[OPEN] So Much Is At Stake

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Character(s) Vivienne and OPEN
WHAT: Catchall leading up to Orlais happenings
WHEN: Beginning of the month up until Orlais event starts
WHERE: Skyhold (early) / Val Royeaux (one week before event start)
NOTES: Open to all. Val Royeaux segment is a shopping trip en route to Halamshiral (which is available for 'guests' to tag around with each other.) Prose or brackets is fine, I'll tag to match.

Early Solace
Courtyard
Even with whispers about ongoing strife in Orlais, little notes and letters finding Madame de Fer's hand confirming as much, she remains in Skyhold for the time being. Her business is much as it has been. No small part of her day is spent working with the younger mages present in the Fortress. With no Circle to provide these youngsters with solid training, they find themselves trouble in trying to alleviate their boredom. The best solution she's found is to take an active role in not only learning their names and personal quirks, but genuinely trying to seek out responsible mages to serve as mentors to guide them. Much of her time is spent finding suitable adults willing and able to work with their younger members.

Balcony
Not quite as many new mages are joining the Inquisition as there were in the early days. Those who do are often either Rifters, or rebels who didn't follow Fiona to Redcliffe, for good or ill. Regardless of affiliation, Vivienne attempts to stay apprised to the numbers of the magically gifted present in Skyhold. It's especially important that she does so now, as the recently appointed mage liaison. For her part, she tries to remain as available to find on her balcony as she may. When a new name is brought to her attention, an invitation is sent out to join her for tea where she holds court from her chaise lounge.

Anyone passing through the Main Hall of a late night might find her still awake upstairs and intent on an alchemy project.

Gardens
Any morning following a late night dabble with alchemy will find the Iron Lady strolling through the Skyhold Gardens. She examines the plants as she passes through, calm as always, though sometimes a thoughtful hum gives away her extra consideration of something she sees.

---

Val Royeaux
Convinced now that the Inquisition will be making a move into Orlais in short order, Vivienne's routine alters. She decides that a little detour en route for shopping is absolutely demanded. Nevermind that the capital is actually beyond where they will be traveling, or that it seems perhaps frivolous to be indulging in retail therapy when there are far more serious matters to attend to. She, of course, insists that if they are to deal with Orlesians, those agents should at the very least look presentable as such. No, plaidweave is unacceptable. Find something else. Shopping is happening. They've plenty of time to conclude their business and meet with the intended encampment at Halamshiral.

She doesn't travel to the capital alone, however. There are a number of people she's invited to join her for the excursion. Not all of them are particularly pleased to be present, but somehow the Iron Lady's gotten her way. Not that blackmail was involved in any way, that's far too cheap to someone who revels in playing the Game. However, her bullying victims might perhaps feel otherwise. She's arranged lodging for them all at Bastien's townhouse, though the Duke is not in residence at present. Playing hostess is quite fun for her, thus Vivienne will point out the best shops, the tastiest pastries, and of course the most ideal restaurants to see and be seen.

Her own personal shopping involves inspecting a golden pig, which she decides firmly against, browsing fabrics, pretty jewelry pieces, careful inspection of practically every bookseller she can locate, and much time inquiring with the local herbalists.

Comments

[madame_de_fer]

Vivienne's attention to the discussion at hand is far from passive. She listens, she observes. Noting every nuance, marking every word said and those unsaid as well. It's second nature to her as much as drawing breath.

But even so, a melodious laugh breaks out and then settles into an amused smile. "My dear, what the fraternities were depends wholly on how one chooses to see them. They're internal circle political groups, entirely voluntary, though they often drove the direction any one Circle would choose to conduct itself. Though like any political posturing, they could and did turn quite ridiculous. The Aequitarians and Lucrosians would inevitably become engaged in passive-aggressive bickering over the number of ballot boxes and the arrangements of voting cards before a vote. Left without someone to babysit them, Isolationists will seal themselves in some major chamber with ice walls in protest over some imagined slight by a Libertarian."

Frankly, Vivienne never saw a point in joining any of them and chose not to. She had far greater political ambitions than the petty wrangling within the Cirle's walls.

"You are quite right, however, about the very loud and exhausting objections to anything remotely from one of the Circles. Which of course is ridiculous, as it's stood for over a thousand years as a sanctuary in which mages can study and practice their craft in peace. Frankly, the Council is what the Circle has ever meant to be, though no one wishes to hear they are the same." Vivienne shrugs. People will dwell forever in their self-appointed blindness. "Though as you study, I would advise you not to bother with the opinions of anyone who has not actually lived within a Circle. Those opinions are not based on fact, nor experience, and therefore unreliable and ill-informed at best."

[foxsays]

As much effort as it takes to sip her tea, to not allow her jaw to clench, she listens. None of it is directed at her for a change. Vivienne is not talking down to the girl rising too high above her station that will make off with the silverware, and she is not forced to laugh as if the joke is the funniest thing she has heard, as they then go on to insult her, her mother, her father, all in the next breath. No, she can sit, she can listen, she can make note without reaching for the hand of one of the queensguard under the table when the words hurt worse than a knife. (A knife, after all, doesn't sit under your skin waiting for the days when you feel your very worst to come out and start flaying you again.)

Loathe to give ground, Adelaide had said. And the True Loyalists at Andoral's Reach that had voted against fighting had rallied under Vivienne. Loyalists she does not mention, so Araceli will.

"You make no mention of the Loyalists," she says when she sets her cup down, folding one knee over the other the way ladies do at home even though she is not in her skirts. "They are as much a part of the Fraternities as the rest, and I understand that there are still a great many of them who advocate a return to the Circle, or for the Mage Council to hew closer to the Circle than it does on many matters. Soldiers are the worst sort of gossips, though given who leads Skyhold's soldiers, that isn't very surprising that mages are among their favourite topics to talk about."

Or it is when Araceli gets them talking, but that is the talent of pretty girls with quick hands and quicker smiles. Soldiers have terribly honest faces compared to scouts who know that their lives might hang on how well they can lie.

Trying her best not to think of what Korrin might say to that (rude, loud, angry) or Ellana (she thinks it might be more akin to hurt with what she knows of how much the Dalish have lost) she does raise one eyebrow slightly. "Sanctuary is something rather different, where I am from," she says carefully same as she would say that the definition of 'serving' that the Circle uses for magic is the least useful of them all. But she does give a shake of her head and a smile, because she can agree on the last point; how much simpler would her life have been had others left her alone without wishing to attach their own expectations and petty narrow judgements to her? "If we were all so free of the opinions of those who were not a part of the private rules of our lives, how much better we might get on, alas, that is never the case. A thing must be listened to. Must be weighed and measured to see how much it is found wanting. But that is my father, the captain, slipping out."

On purpose. Because he did not teach her to go through the world blind and deaf to anything that might one day come in useful. Store your blessings in your holster, Araceli girl, before you speak one word of what you might do with them.

[madame_de_fer]

"I cannot say that I blame them." Them, Vivienne says, not we or us. While she has Loyalist leanings and they rallied under her, she still does not consider herself amongst their number. "For a great many Loyalists, the Circle has been a refuge, a source of education, and a safe shelter without fear of starving or abuse. Change is terribly difficult to weather under the best of circumstances, and these were hardly ideal. Having their entire life dashed from beneath their feet has crumbled their world and left them adrift. It is no surprise that many wish a return to what they have known. More than that, there are devout Andrastians among their number who find themselves forced into apostacy against their will or desire. One can hardly fault them for wishing to reaffirm their faith."

This is actually one of the sticking points for Vivienne on a personal level. That stupid vote made apostates of every mage in Thedas, even those who had no desire to break with the Chantry. A mockery of everything she's worked with and for her entire life. Selfish monsters, the lot of them. Not that she betrays one hint of her personal irritation with them, choosing to maintain an entirely conversational tone and pleasant expression.