Hot or Not

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa & Wysteria, walk-ins welcome
WHAT: Ranking the hotness of their coworkers
WHEN: Now, during mod-plot
WHERE: Orlais
NOTES: keepin' it light and spammy

[ Well, what else are ya supposed to do when scrubbing sigils off of walls? ]

I mean I guess he could be cute...if he changed his hair.

Comments

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa looks between these two prudes. ]

For clarification, are you saying that I'm coloring your reputations? Or just that they're being colored in general?

[ She's hardly the Face of Riftwatch, or acting like this as a Representative, or in actual public, where anyone other than peasants and farmers and others within Riftwatch can see. ]

[radicans]

[ Maud turns over her shoulder to glance at Wysteria's raised hand, then back to her scrubbing, hand clenched and flexed. ]

They are being colored. I'm just surprised it's not more of a concern.

[heirring]

[Wysteria dunks her brush into the bucket, flicks the excess water from its bristles, and finds a point at which to resume scrubbing.]

Unfortunately, I would estimate that a significant number of our members lack a certain sense of accountability for how the world sees us.

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa rolls her eyes, but refrains from saying anything further, considering her only dialogue option is: "Well, the Chantry hasn't shown much accountability for how the world sees elves or mages, either." ]

[radicans]

[ Maud continues scrubbing in silence, content in the knowledge that Wysteria is bound to say something. ]

[heirring]

[Bound indeed. As if compelled by the combined scrub-scrub tempo of their brushes:]

Though one can hardly put the entire blame on any particular individual - even one so obstinately disagreeable as Enchanter Averesch, or as determined to debase themselves as our Head of Diplomacy. This is the natural conclusion of Riftwatch having separated from the Inquisition, any good work being expected and any negative rumor twice as likely to take root given that everyone knows we fled at the first threat of association with the new Divine. No, I imagine that at this rate the whole organization would have to be redesigned. We would all have to become very mysterious like the Antivan Crows or the Wardens, or recruitment would have to involve some secret trial so as to glamorize the whole thing.

[she says, scrubbing a wall.]

[sulahnan]

[ Dipping her brush again: ]

Which would you rather, if it were up to you?

[radicans]

[ Maud glances to Wysteria as well, interested in this answer, or at least in being able to continue remaining silent for a few minutes more. ]

[heirring]

[Without hesitation:]

The former, I should think. We hardly have the luxury of being particular about our recruiting process.

[sulahnan]

And how would we become very mysterious? Pretend we have the means to do it, for the sake of the hypothetical.

[ That'll buy them some more time. ]

[heirring]

Oh. [Here, she scoffs. It's a practiced sound. The scrub brush is dunked into the water, shaken clean, and then reapplied to some spot scraped half clear of the sigil work.] I can hardly claim to be an expert on the subject of mystery.

However, were it me I might begin by first insisting we all have some greeting we all say to another. There is nothing quite like having a shared phrase to intrigue those around you unfamiliar with it. It is a matter of ritual, or of iconography - something which might be observed by others so that they might infer there is more to it than there actually is. The most respected secrets are those which people know exist.

[radicans]

[ Maud continues scrubbing, but somehow does it thoughtfully. ]

It would not make membership much more respectable, but it might make it less objectionable. No one wishes their child to become a Warden or marry a Crow, but they also don't believe they're such a wicked, dangerous influence. Of course, they have also had hundreds of years to get used to them.

[sulahnan]

[ Wysteria's idea of how to make Riftwatch more mysterious sounds an awful lot like turning it into a weird cult. ]

Hard to see the logic behind thinking a guild of assassins is less wicked than a group of people closing rifts and fighting demons.

[heirring]

Logic has nothing to do with it. [Scrub, scrub, scrub.] It is a matter of expectation.

[radicans]

The Crows and Wardens are familiar. People know and understand them.

[sulahnan]

So we're not expected or familiar enough, and not mysterious enough.

[heirring]

[With a curt, business like nod as if they have sorted anything at all:]

Just so.

[radicans]

Precisely. [ Maud seems to be on the same page as Wysteria.

But after a moment, in response to Athessa's obvious skepticism, she goes on. ]

The Wardens fight darkspawn. The Crows take contracts and protect Antiva. Both have a place in the world that everyone understands and a reputation that is the stuff of stories and legends. Neither can be said of Riftwatch.

[sulahnan]

Maybe we should start writing some stories, then.

[ What may not be as obvious as her skepticism alone is that Athessa is filing these ideas away, even if she doesn't think the methods Wysteria outlined are much good.

Maybe she can take these ideas and give them to someone who can actually do something with them. ]

We should take control of what's being said about us, instead of leaving it to — [ Tantervale prudes? ] — idle gossips who don't know anything.

[heirring]

Just so - so long as the stories are appropriately dashing and mysterious. We spend far too much time as an organization attempting to seem kind and genial and willing to work with anyone who requests anything at all for us; it makes us seem far to easy to trample over, and our reputation an easy target to disparage.