Richard Dickerson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nonvenomous) wrote2034-10-19 09:51 am
nonvenomous) wrote2034-10-19 09:51 am
Inbox - Fade Rift
Book/crystal/correspondence/action/whatever you desire.
Book/crystal/correspondence/action/whatever you desire.
( in the sort of without preamble way of someone who has probably been reminded more than once to restart a conversation with the internal context of whatever she's been thinking to prompt it, )
Is it only you, from where you came?
( it's even odds whether she assumes her voice to be distinctive (it is) or has forgotten to keep track of whether or not she's recognizable over the crystals entirely. )
Is it only you, from where you came?
( it's even odds whether she assumes her voice to be distinctive (it is) or has forgotten to keep track of whether or not she's recognizable over the crystals entirely. )
[ The glow of the crystal catches him slouched over his desk with pen and paper, reading by the light of his lamp. He looks at it for a long moment. ]
No.
[ So far as he knows. Back to his notetaking. ]
Why do you ask?
No.
[ So far as he knows. Back to his notetaking. ]
Why do you ask?
Nosiness.
( she hasn't figured out a smooth way to ask him about his name that wouldn't lead to explaining why she knows about his name, there's also that. she's working on it. )
Something Jone and I were talking about, put me in mind if it were different to be alone from a place that distant, or alone from somewhere ordinary.
( ruminatively, ) Though I'm presuming you're glad not to be.
( probably she wouldn't be grateful for the presence of every single person she's known. )
( she hasn't figured out a smooth way to ask him about his name that wouldn't lead to explaining why she knows about his name, there's also that. she's working on it. )
Something Jone and I were talking about, put me in mind if it were different to be alone from a place that distant, or alone from somewhere ordinary.
( ruminatively, ) Though I'm presuming you're glad not to be.
( probably she wouldn't be grateful for the presence of every single person she's known. )
Do you have another mysterious prize to incentivize volunteers?
[ He doubts and doesn’t doubt. A prize doesn’t need to be worthwhile to be mysterious. And her husband has a way with hyperbole. ]
[ He doubts and doesn’t doubt. A prize doesn’t need to be worthwhile to be mysterious. And her husband has a way with hyperbole. ]
I suppose it would be too much to hope for that something might be willing to endanger themselves simply because it might benefit our studies or the war effort...
[Ha ha what a great joke.]
We might raise a pot for it. Although the average Rifters hardly has many expenses...
[Ha ha what a great joke.]
We might raise a pot for it. Although the average Rifters hardly has many expenses...
[ He could do it himself.
The thought corkscrews through a more private silence, weighed against the practical danger of burning one’s sanity at both ends. The amount of progress it could render pointless, very vague promises notwithstanding -- ]
The accursed weaponry the Provost provided for testing recently was popular.
The thought corkscrews through a more private silence, weighed against the practical danger of burning one’s sanity at both ends. The amount of progress it could render pointless, very vague promises notwithstanding -- ]
The accursed weaponry the Provost provided for testing recently was popular.
Would you risk death or madness for an enchanted shield?
—Well, I suppose my thought is really that it's a rather subjective question. Perhaps we should discuss it with Mister Stark and suggest it as we might any other dangerous mission. It's hardly as if Riftwatch is a business entirely without risk. Field work is just as likely to do damage
We could draw lots?
—Well, I suppose my thought is really that it's a rather subjective question. Perhaps we should discuss it with Mister Stark and suggest it as we might any other dangerous mission. It's hardly as if Riftwatch is a business entirely without risk. Field work is just as likely to do damage
We could draw lots?
I am already risking death and madness for nothing.
[ An important point of order, casually imparted. ]
Are you hoping he will use his station to make knowing the answer an imperative?
[ Shady. ]
[ An important point of order, casually imparted. ]
Are you hoping he will use his station to make knowing the answer an imperative?
[ Shady. ]
I would be dangerously angry if I was ordered to do this.
I believe it’s worse for those who arrive with others who then depart. The promise and hope genuine connection entails within an existential prison causes harm when it’s torn away.
[ Holden withdrawn in his quarters with a burnt hand and papers curling black in his hearth. Dick pauses in his writing, but only briefly. ]
We all know how unlikely it is that they will return.
[ Holden withdrawn in his quarters with a burnt hand and papers curling black in his hearth. Dick pauses in his writing, but only briefly. ]
We all know how unlikely it is that they will return.
( tsenka only knows two rifters; she'd tried holden as well, and got no answer.
tevinter would have been worse, if there'd been someone else there with her. not hope but leverage, in a less existential imprisonment. she grasps the point, regardless. thinks about that empty air over the crystal. )
Gone is usually gone in wartime.
( an agreement. )
The not always is a dangerous game, suppose.
tevinter would have been worse, if there'd been someone else there with her. not hope but leverage, in a less existential imprisonment. she grasps the point, regardless. thinks about that empty air over the crystal. )
Gone is usually gone in wartime.
( an agreement. )
The not always is a dangerous game, suppose.
[ Silence peels open between them. ]
The existing literature on lyrium indicates a crippling outcome is all but guaranteed.
The existing literature on lyrium indicates a crippling outcome is all but guaranteed.
[Somewhere, Wysteria makes a note in a little booklet. Just as smoothly, evidently untroubled by the effect of dire consequences on morale:]
Then perhaps we might begin with testing exposure to refined lyrium in the way that Templars use it. We have a number of them in Riftwatch—or people who once were Templars—, and might easily conduct a study to see if the effects and addictive qualities of refined lyrium on Rifters are consistent with those felt by a native Thedosian.
That might give us some further basis other than my arm on which to theorize the risk of raw lyrium exposure.
Then perhaps we might begin with testing exposure to refined lyrium in the way that Templars use it. We have a number of them in Riftwatch—or people who once were Templars—, and might easily conduct a study to see if the effects and addictive qualities of refined lyrium on Rifters are consistent with those felt by a native Thedosian.
That might give us some further basis other than my arm on which to theorize the risk of raw lyrium exposure.
...I think that’s a reasonable start.
[ By contrast. The toothed edge to his voice has eased without leaving entirely, trodden grass hesitant to reassume its shape. ]
And something I have been curious about besides.
[ By contrast. The toothed edge to his voice has eased without leaving entirely, trodden grass hesitant to reassume its shape. ]
And something I have been curious about besides.
Then we'll begin there. We can ask for volunteers at the same time we present the findings from the amputation.
I don't suppose you're well acquainted with any of the ex-Templars—or whatever it is they're calling themselves—currently among our company, are you?
I don't suppose you're well acquainted with any of the ex-Templars—or whatever it is they're calling themselves—currently among our company, are you?
I know that Ser Barrow is easily bullied. I’m not well-acquainted with the others.
[ He’s quiet long enough that the conversation might have ended there. ]
We are endearing and useful but understood to be temporary.
[ His notes have devolved into an untidy scribble, blacking out a space along one margin. ]
Like pets.
We are endearing and useful but understood to be temporary.
[ His notes have devolved into an untidy scribble, blacking out a space along one margin. ]
Like pets.
Some of us are more endearing than others.
[ He’s caught himself and shifted into carefully tearing this ink-blotted page from the binding of his journal. ]
[ He’s caught himself and shifted into carefully tearing this ink-blotted page from the binding of his journal. ]
Mm. [ Noncommittal, a non-sound, as he crumples the paper tight and slings it underhand into the hearth. ]
What other perspectives might I offer for you to dismiss?
What other perspectives might I offer for you to dismiss?
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