CLOSED | Far too many notes for my taste

[pinprick]

WHO: Teren and Nathaniel, plus Anders for fallout purposes
WHAT: Teren's mastery of passive aggression reaches a new height.
WHEN: Late Cloudreach
WHERE: Kirkwall - warehouse
NOTES: Hahahahahaha. Notes.

Nathaniel has set up a cramped little pseudo-office in the corner of his bedroom--some boards on a couple of empty barrels and a camp stool, but it works. He has a sign on the door saying messages and parcels directed to him may be left there during the day.

It starts off a fairly dull setup; not a great deal of mail comes to the Wardens besides desperate letters of relatives hoping to reach a loved one. Nathaniel passes them on or redirects them as seems appropriate, but then he starts getting other things. Business Teren has as the Warden liaison to the Inquisition, specifically. Letters, memos, notes. Since a new liaison hasn't been set up, Nathaniel forwards them to her.

They get returned. Nathaniel didn't even know you could return a return.

Well, fine, if it's going to be a run-around until things settle down here in Kirkwall, he decides he'll do some of Teren's job for her. All of them are recent--since the move to Kirkwall--so there aren't many, and they can't wait to be addressed. But more keep coming. There never seems to be a lad in the docks who knows they're to go anywhere but Nathaniel's office, no matter how many times he tries forwarding them.

Late in the month, the last of the ships with the Inquisition's people come in. Early the next morning, Nathaniel answers a knock on his door.

Two burly sailors barge in, slam a crate on his desk, and barge back out.

Nathaniel approaches the monster with some trepidation. Probably some of his things, shipped from Skyhold. Only he doesn't remember having that many things. Probably a mix-up then. He finds a bar and opens it.

It's full of every note, every requisition letter, every damned piece of paperwork that accumulated on the desk of one Teren Skraedder, quartermaster and Warden liaison to the Inquisition, since he demanded she step down as Senior Warden. To the day.

There is silence outside his office. The Hero of Purrelden has stopped scratching underneath the door to be let in, and is instead napping peacefully just outside it. The door slams open so hard it richochets off the wall, and the Cat goes from asleep to fleeing through the air with no time lapse whatsoever. Nathaniel stands in the doorway, seething.

"Terennnnnn!" he roars.

She's not there. No, she's not even in her tent by the docks. When he asks (much more quietly and with respect) several people if they've seen her, they point to the Gallows. Because of course she is going to make him get in a damned boat and get ferried to a damn island just to yell at her. And he's gonna do it.

Of course by the time he finds her on that stone island of despair and human sacrifice, he doesn't have another Terennnnnn! left in him. He has, however, brought a couple of young paid hirelings with him, and they set the crate on the tarpaulin she is repairing where it pools on the ground in front of her. And so, he crosses his arms and waits for her to be unable to pretend not to notice any longer.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

For several moments he's quiet, contemplating the warning. He could push... but the chance of getting anything other than her anger are slim. At least he's done something to raise Nate in Teren's estimation.

Anders rubs his temples before shaking his head. "Can you point out the workers to me, or describe them?" He'll just have to ask Nate to tell him the next time Teren baits Nate, see if there's a better way to deal with it than the honorable one that will get Nate frustrated and further stressed.

[doneisdone]

It's fortunate Anders keeps that to himself, as Teren might take issue with Nate's previous approach being referred to as in any way 'honorable', but she's no expert on the subject and, after all, is hardly claiming innocence.

She is, however, peeved about the involvement of the workers-- who were hired under the belief that they'd be paid, without the knowledge or consent of the person who was to pay them-- and narrows her eyes a bit when Anders asks after them.

"No," she says again, "if he wants his money back, he should come take it from them himself."

[justice_is_blond]

"If they didn't do the job, why should they have it?" That doesn't make any sense to him, honestly. "They took the coin and you said they never did the work for it. That's hardly a precedent we want to set here, paying for no results."

[doneisdone]

"A reasonable question," Teren agrees with a shrug of one shoulder, "but seeing as Nathaniel gave it to them freely, I believe that's his to consider."

She had paused her sewing, but she goes back to it. "I'm not in the business of setting precedents. I scarcely need to tell you that." It's not a dig at Anders, but, perhaps uncharacteristically, at herself. She said she didn't want him involved, that doesn't mean she's free of blame.

[justice_is_blond]

"I know you're not. All the same, we need... something. Some place the line is set and drawn. Selfishly, I'd like that set before everyone clues in to the fact that I'm here and some people come down to demand I be handed over or kicked out or whatever they're feeling at that moment."

There's safety in things being certain. In the Wardens not being known from the start as people who just give.

"I'll be safer if our particular branch of the Wardens isn't known as a group of pushovers. ...Or their leaders being known as pushovers either." He hadn't come down here with that particular thought, but now it's there. Anders holds up his hands. "I'm not trying to reopen the topic, simply saying that there is benefit to people having an idea of what to expect from the Wardens here."

[doneisdone]

Though Teren has relented the tiniest bit, and is allowing Anders to state his case without shutting him down, she still doesn't appear terribly receptive.
She waits until he's finished speaking, then asks, somewhat bluntly, "is that all?" She'll reserve an actual response for Nathaniel, if he indeed decides to not be a pushover.

[justice_is_blond]

He sighs.

"Yes. That's all." He hadn't accomplished anything, really, but it's... not the rarest outcome for him, truth be told. At least he's tried to help Nate out, to support his husband like he's been supported. That's one thing in this favor.

Anders gets up and gives her a nod. There's no goodbye, she's pretty clearly done with him taking up her time and he'll move on his way.