contact part deux

[bouchonne]

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

Comments

:’C

[cozen]

[ Bastien grins and echoes the tap with a knee bounce. ]

I will use it to start an Orlesian strike. No more work from us until we are allowed to paint the fortress sunrise orange.

[ It goes without saying, he assumes, that he would never rat Byerly out to anyone. ]

So she would have been on their side before the rifters were tied to them. I suppose that makes sense—selflessness, or guessing it was inevitable. Either way.

[bouchonne]

Or she's a mage in her own right. Plenty of Rifters are.

[ A shrug. ]

Or she was fucking a mage.

[ A little more acid than is Byerly's wont lately. It's clear, despite his smile, that Petrana pissed him right the fuck off. ]

[cozen]

Have they been together that long?

[ Mild, and mostly rhetorical. Neither of them were here at the time of the negotiations to know who was and was not sleeping together. But the room Madame de Cedoux shares with the two enchanters is obvious enough now.

He lets go of By's hand, finally, but only to fuss with his hair instead. ]

I did find it strange how eager people seemed to be cross with you—I mean, you have to forgive people for thinking you might be trying to cause trouble sometimes when you aren't. You have made a reputation for yourself. But I wouldn't think don't panic, it's complicated, it might not happen would be so controversial.

[bouchonne]

I'm not sure, truthfully. I haven't charted her affairs.

[ Which might sound sarcastic, if it wasn't coming from Byerly, who actually does note down the romantic entanglements of important people. ]

And I rather felt the same. I do wish people would recognize when I'm being malicious. I'm really quite good at it. It's a point of pride for me that everyone knows when I'm trying to offend them - I don't do it by accident.

[cozen]

[ It's serious—and he has picked up on Byerly being genuinely bothered, and he won't be letting that go—but a quick, grinning interlude: ]

Maybe you should use very different voices. A hello, I am here to be a problem voice, [ Bastien says, with no attempt at a Fereldan accent but a purring sort of relish, ] and a hello, I am here to solve a problem voice, [ in a much milder and reasonable tone. ]

[bouchonne]

[ Ha. ]

And I could adopt a different name for each persona. Whyerly and Tryerly.

[cozen]

[ Bastien laughs and has to repeat that to himself, Whyerly and Tryerly, because it's so great. Two breaths to swallow the laugh back in, and he's more serious again. Not completely serious, still smiling and faintly tickled, but more. ]

Maybe it was because—they are afraid, you know. I would be afraid. And none of the people who think it is right for them to go into Circles were piping up to say so, and there you were, the non-magical outsider.

[bouchonne]

Maybe it was because they profit off the Rifters' fear.

[cozen]

[ A nod, with his head slanted thoughtfully. ]

Are you worried they will do more than talk?

[bouchonne]

Of course.

[ A shrug. ]

They proved before that they'll move to deeds easily enough. Why not now?

The best circumstance, so far as I'm concerned, would be if they stormed out in a fury tomorrow.

[cozen]

[ Bastien doesn't need to tell Byerly that magic is useful, when it's on their side, so he doesn't. ]

A lot of the rifters would go with them.

[bouchonne]

The same Rifters who would fight on their behalf.

[cozen]

If it comes to that. Until then they are fighting on ours. There has to be a reason for them, don't you think?

[bouchonne]

One would hope so. Because if there isn't a specific reason they're fighting with us, then there's nothing stopping them from working secretly on Corypheus' behalf.