[ Untaken roads don’t interest Bastien very much, once they’re behind him. Not fifteen waking minutes of his life have been cumulatively devoted to wondering what might have happened if he’d stayed with his family, if Vincent had said yes, if he’d never quit as a bard, if Byerly had stayed in Orlais—any of it. None of that happened. Who cares. The future is much more interesting.
But he gives a good fifteen seconds of thought to the thought of Byerly, good-hearted in a bad crowd, fresh from two heartbreaks and a murder, with his penchants for misery and drinking. Fifteen seconds imagining who he might have become if he hadn’t been offered something steady to turn his energy toward. That’s plenty for Bastien to decide he’s glad. ]
It sounds—well, you know. If I praise it too much they will come take away my antiroyalist card.
[ A joke. Mostly. Kind of. It isn’t only Byerly’s you’re mine that would make Bastien refuse even very good recruitment efforts. ]
But it sounds like a perfectly respectable arm of a reasonably benevolent government. [ That is sincere. ] And I am glad you were not out there alone.
[ He holds the fingers Byerly is playing with out flat over his leg. Piano keys. ]
Do you think it will be the same when you go back, after you have done all of this?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2021-07-26 09:33 pm (UTC)But he gives a good fifteen seconds of thought to the thought of Byerly, good-hearted in a bad crowd, fresh from two heartbreaks and a murder, with his penchants for misery and drinking. Fifteen seconds imagining who he might have become if he hadn’t been offered something steady to turn his energy toward. That’s plenty for Bastien to decide he’s glad. ]
It sounds—well, you know. If I praise it too much they will come take away my antiroyalist card.
[ A joke. Mostly. Kind of. It isn’t only Byerly’s you’re mine that would make Bastien refuse even very good recruitment efforts. ]
But it sounds like a perfectly respectable arm of a reasonably benevolent government. [ That is sincere. ] And I am glad you were not out there alone.
[ He holds the fingers Byerly is playing with out flat over his leg. Piano keys. ]
Do you think it will be the same when you go back, after you have done all of this?