Not at all. You see, I thought this morning that we might soon sit together and have a brief conversation and had resolved to keep my eyes peeled for the next opportunity to do so. And so here we are.
[She glances past him in the vague direction of his original course as she speaks, studying this or that for a moment before her attention snaps fully back. Wysteria smiles.]
As she looks past him, Richard looks through her. Preemptively rearranging his plans with the grim fortitude of one who knows he doesn’t have a choice. ]
Of course, [he says. ] Why do you ask?
[ His zeroing back in upon the return of her full attention is that much more intent. ]
It is customary to inquire. Do you have a moment to discuss a matter for Project Felandaris? It is not strictly related to our work in Bierstagg, but there is some measure of overlap and I believe the subject in question would interest you.
[She searches his person as she chatters along, subtly looking for some trace of—]
He pulls in a breath so deep it strains at the buttons of his vest, and holds it, watching her search him for signs of Ribbon (he nods absently to the question of her health) while he reflects on how this might not have happened if he’d decided to spend another hour in bed. Bierstagg was very interesting. ]
I suppose, if it’s brief -- [ There are other conditions he should apply. He pauses to think on them. ]
[It takes just that slight pause for Wysteria to create a hook with her elbow about Richard's arm, and to begin sweeping him away back toward the edge of the courtyard.]
Marvelous. We will be only a moment, I assure you.
[There is a brazier here, likely left smoldering from the evening when it had been some touchstone for the changing of the Gallows' guard. But in this hour, it is merely the heart of a warm pocket on an otherwise very crisp autumn morning. She launches into it as she goes, lest he ptherwise find some reason to escape during the relocation.]
I have been thinking on us—Rifters, I mean. Not you and I, but on certain similarities we share both with one another and with the natives of Thedas. You recall, of course, Mr. Fitz's and I's survey and its findings related to the common theory of—planar, I believe was your description, realms not dissimilar to either the Fade or the Crossroads and so on.
Is it possible [—and here they have finally drawn in close to the brazier—] that the strange things we saw in Bierstagg are the result of a certain...compression, I suppose? Of those spaces. Prompted by the longevity of the open rift. As if the longer the rift remained open, the closer it drew other places to this one which caused the sort of distortions on record there.
His skepticism is palpable in the unconscious drag he creates for her progress across the yard, resistance so slight he doesn’t realize he’s dragging his heels. But that only takes a few meters for it to work itself out -- he yields to her momentum, particularly once he’s returned to awareness enough to clock the brazier ahead.
It’s warm. He shivers, paradoxically, once they’re in the wash of it, and looks down and aside to her, intent. Also, still hitched to her elbow. She has his attention. ]
...Why a compression and not simply a contamination?
Compression, contamination, however you would like to describe it.
[She makes a small gesture with her free hand.]
The point of my curiosity is whether prolonged thinning of the Veil makes it simpler to reach past the Fade into the places which exist beyond it. Or, if we are to be cynical and assume we are all of us are merely products of the Fade, to manifest the illusions of that place here in this world somehow. For if we arrived through Rifts, and if other things sometimes do as well, I am curious if the right circumstances would allow someone to... encourage the phenomena. Similar to how a necromancer might summon a wisp.
That sounds -- [ potentially deadly, like something Riftwatch would discourage, like a good way to get more giant tentacle eels with human eyeballs ] dangerous, [ he decides, diplomatically. Scientific theory dictates at least a dozen follow-up questions about variables, controls, safety protocols, etc etc etc.
Richard says more quietly, and with greater intent: ]
[Something spark of victory lights visibly in her face. She lowers her voice to match.]
Not as of yet. But I am, as you must know, one of the Seneschal's assistants and a great many inquiries come through the office there. Were a likely candidate be reported, it is very likely it might be one of the first to know.
We would need to do some work prior to direct experimentation in any case. I might suggest, for example, the consultation of one of those aforementioned necromancers. Enchanter Averesch. Or Master Pavus and Mistress Thenevet. Or perhaps even Speaker Fabria, although I admit he would be my last choice. For entirely diplomatic reasons, I assure you. I am confident he is a far more appealing individual than one or two of our alternatives, [KOSTOS] but as lead of the Haven project he might find being in possession - if you will pardon the pun - of the idea somewhat difficult.
[ He doesn’t have to look too deeply to see that she is serious about filtering through reports for Rifts to tamper with. The ambient wuah wuah wuah of her roster dims around his read. Time slows while he considers the extent of his duty as the mom friend in this plane.
All told he’s done very little work in that area since he arrived.
Wysteria could die. That would be upsetting. Mostly for other people but a little for him also. Distraction caught in his craw keeps his brow furrowed, and steers his eyeline to the brazier -- through the coals, into the earth on the far side of it. ]
Why is Averesch your first choice?
Edited (u kno what) Date: 2020-11-11 07:54 am (UTC)
[The speed at which she wrinkles her nose in distaste is impressively reflexive. She must not realize the extent to which her distaste show on her face, for Wysteria makes no effort to smooth it.]
More than anything? Because I am most familiar with his work. We were in the field together on some business in Orlais—
[She pauses so abruptly that a thought must have occurred to her, so invasive as to yank her attention from the task of disparaging Kostos Averesch—a feat indeed. But after a moment's lapse, she continues.]
And because he is so argumentative that I imagine he can be trusted to raise the right sort of objections to see that the thing is done properly.
Does he know either of us are capable of exerting influence over the Fade?
[ An important question, posed too hot on the heels of Wysteria’s distaste for him to be giving it much credence. Are their elbows still linked? He shrugs absently under the weight of her arm, adjusts the angle into something less formal. ]
We could approach it from a purely hypothetical angle of concern, [ he offers, after a beat spent steeped in deeper thought. ] Insinuate a belief that an unknown agent might be responsible for coaxing an increase in unusual phenomena from Rifts by engaging with and calling to them directly.
Reproducing a similar event under controlled conditions would prove it possible.
[ He looks back to her from the brazier with an arched brow, uncertain of the viability of his own bullshit. ]
Of course not. I gave you a most solemn oath, Mr. Dickerson. [--is her immediate response, mitigated almost immediately with--] Although I have sometimes been in his company and made mention, in a most indirect fashion, to certain instincts that I might or might not have. I doubt he has taken any notice whatsoever, however.
[Anyway. How closely Kostos Averesch may or may not being paying attention to her is, clearly, immaterial in Wysteria's opinion for she vaults smoothly to:]
That said, I agree entirely with your suggestion that we approach this in a purely hypothetical fashion. Let us be seen as overly cautious, and I suspect that any number of people within Riftwatch might indulge our... paranoia, let's say. If only due to an abundance of caution that such suspicions might escape the Gallows and reach the ears of the general populace or, Maker forbid, the Chantry.
Edited (I cannot be held responsible for this) Date: 2020-11-18 07:48 am (UTC)
[ She did give an oath -- Richard forgets himself in his acknowledgement, and opens his mouth to assure her, only to catch on the doubt of Averesch’s awareness, and further still in recognition that Wysteria -- inevitably -- has much more to say. ]
Is it paranoia? [ He waits to ask. ]
Individuals or entities deliberately exerting influence over Rifts is a more logical explanation than a random evolution of the phenomenon, and has less dire implications than widespread, worsening destabilization as an inevitable progression of the root cause never being resolved.
[ A doom spiral. ]
Personally I think it’s an appealing possibility. Manageable.
[She opens her mouth to respond immediately-- and then pauses, a rare look of genuine consideration passing over her face. She does not get quite so far as closing her mouth completely, but it's a shockingly near thing.]
I suppose I cannot say for certain. But certainly if that were the case we would have documented-- [She pauses again. How much does trust the continuity of Riftwatch's record keeping? She has been working in the Seneschal's office for a great deal of time, and there are
let us say generously
gaps.
Wysteria frowns. There is something troubling in the implication of that, a whole mountain of possibilities waiting to be unearthed. And then, briskly, she dismisses the lingering discomfort and steers solidly back on course.]
Well. It should suit for reasoning with the man in any case.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-11-02 06:49 am (UTC)Not at all. You see, I thought this morning that we might soon sit together and have a brief conversation and had resolved to keep my eyes peeled for the next opportunity to do so. And so here we are.
[She glances past him in the vague direction of his original course as she speaks, studying this or that for a moment before her attention snaps fully back. Wysteria smiles.]
Are you well?
no subject
Date: 2020-11-02 07:22 am (UTC)As she looks past him, Richard looks through her. Preemptively rearranging his plans with the grim fortitude of one who knows he doesn’t have a choice. ]
Of course, [he says. ] Why do you ask?
[ His zeroing back in upon the return of her full attention is that much more intent. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-11-02 07:38 am (UTC)[She searches his person as she chatters along, subtly looking for some trace of—]
I trust your messenger is faring well too.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-03 03:28 am (UTC)Calculated or no, it’s the right answer.
He pulls in a breath so deep it strains at the buttons of his vest, and holds it, watching her search him for signs of Ribbon (he nods absently to the question of her health) while he reflects on how this might not have happened if he’d decided to spend another hour in bed. Bierstagg was very interesting. ]
I suppose, if it’s brief -- [ There are other conditions he should apply. He pauses to think on them. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-11-03 03:41 pm (UTC)Marvelous. We will be only a moment, I assure you.
[There is a brazier here, likely left smoldering from the evening when it had been some touchstone for the changing of the Gallows' guard. But in this hour, it is merely the heart of a warm pocket on an otherwise very crisp autumn morning. She launches into it as she goes, lest he ptherwise find some reason to escape during the relocation.]
I have been thinking on us—Rifters, I mean. Not you and I, but on certain similarities we share both with one another and with the natives of Thedas. You recall, of course, Mr. Fitz's and I's survey and its findings related to the common theory of—planar, I believe was your description, realms not dissimilar to either the Fade or the Crossroads and so on.
Is it possible [—and here they have finally drawn in close to the brazier—] that the strange things we saw in Bierstagg are the result of a certain...compression, I suppose? Of those spaces. Prompted by the longevity of the open rift. As if the longer the rift remained open, the closer it drew other places to this one which caused the sort of distortions on record there.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-06 08:12 am (UTC)[ Brief.
His skepticism is palpable in the unconscious drag he creates for her progress across the yard, resistance so slight he doesn’t realize he’s dragging his heels. But that only takes a few meters for it to work itself out -- he yields to her momentum, particularly once he’s returned to awareness enough to clock the brazier ahead.
It’s warm. He shivers, paradoxically, once they’re in the wash of it, and looks down and aside to her, intent. Also, still hitched to her elbow. She has his attention. ]
...Why a compression and not simply a contamination?
[ What was he even fussing about before? ]
no subject
Date: 2020-11-08 07:23 am (UTC)[She makes a small gesture with her free hand.]
The point of my curiosity is whether prolonged thinning of the Veil makes it simpler to reach past the Fade into the places which exist beyond it. Or, if we are to be cynical and assume we are all of us are merely products of the Fade, to manifest the illusions of that place here in this world somehow. For if we arrived through Rifts, and if other things sometimes do as well, I am curious if the right circumstances would allow someone to... encourage the phenomena. Similar to how a necromancer might summon a wisp.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-10 07:12 am (UTC)Richard says more quietly, and with greater intent: ]
Do you have a Rift in mind?
no subject
Date: 2020-11-11 06:21 am (UTC)Not as of yet. But I am, as you must know, one of the Seneschal's assistants and a great many inquiries come through the office there. Were a likely candidate be reported, it is very likely it might be one of the first to know.
We would need to do some work prior to direct experimentation in any case. I might suggest, for example, the consultation of one of those aforementioned necromancers. Enchanter Averesch. Or Master Pavus and Mistress Thenevet. Or perhaps even Speaker Fabria, although I admit he would be my last choice. For entirely diplomatic reasons, I assure you. I am confident he is a far more appealing individual than one or two of our alternatives, [KOSTOS] but as lead of the Haven project he might find being in possession - if you will pardon the pun - of the idea somewhat difficult.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-11 07:43 am (UTC)All told he’s done very little work in that area since he arrived.
Wysteria could die. That would be upsetting. Mostly for other people but a little for him also. Distraction caught in his craw keeps his brow furrowed, and steers his eyeline to the brazier -- through the coals, into the earth on the far side of it. ]
Why is Averesch your first choice?
no subject
Date: 2020-11-11 03:37 pm (UTC)More than anything? Because I am most familiar with his work. We were in the field together on some business in Orlais—
[She pauses so abruptly that a thought must have occurred to her, so invasive as to yank her attention from the task of disparaging Kostos Averesch—a feat indeed. But after a moment's lapse, she continues.]
And because he is so argumentative that I imagine he can be trusted to raise the right sort of objections to see that the thing is done properly.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-13 08:54 pm (UTC)[ An important question, posed too hot on the heels of Wysteria’s distaste for him to be giving it much credence. Are their elbows still linked? He shrugs absently under the weight of her arm, adjusts the angle into something less formal. ]
We could approach it from a purely hypothetical angle of concern, [ he offers, after a beat spent steeped in deeper thought. ] Insinuate a belief that an unknown agent might be responsible for coaxing an increase in unusual phenomena from Rifts by engaging with and calling to them directly.
Reproducing a similar event under controlled conditions would prove it possible.
[ He looks back to her from the brazier with an arched brow, uncertain of the viability of his own bullshit. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-11-16 06:51 am (UTC)[Anyway. How closely Kostos Averesch may or may not being paying attention to her is, clearly, immaterial in Wysteria's opinion for she vaults smoothly to:]
That said, I agree entirely with your suggestion that we approach this in a purely hypothetical fashion. Let us be seen as overly cautious, and I suspect that any number of people within Riftwatch might indulge our... paranoia, let's say. If only due to an abundance of caution that such suspicions might escape the Gallows and reach the ears of the general populace or, Maker forbid, the Chantry.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-18 08:19 am (UTC)Is it paranoia? [ He waits to ask. ]
Individuals or entities deliberately exerting influence over Rifts is a more logical explanation than a random evolution of the phenomenon, and has less dire implications than widespread, worsening destabilization as an inevitable progression of the root cause never being resolved.
[ A doom spiral. ]
Personally I think it’s an appealing possibility. Manageable.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-28 09:39 am (UTC)I suppose I cannot say for certain. But certainly if that were the case we would have documented-- [She pauses again. How much does trust the continuity of Riftwatch's record keeping? She has been working in the Seneschal's office for a great deal of time, and there are
let us say generously
gaps.
Wysteria frowns. There is something troubling in the implication of that, a whole mountain of possibilities waiting to be unearthed. And then, briskly, she dismisses the lingering discomfort and steers solidly back on course.]
Well. It should suit for reasoning with the man in any case.