WHO: Bastien & Fifi WHAT: Just Orlesian things WHEN: Early August WHERE: Kirkwall NOTES: This may get turned into a catch-all later, so as always if you need any of my characters for anything hit me up at circuitry.
While Vincent ducks to kiss Fifi's extended hand, Bastien is watching him. Searching for something to dislike—a hesitation to touch her in public, a haste to be done with it. Signs in his tailoring or posture that he's gotten full of himself, maybe, now that he's somebody worth being full of. Hair out of place. Hair too in place.
But there's nothing. He's perfect.
The bastard.
"The pleasure is all mine, of course," he says, straightening up, and casts his hopeful smile at her and Bastien both. "May I join you?"
"Perhaps," Bastien says, without pause, before Fifi can make it too easy on him, "if you can make her laugh. That is the toll."
A conspiracy. He believes in nothing, right now, so much as he believes in Fifi's ability to keep a straight face if she doesn't care for the idea of more company but doesn't want to say so.
Vincent nods like this is a perfectly normal and reasonable request, and returns his focus entirely to Fifi. "Do you like jokes?"
Only now casting her glance to Bastien, Fifi watches him carefully without losing any of her graciousness. His comment yields another little laugh, which fades into a warm smile when Vincent speaks again.
"Good ones," she says coyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Good ones," Vincent echoes, nods seriously, and thinks for a moment before he begins: "While he was in the throes of misfortune, a man found a demon trapped in the forest. The demon promised that if he was freed, he would grant the man his choice of wealth, women—success with women, of course, not a collection of women—"
"Smooth," Bastien says, behind his drink, and Vincent holds up a hand to stay him.
"—or wisdom. So the man considered his miserable life and what might make it more tolerable. And because he was a moral sort of man who had been raised on moral sort of fables, he decided that he would probably be able to handle love and money if he were only a little wiser. And that is what he asked for. He freed the demon, who waved his hands—"
Bastien lowers his drink. "That is not how demons work."
"Shh. He waved his hands, and the man became wiser—and immediately aware that he should not have freed the demon, of course, but the demon vanished, so there was nothing to do about it. Instead he took a moment to consider, now that he was wise, how to improve his situation, and he said: Fuck me. I should have taken the money."
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But there's nothing. He's perfect.
The bastard.
"The pleasure is all mine, of course," he says, straightening up, and casts his hopeful smile at her and Bastien both. "May I join you?"
"Perhaps," Bastien says, without pause, before Fifi can make it too easy on him, "if you can make her laugh. That is the toll."
A conspiracy. He believes in nothing, right now, so much as he believes in Fifi's ability to keep a straight face if she doesn't care for the idea of more company but doesn't want to say so.
Vincent nods like this is a perfectly normal and reasonable request, and returns his focus entirely to Fifi. "Do you like jokes?"
no subject
"Good ones," she says coyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
no subject
"Smooth," Bastien says, behind his drink, and Vincent holds up a hand to stay him.
"—or wisdom. So the man considered his miserable life and what might make it more tolerable. And because he was a moral sort of man who had been raised on moral sort of fables, he decided that he would probably be able to handle love and money if he were only a little wiser. And that is what he asked for. He freed the demon, who waved his hands—"
Bastien lowers his drink. "That is not how demons work."
"Shh. He waved his hands, and the man became wiser—and immediately aware that he should not have freed the demon, of course, but the demon vanished, so there was nothing to do about it. Instead he took a moment to consider, now that he was wise, how to improve his situation, and he said: Fuck me. I should have taken the money."