justice_is_blond | Inbox for Fade Rift

[ No slippers for sure. Kostos arrives approximately on time, in boots and his usual dark colors, with a book and two scrolls in the crook of his arm.

He knocks on the door even though it's cracked open. All the better not to catch anyone naked. ]

[Hope springs eternal. One day there will be slippers.

Today, though, Anders opens the door the rest of the way and gestures for Kostos to come in the rest of the way as he keeps Purrelden in place with a foot. No Nate is in evidence, and no nudity either.]

Come in, take a seat at the table.

[As soon as Kostos is in, the door gets closed and the cats are thwarted. For now.]

What did you bring?

Work. Unrelated.

[ He sits down as instructed and puts said work on the table. ]

[Now he's more curious. Maybe after they've gone through the ritual he can ask.

Anders unfurls the parchment roll the ritual is written on, using a pin cushion to hold down one edge on the table and a book to hold the bottom.]

The focus was on binding him and then pushing him out, with the goal being to push him into the Fade. But since he... resisted, he was instead pulled out and was able to manifest for a time.

[There's a little regret in his voice, though generally Anders keeps a neutral tone. He's distant enough from the matter that it doesn't hurt anymore.]

As he was far more Vengeance than Justice after being ripped out, it became a fight.

[ Kostos leans over the scroll to read it—twice—while he listens, noting the regret, because he’s observant that way, but ignoring it, because what else is he supposed to do? He doesn’t know. And if he did know he might not do it. ]

Killing him in the Fade was not an option?

He was my friend.

[His gaze is a little harder.]

He saved our lives multiple times. Go in and murder him was not a tactic I was about to choose, no. And I sincerely hope that if we're trying to find a way to work with spirits to save our Tranquil mages we're not going to be reckless with the lives of the spirits as well.

[ Kostos doesn’t look up from the scroll, and he doesn’t bristle at the assumption, because whatever. ]

We are not allowing spirits to possess anyone, for anything. [ Not for Casimir, not for justice or knowledge or whatever other abstract principle. Not happening. ] It is an academic question.

Good, because the lives of either group are not expendable.

[Wynne had apparently made it work, somehow. But as there's no way to ask her how, he's going to operate on the assumption that she's the exception rather than the norm and his struggles with Justice would be the regular.

Not being able to read things off Kostos means he's jumping around and failing to figure out what book the other mage is in, forget being on the same page. Maybe it's time to stop guessing.]

What are you thinking?

No lives are expendable.

[ —is what he's thinking. It takes him a moment to realize the question may be more general, and then he does finally look up. ]

I need to know if anything was different. About him. About what you did. Is a powerful spirit with one hand reaching into the physical world enough, or was there something else to explain why there are no reports of this happening before. You cannot have been the first abomination to speak to someone Tranquil.

[No lives are expendable. It strikes Anders that that might be the most defining thing about Kostos the other mage has said. It might be why the Loyalist had worked with Nell to rebel, to mitigate the loss of lives. And it might be even an almost healer-y sentiment.

He studies Kostos for what might be an uncomfortable few moments before nodding slowly.]

Functioning abominations are rare. I only know of two others, one with a spirit and the other with a demon. I don't know that either lost control the way I did sometimes with Justice, and it was during a loss of control that Karl came back to himself, not when we were conversing before that.

[Anders takes a breath.]

Having Justice wasn't enough. Else I would have temporarily helped other Tranquil too, just by passing through the Gallows at Hawke's side. If I was to guess, him, Justice, expressing himself, being more present, touching the physical world,
would be the key difference.

[ Kostos raises his eyebrows at the studying, but they return to their natural positions when Anders explains himself. He nods himself, abandoning his attention to the scroll—a dead end, it seems—to frowns at Anders instead. It's a thoughtful smile, not a disapproving one.

Though he does disapprove. For the record. It's just not something he feels the need to constantly assert. The past is past. ]

Did you— [ That's a plural you, Anders and his passenger. ] —touch him?

I don't know.

[It had been so long ago. Anders presses his lips together before shaking his head. He doesn't know half of what Justice got up to; most of the time all he'd been able to hope was that someone would tell him what happened when Justice had taken over.]

I don't remember most things that went on when Justice was in control. As he is not the sort to reach out or embrace it may be fair to say there was no contact while Justice was running matters. Bethany, Carver, or Aveline may be more able to say... but this was also a decade ago.

All right.

[ How much is he not going to ask Bethany, Carver, or Aveline about this? So much. Talking to people is the worst. ]

Is there anything else that you think may matter?

[He's not sure Kostos is going to ask them. Kostos is not a people person, which means Anders will have to figure out if he thinks physical contact is relevant enough to be worth bringing up that night with any of the trio.

In the meantime, Anders takes a breath and mentally goes through anything that might matter.]

Justice was invested. I don't know if whether the spirit cares or not matters, but he did because I did. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know?

[If Kostos is asking about 'anything else,' the not-people-person's tolerance for a people person might be running low. Anders doesn't see a point to keeping the guy longer than is needed.]

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