“I only think we may need to keep our options open in the future,” she says, mild as you like, “but having said so I would be more than happy to speak instead of a happy future than our overburdened present.”
Future endeavors, indeed.
“If the war were over tomorrow,” she proposes, “and the Divine saw sense, and we did not pivot at once to another front of war. Where would we start?”
From her tone, this is at least intended in light-hearted spirit.
There is more on the table than cake and wine, being a dinner date. Marcus is arranging his plate, the usual Gallows fare of stewed things (when it isn't pizza night, anyway) and looks to Julius at Petrana's posited question.
The You first is silent, as he takes up his glass.
He takes it in the spirit it's presumably meant, and nods as Marcus before he says: "In this world where we've won a war and avoided restarting a second, we're going to need to start building up some currently tenuous alliances, here and further afield. Presumably prioritizing a list, seeing who is near one another if we're to be launching a charm offensive in person." A mild smile. "Maybe tote up who owes us favors, just for reference."
It can hardly be surprising that the first point of order for Julius is relationships and resources in the form of people, given how his mind works. But he glances back, as if passing a ball.
“Rank those alliances,” she proposes, over her own plate, “most-to-least tenuous,” which is a joke but only inasmuch as the joke is that they'd probably do it, and if she weren't making a point of being light-hearted then it would be dangerously adjacent to losing their evening off with work. “We would have to consider where we wish to settle, of course, once we leave Kirkwall.”
Petrana takes as read that leaving Kirkwall would naturally follow.
“Presumably, in this pleasant thought-experiment, we have already addressed such matters as anchor-shards, and Riftwatch disbanded.”
"We might have garnered some good favour in the Free Marches, by then," Marcus says, as if the idea of a future without war were an easy thing to conceive of, as if it were no challenge at all to fit himself within that space. He turns the wine glass against the table. "Or go further. Rivain."
If their constitutions could handle that much warmth and humidity in exchange for relative social freedom. They'd at least adapted to that corner of the world in a dream.
"I'll build a house," angled to Petrana, a whimsical offer made serious in tone.
"I like the parts of Rivain that I've seen," is a bit of an offering to the game of imagining where they could go. "I even picked up a little conversational Rivani when I was in Antiva, if we needed it. Though I will be much less help at constructing much of anything."
Hardly a surprise. With a small shrug, he adds, "One can write ravens from anywhere, though."
Petrana's smile warms at I'll build a house, charmed by the image of it; the practicality of Marcus, doing hard labour, which is already delightful. The ease with which that slides into imagining him becoming increasingly particular, becoming an expert on what sort of stone should be used for a fireplace. He would be terribly ambitious about it, she decides. The finest house he could conceive of.
Which, she considers, might be a simpler thing in a warmer climate.
“You and I will watch,” she proposes to Julius. “We fill a supervisory role. Perhaps we'll make requests.”
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no subject
Future endeavors, indeed.
“If the war were over tomorrow,” she proposes, “and the Divine saw sense, and we did not pivot at once to another front of war. Where would we start?”
From her tone, this is at least intended in light-hearted spirit.
no subject
The You first is silent, as he takes up his glass.
no subject
It can hardly be surprising that the first point of order for Julius is relationships and resources in the form of people, given how his mind works. But he glances back, as if passing a ball.
no subject
Petrana takes as read that leaving Kirkwall would naturally follow.
“Presumably, in this pleasant thought-experiment, we have already addressed such matters as anchor-shards, and Riftwatch disbanded.”
no subject
If their constitutions could handle that much warmth and humidity in exchange for relative social freedom. They'd at least adapted to that corner of the world in a dream.
"I'll build a house," angled to Petrana, a whimsical offer made serious in tone.
no subject
Hardly a surprise. With a small shrug, he adds, "One can write ravens from anywhere, though."
no subject
Which, she considers, might be a simpler thing in a warmer climate.
“You and I will watch,” she proposes to Julius. “We fill a supervisory role. Perhaps we'll make requests.”