crystal.

[exequy]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Kostos Averesch
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Relevant info about a three-year-old plot.

[ No greeting, no introduction. Kostos (Nevarran-accented, quiet) is skipping straight to sounding irritated, with everyone, for no clear reason. ]

Rifters will be put into Circles after the war if mages are. Whether they seem to have magic of their own or not.

[ Perhaps this is slightly debatable. Perhaps Riftwatch's division from the Inquisition, taking all of the rifters with it, changes the balance of things. But that's an argument someone else will have to make. ]

So you are all aware.

Comments

[armd]

So you're fine with coming in to stir us all up but not with actually answering any of the questions that follow?

(since she's been following most of this conversation and has, at the very least, gathered that circle = very bad)

[tender]

I'm here to do that.

[ very firmly. ]

Which question would you like me to answer first, Abby?

[armd]

(... thank you derrica, but first-)

The fuck is that guy's problem?

[tender]

[ well ]

Kostos is doing his best. He and I both agree it's important that you know this. It isn't fair, for you not to know about the possibility of what could happen at the end of this war.

[armd]

He waited until I said yes to participating in it before he said anything.

How is that fair.

[tender]

It's not fair. But that's not Kostos' fault.

It doesn't matter if you participate in fighting against Corypheus or not. All the Chantry cares about is that you're a rifter. You're bound by that agreement the same as I am.

[armd]

(don't shoot the messenger, abby gets it. it's just harder to abide by that when the messenger is a bit of a dick about it.)

Yeah. That doesn't surprise me. (she used to do that. the wlf did that, to the seraphites. fuck.)

If people are going to try to stop this, I want in.

private.

[tender]

We will. [ also very firmly, no waver in her voice. then, more gently, ] Kostos was one of the ones who was fighting it before Corypheus came. He and Marcus will be able to tell you more of how it was, when the mages rebelled against the Chantry.

private.

[armd]

... I might wait until the reaction to this has died down before asking Kostos anything.

private. ∞

[tender]

I can come with you to speak with him, if you like. He's a good man, I promise. His intentions were good.

[ he's a good boy she swears. ]

Is there anything you want to know now?

[armd]

He should run his messages through somebody else first before he broadcasts them en masse. (because it was impossible to miss that astarion meltdown up there.)

... Yeah. (because she didn't ask it last time,)

Are we good?

[tender]

[ well, true, but surely less important than— ]

You and I? Yes, Abby. We're good.

[armd]

Okay.

(no small hint of relief- and then, abruptly, awkwardness,) ... Margaery explained the circles to me. You're off the hook.

[tender]

Margaery isn't from Thedas. It's different, when you're raised in them. Kostos is the way he is because of Circles. So are many mages who suffered through life there, and the true accounts of that aren't always...

It's hard to capture in full. And the Chantry doesn't want it to be.

[armd]

(she has to pause to digest this before replying. honestly, the individual account aspect of this disturbs her.)

... Isn't anybody else going to try to stop them? How are they getting away with it? We didn't do anything wrong.

[tender]

There are many people who think we belong there. Even people here, in Riftwatch.

[ Some People ]

They're afraid of us.

[armd]

That's bullshit.

(it makes her slightly breathless with the injustice,) And if we fight back it'll only prove them right.

[tender]

There was a war, before Corypheus. The mages rebelled. Kostos was part of that, the fighting.

[ a pause, a little sigh. ]

It changed things. Maybe for the better. I'm not sure. But we can't fight that battle now, because none of it matters if Corypheus conquers us.

[ However. ]

But there's a chance we'll have to pick up where the rebellion left off. If the Divine tries to reinstate Circles, we won't have any other choice.

[armd]

(a bigger sigh.

and a sense of familiarity. she's read about this mage rebellion. the word apostate stuck out to her like a sore thumb.)

... What happens to rifters who can't use magic. (she has to ask. there's potential for a subset of them to fall through the cracks, here.) Will they be welcome in a rebellion?

[tender]

Yes.

[ immediate, unwavering. does derrica speak for all mages? no. but she refuses to entertain the idea of leaving anyone to be herded into circles. ]

Between us, you'll have an advantage if you aren't reliant on magic to fight. Templars are...

[ a trailing pause. she almost says abominations. ]

They're difficult for mages to fight.

[armd]

(it's nice of derrica to immediately assure her, but abby can't help but feel it won't be so cut and dry by the time they get to that bridge. unfortunately, there's only one way to find out how those cards will really fall.)

... I want to help, (she replies, after a beat.

it's what lev would do, but it's more than that. it's what she wants to do, too.) If I can.

[tender]

I'm glad. And I'm sorry, that you may have to.

[armd]

You too. (this is new to abby, but it sounds like an old wound, for derrica.)

Are you okay?

[tender]

I'm angry.

[ She just sounds tired. ]

But I've known about this possibility for a long time. It's not anything different, it's just...

[ a shrug, unseen. ]

[armd]

Can't be nice to be reminded about it.

... Or to have to coach people through the realisation for the first time, either.