open | full circle pt 1

[exequy]

WHO: Concerned mages/rifters/others
WHAT: An emergency meeting!
WHEN: Solace 20
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Explanation in the OOC post. Please tag this like a network post. There are top-level comments to provide a little chronology/structure, but threadjack to your heart's content.

Before and during dinner on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday, there's a chain of whispers (or notes, or perfectly audible comments from the particularly unsubtle) about an emergency meeting, at an evening hour, in a basement room, regarding a matter of concern to rifters and mages.

The basement part is probably unnecessary. It's certainly ineffective; the organization is too small, the Gallows too contained, and the halls too echoey for something arranged with this much finesse-wrecking haste to truly remain a secret. They could have done it in an empty office or the recreational dining hall, probably, and sat on chairs instead of storage crates. But Kostos picked the location, and he's dramatic. If nothing else it signals a clear intention to do this as unofficially as necessary.

Anyone who accepts the invitation (or just decides to come see what the fuss is about) will first encounter Marcus Rowntree, posted up outside the door like a bouncer, letting mages and rifters move through undisturbed but stepping in to question and likely bar the arrival of anyone else. Inside, Kostos is nothing but a dark scowl in the room's far corner, picking at a splinter of wood on a crate and not mustering a word of greeting for anyone who comes in. Derrica has parked herself within arm's reach of Kostos, a long gold-edged shawl spilling over one shoulder. Her diplomacy pin gleams from the front of her tunic. The worried pinch to her brow is the only outward sign of anxiety; otherwise, she is tightly contained, watching people enter. Julius–notably not in robes–is serious but calm as people come in, standing next to the ever-composed Madame de Cedoux.

Once as many people have arrived as seem likely to, Marcus closes the door, remaining beside it, and they explain what the problem is.

Comments

[altusimperius]

[Cool Points, how little he knew ye.

With slight reservation,]

Yes.

[inkindled]

[He makes a quiet little derisive snort, and folds his arms over his chest.]

Why?

[altusimperius]

[Noting that snort, Bene resists the urge to snort back.]

He’s good to me. [usually] He gave me a second chance after I fucked everything up.

[He looks down, shrugging one shoulder.]

And I just… do. [Like him, that is.]

[inkindled]

Mm.

[More acknowledging than agreeing. Matthias looks out across the room now, briefly turning his attention to the conversations going on out there.]

Probably doesn't like you all that much, though. Does he. Not you-you, like personally. But generally.

[altusimperius]

[It's an unexpectedly cruel thing to throw out there, and Benedict's snort arrives, delayed.]

Why would you say that?

[inkindled]

'Cos he doesn't like mages, does he. [Matter-of-fact.] Thinks we're liable to go off like kegs of black powder at any moment. And you're a mage, yeah, so--generally, he can't really like you.

[altusimperius]

He's afraid of them.

[Many people are. Bene shrugs one shoulder.]

It's more complicated than that. He knows I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, magical or otherwise. [A beat.]

...I've promised.

[inkindled]

So he's not afraid of you any longer? Because you promised?

[altusimperius]

I trust him not to use me as a political meat shield, and he trusts me not to hex him when I'm irritated. We're adults, it's not that hard.

[inkindled]

Yeah? Brilliant.

So he'd fight to keep you out of a Circle?

[altusimperius]

[A thoughtful pause. His and Byerly's conversation wasn't a pleasant one, but the takeaway could have been worse.]

...he considers us part of Riftwatch. He would fight to keep us here.

[inkindled]

He wouldn't. [Flat disagreement, matter-of-fact.] Up to a point, maybe. But if it really came to it, he wouldn't have our backs.

Maybe he'd help you. But there's more than just you. You're down here with us, aren't you? So there's a part of you that knows that. And if that's true, then you can't pretend there's a point where he'd not back you, no matter what he says.

[altusimperius]

[My loyalty is to Riftwatch, Benedict wants to say, but he can't make the words leave his mouth just now. Matthias is right, after all, in that he'll be as screwed as the rest of them if mages are forced into Circles again. Byerly is only one man, powerful only within their organization.]

What do you want me to say, [he sighs at last,] that I'll turn my back on Riftwatch if it stops directly benefiting mages? That's not how it works.

[inkindled]

No? They need us. Why shouldn't we leave if they aren't willing to stick their necks out for us? We're doing it for them.

[altusimperius]

We need them too. ['or at least, some of us do', goes unspoken]

[inkindled]

[Equally unspoken, but definitely implied, is Matthias' Really?]

Not if they won't back us when things get tough. We don't need anyone that won't give us support--proper support--when it matters.

[altusimperius]

But we don't know for certain that they won't. Do we?

[He gives his head a little shake.]

Otherwise, why be here at all? Why stay?

[inkindled]

'Cos of Corypheus, of course. I'm not stupid. I know that's important. But that doesn't mean we ought to stop thinking of what's next for us. Obviously the Chantry and the Loyalists aren't stopping thinking of it.

We ought to know who we can trust, before it gets to the point where we've got to be asking.

[altusimperius]

Maybe I already do.

[But what can he really know? He's a foreigner, just eking out his best life in the South.]

I think you're being fatalistic. There's time to wait and see without running off all half-cocked.