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[aestivation]

 
  

[  crystals, letters, private scenes  ]

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Sending Crystal

[gatheringstorm]

So, you're the runecrafting guy, right? Casimir? I have a question about rune alteration.

[aestivation]

Yes,

[ "runecrafting guy" is a new one, but no point to providing unspecified detail. it hardly matters what she calls him, and the context of the conversation is too much an unknown. ]

I'll help if I'm able. What is it?

[gatheringstorm]

We have cleansing runes for weapons; is it possible to make armor cleansing runes, to protect against red lyrium?

[aestivation]

They were originally applied architecturally, yes? I'd sooner consider the theory behind them before beginning, but I don't expect much difficulty.

[ it's blunt, if without malice: ]

I see less purpose in attaching them to weaponry. Could you describe your reasons for doing so? The effect in action?

[ he's never seen much of that, would prefer it remain so. ]

herian attempts friendship, it's awkward

[dashing]

Casimir, I hope this is not a bad time.

( This may be unnecessary, but it may not be. It may be essential.

She can't decide. )

I wanted to see if you are well - there has been a great deal of unrest and disorder, these past few days.

[aestivation]

I don't think I'm alone, [ hardly a guess when everyone's been quite vocal — ] In looking toward a return to calm.

[ flappable isn't in his vocabulary, but certainly, it all complicates matters. there's the shuffle of papers, of feet; the brisk pace of conversation in the hall beyond. ]

You're unaffected?

[ vandelin had spoken of mages. ]

[dashing]

I rather think not.

( Well, he sounds okay. Arguably, though, Tranquils don't really articulate if they aren't okay, and some would say that the very reality of sounding Tranquil means that he is inherently not okay. )

One very dear to me is sick, and a number of others of my acquaintance and who I consider friends. While I am... well, I am not without great concern. There have been other symptoms, but they are unrelated to the blue plague.

crystal.

[elegiaque]

Would it be intrusive if I had some—sorry, if I asked some questions about tranquility?

This is Lady Vauquelin.

( a beat; deciding. )

Gwenaëlle.

[aestivation]

Gwenaëlle.

[ not a wholly uncommon sight about the office (though he takes his leave before she arrives most afternoons ), and not an unwelcome voice now. there are always questions, of one breed or another. it's not an imposition, only —

— difficult, at times, to know what to say. a freed tongue knows little better the shape of certain words. she's been easier about it than most. ]

I'll answer what I'm able.

[elegiaque]

Thank you. I won't fuss over anything you can't, or choose not to.

( since he'd have been perfectly within his rights to say a flat no; it serves no purpose except satisfying her curiosity, which is a thing that even to her seems bottomless. )

And I'll take my own brilliant segue; what I'm most interested in, I suppose, is what it is you use to choose. How you prioritise, if emotion doesn't enter into the discussion with yourself?

[galvanising]

If your phylactery were here, what would you say should be done with it?

[ hello, old friend. how are you? how's life without feelings? is everyone treating you well? sorry for completely avoiding you for months on end ]

[aestivation]

[ it’s not strange that nell reappears so suddenly. people come and go. more often than not, they go. ]

I hadn’t considered. [ since the other month, at least. ] As I understand it, the Chantry would usually retain possession. To find me, if needed.

[ it took a different tone, once he'd the freedom to leave. ]

I don't know whether the Inquisition would look.

[galvanising]

What if it could be destroyed? [ She pauses, reconsiders his answer, and decides more specifics are necessary. ]

The Inquisition has a number of phylacteries in its possession now. I don't know if yours is among them or not, but for the sake of the hypothetical, say that it is. Do you care what happens to it? Do you see value in keeping it--either yourself, or the Inquisition? Would you object to its destruction on any particular grounds?

crystal.

[dashing]

Casimir, it's Herian. Is now a convenient time to speak?

[aestivation]

[ there's only one answer he's accustomed to giving, and it's peculiar to pause at it now. convenient?

glazed eyes skate the desk and — yes, likely, the rest of this can wait. he smudges at a dab of drying ink and reaches to answer. ]

Herian. What is it?

[dashing]

( Perhaps some small part of her hoped he’d not respond. A very small part. )

I thank you for your swift response.

I am— I have reason to believe myself a liability in my present state, and am considering pursuing Tranquility. I wished to... Inthought it wise to speak with you.

( Precisely why she couldn’t say. Of all people, perhaps he’s least likely to persuade her either way. )

surprise action.

[exequy]

Casimir.

[ Kostos would have preferred the crystals, or delegating this conversation, or literally anything else, but there's a limit even for him—so he's in the door to the office, late in the day, and doing what he usually does with awkward uncertainty, which is to translate it into awkward brusqueness.

Is this a bad time? He isn't going to ask. He gives the room enough of a look to confirm no one else is there and shuts the door behind him. ]

I need to know what was happening before you were made Tranquil. Chose it.

[ Whatever. ]

where are the balloons

[aestivation]

Kostos,

[ The room's as it ever is: Clean, tidily-cluttered. He replaces the logbook on its shelf, begins to smile — remembers that it's Kostos, and stops. The expression slides neatly off his face as though it had never begun.

What was happening? It was summer, there was news from Kirkwall, mice were harder to find. Disconnected chains of circumstance. ]

You wish to know why? Or how?

[ The trouble in speaking to people is so often in guessing what they mean to say. Kostos has never known what he means to say, so he says nothing at all, and this must matter if he's bothered to try now. ]

balloons are my phobia actually, that's really insensitive.

[exequy]

[ Unbalanced by the smile—there and gone, light glinting off a wave from a decade in the past—Kostos folds his arms, and unfolds them, and folds them instead behind his back, like he was told to do at fifteen to look less defensive and sullen. (Results are mixed.) It takes him that long to understand the question and decide, ]

Why.

[ How might be interesting, the way what is left of a spider beneath a shoe may be interesting. He can resist the urge to ask. ]

So we can prepare, so we can...

[ He shrugs, which might convey whatever instead of what he fully intends: so they can know what to expect of him, what to look for if he might be dangerous; so they can see if there's a way to help or at least not make it worse. Or so he personally can be furious about how unnecessary it ever was, at all, to do this. ]

Action, backdated

[thorndergod]

[He knows there's a Tranquil with a run workshop in the Gallows. It's talked about in whispers, and the... person... is even on the crystals sometime, but the very concept creeps Thor out. He doesn't like it. He doesn't want to think about it, doesn't want to acknowledge it as actually a thing. But he is here to learn, and as it is a thing the South does it's a part of his learning.

That doesn't mean he's hasty in coming in, though. Thor lingers at the doorway for several moments before finally mentally girding his loins and strolling in, trying to exude his usual confident swagger. It's a fairly convincing show that would fool most.]

I hear you do enchantments.

[His voice is too loud. He's off-balance. Thor holds up his hammer as an alibi and focuses on that, and not on the man with a brand on his forehead.]

I was considering seeing about getting this enchanted. I am... I am Thor, of House Asgard.

[Do you introduce yourself to a Tranquil? You wouldn't do someone's house slave, but Thor's already done it.]

[aestivation]

[ he smiles before looking up, by now a rote motion. even so, the length of his practice at it doesn't —

quite ease it into natural place. something about its unbroken nature, or the stillness of his eyes. he stands from the little workbench (sets old notes aside, the nature of binding) with hands clasped before him. ]

Casimir, [ formal as the introduction's been, there's little point in exchanging his own surname; no one here uses it. lyov is becoming much as any remnant of hasmal; distant, blurred for distance. a matter to remind itself only when called upon. ] I am a runesmith.

[ he confirms, motions to the hammer. ]

May I? [ there are other matters to discuss, of course. inquisition membership, and payment to be rendered otherwise — they can wait. ] Has it held lyrium before?

[thorndergod]

[It wants to touch his hammer while wearing that creepy not-quite smile and looking at him with dead eyes.

Thor does not run. But he is absolutely considering changing that in this moment.

After several seconds the desire to leave does not fade, but the reason he's down here doesn't change either. Thor awkwardly holds out the hammer.]

No. It is made with the same metal as my staff, so it functions similarly, but there are no enchantments or magical additions to it yet.

[Please don't let the empty former mage touch him. He doesn't want to know if the Tranquil's hands are icy and clammy like the dead, but he's already imagining that they are. This is a hard reminder of why Tevinter is so much better than the South. They claim to be enlightened, but they're fine with doing this to people.]

You have... [There's no point in asking personal questions here, but the silence is not comfortable.] ...You have enchanted many things?

[rathercommon]

Hullo. I was wondering if I could ask you about the election of the Divine. Some of the politics are a bit over my head. - This is Kitty, by the way.

[aestivation]

They're a bit over everyone's, [ not that the rest of the gallows agrees ] But I'll do my best.

[rathercommon]

Okay.

[ This message is 1/3 for her education, 2/3 because she wants to find out more about Casimir and what's gone on with him and what he's really like now, what it's like to be un-Tranquil. And politics is a good place to start, she fancies. Everyone gets furious over politics. ]

First, if I can ask - who are you supporting?