open and closed.

[propulsion]

WHO: Marcus Rowntree, Valerius Hildebrand, Tony Stark, Loxley
WHAT: Some open starters, some closed starters. Hit me up in DMs or plurk if you want to do something!
WHEN: Cloudreach
WHERE: Location
NOTES: TBA

Comments

notifs betrayed me please forgive

[hornswoggle]

No, John is not shocked by a little light heresy.

But he is slow to respond, gathering his thoughts as they pass from the stables along the cobbled walk towards the Gallows itself.

"I understand," comes first, thoughtful rather than accusing. "And I won't pretend that in our waking hours I have not felt constricted by the unwillingness of others in our company to recognize that those of us among them with magic may want more from life than what the Chantry deigns to give us."

Here is where such a thought comes from, John means. From Byerly Rutyer and Thranduil quailing at the idea of crossing the Chantry, and Yseult's unending refusal to pursue any course that may leave even the most minor form of change in it's wake.

Some sickening prickle of unease accompanies all of this. To speak these things aloud, align himself in such a way, feels akin to driving a stake through his own body, pinning himself in a place he had never intended to inhabit.

"Do you believe your work here could someday bring about any of your hopes?"

To see mages living freely. To see the Chantry torn down. Either or.

flat circles

[luaithre]

That glance holds, watching Silver as he speaks, when the first thing he chooses to say is I understand, and the words that follow seem to reflect that. It'd be one thing to navigate the things Marcus has to say to avoid an argument about it, or make him feel threatened, and another to indicate a more true empathy.

Marcus absorbs this, accepts it, and watches where they're going. His eyes tick up to the looming shape of the Gallows, considering an answer.

The truth of it being, "I don't know," and leaving it there for a moment. Then, "This place, the Gallows, Kirkwall, has gone through its share of change. But where Kirkwall broke its bonds from the Imperium and its slave practices, the Gallows stood as a prison. You could wake up to the sounds of the ship bells in the bay, and even voices, if the wind carried them, of free citizens going about their day, and then through the other wall—"

Well, he needn't describe it. It isn't the object of his mentioning.

"Now it's something different again, different enough that I was willing to step foot here again. What the shape of the world will be, after Corypheus is fallen, I don't think will be decided by those who stood apart from his falling. But I heard there was a group of people who splintered away from the Inquisition, and therefore the Chantry, and it seemed like a good start."

[hornswoggle]

Marcus is outlining a familiar calculation.

It is not so far from the one John has made himself, or what he and Flint have circled, over and over. And it comes out to the same thing, more or less: that this is a group of people who stand apart, are not yoked by the Inquisition yet mean to do some sort of battle.

It is a start. What kind of end it meets will depend on what they make of it.

"I'd avoided coming this far south, before we realized we had such a need for allies."

A wry smile. Look what they had gotten them. Nascere, cracked apart, fallen into the sea.

"It was costly," is what John says instead. "And I am aware that there are those among us who are not so interested in what comes after Corypheus, because a return to what existed before him was comfortable for them and they would not see it too far altered."

Had life been comfortable for John, far in the north? Did it matter now if it were? The place he might have made a home is consumed by sea and spirits.

"But I believe I may as well make myself plain to you, after all we've shared. I would see Corypheus thrown down and defeated, yes, but I would also see the way paved for us to make a more hospitable place for ourselves in whatever comes after him."