[Oh. Son. It starts to come together now. He doesn't, after all, know that many people who have got a son.]
I'm called Matthias. I don't think I said. And I didn't mind, 'course, and I wouldn't have been much better if I were you, I reckon, even though I haven't-- [He winces at himself. Shut up.] You're all right, is what I mean.
[ She has no idea who knows him less formally and she doesn't want to accidentally embarrass him where she shouldn't. Likely, he would tell her not to worry but that's not how being a part of this family works. ]
[Ohhhh, shit, is what he really means. Speaker Fabria. The name is big, the title is big if weird, and Matthias is... not exactly impressed with what he knows, but he remains hopeful. Surely Speaker Fabria has to be sort of cool.
So he needs to be careful here, then. Right. Right.]
I joined after the Battle at Ghislain. I'm a mage as well, like your cousin. Speaker Fabria. Not--precisely like him, I've not got any titles or anything, but I was with the rebel mages, and we fought with the Inquisition at Ghislain. And we got slaughtered. Which I'm used to, sort of, but afterward...
Well, it's important, what we're doing. Working against Corypheus. Stopping all this evil that's knocking about in the world right now. There might not be that many of us and we might be a bit disorganized--more than a bit, some days--but we're here. We're fighting. Standing up against what's rotten in the world. It won't stop when we get Corypheus, it's never going to stop entirely, but we can do this bit, now, and face the rest later.
[And then, Maker's balls, he realizes that he's been going on for far too long, and bites at his lip, shut up Matthias--]
Yeah, 'course. I mean, I had to. That's the only way you get through a war, isn't it. If you know that there's something at the other end of it, I reckon you can manage, even if something is just you being alive.
I needed somewhere to be. The other option was back to an empty estate, without my husband or my son.
[ It would have been difficult to be so isolated and alive. She had decided she wasn't ready for that and followed these people here, to the edge of what was rotten in the world. ]
Your reasons have a little more grandeur. And you've survived being slaughtered more than once.
Well--I do mean it. All of it. S'not just for the sake of grandeur, or a reputation.
[And he has survived being slaughtered, loads of times, and that means something. But also it feels bad to think of. Like everyone he knew that did die, just... didn't have it. Or something. It's something he's thought before; something he's never liked.]
Your cousin, erm. Speaker Fabria. The letters that you've said he's got, or he's getting--that's going to help you find your son, yeah?
They-- [They have got Circles in Nevarra. Is that what she means? It would make sense, and Matthias knows about being taken away to one of those. But maybe it isn't the same for someone that becomes a Speaker. Could she mean something else?] I mean, but that would mean double for your side, right? If he got dragged off, he ought to be all the more ready to help you. 'Cause he knows.
He knows that he turned out just fine. That he became exactly what they wanted for him.
[ The anger creeps in to her voice. Maybe it wasn't fair to say Ilias was everything the family had dreamed, but it was more that she hadn't even come close. She hadn't turned out to be what everyone wanted, and that was why they thought they could take her son and make another proper little Fabria family asset out of him. Rather than letting her ruin it.
She trails off despondently, ]
Grandmother isn't going to have her mind changed by him.
[ And clearly Grandmother has quite a lot of control over this family. ]
[That tells him enough of Speaker Fabria, then. Still some mage that Matthias will watch, of course, but anyone that's going to assume what happened to them was best, when kidnapping was involved--anyone's that not going to help, with something like this, but let it get carried out all over again--]
That's shit. [In case she needed that said.] And if he won't help you, than he's not much better'n shit himself.
[It ought to be a lot to think of. And it is, sort of, and he only knows half of it, or really, less than half--but Matthias is also quick to take a side, especially a side that's plaintive, that's laid out so clearly, that started with someone bloody helpless and screaming in the street for their kid.]
You're in the right place, though. If you're needing help. That's what Riftwatch is for. That's what I think, anyways--and I know I'm not alone in that. If you want someone to help you work this out, you should stay. 'Cause we can. I can, if it comes to it.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-01-10 12:49 am (UTC)My name is Amal.
[ It is definitely not Widow Vokos. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-10 04:04 am (UTC)I'm called Matthias. I don't think I said. And I didn't mind, 'course, and I wouldn't have been much better if I were you, I reckon, even though I haven't-- [He winces at himself. Shut up.] You're all right, is what I mean.
Who's your cousin?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-10 04:34 am (UTC)[ She has no idea who knows him less formally and she doesn't want to accidentally embarrass him where she shouldn't. Likely, he would tell her not to worry but that's not how being a part of this family works. ]
Why did you join the Watch, Matthias?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-10 08:02 pm (UTC)[Ohhhh, shit, is what he really means. Speaker Fabria. The name is big, the title is big if weird, and Matthias is... not exactly impressed with what he knows, but he remains hopeful. Surely Speaker Fabria has to be sort of cool.
So he needs to be careful here, then. Right. Right.]
I joined after the Battle at Ghislain. I'm a mage as well, like your cousin. Speaker Fabria. Not--precisely like him, I've not got any titles or anything, but I was with the rebel mages, and we fought with the Inquisition at Ghislain. And we got slaughtered. Which I'm used to, sort of, but afterward...
Well, it's important, what we're doing. Working against Corypheus. Stopping all this evil that's knocking about in the world right now. There might not be that many of us and we might be a bit disorganized--more than a bit, some days--but we're here. We're fighting. Standing up against what's rotten in the world. It won't stop when we get Corypheus, it's never going to stop entirely, but we can do this bit, now, and face the rest later.
[And then, Maker's balls, he realizes that he's been going on for far too long, and bites at his lip, shut up Matthias--]
So. Yeah. That's why.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 02:33 am (UTC)[ Incredulous! She hasn't even planned into next week. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-15 02:05 am (UTC)[He pauses a moment, then tenders the question--]
What about you, then.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-19 01:50 am (UTC)[ It would have been difficult to be so isolated and alive. She had decided she wasn't ready for that and followed these people here, to the edge of what was rotten in the world. ]
Your reasons have a little more grandeur. And you've survived being slaughtered more than once.
[ Color her impressed?? ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-20 01:35 am (UTC)[And he has survived being slaughtered, loads of times, and that means something. But also it feels bad to think of. Like everyone he knew that did die, just... didn't have it. Or something. It's something he's thought before; something he's never liked.]
Your cousin, erm. Speaker Fabria. The letters that you've said he's got, or he's getting--that's going to help you find your son, yeah?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-23 03:04 am (UTC)My mother has him, and Grandmother has decided that it's for the best that she does.
[ There's a snideness to her recitation of the decision, but also a hoarseness of anger. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-23 06:17 pm (UTC)That's shit. But good, that you know where he is. Then, so-- your cousin'll help you go and get him?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-24 01:36 am (UTC)[ Help her go demand the baby? ]
No, they did the same thing to him when he was a boy.
[ Huh. That sure is a thing to say. She probably shouldn't have and she sucks in a regretful breath. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-24 10:46 pm (UTC)They-- [They have got Circles in Nevarra. Is that what she means? It would make sense, and Matthias knows about being taken away to one of those. But maybe it isn't the same for someone that becomes a Speaker. Could she mean something else?] I mean, but that would mean double for your side, right? If he got dragged off, he ought to be all the more ready to help you. 'Cause he knows.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-25 06:24 am (UTC)[ The anger creeps in to her voice. Maybe it wasn't fair to say Ilias was everything the family had dreamed, but it was more that she hadn't even come close. She hadn't turned out to be what everyone wanted, and that was why they thought they could take her son and make another proper little Fabria family asset out of him. Rather than letting her ruin it.
She trails off despondently, ]
Grandmother isn't going to have her mind changed by him.
[ And clearly Grandmother has quite a lot of control over this family. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-01-25 08:34 pm (UTC)That's shit. [In case she needed that said.] And if he won't help you, than he's not much better'n shit himself.
[It ought to be a lot to think of. And it is, sort of, and he only knows half of it, or really, less than half--but Matthias is also quick to take a side, especially a side that's plaintive, that's laid out so clearly, that started with someone bloody helpless and screaming in the street for their kid.]
You're in the right place, though. If you're needing help. That's what Riftwatch is for. That's what I think, anyways--and I know I'm not alone in that. If you want someone to help you work this out, you should stay. 'Cause we can. I can, if it comes to it.