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

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[bouchonne]

What are you talking about? We certainly would have.

[ He scoffs aloud, but the scorn is undercut by the way he runs his thumb over Bastien's knuckles - warm, adoring. ]

You'd have been a strapping young farmer. And I'd have stumbled onto your holding, wounded. I think - ailing from the poisons of my enemies, and only a man as wise in the ways of the earth as you are is able to concoct an antidote.

[cozen]

[ Bastien smiles, hand squeezing in answer. ]

And you would need time to recuperate. You would have to stay in my little house, and sleep in my little bed—while I took the floor, of course.

They would all come look at you through the window—

[ His siblings. ]

—and I'd try to convince them all that you were a lost prince.

[bouchonne]

[ He looks over at Bastien with a broad grin. ]

Would they believe you?

[cozen]

The little ones would.

[ As he remembers them. They aren't here now. Eliya joined a mercenary company that's fighting at the front now, and Lyes, apparently—to much rolling of Anis' eyes—is some sort of traveling entertainer. They're probably wise and worldly now. But in this story, they haven't grown up that much yet. ]

Nani would indulge me and admit you had the face for it.

[ A face he's touching with his free hand, a finger sliding down the bridge of Byerly's nose and dropping onto his bottom lip. ]

But Anis, no. Never.

[bouchonne]

[ A little nibble on Bastien's fingertip. ]

Damn the cynic of the family. Ruining a perfect story.

[cozen]

Not ruined.

[ He worms his nibbled finger into By's mouth. There are times when that'd be foreplay; right now it's only affectionate fidgeting with his beloved face, feeling along the ridge of his teeth as innocently as if he were smushing his nose into new shapes. ]

It'd only make me try harder to convince the others, so he would be the only doubter. [ Smiling a little wider. ] I think he likes you, though. I think—it went well, right? If we come back again they will be glad about it.