Quarantine Time

[arlathvhen]

WHO: Beleth, Valentine, Kostos, Nell, Casimir, and Vandelin
WHAT: Time for a meeting with all the division leader assistants that are still left regarding a quarantine of all the blue people running around
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Scouting office
NOTES: No posting order, just like. Make sure everyone gets a chance to talk.

It's not too much work, to locate all of the assistants to the division leaders that are not yet blue and raving, and ask them to gather with herself and her own assistants in her office. Out of an irresistible instinct that every large arrangement of people requires you to provide some nourishment for them, she's got tea and water for whoever wants it, and has left a few plates of cookies around, along with dragging enough chairs for them all into the room. It's not a party, but it's only polite.

It's not until they're all gathered that it's really struck her, how the scouting division has as many people here as the others do altogether. Awkward. And strange, to be having this meeting without her coworkers present. Hopefully, this was the right move, and they would understand, when they recovered.

"Thank you for meeting with me, everyone," Beleth starts out, leaning against the front of her desk, hands clasped on her lap. "I know that we're all quite busy, but I assure you, it's for a good reason. The idea of a quarantine being instituted on those caught by the illness has been mentioned a few times, and I think that it's worth looking into. However, I don't feel comfortable making a decision this momentous on my own." The other leaders...would probably understand? Maybe. But at the least, they would all have a discussion about it, and hopefully understand the situation. But it'd be just a matter of time before people started talking about how that damn Dalish had taken the first opportunity to wrest more power from the Inquisition.

"So, I'd like to discuss it with the rest of you. Limits, exceptions, if we should do it at all. While it's true that so far, this sickness seems to only affect the Templars and Rifters, we have no idea what we're really dealing with, here. It's entirely possible that this won't last. It might be safer to keep them from exposing themselves to more people. There is also the fact that..."

She drifts off for a moment, tilting her head and glancing to the side. "...We are only just making progress with Kirkwall tolerating--more or less--the Rifters, and the Inquisition as a whole. And it is remarkably bad publicity to let them run around the city, blue as a berry and raving mad." That's not a very official way to put it. But whatever. She glances over at Kostos and Val, to assuage their opinions on whether its whatever or not, or maybe she's just being a big idiot.

Comments

[exequy]

Kostos—who is not blind to the meaning of Beleth’s glance, but is merciless, offering nothing in return but a slight upward tic of his eyebrows that roughly translates to why the fuck are you looking at me?—doesn’t look at Casimir until he’s stopped talking. It makes him less unfamiliar.

And maybe it’s not fair to use sarcasm around Tranquil, but on the other hand, maybe it is, and on an additional hand, maybe Kostos isn’t being sarcastic when he says, “We should present it to them that way.”

A bad idea, unless you’re judging solely by the taste of the irony, and then it’s a sort of salty-sweet idea.

[galvanising]

Nell casts a look at Kostos from where she's perched, not-quite sitting on the edge of a desk, but they're all Professionals here now, doing their Jobs, so it is a muted Look and she refrains from accompanying it with an elbow or an eye roll.

"Until we know for sure what it is and how to cure it, I think we have to quarantine," she says, unfolding one arm from across her chest to gesture as she speaks, "Can you imagine how bad it would be for the Inquisition's reputation if this spread and started some sort of Templar plague? Or if it turned out that it can spread more widely, it just takes longer?"

[misdirection_hex]

Van refrains from opining one way or the other about the original purpose of the Gallows or the history thereof, reasoning that if anyone does decide a counter-argument needs to be made in earnest, it'll probably be Nell and he can leave her to it.

But she doesn't, and she's right, and he spares Casimir a glance of acknowledgment as well as he answers. "I'm still not completely convinced it isn't spreading," he says. "I know of mages who've been falling ill too and getting steadily worse--what are the odds that it's completely coincidental? Their symptoms are different, but so are we from everyone who isn't a mage. And potential for contagion aside--" He considers his words a moment, setting his teacup aside because he hasn't been bothering with it anyway.

"I'm aware that this is getting into thorny territory, especially with those who are already going to have a problem with being confined to the Gallows, but we need to consider the ability of the affected to think of their own best interests right now. I think most of them are past the point where they can. They aren't themselves, and even if they don't thank us later for ensuring that as few outsiders as possible see them like this, the Scoutmaster is right--it still benefits us all for the Inquisition's sake if nobody else does."

[arlathvhen]

'We' Vandelin says, and Beleth glances around, only belatedly realizing that she and Valentine are the only ones who aren't mages here. Well, if anyone is going to start shouting about conspiracies, at least it won't be at her, probably. Maybe.

She shoots Kostos a withering look anyway, because he deserves it.

"It's possible the mage sickness isn't related, but--I don't want to risk letting a sickness out into Thedas on a whim. There will be more people unhappy about that than a few malcontents unhappy about getting stuck in the Gallows. Hopefully, they'll understand that this unpleasantness is unnecessary in the face of worse potentials." They probably won't understand, and they'll complain, and yell, and it'll be all her fault, but she can hope that they're more sensible than that. They won't be, but she can hope.

She stops glowering at Kostos and glances around, instead. "Are there any objections, questions, or comments that anyone wants to make regarding the quarantine, then?"

[degenere]

"The less emphasis that is placed upon personal sacrifice will be best. 'How annoyed I am, to be confined to a grim dour place such as these Gallows! But I will make the best of it, and so should all others.'" Val makes a noise of disgust. "I am annoyed. But I have also slept in worse confines, unhappily. We must be sure to make clear that this is for the good of the Inquisition. A banner more attractive to rally behind than any other."

Actually. A thought very clearly comes to Val in that moment, and he reaches for his book of notes, and begins casting about for something to write with. "We should commission more attractive banners. The ones that are about, they are very worn."