she planned ahead for a year, he said let's play it by ear

[elegiaque]

WHO: Gwenaëlle Vauquelin, Benevenuta Thevenet, and YOU.
WHAT: A catch-all.
WHEN: This month.
WHERE: Skyhold, Orlais.
NOTES: Hit me up on plurk (matriarchal) or discord (demis#8828) if you want a starter! Or feel free to pop something in yourself, ~wild cards~ I'll roll with it. This is just the ~ladies~ because I want to hold off on new Martel stuff until plot progresses. Also, starters in the comments because #aesthetic.

Comments

[universal_charm]

"That's the question, isn't it?" Kirk mused. "Some things the Inquisition should not be a part of - some problems need to be solved by the people themselves and the Inquisition doesn't have much right, morally or otherwise, to step in." Like the Orlesian civil war, for one, but he doesn't say that aloud. He has a feeling she is either Orlesian or sympathetic, given the tone of her materials, though he applauded her for trying to stay somewhat neutral.

"I think we could do with a better plan of how to handle the situations that it should. It all seems somewhat haphazard at the moment, with quite a few opinions clashing."

He wasn't in any of the inner circles, but he had been here for six months and he wasn't blind. Missions ran from left to right, some of which he was a part of, and they seemed to him, in hindsight, rather disjointed, and they had made little progress in what he saw as the root cause of much of the chaos - Corphyeus.

"Much of it would go easier, of course, if the other part of your document were followed - people learning to stop seeing racial, theological, and country lines."

[elegiaque]

"In a perfect world," she says, dryly. People would listen, minds would change, the people who should be taking care of their own problems would -

(Her accent, more than anything else, probably gives her away for Orlesian. She does not sound like a local.)

- but they don't live in that world, and as much as it annoys her, on a day to day basis she prefers to engage with the one that she does live in.

"The Inquisition doesn't have the luxury of picking and choosing what it ought to be doing. If Thedas were different. But Thedas isn't different. And if it doesn't all burn down, then it might be nice if it actually improved, afterwards, but letting it go to hell now won't solve anything."

[universal_charm]

"It isn't a luxury for the Inquisition to be choosing - it's a necessity. The Inquisition is large, but not big, and doesn't have a lot of political influence. Right now is the time for it to be choosing, very precisely, where it directs its resources. If it goes off trying to solve every problem it runs a number of risks, the least of which is spreading itself thin and getting entangled, in the long run, with issues it has no business being a part of."

It was a growing concern of his. So many people spread out, doing different things, and half the time it felt like no one was communicating with each other about these things. People might consider themselves part of the Inquisition (of which he did not consider himself), but most as far as he could see we're acting very much like individuals.

"A small group like this would be best be served going after the person lighting the fires, rather than stomping out every brushfire that pops up."

He waved his hand idly before rubbing at it, the bandages loose and shifting to show a flash of green on the back of his hand.

[elegiaque]

"That's an interesting perspective," she says, which would be more polite if it were less obvious that she meant nothing of the sort. "In what capacity do you serve the Inquisition?"

[universal_charm]

He is rather used to that tone. It was a constant through his life.

"I don't consider myself part of it," he said. "I've gone on some missions though, and I hear and listen about missions those who do serve the Inquisition have gone on. And I live here, for the moment, so I watch. But more than that, in my own world, I work for an organization much like what the Inquisition is trying to be and could be."

And heavens did Thedas need something like it - a neutral peace keeper, someone to bolster Thedas against threats that could hurt them all and be an outside, third party negotiator.

[elegiaque]

"'For the moment'," she repeats, though she'd already begun shifting as if to leave when he'd said I don't consider myself part of it; it's easy, she thinks, to critique what you've no true stake in.

His own world.

Ah.

Jim can probably see the precise moment where Gwenaëlle writes off taking any notice of his opinions.

"Well," she says, neatly, "it's been fascinating to speak with you. Excuse me."

[universal_charm]

"So you're not going to follow any of the advice and opinions you put forth in your paper?"

He stands where he is, not truly going after her, but his brow his raised as he watches her, wanting to see what she would do with that particular challenge. It wasn't hard to pick up on the attitude and body language changes when he dropped certain words, and he could not help the flash of irritation that welled up. It seemed to happen quite a bit around those who both took a title and leaned towards the Orelesian nationality.

[elegiaque]

Unlike many - if not most - of her peers, Gwenaëlle is no gifted player of the game, no deftly considered politician. Her irritation is a good deal more obvious than his, as is the fact it requires rather more effort on her part to rein it in and not snap back at him.

"I fail to see how wasting my time on arguing with you about the Inquisition's duty has anything to do with anything at all," she says, bluntly. "You are not a member and neither am I. It is very easy to criticise what is not your responsibility, and I don't believe that's at all productive. If you don't like it, do something useful with your time."

A shake of her head - "The Inquisition is hardly perfect, but it operates as it has to in difficult circumstances. That's the point of what I said. We don't live in a Thedas where the advisors here can assume that the traps Corypheus lays for them can be ignored and dealt with by those who ought to be dealing with them. If they leave something burning, they'll be made to regret it."

Particularly if it's Orlais. It would be hard to call her sympathetic, per se, when she'd be happiest to see both contenders for the crown strung up - Celene, in particular, can die slowly - but it's her home. It's everything she knows, and everything she's cared about for the relatively brief twenty-two years of her life, and it's infuriating to watch it self-destruct as a weapon for the enemy.

"We should live in that world. We should do everything we can to live in that world, and that's what the Inquisition is doing. That's what I believe. You should be more grateful you've a place here to critique it at all."

[universal_charm]

Kirk would hardly call himself a politician. A diplomat, maybe, but he had a bad habit, sometimes, of attempting to beat others over the head when he thought they were being foolish. Ego came with being a captain, though usually he had a grouchy doctor and a taciturn Vulcan to keep him in check (along with a handful of others).

"That's why I go on missions," he reasoned, not raising his voice, simply meeting her accusation. "It's about all I can really do." It was a hard admission. He was used to having more influence, more power, and it had been a hard adjustment to not being the voice with the last word on things, to just being another voice among many.

"And you mistake me. There are people here I wish to protect. That very much makes it my responsibility, regardless of if I am here for another day, or another ten years."

He tilted his head at her last comment though, pursing his lips slightly. Should he be grateful? He could argue that he had basically been scooped up by an Inquisition member when he was dumped here and led back to this place. Without resources or an understanding of this world, he really had no choice, and deep down he did not think that the Inquisition would simply let Rifters walk away - or at least certain members would not.

"I never said they weren't, only that the method might be flawed. I do have a right to my opinions, your ladyship, the same as yourself," he decided to ignore the last bit. It wasn't a fight worth having, though it gave him a little more insight into her mode of thought.

He sighed and turned away from the stone.

"I'll be on the lookout for your next paper," he said, waving over his shoulder as he walked away from her.