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

[liberalum]

Was there, in fact, an offer of tangible assistance in all of that, or were you mostly fishing for a private room? I'm afraid those are only available to the very beautiful or the very heroic. Both earns you a lockable door.

[degenere]

Is that so? What luck. Then I am owed four lockable doors, at the very least. With large locks and hinges, and a spyglass to see who is approaching. A bell to ring, one that plays a melody.

Jehan is owed three. See to it, please.

[liberalum]

I think you're greatly underestimating our standards of beauty and heroism. I'm here, ruining the averages on the upper end of the scale.

What the library primarily needs is books, rather than space. We have in our possession several rare titles, but our broader research needs rely on the cast offs of Orlesian gentlemen such as yourselves attempting to get into the Inquisition's good graces through token gestures. Token gestures I, inevitably, have to sort through and filter. If you wish to truly make a difference to our resources, perhaps you've friends who'd like to do better.

[degenere]

Monsieur, we are of Orlais. I assure you: I underestimate nothing of the sort.

But your words, they move me. I am sure they move Jehan as well. He has a softer heart than I. To think of such a library, not only small in space, but small in size as well. It is no wonder things have come to be the way that they are.

All the same, we did not bring very many books with us. The perils of-- travel, shall we say.