crystal;

[satinet]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Cassius
RECIPIENT: All riftwatchers great and small
NOTES: You should definitely reply to this. Don't worry about why. Threadjacking welcome/encouraged.

Greetings Riftwatch! This is Senior Enchanter Black speaking—the Seneschal.

[This particular cheerful intonation may strike fear into the hearts of certain members of the company. Namely, those who would prefer not be talked at for ten minutes without interruption, or those who might flinch at the prospect that at any moment their wages might be trimmed further in order to set aside a reserve fund for Refugee Orphans Or Whatever.

But today, when Cassius says,] I'll be brief, [he means it.

Which is definitely not ominous in the slightest.]

I'm collecting information about which nations and known institutions we as an organization know best. If you would be so kind as to reply to this listing the peoples, places, and various consortiums big or small for which you feel the most affinity or understand the intricacies of, that would be of great help.

There's no need to go into any detail if you don't feel inclined. A very general list will do just fine.

Comments

[bouchonne]

Who's to say I don't keep all the correspondence to myself? Perhaps they love me and I love them; perhaps my letters to the Lord and Lady are sometimes fond and sometimes passionate. Far too much intimacy to share around.

[satinet]

You selfish bastard. Give the rest of us a go, won't you?

[bouchonne]

Ha! As though I'd ever sacrifice the joys I experience. All the backhanded compliments shall be mine and mine alone, Cassius.

[satinet]

And after everything I've done for you by being so good humored and biddable.

[bouchonne]

[ Less ironically: ]

You are a pleasure to work with, you know.

-->private

[satinet]

[Similarly, without so much as a whisper of irony or self deprecation:]

Oh, I know I'm a delight. But thank you for saying so. One does like to hear they're appreciated.

[With this same breeziness, Cassius turns the crystal to close to channel and continues privately.]

I obviously have an ulterior motive.

likewise

[bouchonne]

Of course.

[ That’s said with a laugh that’s equal parts knowing and curious. ]

[satinet]

Maker, is there no one on this island who isn't suspicious?

[That's a joke. Sort of.]

I thought I might arrange a little diplomatic training excercise for our colleagues—something where everyone pretends to be someone they aren't to practice how to talk to each other and how to use other perspectives to their advantage. Blah, blah, blah. I won't tell you how Diplomacy works.

I'm trying to determine which teams they shouldn't be on. Averesch is obviously getting assigned to the Templars.

[That might be a joke too. Maybe.]

[bouchonne]

[ Ooooooh. ]

I think Averesch should get assigned to the Templars. It'd be an excellent intellectual exercise for him.

[ Byerly sounds disconcertingly excited about this. ]

[satinet]

And Glimmer and Edgard can take the Orlesian court, Bastien can pretend at negotiating for some mercurial Antivans, and so on and so forth.

I agree.

[bouchonne]

And you, dear Cassius? Where will you go?

[satinet]

Someone will have to moderate.

[He's doing everyone a service. So selfless, so noble.]

Why, where would you guess?

[bouchonne]

I have a hard time knowing.

[ Which is both bedeviling and charming. ]

But if I were to forced to guess with no concern for my intellectual pride, I might guess that you should argue for the rebel mages.

[satinet]

[Cassius laughs. For someone who finds him grating, the easy off the cuff way he does it might be more annoying still. Luckily Byerly isn't one of those people.]

Asking me to stretch a well exercised muscle there. But fair enough. I'm sure I could reverse a few of the Loyalist talking points to suit.

But they're not so different, you know—the rebel mages from the rest. Not anymore, anyway.

[bouchonne]

[ By hums in acknowledgment. ]

I suppose the division of Corypheus' mages and the others is rather more salient now. But as soon as we take care of that northern gadfly [ ha ha any day now right ] the divisions will re-emerge, no?

[satinet]

Oh they haven't gone anywhere. If you like a wrestling match, arrange a visit to Skyhold and sit in on a Council.

I mean that a mage is a mage whether they agree with how that means we should live or not, and that I wouldn't be a very good one—much less a good Loyalist—if I found the difference of opinion between myself and a rebel so stark as to make them my enemy. They're more like...irascible siblings.

[He imagines. He can't remember his own well enough to be positive.]

—Though to be clear, I think we'd all be better off if they'd stop collapsing towers and picking fights.

[bouchonne]

So is there no one you dislike?

[ If Byerly gets anything resembling an honest answer to this, he will be shocked. ]

[satinet]

Well if dislike is all it takes, then by all means. Sign me up for their table.

Better yet, make me Qunari. I can't say I'm a fan of what they'd do to me if we were all to convert tomorrow. Although Maker only knows how I'm supposed to guess what Par Vollen wants for this exercise—

[This all is breezy as the turning of a hand, a dismissive gesture. It might be true, though if so then it's the unconcerned and unexamined kind. Less so however:]

Perendale was one of the better Circles, I'll grant the rebels that much. But this is the benefit of living in one. It offers insulation. Why make an enemy of something that doesn't touch you?

[That, at least, isn't one of his bad habits.]

[bouchonne]

[ A thoughtful noise. ]

Outrage at injustice?

[satinet]

[And speed up the recession of his hairline? No thank you.]

Is a very vague concept. Against who? To what end?

[bouchonne]

Oh, I don't know. It's just something I've heard other people talk about. You'd have to ask them for more details.

[satinet]

Sounds exhausting.

[bouchonne]

I imagine so. And yet they talk about it so much. They're not too tired for that.

[satinet]

[He snorts. Well.]

Who among us doesn't enjoy prattling on about ourselves?

[bouchonne]

[ A cheerful groan. ]

It's the best thing in the world.

[ Then: ]

So we'll have you argue for the Qunari, then?