crystal

[pathlit]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Jason Talons & Viktor Tendercrisp
RECIPIENT: One thread private to Cosima, Marcus, Yseult & the current Diplomacy representative; otherwise, open.
NOTES: Context under the cut.

[ It's an ordinary day in post-sieged Kirkwall. The air is muggy with intermittent summer showers that dampen dirt and stone, invoking the scent of earth and, in the lower streets, aerosolizing the stench of a crowded populace. Reparations continue, maneuvering around them normalized.

So it's an ordinary day in Kirkwall up until the exact moment that a workshop in Lowtown erupts with a brilliant hue of blue light bursting from every open window, door and crevice. The blast is felt more than heard; a subtle drop in pressure 'round the block seconds before acute release, its pulse strong enough to rattle the foundation and knock an average-sized human off their feet.

A pillar of fire shoots out from the building's chimney, high enough to be seen from The Gallows for all of a few seconds before abruptly vanishing. Light blue particles glimmer in its wake, as if suspended amongst the humid air, then gently float downward to vanish the moment they alight.

No casualties (aside from whatever creature may have been naïve enough to roost upon the chimney's crown). Mild property damage. Elation. ]

( open )
[Viktor's voice, broadcast to Riftwatch at large, is at first distantly quiet.]

What should I—

[Suddenly much closer and clearer:]

Ehh— should anyone happen to have noticed a combustion event on the mainland just now, please be assured it's nothing to worry about.

( closed to Division Heads )
[ Minutes later, the sending crystals of the division heads light up. ]

Hey! Hi, uh-- [ Jayce clears his throat. ] Hello. It's Jayce. Jayce and Viktor. Research div. There was a-- an incident in Lowtown. That was us, not an attack. Everything's okay. Could you let the Viscount know?

[From a few metres away, raised thin with excitement, Viktor's voice:] Tell them! Tell them what we've done!

[ Jayce, with a breathy laugh and an excitement scarcely backdropped by the worry of reprimand (and-or shock of success): ] Yeah, we've-- we've got it! Runic enchantment. Viktor and I figured it out. How to do it ourselves, I mean.

Comments

[cozen]

A little...

[ No, alright, everyone else is covering the contextualization of it all. ]

I will pass along your apologies. What is it you were aiming for?

[grindset]

Yes, our sincere apologies. And, and if you can, tell her— tell her it's not like the last time. This is something new, and it isn't meant to hurt anyone.

[elegiaque]

If so much as someone's bonne-maman has a sprain, ( is a sentence that she apparently doesn't think needs explicit finishing. )

[grindset]

This is a typical dwarven workshop—a layman won't know what it is they're looking at.

[luaithre]

No.

[ Fine. He starts walking. ]

[wythersake]

The laymen will trash all of it. These investigations aren't delicate. Hide it, pack it. Get out of there.

[grindset]

[Now further from the crystal, but still nearby,]

Hedda's already risked her reputation to assist us. We can't leave her to deal with the response alone.

hi.

[luaithre]

Did you see more precisely where? The neighbourhood?

[ He has to do everything himself— ]

[pathlit]

Nothing's burning, everything's fine! I checked-- [ and chokes on his own words because, higher pitched in dismay, ] --the Gallows?!

[wythersake]

Lowtown. Craftsman's area, I'd wager non-guild, mn. [ debating: ] Start at Spindle and listen for shouts.

[pathlit]

[ In the background, as the magnitude of the consequences of their current work finally begins to dawn on him: ] Fuck! Shit, okay, okay--

[ Clenching his crystal into his gloved fist to muffle it, other hand reaching t catch Viktor's sleeve, he speaks in a hushed, harried tone, ] We need to get this out of here. The design's a dead giveaway it isn't made by dwarves.

[ The plans, too, strewn about as they are-- and Jayce seems to realize it, because he immediately releases Viktor to haphazardly gather all of their blueprints. ]

[pathlit]

Fleeing the scene's more damning, isn't it?

[luaithre]

The damning part is done. The rest doesn't matter today.

[ Maybe a second griffon is needed as he adds, ]

We can bring whoever that is. [ Up some stairs. ] I'm not safeguarding your reputation.

[ But he has a location, and so, this is all courtesy. ]

[luaithre]

Thank you.

[wythersake]

Try not to get arrested.

[grindset]

[He's not at the crystal now, but it picks him up anyway, skewing to sarcasm:]

Same with everything else we've built. Should we hide the egg beater too?

[grindset]

[Indeed not. Someone cover up Bastien's crying grandma—]

[pathlit]

If you retrofitted it, sure. [ Also sarcasm. ] If the Captain of the— the leader of Forces is— [ Here, he’d make a frustrated noise if he weren’t hurrying. ]

If he’s sending someone to get us, then we should comply. We need them to trust us.

[ In the depths of his memories, the sour taste of arrest and trial sullies the joy of success. The fear of abandonment sparks, and he feels vexingly small again. ]

[sprent]

Yes! I even saw it from the courtyards of the Gallows!

(I.e not from high up!!!)

[laruetheday]

[ she's just laughing ]

[bouchonne]

Andraste's tits -

[ Furious: ]

You could have blown up our house. It's barely still standing after that attack.

[grindset]

You'd think so, but that would have required a completely different runic sequence, actually—

[dissolving]

I'll grab Agathe. Can deal with the guard once you're all out.

[ whatever the plan, they know riftwatch saw this. ]

[dissolving]

That's great, Jayce — [ is it. evenly: ] — Sounds like the Commander's picking you up, ask Hedda if she wants to come.

[ plain citizen's under guard jurisdiction. but if it gets them on the bird, ]

But go with him, alright? Nobody got hurt, 's gonna be fine. Just need you back here to help settle it.

[cozen]

[ Fear not! She didn't sprain anything. She's only having a traumatized flashback to the event that killed half her family, which is fine. ]