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

[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.