ic inbox

[rathercommon]

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

Comments

in the middle of that tevinter crystal snip fest

[coquettish_trees]

[ (post this) it's that saaaame voice, although more subdued ]

You think it cowardice, but being forthright can very often be a liability in this world, especially if it is being overtly hostile when engaged with a foreign dignitary from a potentially hostile nation. [ no matter how much of a little shit they're being ] And not just for you, for all those like you. Rifters. I am not sure how aware you are of the current climate, but you and your kind are at the center of a delicate diplomatic negotiation at the moment, and general good will is of some import.

As far as Tevinter? Hate it if you like, but learn of it, and more than just the surface you find so objectionable and easy to call 'evil'. You will find it is easier to knock down a building if you know well how it is constructed... but you will also learn who the building will fall on if it comes down. All of this is true as well about people.

It may offend your... sensibilities..., but often it is truly more advantageous to whatever cause you mean to espouse to, as you say, take a whiff of sewage and smile about the perfume, or at the very least hold your nose and ignore it. There is only so much you can affect the world with self-righteous anger alone.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty appreciates - slightly - that the girl seems to be being a normal person, instead of the coquette she is otherwise. But the politeness isn't enough to make her back down. Her answer is almost as fierce as before. ]

You think I don't know that? That honesty is a risk? I'm marked for death, back home.

[ Then a breath, and a little rustle as she shakes her head. ]

Good will is important, yeah. But not at the cost of silence. If pointing out evil jeopardizes our fight, then we should be fighting in a different way.

[coquettish_trees]

[ a light sigh ]

Well. You will find many who believe as you, here, and I imagine you will find friends among them who will protect you, if you have not already.

But not all can heft a big shining sword. It is well to remember that though there is less glory in it, [ outside Orlais, in any case ] the subtle knife kills all the same, weak as its wielder may look. Mais à chacun son goût; to each their own.

Bon chance, mademoiselle. May you never find yourself required to compromise who you are.

[ a beat, and then she is bright and unconcerned again ]

Ah— I fear for the sake of my Game that I must continue to be publicly flippant with you now. I have given you quite the bargaining chip to have spoken so candidly even for a short time, as I would truly prefer that no-one know I hold feeling for anything save pretty things, pretty people, and plying my wit. This is my shield, if you will, and I pray you not afford anyone else a look.

If this makes you frustrated, channel it! I eagerly await your reparteé. Perhaps my behaving so towards you will earn you one or two more friends.

[rathercommon]

I don't need protection -

[ But that's said at only three-quarters voice; she just needs to throw that in there to protest something that's quite incorrect. Protection is an illusion. Safety is an illusion. There's only one person in the world who'll keep you alive, and that's you yourself. The only people who don't know that are fools and children.

She pushes her hair back from her face, shakes her head. ]

So all of that, that's a lie, is it? Because you think someone'll come after you otherwise?

[coquettish_trees]

I can see why you are marked, in your world. [ it’s not said unkindly ]

You are easy to anger, and think the world so simple that good and evil, truth and lie, right and wrong, are ever so obvious and ever so easily separated. Such people are dangerous.

Tell me: if queens handing down directives about how the world is to be run is so terrible, how is it that your apparent desire to do the same is a good and just one? And in your changing it, how do you feel about the thousands upon thousands of men and women who would die in your civil wars? The homes and businesses destroyed in your riots? The lawlessness and banditry that falls from a structure of governance’s destruction? None of this mentioning the war we already wage against Corypheus and how further instability and infighting in our land would aid him directly.

Those things are ‘evil’, are they not? If they happen in pursuit of ‘good’, are they now good? Or is evil now acceptable if it is in pursuit of good. And who decides which is which? The Maker? The Chantry? The law? You, who so easily and immediately know all such things upon hearing them?

Life is more complex. You will learn so on your own, or eventually it will force you to.

[rathercommon]

[ Her response is fierce and frustrated. ]

I'm not claiming to know everything. And stop condescending to me, because I really don't care how fine a lady you are, I'm perfectly willing to pop you in the eye if you've earned it, and every moment you act like I'm some simple-minded child you earn it a little more.

[ And, physically straightening her shoulders - unseen, but the renewed resolve is practically audible in her voice - ]

I don't think that good and evil are easy. I was with a group, and we thought we were doing good just because we were fighting wicked men, but all we were doing was indulging our own base instincts and desire to hurt and desire to acquire. I'm not someone who thinks that blowing up a few buildings will solve the world's problems. I used to be, but I saw firsthand exactly what it brings.

But this I know. Unilateral rule is an evil in this world and in all worlds. And rule by those who are most equipped to murder is even worse. Which is what rule by magic ultimately comes down to - who's most capable of scorching their enemies to the bone? What it does is it takes the weak and it robs them further of power. It makes them smaller and weaker. And if you're really not as empty-headed as you pretend to be, you'll agree that grinding down the smallest and weakest of us is easy to identify as an evil.

[coquettish_trees]

[ her personal beliefs are not up for discussion, thankyouverymuch, she’s revealed quite enough already. Mildly: ]

I really do not care what a mature adult you are, I am perfectly willing to treat you like a child if you’ve earned it. If you do not wish to be so treated, perhaps consider refraining from letting yourself be goaded into an extended public display of childishness.

But! You make it abundantly clear that you desire no aid, and that you believe you know precisely what you are doing, so I shall leave you to it.

[rathercommon]

[ Do you hear that crack? That's the sound of Kitty's molars splitting from clenching her teeth. So, pettily: ]

Ever so grateful, mum. Look, I'm so grateful that I promise I'll pass along some cream for the wrinkles round your eyes next time we see each other.

[coquettish_trees]

[ bright and pleased sounding ]

So thoughtful of you! And here I thought we were not getting on. In honor of the depth of your generosity, I shall let you have the last word.

[ good luck, Kitty. She hopes you’re right. Don’t get too hurt. ]

crystal | backdated to early Justinian

[keenly]

I...um. I have to talk to you about something.

[rathercommon]

[ Oh. That's never good. Kitty mentally reviews all the things she's done that might have gotten her in trouble, and...yeah, okay, there are a fair number of possibilities. Ah, damn. ]

About what?

[keenly]

[This time, it's what Colin has done to get himself in trouble. At least he's not firing her.]

I, um. I'm not going to work my shop anymore. Do you...want it?

[It's awkward, but he's not teasing her.]

[rathercommon]

[ Oh. Uh - ]

Wait - what? Why?

[keenly]

[The why is definitely complicated, and not something he's permitted to come clean about, but even if he's not smart enough not to sell contraband lyrium out of the back of his shop, at least he's smart enough to know how to answer her question.]

Well, I always had a knack for apothecary, so I'm going into being a healer. And it's a way to use the, um, magic-thing, in a way that's not adding to anyone's problems.

[He might have assumed someone told her he's a mage, but he hasn't told her himself. He doesn't really tell people, per se, and if no one has told her, she's in for a rude shock.]

[rathercommon]

[ She's figured it out herself by now. That he's a mage. She's not exactly comfortable with it, but - she'd be an idiot to keep thinking that mages here are like mages back home. Aside from the bit where they're all apparently complete arseholes.

Her voice goes sharp, losing all the politeness she'd used with him prior. ]

I'm sorry - just like that? I'm out of a job just like that 'cause you want to explore your knack?

[keenly]

Nnnno? [It's not sarcastic so much as deeply uncertain which answer will get her angriest at him.] You're mad employable, Kitty. You'll be out of a job exactly as long as it takes you to walk from here to the seneschal's office to ask for a new one. Or you can take the shop.

[rathercommon]

[ Ugh, flattery. ]

I'm not going to take the shop. If I took the shop it'd become - like - a full-time job.

[keenly]

And that would be...pathetic?

[rathercommon]

Pathetic?

[ The anger mixes, momentarily, with a genuine confusion. ]

Why would it be pathetic?

[keenly]

[He takes on a vaguely self-deprecating tone.] You know, pathetic and sad, like me? Or do you not have time to work a really good job that gives you a measure of independence from the Inquisition?

[rathercommon]

Did you ever hear the words pathetic or sad coming from my mouth? And believe me, if I thought 'em, I'd say 'em. Is there some reason I should think you're pathetic?

[keenly]

They're my words, not y--look, now that you’re accusing me of abandoning you, I'm asking you why it's a good enough job for me but not for you, except less confrontational than that. I’m literally offering you the entire shop and somehow you’re angry with me?

[rathercommon]

Well, that's the life you want, isn't it? Nice and peaceful and profitable and all that?

[keenly]

And...you want something more meaningful. I see.

[The reverse snobbery has gone out of him, leaving him deflated. He has never kept his comparative lack of ambition secret. Everyone in the Inquisition seems to think him mad or lazy, but not Kitty. Kitty knows he’s not the hero of anyone’s story, not even his own.]

[rathercommon]

What's that tone for?

[ It does seem bizarre to her. Where she's from, owning a business is as grand a dream as dreams get. Maybe it is that he's a mage? He expects more from life as a result? But he doesn't really seem the type. ]

Look, I don't know anything about what that means. Something meaningful. All I know is that I'm a rifter, aren't I, and so things are different for someone like me.