WHO: Fitz, Lukas, Sahren, Caspar & misc WHAT: Lots of things WHEN: Whenever WHERE: Lots of places NOTES: Open and closed starters for the month, feel free to DM or hit me up at awarewolf on plurk to plot!
"Please, my friend," and Val mercifully has switched to Trade so that he might be understood, "let us speak as friends and scholars, for that is what we now are. I am not late. How is it, that you would expect me to tear myself from my work--"
And, here, he does a quick and very presentational sort of half-turn, so Fitz might get another glimpse of his satchel. Work.
"--Simply to keep an appointment. Surely you know how it is when you are enraptured by a project. What could tear you from it? Time itself? No. Time is nothing. I have stayed awake for days on end, working, and studying, and researching, only to look about and realize how long that I have been at it, and then collapsed into sleep. Now, your study of Orlesian, I will not expect quite such devotion to. I am not unreasonable. Do you know anything at all of the language? What is it that interests you of it?"
He gestures, expectantly. It is now Fitz's turn to monologue, here on the dock.
Or not, because now that he's got words to process there's a lot to process. The silence stretches with a flat stare until, finally, he ventures a few more words:
"I don't know anything," he says, regrettably open-ended. He's too busy sifting through that monologue to filter out which bits he's actually meant to respond to. "And it's for research, or—", yet another pause as the intense contrast between him, quiet and staring dumbly and This Guy, the self-proclaimed poster child of Orlais, sinks in. The statement ends on a regrettably dubious note. "Blending in."
"Ah. A fruitless goal, the latter." Val shakes his head with a measure of sympathy. "An Orlesian can spot a foreigner with great ease. It would take a master to truly fit himself in and pose, undetected, as a countryman. There are so many small cues that one cannot be taught, and to eschew them or forget them, a dead giveaway. But you might present yourself as a son of some other country--perhaps the Marches--and simply state your interest in the language. You might be found amusing, then, but we do not expect very much of the Marchers, so you would be tolerated. As for research--"
His hand goes to his heart, and his eyes close a moment. A sigh.
"A worthier goal has never been, monsieur. This I can help you toward. I will not pretend that it will be an easy achievement, but what thing worth achieving ever is? And if you have the thirst within your heart, you will survive it. We are in agreement, yes?"
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And, here, he does a quick and very presentational sort of half-turn, so Fitz might get another glimpse of his satchel. Work.
"--Simply to keep an appointment. Surely you know how it is when you are enraptured by a project. What could tear you from it? Time itself? No. Time is nothing. I have stayed awake for days on end, working, and studying, and researching, only to look about and realize how long that I have been at it, and then collapsed into sleep. Now, your study of Orlesian, I will not expect quite such devotion to. I am not unreasonable. Do you know anything at all of the language? What is it that interests you of it?"
He gestures, expectantly. It is now Fitz's turn to monologue, here on the dock.
no subject
"...... Okay."
Or not, because now that he's got words to process there's a lot to process. The silence stretches with a flat stare until, finally, he ventures a few more words:
"I don't know anything," he says, regrettably open-ended. He's too busy sifting through that monologue to filter out which bits he's actually meant to respond to. "And it's for research, or—", yet another pause as the intense contrast between him, quiet and staring dumbly and This Guy, the self-proclaimed poster child of Orlais, sinks in. The statement ends on a regrettably dubious note. "Blending in."
no subject
His hand goes to his heart, and his eyes close a moment. A sigh.
"A worthier goal has never been, monsieur. This I can help you toward. I will not pretend that it will be an easy achievement, but what thing worth achieving ever is? And if you have the thirst within your heart, you will survive it. We are in agreement, yes?"