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contact part deux
if this were modern times byerly would probably make you listen to total eclipse of the heart before you were able to leave a message
Indeed. She's a complicated beast.
[ He taps his chest with the end of his pen. ]
I had...well. Confessed to him, some time ago, that my intention was to do good for the world. He was skeptical of my desire at the time - thought I was lying to manipulate him. And so he wanted me to repeat this when I could not do anything but tell the truth. Rather clever. And so - I suppose he believed me.
[ He taps his chest with the end of his pen. ]
I had...well. Confessed to him, some time ago, that my intention was to do good for the world. He was skeptical of my desire at the time - thought I was lying to manipulate him. And so he wanted me to repeat this when I could not do anything but tell the truth. Rather clever. And so - I suppose he believed me.
[ There is and likely always will be a little twist of jealousy at the idea of anyone new getting a clear glimpse of what’s inside By’s chest. But it comes coupled with satisfaction. People ought to know. The selfish, possessive bits of him just want to carve his name into the bark so they know he was there before them.
It balances out into an honest smile. ]
Good. Maker. Did he apologize for doubting you?
[ Likely not. ]
It balances out into an honest smile. ]
Good. Maker. Did he apologize for doubting you?
[ Likely not. ]
Ha!
[ The thought of it. ]
Not one bit. But - [ Something a bit better: ] I learned a bit more about him.
[ A bit wonderingly: ]
He's an idealist. A true idealist. Make no mistake, there's quite a lot that's less savory mixed in with that idealism - you can, after all, be both idealist and hungry for power - but his hunger for something better is, I think, quite true.
[ The thought of it. ]
Not one bit. But - [ Something a bit better: ] I learned a bit more about him.
[ A bit wonderingly: ]
He's an idealist. A true idealist. Make no mistake, there's quite a lot that's less savory mixed in with that idealism - you can, after all, be both idealist and hungry for power - but his hunger for something better is, I think, quite true.
Pirates, was his first cause -
[ With a small laugh. ]
And then he went and became one when things went sour. But in a grander way, I think he's rather like Averesch - Nikos, not Kostos - but with a bit more, hm, focus. Subtlety. He wants to pull down the old ways and build something new.
[ With a small laugh. ]
And then he went and became one when things went sour. But in a grander way, I think he's rather like Averesch - Nikos, not Kostos - but with a bit more, hm, focus. Subtlety. He wants to pull down the old ways and build something new.
[ Bastien laughs from the throat. ]
I'm not even sure he knows my name.
[ Hyperbole.
Maybe. ]
It's only hard to figure out what the new should be, isn't it? I don't know if I've ever heard Averesch explain what he wants to come after the violence, either. I should probably ask.
I'm not even sure he knows my name.
[ Hyperbole.
Maybe. ]
It's only hard to figure out what the new should be, isn't it? I don't know if I've ever heard Averesch explain what he wants to come after the violence, either. I should probably ask.
I'd love to see how he'd respond to that. Averesch, that is. I think if I tried, he'd sock me in the jaw. But you might get away with it - he'd know that you were sincerely interested.
[ Then - ] I don't think Flint has a clear notion of it, either. I think his vision for tearing it all down is clearer than his vision for building it up again. But his hatred of tyranny seems true and honest. And he told me about -
The root of all of this, back in the early days, was a friend, or perhaps more than a friend. Flint was a navy man, then, and he fell in with an Altus with some radical ideas for fostering peace. This included having Tevinter be the first to offer forgiveness. For daring to suggest anything that wold undermine its Imperial pride, Tevinter came down hard on them - shattered them - perhaps killed the Altus, I'm not certain.
[ He pauses a moment as one of the documents before him requires his fuller attention. Frowning, he reads - then sets it aside. Not putting his signature on that one, apparently. ]
When Flint was discussing all this, I liked him. He seemed human, for a change.
[ Then - ] I don't think Flint has a clear notion of it, either. I think his vision for tearing it all down is clearer than his vision for building it up again. But his hatred of tyranny seems true and honest. And he told me about -
The root of all of this, back in the early days, was a friend, or perhaps more than a friend. Flint was a navy man, then, and he fell in with an Altus with some radical ideas for fostering peace. This included having Tevinter be the first to offer forgiveness. For daring to suggest anything that wold undermine its Imperial pride, Tevinter came down hard on them - shattered them - perhaps killed the Altus, I'm not certain.
[ He pauses a moment as one of the documents before him requires his fuller attention. Frowning, he reads - then sets it aside. Not putting his signature on that one, apparently. ]
When Flint was discussing all this, I liked him. He seemed human, for a change.
[ What happened to Vincent wasn't at all the same as Flint's Altus. He was no radical; the men he tried to save from going to war were handpicked friends, artists with promise, specific talents he thought it would be a shame to lose when any old miner or farmer could be lost in their place. He was happy to let the war and the world go on as they would.
But what happened to Bastien—having the unstoppable hand of an Empire crush the life out of someone he cared about, like a child killing an ant—is enough to push him past his typical pangs of sympathy and into shaper, heavier empathy.
The sudden restless urge to move is channeled into picking up By's set-aside document, curious to see what didn't pass muster. While he reads, he says, ]
That's a dangerous thing for a man to be, when he has dreams that big.
But what happened to Bastien—having the unstoppable hand of an Empire crush the life out of someone he cared about, like a child killing an ant—is enough to push him past his typical pangs of sympathy and into shaper, heavier empathy.
The sudden restless urge to move is channeled into picking up By's set-aside document, curious to see what didn't pass muster. While he reads, he says, ]
That's a dangerous thing for a man to be, when he has dreams that big.
Quite so.
[ Byerly watches Bastien's movements, eyes curious. The motion is unexpected, a little more than what Byerly expected to see. It's interesting. (The document itself is not; it's a proposal to purchase cheaper but less comfortable boots.) ]
I suppose that's why he works so hard to act as anything but.
[ Byerly watches Bastien's movements, eyes curious. The motion is unexpected, a little more than what Byerly expected to see. It's interesting. (The document itself is not; it's a proposal to purchase cheaper but less comfortable boots.) ]
I suppose that's why he works so hard to act as anything but.
[ Flint once paid him to start rumors that he was a cannibal. An endeavor Byerly helped with—Bastien enlisted him to help make the melody catchy enough to spread. And it has. People are singing it somewhere in Orlais this very moment.
It feels different now, in this light. Not only a lark. He hums a line of it now, to let By know that's what he's thinking about, with a smile that fades as he returns that cruel, inhumane proposal to its proper place on the desk. ]
It's just miserable, isn't it?
[ An answer to Byerly's curiosity, if indirectly. ]
No one is exempt. Not even an Altus in Tevinter.
It feels different now, in this light. Not only a lark. He hums a line of it now, to let By know that's what he's thinking about, with a smile that fades as he returns that cruel, inhumane proposal to its proper place on the desk. ]
It's just miserable, isn't it?
[ An answer to Byerly's curiosity, if indirectly. ]
No one is exempt. Not even an Altus in Tevinter.
Mm.
[ Byerly beats out the rhythm of that song lightly on the desk. ]
I'm trying to decide if I think it's actually a bit encouraging, instead. That it's not that the grand men and women who run the world are so indifferent to suffering - that, instead, they're just downtrodden like we are, just in different ways.
[ Byerly beats out the rhythm of that song lightly on the desk. ]
I'm trying to decide if I think it's actually a bit encouraging, instead. That it's not that the grand men and women who run the world are so indifferent to suffering - that, instead, they're just downtrodden like we are, just in different ways.
Some of them. I think plenty are indifferent, or ignorant, or—it is easy to believe the order of things is correct and natural when it’s given you and your family enough to eat, and an education, and a piano, and—
[ He stops before he can make it any more obvious that it’s Alexandrie, springing to his mind. ]
—not all cages are equal, you know? I don’t think there are that many people with power who would change things if they could. Not much. And if the ones who try are so easy to snuff out?
[ He stops before he can make it any more obvious that it’s Alexandrie, springing to his mind. ]
—not all cages are equal, you know? I don’t think there are that many people with power who would change things if they could. Not much. And if the ones who try are so easy to snuff out?
Let me have the illusion.
[ But it's a joke. He doesn't mean it. He knows Bastien is right, and he nods as soon as he's said it, saying - ]
But - yes. I saw enough of my cousins punished for having progressive ideas when they were younger. The ones with the generous hearts were the ones most despised by our elders.
[ But it's a joke. He doesn't mean it. He knows Bastien is right, and he nods as soon as he's said it, saying - ]
But - yes. I saw enough of my cousins punished for having progressive ideas when they were younger. The ones with the generous hearts were the ones most despised by our elders.
[ Bastien smiles a little, fond and regretful. He doesn't like to be the pessimist. He doesn't like to dismantle By's hope in anything, rare as it is.
(In the jungle, it was their late-night discussion of family that cracked Bastien's heart open, but it was By's bashful belief in a fundamentally decent world that let him waltz in through the crack with all of his bags and set up permanent residence.) ]
Like you?
(In the jungle, it was their late-night discussion of family that cracked Bastien's heart open, but it was By's bashful belief in a fundamentally decent world that let him waltz in through the crack with all of his bags and set up permanent residence.) ]
Like you?
Oh, no.
[ By shakes his head. His smile is warm, though - Bastien's belief that he's got the generous heart is lovely now. There was a time when it made Byerly feel bashful, a failure in waiting, but - somehow, he's come to have faith in himself. ]
It took me a long time to become political. I didn't even think to question all of it - the role of the noble, the role of the freeman - until I got to Denerim. Foolish, in retrospect, given that the freemen at the Chantry school regularly trounced me intellectually - that I knew that there was no mental difference between them and me. But when no one else questions the way the world works, you don't, either.
[ By shakes his head. His smile is warm, though - Bastien's belief that he's got the generous heart is lovely now. There was a time when it made Byerly feel bashful, a failure in waiting, but - somehow, he's come to have faith in himself. ]
It took me a long time to become political. I didn't even think to question all of it - the role of the noble, the role of the freeman - until I got to Denerim. Foolish, in retrospect, given that the freemen at the Chantry school regularly trounced me intellectually - that I knew that there was no mental difference between them and me. But when no one else questions the way the world works, you don't, either.
[ Bastien lets the urge to argue about the various definitions of a generous heart wash over and past him, because it isn't what they're talking about, and because Byerly is smiling. Not shifting awkwardly, not looking away. ]
What happened in Denerim? Meeting new people?
[ —he will return to the matter of Flint in a moment. ]
What happened in Denerim? Meeting new people?
[ —he will return to the matter of Flint in a moment. ]
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