driftfleet | 007 // blink and you'll miss a revolution

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007 // blink and you'll miss a revolution

Who: Dorian!
Broadcast: Fleet-wide!
Action: On the Three Twins
When: 5/26, night

Well, now that we've all gotten our fill of rampant debauchery, I thought I might pose a little question to you, Fleet. A more...somber question.

[Dorian looks considering for a moment, and when he speaks, he talks with his hands as much as his mouth. It seems like a subject he's certainly into, that's for sure.]

What would you do if, for example, you disagreed with the politics of your home? What measures would you go to? At what cost would you ensure that things were righted, were changed for the better?

[He raises a brow.]

Would you kill for it? Would you bring about chaos and disarray because the end would justify those means, as it were? How many deaths can be justified by a revolutionary change? 10? 100? Thousands? If it were for the greater good, how many lives could you sacrifice?

[He brings the hand back to his chin, thinking.]

Color me curious. What are your politics there?

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Did Fenris tell you what he and I spoke about?

Isn't this nostalgic.

[ He's very curious to see what people say but, more importantly, to see what Dorian says. ]

He did not. Color me curious!

[Not talking was probably their greatest fault but also the secret to their relationship working as it has.]

We were discussing Tevinter and if the deaths of innocent families was worth the destruction of our homeland. I thought perhaps this was prompted by the fact that we spoke on it.

Oh? I take it you'll be watching from the sidelines, then? I was curious to hear your opinions on the matter, Solas.

[Solas was always a bit like that- watching, observing the rest more than he spoke of himself. Even Dorian's gentle teasing could rarely break him out of his shell, in a strange way. Solas was like an enigma, in many ways, but a comfortable one. No one seemed the question him- he simply was.

But more than that, as quiet as Solas was, even Dorian knew that he held a depth of knowledge that many of them could scarcely fathom. To say that Solas intrigued him would be an understatement.]

No, not at all. Curious, though. What did you have to say on the matter, Felix?

Can't justify death. Better to kill all the old rulers though, letting them live is idiotic. Gives them a chance to revolt, take over again, destroy your changes. Cut down the old so the new can flourish.

[ Flippant shrug. ]

Personally don't care much, political assholes leave me alone. If I'm paid enough I might start caring.

[He knows Dorian's speaking about Tevinter, and Fenris' own views on such a thing are not exactly the most healthy. Felix has at least shown him that all out destruction isn't the best course. He is a destructive being, but this reeks of Anders and it gets his hackles up. More so that he thought about it himself, than Dorian bringing it up. Misplaced anger is Fenris' best friend.]

It depends whom exactly you were planning on killing.

[His tone is quiet, even, but there's an undercurrent lying beneath all that which means nothing good. Answer carefully.]

I thought I made my opinions quite clear, Dorian.

[ He lifts his shoulders, absently, allowing it to come through the video. Dorian had broached the topic of the Tevinter power over elves more than once on their travels and he had reacted the same each time; as dismissive as he could manage with the anger that still twisted and burned in his heart.

Then how sorry are you?

Perhaps Dorian has finally learned that change, thoughtful change, can be the best of options. ]

I don't think we need to reiterate.

Well, if you cut off the serpent's head, two grow back in its place, do they not? If the common folk are to revolt, how would they be guided?

[He looks interested, though. And he doesn't entirely disagree.]

I don't believe that punishing the soporati for the actions of the corrupt is a moral choice.

My answer was to leave. ... Although I did kill a few on the way. [ Because at the time, it was leave or kill all the politicians he could before he was stopped. He had been furious. ]

It would depend, I think. Can these politics be changed without bloodshed? Obviously, that is the quickest option - kill the problematic ones, replace them with those who would not continue the issues. This slow possibility, would many die in the time that it takes to rewrite things? Would that number be acceptable, or is it unacceptable that any die for those in power?

I wasn't planning on anything. I was asking for opinions. I do value yours, though...I recall vaguely speaking on it with you several months ago, when we first met.

[He raises a brow. His memories of that night are hazy at best, but...he does recall a bit of it, as much as he could behind the haze of alcohol.]

Who would you kill, Fenris?

Better be thorough then; kill them, their supporters, their families. Don't leave a head to come back. [ Brutal but effective, he thinks. ] Hmm, can't strike them down as well. It'd be pouring oil on a fire. Assurances maybe, claim the deaths to be justice for all they suffered.

[He doesn't make an appearance in questions like these very often. But today he does, his rolling drawl possibly familiar. He's playing with his cat, eyes on her instead of the camera when he answers.]

Are those our only two choices? Nonspecific revolutionary change, or insert-number-of-your-choice-here lives? That's very grim, isn't it.

[Ah. This again. Kaneis gives a pause to consider before he answers privately. It's an important topic, but there's no need to advertise to the rest of the fleet he knows what he's talking about.]

The answer is zero. You go in with some expectation of making people into sacrifices, then your home will not be any better than when you started.

You don't ask easy questions, do you?

The Magisterium would be a good place to start. Slice out the corruption cleanly and quickly. Those Altus families that support the decadence of Tevinter will have the choice to reform or die.

This is very hypothetical. I doubt anything will truly fix Tevinter.

[He wishes he could believe it had potential, but all he sees is a monster that will never die until it consumes itself. ]

[Dorian looks down for a moment. Solas was, in many ways, a man he admired. It was a fault of Dorian's, that he would grasp onto men like that in his life. His father first, then Magister Alexius. Perhaps it was fondness, in its own way, but those men each challenged him as much as Solas ever did.

Dorian hates to explain himself, to anyone. But perhaps he can give a shred of that to Solas, a small reassurance that this conversation won't be the same repeated frustration for the two of them. Dorian wants Solas to help him, to advise him, but before he came here, his ideas were short-sighted and born from a place where he was on the top of the food chain, as it were.

Solas challenges him, he always has.]

Perhaps a few things change, Solas. I...

[He makes a small sound, thinking how best to phrase it.

And finally, he just says it, after several long moments.]

I was wrong, before. I was short-sighted and I wasn't considering everything. Before I came here, I thought many things that were wrong.

[It was the truth, as much rare honesty as he can muster, and he prays, he hopes, that Solas will not make him regret it. That he won't just laugh in the face of his penitence and be done with him.

Dorian has changed, has been changed, and now he has seen just how dreadful slavery is. He had thought, before, that most were treated as well as they were in his home. And even when he was aware that bad things happened, they were far away.

Dorian could distance himself from them, because he was distanced. He was able to remain comfortable where he was, pretending that those that suffered existed but they weren't truly real.

But that has changed, and he's seen, personally, how men have suffered as slaves. Nel first, and then Fenris...with every white lyrium line etched into Fenris's skin, Dorian feels a stab of pain at the cruelty and depravity of man.

He looks into the feed.]

Chiefly of all that I thought about the elves of Tevinter. I was wrong.

[A start.]

Nor do I. The corruption has started at the top, that's where it need to be curtailed.

Hmm, I see. Even the families? How deep would you go- how old would they have to be, or would you simply eliminate the line altogether as the risk is higher than the benefit of mercy?

[ This is not what he had expected when he chimed in with his own moment of pause, his own consideration; he did not expect that when he answered Dorian's call he would be met with this. The understanding is not entirely new, of course, but it is obvious that Dorian has matured, grown in ways that Solas hadn't expected to see, even given his own short time on the ship itself.

He can recall some of their conversations as easily as if he were reliving them in this moment, as if he is standing there watching them unfold. He remembers Dorian's near flippancy, the lack of empathy he had shown, once, that had grated upon Solas and, in turn, the apologies that had come. It makes him pause, certainly, a twist to his expression as he attempts to come to terms with what is now being laid at his feet.

Apologies are all well and good, but it is actions that undo mistakes, not sweet words. He had learned, through his own trials, that mistakes can be made but, at the same time, they can be undone, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort that is required to do it. ]

It is a failing, but at least you are willing to admit to your mistake. That isn't something that can be credited to many men.

[ Even Solas wasn't particularly keen on admitting his failings or his mistakes, not unless he nearly forced to. Brushing things away as the folly of youth instead of facing what he had done was far easier, and, so, a part of him could empathise. It had been a long time since he was young and foolish but he felt the after-effects as surely as he thinks Dorian is feeling them now.

He bows his head and sighs. ]

Apologies will not undo what has happened. Apologies will not destroy the romance that surrounds the home of the People, nor the suffering they have faced. You and I are both aware of that, and I am glad to see that you are beginning to see things differently, with a little more clarity. Nothing is as the history books paint it, nothing is as simple as the world would like it to be, and the best gift we can be given is understanding of that.

[ But perhaps he's getting a little too nostalgic. ]

The only way to truly make amends has been laid before you. It's up to you to prove what you will do with the mantle of that power. What kind of man you intend to be.

[ The same words he had said to Arhen, of a sorts; what sort of hero would the Inquisitor be? What sort of mage, what sort of man, what sort of Tevinter would Dorian be, when the time came to make a change? ]

Edited 2015-05-27 00:31 (UTC)

[Dorian knows well enough that Fenris has nerves. It's an understatement, but he has certain things that cause him to bristle. Obvious things. Dorian can push him, can twist the knife that's already in Fenris's back.

He knows, he knows how easy it would be.

But instead they dance around each other. They spend their time enjoying each other but never really talking about these things. They don't talk about a great any many things- it's both a boon and a large failing to their relationship. Dorian and Fenris speak for ages, they speak about life here on the Fleet, they speak about books.

They don't speak about how Dorian is from the same caste as Darnarius. About how Dorian is a mage, and an altus, and how he speaks at times with the same purr that he's certain Darnarius must have used.

Slowly, Dorian is realizing that Fenris might not leave, and so he feels like he can push. Just a bit, just enough to cause Fenris to speak to him on things that matter.]

Not everything, not everyone, from Tevinter, is beyond redemption.

[If Dorian believed that, he would not be here now, he wouldn't have left Tevinter after trying for so long to change things.]

[Oh. This is relevant. He starts quiet and flat but his passion shows through within seconds.]

You can't gamble with lives so easily, no matter what the oppressive ruling majority might think. Killing for change won't change a single thing. The cycle will continue as it always has, hurt leading to hate and hurt again.

It has to stop.

Which would be better for lasting change? And change on a large scale, not merely pithy attempts of reform. Real change.

The ideal, I would think, is that as few who are innocent of being complicit in running the machine die as possible.

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007 // blink and you'll miss a revolution

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