Inbox - Fade Rift

[nonvenomous]

Book/crystal/correspondence/action/whatever you desire.

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[unshut]

Her smile flickers briefly crooked, something very like sympathy lurking momentarily in her expression. Not for him, not strictly. But maybe for Yseult if what she says after is any indication: "I don't envy her. She's fallen into a truly strange position. Even worse, I think she feels some obligation to it."

(Privately, she thinks how strange it is to regret a lie so soon after telling it.)

"Though I suppose most of us do. Even you." She nods to his hand. "Still, Andraste preserve her—I'd rather jump off a tower than be ringmaster of this circus."

[nonvenomous]

If Richard’s clocked anything strange in the specifics, there’s no tell-tale tick-tock of recognition in his eyes. But his silence is distinctly that of someone who’s watching her word count rise without having asked a question.

“I’ve never spoken to her,” sounds a lot like him tipping the implication that he thinks much of accountability to local leadership off the end of his lunch tray. Not quite reassurance.

He says nothing on the subject of broader obligation. Instead, he follows her nod to examine the sliver of lurid green light lodged in his palm. His fingers can only curl halfway to stifling the glow entirely.

“There are people here that I would like to see happy.” Or at the very least, not ground beneath the heel of a vulture-core megalomaniac.

[unshut]

With the pipe dismissed and her glass empty, there's very little occupation left for her hands. One is simply flattened on the table, thumb scuffing absently along the smooth polished surface.

"That's rather kind, all things considered." Is perhaps a more mercenary assessment than is truly polite, and yet.

[nonvenomous]

“It’s human.” Weak in that specific way.

His eyeline shifts from his hand to hers, and lingers there a beat. His hands are similarly unoccupied, now, save for the hide, which he covers with his shard-bitten palm. The cards are gone, the pipe is gone. He stays himself for just a moment, shy of standing.

There’s something there in the level of his brows, knocking at the door of scandal with just enough clearance for plausible deniability. Do you want to --

It’s brief. He stands, and pulls the folded hide up with him, self-control, propriety, etc snared up loose under his arms to move him. He scoots his chair in under the table. Neat.

“You’re sure you’re willing to part with these letters?”

[unshut]

The hand lingers there on the table for just a moment before being judiciously drawn away. Lightly again, unvarnished and without any particularly keen edge: "I don't see the harm in it so long as they don't stray outside your keeping. Though I may need to reference one or two in my next letter - Zaluski has a penchant for mentioning nothing twice for the sake of security, so apologies if I come asking for their return sooner rather than later."

Briefly, it seems as if she may remain where she is as he collects his things and sees himself out. But either it is an unconscious delay or she purposefully changes her mind, for after a pause Fitcher sweeps cheerfully to her feet and dusts her hands as if to knock loose any last lingering dredges of—

Well. It hardly matters.

"Thank you again for going through all this trouble. It sounds as if you've arranged for the hand, but should you ever need something less drastic cut away - a finger perhaps? -, you may rely on me."

[nonvenomous]

“I’ll settle for your company, and an invitation for the next time you infiltrate a gambling ring specifically to cheat them of their winnings.”

One last mug -- Oghma willing, he won’t need to entreat her for anything so dire as an amputation.

Otherwise clean, cool, collected, he pauses at the door, and hefts the borrowed packet. Any hesitation has left him, and taken translucence with it. He’s as opaque as a stapler on a desk, and about as remarkable at a glance.

“Thank you for the drink. I’ll have these back to you before the week is out.”

[unshut]

She drifts after him with the mild affect of politeness which showing just about anyone out should merit, though her smile as it flashes briefly over the prospect of cheating is more crooked than appealing and potentially more genuine for it.

"Enjoy them. The man's a true artist of conspiracy."

With a flick of the wrist, the door is unceremoniously drawn open for him. Lest he escape from the lion's den unscathed, however (or due to the old habitual inability to leave a loose thread unpulled)—

"You look well in it, by the way," she says, her sharp cheek set jauntily against the edge of the door and expression made up entirely of roguish eyebrows. "The coat."

[nonvenomous]

Oh. Half-turned back for the purpose of easy farewell, Richard turns fully back to her face in the frame. Such cheekbones.

“Thank you,” he tells her, earnest in his appreciation. Also, whiskey makes a brief appearance for him to hazard a mild (and slightly wary):

“I’m gay.”

In case that wasn’t clear. Helpful information for her to have, and a handy reminder for him in this moment, also.

[unshut]

Up go those eyebrows, quirking briefly toward her hairline and then— settling, as easy as her cheek at the edge of the door or her hand curled light about its latch. Her mild observation as he'd picked through her trunk.

Yes. Well.

"That's fine."

And for the best, really.

[nonvenomous]

Having essentially delivered a fistfull of verbal pocket sand, Richard looks away, briefly, to assure himself that there’s nobody else stepping out at the same time to have overheard this declaration. There isn’t.

He looks back to her, eyes bright, critical, and says, “Mm,” because he is less convinced that it is fine.

Imagine being a spy and not dumping Charisma. He turns to go in earnest -- he has important letters to slowly open and read three or four times without processing what they say.

[unshut]

There is something there on the tip of her tongue - an impulse, the itch of a face down card from a deck she hasn't counted carefully.

(It's very easy to win with her own; she's had it for long so that the wear on the backs is as telling as its faces.)

But whatever it is she holds just a beat too long, and then the opportunity has evaporated. So she trades it for the far more definitive "Good night, Richard," and decides she is satisfied with it. When it is perfectly polite to do so, she withdraws. The door is snipped shut.

The room, with its scattered assortment of things is regarded.

"Mm, he says," she repeats for its benefit.

crystal. sometime after ghislain, before satinalia.

[charmoffensive]

Boat's gone.

[ --it is late, so that can only mean one thing, that being another missed ferry, lest Richard get very confused at the terrible mystery of Loxley not returning to their shared quarters.

But this isn't just an FYI, as he continues; ]

We're coming up on a year, you know.

[nonvenomous]

I was beside myself with worry.

[ Richard is tucked in bed with a book. He turns the page and reaches for a glass of wine on the desk next to him, rather than reach for the crystal directly next to it. ]

What would you like to do for our anniversary?

[charmoffensive]

Go dancing.

[ The nights are getting a little cooler, but are not yet cold. Likewise, he's had enough to drink to stay warm, but is not yet drunk. So, he can afford to sit out here by the water before he hunts for somewhere to bed down for the night.

There are odder sights anyway than a skinny qunari talking to his necklace, especially where Riftwatch is concerned. ]

[nonvenomous]

What would lead you think I know how to dance?

[ A small fire burns in the fireplace here, because Richard likes things warm, and he knew the boat would be gone. ]

[charmoffensive]

Whatever would lead me to assume you could not? You know a great many things.

*lead you to think

[nonvenomous]

It's true.

[ Richard drops his book aside into the bedding with him, narrowly missing the bootlace wriggle of a grass snake skirting towards the sound of his voice. ]

I am very knowledgeable.

[ He swirls his wine while he waits. What do you want. ]

immortalised

[charmoffensive]

[ Even through a little crystal speaking at him from beneath his shirt, Loxley can sense the waiting. Gamely-- ]

Not to worry, [ he says, procuring a small flash from his pocket, twisting it open. ] I'll teach you something simple.

this is bullying

[nonvenomous]

Ever the gentleman.

i am a bully

[charmoffensive]

I try.

[ Good night, Richard, or, see you in the morning. Instead; ]

What if I'd said yes, that one time? [ His voice comes out damper, thanks to a swig of alcohol. So he isn't forcing Richard to ask what the fuck he's talking about; ] That I was in love with Athessa.

[nonvenomous]

[ God why. The breath he takes in to steel himself and the sigh that follows are kept to himself, but the beat itself is telling. ]

Why would you have done that?

[charmoffensive]

Due to, in this hypothetical, [ dry ] I am in love with Athessa.

[nonvenomous]

In that case, I suppose you would have nothing to worry about, past realizing you'd miscalculated your affection, changing your mind or returning to the fade without warning to leave her in a shamble.

[charmoffensive]

And you'd have said 'oh, never mind, congratulations'.

[nonvenomous]

Just prior to throwing my crystal into the sea and moving to the other tower, yes.