We suddenly find ourselves with one as a guest in the infirmary.
Her condition isn’t the issue, of course, but— she has some ugly wounds which healed badly, so I’d like for you to do a brush-up on them if possible. I cleaned them and got rid of the dead tissue and re-did the dressings, but I figure some magical intervention in addition can’t hurt.
[ unfortunately for this war of the lions puppet show, just now getting to the good bit. cheers over the crystal as a tiny axe drops, and gaspard's head clatters into the coin bucket. some quick-fingered kid reaches to snatch it out - ]
Who's attacking Tranquil, and how have we acquired her?
Is that cheering in the background? ( Distracted, always curious, but he presses on. )
Some renegade cult is making Tranquil, which I find deeply concerning, and the organisation will need to follow up. She came here because she used to work for Riftwatch. One Herian Amsel, if you know her— sorry if you do and you’re close, I’m shit at news. But you’ll see shortly regardless.
[ he knows her. an obstacle, a tedious moderate - when not preoccupied with rifters. if she’s been targeted, then it’s bad. forget the organization following up, the fucking rebellion needs to -
(good luck with that. the grand enchanter will only hand it back to them: fix this, before i spin it,)
a breath out. one foot before the other. strange must be as agitated, and newer of it. still, something spurs the unhappy admission, ]
I’d always thought profit would do it. They’re more valuable than your average mage. I presume that's why we never won its concession,
[ but then, they wouldn't have wounded her. ideology eases some matters, but it allows the chantry to disclaim the whole affair. a pause. belated: ]
A street play. The crowd - you caught them at the blood.
Ah. Glad the city’s still able to put on entertainment.
( A beat on his end, before his own unhappy admission; less experienced, less knowledgeable, without all the weight of decades’ personal history to speak from, but Strange is technically in this boat with them. )
I would think control. Circles could already be bad enough, a form of control. And if you already have the capacity to make one Tranquil, why not all of them: all mages, all rifters, threats neutralised.
[ and this one could prove the greater problem. the sound he makes is near agreement: control, yes -
but there's use in magic, utility in mages, or they'd all be drowned as children. a tranquil runesmith is more valuable than your average, terrified mage; not more than a trained knight-enchanter. control. very well. a threat, then. a show of force. ]
How certain are we this is fringe? The group she named, that they are without backing,
[ fix this, he isn't averesch. spin it,
better for the lot of them not to call this a cult. ]
The Divine called her Templars to heel, or the Chantry are wont to claim. It would be - mn, short-sighted to take that at their word.
[ it sounds like a cult. but cults own funding and friends (can be made to appear to). he'll need to turn up names, of course. determine who to implicate.
can't do that without playing your hand a little: ]
The possibility that they were official Chantry Templars, sending a direct threat to Riftwatch? But we’ve fought alongside the Exalted March, they’re our allies against Tevinter—
( What follows is the sound of Doctor Strange thinking it through aloud. He’s paranoid enough that he could consider anything, and can’t rule anything out. God, he hates politics, even if he’s getting plunged into a crash course in mage politics, )
—then again, it’d hardly be the first time that an organisation’s left hand didn’t know what the right was doing. Not the literal Hands, but hell, that too.
Quite. What is official, and what is approved - well. Not to be too Orlesian of it,
[ but the grand cathedral is. ]
The world doesn't pause for war, and this has spanned the better part of a decade. We need ask ourselves not only what has been done, but what ought to be. You disapprove, of course, of the practice? Branding, severing,
( A beat, doing his own mental calculus, wondering how much of his own hand to tip when so much in this world risks offense. But he still has trouble reading Isaac; never quite knows what ground he’s standing on here.
So with that in mind, Strange simply opts for being what he’s always been: forthright. )
I disapprove, yes. To a frankly undiplomatic degree.
Then in my own, undiplomatic measure: You stand against the Chantry.
[ a pause of boots, a convenient alley. there are some conversations for which to at least pretend privacy. ]
Whether or not some dismal cleric has graced this venture with their explicit approval, Beatrix favours Tranquility. She will resume its use. But barbaric acts polarize - they have always needed to wrap the Rite in the soft blanket of choice.
[ the choice between a blade and a brand. ]
If we do not act carefully, this strengthens their position. They will tell us that what was done to Amsel was unacceptable -
Not as the Circles will do it, when it's our turn. Do you follow?
( For all the occasional grey-area nuances in Strange’s former professional life — fighting a grieving sorcerer who lost his wife and son and wasn’t that relatable, and learning from a hypocritical mentor who then set the stage for Strange reaching for dark magic himself — but other things had been so comfortingly predictable in the Sorcerer Supreme’s world. An evil cult was an evil cult. Like, just go take care of them.
But this— )
So. Best to not to cast it as some monstrous deviation from the norm. Align this barbaric Tranquility more with what’s been done and has always been done by the Chantry, so people might paint their reactions to it with the same brush.
Yes. The more concrete connections drawn, the fewer Amsels we may hope to see.
[ isaac is not a hopeful man. hope didn't drag him from the loyalists, or feed them to new friends. but it takes more than good people to make a better future. ]
When Cumberland attempted to reconvene the College, they proposed to restore Tranquility, imagining themselves immune. There will be more such drafts, letters, and meetings — oh, mages love a meeting —
We cannot control how Amsel reports her attack. But she will not be alone to investigate it. Can she and I rely upon you?
Yes. ( The answer comes immediately, no hesitation. ) People targeting mages, meddling with and damaging their minds— all of these things would be relevant to my concerns before, as a sorcerer and a healer, and that hasn’t changed here.
And regardless who might be pulling the strings at the end of the day, I’d want to investigate to find out and stop it.
Yes. I’d heard of them before, read about it, discussed the practice with other mages, but this was the first time I’ve ever met someone Tranquil. Let alone one so— fresh.
Some irony in the feeling it provokes. My Circles kept them in the Infirmary a few days — those are, mn. Among the more difficult. It asks time to adjust.
[ he isn't speaking of herian. the rasp of paper and packet, a cigarette muffles for the edge of his mouth. ]
What did she make you think of?
[ there's ever something. a memory, a face, some old injustice; the tranquil are often as mirrors. ]
( It wasn’t a personal memory or strictly firsthand experience which had made him recoil so; thus it takes him a moment to sort out the words, neat and precise, to explain again exactly why it revolted him. A professional indignity. )
In my universe, there’s this outdated practice— I’m sure other places have resorted to this monstrosity as well, but regardless. Lobotomy. It was a supposed method to cure various mental disorders by purposefully damaging the brain, severing connections in the mind, leaving the patients… reduced, afterward. Personality and intellect and emotions blunted.
My medical specialty is all about the brain, the mind, the nerves, repairing damage and restoring function.
Say your job is to restore precious and fragile vases, and here’s someone going around grabbing those vases and irreversibly smashing them on the ground. I hate to see it.
[ mused agreement: kostos may speak more of reversibility, but strange is both a doctor and a damaged man, he knows well as isaac that the cleanest scar yet seams. ]
Limn the pieces in gold, and you’ve still a different vessel. She’ll be changed of this no matter how matters proceed.
[ an injury of craft. irritating in the abstract, the egotistic — fucking smothering up close. wasted energy, wasted suffering; to watch the eyes fade, the teeth blunt. waiting for the art and joy of life to ash itself. he's wondered a time if inaction might better caution. let voss limp, allow rowntree to struggle for grip. perhaps they'd think twice to throw themselves upon the sword.
(but he doubts it. but he needs them to, they all so desperately need it.) ]
Kintsugi, [ Strange says absently, just the way his brain ticks relentlessly onward and fishes out useless trivia. ] That artistic practice of limning in gold, I mean. That’s what it’s called where I’m from.
[ It was, of course, a metaphor he’d considered over those long months of reforging himself, what with those literally-golden runes carving out the shape of spells. His new future woven in gold thread. He shakes off the brief distraction, reorients himself, answers the question. Isaac’s been close enough to heal Strange’s arm and see the scars, and they’ve worked closely enough in the infirmary for the other man to witness the doctor’s physical limitations, so it’s hardly something to be cagey about.
The explanation is abridged, however, with the inkling that there’s a great many details being skimmed over: ]
Broke my hands in an accident, and wasn’t able to practice surgery any longer. Heard some rumour and hearsay about the existence of magic, and followed it halfway around the world and pounded on sorcerers’ doors until they agreed to teach me.
[ a tongue over the shape of it. of trivia. he listens to stephen’s abbreviated explanation, so stridently casual. as though it were nothing at all. the shape of it: desperation written between steps. why else chase a ghost?
(a world without magic. herian’s new life is near to it as they’ll get.) ]
Hunting for a fix?
[ no judgment in that. a world without magic. he finds the gap where a tooth should stand, an old sting; mingled blood and magebane. ]
[ Which is a short confirmation, and once again an elision: the desperate want, the yearning, the breaking himself open to see what he could find on the other side, forged and remade. ]
So there’s a difference, then, in how our abilities came to us. You had no choice; this life was foisted upon you. I reached for magic and chose it, over and over.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crystals; bugging u here too
Do you have much experience with the Tranquil?
no subject
[ there aren't terribly many of them left, and it'll do the world a spot of good if the rest die off before anyone gets an idea about it -
but they aren't that lucky, or he wouldn't be getting a call. ]
Why?
no subject
Her condition isn’t the issue, of course, but— she has some ugly wounds which healed badly, so I’d like for you to do a brush-up on them if possible. I cleaned them and got rid of the dead tissue and re-did the dressings, but I figure some magical intervention in addition can’t hurt.
no subject
[ unfortunately for this war of the lions puppet show, just now getting to the good bit. cheers over the crystal as a tiny axe drops, and gaspard's head clatters into the coin bucket. some quick-fingered kid reaches to snatch it out - ]
Who's attacking Tranquil, and how have we acquired her?
[ he's walking. ]
no subject
Some renegade cult is making Tranquil, which I find deeply concerning, and the organisation will need to follow up. She came here because she used to work for Riftwatch. One Herian Amsel, if you know her— sorry if you do and you’re close, I’m shit at news. But you’ll see shortly regardless.
no subject
[ he knows her. an obstacle, a tedious moderate - when not preoccupied with rifters. if she’s been targeted, then it’s bad. forget the organization following up, the fucking rebellion needs to -
(good luck with that. the grand enchanter will only hand it back to them: fix this, before i spin it,)
a breath out. one foot before the other. strange must be as agitated, and newer of it. still, something spurs the unhappy admission, ]
I’d always thought profit would do it. They’re more valuable than your average mage. I presume that's why we never won its concession,
[ but then, they wouldn't have wounded her. ideology eases some matters, but it allows the chantry to disclaim the whole affair. a pause. belated: ]
A street play. The crowd - you caught them at the blood.
no subject
( A beat on his end, before his own unhappy admission; less experienced, less knowledgeable, without all the weight of decades’ personal history to speak from, but Strange is technically in this boat with them. )
I would think control. Circles could already be bad enough, a form of control. And if you already have the capacity to make one Tranquil, why not all of them: all mages, all rifters, threats neutralised.
no subject
[ and this one could prove the greater problem. the sound he makes is near agreement: control, yes -
but there's use in magic, utility in mages, or they'd all be drowned as children. a tranquil runesmith is more valuable than your average, terrified mage; not more than a trained knight-enchanter. control. very well. a threat, then. a show of force. ]
How certain are we this is fringe? The group she named, that they are without backing,
[ fix this, he isn't averesch. spin it,
better for the lot of them not to call this a cult. ]
no subject
no subject
[ it sounds like a cult. but cults own funding and friends (can be made to appear to). he'll need to turn up names, of course. determine who to implicate.
can't do that without playing your hand a little: ]
Any investigation must emphasize the possibility.
no subject
( What follows is the sound of Doctor Strange thinking it through aloud. He’s paranoid enough that he could consider anything, and can’t rule anything out. God, he hates politics, even if he’s getting plunged into a crash course in mage politics, )
—then again, it’d hardly be the first time that an organisation’s left hand didn’t know what the right was doing. Not the literal Hands, but hell, that too.
no subject
[ but the grand cathedral is. ]
The world doesn't pause for war, and this has spanned the better part of a decade. We need ask ourselves not only what has been done, but what ought to be. You disapprove, of course, of the practice? Branding, severing,
[ uncontroversial, among rifters. ]
no subject
So with that in mind, Strange simply opts for being what he’s always been: forthright. )
I disapprove, yes. To a frankly undiplomatic degree.
no subject
[ a pause of boots, a convenient alley. there are some conversations for which to at least pretend privacy. ]
Whether or not some dismal cleric has graced this venture with their explicit approval, Beatrix favours Tranquility. She will resume its use. But barbaric acts polarize - they have always needed to wrap the Rite in the soft blanket of choice.
[ the choice between a blade and a brand. ]
If we do not act carefully, this strengthens their position. They will tell us that what was done to Amsel was unacceptable -
Not as the Circles will do it, when it's our turn. Do you follow?
no subject
( For all the occasional grey-area nuances in Strange’s former professional life — fighting a grieving sorcerer who lost his wife and son and wasn’t that relatable, and learning from a hypocritical mentor who then set the stage for Strange reaching for dark magic himself — but other things had been so comfortingly predictable in the Sorcerer Supreme’s world. An evil cult was an evil cult. Like, just go take care of them.
But this— )
So. Best to not to cast it as some monstrous deviation from the norm. Align this barbaric Tranquility more with what’s been done and has always been done by the Chantry, so people might paint their reactions to it with the same brush.
no subject
[ isaac is not a hopeful man. hope didn't drag him from the loyalists, or feed them to new friends. but it takes more than good people to make a better future. ]
When Cumberland attempted to reconvene the College, they proposed to restore Tranquility, imagining themselves immune. There will be more such drafts, letters, and meetings — oh, mages love a meeting —
We cannot control how Amsel reports her attack. But she will not be alone to investigate it. Can she and I rely upon you?
no subject
And regardless who might be pulling the strings at the end of the day, I’d want to investigate to find out and stop it.
no subject
[ a pause. at last, a less clipped pace, ]
I presume this was your first such encounter.
no subject
Yes. I’d heard of them before, read about it, discussed the practice with other mages, but this was the first time I’ve ever met someone Tranquil. Let alone one so— fresh.
no subject
[ he isn't speaking of herian. the rasp of paper and packet, a cigarette muffles for the edge of his mouth. ]
What did she make you think of?
[ there's ever something. a memory, a face, some old injustice; the tranquil are often as mirrors. ]
no subject
In my universe, there’s this outdated practice— I’m sure other places have resorted to this monstrosity as well, but regardless. Lobotomy. It was a supposed method to cure various mental disorders by purposefully damaging the brain, severing connections in the mind, leaving the patients… reduced, afterward. Personality and intellect and emotions blunted.
My medical specialty is all about the brain, the mind, the nerves, repairing damage and restoring function.
Say your job is to restore precious and fragile vases, and here’s someone going around grabbing those vases and irreversibly smashing them on the ground. I hate to see it.
no subject
[ mused agreement: kostos may speak more of reversibility, but strange is both a doctor and a damaged man, he knows well as isaac that the cleanest scar yet seams. ]
Limn the pieces in gold, and you’ve still a different vessel. She’ll be changed of this no matter how matters proceed.
[ an injury of craft. irritating in the abstract, the egotistic — fucking smothering up close. wasted energy, wasted suffering; to watch the eyes fade, the teeth blunt. waiting for the art and joy of life to ash itself. he's wondered a time if inaction might better caution. let voss limp, allow rowntree to struggle for grip. perhaps they'd think twice to throw themselves upon the sword.
(but he doubts it. but he needs them to, they all so desperately need it.) ]
How did you find a new path?
no subject
[ It was, of course, a metaphor he’d considered over those long months of reforging himself, what with those literally-golden runes carving out the shape of spells. His new future woven in gold thread. He shakes off the brief distraction, reorients himself, answers the question. Isaac’s been close enough to heal Strange’s arm and see the scars, and they’ve worked closely enough in the infirmary for the other man to witness the doctor’s physical limitations, so it’s hardly something to be cagey about.
The explanation is abridged, however, with the inkling that there’s a great many details being skimmed over: ]
Broke my hands in an accident, and wasn’t able to practice surgery any longer. Heard some rumour and hearsay about the existence of magic, and followed it halfway around the world and pounded on sorcerers’ doors until they agreed to teach me.
no subject
[ a tongue over the shape of it. of trivia. he listens to stephen’s abbreviated explanation, so stridently casual. as though it were nothing at all. the shape of it: desperation written between steps. why else chase a ghost?
(a world without magic. herian’s new life is near to it as they’ll get.) ]
Hunting for a fix?
[ no judgment in that. a world without magic. he finds the gap where a tooth should stand, an old sting; mingled blood and magebane. ]
no subject
[ Which is a short confirmation, and once again an elision: the desperate want, the yearning, the breaking himself open to see what he could find on the other side, forged and remade. ]
So there’s a difference, then, in how our abilities came to us. You had no choice; this life was foisted upon you. I reached for magic and chose it, over and over.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bowmoji?