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[cozen]

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[bouchonne]

Ha. You're right. And I wouldn't even think of denying her pay - she works damned hard.

Plain, or gaudy?

[cozen]

[ Bastien hums thoughtfully. ]

I want it to look like you. Like something you would wear, I mean. Maybe on the less flashy end of that spectrum, but not all the way to my end of it. Something our friends will look at and guess came from you, you know?

[ He glances up. ]

Do you want one?

[ The ring he gave Byerly before wasn’t for this—not for promises and claims and labels. It doesn’t count. ]

[bouchonne]

Yes.

[ He'd have hesitated if Bastien hadn't been so certain. Would have hemmed and hawed a bit to save face. So he's glad Bastien answered first, so that he can be forthright. ]

Something with a fox.

[cozen]

[ 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?

[bouchonne]

Maker preserve us.

[ He grins in return. ]

I think tease is an understatement. Mock, more like. It's disgusting how sentimental old men get.

[cozen]

We are disgusting. Thank the Maker you are married and the relationship is, [ hm, ] openish, or I would be throwing up right now, all over our shoes.

[bouchonne]

The scandal makes it tolerable?

[cozen]

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.