diplomacy, gird your loins.

[bouchonne]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Byerly and Eshal.
RECIPIENT: All y'all
NOTES: Blue is Byerly, red is Eshal.

Bonsoir, Riftwatch. I have some dreadful news for you all.

[ Byerly’s voice sounds a bit dry. And characteristically dramatic. ]

My dear comrade and equal, would you like to tell them?

It's not dreadful, get over yourself. Anyway, Diplomacy has two heads, because we're better than the lot of them. Right?

Oh, yes. It’s widely acknowledged as a show of faith to appoint two people to do the job normally done by one. A task given only to truly quality prospects.

Exactly.

[ A sigh. ]

My esteemed self and this esteemed lady have been appointed joint heads of Diplomacy. She, being a decent and righteous soul, has volunteered to hear any and all complaints that might be made about this decision.

Yep. Love to meet the rest of you, honestly. Come by the head office, any time. I'll supply the whiskey.

[ Byerly lifts an eyebrow at her; he’d expected a protest to him volunteering her for that thankless duty. But, well, if she’s willing to be the goat here, let her be the goat. A shrug. That’s it. Meet your new overseers. ]

Comments

[saam]

[A laugh.] You'd be the only one. And I owe you for it.

[She sighs and taps her fingers.] Being an unknown don't mean he can't be worked with. Will make it hard, though. I'll muddle through somehow. Unless he actually tries to block me... [A thought. She rests her chin on her palm, eyes distant.] Probably look bad for the Diplomacy head to black one of his eyes.

[katabasis]

I doubt anyone would fault you for it. [This, muttered into his cup.]

[saam]

I would. Not antaam anymore. [A shrug.] Gotta do better. Leaders're a higher standard.

[katabasis]

[It's the sort of sentiment he approves of, even if the question to logically follow would be what's Riftwatch's idea of a higher standard, really? But before he can suggest punching Rutyer in private where the bruises won't be obvious-- A pivot:]

Speaking of, you'll have half a dozen requests shortly if you haven't received them already and, if Amsel was anything like Coupe, a mountain of paperwork to sift through. But there is a matter you may have some unique insight on, and it seems only right to tell you before you dig it up in an old report.

[He laces his hands round the cup. Done, for the moment, with drinking.]

[saam]

Gonna have to get me a secretary, [she murmurs under her breath. But Flint's question-- or the promise of one-- has her attention.] Shoot, Kaaras.

[katabasis]

[Less question, more fact.]

Early in the year, a Qunari dreadnought was discovered wrecked off Brandel's Reach. We recovered it and have it hidden in a cave a day's hard ride West of Kirkwall. It's too battered to do anything with even if we had the manpower, which we obviously don't, but it exists.

[The Inquisition knows. Sure as fuck someone along the straights must - even cover of dark can't keep the movement of something like that a secret -, so if she is a spy then it could practically constitute an olive branch. Regardless, it's all written down somewhere.]

[saam]

[It cracks a laugh out of her like a stone split in half.] A dreadnought! Oh, I think I love you, Kaaras. I'll get about making nice with the nearest Tal-Vashoth. There's got to be some that know how to repair a dreadnought. Doesn't matter if you don't have enough to man it. Just having it sends a message.

[katabasis]

[See, that's pleasant - the blatant daring of it; ask any other half of Riftwatch and this would have turned into an hour discussion over whose pearls they needed to worry about clutching.]

If we can get it floating, there's a passage between here and Val Chevin we could blockade with. It won't completely cut shipping to the port, but it narrows anyone's options.

[No one needs to know that the thing has no guns.]

[saam]

[It's a big middle finger to the Qun, but not big enough that it'll weaken relations with them. She can live with that.]

Then I'll go out to the coast and hunt down some Tal-Vashoth. You coming by might be helpful; I can translate, but I dunno shit about boats. [A pause, and she gives him a mock-canny look.] Ships.

[katabasis]

[Here, a quirking eyebrow instead of a mouth twitching like it's not certain how wide to grin. He sips again from the cup, and the beat is something like assent.]

As to the rest, [another turn] if you're in need of a mage who isn't impossibly bullheaded - I've had luck with Fabria. And Averesch's bark is worse than his teeth. The mage; not his brother.

[saam]

[She lets out a little huff of laughter.] Fabria's good, and we've got a grouchy mage named Averesch if he can't be found. Right, right. And for fancy noble tea parties I shouldn't be at but'll probably have to set up... I'll make Byerly do it and see if he falls on his ass. Glad that's all squared.

[Said with a gentle roll of her eyes. She knows it's not squared.]

[katabasis]

I'm glad to know you have things so well in hand.

[He raises his cup, some mock version of a toast, then drinks what little remains of the whiskey in it.]