contact part deux

[bouchonne]

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

Comments

crystal / surprise i'm going to doubletap your inbox.

[tender]

Ambassador Rutyer? Can I speak with you?

[bouchonne]

[ Interesting. This is an unusual voice. ]

By all means. What might I do for you?

[tender]

I don't mean to—

[ a pause, a sharply drawn breath. ]

I had a question, about what you'd said about the dreams over the crystal. I'm sorry to bring it up again.

[bouchonne]

I should be most pleased to speak on it. Ask away.

[tender]

Was something done? After all had been said, was there any action taken?

[bouchonne]

No. Nor was it the intent to take action. My only desire was to - hm - cause a bit of trouble. See if anyone panicked. Will you keep that a secret?

[tender]

[ There is a pause of several weeks while Derrica considers that answers. ]

And if someone had panicked?

[bouchonne]

Ah.

[ He can venture a guess here. ]

Are you thinking about a particular fellow, perhaps, who seems to have disappeared into the underbrush?

[tender]

Were you thinking of him, when you made that address?

[bouchonne]

It would have been hard for me not to have thought of him, given the nature of our encounter. But the fellow has done worse to me than torment me in a dream, and I took no action then. This wouldn't have been any different.

[tender]

Did you want us to leave? The ones who dreamed themselves onto the wrong side?

[bouchonne]

Is that where you dreamed yourself? That wasn't my recollection.

[tender]

It was.

[ the mitigating factors can't weigh too heavily in her favor, can they? ]

[bouchonne]

And the information you gave to me...Was it intended to be a trap? A betrayal?

[tender]

[ tightly— ]

Byerly.

[ ugh, wait. ]

Ambassador, please.

[bouchonne]

"Byerly" is fine. If anything, I prefer it.

[tender]

Will you answer the question if I call you Byerly?

[bouchonne]

It would be churlish to demand that of you.

[ Then: ]

I do not want anyone with wavering loyalties at my back. Things are going to get worse from here on out, and I want to know I can depend on those around me even when the suffering is greater. Now, those who dreamed themselves on the other side - do they have wavering loyalties based on that alone? I doubt it very much. But those who fled afterwards? There, the case is stronger. If they chose to leave now because they feared some nebulous unpleasantness, I do not think we can trust them when Corypheus' blood mages are at our doors.

[tender]

[ there is some quiet, muted struggle to couch this sentiment, but lands on— ]

I think you're wrong.

[bouchonne]

Yes?

[ A clear invitation to elaborate. ]

[tender]

Would you stay with an organization that told you that you weren't trusted because of a dream? If that was the first thing you heard when you woke up?

[ it's different for mages, she might say. but byerly is not a person to raise such a point with. ]

[bouchonne]

[ ??? ]

Of course. I'd think less of an organization that didn't distrust me after that.

[ #spylife ]

[tender]

[ ¿?¿? ]

Shouldn't all the time you've worked alongside a person matter more than what happens in a dream?

[bouchonne]

Well, yes, of course. But again, it wasn't the dream that mattered. It was the behavior after the dream.

[tender]

Which you believe you had no effect on.