[OPEN] Interview With A Mage

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa and you!
WHAT: Talking to Magefriends about Magic and Abominations
WHEN: August; Post-Abomination, Pre-Modplot
WHERE: Around the Gallows
NOTES: none yet

i. colin

It's one of the days that sees Athessa helping out in the apothecary, which means busy hands but a mind free to wander. She's separating the buds from dried, woody stems to place each into jars for their individual uses when she speaks:

"I've been thinking a lot about what happened..."

ii. kostos

This isn't a conversation that is going to happen organically. After reading through some esoteric writings on magic in the library, she gives up for a time and stalks off to find Kostos.

"Oi," she calls to him, jogging to catch up with him. "Got a minute?"

iii. isaac

[ Some late night crystal call when Athessa's eyes get tired of reading ]

Isaac, can I pick your brain a bit?

iv. derrica

[ They've had their fair share of difficult conversations of late, and this one bodes no different. The kicker, of course, is that it's far more personal to Derrica than it is to Athessa, so when the latter seeks out the former, she comes bearing gifts. Little spiced cookies and coffee over ice - does Derrica drink coffee? ]

It's not spice cake, but the flavor is pretty close.

v. wildcard/bring out your mage

[ either hmu on disco or plurk and i'll make a starter for you or wildcard me, whichever! ]

Comments

[sulahnan]

How did they teach you to resist demons?

[wythersake]

At great length. I needn't inquire why you're asking,

[ they're still scrubbing out scorch marks ]

But if you've a specific concern —

[sulahnan]

— is there really no way to stop an abomination without killing the mage? To reverse it or something?

[wythersake]

Jenny Lou asked me the same question.

[ kids these days, not raised to anticipate their own violent deaths. a breath in, ]

And the answer is that it doesn't matter. It is nothing short of miraculous that no one died at that man's hands.

[sulahnan]

It does matter!

[ everyone deserves to be a LITTLE optimistic don't they? ]

I wasn't there but I saw how much it affected Jenny Lou, and Matthias, and Derrica. And this time it was just a stranger. How do we stop this from happening with one of our own? How do we help them? How do we—

[wythersake]

Athessa.

[ quiet, calm. he's not about to talk over her if she keeps going; let it burn out.

(a moment to silence that hard little voice that whispers back: you're not one of ours.) ]

[sulahnan]

[ She stops and takes a breath. She's not one of theirs, but it doesn't feel like an issue all that far removed from her. What are Alienages but non-magical Circles for elves? ]

I just want to help.

[wythersake]

I know.

[ at a half-blackened table, isaac rolls his drink in tongue; longs for it to taste of more than ground roots. ]

I know that you're afraid. But Derrica and Matthias have lived with this, and they will continue to. You do them no favours by acting as though there is an urgency, that they will be the next to go; that it is only a matter of time.

[sulahnan]

I don't think I'm afraid so much as worried.

[ She is a little afraid, but most of that is displaced, as she more or less avoided the event. ]

Worried that more people will be only afraid without seeing the loss of life at the center of it, that they'll say "the Chantry was right" and double-down on that.

[ Another deep breath and a sigh. ]

I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do. If I even can do anything.

[wythersake]

So: Afraid. [ tiny metal clinks, a spoon on mug. ] That needn't be a dirty word.

Are you presently alone?

[sulahnan]

[ but being afraid feels like weakness ]

Yes.

[wythersake]

Good. [ he fishes out a chunk, ] I expect that you will hold what I tell you in confidence.

Riftwatch is a shade less than one-third mages — of them, few well-disposed to the Divine. This is not represented in our leadership.

[sulahnan]

This is...like what you were worried about when you asked whether you should move to scouting?

[ just to be sure she understands ]

[wythersake]

Yes and no.

[ a pause for monologue: ]

I do not anticipate any immediate changes within Riftwatch. [ if he did, he'd already be gone ] Mages are too great in number for those above us to believe that tightening restrictions would be particularly easy or useful.

What concerns me is — as you say — that doubling down. When we've next reason to bargain with the Chantry, what will they agree to? Will they care to send a mage at all?

[sulahnan]

[ she listens, and thinks, and frowns about it all. what the fuck can they do, then? ]

At a guess, not if they don't take us seriously. Have we ever had an upper hand in that kind of negotiation?

[wythersake]

[ we rankles — but it's counterproductive. stay on task. ]

When Riftwatch was still a piece of the Inquisition, there were a number of flashier efforts. It's significant that negotiations took place at all.

But we've no longer the numbers to force them, and their tactics have shifted. With their remaining templars committed to the March, it has become apparent that Chantry leadership favours a system of gradual rollbacks. Marriages here, property there — bit by bit, they have been able to renege upon agreements made without provoking outrage.

I understand why Riftwatch has not stated any public opposition: We don't have the strength to pressure them as we did within the Inquisition. We must prioritize what matters to us, as an organization.

The Division Heads have made apparent they do not consider mage affairs a priority.

[sulahnan]

[ she meant we as in riftwatch but she's oblivious to how he feels about her word choice so oh well, moving on ]

They're wrong if they think that. [ the if is her wanting to believe the best of their leadership, even if their inaction speaks to the contrary ]

[wythersake]

I'm inclined to agree.

[ but — he stops there, waits. he's just spit quite a lot of words at her. ]

[sulahnan]

[ welp. what can she say? not much that Isaac likely hasn't already thought of. ]

It can't be hopeless...

[ she's only just started thinking past tomorrow don't tell her that they're irreparably stuck with the status quo ]

[wythersake]

Nothing is hopeless. Restoring an Abomination — that would be a fine project. Perhaps in time, a useful one.

[ for something cleverer than rage, something with true goals. ]

But it won't put your troubles to rest. There are reasons to fear magic which cannot be wished away. You need understand them, and you need sit with that fear. To do otherwise hurts our cause.

[sulahnan]

Reasons like blood magic?

[ she's sat with the fear of it since last Harvestmere, since that maleficar took hold of her veins and wielded them like a marionettist to kill an already-dead man. then, just like now, she'd taken to reading about it to try and understand, try and find a way to shield against it — only to be told that it's impossible. ]

[wythersake]

Yes. Anywhere there is power, someone will look to abuse it.

[ that doesn't mean he's about to turn over nell or leander on principle. was gareth looking for power, or only grasping at straws? is it any kinder, to burn to death than bleed? ]

[sulahnan]

So after I sit with it — what then? Is it enough just to understand the danger, and still choose to lift up the good?

[wythersake]

If you like.

[ the angle of his cheek is not unsympathetic. ]

If it feels like a resolution. I'm certain there are many who find peace in that. [ and as many of them would raise the circles new. ] But you need first decide: What do you want?

[sulahnan]

I want...

[ What does she want? To help? To keep her friends safe? To make the world better? ]

I want the Chantry to stop using fear to make elves and mages less than people.