crystal

[bouchonne]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Byerly
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: None

[ The tone here is quite amused, even if the topic is not particularly...amusing. ]

So, now that we've all woken up, I'm sure there's just one question on everyone's mind. What are we going to do with all you naughty little boys and girls who are dreaming about joining the Venatori?

Comments

[katabasis]

For all any of us know, Dickerson's only a resourceful intelligencer when a dream is bending to accommodate him.

[Throwaway, like a dismissive wave of the hand.]

I'm not suggesting we deliver anyone the world. We have a morale issue, which meaningful work—work they recognize as it—either fixes, or [is the smallest concession. Or,] will make problems a damn sight easier to spot.

How many on that list would either of you have been concerned with yesterday? Because there are names there I wouldn't have thought to mention [might, in the right light and without the clipped tone, be a bigger one.]

[bouchonne]

Really?

[ By arches an eyebrow and purses his lips thoughtfully, tilting his head towards the list. ]

I wouldn't have trusted any of them. Though, to be fair, the members of Riftwatch actually worthy of trust are rather few in number, to my thinking.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult's head tips marginally toward Byerly's point. Trust, no. But, ] There are some I might not have included on a short list of potential turncoats.

It would be dangerous to take that as evidence that the dream meant nothing.

[katabasis]

[The bland look he assigns Byerly is—distracted by the more pressing point.]

My point is that if we fail to engage the issue in a way which encourages their trust—whether or not you choose to reciprocate it—, we will have no way of measuring how dangerous it actually is. To watch everyone is an impossibility.

[bouchonne]

Spoken like a man who has a limited understanding of the resources that are out there.

[ Then: ]

I can't object to these ideas. Except Rowntree. I really cannot condone empowering him with any authority.

[ By doesn't even dislike the man that much. He's just quite curious why that was the name that Flint brought up, and wants to see how hard the man will dig in his heels. It's always useful to know the alliances of one's frenemies. ]

[hassaran]

[ Yseult drinks and awaits an answer. ]

[katabasis]

[Ah, now that flat look reaches full maturity.]

He's under my command. Consider whether you'd rather this stone be turned over where we all can see it or if you'd rather I find my own solution.

[bouchonne]

That stone? What, do you have quibbles with someone under my command?

[hassaran]

[ Yseult's coffee continues to be fascinating. ]

[katabasis]

I'm certain I could find some.

You have two choices. Either we agree to do something about Rowntree together, in which case this is the part where you suggest an alternative if what I've put forward is so intolerable, or I do as I damn well please to keep order in the division. I was under the impression you both found the second approach inconvenient.

[hassaran]

You seem convinced that there is--or soon will be--a lack of order. A morale issue. Defections. Why is that?

[bouchonne]

[ Good question. ]

[katabasis]

[His attention cuts sharp over to her, then back to Byerly. And then for the first time since standing, he lapses—not a pause. This is a halt in momentum. Running up against some barrier that he is frustrated to find so solid still.

Flint fetches the discarded cup back up. It hasn't been so long since he set it down that the coffee has lost much of its heat. Firmly, like a blunt hammer with no heat—]

If the conversation you would prefer we have is about why I'm standing in this room rather than what we should do outside of it, you're going to be disappointed.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult's gaze narrows very slightly, just for a second. It could as easily be perception, or annoyance. ]

Things like this have happened before. And worse. Strange, disruptive, even bloody. And there have never been defections, or lasting morale problems, or any challenge to leadership. Why are you so concerned this time?

[katabasis]

Ask your real question.

[hassaran]

It's clear you know what it is already. You might have answered it by now.

[katabasis]

And have whatever I might say understood as an effort to persuade and manipulate you? Why bother.

[To Byerly:]

Is this your concern too? My part in this.

[bouchonne]

[ An easy shrug. ]

I just worry that you know something you're not telling us. You are, occasionally, somewhat withholding.

[hassaran]

[ Well? ]

[katabasis]

[He bites back a snort and instead downs the remaining contents of his cup.]

I've been telling you what I know. No, no one is running off to join the Venatori. But between news of desertions in Orlais, the tenor of those dreams, and the dissatisfaction I know we've all seen in one form or another, we would be fools not to offer some reassurance for anyone who might be wondering why they're here. Call it paranoia if that's what you prefer; any captain would tell you the same.