text.

[ex_spins462]

A little fun for the unplugged among us. Name one thing from your Matrix and other people can say if they heard of it in theirs. Maybe find a little common ground.

I'll start: New York City.

Comments

[dissent]

What he means is, they are allowed to live in a tower with all the other good mages. Under constant guard, of course, lest they give into their baser natures.

[hacker]

He's from your Matrix.
Did they do this to you?

[dissent]

Yes.
I was taken away from my family when I was nine, because I set the barn on fire accidentally.

[hacker]

Oh my god.
How many people? And no one stepped up to stop them? That's INSANE. You didn't do anything wrong, you were just a kid.

[halatinous]

yes, this one has a fine story for you. wait until he gets to the part where he blew up a chantry full of innocent people. and it was no accident.

[hacker]

[ no.

nonononono. the song and dance is too familiar, leaves her feeling ill like she hasn't felt since she first got out. she has to walk away, so her response takes a few minutes. a few minutes she spends pushing her hands back over the short bristles of her buzzcut, fingers curling at the back of her neck as she ducks her head.

what is it about skye that just draws in the monsters? is it because she is one herself? ]

you just sat here trying to justify internment camps to me and i'm supposed to believe you're the moral high ground

[dissent]

The Chantry preaches that all mages are weak, and then force them to live a life imprisoned and feared. Those that don't go insane, or turn to darker powers to free themselves, often take their own life. An Apostate, a mage who does not belong to a Circle, may be free, but the cost is a constant fear of being caught. The only true refuge is Tevinter, and honestly, Fenris is right to call it corrupt, all blood magic and slavery.

[hacker]

is it true?
you blew the chantry up.
killed innocent people.

[dissent]

Yes. I'm told it started a revolution.

[ He should probably explain further, but these days it all feels like excuses. ]

[hacker]

tell me they were all responsible for it.
tell me that the people in that church were all working to keep the mages locked up
just tell me they were some kind of monsters but don't tell me you were a freaking terrorist

[dissent]

No. I was the monster.

I'm sorry. I should have been more forthright. It's one of those things that I'm supposed to have detached from.

[hacker]

You can't just detach from killing a whole bunch of people.

[dissent]

That's what I've been trying to tell my recovery team, yes.

[forcemageure]

That's a lot closer to the right picture than what he's going to let you believe, actually.

[hacker]

You were there too?

[forcemageure]

Believe me, I couldn't swing my arms for how "there" I was.

[halatinous]

like you did.

[BECAUSE WHO ELSE COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE.]

[dissent]

[ He's spent two years getting over this and he's still immediately furious. ]

Justice did what he saw as necessary. Mages have just as much right to freedom as anybody else.

[halatinous]

not a shred of remorse or responsibility, eh. that's hardly surprising

[dissent]

You're wrong, about both. But who would you have me apologize to? The machines? Zion?

[halatinous]

'justice did what he saw as necessary.' no. you did what you saw as necessary. you.

[dissent]

You know, it is possible for both those things to be true.

[halatinous]

that doesn't make you any less at fault. whether it was you, or the demon, or some mix of the two--your hands crafted the bomb. your mouth lied to hawke.

[dissent]

I lied to Hawke because I would not let him have that blood on his hands. As it is on mine. It's not as though I relish what I did, but I wouldn't take it back. Not when that would damn just as many innocent mage lives.

[halatinous]

of course you wouldn't. you got what you wanted. a war.