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

[katabasis]

Remarkably few.

[bouchonne]

Not a surprise, I suppose. It's quite easy to be mad within a lawful society, and quite difficult to be mad in a lawless one. One can still accomplish it, but it takes rather a lot of effort.

[ Anyway - ]

Something that is important to know about madmen is that no two look exactly alike. There's a common image, of course, of a raving lunatic - and there are a few madmen who are like that, I'll grant; my great-aunt Polina, for example, always swathed herself in velvet because she believed she was made of glass and needed to be protected from shattering. Classic. But many other types of madness are...quiet. Subtle. You don't see them until Riftwatch has already been thoroughly fucked over.

[katabasis]

Would you prefer we leave him to cut whatever deals he believes necessary with the likes of Calpernia?

[bouchonne]

We could always assassinate him.

[ LOL JUST KIDDING ]

[katabasis]

[Sure Jan.]

If we were going to assassinate him, we ought to have done it between levering him out of a hole and giving him back over to his allies. No one would have been the wiser then. If we do it now, we stand to lose what little standing we have with his network.

[bouchonne]

Not necessarily. Not if we - oh, you know - desperately attempt to save him from Venatori assassins but fail despite valiant efforts, et cetera, et cetera.

[katabasis]

All right. And what then?

[bouchonne]

Find a more reliable soul amongst his lieutenants, arrange events so that that lieutenant is promoted...Or something of the sort. I would never presume to have the skillset to do the Scoutmaster's job.

[katabasis]

[Flint's answering hmmm is the sort of sound a man makes when he is humoring someone. At last—]

It's touching that you're so concerned. I'll be sure Yseult knows of it.

[bouchonne]

And what do you think of it, Captain?

[katabasis]

Of Valeriantus or your concerns?

[bouchonne]

Of my suggestion that we strike down this man.

[katabasis]

I think it's fascinating that of all the people we might assassinate for our convenience, that you've picked one of the few contacts we have inside Tevinter.

[bouchonne]

[ With amusement: ] Ooh, is that a little intimation that I'm in league with Corypheus? After all this time?

[katabasis]

Hardly. Only that I've heard no suggestion to do away with Orlesian generals stonewalling the siege of Val Chevin or Antivans willing to trade with the North. Yet our most promising contact to this effort inside the Imperium is apparently disposable.

[bouchonne]

Why do you suppose that is?

[katabasis]

[Mildly:]

No one in the South will care if you kill some rabble rouser in Tevinter. Or maybe you would prefer the Imperial March find no inconveniently sympathetic force who might oppose being trampled on the way to Minrathous. Or you've got it on your head a Tevene rebel is the more likely double agent than the half dozen other prospects to hand.

I honestly don't really care what the reason is. But until you can provide me a better avenue into the Imperium, we keep this one.

[bouchonne]

[ And, cheerfully: ]

Or maybe, dear Captain, I don't actually have any great interest in assassination, but am curious to hear how you react when I propose things. Maker, you're always so serious.

[katabasis]

Well.

[—in tones of someone must be.]

[bouchonne]

Well nothing. And also, proposing the assassination of merchant princes and Orlesian generals. Honestly, you can't help yourself, can you?

[katabasis]

How do you mean?

[bouchonne]

Respectable fellow though you are now, prominent, a leader of men, I think your heart is actually that of a scrappy little rebel. I bet you and Nikos Averesch would like each other if your personalities didn't clash so dreadfully, wouldn't you?

[katabasis]

[His laugh is a sharp, barking thing.]

Is that news?

[bouchonne]

It remains news, I should say. That your heart is still thus, so many years into this war.

[ Well - ]

And don't pretend you go around singing this song, dear Captain. For all that your heart beats to the common man's drum, your tongue doesn't speak the common man's words.

[katabasis]

I'm sure you're aware that the world is very good at either ignoring or discrediting those voices.