bouchonne: (delighted!!)
Byerly Vlad Rutyer ([personal profile] bouchonne) wrote2020-10-03 12:55 pm
Entry tags:

contact part deux

if this were modern times byerly would probably make you listen to total eclipse of the heart before you were able to leave a message
altusimperius: (smoke)

u can skip me for a bit, just assume he’s listening/processing

[personal profile] altusimperius 2023-03-27 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Benedict is abruptly very interested in the contents of his folio. His input, including facial reactions, would likely not be welcome here.]
cozen: (n176)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ If it were not for Benedict's quiet (good call) presence, Bastien might have made it personal: is that what you're doing when you apologize to me, is that what you think I'm doing when I apologize to you. And if it were not for the fact that he does have some faith in Byerly, he might have launched right into an explanation of what the point of an apology is, in detail, as if to a rifter from a world without.

It's still tempting, as revenge for him having asked.

Instead, eyebrows raising from beyond his feet on the desk: ]


Really?
altusimperius: (srsly)

[personal profile] altusimperius 2023-03-28 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Bene’s eyes flicker up almost imperceptibly. Bruh,]
cozen: (n027)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ The calm doesn’t crack. Explanation it is. ]

It’s about demonstrating that you understand why someone is upset and that you agree they aren’t wrong to be. Ideally that you are going to stop upsetting them, too.

Rolling around in shit while you do it is optional, but if that’s your preference—
cozen: (n196)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ This succinct and accurate summary of his advice causes Bastien’s dance steps to slow and then stop altogether, so he is only standing in the middle of the floor holding Byerly around the waist.

He’s not quite tall enough to press his face into By’s neck. He has to settle for his collarbone. ]
cozen: (n101)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Yseult wants professionalism. She doesn’t want to have to tell you it’s alright or think about your feelings. If you grovel, she’ll be disgusted, not pleased.

[ No one in the history of Thedas has ever been chiller than Bastien is right now. He tilts his cup to swab out a crushed leaf of mint with his fingertip and put it into his mouth. ]

Stark has some compassion, I think, but he likes to keep things breezy. He’ll be uncomfortable.

And Flint—you’re the expert on Flint. If he wants you licking his boots, fine— [ not fine actually!!!! ] —but do it in private.
cozen: (n197)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
After years of antagonism, [ carries as little judgment as the word antagonism possibly could. He is only doing this because his daydreams about moving into Lowtown and letting someone else do the paperwork for a while didn't cause Byerly to leap up and say yes let's go right now— ] they would not believe it if you did. At best they would think you had been forced, and at worst they would think it was slimy. Maybe a few of them would enjoy it, but not in a way that would make them like or trust you any more.

Honestly, I think nothing you do is likely to win them over right now. Not overnight.
cozen: (o003)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Bastien nods. By was joking; By was right. In any other situation, Bastien would be appalled to catch himself trying to turn Byerly into him. In this one—he is still appalled, in a more helpless way.

Like he said. He doesn't want By to change. He thinks he might have to anyway.

He resumes some movement. Little steps. Face still pressed to shirt. He can't hear where everyone else is in relation to them, the way he used to, and if he were here with anyone else at all, the disorganized sounds of footsteps nearer and closer would bother him. But Byerly he trusts to watch his back. ]


Do you remember when you made Lord Jauquin so mad he passed out?

[ A cardiac event that is only funny because Jauquin survived (for the time being; fifteen years later, he is the late Jauquin). And because he was an asshole. ]
Edited (calibrating their likely social circle better) 2023-03-28 15:01 (UTC)
cozen: (n027)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Bastien follows his gesture to look at Benedict, whose presence he does very much appreciate, which is why it's awful that he has to say, ]

Benedict doesn't count. Colin barely counts.

[ An unfortunate side-effect of Byerly's habit of particularly befriending and helping outcasts is that they do not have much sway with the movers and shakers of any particular faction, on account of being cast out. ]

To them, [ he clarifies, because of course Benedict and Colin count in the grand scheme of things. ] To them you are not a penniless and disinherited Fereldan mouthing off to authority. You are authority, they are the underdogs, and they perceive you as flippant and dismissive about their larger cause—which you are, sometimes, in a way. You are mouthy and droll and you love to pick at threads for the sake of it, and none of them in that little circle, [ no offense intended, ] have the personality to take that in stride, let alone play along. When you are sincere they don't think they can trust it. It will take more than groveling once to correct that.
Edited 2023-03-28 16:23 (UTC)
altusimperius: (listening)

[personal profile] altusimperius 2023-03-28 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rather than appear sting, Benedict gives a tired little shrug. It’s true, most of the rebel mages don’t take him seriously.]
cozen: (n078)

[personal profile] cozen 2023-03-28 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Or at least avoid running into it four times in a row.

[ He turns his head so it's his cheek pressed close instead. He's smiling; it's audible, even if By can't quite see at this angle. The laugh and the back rubs have pulled him back from the precipice of dire. ]

It was great. It was—I like you, you know. You're funny and you're clever and you make everything interesting. Every time we talk for more than a few minutes it becomes a little adventure. What's over that hill, what's in that cave.
untiltheyarent: (heh)

[personal profile] untiltheyarent 2023-03-29 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
[She smiles, giving a little curtsy.]

It was a combined effort, Messere. Think nothing of it.
altusimperius: (being good)

stung** dangit

[personal profile] altusimperius 2023-03-29 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[A little surprised to be put on the spot, Benedict glances first at Bastien, then returns his gaze to Byerly.]

I don’t know, exactly. All their answers would be somewhat different, and I haven’t been privy to most of the deeper conversations.

[He hunches his shoulders slightly.]

We could conduct a poll. Anonymously, of course.
altusimperius: (:3)

[personal profile] altusimperius 2023-03-29 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Benedict makes a note, pleased to have something to do, some way to contribute properly.]

I’ll have a draft for you at the end of the day, then.