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

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[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. ]