But how can you tell the difference between a task you can't win, and a task you're just too scared to take on? It's easy to convince yourself it's the one when it's really the other.
[ all of thedas. all of tevinter, all of the south, all of everyone who is going to raise even a single argument about why it's foolhardy. ]
I would die right now if it meant every slave in Tevinter would go free. If it meant everyone in Nascere would go free and no argument would be brought to her sovereignty. [ vane's also special in that he doesn't actually talk a bigger game than he plays. part of the philosophy he lives by is that even ideas cage you, and lying to improve someone's opinion is part of that. when he says that, he means it. ] But if I die and it doesn't, our resistance is down a commander, and I've abandoned the last hope of winning that fight the more difficult way by being reckless and stupid.
Every battle is a risk, so find the ones already fighting, learn the strategy. [ numbers can be made up for with tactics, but only to a point. ] Build your army, take the fights you can handle until you can handle more. No one wins a war on luck and passion alone.
[ It makes sense. Of course it makes sense. There's no point in dying senselessly. Fred, Stan, Anne, Gladys, Mr Pennyfeather - all of them had died senselessly. Never having landed a nick on the Empire. And Kitty, she'd been ready to do the same, to die with her knives in hand, drawing what blood she could from the werewolves on her tail. But it's not right, and it's not good. It's better to fight smart, to wait for the right moment. But sometimes she feels the frustration so keenly that it might tear her apart, that she wants to go and hurl herself on the slavekeepers of Tevinter and hit them because it'll be worth it to die like that and not have to feel this frustration and rage any longer.
But it does no one any good. No one. Not even her. ]
[ not when it comes to this. or to anything he'dbe even remotely annoyed at. what had ned low said about him? there's always one - the one you don't cross.
for the most part, when a slave owner shows up in front of him, they die. end of story. the only reason thor didn't get stabbed today was john silver, and the fact vane's not actually certain for sure that the man owns slaves (though, really, if it was nascere, he'd do it anyway, for the crime of silent compliance). ]
Don't call it a fit. That makes me sound like a child, which I'm not, thanks. And also, I said I could stand to learn some of that sometimes; having a temper is more often quite useful, isn't it. I wouldn't trade mine for the world.
[ But - ]
But if you're saying that you'll tell me things when I ask, then I accept, and thanks very much.
And so what? Pirates can be polite. There's nothing about piracy that says, oh, yeah, I've got to be a bit of an arse to the people around me. I've known pickpockets and burglars who used please and thank-you like they were second nature. Pirates can, too.
[ She makes another noise - less annoyed, now, than uncomfortable. ]
I'm not joking about this. I really have had experience with this sort of thing. Which is something to keep in confidence, by the way, please. But we never acted on a large enough scale to actually do any real damage, and like I said we weren't on boats so we weren't sacking any ports or whatever, but - I have.
Something that might help you find that calm you're seeking - try being a little less serious now and again.
[ honestly, he's not joking either. she's under the impression that Nascere is some safe haven for freedom, because he hasn't spoken of the nastier sides, or what piracy really is. of ned low and how charles dealt with him. admirable as her convictions are, these aren't the people a girl with such noble values should strive to associate with. ]
The point I was making is you stop being a child when you prove you're more. It takes more than words.
[ And a bit of the annoyance comes back. She's not serious. She's got a great sense of humor. She's made jokes! Dozens of them! ]
Well, and I've proven I'm more. I mean, not here, necessarily, but - I've risked my life, and I've - taken lives. In the service of my cause. So don't think that I'm not serious about what I want to do in Tevinter, or that it's just some flight of fancy that I'll wander away from, or that I'll get scared and run away. I won't. I'm as resolved as someone three times my age.
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[ all of thedas. all of tevinter, all of the south, all of everyone who is going to raise even a single argument about why it's foolhardy. ]
I would die right now if it meant every slave in Tevinter would go free. If it meant everyone in Nascere would go free and no argument would be brought to her sovereignty. [ vane's also special in that he doesn't actually talk a bigger game than he plays. part of the philosophy he lives by is that even ideas cage you, and lying to improve someone's opinion is part of that. when he says that, he means it. ] But if I die and it doesn't, our resistance is down a commander, and I've abandoned the last hope of winning that fight the more difficult way by being reckless and stupid.
Every battle is a risk, so find the ones already fighting, learn the strategy. [ numbers can be made up for with tactics, but only to a point. ] Build your army, take the fights you can handle until you can handle more. No one wins a war on luck and passion alone.
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But it does no one any good. No one. Not even her. ]
How d'you keep your calm?
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[ not when it comes to this. or to anything he'dbe even remotely annoyed at. what had ned low said about him? there's always one - the one you don't cross.
for the most part, when a slave owner shows up in front of him, they die. end of story. the only reason thor didn't get stabbed today was john silver, and the fact vane's not actually certain for sure that the man owns slaves (though, really, if it was nascere, he'd do it anyway, for the crime of silent compliance). ]
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Dunno. Just how I am.
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Next time you feel you need it, instead of working yourself into a fit, come talk to me.
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Don't call it a fit. That makes me sound like a child, which I'm not, thanks. And also, I said I could stand to learn some of that sometimes; having a temper is more often quite useful, isn't it. I wouldn't trade mine for the world.
[ But - ]
But if you're saying that you'll tell me things when I ask, then I accept, and thanks very much.
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[ ignoring all of the rest of that, because he's charles vane and he does what he wants. ]
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Nearly seventeen.
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[ nearly only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. ]
My crew didn't stop calling me 'boy' until I was 25 and their captain.
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No. I'm just saying that I've done most of the things you've done, too, just off of boats instead of on 'em.
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[ a chuckle, because oh, booboo, you aren't even old enough to fit most of what he's done into your life yet. ]
So what was the last port town you sacked?
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I'm not joking about this. I really have had experience with this sort of thing. Which is something to keep in confidence, by the way, please. But we never acted on a large enough scale to actually do any real damage, and like I said we weren't on boats so we weren't sacking any ports or whatever, but - I have.
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[ honestly, he's not joking either. she's under the impression that Nascere is some safe haven for freedom, because he hasn't spoken of the nastier sides, or what piracy really is. of ned low and how charles dealt with him. admirable as her convictions are, these aren't the people a girl with such noble values should strive to associate with. ]
The point I was making is you stop being a child when you prove you're more. It takes more than words.
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Well, and I've proven I'm more. I mean, not here, necessarily, but - I've risked my life, and I've - taken lives. In the service of my cause. So don't think that I'm not serious about what I want to do in Tevinter, or that it's just some flight of fancy that I'll wander away from, or that I'll get scared and run away. I won't. I'm as resolved as someone three times my age.
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