oo2 ♚ video

[ohmygodgreywardens]

I preferred the old books better. [This thing is being folded every which way, because they just had to make this thing harder to use.] At least you knew where you stood with them. The old books never changed; they might never have been easy to use, but they you knew what you were supposed to do with them.

[Is he talking about the book, still? Maybe, maybe not.] With all this talk of the Initiative and the United Earth issues, there's been something that's come up several times. Something I would be worried about, and so should others.

Traitors. Those who turned away from the goal right when their colleagues needed them most. Or the ones who never came to help in the first place, though they said they would. Traitors also includes liars. Yes. Liars. The ones who never tell the truth, especially when the truth could be the information you needed the most.

[He's getting exasperated with this new book.] I wonder, how did everyone else treat liars back home? In Ferelden, we had several ways of punishing those that had committed crimes against the crown, or those who'd lied and were caught. Some of them seemed rather harsh, but if someone who steals loses a finger, why not have the liar lose something as well? Something they value, something close to them, so that they can be hurt as much as they have hurt those around them.

So, how should we treat those liars, here? If we find traitors, what do we do with them? A mock execution, whipping, leaving them bound and gagged in a small room? Killing them would just be too merciful for what they've done, wouldn't it? [He pauses.]

Andraste's foul breath, this new book is more difficult then the other! [Okay, he's done with this book thing. With a yell, he throws it across the room.]

Comments

[healplz]

[ oh snaps. awkward. ]

I'm... sorry, I did not mean to press.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

It's fine, my friend. I am just...prone to anger, when there is something I have not had to deal with, before. A terrible trait of mine.

[healplz]

Terrible, perhaps, but common enough.

Was this the sort of news that requires action? Or merely distraction? [ because he can help with at least one of those ]

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[Oh, Ashraf. You are a good guy.]

The kind that's in desperate need of distraction.

[healplz]

We discussed building, last we spoke. Are you still willing to try your hand with it?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

Yes. Yes I am, absolutely I am. Building sounds... great.

[healplz]

[ awww, he's gotta smile at that. ] 

No, I doubt it does. But the clinic has been damaged by the bombing, and I would appreciate any assistance anyone can give in repairs. [ a beat ] I can provide drinks, if that makes it sound any more appealing. 

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[He likes being able to focus on something else. Something that seems like it should help people, and he can see the outcome.]

Drinks and building? [He smiles.] The building already sounded appealing, but I won't say not to drinks and building.

[healplz]

Good. When can I expect you?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

Ah... in an hour, possibly two? I have someone I need to talk to.

[healplz]

Of course. Please, take your time. The clinic's want of repairs is going nowhere.

action?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[Because if so for action, Cailan will be there after he talks to Anora, and he's not happy. At all.]

Hello?

action!

[healplz]

[ The building isn't too badly off, but there's clearly been some damage. A few broken in walls, a smashed corner of the roof. There are a few tarps erected as temporary cover from the rain, and it's out from under one of those that Ashraf ducks into sight. ]

Welcome, your Majesty. [ He plays that off with a calm smile, like it's just any old title, not a king's title. He's a little proud of that one. ] I hope your talk went well?

action!

[ohmygodgreywardens]

Hello, Ashraf. [He smiles. He is genuinely glad to see the man, if anything, he's one of the few people in this city that Cailan knows he can trust. The ones from home weren't trustworthy any more.]

Not.. as well as I would have hoped. But it was a difficult discussion. [It was terrible. Really terrible.]

[healplz]

[ That human desire for gossip is pretty easily squashed, and Ashraf only nods. If the man wants to talk about it, the alcohol— set up on a table just under the tarp, complete with two glasses— then will help with that. It isn't his place to dig into a king's business. ]

I am sorry to hear it was necessary. But if nothing else, talking is a fine course of action compared to many other possibilities. [ A gesture toward the tarp. ] Come, come in out of the rain.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[He nodded, following him to the tarp as his hand through his hair, wiping away some of the water.]

Thank you. I think... no. I know that there was no way for it to go better. All the lies she told, everything she never bothered to say... back home, Anora wasn't just my queen. She was my best friend.

[healplz]

[ That gets a sympathetic look, because oh. Lady troubles. He waves a hand to the glasses and the bottle, inviting him to go ahead. ]

Even best friends are not exempt from the occasional rift. Have you yet resolved it?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[He gives a shake of his head, picking up the bottle and pouring them both a glass.]

No. No, we haven't. [It's not even really lady troubles...] It's not just what she did, it's what she didn't do. What I had to learn from someone else.

[He frowns.] I do not understand what she was thinking. [And with that, he takes a drink.]

[healplz]

[ Yeah, nothing's getting built just yet. So he shifts to grab two folding chairs from a lean against a remaining wall, setting one first for Cailan and then for himself. ]

May I ask what it was she didn't do?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

She was... [He takes a drink and sighs.] She is married to another man, now. And that is not the worst of it.

[healplz]

[ oh shit. LOOKIN KINDA SOLEMN HERE. ]

I'm sorry. [ and a little afraid to ask, but: ] And what else?

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[He needs a drink. Right now. And he takes that, before answering.]

I'm dead.

[healplz]

[ Oh. Well. Right about now sounds like a good time for Ashraf to down a drink himself. And afterward, completely forgetting himself for a moment in the presence of royalty, he reaches a hand to clasp Cailan's upper arm firmly and sympathetically.

At least that explains his wife marrying someone else. ]

Your world is... not kind to you.

[ohmygodgreywardens]

[Men don't cry. Men don't cry. He didn't cry at the funeral they gave for his father, though he barely remembered bawling his eyes out when his mother died. He was three at the time, so it was forgivable.

That touch makes him want to cry, and he ducks his head down, body shaking slightly, enough that if he was holding he would feel, rather then see. A sort of trembling.]

I tell my people I am unafraid to die. But I'm not that old, not as old as I should be, and I had so many things to do.

[healplz]

[ Oh, he feels it. And by the time he recalls that touching a king is all sorts of off bounds, it's too late to take it back. But he can stand and go to the sad little flaps of the tent, adjusting a few straps to give them more visual privacy. He doesn't return to his seat, but watches Cailan. ]

Do you leave your kingdom in good hands?