inbox.

[katabasis]

action + written + crystal

Comments

[rathercommon]

You don't get why that's obnoxious? By the way, at the end, she told me I was worthless as an ally or an asset, so that happened.

[katabasis]

Would you have preferred she ask the same questions differently, or just different questions entirely?

[rathercommon]

Different questions. I guess.

[katabasis]

Such as?

[rathercommon]

I don't know. Is there other stuff you know about Tevinter. Something.

[katabasis]

[A pause. Then, prompting:]

Is there? More that you know about Tevinter from when you were there?

[rathercommon]

[ Ah.

Shit.

Kitty freezes, then says, rather stiffly: ]

I mean - a bit. Not much from when I was there.

[katabasis]

[An expectant quiet follows.]

[rathercommon]

I have...a few contacts there. That's all.

[katabasis]

Contacts. What sort of contacts?

[rathercommon]

[ mmmm ]

Well - members of the...resistance of the enslaved in Tevinter.

[katabasis]

[A torturous beat. What follows sounds selective to the extreme:]

And you, based on what I assume is the fact that I'm not the first person to hear about this, thought she might ask you about that instead.

[rathercommon]

Yes. And no, you're not the first person to hear of it, so don't take that tone.

[ granted, Kitty doesn't exactly share this info with...many people. ]

[katabasis]

Who did you tell?

[rathercommon]

Yseult knows, I'm quite sure. And Alexandrie.

[katabasis]

[OKAY.]

And what exactly is transpiring with these resistance contacts of yours?

[rathercommon]

I mean - Not much, just at the moment. That I know about. I'm not in their inner circle or anything. But - why d'you think I went to Tevinter with Benedict?

[katabasis]

What you said when I asked the first time - to see Artemaeus' slave freed. Why [the fuck] wasn't this in your report?

[rathercommon]

I suppose I thought you already knew.

[ because she doesn't trust you not to be an EXPLOITER, flint ]

And it was to see her freed. But he asked me 'cause of the people I knew.

[katabasis]

[There are a series of questions which require asking, which he almost does only to repeatedly stop himself. In person, it would be notable. Over the crystal, it just sounds like an infuriated moment of simply weighing what's already there. Finally, clipped and sharpened:]

What Eshal likely intended to discuss was a plan to foment rebellion among the lower mages and soporati of Tevinter alongside or in support of a slave rebellion. But if you have no opinion on the matter and no insight as to what your contacts might require, then by all means. Exclude yourself from the conversation.

[rathercommon]

[ With a sniff - ]

Of course I've got insight. And opinions.

[katabasis]

Then I suspect you'll first need to make your apologies to Diplomacy.

[rathercommon]

[ That earns a snort of pure, unadulterated, teenagery scorn. ]

[katabasis]

You think I ask too much of you? Then the next time you speak with your friends in Tevinter, it can be to explain how you threw them away on behalf of your pride.

[rathercommon]

Got nothing to do with pride. I think she hasn't got a shot at actually accomplishing that. And I'm not letting her throw away their lives, 'cause even if she did have a shot, she'd probably let them die before the free folk. Honestly - be honest with me - you trust her?