exsilium | here's a drama there's a drama and another little drama [video]

[Sonya appears on the screen without her usual preambles or cheerful introductions. Her manner is very, very controlled. The casual Bronx vowels that occasionally creep into her speech are gone. The profanities are gone. Every once in a while, she glances down; this is a prepared statement.]

Earlier today, Jesse Pinkman snuck into one of the prisoner cells under false pretenses. He’d been friends with one of the mutineers before all of this happened, so he claimed to merely want to visit.

While he was in there, he mutilated this prisoner in spirit and soul. He ripped from her her ability, her inborn gift, to cast spells. He tore away from her something as vital to her as eyesight or touch might be for you. And did he did this to defend someone? To stop an attack or a threatened attack? No: he did it to punish her. To make her suffer. And then he said to her that this is how things are running now.

So. Who out there among you smiled when you heard this story? Who among you nodded and thought to yourselves: Yes, that sounds like justice? The girl was trembling, exhausted, defenseless, locked up, unable to even raise a hand against him, let alone fight back. And he stalked in, and towered over her, and he ripped her soul apart and he claimed he had the right. Because a few days ago, this girl did something stupid. Because this girl fought for the wrong side, for boneheaded reasons. So how many of you, even those who hate this mutiny, are thinking, Yeah, go, Jesse Pinkman, you did the right thing?

These people are prisoners. These people are paying for what they did. They made stupid, stupid choices out of desperation. There’s no question of that. And they’re going to pay for being stupid. But nothing in what they did was cruel. They did their best to avoid hurting us. And can you really say, truly, that you can’t comprehend their motives? Can any of you truly claim that you have not thought that you could run things better if only you had more of a say? You stayed your hands; you were smarter and more level-headed than the rebels. But how can you really, truly hate them?

How can you hate them enough to stand over them, and whisper to them that they deserve it as you put their eyes out one by one? Because that’s what Jesse Pinkman did - just in his own way, in his way that kept him from getting his hands dirty. And now, even though he has the ability to undo what he’s done, he refuses. He refuses, because his sadistic revenge is worth far more to him than his freedom, and so it’s certainly worth more than what is right.

So here’s my question for all of you. How many of you think that torturing unarmed prisoners is right? There are plenty of soldiers out there amongst you, certainly, so you know about this. When you capture a P.O.W., do you make them suffer for your pleasure?

And how many of you would claim to be fighting on the side of justice and order, but then when it looks like those you were fighting against might not be punished to the extend that pleases you, turn around and undermine that justice and order you used as your pretext?

How many of you would do what Jesse Pinkman did? How many of you would see unarmed people hurt? Or killed?

How many of you would let your hatred overrule your kindness and mercy?

How many of you have forgotten honor?

I don’t think any of you have. I think all of you are decent. I think none of you, no matter how angry you might be at the rebels, would go in and torture them. I think none of you would interfere with how our provisional organization is dealing with them. And I think none of you would stand for this evil deed, this torture Pinkman has subjected the girl to and continues to subject her to.

[And there's something in Sonya that rebels at allowing this small allowance for kindness, because this is a lie; she hates Pinkman, has hated him, and she wants to rip him apart. But that'll get her nowhere, and as ever, it's business before personal feelings. So her lips twitch very slightly before she goes on, but she still goes on as before.]

And I knew Pinkman a few months ago: I don’t think, if he were anything less than crazy from everything he’s gone through, that Pinkman would, either. He's a good kid. Bakes cookies. You all know him as well as I do. This isn't him.

So let’s put some pressure on him. He can undo what he’s done. So all of you who were close to Pinkman before his mental state began to deteriorate, before he turned into the sort of person who would do this, contact him. Tell him that this is monstrous and cruel. Tell him it’s disappointing. If there is any kernel of goodness left in him, he’ll respond when you tell him this will not stand. When you tell him to do the right thing.

I beg of you. As you would intervene if he could return her sight, or her hearing, but refused, intervene now. Help me get him to restore her. Help me talk him out of this...evil.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fenris. [ JUST. MAKER DAMMIT. ]

I was not speaking about you.

[Fenris, Hawke can't be the exception to your ridiculously twisted sense of morals. That's being hypocritical]

It is different, the girl isn't a mage of Thedas she doesn't have to worry about the same sorts of things we─ I do. [ andraste's ass this is going to become a magic argument, she can just feel it. ] She wasn't even made Tranquil, she had her magic ripped from her it is different.

[This is totally going to become a magic argument]

So she gets to keep her mind. I do not see how this is a terrible fate for her. You all keep telling me how terrible tranquillity is, this woman has avoided such a fate.

[ how does she even begin to explain this? ] It'd be like someone ripping off your sword arm, something you have had since the day you were born. You can feel that it is missing, like an emptiness you cannot ignore or control and it hurts. [ this is all speculation for the most part, Hawke has never been without her magic but Anders' clinic exposed her to victims of the Blight. to men, civilians and soldiers alike, missing limbs souvenirs of their flight from those horros. ]

[There is silence as Fenris thinks about this. Give him a moment. Go and get a snack]

I use both my arms to use my sword. That is why it is called a two handed weapon, Hawke.

[Semantics? You betcha, he's not going to let her relate himself to mages] And yet I could live without my arm. I still have another, I have legs, I have my mind, my voice. I would lose a very important part of me, but I would continue regardless.

[ THAT IS NOT THE POINT FENRIS!!!! ]

You might be able to live without your arms, but not all mages can live without their magic. [ she can't honestly believe she is going to say this but ─ ] At least the mages made Tranquil can't even feel what has been done to them but that girl, she can. It is just as bad as if he had actually made her Tranquil.

[More silence. He really wants to say 'what's one more mage?' but even he knows that would be a terrible move on his part]

I do not understand how she can't live without her magic.

[ Hawke pinches the bridge of her nose, of course he doesn't understand. not many could in truth, unless they themselves possess magic or power of some kind. ]

Maker, I don't know how to explain it. [ a beat. ] Not all mages are like ours, the magic people have here might be tied to their very life for all we know. Magic is never simple, it is complicated.

She is not dead. So she can survive without it.

[It's like trying to talk to a brick wall, sorry Hawke]

[ her jaw tightens, eyes narrow with a sharp look. she has learned to live with Fenris' prejudice to magic─ knowing the circumstances that brought it about she cannot blame him, however the Trevinter mages are not the face of all the other mages around Thedas. And this─ this strikes a cord in Hawke, one not easily pushed aside and ignored.

you wouldn't understand. the word sits on the edge of her tongue, she tried, maker dammit she really did try so no one can say that she didn't. ] That─ [ no, her jaw locks into place and lips press together tightly. if no one knew any better you might think she's angry. maybe she is, because after a heavy sigh she just cuts the feed. ]

[He frowns softly as the video cuts off, vaguely aware that he's done something to upset her, but unwilling to make it right. Not having a Mage Hawke in his life has clearly not done much to help him learn to be less of a dick about it]

here's a drama there's a drama and another little drama [video]

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