the maker shall be my guide; semi-open

[revocation]

Who| The Dragon Age cast; any close CR they want to bring!
What| After recent events, Cullen feels like they need to meet up and make sure everyone is on the same page. No one should fall victim to the Capitol's machinations.
Where| Training center gym.
When| To...day?
Warnings/Notes| Nothing atm, will edit this if it becomes necessary. If you are in the Dragon Age cast, just assume that Cullen left a note at your door or you heard about the meeting from another cast member. Please tag around, this is basically just a mingle log for CR purposes! Feel free to poke me on plurk frodabaggins if you want your character here but aren't sure if they'd get an invite!

The events of the past week or so have been worrying. Clearly, this place is more restrictive than even he thought at first - the people here are obsessed with keeping their power, and some of them even seem to enjoy baiting the Tributes.

That cannot happen. At least, if Cullen has anything to say about it, the Thedosians must keep a united front and stay out of things. Which is why he leaves notes at the door of every Thedosian he knows of, with a time and place scribbled on them for a meeting. It's imperative that they at least make sure they're on the same page, especially with more new arrivals showing up.

This world is far more dangerous than even he anticipated when he first arrived.

He waits until most have arrived, his face serious, his back straight as always, ever the consummate soldier - when nearly everyone is here, he finally starts in on his little speech. He's clearly prepared for it.

"I know a lot of things have been happening recently," he begins. "Things that are probably angering to a lot of us. I know we're all feeling very powerless right now, and might be tempted to try and lash out any way we can, just to lessen that feeling." If his gaze lingers a little on certain people, well. That's his business.

"I think it's important that we not do that, though. I think we need to keep quiet, and keep our heads down, and remember what our goal is: to find a way home. There's no point putting ourselves in danger needlessly. Many of the people here are clearly cruel and enjoy baiting us. They obviously want to see us slip up, get in trouble, be punished. We have to watch what we say, at all times. Let's not give them the satisfaction."

He looks to everyone for agreement.

Comments

[tevintage]

The fact that Dorian came is somewhat of a miracle, considering that he is barely even in his own rooms these days. Nor does he seem to have a particular bar that he frequents - rather, he frequents all of them, and some of the less respectable institutions besides. Whores always make good friends, he's found.

If he's fallen back into old ways, it isn't without reason. The Inquisition gave him something to focus on, but Alexius was the one to do that first - now he had neither, and was under the thumb of a tyrannical government that didn't even have the slight advantage of allowing him in on the tyranny.

When in doubt: debauchery.

He isn't drunk. That isn't to say that he hasn't spent a lot of his time drunk, lately, but he isn't drunk now, and he's almost gratingly cheerful - greeting everyone with a slightly sarcastically fluid bow - even those who he technically has never met.

Cullen's words are absolutely true, of course, which makes Dorian want to sigh and roll his eyes. He hasn't been one for obeying rules for the sake of them, whatever the consequences. And beyond having a healthy desire to stay alive, and to keep his friends alive, he has almost nothing invested in this place. So he leans against one of the pillars in the training center and crosses his arms.

"I've never been particularly good at quiet, but I can think of a hundred thousand things I would rather do than 'lash out'."

[dreadinquisitor]

There was a small part of Mawell, a small, cowardly part that had been relieved every time he'd stopped into District 7 only to be told that 'Mr. Pavus' was out. He didn't know all the details, couldn't, but he knew enough. Knew Dorian well enough.

It pained him to see him this way. To know he was hurting.

To know there was nothing he could do. Nothing that he didn't suspect wouldn't make it worse, for either, or both, of them.

That was nothing that didn't make it sound like....

"I'd say you all know you're too smart to get mixed up in anything like that," he said quietly from his place nearby. Attempting humor, and knowing he was probably failing there as well. "But you did fall in with the Inquisition - more than once."

[tevintage]

"That was very different," Dorian said, still leaning back, though he tilted his head in Maxwell's direction, smirking. "For a start, that was almost entirely out of necessity and imminent world annihilation."

His tone was easy and almost flippant, but it somehow didn't quite reach his eyes. "Also, it makes one a touch more reckless when one can start a forest fire with a wave or two of his staff."

[revocation]

Cullen's gaze drifts to Dorian at his words. The other man hasn't been seen much lately around the Tribute tower, which does worry him a bit - what sort of trouble is he getting himself into, anyway? Cullen knows his tendency to drink from back home - he doesn't miss gossip around Skyhold.

Frankly, he is a little surprised Dorian showed up at all, and sober too by the looks of it. He doesn't know how to help the other man, though - he has no more power than anyone else. And ultimately, Dorian would have to make the choice to do something else on his own. No one can do that for him.

"Loudness draws attention," he points out. "I suppose it's up to you whether you want that attention or not, but keeping in mind how many of us from Thedas are here might be a good idea before speaking up about something."

[tevintage]

Dorian smirked. "Fear not, Commander, the most I would complain about is their terrible fast in brandy. The Capitol is quite like home, really, I keep expecting my father to come around the corner and drag me home."

Which was a neatly coded way to say that he was miserable and hated everything, but he wasn't stupid. "I've no intention of getting anyone into trouble, and myself only into the kind that naturally comes from hedonism."

Maxwell| OTA

[dreadinquisitor]

Things aren't better, not by any stretch of the imagination. Not for him, not for them as a whole, but Maxwell found one small perk in the recent goings on.

It gave him something to focus on. Trying to understand what had happened, and what it meant for them now. What they could do, how they could keep each other safe.

He passed along the invitation to Thorongil, hoping the man might find a way to be present, despite what had happened. He had been a good ally in the arena, and was proving to be a fast friend. He'd earned a place in Maxwell's opinion, whatever the little screens said.

As he last the last time, Maxwell arrived early and took a place off to one side, watching the others arrive, keeping a headcount as they passed inside.

[revocation]

It isn't until after he's spoken his piece that Cullen greets the others quietly. He's been, well. Spending as much time with Adella lately as he can, which means he hasn't been talking to the others quite as much, so he makes a point to say hello to Maxwell.

"More and more seem to be showing up," he points out. "And the more that show up, the more like herding cats this becomes."

[dreadinquisitor]

Maxwell hadn't been in a room with so many people at one time since the Crowning, and then they hadn't been people he'd really cared about - hadn't been people he'd felt he needed to pretend for. The weight of that, coupled with his conversation with Dorian, already uncertain from start, only made painfully awkward with Tabris' well-meant intentions, and he was tired by the time Cullen approached.

"You got them here," he said with a sigh. "That's a big start."

Sebastian OTA

[andrastian]

The part of Sebastian that was inclined to rebel, long ago, which still popped up from time to time, like some sort of annoying imaginary friend from the past, wanted to protest that Cullen was wrong, that they could, and should find ways, even small ones, to gain some control.

The sensible, more measured part of Sebastian, the reasonable moderate voice he'd found during the years in Kirkwall was stronger, though, and while he had not been here very long, he'd learned enough to know they must be very careful here.

"They have succeeded in putting us in prison." He said, inclining his head toward Cullen. "The only way to stay safe in one of them is in following the rules."

As he spoke, it occurred to him that this was eerily similar to his life at home. There had been prisons there, some fancy and some terrible, and people had been forced into them for no reason, and he had supported that for a long time, for only the reason that they were able to use magic and others weren't. Hawke, HIS Hawke, had supported it until the end as well, when suddenly, the realization had hit him all at once. It had been bad enough to lose those he considered family on that day, but to hear Meredith's demand for Annulment...

Something in him had changed with those words, and it was that something in him that had to laugh now, at the irony of their current situation. And caused him to avoid looking at anyone clearly a mage at the same time.

"Ironic, isn't this?"

[tevintage]

Now there was something interesting. This new figure in their midst practically 'screamed' Thedas, but he was the first that Dorian had seen that he didn't already know. Well. That he at least wasn't supposed to already know. Unless he happened to be a new inquisitor. The accent, however, marked the Free Marshes, rather than Fereldan, and as he hadn't come up to Dorian already expecting them to be the best of friends, probably not an Inquisitor.

Simply fresh meat.

"Or find the man in prison with the largest muscles and earn his complete loyalty, but somehow I doubt that will work, here," Dorian said, completely helpfully, and not at all sarcastically (which meant very).

"I'm not sure if Irony is quite the word. Something more along the lines of 'well of course this would happen to us' and 'some things never change between worlds' and 'would you please, for the love of the Maker, leave me alone to my books already'." Or his whores. You know. Either or.

[andrastian]

The comment garnered a snort from Sebastian, mostly due to the truth behind the sarcasm. He may have only spent the night in a gaol once, when his parents had decided to attempt to teach him that his actions had consequences, but the same sort of prisoner always appeared to be there, didn't they? It was a given, he supposed.

"Ah, but no. There is always being that man to begin. It would be especially helpful. More than we could hope, of course but I imagine it's a big responsibility."

He took a step forward, extending a hand to the rather obviously a mage. "Sebastian Vael of Starkhaven. I've the feeling this could make a book alone, were Varric here. But, whether it's the sort of book you'd like to be alone with, I could not begin to guess."

[revocation]

Cullen nods at Sebastian's words - acknowledging both his point and the irony. He hasn't missed it, either, the parallels between this and the Circles. He finds this world's system far more cruel in its execution - mages would never have been forced into blood sports in Thedas, but that's neither here nor there.

"Until we have good reason to act, I have to agree. It's best we keep quiet and do as they say."

There may come a point where the possibility of getting home might be worth the risk of rocking the boat, so to speak, but right now? There's nothing. No possibility, only the promise of dire punishment if any of them speaks out of line.

i dare not preach what i don't understand.

[wardenings]

That comment was directed towards him.

Leaning back against one of the training dummies, Alistair stands at a lax attention. His arms crossed over his chest and brow arched up at the man who called the meeting, the blonde nods in agreement. Cullen's right, especially about powerbaiting, and lashing out. Those mistakes he made upon his arrival were based solely on emotion, and were dangerous mistakes in his part of this 'let's get the hell out of here' plan that they had all silently become a part of.

Being one of the, if not the, newest arrivals from Thedas into this chromatic hell was sickening. The swordsman's chest rises and falls with a hefty sigh, lips pursing for a moment before his nose crinkles, and he pushes away from the dummy. "And just how far," Alistair says, his voice softer than normal, as if he was a kicked Mabari, scolded by a master or trainer, "Have we come in this 'let's all find a way home' plan? As far as I'm aware, no two of us have the exact same home, now that I think about it."

He points above him, the gesture small and his arm still bent, as if he was just making an idle comment about the Gamemakers. "And what of them? How do they not know we're here now? You know that they must know, don't you? I don't mean to sound like we're lining ourselves up to the slaughter, but if anyone has some shocking and stark evidence that they'd like to bring to the table now, I'd say we're standing here with our hands tied."

Alistair frowns, scratching lightly under his lip. "They take our weapons and our mages' powers and bind our tongues like we're nothing more than mindless sheep." Another sigh. "We're just pieces in a board game to them. That's why they call themselves Gamemakers."

Alistair Theirin feels sick to his stomach.

[tevintage]

It's an incredibly strange thing, to see a man you met as a King pouting about overarching authority, and a mildly ironic one at that. Alistair is a fascinating figure - mostly because he is both incredibly familiar and strangely foreign. But the man is right. Different worlds indeed. He wonders if he and Alistair even met, back in Dorian's world.

Of course, when faced with the brutal truth that Dorian is already completely aware of, there's little to do save reply with sarcasm.

"Ah, yes, a dose of reality was just what we needed for these proceedings! I would never have remembered where we were, otherwise. The entire lack of magic certainly wouldn't keep me constantly aware of that fact, no."

And then, a little more seriously: "Yes, of course they can hear us. See us, as well, and I've no doubt in my mind that this entire conversation is being meticulously recorded. But in the end - if we do nothing - it won't matter. Agreeing to be sheep is hardly sedition."

[allyorfoe]

Tabris is fairly sure that this entire meeting is kind of her fault. It didn't come long after her spat with Jason, where Cullen had narrowly saved her from saying some words that would have had some serious complications. The situation was a hard one for Tabris. She was used to being a formidable force, to having her words respected, and being able to take up Faith's Edge, if respect needed to be instilled. A woman like her, a berserker who keeps in touch and channels her rage, she doesn't have a lot of tolerance for bullshit.

She trails in after her husband, standing next to him as he, than Cullen speaks. She glances over at Alistair, raising an eyebrow on one of his statements. "I'm hoping that we're from the same world, dear. Or have I been sharing my room with a stranger? I'd really have to protest, if that's the case."

The rest, however, are all fair points, and she nods along, crossing her arms.

"They watch the entire tower. And a meeting of all of the people of Thedas? They'd be crazy to not be keeping an eye on this. You can bet there's someone dedicated to recording this entire thing." She looked up, squinting at the ceiling. "We're not exactly being subtle here."

"...Anyway. They took all our powers. Not just magic. I haven't been able to access any of my Reaver abilities. I can use my Berserker abilities to a point, but none of the really special stuff." She'd been able to shrug off a bullet, while in her rage, but even if she hadn't gotten the second bullet, she doubted she'd been able to do much. "We're all ducks sitting in the water, and they have weapons we've never even seen before."

The guns, for one. They were grossly outstripped in terms of technology. Shepard had been introducing her to some of it, but there was a lot to catch up on.

"They say that Victors might be allowed to go home, some day. There's enough of us that there's a decent shot at one of us, but Andraste herself will descend and take us home before all of us win an arena." She runs a hand through her hair, frowning. "So, we can't do anything against the capitol--" Nothing that she'll admit to, at least. "The Capitol itself offers little choice, and if we put our heads up, we risk seeing them roll."

[revocation]

Cullen has to shake his hands at the other man's questions. "We're certainly being watched. Always assume you're being watched, here - even if you're in a room alone. It's worse than Orlais. But as far as I know, as long as you don't speak sedition, no harm should come to you."

And Cullen isn't interested in overthrowing this government. Nor does he think anyone else here should be.

"As far as getting home, your guess is as good as mine at this point," he admits with a shrug. And even if he had an idea, a meeting this obvious and public probably wouldn't be the way to convey it.

He wishes Leliana were here, sometimes.

Adella OTA

[unlikelyherald]

Adella arrived at the same time as Cullen, but she settles into place somewhat distanced from him. Despite the fact that they can both be very professional when needed, she just doesn't want to give anyone the chance to feel awkward. She also doesn't entirely agree with Cullen's stance on this whole situation, though she does understand the logic behind it.

After he says his piece, she presses her lips together, keeping most of her initial thoughts to herself, before eventually speaking.

"We're going to have to push back, eventually. They aren't going to just decide to send us home on their own, and they hold the key to whatever magic it is that's brought us here." If the people rebelling succeeded, that may be one thing, but considering what they'd just seen on the networks, Adella doesn't have the greatest faith in that.

[tevintage]

"I suppose we always have bribery? Perhaps one of us can learn how to cook, and buy us our tickets home that way," Dorian said, completely unhelpfully.

"And if we can go home? What then? What do we change by going back?"

[revocation]

Cullen watches Adella carefully as she speaks. Her willingness to act is admirable, if - well, he worries. About her most of all, for obvious reasons. Still, though, she has a point.

"I'm not saying we'll never act," he points out. "I'm saying that lashing out right now when we have no information to work from is pointless and too dangerous to risk."

He's simply trying to keep them all safe in the short term, until they have reason to act - as a group, to actually fix this, rather than simply yelling obscenities at local authorities.

[dreadinquisitor]

After the initial discussion had past and everyone had begun to disperse into groups again, Maxwell approached Adella.

"A word, Inquisitor?"

There was a bit of humor in the way he said the title, small, but present around the corners of his eyes.

Bayard Sartoris | OTA

[yoknapatawpha]

Bayard doesn't interject in the conversation, seeing as he's still a child and, man of the house at his plantation or not, woefully limited by inexperience. He listens carefully, that measured, thoughtful expression on his face that he gets when he's turning everything over in his mind, taking his time with every sentence. His father always told him that he was not exceptionally smart for his age, and so he had to be careful to think through something entirely before committing to it.

His back is straight as Cullen's, a subtle, noble mimic in dignity and poise, the sort of pose that's inherited from a proud lineage rather than learned through childhood, that courses in blood. Had Cullen been slouching Bayard probably would too, but he knows the proper way to stand around soldiers, and here they are assembled as that.

When they're all done discussing and people are starting to disperse, he makes it a point to introduce himself to the ones he doesn't know, politely holding out his hand and requesting people introduce themselves even if he overheard their name during the conversation. Better to let people tell him how to address them.

"I'm Bayard Sartoris. May I ask your name?"

[revocation]

Bayard is, by this point, practically an honorary Thedosian as far as Cullen is concerned. And certainly he wants to make sure the boy doesn't get himself into any trouble - not that he's a troublemaking sort, of course, but he's still a child and children sometimes say things without necessarily understanding all the implications of them.

He wants to keep an eye on Bayard, basically.

As he approaches, he indicates one of the newer faces in the group, an auburn-haired man with a noble posture.

"That's Sebastian. He just arrived. He's a prince, of the city-state Starkhaven."

[unlikelyherald]

Cullen had mentioned Bayard to Adella, and she'd seen them take him in, from afar. She knew he was in her District, but she'd been spending most of her time down in D2's suites with Cullen, so she'd missed the young man. Now though she gives him a warm smile, holding her hand out in gesture of a handshake.

"My name is Adella Trevelyan. I'm pleased to finally meet you, Bayard." It turns her stomach, that they would put small children in this place of death, but there isn't much that can be done about it. At least not now.

Fiona ota

[uncalled_for]

"And gathering so many to one space does not draw attention?" She said under a sharp breath and an eye roll after Cullen's speech. Fiona kept herself to a corner of the room. Still easily within earshot of most conversations yet at enough distance to see most of those present. Truthfully, there were too many of them and she was beginning to think coming was a mistake. Teamwork was not something she was against, but if these people truly were watching their every move and every word, then this was foolish at best. They had to try and be a little more clever than this.

[revocation]

Cullen was, perhaps, being a little more clever than Fiona wanted to give him credit for. He knew such a gathering would draw attention. He knew they would be watched. He also knew he wasn't really capable of being truly stealthy or secretive, so he wasn't even going to bother trying.

Were they planning to punish a group of people for agreeing not to plot against the government, though? Because that was, ultimately, the point of this. To make it clear that none of the people from Thedas had any intention of plotting sedition.

"We're certainly being watched right now," he agreed, not missing her eye rolling, even across their little group. "It's safe to say we're always being watched. That's precisely what I wanted to remind you all of."