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

[grindset]

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

[wythersake]

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

[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. ]

[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?

[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. ]

[grindset]

Succumbing to panic will do just the opposite. Of course we should relocate for the safety of the public—but confidence is imperative. We cannot give the impression of culpability.

[Jayce isn't wrong, either. Though it feels so good to crack this after so long, he mustn't let his drive to succeed become distorted; this isn't only about him. What they've done here could send a ripple through the native perception of all rifters foreseeably.]

[pathlit]

Culpability? These people probably thought they were under attack again! We need to show humility.

I’m sharing our location with the Commander. [ is a request for approval and a warning that he’s going to do it, regardless. ]

[grindset]

[He waves his hand about it: fine, share whatever.]

We're arguing the same point now. Just— don't look so guilty. And consider putting your shirt back on.

[wythersake]

[pathlit]

[ Jayce stops in his tracks and looks down at himself, then heaves a heavy sigh of irritability and sets his half-gathered notes down to retrieve his shirt. After a Where did I put it? and a I swear it was right here, he finds it strewn over the trunk in which their lyrium supply is stored.

👍 ]