open ||

[degenere]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Val de Foncé (and with him, as always, is Jehan Mercier)
RECIPIENT: e v e r y o n e
WHAT: the scholars of Orlais have something to say.
WHEN: now, right now
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: aren't they charming.


Inquisition, we are confused.

[Melodious, Orlesian, flirtatious (somehow even in this most simple of sentences): these are three words one might use to describe the sound of Val's voice. It makes confused sound kind of fun, if a bit puzzling.]

My friend and I have come all this way to be an asset to you. And now we have arrived here, to your Skyhold, and we find so much to be in want. How have you all managed so far, with these conditions? I am a man used to the roughness of a camp, a life of travel. I love this life. You'll find no one loves it more than me. But a camp, that is one thing, and this? It is meant to be a city, of a sort. Yet there is no apartment for us. There is barely a work space, in your library--we have been, my friend and I. We have seen the conditions. There is barely a book there.

I am sorry for you, Inquisition.

[So sincere. A pause, in which he has pressed a hand to his chest, in a deep show of pity. And then, briskly, cheerfully:]

But we will not leave you there, in sorrow. The good news. You now have, among your numbers, me. An introduction: Valentine de Foncé, a master architect, among many other masteries, too numerous to name. If you ask sweetly, I'll tell you them all. If you ask very sweetly, I'll give demonstration. And for the Inquisition, I will offer my services, and my knowledge--and so, too, does my friend. If only so we can get a decent space in which we can do our work. And believe me: you want this. We have arrived to be your greatest blessing.

Now, tell me. With business sorted: what does anyone do for fun around here?

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Most of those in the atrium are just Chantry propaganda anyway, or they were last time I checked.

You do realize that most people here just pitch in without waiting for their asses to be kissed, right? If that's what you're expecting, be prepared for disappointment.

[degenere]

I won't presume to speak for my dear Jeannot, he is a man of his mysteries--but personally I do not go in for having my ass kissed. Other treatments can be discussed.

Is this really how an offer of help is greeted? I propose a better library. More spacious. Suitable apartments. There is a room here with a hole for a ceiling. A hole. I saw it, from above, when I climbed a tower to get the lay of the land.

[gatheringstorm]

Oh yeah, Commander Cullen's roof hole is infamous. But you're not the first one who's interested in fixing it, and I doubt you'll be the last.

And where are you going to get the resources for this project? There isn't an infinite amount of supplies and manpower to go about, unless you're bringing all that with you.

[degenere]

That would be someone else's to worry about. Someone whose specialty is the supplies, and the manpower. Do you know such a man?

[gatheringstorm]

That would be Threnn--no, wait, she was replaced after Haven. Now it's Eustace Morris. You can try to appeal to him, though I can't promise you'll get what you want.

[Sorry, Ser Morris. He's your problem now.]

[degenere]

The Inquisition really assigns Supplies and Manpower as a duty?

[gatheringstorm]

You know quartermasters are a thing, right? Or did they not teach you that where you're from?

[degenere]

Everything but, actually. We reached the point in our text which addressed such a position--and then my tutor set my book aflame.

Why is that, do you think?

[gatheringstorm]

Because your tutor was an idiot?

[degenere]

A complete and total idiot. On that, at least, we agree.

What's 'Haven'?

[gatheringstorm]

That was the previous home of the Inquisition. Before Corypheus and his huge-ass dragon and army invaded and laid waste to it.

[And yes, she sounds bitter but damn it, she has that right.]

[degenere]

Oh. I thought perhaps it might be another. I've never cared for that name--it's far too imprecise. Anything might be a haven.

[gatheringstorm]

I suppose, but mention that word here and it brings back very specific memories. It can't be helped, for those of us who were actually there at the time.

[degenere]

Then I propose we change the name.

[gatheringstorm]

...seriously?

[degenere]

Why not?

[apologist]

That is disappointing, [ mildly, still friendly, ] but endurable, I suppose.

What precisely qualifies a book as Chantry propaganda?

[gatheringstorm]

The history books that strive to paint the Chantry as always in the right, instead of admitting its warts. Especially when they dismiss elven sources or omit them entirely.

And no, I'm not an elf. But I still despise racism where I see it.

[With good reason, even though he can't see it at the moment.]

[apologist]

A largely lost and largely oral culture cannot have so many sources that most books omit them, surely.

Not to disagree with you about the warts. Perhaps a larger library could make room for more dissenting opinions, even if such a library belongs to something called the Inquisition.

[gatheringstorm]

A lot of those sources were omitted on purpose--part of those warts I was talking about.

You'd have a plenty of people supporting this notion of a larger library, if the resources can be spared, though. And one with a wider range of opinions would definitely be welcome. Dorian might cry tears of joy.

[apologist]

Is Dorian the archivist?

[gatheringstorm]

Unofficially, I guess? I know he was ranting about the sorting system earlier, but I don't think anyone assigned that to him so much as it's something he took on himself.

[apologist]

A man after my heart.

[ ... Until he turns out to be Tevinter, anyway. ]

And I do not mean to sound judgmental, myself. I am sure there is some difficulty in balancing the need for information against the need to convince the world that you are not dangerous heretics.

[gatheringstorm]

I'm sure he'll welcome a fellow archivist, if that's your inclination.

And that's the plan, at least. We're not heretics, we're just fond of surviving and would like to keep doing it. Hopefully others will have the same goal in mind.