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[magicalglowstick]

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[magicalglowstick]

[A part of him he hasn't been acknowledging until now is frightened by how much trust he's putting into someone again. A huge part of that fear is the fear of letting someone important to him down again but there's also this new, invasive feeling that's whispering, "my trust in you better not be misplaced" and it just doesn't make any sense to him.

It doesn't matter, though.]

I think that would be best. Alliances with these creatures paint a sizable target.

[chardismastic]

And right now the most viable strength of the Fourth is that his faction's kept their mouths shut and their heads down while the Fog's people are out there screaming on every other street corner in between pulling their stunt of the week. I don't know whether that's a conscious choice or not, but considering the last couple months... Can't say it's hurt them.

[ Javert and Varian, Fiddleford and his band of idiots, while others in the camp played at damage control after the fact with no real consequence... Without those factors, it's possible that Felfri would've been less palatable, its shortcomings harder to swallow but in comparison? It was a downright no brainer. Hell, Rafe would eat the hat he doesn't own to think that no one else is doing what they're now planning to.

Granted, highly unlikely that most are going to be approaching this with the same kind of strategy and forethought but. You know. That's as much a given as the Fog followers continuing to be a whole pack of jackasses pulling in nineteen different directions. ]

It's a trend I'm pretty sure would benefit us to continue, to best leverage the element of surprise when it'll get the most impact.

[magicalglowstick]

Having been on both the side of discretion and the exact opposite, I'm inclined to agree.

[The Fog Warriors were fast, quiet, even for their size you wouldn't know they were there and by the time you did it was too late. Everyone knew who they were and what they stood for but never when they were coming.

But Hawke was...blatant. Everyone had eyes on him, and a lot of it wan't his fault, but he lost count of how many times they walked right into an ambush. Every time. It was tiring.]

What do we know about the Fourth, exactly?

[He went to do some...research a while back. But then he got distracted by a certain pompous ass.] Aside from the fact that it is supposedly a child.

oops pick up lore

[chardismastic]

And that he hates the Fog near as much as we do? Well. This is based strictly on network hearsay, from others asking around for their own info, but...

[ A deep breath that he hardly needs before he starts off. Of course he's kept notes, has them on a notebook up in his room under the floorboards next to his phylactery, but he doesn't need them for a quick overview. ]

Fog and Fourth followers do seem to both put that down as fact. Kid's name used to be Elias Liewen— Same Liewen as the lab in Bavan, the guys that always show up with the laptops? Set up some random orientation table at the start of the month come hell or high water, like it's some kind of job fair instead of a fresh round of mass kidnappings.

[ Rafe rolls his eyes in dismissal of the wannabe welcome wagon that he keeps catching out the corner of his eye every month. ]

Papa Liewen apparently decided he was tired of the Fog and decided to get tinkering on a machine to suck out all the mojo what's got her going. But once he'd gotten it ready, guess he wasn't thrilled at the idea of putting himself on the line, so. He used his kid as a magic battery and shoved all the juice in him. [ Which... is fucked up. Very much so. ] That Fog priest that screwed the pooch in October said that he's permanently hooked up to those machines now. Some of those machines used to power the network but may not anymore? Hell if I know, but that whole tech affinity has at least stuck around to the point that I wouldn't trust the network with anything I would be wanting to hide from him.

oops more like HECK YEAH BITCH

[magicalglowstick]

[Fenris isn't sure what he was expecting to hear about the Fourth. What kind of...abominable summoning created this creature. But what he's not expecting is a story so familiar it could almost be a joke were someone who knew all the details of his past actually telling him this. He thought the Fourth was a demon or creature born the way that it was...not created. The Fourth wasn't just masquerading as a child. He is a child. Or was.

His posture stiffens as he thinks of a child's own father sacrificing them — then his own sister baiting him like a mouse for his master to find, just for her own gain...her own power. Blood really meant nothing, but sometimes it means everything. It depends if you're lucky enough to end up with a family who gives a shit versus one that will sell you down the river in the blink of an eye, like himself.

Then he thinks about Danarius, and the markings carved into his skin so the man could achieve something most magisters dared only dream of.

There's a far off look as his gaze finds something else in the room, but his tone is taut with anger and only just barely restrained.]

He...is not in this position of his own will then. A victim of twisted experimentation. Not like that fog monster at all.

NO I SAID OOPS AND I MEANT OOPS

[chardismastic]

[ It doesn't take a hard-boiled detective to notice every red-letter sign that Fenris is about ten times as tense as when Rafe started rattling off the facts. His head tilts a few degrees, unblinking eyes burning a hole into Fenris with the unspoken prompt to explain himself. ]

Not to start with, no.

[ The reply comes slowly as the gears visibly turn, patient, for Fenris to spill his own side of this story. Though eventually his own words return apace, ready with a counter-proposal even if he isn't sure he'd believe it. ]

But... Then again, maybe the Fog has her own fucked up origin story. Who knows. [ Irrelevant for now, perhaps, but nothing ever happens on its own. History shows (for those that come to it honestly, without agenda, without willingly putting on blinders) that nothing occurs in a vacuum. There's always a beginning before the beginning, an end after the end, ripples spreading out from every point between to interact with others and create second, third, fourth order consequences. ] Comes down to what they're doing with that power right now, what's being done for them by their priests and what's being done in the name of. Far as that goes, Fog's the only one bringing us here and slapping us down into shit.

[ ...Well. ]

Since we've been here, anyway.

[magicalglowstick]

[Rafe can keep looking, but Fenris is still pointedly avoiding his gaze, stewing in his own anger and frustration.]

Every creature has an origin. I've seen things like the Fog who twisted those around them for its own purpose, whispered into their minds — an insidious ambition such as that can last for centuries. Perhaps one time it was sympathetic, but I very much doubt that. It's evil.

[He shakes his head lightly, a weak attempt at pulling himself from his...moment. But he can't help but think of Corypheus.]

The Fourth may well be too far gone. Every bit of it that was once human may be no longer...but if I must choose a side...

...No child asks for something like that.

[Maybe he did, at some point, but what he asked for...he was a stupid child and hadn't realized the ramifications of Danarius's promise.]

[chardismastic]

I'm aware, I'm just saying— Let's not get soft just because what of we know about the kid. We stay professional.

[ Something about the background Rafe's pieced together on the Fourth has struck Fenris and struck him hard... Specifically what, he doesn't know yet but while it seems enough to nudge Fenris closer to accepting the pinball wizard into his heart? Rafe isn't exactly thrilled if it becomes something more than that.

Hence why that stare continues to bore holes into his partner, those bright blue eyes narrowed and patient. ]

Is that going to be an issue?

[magicalglowstick]

[Fenris scoffs, insulted in a way he can't properly express, mainly because he doesn't fully understand it himself. Child at some point or no, it's just as dangerous as the Fog, he knows this. And while his tone speaks of certainty, he still doesn't meet Rafe's narrowed gaze.]

I've no intention of getting soft. Have I not made my opinion on magic and creatures with power clear enough?

[chardismastic]

I'd thought so.

[ He lets the statement hang as his arms fold across his chest: a challenge, making sure that Fenris knows he knows there's more here than is being said. ]

[magicalglowstick]

I see no reason why that should change.

[It's clear, but going in depth now is just going to make Rafe question him more. At least, that's how he sees it.]

[chardismastic]

Then maybe I should get you a mirror.

[ Zing.

Honestly, how can Fenris still think that Rafe will ever let a thing lie once he knows there's something more to it? C'mon. ]

[magicalglowstick]

[Fenris makes a face — that face one makes when they know the other person is right and they're stuck. He knows where Rafe is getting at and as usual he's not allowing Fenris room to wiggle out of the subject.

He sighs and settles himself down in his seat, resigning himself to his fate.]

I never told you how these markings came to be on my body. [He always danced around the subject, or gave just enough information. It's not the easiest thing to talk about.] But I told you before that Danarius is a powerful mage. He has many experiments and research that other magisters would kill for.

[He stares down at the palm of his hand...now a claw, but still bearing the markings.]

These markings are his best work. The real reason his chase for me is so relentless. I...don't remember much from before I got them. I know that I was just a boy, that I...[Actually, that doesn't matter. He's not ready to talk about that yet.]...The process was so painful it cost me my memories.

[Fenris's gaze rises to meet Rafe's but stops just short and lands on his chest instead.]

What the Fourth's father did to it is not unlike what Danarius did to me. He turned me into a weapon. Lyrium is a volatile mineral that would cause anyone who come into contact with it permanent damage to their minds, and kill mages outright. Dwarves are the only ones who can mine it safely, and when they do they process it so that it can be used. Mages drink these lyrium potions to enhance their magic, templars drink it to help them resist magic, and some even use it to enchant armor and weapons. Mages even use it to consciously enter the Fade — a land of spirits and demons, where we are said to go when we sleep.

It's a powerful substance, present both in the physical world and the Fade, and Danarius infused it directly into my skin. Whatever I used to be, I lost it when I stepped into that sarcophagus.

So yes, I feel for the creature. But I doubt there is anything left of the child before his father twisted his very being. You don't have to worry about me going soft. The enemy of my enemy is my friend; that is all.

[chardismastic]

[ No, Fenris has never told him before and Rafe isn't about to interrupt him now. Lets him have his say even as his own skin prickles and his eyes narrow. Really seems every time he's sure he can't loathe someone he's never met any more than he already does, Fenris shares another tidbit and no, Rafe finds a few ounces more.

The words hang between them for a long moment before Rafe just shakes his head. ]

Starting to wonder if there's anything simple or straightforward to your life. I mean, just... Christ, dude. So when you talk about being able to phase, all that shit, that was from the—

[ Rafe has always called them tattoos because that's what they'd looked like, but now that he knows... Every joke about the random glow he's made up to now suddenly falls flat. He wonders whether Fenris allowed them because he's not particularly offended, or because of some holdover slave-logic. ]

It's because of the branding. [ A considering frown. ] Figured it was just a generic elf thing.

[magicalglowstick]

Yes. The markings granted me my abilities. A sort of magic without my being a mage.

[Fenris is sure that the irony doesn't need to be pointed out. And he's sure he doesn't have to actually inform Rafe that no, there is nothing simple or straightforward about his life. From the first moment he can remember there was pain and confusion and his present is no different.]

The Dalish give their clan members vallaslin when they come of age. The designs represent an elven god of their choice. I...the gift shop in the cursed museum had "temporary" ones, whatever that means. [And yes, Fenris took some because he hoards things, it's what he does. But anyway:] Many have mistaken me for a Dalish because of these markings. I would not be surprised if the design is meant to be a mockery of the elvhen.

[chardismastic]

Would track with what you've told me of the prick.

[ Mockery and debasement going hand in hand with the arrogance and base cruelty that has to come with the idea of owning another person like they're just a slightly more ambulatory ottoman. Rafe shakes his head in disquiet, another piece of information filed away before accepting what Fenris has told him at face value. ]

But if you're certain it won't be an issue, then it won't be. [ Setting his jaw, he arches an eyebrow. ] And it won't do to put this off later.

[ Because of course Rafe is ready to do this here and now, before any hesitation can set in and the part of himself that hasn't stopped screaming for nigh on six months cracks his resolve with how batshit crazy his un-life continues to be. ]

[magicalglowstick]

It won't be.

[Just one more affirmation, because Fenris is sure it won't be a problem. He has put down many people he considers friends in his lifetime, people he felt for, people he pitied, whether it was because their minds were lost or because he was simply ordered to.

It won't be a problem.]

You...wish to do this now, then? [Well, shit.] If you're truly certain then...I suppose putting it off is pointless.

[chardismastic]

We've been here long enough, don't you think? [ With that business taken care of, he stands and rolls his good shoulder. ] I'll find you after. If you don't hear from me in thirty, I'm doing this in my room.

[ He doesn't know how much the Fourth would be able to pick up on, what he already knows, but the least they can do is to split up and make it hard for the little god. ]

[magicalglowstick]

[Fenris hesitates a moment, but otherwise gives a nod of his head, posture straightening as he's now on alert. Or, more alert. He finds most days he's on alert regardless if he has reason to be or not.]

Right. I will be here then.

[Hopefully it won't take too long because he will spend every second worrying.]

[chardismastic]

[ One thing to say for the Fourth, he's to the point. Something Rafe can appreciate in the midst of everything else about their situation and it's creeping on that half-hour mark when he exits his room. His arm itched like a son of a bitch when the circuits first fused but it's easing fast.

He doesn't feel any different as he comes back downstairs to find Fenris and show he's in— Well, as many pieces as he went up in. The frustration at the lack of immediate change (not any stronger that he can tell, no wings, no laser eyes, definitely not any larger, dammit) makes him sour, distracts him from noticing the lack of shadow he casts in the already-darkened house.

So Fenris may be startled when Rafe's voice comes from seemingly nowhere as he invisibly glides toward the couch. ]

Here's hoping we don't live to regret this.