pirates are friends not foes

[ebeje]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Max
RECIPIENT: Everybody (yeah)
WHAT: Introducing pirates: your latest problem courtesy of the Corypheus. The Venatori have sacked their island off the Tevinter coast, and Max consequently has a request.
WHEN: Nowish
WHERE: Kirkwall

[ The journey from Nascere to the Free Marches had been a difficult one, not just for the number of days it had spanned, but for the things each of them had left behind, still tethering them to its beaches. Hopes and dreams that, with each passing mile, they must watch unravel, and begin to accept may never be within their grasp again. Amid the bitter mire of blame that had welled up in its place, one thing had become clear to Max: if she wants to have any say in what comes next, she needs to be the face (or at least the voice) of Nascere, as surely here as she was on its shores.

And she needs to do it before anyone else does.

So it is, the very day the terms of their recruitment to the Inquisition and continued presence in Kirkwall is agreed upon, the sending crystals alight with a new voice. ]

Good afternoon, Inquisition. Some of you I have already had the pleasure to meet, but for those I have not, my name is Max.

[ It's a not unpleasant voice, as these things go. A smooth, melodic Orlesian of the sort one can imagine trading one's cares away to in exchange for gentle but firm reassurance. Today, it is mostly business, but artfully tinged here and there with a withheld sorrow. (Most of which may even be real.) ]

I have recently arrived from the island of Nascere, in the Colean Sea, under circumstances I believe concern us all. One week ago, after operating for some time under the guise of reinstating legitimate Tevinter governance, persons we believe to be agents of Corypheus ravaged our home and have killed or captured many of its people.

The situation in Orlais is no better, as you must know, but even as the Inquisition fights on that front, I would ask one small thing of all of you. While some of us were fortunate enough to make berth in Kirkwall, our sisters and brothers of Nascere have been scattered to the four winds. Some may be dead, others we fear enslaved, but there are still more whose escape we may simply not be aware, who may become allies to you as myself and my colleagues Captains Flint and Vane now are.

[ ‘Colleagues.’ As if they are partners. Perhaps friends. :> ]

I ask then, in the course of your travels to fulfill your duties to the Inquisition, if you should hear word in taverns or crossroads of refugees from Nascere, that you bring this news back to us as soon as you are able. And if you should have business with a man or woman of the account, that you pause but a moment where sense and safety allow, and ask if they are of Nascere. You may find a friend in place of an enemy, and one who would join our cause.

[ Or one of their causes, at any rate. Of those who once called Nascere home, a fair number are more likely to want her dead than reinstated. But there are some whose good opinion Max does not expect, who she would risk more than this to see alive again.

She draws herself up, forcing a gentler warmth into her tone. ]

And, as I am certain rumors abound, [ False ones, surely, ] I would be happy to answer any questions or concerns any of you may have about our island or its former residents as we join your ranks.

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty, still ignorant of who these people are, takes that to be a stroke of misfortune. ]

Oh - how dreadful.

[sclavus]

[ that drags a real, perhaps sharp but genuinely amused laugh barked from. yeah, super dreadful. or the best thing that ever happened to him. ]

The merchants, had they found me, would've sold me off at the nearest port for some extra coin. The pirate captain, after I bit his arm when he tried to drag me from the barrel, saw more worth to my life.

Dreadful is what I would call meeting the next port safely instead.

[rathercommon]

Wait -

[ Oh. ]

I always thought that pirates were the ones who'd sell you for half a shilling. [ But it's not as though she hasn't been misled before. ] Then - you were all right? They treated you well enough?

[sclavus]

Half the pirates of Nascere are former slaves, or have former slaves on their crew. Attempting to take human, elven or qunari cargo as a prize would be courting a raid from another crew that took offense to the act.

[ aka, charles vane has maybe sunk some bitches for doing that exactly. after freeing the slaves, that is. in general, it's a bad idea to be a slaver transport in the waters around Nascere. ]

They took me in, raised me, taught me skills. They aren't the only crew to have done so for others. [ Billy and Gates, for one. ]

[rathercommon]

So - then - are all of you pirates? From Nascere?

[sclavus]

No.

[ a small, wisp of a smile that she doesn't see, because this isn't video. technically it's true, because Max is not a pirate. She's just about the only exception. ] Some.

[rathercommon]

But -

[ Kitty shakes her head, cutting short what was going to be her protest and replacing it with a more politic: ]

I'd always learned that pirates were just...thieves by another name. People who were just out for themselves and for profit. I guess - I must have been misinformed, then, if you all work together like you do.

[sclavus]

[ the urge to respond with "no, we are thieves only out for ourselves, you were right the first time" is so, so great, and if Max weren't likely mouth breathing over this conversation willing him from afar not to fuck up her expert diplomacy, he'd do it.

Alas, he would like to get back to his island and his friends sooner than later. ]

Was it pirates that informed you?

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty hesitates before admitting - ]

No. It was out of books, mostly. [ Sighing - ] And some musical theater.

[sclavus]

[ vane's going to assume that means books not written by pirates. ]

That tell you much about the quality of the source?

[ he thinks a moment on that noble's girl, abigail, that wrote of them in her diary, of it being read out over the charlestown courtyard. he thinks, too, that the moment ending with he and flint reminding them they were right to fear. yeah, sounds fake. ]

[rathercommon]

Maybe.

[ Certainly, the musical theatre was never to be trusted. Still - ]

But I notice you've not really denied it.

[sclavus]

Why should I be expected to define myself for you, to confirm or deny what traits comply to what you think you know of me?

[ about 95% of Vane couldn't give half a shit what people from the main land nations think of him and who he is, what his motivations are, what the things he does mean to him. 4% of him thinks it's more funny than anything else, but just about 1% is legitimately annoyed. ]

There's at least 60 of us came in with the Walrus. Plenty first-hand experiences to get a better idea of.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty, with that damnable and irritating freshness that only youth can provide, responds with a sincere, unashamed, and thoughtful: ]

Well - because we're speaking to one another, aren't we? If you define yourself, then I'll understand you a bit better. And mutual understanding, I think, is the key to making the world a better place. [ Then, with a little bit of cheek: ] Max clearly understands that.

[sclavus]

Max makes a better pirate than half those that sailed in with us.

[ and she's never touched the helm of a ship. She's ruthless, cunning, and ambitious enough to drown the rest of them. She's had Nascere by the throat before, and she'd doubtlessly manage it again in time, if given the opportunity. Like many of them, she was nothing before coming to Nascere, where she'd become something else entirely.

But he'll not get into all that, at least not in front of Max herself. ]

What's to say I don't just lie to you? Tell you I devote my time to helping nuns cross the street and rescuing kittens from trees?

[rathercommon]

[ The shrug is audible in her voice. ]

Nothing. You can lie as much as you like. But if you were the sort of person who wanted to lie, you wouldn't have asked me what-if-I-say-this; you'd have just said it.

Besides which, there's not much point in lying to me.

[sclavus]

You aren't the only one listening.

[ max alone is at least one more, and let's consider anyone else wanting to know more about the pirates that just assimilated into their do-gooders club.

but no, vane isn't one to lie, as he hardly gives enough of a shit to in most cases. more so. he's talking in circles, because he doesn't want to have this conversation, but he's to be on good behavior, not only on max's orders, but flint's as well. which means, he can't publicly tell children to fuck off. ]

There's an island I call home, that good men and women sacrificed blood and more to create. I've agreed to do a lot of things I'd rather not be doing in the interest of seeing her and her people freed again. That's all of me the people in this city are entitled to.

[rathercommon]

Oh, I don't think the people of this city are entitled to any part of you. No one's entitled to anything of anyone else, I'd say.

[ Vane isn't the only one who's fiercely pro-freedom and independence. ]

But you are surrounded by a load of people with a desire to help. You got screwed over by Corypheus, and most people here want to help just about anyone who's been screwed over by Corypheus. But they won't be able to help if you're not honest about the sort of help you want.

[sclavus]

The leaders of the Inquisition know exactly what kind of help we want.

[ what the troops think of it, Vane could hardly care, so long as their commanders uphold their end of the bargain. ]

We want them to go to our island, kill the Venatori there, and leave.

[rathercommon]

What - and you only care about the leaders of the Inquisition? I thought you were a man with no love for kings.

[sclavus]

Don't have love for them that follow them blindly either.

[ his distaste for civilization and polite society hardly ends at the rulers. It isn't them alone that make the cities what they are. ]

This compact's a means to an end.

[rathercommon]

A means to an end?

[ Kitty shakes her head. ]

But there are other people - loads of other people - having their freedom taken away by Corypheus and his - [ A pause as she searches for a word vile enough to describe Corypheus' followers, but can only really come up with: ] Goons. Shouldn't your end be helping them out, as well? Freedom's worth nothing if only some people have it.

[sclavus]

Joined the Inqusition, haven't I?

[ that said: he isn't here to conquer the world, he isn't a savior, and no one south of tevinter knows the kind of slavery the north seas do. They can get themselves out of that, rather than leeching off those that did more with less. ]

For as long as this bargain lasts, I'm lending strength against Corypheus. After that - I won my freedom myself, and they'll have to do the same.

[rathercommon]

Then will you abandon the inquisition, soon as your island's freed?

[sclavus]

I imagine my island won't be completely safe until Corypheus is dead.

[rathercommon]

Mm.

[ Kitty purses her lips. Anyone who loves freedom - they have to come around eventually. ]

What's your name, anyway? Or is that too private, too?