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[hassaran]

crystal 〉〉 note 〉〉 action

Comments

[exsecutus]

Mm.

[Well.]

I don't know shit about lyrium. I could listen for what's known about the orders.

crystal. pre-mod plot obviously.

[cozen]

Could you escape from a dungeon cell using paper?

[hassaran]

[ She considers that for a long moment. ]

I don't know. Depends on the cell. And the paper. Why?

[cozen]

I have to find a Satinalia gift for the Vint boy.

[hassaran]

For Artameus? Why?

[cozen]

He wound up in my box. [ Athessa. ] The—captain? Commander? Flint, he drew him, but that did not go well.

[hassaran]

[ She laughs. ]

No, I imagine not. For all they deserve each other.

[ ANyway. ] Artemaeus is a prisoner for good reason. They don't get holiday gifts.

[cozen]

It's Satinalia. He was in the box. My hands are tied.

[hassaran]

He's a traitor [ she says, mimicking his intonation. ] Bastien, prisoners don't get holiday gifts. That's not how dungeons work.

[cozen]

Then why are there gaps between the bars?

[hassaran]

So that we can look to make sure no one has slipped them any gifts.

[hassaran]

[ icly yes oocly no i will come back to this asap ]

[cozen]

What if it is a very badly-written book, and we call it torture?

[hassaran]

[ Her laugh is half-exasperated, but still a laugh. ]

How badly?

[cozen]

I brought these gardening manuals with me from Val Royeaux. I was paid to print them, and then I could not pay people to take them. The author constantly digresses into philosophical musings—terrible ones. It is completely incoherent.

[hassaran]

It it meant to be a gift or a trick?

[cozen]

I suppose—both. I think anything to do besides sit there and rot would be a gift, honestly.

[ It’s possible he’s talked himself into some actual investment in this. But, like, ]

Do you know what I was doing, when I was his age?

[ Approximately. Benedict is what, twenty? Twelve? ]

[hassaran]

[ The whole point is for him to sit there and rot she was going to say, but Benedict is not, ultimately, that interesting to her. ]

What?

[cozen]

Pushing an old man out of a high window for six thousand royals. Rounding down.

[hassaran]

[ Seriously: ] Did he deserve it?

[cozen]

Maybe. But that is not why I did it, and I doubt it was why anyone wanted him dead.

[hassaran]

I've never cared for the Game. But it's different from joining something like this and betraying it to an enemy like this one.

[cozen]

Ouais. I only mean—if we all ever get exactly what we deserve, I am in a lot of trouble.

[hassaran]

[ Her sigh is quiet and not disagreement. ]

We have to have at least one offense we punish, or this organization will fall completely apart.

[cozen]

I do not think you should let him out. Only let him read.