[She looks tired, but no more than anyone else. She's been pitching in wherever she can, and when she's not needed, making notes about what to replace if it can't be salvaged and considering ways to do without what can't be replaced. She's working on the latter when he stops by, but looks up readily enough.]
[For his part, Flint shares in that air of overwork. Tired. Grit under the fingernails. Something slightly taut about the eyes that suggests he's spent the last ten hours squinting either against the sun or skeptically as someone.
Let's assume there's a door here wherever Cosima has posted up. He pulls it shut behind him, but doesn't move to make himself more comfortable than that. Evidently he intends this to be a brief, but private, conversation.]
It's something of a reverse case. I've made the decision to take the Walrus and its crew north to assist the rebels directly.
[Straight to the point.]
Obviously these are less than ideal circumstances to leave the Gallows in, but I cared to give my vote of confidence regarding Barrow and Roundtree directly. If there's something you need of Forces, the pair of them should prove reliable.
[There's a small pause as she processes this information.]
...right. Jesus. Okay.
[If it were a standard field mission, he wouldn't be telling her this way. Wouldn't be earmarking who can help, either. It's not as if he has to fully paint a picture. For a moment, she almost is ready to leave it there; it's not as if she expects to change his mind. But on the other hand, if he's leaving:
Do you think we're done? Riftwatch. Not ... Look, I'm going to keep fighting Corypheus and the Venatori as long as I'm alive to fight them. I think that's true for a lot of the people here. But there's a lot of people fighting in a lot of places and in a lot of ways. Do you think Barrow and Rowntree can take care of what I need, or are you leaving because you think we can't do anything especially useful anymore and fuck it, the two of them are as good as anyone under those circumstances?
[It's as good a question as any. From the man's broadly unflinching bearing, it may even be the question he has been more or less anticipating. If not from Cosima, then certainly from any number of the rest of the company.
(It is why he will suggest, either to her or to one of the other Division Heads, that they make no great announcement of his leaving on anything but ordinary fieldwork until the position has been filled with a substitute. Under the current circumstances, it might cause a kind of needless anxiety.)]
What I think, [he says.] Is that Riftwatch is as relevant as it ever has been, but that it is rapidly approaching the point that it will need to make difficult decisions with respect to which of its friends it best wishes to please. I'm choosing to believe it will fall on the side of those who would see the cast offs of the Imperium treated with some dignity rather than trampled under the foot of the March.
Which is why I'm going now. It will mean more to the people there to make the effort when they're at their most vulnerable, and Kirkwall at its weakest.
backtagging after the official announcement like a rebel
[It's not a very satisfying answer, but it seems like an honest one. Not because she thinks Flint incapable of lying to her, but because she doesn't see any particular reason he needs to at present. It's not like she's going to stop him going, and he doesn't seem the kind to sugarcoat.]
Well, you've made your choice to remove yourself from what we do next. But thanks anyway, for an honest answer. I think everyone knows I've never been team Chantry, whatever happens next, but it's going to be...
[She breaks off. She's going to talk herself in circles, probably, if she starts picking at the threads he's left by ripping himself out of Riftwatch. That conversation probably does need to happen but it won't be with Flint himself. At least not productively. Instead, she asks:]
As soon as the Walrus can be supplied and the crew recalled. A week, at most. Less than, if it can be managed.
[This too is a blunt arrangement of facts, though it allows for the opportunity to add—]
I recommend it be kept quiet to some degree until things settle here. If news of my going spreads, there will be people here who may see more sense in going with. I don't much care to rob Riftwatch's ranks.
[More than he is already, in any case.
(He doesn't say 'You're welcome,' but maybe it's implied in his bearing.)]
Yeah. I assume you've talked with the Scoutmaster or you're going to.
[As much as he's presenting not taking even more of Riftwatch with him as a gift, Cosima can imagine how much Yseult won't see it that way. Not that Cosima plans to try to parse, now or ever, Flint and Yseult's working relationship.]
Look, I'm not going to pretend I'm thrilled. But you're going to do what you're going to do, and we'll figure it out. I appreciate you not just leaving without a word, I guess.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
...Commander. How can I help?
no subject
Let's assume there's a door here wherever Cosima has posted up. He pulls it shut behind him, but doesn't move to make himself more comfortable than that. Evidently he intends this to be a brief, but private, conversation.]
It's something of a reverse case. I've made the decision to take the Walrus and its crew north to assist the rebels directly.
[Straight to the point.]
Obviously these are less than ideal circumstances to leave the Gallows in, but I cared to give my vote of confidence regarding Barrow and Roundtree directly. If there's something you need of Forces, the pair of them should prove reliable.
no subject
...right. Jesus. Okay.
[If it were a standard field mission, he wouldn't be telling her this way. Wouldn't be earmarking who can help, either. It's not as if he has to fully paint a picture. For a moment, she almost is ready to leave it there; it's not as if she expects to change his mind. But on the other hand, if he's leaving:
Can I ask you something? Straight answer.
no subject
Go ahead.
no subject
[Quiet. Focused.]
no subject
(It is why he will suggest, either to her or to one of the other Division Heads, that they make no great announcement of his leaving on anything but ordinary fieldwork until the position has been filled with a substitute. Under the current circumstances, it might cause a kind of needless anxiety.)]
What I think, [he says.] Is that Riftwatch is as relevant as it ever has been, but that it is rapidly approaching the point that it will need to make difficult decisions with respect to which of its friends it best wishes to please. I'm choosing to believe it will fall on the side of those who would see the cast offs of the Imperium treated with some dignity rather than trampled under the foot of the March.
Which is why I'm going now. It will mean more to the people there to make the effort when they're at their most vulnerable, and Kirkwall at its weakest.
backtagging after the official announcement like a rebel
Well, you've made your choice to remove yourself from what we do next. But thanks anyway, for an honest answer. I think everyone knows I've never been team Chantry, whatever happens next, but it's going to be...
[She breaks off. She's going to talk herself in circles, probably, if she starts picking at the threads he's left by ripping himself out of Riftwatch. That conversation probably does need to happen but it won't be with Flint himself. At least not productively. Instead, she asks:]
When are you leaving?
look I put things in inboxes for a reason
[This too is a blunt arrangement of facts, though it allows for the opportunity to add—]
I recommend it be kept quiet to some degree until things settle here. If news of my going spreads, there will be people here who may see more sense in going with. I don't much care to rob Riftwatch's ranks.
[More than he is already, in any case.
(He doesn't say 'You're welcome,' but maybe it's implied in his bearing.)]
no subject
[As much as he's presenting not taking even more of Riftwatch with him as a gift, Cosima can imagine how much Yseult won't see it that way. Not that Cosima plans to try to parse, now or ever, Flint and Yseult's working relationship.]
Look, I'm not going to pretend I'm thrilled. But you're going to do what you're going to do, and we'll figure it out. I appreciate you not just leaving without a word, I guess.