Cat Playdate!

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Anders, Reaper
WHAT: Reaper hasn't seen a cat in a while. This must be remedied
WHEN: Firstfall First
WHERE: Herb garden, gallows
NOTES: It's a cat.

Sometimes talking on the crystals leads to pleasant surprises, like this. Purrelden has been gently scooped up off the table where she knows she's not supposed to be and draped over his right shoulder as Anders heads down to the herb garden. She's content to start kneading his feathered capelet. That's all right. There's a reason the shoulders of his robes are padded, and this is it.

By the time he's reached the gardens she's a happy, purring pile of black and white on his shoulder, pleased with the tribute of dried fish snacks and headrubs.

"Hello?" It occurs to him that he's... not gotten the man's name either time they've spoken. He needs to work on his social skills. Or perhaps this will work out for the best because the guy won't be prepared to be nervous or angry around him.

Comments

[shotgunsakimbo]

Reaper currently hasn't been attempting to blend in, hands shoved into the pockets of his tactical hoodie, examining what herbs are still out in the garden. Just idly trying to identify things he recognizes, and guess at what they might be called here in the meantime.

He straightens, turning towards the voice and raising a hand to wave. "Hello."

Then he notices the cat on Anders shoulder and that gets a small smile, "Did you train her to sit there?"

[justice_is_blond]

Anders smiles at the question, nodding. "It took a little work, but she pretty quickly learned that she could get a lot more attention riding on my shoulder than left in my rooms."

He moves his arm, urging her to budge up a little as they get close, and in reply she extends her neck a little to sniff at the other man.

"I realized I'd been a little thoughtless the day and didn't actually introduce myself or get your name." The smile slips slightly before steadying back up. "I'm Anders." And now he gets to see if his reputation has preceded him.

[shotgunsakimbo]

"Don't worry about it, I was pretty thoughtless too. I'm Gabriel Reyes."

Reaper pulls a gloved hand out a pocket, lifting it up and moving slowly closer to let the cat sniff him without having to strain themselves. His focus is on the cat, but there is some open curiosity as he continues,

"I think I might have heard your name mentioned around. Still working on learning the history here."

[justice_is_blond]

Purrelden sniffs at the glove before relaxing and turning her head.

"She'll let you pet her now, if you'd like." It's the safest of topics and he likes to have that extra second before having to deal with the rest. "And... yes. I imagine you have. I'm... involved in the city's more recent history."

He takes a breath through his nose, settling the spike of nervousness that still came up whenever he had to discuss his past.

"Do you have questions? Gaps you need filled in? I can try my best."

[shotgunsakimbo]

"If you're alright with talking about it." It's not often enough that information comes from the source, and from what's been mentioned, Reaper's certainly interested enough in learning. Reaper moves to gently scritch Purrelden behind the ear, keeping his tone curious.

"The city was the start of the rebellion and war, right? I'm guessing the whole system didn't always work out well, otherwise there wouldn't have been a war. Circles to teach the mages, Templars as a safeguard, and the Chantry leading the whole thing."

[justice_is_blond]

He considers and tosses aside the notion of making a joke about not being in the right place if he couldn't talk about it. The flippancy would be dishonest, and he's not certain it would even go over well. There's tension in the attempt at a half-smile he gives Gabriel, as if to say it's fine.

"It rarely worked out well," Anders says quietly. "Abuse was rampant. Even the Circles that are still considered good there are plenty of mages who died of mistreatment and cruelty.And here especially it was bad. Mages were being made Tranquil for saying no to Templars, and then being taken advantage of like that. They were killed for the slightest suspicion of blood magic, for daring to talk back, for any infraction. The leader of the Templars here was steadily escalating through the seven years I spent in the city, and it was clear she was going to use the Rite of Annulment shortly." A short beat. "She was going to get legal permission to declare every mage in the Circle as too far lost to corruption and kill them all. The Templars under her were already speaking openly about her having sent for it, and considering Seekers, who were supposed to oversee Templars, had already come and decided there was nothing wrong..."

Anders spreads his hands wide. "I spent those seven years writing to anyone who might have the slightest authority to help, talking to those in the city who might care, getting the most at-risk out, and no one responded. No one was going to do anything."

He takes a breath, and his stance stiffens a little. "So desperate, knowing that if I did nothing several hundred would die, I went too far. Around a hundred died at my hands. The numbers are better, but I didn't have the right to do that. Not that knowing that now changes anything."

[shotgunsakimbo]

Reaper listens intently, because he wasn't sure just how to gauge the depth what had happened between the mages and templars without more information. Certainly can't get better information than the source.

He mulls over what to say for a few seconds keeping his tone even when he speaks, "I'm not a stranger to difficult choices, and my opinion is that of an outsider, I'd say you did what you could to salvage a horrible and deteriorating situation."

He stops petting Purreldan to shrug and wave a hand out to gesture at the whole situation. "Especially with the system having failed on so many levels, I'd wager something was going to bring it all to a head eventually." Watching out for these sorts of situations had been part of his job, years ago. He's probably not exactly comforting, but he's certainly not judging. "Just because you feel that you didn't have the right, doesn't mean that something shouldn't have been done."

[justice_is_blond]

"Something should have been done," he agrees with a sigh. "The Divine should have taken interest. The Seekers, when they visited, should have seen the abuses. There was one single Templar who saw what was going on and stood up and he died; the rest were either too cowardly or too far gone in their fun to take the stand they should have. The Grand Cleric also should have stepped in; she was supposed to be a balance there and she never was."

There had been, on the surface, so many checks and balances. But when mage lives mattered nothing at all, who would put in the effort?

"My people were expendable. We have been for Ages. Why worry about doing the right thing when another half-dozen will be born this week, and the week after that, and so on?"

He's a little bitter and it shows in his tone. Purrelden shifts around to bump him with her forehead and Anders looks down at her with a sigh before rubbing her chin.

"There's still no telling what's coming next. I'm trying to build something for mages so that we've options and freedom after Corypheus is defeated and a new Divine chosen, but there's plenty of public sentiment against us being free."

[shotgunsakimbo]

"Understandable with how long the Circles have been in place, and mages tucked away out of sight from most people. Sounds like an uphill battle." Reaper lets out a soft sigh, rubbing at the back of his neck. It's not difficult to start drawing parallels between mages and Omnics.

"There's a situation going on in my world, that's similar in the broad strokes. And only been going on for a few decades and still being struggled with." It's not difficult for him to imagine the outward ripples of what may have happened should the Rite have gone through, templars seeing just how far they'd be able to go.

"I'd say you stopped a bad situation from potentially turning worse. With an opportunity for change, and time to work on swaying public opinion."

[justice_is_blond]

He gives Gabriel a slightly surprised look.

"Few worlds ever seem to have something similar. Most get here and are shocked that a clash like ours could even have happened, that..." Anders shakes his head. "And the opinion that I stopped a bad situation is on the rare side as well. Though Rifters are more inclined to hear me out."

Now it's his turn to sigh. "Likely because they weren't raised thinking mages needed to be locked up. There's a life-long training there that makes much of the reform our world needs an uphill battle. But it's worth fighting and it's worth the work. I believe that with everything I am."