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Who's the one with a mustache problem now? You egotist. You just like him because he looks like you.
[ Definitely not because he looks and acts like Byerly.
Anyway - ]
We find our way inside. Slowly. Carefully. There's danger afoot, you see - all the more so when we catch sight of someone who's undeniably a mage of Tevinter, indeed. Their robes, unmistakeable, of course. This is a dark place, a place where the scent of blood hangs on the air, where the cries of the tortured come from deep below. The danger to us is great.
But, in a moment of disaster - They find us.
[ Definitely not because he looks and acts like Byerly.
Anyway - ]
We find our way inside. Slowly. Carefully. There's danger afoot, you see - all the more so when we catch sight of someone who's undeniably a mage of Tevinter, indeed. Their robes, unmistakeable, of course. This is a dark place, a place where the scent of blood hangs on the air, where the cries of the tortured come from deep below. The danger to us is great.
But, in a moment of disaster - They find us.
[ His little gasp is nine-tenths just playing along. Of course whatever happened turned out fine; they're alive, and somewhere in this story, someone is supposedly getting hot and bothered.
But there's a tenth of genuine retroactive worry, if they really came so close to harm. ]
No.
But there's a tenth of genuine retroactive worry, if they really came so close to harm. ]
No.
Yes.
[ Incredibly dramatic - ]
They drag us kicking and screaming...is what I would like to say, except that they don't. Because on closer inspection, it turns out that those Tevinter mage robes are even more revealing than the actual Tevinter mage robes are. There's a quick-release leather codpiece involved.
[ Incredibly dramatic - ]
They drag us kicking and screaming...is what I would like to say, except that they don't. Because on closer inspection, it turns out that those Tevinter mage robes are even more revealing than the actual Tevinter mage robes are. There's a quick-release leather codpiece involved.
Oh no.
[ Entirely different tone than that no than the last one—though the smothered laughter is all delight and relief. No judgment. Putting on robes and chaining up Byerly for an "interrogation" after those terrible dreams in Wintermarch didn't leave much room for that. ]
What did you do?
[ Entirely different tone than that no than the last one—though the smothered laughter is all delight and relief. No judgment. Putting on robes and chaining up Byerly for an "interrogation" after those terrible dreams in Wintermarch didn't leave much room for that. ]
What did you do?
Oh, yes.
[ Mingled amusement and embarrassment on his end. Not that there was anything there to make him blush, of course - but it's a rude thing to walk in on uninvited. ]
We had to look around, of course, because that sort of place would be a good cover for keeping someone on actual captivity. Besides which, we couldn't rule out the prospect that Yseult and Flint weren't captured, but escaping to a steamy rendezvous.
[ Mingled amusement and embarrassment on his end. Not that there was anything there to make him blush, of course - but it's a rude thing to walk in on uninvited. ]
We had to look around, of course, because that sort of place would be a good cover for keeping someone on actual captivity. Besides which, we couldn't rule out the prospect that Yseult and Flint weren't captured, but escaping to a steamy rendezvous.
I would be fighting a person. In the tourney.
[ A sympathetic noise, for that no. Poor thing. ]
Maybe you should have recruited them.
[ Which reminds him, indirectly— ]
Any last-minute advice for winning over your colleagues here? —it is too late to pretend not to be Orlesian, unfortunately.
Maybe you should have recruited them.
[ Which reminds him, indirectly— ]
Any last-minute advice for winning over your colleagues here? —it is too late to pretend not to be Orlesian, unfortunately.
Edited 2021-08-26 23:08 (UTC)
No. I think I will win if I try to.
But if everyone saw I was bad at fighting, Nevarra might not wish to execute me.
But if everyone saw I was bad at fighting, Nevarra might not wish to execute me.
Yes. I would have my claws, but I wouldn't use them correctly.
[ There would be no mistaking her identity. ]
Do you think enough people from Nevarra will attend?
[ There would be no mistaking her identity. ]
Do you think enough people from Nevarra will attend?
[ It's certainly not the first time she has ever dropped in, but when it comes to business meetings Yseult is not generally in the habit of calling out rather than waiting (or requiring) for people to come to her. But here she is in front of the Jeshavis desk in the early evening a day or so after her return. She has brought both a bottle of wine and a notebook. ]
I hoped you might fill in anything else I missed. I assume you were involved in seeing to Scouting in my absence. I've read the paperwork, such as it is.
I hoped you might fill in anything else I missed. I assume you were involved in seeing to Scouting in my absence. I've read the paperwork, such as it is.
Of course.
[ Bastien's watching her without subtlety, while he follows that up with a nod and a scooting-aside of what he'd been working on before. He'd heard she was back, maybe glimpsed her, but he could guess her more-or-less correct priorities—work, husband, more work—and let that be enough.
When he stands up and comes around the desk, it's mostly to fetch a chair for her. But that trajectory brings him in reaching distance, and that's what he does. He's a good hugger, for the record. And a conscientious one. It only lasts two seconds before he's stepped back, hand on one of her shoulders instead. ]
You made me doubt your invincibility for a minute there, [ he says, not all that lightly. ]
[ Bastien's watching her without subtlety, while he follows that up with a nod and a scooting-aside of what he'd been working on before. He'd heard she was back, maybe glimpsed her, but he could guess her more-or-less correct priorities—work, husband, more work—and let that be enough.
When he stands up and comes around the desk, it's mostly to fetch a chair for her. But that trajectory brings him in reaching distance, and that's what he does. He's a good hugger, for the record. And a conscientious one. It only lasts two seconds before he's stepped back, hand on one of her shoulders instead. ]
You made me doubt your invincibility for a minute there, [ he says, not all that lightly. ]
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