![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[ That earns a quick, broad grin. A fox to curl around his finger—it’s a nice thought. Perhaps he can find someone to enchant it. One of the littler enchantments. Some resistance to cold. ]
How badly do you think we would tease ourselves, if we were twenty [ -something ] again?
How badly do you think we would tease ourselves, if we were twenty [ -something ] again?
Mm. I would love you desperately no matter what, of course. With all my heart, for all my life.
[ Disgusting. ]
But if we didn't have something to make it unusual and avant-garde, I would have to be a little meaner to you. Ironic, you know? Cool. Since you have brought all this untraditional business into it already, I can be nice to you all the time.
[ Disgusting. ]
But if we didn't have something to make it unusual and avant-garde, I would have to be a little meaner to you. Ironic, you know? Cool. Since you have brought all this untraditional business into it already, I can be nice to you all the time.
[Fifi approaches his workroom desk with a little smile, lightly clutching a piece of stationery.]
Bastien? Have you got a moment?
Bastien? Have you got a moment?
I wondered if you might pen a note for me.
[She accepts the chair, sitting gracefully and tucking her feet below her.]
[She accepts the chair, sitting gracefully and tucking her feet below her.]
[Always Orlesian. She hands over the stationery and clasps her hands together on her lap, sitting up straight to recite what she's planned.]
Messere Jayce Tallis,
[she begins,]
Messere Jayce Tallis,
[she begins,]
[It wouldn't be LADYLIKE, BASTIEN,]
For your bravery and care in assisting Madame de Foncé and myself that dreadful day on the ferry, I want to thank you.
If ever there is a way I can return the kindness, you need only ask.
Your--
[she pauses, pursing her lips.]
...'your servant' has its own implications, doesn't it.
For your bravery and care in assisting Madame de Foncé and myself that dreadful day on the ferry, I want to thank you.
If ever there is a way I can return the kindness, you need only ask.
Your--
[she pauses, pursing her lips.]
...'your servant' has its own implications, doesn't it.
[She wrinkles her nose.]
Your...
[her eyes go distant a moment as her brain works.]
...what about just 'yours'?
Your...
[her eyes go distant a moment as her brain works.]
...what about just 'yours'?
[She actually thinks on it a moment. Then,]
Fifi Mariette.
[Byerly called her Fournier once, and it was devastatingly lovely—- but that’s not officially her name, and there’s no need to complicate it.]
…thank you, my dear.
[This to Bastien, in gracious forgiveness of his cheek.]
Someday I will learn to write.
[When she isn’t tired all the time.]
Fifi Mariette.
[Byerly called her Fournier once, and it was devastatingly lovely—- but that’s not officially her name, and there’s no need to complicate it.]
…thank you, my dear.
[This to Bastien, in gracious forgiveness of his cheek.]
Someday I will learn to write.
[When she isn’t tired all the time.]
Always.
[She takes the letter with a smile, rolling it into a little scroll and brandishing a bright green length of ribbon from her apron, no doubt to deliver it as soon as she leaves the room.
She's just finished tying the bow when she pauses to stare at it.]
Yes.
[She takes the letter with a smile, rolling it into a little scroll and brandishing a bright green length of ribbon from her apron, no doubt to deliver it as soon as she leaves the room.
She's just finished tying the bow when she pauses to stare at it.]
Yes.
I'm sorry.
[ He wasn't there. Not that he could have done anything if he had been. He's a poor swimmer himself, and his style of fighting is generally not effective against giant monsters, and they had Monsieur Tallis and were alright in the end anyway. Except, ]
I miss Murph. He was funny.
[ To Bastien, at least, who can coax out good humor from the majority of people who have any capacity for it and take gruffness in stride. ]
I went by to see his wife a few weeks ago, but she was gone. The neighbor said she had gone to stay with her son in Wycome.
[ He wasn't there. Not that he could have done anything if he had been. He's a poor swimmer himself, and his style of fighting is generally not effective against giant monsters, and they had Monsieur Tallis and were alright in the end anyway. Except, ]
I miss Murph. He was funny.
[ To Bastien, at least, who can coax out good humor from the majority of people who have any capacity for it and take gruffness in stride. ]
I went by to see his wife a few weeks ago, but she was gone. The neighbor said she had gone to stay with her son in Wycome.
He was a good man.
[She leans her hip against Bastien's desk with a little sigh-- it's strange to be talking about this after everything that's happened: a painful little shock, remembering that some people who die don't get to come back.]
I hope she and her son are able to find peace.
[She leans her hip against Bastien's desk with a little sigh-- it's strange to be talking about this after everything that's happened: a painful little shock, remembering that some people who die don't get to come back.]
I hope she and her son are able to find peace.
[Some days after receiving the T.R.I.P., a note is left in Bastien's pigeonhole. It reads—]
Monsieur Royan,
Thank you for the very thoughtful assembly of articles regarding the late Provost. It was very kindly done. I hope you all will not be so inconvenienced by his disappaearance that you no longer have the opportunity to play music together. I suspect any initial approval on his part—one does enjoy being missed, after all—would eventually subside, and he would have greatly preferred it if you all continued along in his absence.
Warm Regards,
W.
Page 67 of 73