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[foundmyselfagain]

Lay it on me.

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before i forget again, handwaves time vaguely, crystals;

[limier]

[ the inquisition has a number of gareths, at least three equipped with sending crystals. of course, one specifies the details of a name (samouel) or a title (ser) and it all goes to the proper place. very tidy.

occasionally less tidy: the memory of a middle-aged templar with four hundred other things to track. which is why when she says — ]

Gareth,

[— it's hard. flat. ]

Why am I hearing of an argument in the lines?

[ disagreements happen, are to be expected. but they need the appearance of order here. let them tussle about lyrium out of the bloody public view. ]

[foundmyselfagain]

[ Gareth stares in alarm at his crystal, holding away from him, as though it might lash out somehow. Baffled, he tried to recall any arguments he’s had involving lines that would make a woman with a voice like she gargled nails and spat them out at unsuspecting mages yell at him. His first assumption is fear, and he looks desperately around for Kostos. At least the same paranoia that makes him jump to conclusions tells him not to just admit to anything. Instead, he bullshits a story to buy himself time to think. ]

Serah, I’m not sure what you mean...unless you’re speaking of my argument with Kostos on the magical schools? Because, I’m sorry, I don’t care what he told you, the spirit school isn’t that great, and wisps are dumb. It’s just a fact! Why would you want to summon some idiot wisp when you can summon a fireball? It’s just good sense, serah.

[galvanising]

Gareth. Are you alone?

[ No other preamble seems necessary. He knows who this is. ]

[foundmyselfagain]

Well, that does seem to be the new standard.

[ Huff huff. That’s a yes, then. ]

Crystal

[justice_is_blond]

Gareth. How do you feel about the thought of connecting with other non-Loyalist mages?

[foundmyselfagain]

Are we going to war again? That’d be fun, maybe we can pull a real victory this time.

[champions]

( When next Gareth enters his room, he will find;

several fresh sets of clothes, all new and in his size, each of the shirts crisp and clean. Two of them are white, one a dark grey, and the fourth a sort of heather blue. Alongside the shirts, is a little basket of hair products, including (but not limited to!!!) two combs (one travel sized) and some very fine hair oil.

She's here. )

action

[keenly]

There's a knock at Gareth's door. Outside, Colin holds two wine bottles.

"Someone gave me fancy wine," he says dryly, "to try to convince me to sell his wine to the Inquisition. Want to taste-test and pretend we can tell the difference between fancy wine and regular wine?"

[foundmyselfagain]

Gareth swings open the door, and looks first surprised, then pleased to see Colin standing there. Then his eyes catch the bottles, and he looks a little more apprehensive. Ah, alcohol.

"I'm not a huge drinker," He admits, which is to say, he rarely ever partakes of it, despite the various jokes he'll make to the contrary. But...Colin was reaching out, and trying to be nice. And the wine was surely very fancy. "But if I'm allowed to take it slowly, I can give it a go."

crystal

[sulena]

Gareth, I hope I am finding you well.

( admittedly Saoirse can do little to hide just how grossly tired. more so, it is harder to hide the dullness in her voice. a harsh sound compared to the usual bright cheerfulness she usually speaks with. )

And, Maker forbid, not struck down with some strange illness.

[foundmyselfagain]

You are, in fact! Even if I weren't well, I'm sure I'd begin feeling better just having you call me.

[ Gareth sounds...less tired. In fact, pretty much normal. The sickness, for all that it's gripping the Gallows, has had very little effect on him. ]

I've not come down with whatever is going around, luckily. I've been trying to help with researching, in fact. It's all rather mysterious, I've not heard anything like it before.

[ It would be fascinating if it weren't bumming everyone out. Maybe if it only effected Templars. ]

[galvanising]

Gareth, it's Nell. I'd like to speak when you have a moment alone.

[ someday she won't start a crystal call this way ]

[foundmyselfagain]

Are you making some kind of confession now that we're all probably going to die? Don't worry, I already know you ate all the hot cakes last July.

[ He's probably just making shit up. ]

But I'm alone, if you have any other pressing sins to atone for.

[champions]

Gareth, I— I need help.

( A BREATHLESS, CATASTROPHIC MOMENT )

One of the flamingos has turned blue.

( or it's just Marisol being a dick )

[foundmyselfagain]

Wh--

Do you, by chance, have a Templar flamingo?

[ Maybe she turned a Templar into one. Maybe all her flamingos are actually Templars. Who is he to judge? ]

crystals;

[wythersake]

Are they sending you to Minrathous?

[ mage, mage with a title, mage with a title that involves grabbing anything that looks interesting for the inquisition — it's a decent bet gareth's going. ]

[foundmyselfagain]

Yes, surprisingly. I guess they didn't hear the whole 'destruction of the natural order' thing, huh? Or--maybe they did, and figured I'd fit in great.

--That was a joke, I'm going to behave myself.

[ Or else Nell will get after him AGAIN!! Why is he so persecuted. ]

during the minrathous disaster.

[exequy]

Gareth.

[ Not quite a question, urgently whispered from where they’ve tucked themselves out of sight. ]

Where are you?

[foundmyselfagain]

Some street or another, I don't know--This city has a dumb layout.

[ Stress in his voice belays the casual chatter, the sound of feet running on pavement, upset voices flashing past him. ]

Do you know what in the void is going on? Guards just started trying to herd people home, except, yanno. Us. They are trying to herd us, but I don't think it's to go chill at the palace.

not here

[keenly]

So there isn’t that much point in Secret Satinalia if the anonymity rule is more important than the gift itself. While there’s no note on this one, it is left at Gareth’s door and it won’t take long to figure out who made it. Colin was going to give Gareth something anyway, and the event was something he took as a sign to make it extra special.

It’s a peculiar sculpture. Coming close enough will reveal that the medium is gingerbread and various other sweets. It is a smaller replica of a chair, with a marzipan Ghast, complete with spun sugar whiskers and seeds for claws, curled up sleeping on it, surrounded by Gareth’s things—a hard caramel sugar staff, a bottle of “lyrium” blue sugar drops spilled on the cake floor, shortbread books with names and tooling pressed on delicately, a candy floss yarn ball, a sending crystal made of rock candy, and a rag doll made of an anise biscuit with dark hair and clothing iced on, clearly meant to be Kostos. Doll Kostos lies under Ghast’s paw, his scowling expression dotted to look like it has been stitched on.

And yes, all of it tastes delicious.

crystals; backdated 2 before the mission

[wythersake]

The Ghislain Circle?

[ hey buddy pal guess who needs something (that can be off-screened) ]

[foundmyselfagain]

Yep. I'm going so we can see if there's anything we can pilfer from their archives and add to ours. And, you know, because I love hanging out in Circles.

Do you want me to pick out a souvenir? A brick that says 'I went to Ghislain and all I got was this shitty momento'?

crystal.

[exequy]

Is she feeding you enough?

[foundmyselfagain]

Yes, but it's all finger food. I haven't eaten anything but tapas in ages. I'm beginning to think that's all that people from Antiva eat.

[ That's a lie. ]

a very mysterious invitation

[matchymatchy]

[ When Gareth — at some point, presumably — wakes, he'll find that he's received a terribly mysterious written invitation to meet on the edge of the Gallows, where a small decrepit wooden boat has been moored. A stranger (equally terrible, equally mysterious) may already be waiting.

Gareth doesn't have to actually follow the invitation. Not intentionally. Should he ignore or otherwise attempt to circumvent its summons, a chain of coincidences (terrible, mysterious, you get it by now) and suspiciously well-timed accidents will load the dice to get him there roughly on time.

The invitation is beautifully calligraphed, and smells like roses. It also smells like roses in the boat, owing to the enormous quantity of petals strewn within. They seem, on closer inspection, to be cheaper flowers doused in bad perfume. There are also several candles burning, which is definitely a fire hazard, but at least a self-correcting one.

OOC Note: Bartimaeus is played by Abby. Feel free to play out a thread, handwave things, or ignore it entirely, but check with each other first! ❤ ]