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

[bouchonne]

[ A hum of agreement. ]

Have you ever been at one of those feasts where they eat songbirds?

[cozen]

[ Bastien mixes a nod and a head-shake into an all-around wobble, chin digging into his arms. ]

Not when I was invited to the table.

[bouchonne]

It's absurd. The ceremony of it. Never mind the wastefulness - feeding those birds on the finest herbs and flowers before they're drowned in cognac - or the ridiculousness of eating something that's scarcely a mouthful - but it's just so pompous. I have a high tolerance for the ridiculous, being ridiculous myself, but it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. I wanted to be delighted by it, but I was just disgusted.

[cozen]

[ Bastien nods. The slightly-thirsty fondness of his gaze has only been a little dampened by this talk of drowning birds. ]

I love my people, but my country is the worst.

[bouchonne]

Oh, I don't think so.

[ He smiles at him. ]

It made you. A million monsters can't outweigh you.

[cozen]

Charmer.

[ Successfully so. Bastien's head tips sideways until one cheek is squashed into his arm, and he looks every bit like a smitten, daydreaming teenager, only with a mustache. ]

I've been wanting—with the project, you know—to focus on contacts in the lower rungs. The Queen and the Empress have their own eyes on the nobility. And everywhere else, I know, but I thought there might be people out there willing to work with us who would not be so happy to work with them. And if it means we can leave them with resources or new contacts of their own, after the war, that is a plus.

But it feels so small.

[bouchonne]

[ And By smiles at that look, just as starry-eyed himself. ]

I don't think so. Imagine what the Freeman of the Dales might have accomplished if we'd won them over in time - and convinced them to maintain their good intentions. They could have been a ferocious fighting force.

[cozen]

That's true.

[ It felt once in a lifetime, that effort—but perhaps not. It's hard to be pessimistic in these late, dreamy hours, especially with By looking at him that way. ]

Your job might get a lot harder, if we start causing more problems. Especially Flint. His problems seem like they would be big ones.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly hums with agreement. ]

And ah, the hypocrisy of it. Telling the mages that they're not to pursue their personal agendas, while I myself think to political structures. How many times have I said that winning the war is our highest priority?

[cozen]

It is.

[ Bastien peels himself off the desk and sits back in his chair. ]

It has to be. No one can build anything new out of ashes.

They piss me off, too, you know. They have all this power the rest of us can never have, and some of them make shows, at least, of being willing to leave the rest of Thedas to the wolves if they aren't promised everything they want, like they are the only people being asked to fight for a world that has hurt them. And then we are supposed to be rooting for a future where there is nothing and no one standing in the way of them doing whatever they want with that power? Or something—I don't know. I've never heard two of them agree on anything except some vague notion of freedom. But I—

I do like them. The ones here. I know they have suffered, and they know what it is like to be powerless. They would not turn around and do that to the rest of us, intentionally. But I'm not sure I trust their grandchildren.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly's surprise fades to a smile as Bastien talks. Not that he should be smiling, perhaps, as Bastien says all this - it's all bloody grim, isn't it - but the fact that Bastien is willing to be so blunt, for him, is...Well, it's touching. Certainly marshmallow-worthy. And it just makes him feel less like he's shouting into a vast abyss.

But: serious issues. Serious talks. Don't just glow because Bastien is pissed off. ]

Aye. Particularly when we see what happens when magic is unchecked. It took the power of the Maker's Chosen to break Tevinter's hold over the world. When magical power is wed to earthly power, the whole world has ended up in chains.

[cozen]

[ Bastien catches that smile, at the end of his little speech, and scrunches his face up in a cheerful show of self-consciousness. It goes away quickly, though, in favor of nodding. ]

Exactly. And there has to be a way to balance things, but I don't know what it is. They don't seem to know, either. And in the meantime, if you do not fully endorse whichever of the six dozen possible futures one of them is imagining at the moment, and prioritize it over every other group of people we need to help us if we want to win this war, you're a bastard on the side of oppression.

[ He huffs, and cuts off his own run-on venting. ]

Maybe they will come back from Nevarra with something to work with.

[bouchonne]

Ha ha.

[ Dryly. Also: ]

If I'm found dead, by the way, the first suspect should absolutely be Matthias.

[cozen]

You think he has it in him?

[ Motive, of course, is not a question. Bastien’s heard them talk—whiteknuckling all the while to keep from jumping in to valiantly defend Byerly from a ten year old. ]

[bouchonne]

Oh, yes.

[ The smile is droll. But it's clear enough that he means it. ]

A dog with both bark and bite. Raised on the battlefield, surrounded by killers - not a place where a boy learns mercy or restraint.

[cozen]

[ Bastien doesn’t smile back. Somewhere earlier in the timeline, he’s gone after the kidnapped Marcus, seen Julius and Tsenka slam Templars into the ground from afar and half-crush them with stone, and gone looking for Fitcher with Marcus and Derrica almost exclusively to make sure they didn’t kill her if they found her. ]

Do you keep mage bane with you? Around here, I mean.

[ They’re all supposed to carry it in the field. Ostensibly for the Venatori, he thinks. ]

[bouchonne]

[ A hesitation. By's smile fades a bit. ]

No.

[ Then, a little uncomfortably - ]

I don't really think it's a risk.

[ But even as he says that, he wonders if it's true. Does he really think Matthias - or the other mages - wouldn't, if they believed his removal would serve their interests? Or does he just not want to give into that fear? ]

[cozen]

Maybe not.

[ He wants to think better of everyone. He does, on some level. But on another, Byerly already has nearly died in this office. ]

Gideon could have been a mage. We wouldn’t have known until it was too late. It couldn’t hurt. It doesn’t have to be about them.

[bouchonne]

Yes.

[ That's true. Yes. Not paranoia about the mages - just...all-purpose paranoia. ]

It's a good idea. I'll start doing that.

[ Then, with a caress to Bastien's cheek: ]

Not tonight's problem.

[cozen]

No, [ Bastien agrees, because the promise is plenty for him, and catches By's hand to hold across the desk. ] Tonight's problem is how we will justify a little trip for just the two of us.

[ Yseult disappeared for well over a week with Darras, after her kidnapping with Flint, and worked via the crystals. Something particularly well-deserved, given the torture. But if she can do it— ]

You want to make sure we have somewhere to go if Kirkwall becomes untenable, no? Maybe we should hop across the sea and talk to some people with spare fortresses. Or we could go to Kaiten. Introduce ourselves to the Viscount and, you know. Look around.

[ For his siblings, now that By's head from Nadine. ]