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

[ebeje]

Forgive me if I have difficulty imagining you charming information from so much as a drunken farmhand.

[ But her tone is more considered than a simple insult. That he lacks charisma does not necessarily mean he lacks information, nor the resources to obtain as much. But it is a different way of going about these things than she is accustomed to, requiring a different set of skills than the ones she is used to assessing. That he can haggle, she believes. That he can be discreet. That as much as his attitude may jab at her newly-bruised pride, he does not seem the sort to boast of abilities he does not possess.

But he's speaking of showing. So, Max reaches into her skirt pocket and pulls forth a closed hand, stretching it out across the table to rest beside his cup, before tipping to let its contents fall, shielded from prying eyes, to the tabletop with a muted thunk. It's not a small gemstone. And not the type you exchange in singular.

(That she currently has fewer left than she would like is a detail she'll not be sharing.) ]

Before Nascere fell, there was no business on its shores that was not business of mine. That included building substantial networks on the mainland. I do not know who or what survives — but if you have allies and an interest in acquiring more, perhaps we might come to an arrangement.

[ And if not: money. She's got apparently some. ]

[exsecutus]

I have a condition. Limited stores of charm cause me to save it for the most important moments.

[A kind of joke, delivered deadpan. As it's not the sort of joke that garners laughter, he doesn't expect a laugh, or even a smile.

He also doesn't expect a gemstone. Nikos stays where he is, doesn't lean forward to snatch it up or even examine it closely. The flicker in his eyes belies some of that dispassion. It is something, at least. He drowns that tell by reaching for his cup, deliberately passing over the chance to pick up the gem.]

I have interest. And friends, that I have managed to charm. Some of them are calling you pirates. Collective you, plural pirates. [In case it needs clarifying, and also to underline: there's more than one to this, and he knows it.] Are your friends included in your arrangement, and your network, or do you work on contract.

[ebeje]

[ A flicker is enough, for now. Max's hand falls over the stone in turn, pulling it back to a comfortable distance. Not off the table, but less conspicuous. But the subject of her friends brings a cautious sort of pause to the movement. Not an unexpected subject, but a delicate one. ]

They can be, and not. [ Like a cat in a box. Alive and dead. That you is perhaps not so collective. ] My network is my own, and my allies as well. If it is useful to you that information should pass one direction, it can. If it preferable it should not pass in the other, that is also an option.

[ Not everyone loves partnering with murderous thieves, after all. ]

[exsecutus]

[They can be, and not, two options that no doubt carry with them varying levels of price associated. But that is the way of the world, and Nikos makes a quiet grunt of acknowledgement, and takes a sip of wine. It helps ease some of his headache, which has a particularly painful twinge to it as he is forced to engage in conversation.]

Our network is small in number. Which is a fact, not an excuse. It is purposefully small. Based largely out of Antiva, with a cell active in major port cities and every country in Thedas in which we could make meaningful inroads. Some more meaningful than others.

And we can arrange for a great deal. [Another fact, given the plain way that he says it.] Movement is our specialty. We have made use of pirates in the past for our work. You're up to your arse in pirates, in Antiva. If there's particular information sought, we could arrange that it be listened for. It would be very easy. [And, with a dry smirk that implies an inside joke, he adds:] Refugees are a favored cause.