This is what you give me to work with, well honey, I've seen worse

[foolsmakeitcolder]

WHO: Recipients of the Matchmaker's Invitations
WHAT: Intrigue. Scandal. Outrage. Budding friendships. Mostly shenanigans.
WHEN: 5 Cloudreach 9:49, Sundown
WHERE: Various Locales
NOTES:

Find your location header below and post your starter. Your destiny will find you.



To each location in the Gallows, a basket is delivered: each will contain fresh-baked bread from the Gallows kitchens, a pot of honey butter and something to spread it with. For outside locations, there are always adjacent comfortable indoor areas to escape to; nobody's meant to stand outside in bad weather.

To the one encounter outside of the Gallows: guests will be informed upon being seated that the tab has two rounds of drinks paid for, or it can be used for the equivalent of bar food instead. Additional orders will start a new tab.

To all locations: a small assortment of cards labeled: "Icebreakers". Each card contains a question for one person to ask another, both serious and funny. Players are encouraged to make up their own. Think "What's something about you that I would never guess?" and "would you rather fight 50 duck-sized bears or one bear-sized duck?"

Your destiny awaits. The Matchmaker sends their regards.

Comments

The Library - West Wing

[foolsmakeitcolder]

[altusimperius]

Benedict has learned a thing or two in his years with Riftwatch, and he's not about to get publicly played for a fool.

But he does desperately want to see what this is about, which is why he saunters his way to the library's West Wing-- far ahead of the appointed time, so as to dodge any suspicion-- and proceeds to browse a row of scrolls there with a view of the meeting place in his periphery.
It's part of his duties as Byerly's assistant, you see. Maps and things. Very official.

ty for your patience

[wearyallalone]

Though they've not had much work in common, it is possible Benedict knows Vanya Orlov by reputation (reliable member of Forces, temporary seneschal, the ex-Templar who gave up lyrium a few months back). It is also possible that he doesn't. Either way, Vanya does not give the impression of a man especially likely to play a joke on anyone. If anything, the man in his 40s with a serious expression and a soldier's bearing looks more like the sort of man to need a joke explained to him.

He approaches the table directly and almost precisely on time. If he's nervous, it doesn't show, though there's a small expression of surprise at the basket on the table. When he sits, however, he doesn't immediately reach for the bread, instead picking up the small pile of cards and idly flipping through them while he waits.

no problemo!

[altusimperius]

It's fair to say Benedict knows who most people in Riftwatch are, even if he hasn't formally met them; it all comes with the territory of working for the Ambassador, having a roster of the organization's personnel accompanied by blurbs about them, which is how he at least knows that the man sitting before him was a Templar.

They're different in Tevinter, of course. But having had little occasion to interact with many after coming south, his caution is only magnified by Vanya's presence.
Perhaps he's just being paranoid. But paranoia suits mages around here.

He watches the man for definitely longer than is polite, and once having established that he is very much just sitting there looking at the cards, reveals himself by coming around the side of the bookshelf and clearing his throat.

"The... invitation," he says in his quiet, aloof way, watching Vanya from down his nose.

[wearyallalone]

Vanya, too, knows most people in Riftwatch at least to put a name to a face; perhaps the mages more than most, as he's mostly avoided them unless and until they made a first move.

Whatever he'd been expecting, this was not on the list. He's not entirely sure if he should stand; instead, he settles on gesturing at the chair across from him. "Me too," he says, frank. "For what it's worth, I didn't submit my own name, but it felt rude to ignore the invitation outright. I don't have to stay, if you don't wish me to."

He's aware that the discomfort may extend beyond awkwardness.

[altusimperius]

Glancing from Vanya's hand to the chair, Benedict balks; but he at least has the presence of mind to recognize that even an active Templar would be unlikely to do anything hostile in this setting, this far into Riftwatch's lifespan. And he hasn't done anything to merit hostility, besides.

"I didn't either," he sniffs, approaching cautiously, his manner reminiscent of a housecat scoping out an unfamiliar food.
"Do you know who did?" He rests his hand on the back of the chair, not sitting just yet.

[wearyallalone]

Vanya doesn't press the point, letting his hand rest on the table. "I don't. I don't even know if it was someone responding to the invitation in the Hangman's Papers or if the 'Matchmaker' put in names of their own. That said," he slides the cards toward Benedict, purposely slow enough to not seem like a lunge of any kind, "Whoever it is seems unusually worried about ducks."

The question on top of the stack is the one about the bear-sized duck vs. duck-sized bears.

"It certainly seems like an unorthodox way to bolster morale," he adds, not quite wry but a shade closer to it.

[altusimperius]

"Hm," Benedict grunts, finding it as decent an explanation as any, especially since this man hardly looks like the type to run any sort of elaborate ruse. He probably doesn't even leave his chamber in the morning without ironing his underclothes.

Finally taking a tentative seat, Benedict peers over at the card and furrows his brow.
"The duck-sized bears," he answers matter-of-factly, and leans back in the chair, draping one arm languidly over its back. "Give them a good kick and they'll be out of your hair."

[wearyallalone]

"Counterpoint," very mildly. "Ducks can bite, yes, but bears have claws and teeth, it'd be like being attacked by an entire pack of extremely feral cats. Fifty is a great deal." Better with armor than without, but still unpleasant in Vanya's opinion.

Benedict seems to have relaxed enough that Vanya doesn't feel it's out of order to reach for the bread. If they're going to be here anyway, just as well not to waste the snacks.

"Granted, I suppose it would depend; does the bear-sized duck have a bear's amount of aggression, and vice-versa?"

[altusimperius]

Benedict wrinkles his nose as he considers this argument.

"You're suggesting ducks can't be aggressive," he points out, glancing at the bread but not moving for it just yet, "I saw a duck eat a mouse once. I don't want to be smaller than a duck."

[wearyallalone]

A very slight pause. "I suppose I've just been lucky in my encounters with ducks," he says, very mildly.

Feeling that leaving it there would be a bit much, he adds, "Perhaps some of the other questions are less bizarre, I didn't look through many of them before you arrived."

[altusimperius]

The ducks of Tevinter are clearly a force to be reckoned with. Or, far more likely, the ducks of Kirkwall.

"Let's see." Matter-of-factly, Benedict reaches for the cards and flips one, wrinkling his brow at the question. "What is your guilty pleasure."

[wearyallalone]

Vanya pauses in buttering his bread. "Quite a leap," mildly, "I suppose useful in cases of immediate chemistry." He feels confident enough that the vibe is mutually not that as to avoid worrying about accidentally hurting Benedict's feelings. "Though even then, I confess I'm not entirely sure how to answer that."

[altusimperius]

"Easy," Benedict decides, sidestepping Vanya's hesitance, "smoking. I probably do it too much." And all that comes with it, but that's not for discussion with polite company.
"It doesn't have to be anything scandalous," he adds, with the barest hint of a smirk.

[wearyallalone]

Involuntarily, he thinks of the rifter who told him that smoking causes cancer; he opts not to mention that, as he doesn't even know for sure if it's true in Thedas. (Also, what are the odds of anyone in Riftwatch living that long, but that's pretty bleak for what's meant to be a morale-building exercise.)

Instead, he says, "I didn't assume it had to be scandalous, I just don't ... I don't have a lot of things in my life that I would say fit both categories." A small shrug. "Perhaps it's a failing."

[altusimperius]

"Really?"

Tilting his head slightly, eyes sparking dangerously with intrigue, Benedict watches Vanya. "There's nothing at all you do, that you should do less of?"

[wearyallalone]

There's a pause where it's clear he's weighing his answer. Finally: "...I quit the lyrium."

[altusimperius]

This merits a look of genuine surprise, and Benedict nestles his chin on folded hands, scrutinizing Vanya.

"If I'm not mistaken," he remarks, "that's sort of the thing that makes a Templar a Templar, isn't it?"

[wearyallalone]

"It depends on who you ask," is genuine enough. He adds, "I resigned from the Templars before I ever arrived at Riftwatch. Whether my describing myself as an ex-Templar was accurate in the period where I'd given up my affiliation but not the lyrium is a matter on which people can and have disagreed." It's even and calm. While it's hardly his favorite subject, he brought it up.

[altusimperius]

There's no hostility or even much wariness in Benedict's gaze, at least-- he watches him, taking in the explanation with a small, serious nod.

"Why'd you resign?"

The question is blunt, but not aggressive. It's something he's genuinely wondering, not a means to ferret out some ulterior motive.

[wearyallalone]

He's subtly surprised, though whether at the question or at the tone isn't clear. Still, he doesn't hesitate over the answer.

"I have had concerns about the gap between what the Order claimed to be and what its actions were since before the Mage-Templar war," he said, quietly. "When I joined the Inquisition, I thought ... I had once hoped that I could stay and work for reform, once Corypheus was defeated. It became clear to me, especially after the current Divine was elected, that reform of the sort I envisioned wasn't going to be possible any time soon. I couldn't be a part of that anymore, even to try to change it." He holds Benedict's gaze, not challenging but also not flinching away.

I lied in my earlier tag, he has Definitely had dealings with Templars and I just forgot bc I'm dumb

[altusimperius]

It's Benedict who breaks eye contact first, but in a thoughtful manner, taking a moment or two to digest Vanya's answer before he speaks again.

"We have Templars, in Tevinter," he says, and, suddenly seeming to become aware of the bread on the table, he takes a piece to start picking it apart with his fingers. "As far as I know, they're not like the ones anywhere else. They're Templar in name only, they haven't got any real power."
He slips a shred of the roll into his mouth, chewing before he speaks again.

"I think I've been in the South long enough to understand what reform would mean-- I've never been to a Circle, as they were before, but I've met my share of proper Templars, and I wouldn't say they seemed especially interested in changing the way things were done." The less said about that, the better.
"What would it mean?" he asks next, pulling at another morsel, "reform? In your mind."

it's all good

[wearyallalone]

He resists the urge to argue over whether those were proper Templars; the entire point of Vanya's trajectory up until now has been learning that he was in a minority in actually believing the rhetoric around the Order. Instead of lingering on that, he considers the question.

"I will not say that Neverra did not have its own problems," he said, finally. "But much of what I heard later of what went on in the Free Marches, Ferelden, even parts of Orlais ... I do not think I could have spent twenty years in some of those places and still sincerely believed that our duty was to protect mages, as much as anything else. But I did believe that, where I was. I could see ..." He pauses for a long moment.

Finally: "If the Divine election had gone differently, I had hoped fighting together under the Inquisition's flag could have left Templars and mages more likely to negotiate, after Corypheus was dealt with. Mages could have something more like self-governance, maybe, with Templars available to help protect those who prefer to withdraw from a world that mistrusts them, or small groups to help deal with abominations. I think now it was a naive hope, but I'd had a sheltered life until the Mage-Templar war. It was hard to let go of the idea that there was something worth salvaging."

[altusimperius]

At Nevarra having its own problems, Vanya receives a dismissive little wave of Benedict's hand-- yes, of course. Everywhere has problems. But he listens more or less politely to the rest of the explanation, eating the bread slowly and showing what appears to be genuine interest.

"Do you still believe in self-governance? For mages?"

[wearyallalone]

The brief pause is measured. "I think I have rather thoroughly relinquished any right to an opinion on the matter of what mages do next, under the circumstances." It's not impolite, but it's clear he is wary of of stepping wrong in a new way.