inbox.

[katabasis]

action + written + crystal

Comments

[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?

[katabasis]

Not trusting her with what she knows and is willing to do gets me nothing. If what I want is to proceed, then I have no choice but to believe that we can make the people here - whether they're mages or Lady de la Fontaine or some Qunari woman who has every reason to favor slaves of Tevinter opposed to the free men who fought her people in Seheron - see reason.

What can you possibly hope to accomplish for this resistence on your own?

[rathercommon]

Of course you have a choice.

[ She shakes her head. ]

There's a cost to trusting the wrong people, Captain Flint. There are people who see a movement like this, and they see something that can be exploited for their aims. Something that can enrich them, or something that can - Yeah. That can help them get revenge against Tevinter. They don't care about the people - the people can go and die, for all they care - they just care about the expediency of having a force to fight on their behalf so that they can win the battles they want to. I mean, you know that better than anyone, don't you?

[katabasis]

[Kids these days I swear to fucking god the maker]

There is going to be a fight in Tevinter. That is inevitable whether you or I or Eshal Fazon do anything at all; the Divine and her Exalted March will see to it. You have some opportunity now to influence its shape in favor of the people who you would see benefit most from it before she gets that far. Do you really think a woman who ran from the Qun is less likely to respect people who desire freedom than one elected to simply rename the chains Tevinter is shackled with?