OPEN

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa and YOU!
WHAT: Catch-all because I need to stop exclusively inboxing
WHEN: Whenever but mostly now-ish, post-dream meme
WHERE: Around, Kirkwall and the Gallows, maybe in the field who knows
NOTES: NSFW threads will be marked and/or moved to my NSFW inbox, CW as needed, blah blah blah

Specific starters in the comments!

Comments

[cozen]

He wanted her head clear, so they’re out, currently on the endless sweep of stairs up the cliffside to Hightown with a bundle of messages to hand off to a Chantry representative and a short shopping list. It’s early. Cold. The wind is sharp, and the people nearest to them on the stairs won’t be able to hear them over it.

Not that he would worry too much if they did. But it’s habit to notice.

It’s been Les Chats most of the walk so far, but halfway up the steps, the topic exhausts itself, at least for now, and after a short lull Bastien asks, “Is Yseult cross with you?”

[sulahnan]

Her shrug acts as a vehicle for her to burrow deeper into her scarf, arms already crossed tightly over her middle to protect from the cold and self-soothe.

"That's a word for it. I'd say disappointed," Which, of course, is worse.

[cozen]

Of course it is worse. He winces in sympathy, sucking air through his teeth, and offers, like a balm: “She thinks you have potential, though. She asked me to work with you.”

[sulahnan]

Athessa squints at him dubiously. Yseult said she'd arrange for training, so it isn't the subject of being worked with that's suspicious.

"Not more etiquette lessons, I guess?"

[cozen]

“Manners are a weapon, when you apply them correctly,” Bastien says, words clipped and fake-offended in a way that’s more teasing than convincing, “just like everything else. But no, that is not what she meant.”

There’s a bit of frozen something—vomit, maybe, from someone’s journey home after a late night in Lowtown—on one of the stairs. He steps neatly around it.

“Do you know much about Orlesian bards?”

[sulahnan]

"Assassins of body and character," she says, clearly something she heard or read somewhere, not her own assessment. "So not really. Just the same old stories anyone else would know."

She also steps around the frozen whatever-it-is, on the opposite side. She's not entirely barefoot today, just bare-toed. Shoes are still a loathsome mystery so she's settled for toe-less socks.

"Is this the part where you tell me you are one?"

[cozen]

“Oui,” Bastien says, and watches her sidelong. “Am I very obvious?”

Why Are You Like This - Closed to Byerly

[sulahnan]

With Eshal gone, Athessa has become an infrequent visitor to the Diplomacy office. In part because it's hardly ever where she needs to be, but also because no matter what she does or doesn't do, says or doesn't say, it seems like Byerly is cross with her. Or trying his damnedest to make her cross with him.

But she's not avoiding him, which she makes clear now by purposefully marching into the office, making sure that nobody else is here to chew Byerly's ear about something, and closes the door behind her. Barely before the door shuts, she's speaking:

"What exactly is your problem with me?" It's more a demand than a question, but why split hairs? She crosses the office to stand before him. "One minute I think I understand how to talk to you, the next it seems like you're just trying to piss me off, or just completely cold like I did something to piss you off, 'cept I dunno what it is, so I can't fix it!"

[bouchonne]

It's not the best choice he's ever made. Certainly not the most adult choice ever. Certainly quite unkind. But when she storms into his office - apropos of nothing, as far as he can tell - ready for a fight, snarling at him, he cannot help himself. He looks at her, and frowns, as if puzzled, and says -

"It's...Alyssa, right?"

And he squints, as if trying to place her face. (It's easier than having to answer her questions.)

[sulahnan]

There's a bottle, because of course there is, sitting to her left on Byerly's desk. She stares him down, and for a moment it might seem like she's not going to rise to his bait, but then she starts to nudge that bottle steadily closer and closer to the edge.

"As much as your name's Byron." And then the bottle falls.

[bouchonne]

He stares her down, mouth crooked downwards. But he doesn't shout, or get visibly angry. There's just annoyance.

"Someone else will have to clean that up," he says tartly. "I'm head of Diplomacy. I have servants." By the tone of his voice, this is something of a novelty, enough that it deserves a hint of mockery. "So you're just being cruel to them."

[sulahnan]

Her eyes narrow briefly at the way he says servants.

"You also have one less bottle of wine," she counters, despite the creep of guilt in the pit of her stomach.

[bouchonne]

"Whatever shall I do?" he asks, looking utterly unbothered. "I may perish." Then, shaking his head - "Maker, you're like a little cat."

Keymaster, Gatekeeper, Soldier, Spy - Closed to Ilias

[sulahnan]

[ It's certainly been a while since the whole Laura thing, and Athessa still has the Speaker's key. Hasn't given it much thought, really, 'til it fell out of her pocket a minute ago. There's just been too much else going on. Being used as a blood puppet, that whole Nevarra thing, the stupid box thing, the horrible shared dream thing...

The practical upshot of all those things, though, is that now her sleep habits are totally fucked! Sleeps little, smokes a lot. It just means she's up at the same ridiculous hour as Ilias, all the better to come a-knockin' on his lab door. ]

Speaker Fabria?

[libratus]

[ Ilias is awake at this ridiculous hour, yes, but not precisely expecting company. Luckily unwinding isn't something he does much of, so when he opens the door it's less 3am pajama party and more a single button on his collar might be undone. But there's a bit more warmth to the smile he gives her all the same, absent his usual pristine remove. ]

Athessa. You're up late-- or perhaps early. Come in.

[sulahnan]

Maybe it's both.

[ She shrugs and upon entering gives the laboratory a cursory glance, just to see what a laboratory even looks like. ]

Or maybe I'm up late and you're up early.

[libratus]

I'm never up early.

[ His lab might not be the best example of laboratories on the whole, but necromantic ones-- it's mostly books and scrolls piled upon tables, sharp little instruments and dull liquid in glass bottles. There's a jar of live spiders, a long pelt from some fuzzy animal, and of course the occasional human skull, but no one on his dissection table tonight at least.

If he shuts the door after her rather swiftly, it's only because it's dammed cold out there. ]

There's a little tea, though, if you are aiming to continue consciousness -- or different tea, if you aren't.

[sulahnan]

[ She doesn't flinch at the door closing, too interested in why anyone would have a jar of spiders to worry about being trapped by who is, by her estimation, a rather nice man. ]

Is there a tea that wards off dreams? After what happened last month I haven't actually been too keen on sleeping.

[ Probably a heavier statement than her tone suggests. She reaches under her collar to produce a key on a leather strap from around her neck. ]

I figured you'd want this back.

[libratus]

[ With a sympathetic wince, ] There are several that claim it, but none I've found speak truth.

[ Trust Me I've Tried™ He extends a hand for the key with a grateful dip of the head, however. ]

Thank you. I'd nearly forgotten about it, if I'm honest, you might have had your pick of cobwebs.

Light Reading - Closed to Kostos

[sulahnan]

Athessa's reading has been getting better of late, having been forced to practice with greater frequency over the winter, but it still isn't good. As such it takes her some time to locate one specific book, and even longer to actually begin to read it.

Admirably, she makes it through the first two chapters before falling asleep with her cheek smushed against arms crossed over the pages.

[exequy]

A wisp finds her before Kostos does, but he isn't far behind. He is more disruptive: while the wisp hovers silently over her head, fascinated by her curls, Kostos grabs the edge of her book and slides it out from under her. It's not quite fast enough to be a jerk, but still too fast to be subtle or have any chance of gently avoiding waking her up.

[sulahnan]

It's not the sudden lack of a book that wakes her up, but rather the chain reaction of Kostos pulling the book, the book pulling her arms, and her head falling off her arms to thud against the table. At that, she sits upright suddenly, looking around like a student caught sleeping in class.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Athessa grabs for the book, trying to get it back before Kostos can see what it is.

[exequy]

Nice try. But he pulls it off the table altogether—suddenly interested in the contents, rather than just waking her up, given that reaction—and holds it open at eye level, where it can easily be held higher if she stands up to make another try for it. Maybe he's not an enormous fucking Qunari, but he is still seven inches taller than her.

Plus the wisp is predisposed to protect him. It doesn't hurt her, but it does get into her face, humming like an irritated insect.

"That is a good question," Kostos says as his eyes adjust to the words on the page.

[sulahnan]

She gives the wisp an incredulous look, as if it's betraying her by being irritated when clearly, he's in the wrong.

"That hurt, you know," she lies, putting on a pout and rubbing her forehead. It doesn't hurt, didn't hurt at all, not for one minute. It was only enough to startle her and really, she should've woken up the second he started pulling the book away.

[exequy]

“You will live.”

He does glance at her, though, to measure how serious she might be. The wisp doesn’t calm itself down so much as it forgets what it was doing, a moment ago, and begins bobbing back and forth at her with a somewhat more musical twrring noise.

It’s ridiculous, but Kostos doesn’t seem to notice. He turns the book’s open face around to show Athessa, in case she forgot what she was reading.

“What is this for?”