Open: Nerva has feelings about Mages

[keeperofmagi]

WHO: Nerva and Open
WHAT: Nerva storms back into Skyhold following the Abomination
WHEN: Before / During the Mage Council meeting
WHERE: The Tavern
NOTES: Nerva is her own warning. Alcohol.

Before the Council meeting, Nerva was nothing but a ball of rage. She had not been in Skyhold when the Abomination struck - sent on a quick escort mission down to the crossroads - and had returned to the remnants of destruction and chaos. Destruction and chaos that should have been prevented. Destruction and chaos that she should have been there to prevent, not out gallivanting around the countryside.

Once the meeting itself started, Nerva had attended despite the fact that she had absolutely no vote in the outcome. She had no power, here - though that was not a difficult thing to reconcile. She'd had no power in the Circle, either - too vocal and distrustful to ever be promoted beyond being a mere grunt. She'd gotten used to the fact that she had no say in policy decisions.

Which was why she had to be as loud and as vocal as possible if she was going to influence the council's decisions at all. That she disagreed with the council existing at all was beside the point. It was reality, and she had to face it. But she didn't like it.

However - she didn't stay for the whole meeting. Once she had said her piece she left - fuming and white knuckled - and stalked straight for the tavern. She usually was careful about her alcohol intake, mostly because she disliked being out of control of herself, but today was a good day to drink until she could at least have a conversation without burning holes through someone just by looking at them. Her rage and grief - a grief old as time but torn open anew with astounding regularity - were almost physical presences around her, hunched over the bar and nursing the wine even as she looked at it in disgust.

Comments

[amygdalae]

The apology was surprising - as well as confusing - but Bruce managed to not let it show on his face. After all, it wasn't as if she was the direct cause of it, and nobody had been prepared for something like that to happen. There was no blame laid on her.

"Don't worry about it," he quickly waved her off, giving the best smile he could manage at the same time too so that she could be reassured. "Nobody knew it would happen. And I've seen the healers." Well, sort of. If healing oneself would be considered that.

[keeperofmagi]

"I knew it would happen," Nerva said, darkly, frowning though she let the matter drop. "It was inevitable, Bruce. I knew it the moment I arrived, and I did nothing. The Council--"

She cut herself off, snorting through her nose and turning her head sharply. "... Thousands of years, learning how to protect each other, and we throw it away in the name of 'freedom'. The freedom to become an Abomination is no freedom. All it does is put the rest of us in chains."

[amygdalae]

Ah--well. It was times like these where Bruce remembered why Templars were how they were, although it was no fault of their own. They had their reasons to believe what they believed, and it wasn't as if there wasn't a hint of truth in them.

"What's done is done," he returns, doing his best to sound as neutral as he could. "At least the threat was dealt with before the damage was too great. That's the important thing."

[keeperofmagi]

She nodded, heavily, glaring down at the ground. What was past was past.

"Yes. That is the important thing. And to ensure it never happens again. But that... apparently I am not to have any say in the matter." It was a bitter statement - she knew just how deaf the ears of the council were to her words.

[amygdalae]

The... council? Bruce frowned a little, as if confused, although really it wasn't that hard to guess what she meant, judging by her statement. "The mage council? What happened?" Most of his knowledge of the going ons of the council mostly came from Adelaide during their tea sessions, and so while he had a general idea of what happened, there was always going to be parts he didn't hear about.