therookery | here comes the new boss, definitely not the same as the old boss

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here comes the new boss, definitely not the same as the old boss

FORM: Crystal.
SENDER: Petrana de Cedoux.
RECIPIENT: Everyone.
WHAT: New boss introduces herself.
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: division page!

Good evening - my name is Madame de Cedoux, ( she is not in the habit of giving out her first name, given the blithe tendency of so many to casually throw those around when they have them, ) and henceforth I shall be taking over as head of division for diplomacy from Mssr Trask. All affairs that were previously passing through him, I will now be overseeing; please speak with me if any matters are pressing. I am, as some of you may be aware, from beyond the rifts; I can only allow my work to speak for itself on my readiness for this position.

( She'd considered making this message for the division alone, but given the work - and the fact she's relatively sure at least one of her project leaders is seconded from another division - it's probably better to broadly introduce herself and narrow it down as necessary from there. )

At earliest convenience I would also like to speak with Mademoiselle Bonaventura and Mssr Elris. If I am not in my office, please contact me by crystal to arrange a meeting.

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[Vandelin has not, thus far, made much of a name for himself in his division. Suspecting from overheard complaints that Trask was not someone with whom he wanted to entangle himself, he's quietly been directing his focus toward Veil research and keeping his ear to the ground for a good opportunity to get his foot in the door with Baerendorf.

Perhaps it's his angling in that direction that's caught his new superior's attention. Or perhaps he's done something to merit reprimand, though for once he can't think of any trouble he's caused in recent memory.

In any case, if the new bosslady says she wants him in her office, he'll be there--but it can't hurt to ask.]

Madame de Cedoux. Enchanter Vandelin here. [It's not a correction, or at least it doesn't have the tone of one, but hey, now the title and its traditional nomenclature just happen to be out there.]

First of all, congratulations on the new position; it'll be a pleasure to work with you. Might I ask what this meeting concerns?

Your pardon, Enchanter.

( The Circles, they remain somewhat obscure. Already he makes himself useful! How convenient. )

I wish to discuss a position that I have been led to believe ( she's definitely been paying attention to who was positioning themselves where ) may suit you. If it's convenient, you might join me now?

[Ever the cynic, Vandelin wonders if this is the kind of position that nobody else wanted, or if it comes with undesirable strings attached. But he'd be a fool not to investigate, as much to maintain the goodwill of the division head as to pursue an opportunity that could well be a good one.]

Of course. I'll be right over.

[He has not specified a more exact timeframe for that, the better to cover for the fact that he doesn't quite know where to find her office, but all is well in the end, and he is eventually knocking on her door. He has never, to his knowledge, met a rifter before. This is exciting.]

( In the same high tower that houses the offices and personal quarters of the other division heads is where he finds her - it has the look of somewhere somewhat in motion, as Petrana is rather newly settling into the job and did not exactly bring a great deal with her in the first place, once Trask's personal minutiae had been cleared out. She is, for her part, not extremely remarkable upon first viewing; barring the anchor-shard marking her left hand, there's nothing that immediately screams alien.

Just a slight woman, neatly dressed with her hair pinned up; warm, if businesslike, and too welcoming for it to be a reprimand or a punishment. Could still be a trap. Probably isn't, though. She does not retreat behind the desk provided for her, but instead seats him and herself at a pair of chairs at a pleasant distance from the fireside. )

As you know, ( without preamble, ) I am not myself a native to Thedas. Nor is the young woman I anticipate I will be relying upon a great deal. In some respects, I am inclined to think of this as a boon that we offer; a shift in perspective. New eyes.

It would, however, not behoove me to become too overawed by my own contributions. ( Dryly. ) And I'd do well not to overlook the importance of having someone in my immediacy who is better acquainted with the things I am still, myself, grappling with. Mademoiselle Bonaventura will speak with my voice and my authority when it is necessary, as I trust her to do so wisely when called upon to; I wish to offer you a position directly adjacent to both.

( There is tea. She lays her hand against the pot, and a glyph-shape lights under her thumb, and steam rises gently. She smiles. )

A pair of rifters alone at the top of anything? I would be a poor diplomat indeed if I didn't see, as will others, where that image might be exploited.

[Vandelin does appreciate the power of appearances. He's always had to take something of a more roundabout path to access that power, because there's nothing to be done about what he outwardly, objectively is--a frail, pointy-eared slip of a man, who owns no other clothing but his mage robes and stands a bare two inches taller than the tiny woman in front of him. But there are other ways to project strength that one may or may not actually possess.

He sits, and watches the teapot boil at her touch. It's precisely the kind of thing that would have delighted his cousin, back when Myr could have actually seen it.]

It would raise some concerns about representation. [The College had had a way of raising similar issues in miniature, until the Chantry had thought it too dangerous even to let them keep play-acting at influencing their own lives. It's hard to wrap his mind, sometimes, around the idea that any of this is real or means anything. But if it doesn't, then what does?]

But I think having a native consultant would be enough to allay most of those. [Unless, of course...] Is Mademoiselle Bonaventura also a mage? I'm afraid I haven't met her.

She is not, no. She brings other skills to the table.

( So serene, as she pours tea into two cups; settle in, we might be a while as far as implications go. He will get better acquainted with the nature of Araceli's skills in time, and as Petrana judges what is appropriate to share and what is plausibly deniable at a later date if it needs to be. She has already a sense of what it will be to work with that young woman, and views it as extremely promising.

Vandelin Elris, also, struck her as extremely promising. Perhaps a little bit more of a project - it's the Circle and not his ears that make her think so, already lining up her thoughtful and measured arguments for why it's appropriate to scoop up someone whose view of Thedas was objectively limited when trying to present herself as less so - but promising. )

Both positions will require an amount of flexibility in duties and the carrying out thereof - most loosely, I expect her to be most useful to me in the field, and I will require someone here as well, at my side. In the event that you both accept these roles, you will share the office adjacent to mine and, when she is in it, ( wryly, ) become better acquainted.

I am not offering very glamorous work in the exciting business of saving the world, I am afraid. It is like all war; a good deal of hurry up and wait, and more wasted paper than anyone tells you before you begin. Much of it will be research, vetting, note-taking and triaging our priorities. I will expect you to give me your honest opinion, and I will expect you to understand the chain of command in the event that I do not share it.

( She holds out a cup to him; ) What I am offering you is a place in the room where such decisions are made.

[He takes the tea with a smile and no evident problem with staying as long as is necessary (though why would he, when she has so artfully arranged the menu, the venue, the seating?) There is some relief, just-perceptibly visible, when she confirms that Araceli isn't a mage. Whatever these carefully-unspecified skills of hers are, they must surely be less stigmatized or fraught with tension than magic. Three rifters in the office would be politically inadvisable; three mages would be unforgivable.

He has not brought up his own vastly limited experience with anything outside the confines of a Circle tower. Why create second thoughts where there are none? If she thinks him knowledgeable enough for the position, then he'll just smile, nod, accept, and do whatever he needs to do to become sufficiently knowledgeable after the fact. It had worked fine with the whole 'dating the first dwarf he's ever spoken more than a sentence to' thing, until it hadn't.

The work itself may not be glamorous, but having his own half of an office is the most luxury he's been afforded since the Circles fell, and he'll gladly take it. And he'll get to indulge his curiosity about another rifter into the bargain. But more importantly than anything, it's a place to start. That's all he needs.]

It is a shame you never got to see the College of Magi before the Chantry disbanded it. [But even among the Libertarians, there's nobody in Thedas who can wait, waste paper or conduct research like a Circle mage. For the first time since he left that Maker-forsaken tower, there's a chance that the skills he developed there might actually have an application to something still useful. It's more than he'd dared hope.]

If there's one thing I can do, Madame, it's give an opinion. I'd be honored to be a party to all of this.

I am most glad to hear it.

( She sips her tea first, cannot know whether or not the Circle he comes from was one where he might have learned that particular wariness that comes from growing up in the sort of viper's nest where it might not even mean anything as a gesture, not when one has antivenoms and antidotes at one's disposal-- but it is a habit, a particular kind of politeness. She had argued her case well to take this position; she has the experience required.

And it is that experience which prompts her to say, very smoothly, )

I understand that your position is particular, Enchanter. You will of course direct to me any who provide you with difficulty in carrying out your work for the Inquisition, and I will see that it is dealt with appropriately.

( She is so amiable, so matter of fact; there is no hint in her manner that he is being tested, that this is anything but exactly what it appears to be. She says, ) Personal feelings have no place in such work. We can hardly allow someone else's to interfere in yours.

( She sips her tea. There is no reason for her to indicate that he is already being assessed; no one else will give him such warning, either. )

[He looks up from his tea, maybe the slightest bit too sharply. The courtesy of her drinking first is entirely lost on him; if there was any Circle where the enchanters were in the habit of poisoning one another, it wasn't Hasmal--but what appears to be another outward courtesy on her part sticks sharp in his throat and makes him want to spit it back out at her.

Your new title doesn't entitle you to fight my battles for me, he wants to say, and what would you know about the kind of 'personal feelings' that would make anyone cause me trouble? and more than anything, sufficient to cover all the rest, I don't need help with that, thank you. He's spent his entire life on a leash, ostensibly just as much for his own protection as anyone else's, and he's not about to put the collar back on at a stranger's command.

But if there is any power Vandelin possesses, any strength he knows how to exercise, it's the ability to maintain an expression that would stonewall an entire Wicked Grace table even when seething with righteous indignation. He doesn't have to report any problems that might befall him. And she doesn't have to know he won't.]

Absolutely. It speaks well of you that you'd look out for us. Thank you.

Edited 2017-09-08 14:00 (UTC)

( For a few moments, she allows that to sit. She drinks her tea, she considers him - her small, neat smile is the slightest bit warmer. If he is making assumptions about why, when she finally speaks it is like to put paid to them: )

Calm, ( in a measured tone, assessing - the sort he has doubtless heard a hundred times in a very different context, from Circle mentors watching him master a new task. ) Courteous, and substantive enough an answer to be convincingly sincere without overdoing the thing.

I wouldn't have looked up so quickly, but there are those who will underestimate you, and in that way we might have some grace to smooth off the edges.

( She sips her tea. Smiles. Says, )

I can only apologise for the unkind method, but you must understand my reservations about your cloistered background-- which I see are unfounded.

( At this point she expects he's caught on, but finishes nevertheless-- ) I do not anticipate your requiring my assistance, but you will have my full support as your division head.

( Which is different. )

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here comes the new boss, definitely not the same as the old boss

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