CRYSTALS | Open

[aestivation]

FORM: crystal
SENDER: ya boy
RECIPIENT: all of you
WHAT: is your sending crystal running you better go catch it
WHEN: vaguely Post-Island
WHERE: kirkwall
NOTES: i'm cool with transitioning this into a mini-log if anyone actually wants to go look!

A sending crystal is missing from the storerooms.

[ the inflection's shallow, and oddly-placed — as though someone speaking across a great, flat distance. ]

The assignment records were last updated three days ago; they don't account for its absence. I've completed a search of the Gallows towers, excluding restricted and residential areas.

[ not for lack of trying. no one spoke of privacy before the rebellion. ]

I’d ask your escort through these, or barring this, that you keep an eye open within any shared living quarters and workspaces. If you've information to contribute, please inform Casimir Lyov, in Research.

I am, [ a pause. ] distinctive.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

...Distinctive?

[rowancrowned]

Perhaps he has an Orlesian hat.

[justice_is_blond]

[There's a pause before Anders replies.]

Going by the sound of his voice, this is not actually a time for jokes.

[rowancrowned]

I do not understand.

Private

[justice_is_blond]

Have you seen the branded people? The ones burned who walk around with empty eyes and empty voices? They were mages, once, and deemed too stubborn, or willful, or fearful, or anything but perfectly biddable, and they were cut off. Cut off from magic, from feeling, from joy, from everything that made them who they were.

And it's not hyperbole or exaggeration. They had everything taken from them, and now they're used as labor about the place.

[rowancrowned]

The librarians in Skyhold. Yes, I have seen them.

[ he turns over the information, silent in gwenaelle's library. ]

Do you know him?

[justice_is_blond]

No. But I have lost some to the process, and they have suffered enough. What ones I am able I will protect.

[faithlikeaseed]

[...........he wasn't sure he'd be saying this to Anders about anything else, but:]

Thank you, serah.

[justice_is_blond]

[...This is twice in one evening they've agreed on something. The world might be ending.]

Of course.

private;

[faithlikeaseed]

[He isn't sure exactly why he's doing this or what he means to say so there's a long stretch of silence with ambient noise--bees, small rustlings of herbs--on the line--]

I expect I don't have to ask but be kind to him.

private;

[justice_is_blond]

He's Tranquil.

[For the thanks earlier, Anders chooses not to take offense at what implications he thinks could rest in Myrobalan's words.]

There is no mage who has not lost someone to that cruelty. I'm not about to make his life worse.

[unbrokenoath]

There's like. Ten million Orlesians skulking around here. I counted.

[ No, she didn't. ]

[aestivation]

Between seven and twenty-four, depending upon the day.

[unbrokenoath]

Do they all wear silly hats?

[aestivation]

[ he considers, ]

What qualifies as silly?

[ ??? ]

[unbrokenoath]

...Nevermind. Silly is pretty subjective, I guess.

[ And she's pretty sure a Tranquil (because she can hear other conversations, thanks) wouldn't be much good for determining silly hats on his own. ]

You aren't Orlesian and you haven't got an Orlesian hat so the topic is rendered moot, anyway.

[aestivation]

My hat is from the Marches.

[rowancrowned]

And you, yourself?

[aestivation]

Hasmal, after Nevarra. Some might tell you those are the same.

[ they'd have been wrong for some time now ]

You aren't Orlesian, [ by the sound of it. and his willingness to call out their hats. ] Where, then?

[rowancrowned]

No, I am not. I am Sindarin, but that means nothing here, so I am a Rifter. I am Thranduil, the head of Research.

[aestivation]

Yes. There are few Tranquil.

[ there'd been few at hasmal. there are few here —

there are few tranquil; wars aren't a time for serenity. but that often makes people uncomfortable. a moment, he remembers to add: ]

And few Nevarrans.

[ nailed it. ]

[justice_is_blond]

I'll escort you as you'd like.

[He's not going to let a Tranquil wander alone where they might be harmed.]<small?

[aestivation]

Your own rooms will be necessary, as well as those of any affiliated organizations or projects.

[ remembered courtesies, ]

Thank you.

[justice_is_blond]

[His voice goes slightly wry. It's not paranoia if you really are being watched constantly...]

I see. My rooms in particular because I've offered, or because you were directed to search my rooms? And either way, where do I find you for this?

[aestivation]

You've been issued a sending crystal, which grants you access to the storerooms.

[ if the inquisition grounds can be declared clear of any hidden stashes or misplaced crystals, the search may be turned elsewhere: to its members, and to the city beyond. ]

I'm currently within an alcove off the main library, where the prisoner often works.

[ not at the moment. he's been inspecting the chains on a rather different assignment (best to be efficient in these matters) ]