[If Cosima had hoped for a little longer as "most junior Division Head," she's been with Riftwatch long enough not to be completely surprised when that hope vanishes with the Walrus. After all, why just rebuild your organization's headquarters from the ground up when you can do it with massive gaps in your leadership structure?
She and Yseult had both been overloaded before the attack, and that hasn't substantially lessened. Still, Cosima assumes it won't be a surprise when she looks to get a private word. It's a little trickier to arrange without their office spaces currently usable, but at least they've set up enough temporary substitutes that a door that closes isn't too much to ask for the meeting.]
[ No. Even less than she usually does, when the failures of the intelligence network she's meant to be running are only frustratingly vast and unconquerable and not immediate and surrounding. ]
Yes, of course. [ She has commandeered today one of the small private rooms in the library, and with a toe nudges the unused chair opposite out an offering fraction. ] How are you?
[So: not great, Bob. But that can hardly be news, under the circumstances.]
I assume Flint came to see you, too. [There's not a world in which he tells Cosima but not Yseult. The world where he tells Yseult but not Cosima might, but they don't have to deal with it this time.] I thought we should ... it made sense to check in on how we're going to handle that sooner than later, before it gets out in front of us.
[ Yseult marks her place in this report with a strip of cloth and closes the file, setting it and her pencil aside. Along with the nod it confirms both that Flint has spoken with her, too, and that she agrees it makes sense. That instead of folding her hands neatly in front of her she runs them over her hair (coiled into a neat chignon at the nape of her neck today) before bringing them together in front of her face and then folding the neatly on the desk in front of her suggests handling this is not a subject she's thrilled to need to discuss. Fucking pirates. ]
If it's initially temporary, there'll be less need for explanation. Rowntree holding down the fort in his absence.
Yes, he spelled out for me that he thought we should wait at least until the ship is too far gone to catch. I get why.
[It didn't especially endear him to her, but it wasn't as if she hadn't followed. At least Yseult seems quietly irritated with his departure too. It's petty, maybe, but it still makes Cosima feel better.]
But on the other hand, if we leave it much longer than that, people are going to start asking questions. If something comes out before we say something, we might be trading the problem of defectors for a wider loss of faith among the people who are still here. Yeah, it's ideal to have a new leader to announce at the same time we're announcing Flint's gone, but that gives us a ticking clock.
[ If that made her feel better then she'll love the thin, sardonic smile at mention of the favor Flint's so graciously doing them by not publicizing his plan to the company in advance and staging a spontaneous popularity contest he clearly believes he'd win. If they were in her office, this would be the moment she'd drink. ]
Rowntree is the obvious choice, given his term as Captain and his experience. A mage will be popular and he's capable of professionalism. Barring disaster, we could make it official in a month or so, with as much or as little explanation as proves necessary.
No objections to Rowntree from me. He respects the org and he's been here awhile. You have a better sense than I do, probably, since I've only got the one in my division: Do you think any of the current-slash-former templars are going to balk?
[Not necessarily a reason not to do it, so much as something worth preparing for. She doesn't think Mobius will be the one to cause trouble, if it's coming, but she also didn't miss how little love is lost in that quarter.]
Other than framing that part, sooner is probably better. Give everyone less time to pick at it on a practical level. I don't actually think a huge chunk of Riftwatch is going to grab a boat and chase down Flint, though hey, I guess I could be wrong. [Tired.]
[ There are none in Scouting; Templars are not exactly famous for their stealth. ]
Keen is the most likely. He might be moved to write to his Chantry contacts. But he might have done so when Rowntree was made Captain. [ And if he did, nothing has come of it. ] He's cautious, and has few options. Most likely he grouses and bides his time to see what Rowntree does with the post. If he attempts to steer the organization to advocating directly on behalf of mages, then we will have a problem.
Anyone's going to have a personal agenda, [Flint certainly did, she doesn't need to say.] But I haven't seen anything or read any reports to make me think Rowntree isn't capable of putting Riftwatch first, which I think is what we can ask and expect.
We're going to have to make some hard diplomatic choices soon anyway, honestly. But I'd rather all four divisions have official leadership before we get too deep in those weeds.
[A different person might take the moment to push for their own preferences with only one other person to win over, but Cosima's never been a strategist. She assumes that's not why she got the provost gig, so at least it's not a surprise. Someone as skilled at reading people as Yseult can have no trouble telling Cosima is saying what she truly thinks.]
[ Yseult begins nodding, a shallow bob of her head, at what we can ask and expect and continues until Cosima has finished. ]
You should make the announcement. They've heard too much bad news from me in the last few weeks, it risks tainting the tone.
[ She straightens the reports in front of her, slides the stack back into the leather folio with careful fingers, not a fidget but a deliberate moment of thoughtful silence that does nothing to hide that she's gearing up to say something. ]
Flint and Rutyer and your two predecessors and I—despite our years together, we didn't understand each other as well as we might and it hindered our work. I'd like not to repeat that mistake. You said anyone will have a personal agenda. Mine is that I want to avoid the various horrific futures we've seen and defeat Corypheus while there's still enough of the world left for it to be worth surviving. I want to keep the toll it takes on the lives of innocent people as limited as possible. Ideally, I'd like to survive it and never have to live in the swamps of Ferelden. That's it.
I know it sometimes seems I must have a hidden purpose because so many do and because unlike my colleagues I would rather listen than speak, but my work should speak for itself. If it ever doesn't, then I hope we can have a conversation about it. [ you know, instead of letting it fester for years and sniping about it in meetings ]
[The small nod at Yseult's point about which of them should announce suggests Cosima doesn't object, but she's attentive as Yseult keeps talking. To the extent she's surprised, she doesn't seem displeased.]
I'd prefer that. A conversation, if it seems like we're at cross purposes. I think we'll be more effective that way. For what it's worth, I know I'm not, like, the most mysterious person. But I'm with you. Defeat Corypheus with the fewest innocents dead we can manage. To the extent I have other thoughts about Thedas after all this ... that's secondary and I'm not going to jeopardize point A over it.
[She pauses, considering whether it's the time, but while they're being honest:]
Do you have thoughts about Mme de Foncé's argument about rifters amputating the limbs that have shards in them? I know the choice is ultimately mine, but if you have an opinion, I'll take it under advisement.
[She knows there are ways she'll be less useful one-armed. On the other hand, given the leadership churn, the appearance of stability has new urgency, whether or not Wysteria is right. (And maybe Wysteria is right. There's no good way to prove it, though.)]
[ A little flicker of an acknowledging smile--she's right she's not the most mysterious, but that's not a bad thing, outside of Scouting. The rest gets a nod. Good that they're at least beginning on the same page.
Yseult knits fingers together on the tabletop and returns to a more serious look, the furrow between her brows also suggesting an element of surprise at this turn in the conversation. But while they're being honest: ]
I'm sure you're more familiar with the details of that work than I am. But it seems the only things we know for sure are that limbs don't grow back and anchors are still the best way to close rifts. That's a lot to sacrifice for anything less than certain necessity.
That's more or less where I've come out too. None of us are guaranteed any particular amount of time, native or rifter, after all. I want to do the most good I can while I'm here.
[If Yseult had said the opposite, Cosima would have taken it under advisement, whether or not it fully changed her mind. But it feels reassuring, that their line of thought in this was also basically the same.]
Alright. Do you have a sense of how long you think we can push it, before I announce Rowntree? We know we're playing a balancing game, but you probably have more of an ear to the ground than I do in Scouting.
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action (for whenever)
She and Yseult had both been overloaded before the attack, and that hasn't substantially lessened. Still, Cosima assumes it won't be a surprise when she looks to get a private word. It's a little trickier to arrange without their office spaces currently usable, but at least they've set up enough temporary substitutes that a door that closes isn't too much to ask for the meeting.]
Scoutmaster? Do you have a sec?
no subject
Yes, of course. [ She has commandeered today one of the small private rooms in the library, and with a toe nudges the unused chair opposite out an offering fraction. ] How are you?
no subject
[So: not great, Bob. But that can hardly be news, under the circumstances.]
I assume Flint came to see you, too. [There's not a world in which he tells Cosima but not Yseult. The world where he tells Yseult but not Cosima might, but they don't have to deal with it this time.] I thought we should ... it made sense to check in on how we're going to handle that sooner than later, before it gets out in front of us.
no subject
If it's initially temporary, there'll be less need for explanation. Rowntree holding down the fort in his absence.
no subject
[It didn't especially endear him to her, but it wasn't as if she hadn't followed. At least Yseult seems quietly irritated with his departure too. It's petty, maybe, but it still makes Cosima feel better.]
But on the other hand, if we leave it much longer than that, people are going to start asking questions. If something comes out before we say something, we might be trading the problem of defectors for a wider loss of faith among the people who are still here. Yeah, it's ideal to have a new leader to announce at the same time we're announcing Flint's gone, but that gives us a ticking clock.
no subject
Rowntree is the obvious choice, given his term as Captain and his experience. A mage will be popular and he's capable of professionalism. Barring disaster, we could make it official in a month or so, with as much or as little explanation as proves necessary.
no subject
[Not necessarily a reason not to do it, so much as something worth preparing for. She doesn't think Mobius will be the one to cause trouble, if it's coming, but she also didn't miss how little love is lost in that quarter.]
Other than framing that part, sooner is probably better. Give everyone less time to pick at it on a practical level. I don't actually think a huge chunk of Riftwatch is going to grab a boat and chase down Flint, though hey, I guess I could be wrong. [Tired.]
no subject
Keen is the most likely. He might be moved to write to his Chantry contacts. But he might have done so when Rowntree was made Captain. [ And if he did, nothing has come of it. ] He's cautious, and has few options. Most likely he grouses and bides his time to see what Rowntree does with the post. If he attempts to steer the organization to advocating directly on behalf of mages, then we will have a problem.
no subject
We're going to have to make some hard diplomatic choices soon anyway, honestly. But I'd rather all four divisions have official leadership before we get too deep in those weeds.
[A different person might take the moment to push for their own preferences with only one other person to win over, but Cosima's never been a strategist. She assumes that's not why she got the provost gig, so at least it's not a surprise. Someone as skilled at reading people as Yseult can have no trouble telling Cosima is saying what she truly thinks.]
no subject
You should make the announcement. They've heard too much bad news from me in the last few weeks, it risks tainting the tone.
[ She straightens the reports in front of her, slides the stack back into the leather folio with careful fingers, not a fidget but a deliberate moment of thoughtful silence that does nothing to hide that she's gearing up to say something. ]
Flint and Rutyer and your two predecessors and I—despite our years together, we didn't understand each other as well as we might and it hindered our work. I'd like not to repeat that mistake. You said anyone will have a personal agenda. Mine is that I want to avoid the various horrific futures we've seen and defeat Corypheus while there's still enough of the world left for it to be worth surviving. I want to keep the toll it takes on the lives of innocent people as limited as possible. Ideally, I'd like to survive it and never have to live in the swamps of Ferelden. That's it.
I know it sometimes seems I must have a hidden purpose because so many do and because unlike my colleagues I would rather listen than speak, but my work should speak for itself. If it ever doesn't, then I hope we can have a conversation about it. [ you know, instead of letting it fester for years and sniping about it in meetings ]
no subject
I'd prefer that. A conversation, if it seems like we're at cross purposes. I think we'll be more effective that way. For what it's worth, I know I'm not, like, the most mysterious person. But I'm with you. Defeat Corypheus with the fewest innocents dead we can manage. To the extent I have other thoughts about Thedas after all this ... that's secondary and I'm not going to jeopardize point A over it.
[She pauses, considering whether it's the time, but while they're being honest:]
Do you have thoughts about Mme de Foncé's argument about rifters amputating the limbs that have shards in them? I know the choice is ultimately mine, but if you have an opinion, I'll take it under advisement.
[She knows there are ways she'll be less useful one-armed. On the other hand, given the leadership churn, the appearance of stability has new urgency, whether or not Wysteria is right. (And maybe Wysteria is right. There's no good way to prove it, though.)]
no subject
Yseult knits fingers together on the tabletop and returns to a more serious look, the furrow between her brows also suggesting an element of surprise at this turn in the conversation. But while they're being honest: ]
I'm sure you're more familiar with the details of that work than I am. But it seems the only things we know for sure are that limbs don't grow back and anchors are still the best way to close rifts. That's a lot to sacrifice for anything less than certain necessity.
no subject
That's more or less where I've come out too. None of us are guaranteed any particular amount of time, native or rifter, after all. I want to do the most good I can while I'm here.
[If Yseult had said the opposite, Cosima would have taken it under advisement, whether or not it fully changed her mind. But it feels reassuring, that their line of thought in this was also basically the same.]
Alright. Do you have a sense of how long you think we can push it, before I announce Rowntree? We know we're playing a balancing game, but you probably have more of an ear to the ground than I do in Scouting.