faderift | [Open] No boom today. Boom tomorrow.

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[Open] No boom today. Boom tomorrow.

WHO: Anders and anyone! Or, well, almost anyone. Sorry, Fenris and Cullen...
WHAT: Anders arrives at Skyhold, takes a new fake name, and tries to get a measure of the Inquisition while keeping a low profile. Starting in prose, but will switch to brackets to match if that's preferred!
WHEN: Mid-haring
WHERE: All over Skyhold, choose your location?
NOTES: Warning for Anders? I can't think of any real ones atm, I'll update if that changes.

He's tired, but that's nothing new. The road's been long. It shows in the way he leans a little on his staff, a fairly generic-looking thing that's far from his old appreciation of things flashy, just as it shows in the state of his rather ragged-looking robes and the scruff of a beard that he doesn't exactly like. At least he's not dead on his feet - the company of a few refugees more than willing to bear the brunt of conversation on the way up had made the last couple of days more bearable than usual.

Now he's here, and the strain is back on his shoulders. Skyhold holds more than the usual level of danger but there's no getting around the fact that he has to at least visit this place. The Inquisition is likely to be a player in the future of mages, and Anders will not see the little bit of progress made be undone out of fear, or laziness, or naivete, or any other number of things that could cut down freedom for his people.

But that doesn't mean he knows how to go about working toward that, just yet. And that means he's slowly going around the fortress, gathering information by listening and asking simple, short questions. They have to be short. The second-to-last thing he can afford is to slip up and let Justice get too accusatory, which could lead to the last thing he can afford - to be recognized by someone who would turn him over to the 'authorities,' such as they are.

"Have you been with the inquisition long?" is one of the most frequent questions, along with a follow up if the answer is yes: "Do you think they treat mages well here?" It's not like he's hiding the staff, after all. But there are more simple questions mixed in as well, questions about the need for herbalists or healers, about where one might find a warm enough corner to sleep in, or where one can lose what few coppers they have over a game of cards. They're general. Careful. They have to be. He's no longer ready to die.

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"Loyalists." There's an edge to his voice, one that has him taking a breath and trying to keep himself calm. How could they, though? How could anyone still speak in favor of being imprisoned by the Templars? Were they truly so afraid of themselves? Had they bought so deeply into the Chantry's teachings that they viewed themselves as curses and dangers?

"I don't understand how any mages can still be loyalists. Certainly there are dangers outside the Circle, but they're far more honest. A bear simply wants what it wants, there's no spite to it attacking. Templars, however..." Anders shakes his head. He can't even consider trying to speak to this Council. The risks are too high, especially if they're working with Templars. But this does mean that maybe he needs to be here despite the danger. There's no way they can allow Loyalists to be in charge.

A beat later a thought occurs to him, and he looks back at the Dalish. "As you're Dalish, is it safe to assume you're rather far from Loyalist?"

"'Never again shall we submit,'" she confirms, pausing her spinning to wind the ply around the spindle's crossed base. "I lied, I'm as loud as the Loyalists. They make fair points--problems have to be solved. Some of them really want to do the right thing. Others just think the right thing was being done for a thousand years and we should keep doing it. By their measure, I've never done the right thing, which is a bit odd. I've made it without being possessed thus far."

There's a flash of triumph in his expression at her first statement before it's gone again as he listens further. Anders isn't great at having any sort of straight face when gaming, but at least his frown can likely be taken as against the Loyalists and not any sort of commentary on possession. It's not as if he looks possessed, after all.

"They believe that being imprisoned for life and beaten on a whim, or made tranquil at someone's pleasure, or any other number of cruelties, are the right thing? They're fools." Not every circle was as bad as Kirkwall. He knows that. And there are ones that are far better than Kinloch, too, supposedly. But that doesn't change the fundamental imbalance that is Templars having power over mages.

"The biggest problem is the combination of fear and ignorance. Not a lack of Templars."

Pel frowns, finding herself oddly defensive about Vivienne in particular. Vivienne is no fool, and her experience is clearly not the same as...this man's experience. The frown turns a little less displeased and rather more sympathetic.

"You've had a rough time," she says quietly as she starts spinning again.

She's Dalish. Of course she wouldn't understand. They couldn't. No mage who hadn't been-- He manages to cut off the train of thought, but just barely. All the things he would have said out loud just a few years ago could too easily draw attention here, and if they were to help at all he needed to not be hauled off to the hangman's noose. Especially not on the very day he's arrived.

"I'd have had easier if I wasn't so particular. After all, with as much waking-by-kicking as Templars do, surely there are some mages who enjoy that. It can't all be out of spite." Despite his focused efforts to stay calm, there's still bitterness in his voice. "Smiting, too. If all mages were like me and didn't appreciate it, then certainly the Templars would stop. They're such kindly people. I must be the outlier."

"That's not what I said," Pel answers stiffly, frowning. "Not what I believe, either. All I said was you've had a rough time, and it seems I was right."

She certainly frowns a lot. Not like he's really one to notice, considering how often he frowns of late - with late being the last several years.

"You said something neutral and it's a little hard to know what someone means when they're that careful." Anders shrugs. "I've just arrived and I'm a little on edge."

He's always on edge. That's beside the point, in his opinion, but it's also something he needs to work on limiting if he's to be here for any length of time.

"It's rough out there and I've only just arrived. If you've a better topic, maybe more on the council, I'm all ears."

"I guess I understand." She settles back, slowly unwinding. "I don't know. We're a council. We argue about things and the apostates among us are accused of being untested. Sometimes things get done and sometimes they don't. Half the people think we go too far and the other half thinks we don't go far enough. There are drawbacks to ruling via committee vote, but there are worse things."

"There are certainly worse things." Like being ruled by an outside force, the Templars. "But thank you. It helps to have a picture of what I'm getting myself into by staying here and becoming involved."

Not like there's really much choice, at this point. With all they've seen, Justice and Anders are both inclined to stay.

"Do you think you're making progress?"

"I do. I think this is going to prove that mages can control themselves. Or it could, anyway. Elgar'nan knows they haven't done much of a job on that till now."

He raises an eyebrow as he looks at her, tilting his head.

"They've not had much of a chance on that until now. And most things that have been done, to the best of my knowledge, were because of that issue. You can't expect people who have had to fight for freedom to adjust instantly. You're a mage yourself. Hope... Especially in the Circles, hope was dangerous."

"Mages can't expect leniency in the public eye. To live the way they want, mages have to be completely above reproach. Otherwise it'll be mobs and pitchforks and you'll all start living as itinerant clans. Trust the elves on this one."

"Please. Like even living away from cities and trying to behave helps the elves or the Dalish." Anders shakes his head.

"We're people. Part of that is being fallible. We'll not be perfect, and trying to hold ourselves to some ridiculous standard means we're not living. We deserve freedom and choices, not more structure and limitations."

"...Living away from cities isn't a peace offering. It's a consequence. They hate us and they keep trying to kill us and there's no human order dedicated to the protection of elves. And you've got completely the wrong way of it. Freedom isn't a lack of structure and limitations, it's choosing the ones you follow. Writing the ones you follow."

"Except Templars don't protect mages. They're the source of most of the harm, and we should neither want nor need them. We can protect our own. Look after our own. And I'm not against structure and limitations, I'm against more."

He sighs, crossing his arms. "We cannot be expected to be beyond reproach. That is no life. The pressure... No. We cannot live like that. We are people. Those who lead us may well need to live like that, but they're choosing authority and so it's fair to put that on our shoulders. The rest of the mages must be treated like any other human, elf, Dalish, or qunari."

"You have pretty strange ideas of how elves are treated. But I don't mean as individuals, I mean as a whole. This Council has to be above reproach. We're going to pay for the recent possession for a long time, just like everyone's still paying for the Chantry in Kirkwall, or the fighting in the Hinterlands. People look at those things and they don't see the actions of a few madmen, they just see mages. All mages, everywhere. That's not going to change."

Everyone's still paying for the Chantry in Kirkwall? He'd object, but he's only just arrived. The mages here benefit from it. They're not in Circles, they don't have to look over their back for Templars... Anders shakes his head.

"So individuals don't need to be perfect, the Council does, and the whole does, but if a mage is imperfect, then it's all bad anyway?"

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[Open] No boom today. Boom tomorrow.

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