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

[luaithre]

[ A pause, then, ]

I'd rather send our apologies to the Viscount as a gesture rather than as part of a bid to extricate you and your companion from jail.

The location, Talis.

[pathlit]

[ A pause in return, followed by glance to Viktor and the workshop they incriminate. ]

Shouldn't one of us stay to explain?

[luaithre]

No.

[ Fine. He starts walking. ]

[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.

[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. ]

[dissolving]

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

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

[pathlit]

[ After a brief muffled back and forth with Viktor: ]

I’m sorry. The workshop’s on [ insert address here ]. What else do you need from us?

[ It’s more a statement to indicate no further resistance than an actual expectation for an answer. He can already imagine: Nothing more. ]

[hassaran]

A complete accounting of everything potentially hazardous in your workshop, and a plan to safely move it.

[luaithre]

[ Never minding the fuckin' Templar div head channel jumpscare, Marcus adds— ]

Just be ready for us.

[grindset]

Disassembling the hot plate before we've had time to evaluate our results may pose some risk of another disturbance... but I think I can get it,

[he's moving out of crystal range.]

[pathlit]

[ The irony that this situation draws parallels to the first time he and Viktor met is not lost on him. ]

That, um, [ splitting his attention between addressing Yseult and watching Viktor, ] that'd be the lyrium, our notes, and the hot plate. So-- so two griffons, yeah. Three, maybe. Uggie's good, he'll follow you...

[ trails off softer as he lets the crystal hang from the chain around his neck, with the sound of metal scraping against a hard surface briefly, followed by a hiss of smoke from the hearth as he joins Viktor. ]