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

action;

[dissolving]

He's new to this. New enough to need to shadow - take notes for the field agents -

"Katelin Boudier," Double-checking the name he's scratched on slate. Bood-yeh. He'll backtrack later, figure out how it ought to be written, "Invited you to a dinner?"

[bouchonne]

"Ah," says Byerly, "Katelin."

Byerly, it should be noted, has never spoken to this sweet-faced newcomer before. But Byerly has a perpetually knowing air, even when he does not in fact know things. So the way he addresses Cedric is familiar and comfortable. This sounds like a conversation between friends, in a way that will likely please Cedric if he's the sort of fellow who trusts a friendly stranger and rankle him if he's not.

"Does it have to be dinner? She's phenomenal company, but she has the worst cook in the world. I nearly died shitting myself the last time I went over to her place."

[dissolving]

"Didn't take her for military,"

Could be an easy quip, if he wasn't checking Byerly's expression from the corner of his eye. Cedric isn't unaware of the man's old title - and the relief with which he's sunk into the casual has been tempered by a faint, persistent whiff of desperation.

"She thought you could help her with," Fumbling to remember: "Her petition for a title?"

Something, something, failure to ratify.

[bouchonne]

"Hah," says Byerly, cheerful, evidently amused enough by the joke in a mild sort of way. It's not the funniest, but it's charming, and By is in a mood to be charmed.

"That's such a tiresome old thing, the matter of the title. I don't suppose you'd want to go in my place?" He taps his chin. "If we pasted a beard and mustache on you, and you stayed up for a few days in a row, you might pass for me."

[dissolving]

"Have to explain how you shrunk," He writes down stilts, underlines it for effect (flashes phoenetic Orlesian in the process) - "Blood magic, maybe."

His expression narrows a little. Curious:

"How close does she know you?"

Is she looking for Byerly Rutyer, or the former Ambassador?