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Who: Cullen Rutherford
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: The Marsiva
When: Now.

[It's with some hesitance that Cullen even touches the console. He knows how it works (somehow), but he's not exactly comfortable with the concept of broadcasting. His lips are set in a thin, grim line for a few moments as he thinks of what to say.]

--Maker's breath, this is absurd.

[That just about sums up his thoughts right now.]

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[Anders bristles, defensive and angry, and then speaks loudly over him. He doesn't remember Cullen as being particularly offensive one way or the other during his stint in Kinloch Hold—aside from existing and being a templar, that is, which to him is crime enough. Anders had been fortunate enough not to be present during Uldred's uprising, if "fortunate" is the word you want to use.

In other words: go choke, Ser Noodles.]

No. Obviously. If there was, you can believe I'd rather be there than having this conversation with you.

Am I cursed? Do I smell? There has to be some explanation for how you all seem to find me no matter where I go. No phylactery could have helped you with this one, and we all know skill can't possibly be to blame. I mean, really! I don't even know precisely where I am right now, and yet still, here you are.

[Wow, rude. Cullen patiently lets him spew out whatever it is he's saying, annoyance clear on his face.]

You were a curse on Kirkwall. A year later and that city and its people are still trying to recover. Are you happy with what you've done?

All you did was encourage murder and mindless chaos. Maker only knows how many innocent lives have been lost because of you.

He doesn't know, Cullen. This version of him, he hasn't even been to Kirkwall yet.

You're joking.

[He sounds so thrilled. Only not.]

Not about this. When he first arrived I had intended to say something to him, to demand answers, but he can't give them. It would have been pointless.

[Cullen sighs, shoulders dropping. It's a small sign of defeat.]

An eye needs to be kept on him. The man's proven he can't be trusted, and I doubt that was a sudden development.

[Don't get mad don't get mad don't get mad.]

An eye needs to be kept on him?

[Oops. Got mad.]

Listen to yourself, you sound like- [She stops herself there. To think Cullen's arrival had put her in such a good mood just moments ago.] It doesn't matter. I'm handling it.

[She's mad. He can't blame her--he knows what he sounds like.]

Forgive me. But you didn't see madness in Kirkwall after what he did. So many people lost their lives because of this man and he didn't care. He betrayed Hawke, his companions--I can't trust him. Not after what I've seen.

I'm not asking you to trust him. We've been cleaning up after his mess for months now, but if I understand it correctly, it's a mess he won't make for another ten years.

[She'll probably have the headache that's building behind her eyes for the next ten years, at this rate. The worst part is she can't even hold this reaction against him, because he's right. She wasn't there, and with everything Cullen has gone through, of course this was inevitable. She just wishes she had been able to stop it somehow.]

All I ask is that you try to... I don't know, ignore him. If you can.

[This whole situation is ridiculously frustrating.]

I'll do my best.

I know you will. You always do.

[That puts on the pressure.]

I don't know if this any better than him being from a time where he did commit that terrible act.

[No you dope that was supposed to help, look at all the faith she has in you even when you do the dumb things.]

I think it is, if only because it might give us a chance to... I don't know, to stop it, or to change things. Time travel is dangerous, but even if it changes the future for us it seems worth the risk to save so many lives.

The world would be a different place indeed if there was no Conclave.

[So many alive. Justinia alive.

And he'd never meet her.]

It's something I've considered before. I wouldn't want to give up the people I've met, but... well, it would be selfish not to at least try, I think.

Even if it doesn't work, he deserves a chance to try to change what he's become in the future.

[He's not sure what to think about that, so he pushes it to the back of his mind.]

Then he needs to know what he'll do.

I've asked him to meet me tonight. I haven't exactly been open about the Inquisition in my time here, but if there's anyone to speak with him I think it has to be me.

[She tries a smile for Cullen and is surprised when it actually sticks.]

The break could only last so long, I suppose. I'll be back to Inquisitor before you know it.

[Cullen does not like that idea. But he knows better than to tell her not to do it.]

... is that why you didn't want me to refer to you as Inquisitor?

[Good job Cullen you're learning.]

That's right. It's been a nice change, not having to worry about ever little thing I say or do. Nothing can reflect badly on the Inquisition if it doesn't exist here.

[That does sound harsh though, and it does him and the dear friends she's made thanks to the Inquisition a disservice. Can't let that stand.]

I meant it when I said I was glad to see you, though. It helps me feel a little less homesick.

I understand. [The title of Inquisitor is a heavy burden--for all she's suffered and fought for, if anything this... all of this, whatever it truly was, would be a break until they could return.

He laughs, a little, under his breath.]

It's good to see you, too. I'm... glad I'm not alone.

You won't be as long as I have any say in it.

[Varric has been careful not to tell Fenris about who kicked off the war. After all, that part hasn't happened for him yet, and now...well, now he can tell why the dwarf kept it from him. He knew Anders was a danger, but even Fenris didn't think he'd go that far.

THANKS FOR THE INFO, CULLEN, YOU'RE A BRO. ]

[There's a split second moment where he looks like he's been slapped. No one's yet given him the full story—it's all been bits and pieces of a life that doesn't seem like it belongs to him, distance and anger and people he doesn't know saying his name like they're disappointed to see him.

Have you ever been to Kirkwall?

He recovers, putting on something like a disdainful sneer, but the false levity in his tone is completely gone. He's panicking, now, and covering it with anger.]

I've never been to Kirkwall in my life. Shows how much you know. Is it a mage thing? Do we all just look the same to you?

[Oh, how he wants to let Anders know in detail all the pain and suffering he'll cause. Jove, however, doesn't seem to appreciate Cullen's anger towards the mage--rationally, he can understand, but Maker how he wishes Hawke had put him down.

So, he reels it in. But he certainly isn't happy.]

I'm no longer a member of the order. I have no issue with mages.

[Just you, Anders.]

[He scoffs, low and derisive and resigned.]

Right, because that's all it takes. You lay down your shiny breastplate and everything is hunky dory, is it? "Sorry about all those times we locked you up, let's put it all behind us, I think you count as people now, really!"

I'll believe that when I see it.

[The feed clicks off.]

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