exsecutus | inbox.

From:

[Continuing, like she hasn't even said anything--]

And we wore disguises. There was a color theme. And there was a secret passage that required blood for access, because the Imperium fucking loves dramatics.

What exactly do you want to know, and why exactly do you want to know it?

From:

rathercommon

I want to know if the people there are doing all right. I know there was a lot of violence. So I want to know if the regular people, the common folk, how much of the damage they took. And the reasons I want to know it, I expect, are obvious, and the reason I'm asking you ought to be obvious, too.

From:

exsecutus

[His pause is careful, measured. Thinking.]

We were in the palace. Came in underground. Our flight was by boat. The upper class appears to be good at pretending or feel very little for the change in regime. Or else the guest list was very carefully chosen. Perhaps a little of all of it.

The mission was focused on the recovery of the Inquisition's members and keeping safe its secrets.

From:

rathercommon

[ A beat - ]

Wait, that bit about the party. You weren't just taking the piss?

From:

exsecutus

I would never.

From:

rathercommon

You would absolutely. Honestly, the both of you hide behind that monotone, but you secretly find yourselves hilarious, don't you.

From:

exsecutus

[Were they speaking in person, Kitty would be able to feel the drop in temperature that follows those words.

Both of you. Yourselves. Fucking family relations. His fucking brother.

Flat, and edged with a distinct frost,] I can only speak for myself.

[And also FUCK KOSTOS but anyways]

If you're interested in the fate of the common people of the Imperium, you're not likely to find your answers in the Inquisition's reports. It isn't a specific priority.

From:

rathercommon

[ ...whoa. Kitty bites her lip and avoids the urge to ask. (For now.) ]

Not asking the Inquisition, am I. I'm asking you.

From:

exsecutus

Contacts are difficult to keep in Tevinter. Especially now that fucking Corypheus has decided to park a dragon in Miranthus. What little I've heard suggests business is going largely as usual.

Which was, and is, its own type of shit. So.

From:

rathercommon

[ Oh. ]

I guess a slave revolt was a bit too much to hope for.

From:

exsecutus

[Nikos' laugh is sharp and sudden and brief. And not wholly amused.]

Are those easy to inspire, where you're from?

From:

rathercommon

[ She presses her lips together. ]

Slaves are imprisoned far more securely, where I'm from. So - no. But it's not impossible, either.

From:

exsecutus

How more securely?

From:

rathercommon

Banished to another realm when not being put to work.

From:

exsecutus

[Like it's not funny but it is so over the top that Nikos laughs, again.]

Holy shit.

From:

rathercommon

[ Fiercely: ]

It's not something to laugh about.

From:

exsecutus

Obviously I fucking know that, but it is very dramatic and over the top and wouldn't be out of place in Tevinter, probably, if they knew how the fuck to do it. In any of the noble circles, in any of the countries of Thedas. They'd do it to servants and employees paid wages, too, if they could get away with it.

From:

rathercommon

Well...

[ A little reluctantly - ]

It's spirits, that're kept as slaves. Spirits who are - well, like us, I suppose - with personalities and intellects and histories. Which is why they're able to banish them. And which is why they're hard to reach.

From:

exsecutus

[Whoa, what the fuck, dude.]

Then there are no human slaves, where you are from?

From:

rathercommon

[ Well. ]

That's...complicated. But technically no. Not in England, at least.

From:

exsecutus

Technically--

[s a r c a s t i c]

--Servitude is slavery dressed up, and sometimes paid a wage. Does that make it easier?

From:

rathercommon

[ She blows out a breath, annoyed at his sarcasm. ]

Given that I'm the one whose way of life has been economic slavery, rather than growing up a noble, yeah, I don't think you need to explain it to me. [ She shakes her head, then says: ] The law says, technically, that we're all free men and women, and equal in the law, all that. But only magicians are allowed to have certain jobs, and when you take a magician to court a judge always finds for them. And we're the ones who get pressed into the armies, and we're the ones who die in factories. So it's not slavery, but it's something close.

[ Then, for a moment she hesitates, then admits - for the first time outright here - ]

We were fighting against it, back home. There weren't many of us, but we were fighting.

From:

exsecutus

[With impotent but still intense rage, Nikos stares at his fucking crystal. Is she saying what he thinks she's saying? And if so, how does she know he grew up a noble? Fucking Kostos. Nikos scowls, and makes a mental note to kick him in the back of his stupid knees, next time he has the unfortunate cause to see him.]

Then you're familiar with the conditions I just said. [And, because she made him think of Kostos, he adds a petty:] Technically.

At least you're aware. At least you were fighting. Which is more than I can say for most.