There was an announcement the other day. An official one.

[His voice is quiet fury, and there's a thunk of a half-filled metal mug on a solid wood table.]

Inviting people to go join the Exalted March. On Tevinter. Not Corypheus, Tevinter. The people. And I want to be very, very, very, very, very, very, very clear. If you go to join that, do not come back. You are abandoning the actual fight to go slaughter my people in weak excuse for war, and I will have words with you if you return.

Go, go and slaughter, go revel in blood when Corypheus threatens us all, but remember: I know your names. I know your faces.

[ this is what happens when you're a half illiterate pirate refusing to improve your employable skills - you get the PR assignments. vane is about the worst person to count on to make this any kind of persuasive, but here we are.

there's a deep inhale, and an rough huff that masks nothing at all about his malcontent, before he kicks into it. ]

Announcements from your balding Sea Lord - Flint.

[ xoxo ]

There's work and not enough willing to take to it, or deep enough pockets to fund it.

The smaller crafts need hulls scrubbed clean, the Reaper will need careening and there's repairs and refitting she's been in want of since Cassus - Haring - whichever.

If anyone's of a mind to sweet talk some coin from local merchants, we'd be appreciative. Or pry the Gallow's pocket book from Salvio's fingers.

I'll be at the docks if you're willing to work.

[This is sent without a name attached but Myr's handwriting is recognizable. And improving.]

what's forgiveness mean to you?

The idea, not just the word,

what can't you forgive? what shouldn't anyone forgive? can you ever owe it to someone to forgive them?

if you believe: what does it mean to have divine forgiveness? how do you repent?

if you don't: who's forgiveness for? the person forgiving or the person forgiven?

Hello, my friends. And my total strangers.

[ Those are the only two options. Enemies are for other people. Unless someone considers anyone with an Orlesian accent—and not even a particularly noble one, from the vowels—to be an enemy. Or maybe anyone who sounds too pleasant on a Sunday morning. In that case: swords at dawn. ]

I was thinking about how many popular heroes have a sobriquet. The Black Fox, now the Black Hart. The Nightingale.

Now that I am saying them aloud, they are mostly animals.

Setting aside how arrogant it would be to give one to yourself. If you could choose a pretentious epithet for the history books, or one for your friends—

It does not have to be an animal.

[ Yes it does. ]

Spend too long in those ghosts, and you'd think every Rifter's home is nothing but violence and bloodshed.

[ So says the woman who lives in a gothic horror novel but whatever. She can't have that out, clearly. ]

To some matters, I am moving my room to one alone so I do not bother anyone else with any of my duties late at night. If you are looking to contact me anything, I will be there. [ Refugees don't get to sleep, so why should she? ]

Which, a house is not a home without at least some company. To that, if you're interested in a meal - I will be making enough for any company every Friday evening, at the evening bell. There will be no meat, but you will not go hungry otherwise - seems more than one of you could do with something other than just bread and salt. Consider it a break from the usual Inquisition fair, if nothing else. You need not know me particularly, and I only ask you arrive with clean hands, face and manners and be happy to accept my hospitality.

[ A pause, that said, what else. ] - and leave your shoes at the door. I don't want dirt from who knows where traipsed into my new rooms.

So - it's been a rather dreadful month. These wintry months, they're awful even under the best of circumstances - they're so horribly dark and cold, and that'll depress anyone. And with everything else going on...

[ Well. ]

So I thought it'd be worth taking a moment to remember what we're all keeping on for. Because we are keeping on, in spite of it - we're all still here, and still fighting, and when the time comes we'll risk our lives again. Everyone's got their own reasons for that - for staying determined, for staying brave - and so I thought it might be good to share.

I know not everyone's going to be comfortable saying their reasons out loud, so if you're not, I've put a page in that little magic book we got from Salvio where people can write down their reasons. You haven't got to sign your name or anything, if you don't want people knowing. Or you can say things out loud, here, over the crystals. [ If you're illiterate. No judgments.

In the book, Kitty has started a page entitled: I choose to continue on, because... ]

Hello, everyone. There have been several incidents now that have made it clear that there is a certain risk, in certain situations, of people openly possessing anchor shards. The least of which being that there are populations in Thedas that have a rather negative view of them.

The obvious solution is to simply wear gloves, but this method isn't guaranteed. It's chilly enough now, but it won't always be, and large groups of people all wearing gloves could become suspicious--particularly so if they all refuse to remove their gloves. Thus, we are going to need more methods to disguise the anchor shard that so many of our agents carry.

As this involves a large portion of the people in the Gallows, I thought that it would be prudent to pose this issue to everyone, so you can all offer your suggestions for possible solutions.

Additionally, I would like to ask for volunteers to test these methods on. [ She pauses for a moment, wondering if she needs to say it, then decides not to underestimate how paranoid some people can be. ] This will, as stated, be voluntary, and you will be made aware of what process is being tested, and what it will involve, and can back out at any point in time.

For instance, my first idea is to see if enough makeup can be applies to hide the shard, without making the hand look unnatural. If someone with an anchor shard would like to, I can arrange a meeting for us to test this.

All methods used and their results will, of course, be written down and filed for future reference.