therookery | this is my first network post in this game oh god i hope i don't ruin it

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Hercules Hansen
RECIPIENT: locked to Grey Wardens! Grey Wardens only club!!!
WHAT: Anders & what do with him: a Grey Warden opinions discussion
WHEN: late Guardian /mumbles vaguely - set after Anders turns himself into Herc, before Leliana deduces is identity
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES:
This is regarding the Anders reveal plot, as discussed in this ooc post and as a follow-on from this log thread.
Threadjacking and hopping around encouraged!
If you'd like a thread with Herc to turn to actionspam for characters in Skyhold, go for it.

Wardens. We’ve got something important to discuss. If you’re not someplace private, stop listening now, drop whatever it is you’re doing, and get somewhere suitable. This is strictly Warden business.

( This is not the happy and friendly Herc. This is tense and angry Herc, even with his temper very carefully kept in check.

He leaves a pause to allow them to either stop listening without him accidentally unveiling something, if they need to, takes a breath, and carries on. There might be the sound of wind whipping behind him as he stands on the ramparts - what you can’t hear is the sound of him trying to reduce Anders to ash with his gaze. )

A Grey Warden who left our numbers has handed himself in to answer for crimes committed. Not against the Grey Wardens, but against Kirkwall and the Chantry. Some of you already know this man. Some of you knew him by the adopted name ‘Detlef.’ Others will just know the crimes of the mage Anders.

( Considering how to continue, what to say next, Herc exhales a moment. What a day. )

Anders has turned himself into us of his own free will, ( which unfortunately denied Herc the chance to tackle-slam him face first into a wall, ho hum ) and confessed to blowing up the Kirkwall Chantry, an act he claims was for the sake of mage freedom.

( He pauses, there. )

I don’t have much of a personal stake in that. I’m not a man of the Chantry, and I’m not a mage. Far as I’m concerned, there’s mages and there’s mages. The likes of Bethany and Kaiden have saved my life more times than I can count. Others can be dangerous, and I reckon the same goes for Templars, same as any other person. You’ve got honourable ones, and you’ve got monstrosities.

Now, I don’t even know all about what was happening in Kirkwall, back then, but I can’t say I’m a fan of killing some innocent people for the sake of saving other innocent people, one way or the other.
( Sounds like a pile of crap to him, personally. ) And as Grey Wardens, our roles is to try and protect all of Thedas. From the Blight and darkspawn, usually, but I don’t think innocent lives being lost, no matter who they belong to, sits well with any of us.

( Still. )

But Nathaniel reminded me that we all know how much someone can change, and that we all come to the Wardens for different reasons. Atonement is one, but Anders’ fate isn’t something any one of us can decide. He’s one of our own, and he’s our responsibility. Speak up with your thoughts.

Whatever our decision is, we are telling the Inquisition. The Wardens integrity isn’t going to be compromised any further.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What do you think we should do with you?

I can't say, Alistair. I know what I'd like to be done, I know what others would like to see done. But what I set in motion means that my preference has no bearing on things.

No one is going to actually do what you want because you want it, don't worry. I'm sure no one but is that nice. I just want to know what you think is fair.

Life isn't fair.

[He'd been trying to dodge the question, but he's never been good at that. It's like bluffing, really, a skill set he simply doesn't have. Anders sighs.]

It would be fair to end my life. It would be fair to second Hawke's judgement, that I should spend the rest of what days I have atoning and helping. I don't know which I think is more fair because it changes between the two.

No harm in trying to make it fair.

[ That answers his question, though, cheers. ]

It would be fair to accept that he has been treated like a mass-murderer since childhood. If you beat a dog until it bites, you don't put the dog down.

If you're the sort of person who beats dogs, you might.

[ Or if the dog starts biting everyone indiscriminately. Then you put the dog down but also kick the shit out of its owner to see how he likes it. But Anders doesn't seem to be blowing things up at random, so that's an unnecessary extension of the metaphor. ]

I'm not going to argue about mage rights with you, Nathaniel. Not because I don't enjoy arguing with you. I do. Pick any other topic and I'm there. But I don't think we have anything to fight about here.