exsecutus | inbox.

From:

[ That's less dismissive than she was expecting. Though it doesn't matter, because she doesn't care what he thinks. ]

Six, in the tomb. There were eleven in all, but we'd lost people over the years. So we six went down. And Anne and Fred and Stan and Mr Pennyfeather all died there.

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exsecutus

Which makes one you're not accounting for. That's four. With you, five. Where's the sixth?

[If it's not outright dismissal, it's accurate math.]

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rathercommon

[ Right. It's not accurate to say that everyone's dead, is it. But, well - ]

Nick turned and ran at the first sign of trouble.

[ Her voice is bitter and savagely judgmental, dripping with contempt. ]

If he could have pushed one of us down to get us between him and the afrit, he would have. And then, of course, the afrit kept coming after me - of course Nick got to escape unscathed. Absolutely typical.

[ Anyway. She lets out a breath, feeling a bit better for the opportunity to shit on Nick a bit. ]

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exsecutus

[Nikos' lip curls, contemptuously. Never mind that this Nick is likely of age with Kitty. Someone else would be more inclined to temper their judgement. Nikos was thinking of revolution at sixteen, and his resolve was ironclad. Everyone else is measured against Caspar, against himself, against everyone that sat around those tables and committed themselves, truly, to their cause. He has no time for cowardice, especially not in the face of a true test.]

I would find a new demon and fucking feed it that prick, [he says, flatly,] first chance you get.

[But.]

What would you do differently, if this were presented to you again. The same setting. The same components and people and circumstances. Don't mistake me. I am not holding your hand. I am not telling you that it would all be better. You might get fucked again. But you know, now, what happened last time. The wisdom of experience. [He's quoting his own father with that, though it's a common enough saying that it doesn't need to be attributed.] I call it a weapon. Better than any knife.

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rathercommon

[ no he was like mid-twenties and left a couple of kids and an old man to die, such a piece of shit

Kitty lets out a breath, feeling pleased by Nikos' viciousness. It makes her feel vicious, too, and rather vindicated. It eases a little bit of the tight feeling in her chest, so that she can answer truly: ]

Not that. What we were after, weapons - possessions - riches - It wasn't worth anything. We were just greedy and corrupt and pretending that we were righteous. I might do it again, if it were for something that mattered. Something that would really make a difference. I'd gladly risk death if it meant making real change.

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exsecutus

[Good answer.]

So would I. Every time. That is why I brought this to you.

By killing Agathe, we shake the blind faith enjoyed by the Chantry. We topple some of its power--a small part, [which he has to concede,] she's but one woman. The Chantry is a beast with many heads. But one head gone proves that the beast can be killed. And if we manage to implicate Benedetta's supporters, we might weaken the strength of another.

And we demonstrate, that in order to survive, the Chantry must learn to serve the people. To truly serve the people. All of the people of Thedas, even the rifters that have come to this land, not by choice of their own.

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rathercommon

[ Hesitantly: ]

How does this demonstrate that?

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exsecutus

People will easily believe that Benedetta's supporters organized this because the Chantry is full of this. You suggested that mine was not the only plot. I'm sure it is not. Like any system that purports to rule and control, the Chantry is subject to the poison of ambition, and greed, and gain.

A blow will expose this more plainly. People will see the Chantry for what it is. They will be given the opportunity to understand that the Chantry's power comes from nothing. That their power, the power of the people, is worth more, and carries more weight--and that the Chantry would do well to remember that.

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rathercommon

Then...

[ She gnaws a little on her lower lip. ]

What comes after?

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exsecutus

[Patience and fervor only carry him so far, which is to say: at last, Nikos sighs.]

What?

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rathercommon

She dies. Then what? What's our next move?

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exsecutus

Then Benedetta's supporters are implicated in her death. Benedetta's claim is weakened. The powers that operate the Chantry--the power-hungry, the conniving, those angling for position and status, ignorant of what the people need--their true nature is revealed.

[And, full of frustrated resignation, he has to admit:]

It is nothing that happens overnight.

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rathercommon

It seems like -

[ A breath. ]

It seems like this plan creates chaos. And it seems like we ought to have...a better way to make that chaos go our way.

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exsecutus

Chaos is necessary. The usual systems and governance has to be shaken for the people to find their opportunity. If the guiding hand of the Chantry is still in place, it will be relied on.

Encouragement, [and it sounds grudging, but he means it, it's not something he's good at, that's all,] will be needed. The right ideas given to the right people and the right actions to take next. But there has to be chaos. Right now, the people see the Chantry as a force that cannot be shaken, or questioned. We must shatter that. Peel back its face to show them that it is a fallible institution, made up of people and only people--and that they, the people--the larger body, disenfranchised, kept down--have just as much power within them. The force that can be wielded, if they can only see it.

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rathercommon

[ Hesitantly - ]

I see.

[ And she does. Reluctantly. But it...all makes a lot of sense. ]

If the Chantry came crumbling down - entirely - what would happen?

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exsecutus

I hope we'll find out.

[Which is not entirely useful, so--]

There will be space that will need to be occupied. And quickly. The world has mostly been known with the Chantry in it. There isn't precedent.

So if you have any clever ideas, you can implement them to your heart's content.

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rathercommon

It can't be the Inquisition, I think. We're not fit for that. Though - honestly, no one else in Thedas seems to be, either.

[ A little sigh. Anyway. ]

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exsecutus

No.

Because by all rights, it should be the people that find it. Taught to find it, and create it, and embrace what they create. If another system replaces the one that has been slain, it will be the same thing again. Over and over again.

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rathercommon

So who is there who's even outside the system? Who's not steeped in everything Thedas?

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exsecutus

[Shut up is the easy answer. And Nikos wants, badly, to give it, just to stop this. His idealism is bitterly veined. He looks down into his cup of wine, at the dregs down at the bottom.]

There must be people.

[--He says, eventually.]

Individuals. Not a whole. And people can be taught to see the system, and what it does. Education takes time, is the problem. And some might willfully refuse to see. Some might blind themselves on purpose.

From:

rathercommon

Then...

[ She pauses; then, when she speaks again, she sounds more certain. ]

Then we should start laying the groundwork now. We should start educating people now.