I'm Gonna Burn It All Down Today (Closed)

[overharrowed]

WHO: Julius and Petrana
WHAT: Julius stops lying to himself, maybe, and Petrana gets to say she told him so if she wants
WHEN: Shortly after the IC split announcement
WHERE: Petrana's room
NOTES: No warnings for now.

Julius had told himself that he would abide by the results of this vote, just as he would abide by the results of the Consensus. It's better, at least, than breaking apart in chaos, Kirkwall's outpost turning on itself. This was orderly. Democratic.

He still felt depressed, above and beyond what he'd expected. It represented a lot of work wasted, many opportunities lost, and he was not about to let his displeasure show to anyone, which meant a lot of extra work ahead to hide it.

Petrana, however, had long graduated past "anyone," for all they still had things they didn't talk about. He went to seek her out: not with a bottle of wine, this time, just himself and his restless dissatisfaction. He felt, sometimes, that he'd come to lean on her for comfort too quickly, especially when he was more or less certain she didn't come to him for the same. But the damage was done there. He'd enjoy her company as long as he could.

Comments

[ipseite]

Not all the means of dealing with—neutralizing—Lady Selwyn would oblige them to persuade her of anything, but it would certainly be useful to have her support, for all that Petrana is confident in her own ability to remove her from play if they cannot gain it. Moreover, for all that she is somewhat doubtful of the elder Selwyns collective worth under the circumstances, it has been quietly apparent that Julius's feelings on his mother are somewhat more mixed than the way that he regards his father.

She is not wholly persuaded it's merited when it seems very much as if the Lady Selwyn is simply more gifted than her husband, but it is not irrelevant. His question allows the matter to go, for now, untouched past that—

“Certainly, I see that it may not seem...my most natural fit.” Orlais. Orlais is her most natural fit; she would doubtless thrive there, has already cultivated connections that might secure her the patronage she would require to begin. She might parley her novelty, but she would have ease where other rifters might not in softening her own origins in memory. Orlais is a familiar melody with lyrics sung in a new language, that's all, but— “But I have, as you observe, given the matter some thought. I see a great deal of potential in Ferelden. And I am minded to support Queen Anora, if she should be so gracious as to give us the opportunity to do so.”

[overharrowed]

"Anora's been good for the country, generally, at least as much as one can tell from a distance. We could do much worse, for a place to try to make inroads." He pauses, studying her a moment, then adds: "For all that Ferelden has reason to chafe at anything that smells even faintly Orlesian... there's envy along with that resentment, especially in the upper classes. I can think of half a dozen ways to use the things about you that suggest Orlais without being Orlesian, which means I'm sure you've thought of 18 ways by now."

It isn't flattery if it's true.