I mean she wasn't able to get out in time to join any of the groups evacuating.
[ Which puts her god knows where in an exceedingly inconvenient position. And it puts them in a difficult position. He closes the cabin door behind him before crossing the room to look down at the map briefly, then directly at Flint. ]
Do you think that pair of squabbling brothers are going to be useful in finding her?
Because I contacted her after the news about the attack made it to us.
[ John foresees this revelation landing poorly. He doesn't feel it's something to apologize for, but it remains a fundamental difference between the pair of them: how much value they each attach to Max. ]
I had to know.
[ Which, all sentiment aside, is just a very ingrained character flaw. John never could leave well enough alone, and Max is capable of too much to be left as an unknown. ]
[ John leans a palm on the table, fingers nudging the edge of a map. How he words this is going to be everything, but that's nothing new. ]
She's been busy.
[ There's something she hadn't been able to tell him across the crystals. John had felt the spark of opportunity in their brief conversation. ]
She couldn't tell me everything for fear of being overheard, but she wasn't idle while she was there. As long as she's trapped there, we aren't going to be able to benefit from whatever she's found.
[ Which assumes Max cares to share with them at all, but if they worked to save her then that problem would take care of itself. ]
[Somehow, none of that seems surprising. Naturally the woman's uncovered some vital little piece of intelligence she might leverage, some finger width of usefulness to keep her head above water not just in their eyes but in everyone else's. The really question though--
Flint fixes him with a skeptical look across the width of the desk.]
I assume you have some opinion on what you'd like to do about it?
[That must be part of why they're having this conversation.]
[ Which Flint can likely guess. John hasn't tried to pretend he isn't invested, in spite of some dark, guarded part of him that thinks it might be better to leave her there. She has something useful. That's what they should be focusing on. ]
But we're...limited, to say the least.
[ Not enough men. No way to move in the city, unless John tips his hand.
[ John has come to the wrong place for commiseration, tbh.
Though it does pull him up short. He'd come to Flint expecting...something else. Not confirmation of what he already knew. ]
I'm going to need to do some asking.
[ They don't even have any leverage. Fuck. ]
So you're aware I'm shaking trees. I don't expect us to put together a party to go ashore, but I'd like to give her some better options than sitting in some Vint's storeroom.
[ Max had asked for safe houses. John wants to come up with something better, if he can manage it. ]
Think this would be before beleth's message about the missing headcount??? Idk
[There are questions that this might all reasonably warrant. But the moment they occur to him, Flint dismisses them out of hand. If it matters - and he can think of two reasons why it could be made to -, then fine. It matters. So instead he takes a seat in the high backed chair behind the desk and draws a piece of paper to him.]
You should start with the delegation. Those idiot magister's boys, even. They'll have had access to the capitol and if they've been afforded any kind of liberty while there, may know the city best. [He draws his pen, and begins scratching a line across it the scrap of paper.]
Did she say if anyone else from the Inquisition was with her?
[ "Idiot" isn't much of a recommendation, but John can't afford to be choosy. He's reminded again of their position here: not much influence, not much money. He's going to have to find motivating factors elsewhere, and in which case— ]
She's alone. But I'm not so sure that means no one else has been left behind. I can't imagine she's the only one who's been unlucky.
[ It's incredibly wishful thinking, but if there's anyone else of use to the Inquisition it would be incredibly helpful. They're unlikely to retrieve Max alone, but if there are others, it helps her chances. ]
[John says out loud what he'd been thinking - that without the additional leverage of more useful or dangerous captives, the Inquisition would be unlikely to mount a rescue on the behalf of a solitary woman of questionable reputation. But that's no shock. John Silver has a way about saying the things he means as Flint means them.
If they're all lucky, the venatori will have captured some people with rift shards in them and then there will be no question about the necessity of their recovery.]
Failing then, try contacting a girl named Kitty Jones. If there's any secure place in Minrathous, she's nosy enough to have found it. [Affording she wasn't dead or captured or hiding in such a secret corner presently.
He pauses then, hand hovering over the page--]
There's a woman. A spy. [Silver evidently isn't the only one who's been shaking trees.] But I can't imagine we have the capital to purchase sending her so far.
[ John sounds equally delighted and suspicious of the prospect. ][ Though they're going to really need to consider their finances when they return from this mission. John can't cheat his way to enough winnings at Wicked Grace to keep this venture afloat. ]
[Nonsense, they're perfectly well equipped. But also when Max does get rescued, remind him to ask her for a loan; he has some minor debts to manage.]
Yseult. In Scouting. [Let's pretend that's how he met her and not that he was after an information broker and uncovered a member of the Inquisition in the process.] She's done work along the coast and knows the Amaranthine account. Whether any of that translates to being useful in any other direction, I couldn't say.
[That can be the end of it. He can resume the matter of charting their journey and let whatever questions he might have be asked at points where they're relevant instead of simply speculative. Instead--]
How far should I expect we'll be willing to chase this?
[He doesn't mean it as an indictment. Not really.]
[He pauses there, fixing Silver with some penetrating look. There's a crookedness to his own expression - he can feel it in the line of his own mouth, the slight cock of his own head. But after a moment, he is either satisfied (unlikely) or concedes that he has no idea what exactly it is he's expecting to find in the figure John paints there. He scratches out a quick note on the paper under hand, and fetches the ruler back to him.]
That's fair. [He's not wrong.] If you find there's something more I can do, let me know.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timelines??????????????
[ Which puts her god knows where in an exceedingly inconvenient position. And it puts them in a difficult position. He closes the cabin door behind him before crossing the room to look down at the map briefly, then directly at Flint. ]
Do you think that pair of squabbling brothers are going to be useful in finding her?
[ Probably not, at this point. ]
no subject
I doubt it.
[They sounded like the kind of people who couldn't find their way out of a room if the door wasn't opened for them first. So: magisters children.]
--Hold on, how do you know any of this?
no subject
Because I contacted her after the news about the attack made it to us.
[ John foresees this revelation landing poorly. He doesn't feel it's something to apologize for, but it remains a fundamental difference between the pair of them: how much value they each attach to Max. ]
I had to know.
[ Which, all sentiment aside, is just a very ingrained character flaw. John never could leave well enough alone, and Max is capable of too much to be left as an unknown. ]
no subject
Did she say anything else?
no subject
She's been busy.
[ There's something she hadn't been able to tell him across the crystals. John had felt the spark of opportunity in their brief conversation. ]
She couldn't tell me everything for fear of being overheard, but she wasn't idle while she was there. As long as she's trapped there, we aren't going to be able to benefit from whatever she's found.
[ Which assumes Max cares to share with them at all, but if they worked to save her then that problem would take care of itself. ]
no subject
Flint fixes him with a skeptical look across the width of the desk.]
I assume you have some opinion on what you'd like to do about it?
[That must be part of why they're having this conversation.]
no subject
[ Which Flint can likely guess. John hasn't tried to pretend he isn't invested, in spite of some dark, guarded part of him that thinks it might be better to leave her there. She has something useful. That's what they should be focusing on. ]
But we're...limited, to say the least.
[ Not enough men. No way to move in the city, unless John tips his hand.
And he won't. ]
no subject
Yeah.
[As it turns out, the sky's also blue. And?]
no subject
Though it does pull him up short. He'd come to Flint expecting...something else. Not confirmation of what he already knew. ]
I'm going to need to do some asking.
[ They don't even have any leverage. Fuck. ]
So you're aware I'm shaking trees. I don't expect us to put together a party to go ashore, but I'd like to give her some better options than sitting in some Vint's storeroom.
[ Max had asked for safe houses. John wants to come up with something better, if he can manage it. ]
Think this would be before beleth's message about the missing headcount??? Idk
You should start with the delegation. Those idiot magister's boys, even. They'll have had access to the capitol and if they've been afforded any kind of liberty while there, may know the city best. [He draws his pen, and begins scratching a line across it the scrap of paper.]
Did she say if anyone else from the Inquisition was with her?
yes riP THE TIMELINE
She's alone. But I'm not so sure that means no one else has been left behind. I can't imagine she's the only one who's been unlucky.
[ It's incredibly wishful thinking, but if there's anyone else of use to the Inquisition it would be incredibly helpful. They're unlikely to retrieve Max alone, but if there are others, it helps her chances. ]
I'll try the idiots first, I suppose.
[ fun fun. ]
no subject
If they're all lucky, the venatori will have captured some people with rift shards in them and then there will be no question about the necessity of their recovery.]
Failing then, try contacting a girl named Kitty Jones. If there's any secure place in Minrathous, she's nosy enough to have found it. [Affording she wasn't dead or captured or hiding in such a secret corner presently.
He pauses then, hand hovering over the page--]
There's a woman. A spy. [Silver evidently isn't the only one who's been shaking trees.] But I can't imagine we have the capital to purchase sending her so far.
no subject
[ John sounds equally delighted and suspicious of the prospect. ][ Though they're going to really need to consider their finances when they return from this mission. John can't cheat his way to enough winnings at Wicked Grace to keep this venture afloat. ]
What's her name?
no subject
Yseult. In Scouting. [Let's pretend that's how he met her and not that he was after an information broker and uncovered a member of the Inquisition in the process.] She's done work along the coast and knows the Amaranthine account. Whether any of that translates to being useful in any other direction, I couldn't say.
no subject
[ It's more than John had to begin with, so he'll take the lead. ]
I'll let you know what I come up with.
[ Or if they have to consider alternatives. Unleashing Vane, for instance. ]
no subject
How far should I expect we'll be willing to chase this?
[He doesn't mean it as an indictment. Not really.]
no subject
I don't think Jack Rackham would be best pleased to find we've left her in Minrathous.
[ Which leaves John's feelings out of it entirely. ]
no subject
That's fair. [He's not wrong.] If you find there's something more I can do, let me know.
[Good enough.]