crystal.

[elegiaque]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Gwenaëlle Baudin
RECIPIENT: All y'all.
NOTES: There's a new junior dad in town. Tell her all about your sick magic weapons and how buff or noodly your little nerd arms might be. (Happy to do action spam here or in her inbox for any office threads!)

Alright, Riftwatch, I assume I don't need to introduce myself,

( possibly because she hasn't been paying strict attention to recent arrivals, but she is certainly not herself a new face, )

but if you have somehow mistaken my accent for Alexandrie, this is Gwenaëlle Baudin, and if you haven't noticed my taking up the office, I am now your acting Captain of the Watch. ( because they are still pretending that dad might come back (with smokes) and that rowntree's appointment might be temporary. she has already begun studying nevarran, but she isn't all that optimistic about when she's going to need to know it by. ) I've started with inventorying our armoury, and as such I have a couple of requests to make of, primarily, those of you not in Forces. If you are in Forces, I need to know if you possess any personal weaponry of note that we should be taking into account. You can provide details by crystal, book or at my office. If you are not in Forces, I would like to know that, but disclosure is voluntary unless your division head decides to make it mandatory.

( yes, she checked with rowntree before announcing it's mandatory for forces. )

Further, if you are not in Forces, I'd like to have an overview of the combat readiness of our ( nerds ) general non-combatants and what their, your needs are. If you'd like particular training, or if you specifically wouldn't. If you're going to be particularly vulnerable in the sort of emergency we recently experienced, or if it'd be useful for me to be aware that you won't. Again, we can have these conversations by whatever means suits you.

( there's a brief pause. )

And to be clear, I'm not assuming all diplomats and researchers need to be provided personal fainting couches, and you will not be considered clever for getting up in arms about having your toughness questioned. If you would like to be provided a personal fainting couch, ask the Seneschal.

Comments

[grindset]

[This is, after the first knee-jerk instant of No, an unexpectedly compelling suggestion, albeit bristling with reservations. Should he make this part private? Possibly, but considering who else is undoubtedly listening... no, he won't.]

Who does 'we' include?

[laruetheday]

[ Clarisse drags the back of one hand across her forehead, wiping sweat away, but she grins. ]

I haven't done much with it here. [ Not really at all, actually. Part of it's that it hasn't seemed worth it to dredge up some minor power she can only use once in a day, part of it's that she likes to win on her own talent, and using magic feels unsatisfying for that. But— ]

It could come in handy if the timing was right.

[ One big push at the right moment? It could save someone's life, or fuck up some critical enemy plans. ]

[elegiaque]

Florent Vascarelle, Stephen Strange, myself— Guilfoyle doesn't usually join us to eat,

( she's not completely sure if that's because it still feels odd to him, after so many years in her family's service, or if there's some completely separate hangup she hasn't got to the bottom of, )

and sometimes Hardie likes to be near the table in case someone doesn't want everything they have. Small Yngvi usually won't be if there's a stranger.

-> private;

[dissolving]

Gonna have her pick us an Ambassador next. I'm banking on Noose.

[ private: ]

Reckon 's a matter of time before it comes up, but wouldn't call it a priority.

[ he's got other ways to kill people. just — fuck not having your toughness questioned, if admitting a shortcoming encourages anyone, well. it's worth it. ]

More concerned on the Anchor. Dunno if that's under your, uh. Desk.

private ∞

[elegiaque]

( diverted from what was probably about to become a spirited debate on whose dog would make the best ambassador, )

That depends on why you're concerned about it.

[dissolving]

[ wow sorry to interrupt but — ]

Alright, I'm looking for a ball right now.

[elegiaque]

( shaking out her hands — there's a little shudder down her spine, like she's shaking off something else — gwenaëlle grins back, lopsided but not false,

it's always easy to tell when it's false. she's got a face with subtitles. )

You get one shot at it in a fight, you said, but that is a very good shot. I'd love to see it used on a Red Templar, just for irony's sake.

( sure, magic is cheating, but using magic to fuck up a templar's ability to hold a sword is conceptually hilarious, so right away that's worth it. funnier still on an ordinary templar, but they come up against them on the battlefield less often.

well, for now. )

[dissolving]

[ vysvolod is disqualified for nepotism ]

It's doing,

[ if he sounds uncomfortable, that's because he is. it's one thing to know this might happen, to want it to happen, and another to find yourself casting,

well. call it what it is, call it magic. ]

The shield bit.

[elegiaque]

( it would be super mean to make fun of the templar for doing magic. it's fucking heroic that she pauses long enough not to immediately do that. )

Alright, then, yes, that does fall under my purview. ( sort of. well, falls within the realm of the things she's specifically asking about, and it's not as if there's anyone here who has more experience than she does with this, specifically— ) You'll need to practise with it, which we can do.

[pathlit]

[ A shadow of irritation crosses his expression. If only the Venatori no longer existed.

(He does not yet catch the callousness in the implication of his immediate emotional response to their mention.) ]

Maybe we can get another one going. Is there a list of practice participants, or are you and Carsus the only ones ballsy enough to try?

[ And by ballsy he also means reckless, but-- desperate times, desperate measures, et cetera. ]

[elegiaque]

I think he asked Clarisse about it, as well—

I've never really formalised anything, I've just done it a few times.

( a handful of them and only once before the day she launched herself off from behind jayce and into the dracolisk who now answers to bellerose and is stabled on the back of the houseboat. )

It'd be useful to have a bit more ... coordination.

( it has perhaps been pointed out to her. )

private;

[wythersake]

[ a pity that she's more difficult to rile these days. there's so much less to observe. but it does means that he responds after a length of time that's not so lengthy as it might have been, ]

My staff is enchanted for flame. Nothing terribly powerful or precise, but it does in a pinch.

[ he has very much burned down a bridge ]

I’ve been borrowing one of the Venatori remnants for practice. Do you expect the appointment to alter your work with the Infirmary?

[pathlit]

To dance, or--

private ∞

[elegiaque]

How are you with it if you can't cast?

( she sounds so polite, almost like she isn't assuming the answer is a huge weenie. )

And— no, not substantially. I'll have a bit less time to spare than I did before, but it was already not my primary focus, so. I'll still be there.

[dissolving]

Sure. Anyone wants to win practice, [ a thing that's normal to want and possible to achieve ] Is gonna have to dip.

[sumptus]

[ A chuff, not quite a laugh. ]

Guess it's a little late to reconsider that approach.

[elegiaque]

The alternative is to lie back and think of Corypheus, and if I don't much mistake your accent, you don't need to be told about not wanting to do that.

( kind of sounds a little defect-y, so—

probably has a fairly good idea of what the alternative entails. )

[wythersake]

I once gave a man a splinter.

[ is he trying to get her to say strange's name aloud? maybe. or he'd probably take it to the doctor directly: ]

Healing tents have been a focus of the enemy. [ in ghislain, he means, but they both know where the comte died ] If you'd see any reinforcements or measures implemented for our temporary lodgings, we ought to consider adding to field procedure.

[elegiaque]

( weenie. )

I can talk to Stephen abut it, if you haven't already.

( that she's distracted enough she didn't say dr strange on this, her very official big girl captain announcement, might say as much or more than the tone in which she says his name,

he's on his way over here; the reminder is a bit of a relief. )

[wythersake]

If you would. I'm off for a fainting couch.

[ stephen she'd said, of his first introduction. stephen, while bloody and stupid with shock, amid the ruins of an era.

so like. not that different. ]

[elegiaque]

( you know how sometimes you just hit the exact right button to refocus a person— )

Julius will probably bear you off to it personally if you ask him nicely enough.

[wythersake]

Oh, no. I intend to hide under it. Do the pair of you much keep up these days?

[ you know. when he was living in her house and people thought they were fucking. ]

[grindset]

[Thanks to Viktor's usual habits—long delays, replies at odd hours, sometimes never responding at all—the pause of a few minutes before his answer appears perfectly ordinary. As ordinary as this invitation. People make such arrangements all the time, and worse exchanges—uncomfortably personal, humiliating exchanges—over these sending crystals, before the ears of one and all, just like this. Compared to what he's heard, this barely registers on the meter. The idea of seeing people he sees all the time anyway should not be so challenging.

It's the context that moves the needle. It's the stupid cheesy meat circle. It's that his own time is short, eroding from both ends; it wouldn't be fair of him to encourage this. Who does 'we' include? Idiot. He shouldn't have asked, now it seems like—

Just—]

I'll... see if I can make the time.

[elegiaque]

Here and there. I warned my Uncle Marius off asking after him when he took up with our strapping Commander, though.

( he just seems like he might put his cigarette out in someone's eye about it; she can see the appeal. )

[dissolving]

I haven't — dunno if silencing'll cut it off, don't want to test with a Rifter or mage. 'S too many variables. But it reacts to lyrium, so.

[ he should probably find out ]