so busy, the technically-true-but-dishonest I did file a report, even a furious ans defiant scream of I can handle it myself, I've always been able to handle it myself. But this is Thranduil - Gwenaelle's husband - and so she gives a response that's desperately honest. ]
I don't...I didn't know who I could trust with it. With any of it.
( he waits until all three of them are nearly finished—a bite or two left of the vegetable stew, kitty on the crumbs of the cornbread dolloped with honey, he and gwen on their third glass of (watered) wine—before he circles back to the morning’s topic.
at a lull in the conversation, he pauses, and then says— ) Scoutmaster Yseult and Commander Flint both had something to say. Why?
[ Kitty's eyes lift at that question. She certainly hasn't been relaxed throughout this meal - she'd almost walked away from it, in fact, nearly convincing herself that Thranduil was laying a trap for her before reminding herself that she's on a damn island, no one needs to trap her - but she tenses up even more now, her dark eyes flicking between Thranduil and Gwenaelle. ]
Yseult? Her, too?
[ Then she looks down and shakes her head. ]
I - He must have told her. Flint. After I told him.
[ Care about is so odd that she stares at Thranduil, puzzled, after he says it. Who's he talking about? Gwen isn't really involved in this - or she wasn't until Kitty confided in her. So...?
But then Gwenaelle speaks, and Kitty turns a fierce little frown on her. ]
Don't be naive. His loyalty isn't to Riftwatch. If the secret I was keeping was related to Orlais, he'd have nodded and taken notes. But he saw that it could help out his war against Tevinter, so immediately it was threats and give me a list of your contacts or you will suffer the consequences and just - dreadfulness. Awfulness.
[ She turns her scowl downward onto a piece of cornbread, shredding it into the last crumbs. ]
I'm not being naive, I'm suggesting it's interesting my husband the division head thinks the division heads talking to each other is suspect. No wonder we're fucking losing. And I'll bear that in mind next time you're being extremely reasonable about the things you care about, ( tartly, over the rim of her glass. by three, there's only so much the water is going to do. )
I'd think you'd be on the same page. Tevinter's a fucking mess, I'd sooner see him do something about it than the Divine. I trust him.
( unlike the divine. and indeed most people outside this room. )
Edited (IM TAGGING FROM BED ITS HARD IM SORRY) Date: 2019-10-17 12:07 pm (UTC)
Yseult first, ( he says to gwenaëlle ) and then Flint, some days later. Both vague. Which is not being ‘on the same page’. If they had concerns about her character, specific concerns, then they should have shared them. This is not a position to amass personal power and play politics between heads, now that we are free from the Inquisition.
[ Kitty looks at Thranduil. The cynicism on her face is a depressing contrast to the lingering babyish roundness of her cheeks and chin. Then, to Gwenaelle: ]
I've trusted men like him before. Red-faced, greedy old men who'll toss you to your death if it means they get what they want. Make no mistake - he doesn't care about the resistance in Tevinter. He doesn't even care about Tevinter, not really. All he cares about is his precious possession, that nasty little island in that nasty little sea, and I could hang and you could hang and we all could hang as long as he got to hoard his greedy little lump of sand.
[ Then she squashes the crumbs of cornbread under her thumb and says, snittily and pettily: ]
The only real difference between Mr Pennyfeather and Flint is that Flint is fat.
I'm not dignifying that. ( of kitty's fat remark. )
So you publicly announced your decision to place in a position of access to sensitive information a noted headstrong type who recently trusted the wrong fuckwit and was nearly killed as well as inadvertently handing over goodness knows what information he had, and your colleagues were concerned. I know, ( to kitty, slightly less curtly, ) that that was an educational fucking experience, but I'm hardly going to entertain the idea that it's a great mystery why there were questions. I'd think less of them if there weren't, they don't know you like we do.
That isn't a conspiracy, that's what your bloody jobs are. To talk to one another and take into account what you say, since if he'd tried to dismiss your assistant over his concerns, you'd have lit on fire you'd have been so annoyed. Rightfully.
( she drains the glass )
You are all, and I'm including Flint in this and I am happy to tell him so to his face, being paranoid and reactionary. I don't know Yseult. I haven't heard her say anything mad yet. I'll reserve judgment. I'm not surprised you don't trust Flint any more than I'm surprised he doesn't trust you, and I don't see how this is helping, Thranduil, and I don't know why you ever asked my opinion of Flint if you were just going to Coupe it and not respect anything I say that isn't what you want to hear.
( that got a bit muddled, but one glass of wine will generally do it. three watered doesn't help. )
Kitty has been in the position since Justinian— ( and then he stops, exhales, and looks at gwenaëlle. )
You have blind spots, beloved. We all do. ( glancing kitty’s way, what’s a pennyfeather for another time. ) But if he is worthy of that much of your trust, I will speak with him and see if he is as forthcoming on the matter as you think he will be.
( back to kitty. he motions to the wine to see if, perhaps, she would like a cup— )
You think he would use the information to benefit he and his rather than the war effort, and that it is worth enough to do so— and genuine?
It's people - people who were slaves, or are slaves - who might resist Tevinter's rule. It's knowledge of how to contact them. It's -
[ The hard, rigid anger melts a little, leaving a miserable desperation. ]
They've been betrayed, these people, so much. All their lives. And the thought of someone like him, who's just keen on winning back his island, who might not see them as people, who might betray them in turn...I thought for a moment, just a moment, that I could trust him. That's why I admitted it. But then he was so eager, so hungry, and I realized right then what he really was -
[ She breaks off, shaking her head, looking down. ]
I forgot only you were allowed to be passionate about things, ( gwenaëlle says, acerbic and incredulous, as she rises from the table. ) If he hadn't seemed to care enough, you'd have pilloried him for that too. For fuck's sake.
When either of you are interested in having an actual conversation, someone let me know, and I'll tell you what he's had to say.
[ Fury, real and terrible, rises in her face, then. And Kitty spits at Gwen's retreating back a word that she's never before said in anger, in a tone far far more cracked and angry than Gwen has likely heard from her before - ]
[ And Kitty, in a fury, hurls her napkin so hard it bounces off the door - And then, promptly, bursts into tears. She tries to hide it immediately, burying her face in her hands, but...it's obvious. And really awkward.
( thranduil, whose jaw might have tightened several moment ago if the glamor did not keep him looking as placid and unreadable as an orlesian mask, still flinches when the door slams. and then he stands, and wets his own napkin in the pitcher of water, before coming to kneel beside kitty.
he’s dealt with crying before. )
Wipe your face, and breathe. She will not speak to us, but whatever she says to him might have him storming in here, and you cannot be crying when he is.
( he’d offer to hide it for her, but— )
All will be well, ( he says, but he says it with a specific sort of grimness. )
[ She struggles to get control, hiccuping desperately a moment, then grabbing for the napkin like it's a gnarled root and she caught in a river's vicious current. A deep breath, another, into the wet cloth, and then -
She looks up, misery arrested for a moment with fear. ]
Him - Do you mean Flint? Why? What do you think she'll tell him?
[ Is she three times the fool, now, for trusting? Putting her faith in Benedict, then Flint, and now Gwen? Is she going to betray her? ]
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timeasmymeasure
crystal, prob backdated a tad (what is time)
Date: 2019-10-16 01:12 pm (UTC)Six, if we count the one with my wife.
hey pops
Date: 2019-10-16 01:22 pm (UTC)Why? About what? With whom?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 01:42 pm (UTC)I do not mind if you have side projects, Kitty, we all pretend not to. I simply do not like surprises, especially when they might be used against me.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 02:00 pm (UTC)I don't...I didn't know who I could trust with it. With any of it.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 04:21 pm (UTC)[ Been kidnapped by pirates. ]
I'll be available.
me -> you -> libby?
Date: 2019-10-17 12:28 am (UTC)at a lull in the conversation, he pauses, and then says— ) Scoutmaster Yseult and Commander Flint both had something to say. Why?
me/you/libby
Date: 2019-10-17 12:36 am (UTC)Yseult? Her, too?
[ Then she looks down and shakes her head. ]
I - He must have told her. Flint. After I told him.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 01:07 am (UTC)I dislike being the last to know things, Kitty. Especially those that concern people I care about.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 05:16 am (UTC)When was that, that they spoke to you? And who first?
( so far, there've been a lot of assumptions made that she hasn't been persuaded by, and she's leery of leaping to any more conclusions. though, )
His loyalty being to Riftwatch shouldn't be news. It's hardly a crime to care about things, or else we'd be locking he and Kitty in adjoining cells.
sorry I wasn't being bossy about tag order I was just shipping the three of us
Date: 2019-10-17 11:57 am (UTC)But then Gwenaelle speaks, and Kitty turns a fierce little frown on her. ]
Don't be naive. His loyalty isn't to Riftwatch. If the secret I was keeping was related to Orlais, he'd have nodded and taken notes. But he saw that it could help out his war against Tevinter, so immediately it was threats and give me a list of your contacts or you will suffer the consequences and just - dreadfulness. Awfulness.
[ She turns her scowl downward onto a piece of cornbread, shredding it into the last crumbs. ]
defies tag orders
Date: 2019-10-17 12:01 pm (UTC)I'd think you'd be on the same page. Tevinter's a fucking mess, I'd sooner see him do something about it than the Divine. I trust him.
( unlike the divine. and indeed most people outside this room. )
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 12:59 pm (UTC)( he leaves the food where it is. )
Why let her stay close, despite his concerns?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 01:23 pm (UTC)[ Kitty looks at Thranduil. The cynicism on her face is a depressing contrast to the lingering babyish roundness of her cheeks and chin. Then, to Gwenaelle: ]
I've trusted men like him before. Red-faced, greedy old men who'll toss you to your death if it means they get what they want. Make no mistake - he doesn't care about the resistance in Tevinter. He doesn't even care about Tevinter, not really. All he cares about is his precious possession, that nasty little island in that nasty little sea, and I could hang and you could hang and we all could hang as long as he got to hoard his greedy little lump of sand.
[ Then she squashes the crumbs of cornbread under her thumb and says, snittily and pettily: ]
The only real difference between Mr Pennyfeather and Flint is that Flint is fat.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 01:36 pm (UTC)So you publicly announced your decision to place in a position of access to sensitive information a noted headstrong type who recently trusted the wrong fuckwit and was nearly killed as well as inadvertently handing over goodness knows what information he had, and your colleagues were concerned. I know, ( to kitty, slightly less curtly, ) that that was an educational fucking experience, but I'm hardly going to entertain the idea that it's a great mystery why there were questions. I'd think less of them if there weren't, they don't know you like we do.
That isn't a conspiracy, that's what your bloody jobs are. To talk to one another and take into account what you say, since if he'd tried to dismiss your assistant over his concerns, you'd have lit on fire you'd have been so annoyed. Rightfully.
( she drains the glass )
You are all, and I'm including Flint in this and I am happy to tell him so to his face, being paranoid and reactionary. I don't know Yseult. I haven't heard her say anything mad yet. I'll reserve judgment. I'm not surprised you don't trust Flint any more than I'm surprised he doesn't trust you, and I don't see how this is helping, Thranduil, and I don't know why you ever asked my opinion of Flint if you were just going to Coupe it and not respect anything I say that isn't what you want to hear.
( that got a bit muddled, but one glass of wine will generally do it. three watered doesn't help. )
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 01:46 pm (UTC)You have blind spots, beloved. We all do. ( glancing kitty’s way, what’s a pennyfeather for another time. ) But if he is worthy of that much of your trust, I will speak with him and see if he is as forthcoming on the matter as you think he will be.
( back to kitty. he motions to the wine to see if, perhaps, she would like a cup— )
You think he would use the information to benefit he and his rather than the war effort, and that it is worth enough to do so— and genuine?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 02:27 pm (UTC)She nods. ]
The information I have - It could be exploited. They could be exploited.
Did Flint tell you what it is that I know?
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 07:55 pm (UTC)It's people - people who were slaves, or are slaves - who might resist Tevinter's rule. It's knowledge of how to contact them. It's -
[ The hard, rigid anger melts a little, leaving a miserable desperation. ]
They've been betrayed, these people, so much. All their lives. And the thought of someone like him, who's just keen on winning back his island, who might not see them as people, who might betray them in turn...I thought for a moment, just a moment, that I could trust him. That's why I admitted it. But then he was so eager, so hungry, and I realized right then what he really was -
[ She breaks off, shaking her head, looking down. ]
I'd sooner die than hand them over.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 10:21 pm (UTC)When either of you are interested in having an actual conversation, someone let me know, and I'll tell you what he's had to say.
( is she leaving—she's leaving. )
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 10:30 pm (UTC)Fuck you.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 10:32 pm (UTC)And you're welcome! ( before slamming the door. )
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 10:35 pm (UTC)Sorry, Thranduil. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 10:56 pm (UTC)he’s dealt with crying before. )
Wipe your face, and breathe. She will not speak to us, but whatever she says to him might have him storming in here, and you cannot be crying when he is.
( he’d offer to hide it for her, but— )
All will be well, ( he says, but he says it with a specific sort of grimness. )
no subject
Date: 2019-10-17 11:11 pm (UTC)She looks up, misery arrested for a moment with fear. ]
Him - Do you mean Flint? Why? What do you think she'll tell him?
[ Is she three times the fool, now, for trusting? Putting her faith in Benedict, then Flint, and now Gwen? Is she going to betray her? ]
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