[open] watching paint dry

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: Working on the dining hall mural, smoking elfroot, making himself useful one small task at a time
WHEN: Kingsway
WHERE: mostly the dining hall, sometimes other places
NOTES: ART

I. Style Taste Class

Already something of a serious person by nature, Benedict has never been more invested in a project than he is in his newly-appointed task of livening up the dining hall-- even his work as a chamberlain was more detached than this, what with him making stylistic decisions but not personally implementing any of them.

He's requested a little scaffold be set up so he can get above the large tower doorframes, and he can be found there at all hours that he isn't in Byerly's office, which is to say, in the mornings and late at night. When he sleeps is unclear, but based on the bags under his eyes, that doesn't come often.

But he seems cheerful enough, for who he is, and is usually open to conversation with diners and passersby as his painstaking design begins to take shape*.

*it's an approximation obviously

II. Recreation Station

When not at work either for Byerly or on his Masterpiece, Bene can be found lounging with his semi-erstwhile hookah in a spare room of the mage tower, having amassed a small number of battered and disused pillows and blankets to make the place homier.
His presence there is usually indicated by the smell of scented smoke, much like his former neighbors would be used to when he still had a room of his own, but fortunately he keeps the window open to let things vent properly.

III. Wildcard

The usual stuff is happening! Make your own prompt or hit me up for one.

Comments

[sulahnan]

Pretending that Colin hasn't done it yet: "Well don't toy with the man, Colin! Get on with it!"

[bouchonne]

"What, no bloodcurdling screams?" By asks mildly.

[altusimperius]

"I've never been st-- ow," Bene whimpers, flinching, but the process is too fast for him to properly psych himself out for it. He touches the earring gently as he turns to glare at Athessa, then cuts his gaze to Byerly.

"I'll remember this," he mutters, "thank you, Colin, for being the only decent person here."

[keenly]

"You hear that?" Colin says smugly to By and Athessa. "I'm the decent one."

He applies a healing salve to the fresh wound, then begins to rotate the earring while slowly releasing healing magic. After a few moments, the ear is fully healed.

"There you are. Nothing to it."

[bouchonne]

"Oh, he likes the pretty boy who caused him pain," By murmurs as he releases Benedict's feet. "Pervert."

[sulahnan]

"Please," Athessa says with mock offense and gestures to Whiskey. "There are innocent ears listening!"

But she pats Benedict on the shoulder in lieu of a verbalized well done, and stands. There's spice cakes and other goodies with her name on them and she's not going to resist their siren call any longer.

[altusimperius]

"Jealous?" he shoots to Byerly as he stands, feeling infinitely better with the healing done, and on his way to the snack table he pauses to give Colin a grateful little kiss on the head.

"Whiskey's heard worse than that, I promise," he says as he makes a plate for himself.

[keenly]

Colin bites back an if I knew you liked it so much, maybe I should have gotten on top. Instead, he grins widely and begins to load his own plate.

"Thank you for calling me pretty," he tosses over his shoulder at Byerly.

[bouchonne]

"I might have considered it, but then I saw you whimpering about that tiny prick," says Byerly, which is a lie, because he would never have considered it.

Colin's thanks makes By remember a bit of his awkwardness. "Facts are facts," he replies, and takes another drag off the hookah.

[sulahnan]

There's much to chuckle at, here. Innuendo chief among them, but also more genuinely a nice laugh for Colin being complimented, and a cheerful grin aimed over her shoulder at the two of them.

It'd be nice if Byerly could just be friends with Colin again, wouldn't it?

But first:

"Wait," she looks at Benedict, unfairly tall next to her despite being a baby. "You've never been stung by a bee?"

[altusimperius]

"No loss," Benedict mutters to Byerly, popping a tiny and beautifully crafted sandwich into his mouth.
It takes him a moment to realize Athessa is addressing him, and he blinks down at her in mild confusion.

"What? No."

[keenly]

Colin grins at Byerly, hoping for the moment that this might be a fresh start for them. He lowers a bit of beef into a spicy dip and pops it into his mouth.

"Oh!" He almost forgot. "These three bowls here. The blue one's spicy, the green one's very spicy, and the black one's ridiculously spicy. Don't get them mixed up. Or...touch your face after eating from the black bowl."

[bouchonne]

That makes By squint at Colin.

"Are you even Fereldan?" he mutters. Spicy food. Who is he?

[sulahnan]

Athessa takes a little from the blue, a decent amount from the green, and a lot from the black and carries her too-full plate back over to sit among the friends and cushions.

Back to Benedict, as soon as she's comfy and reaching for a hose: "How have you never been stung by a bee?"

[altusimperius]

Sticking to the blue and green himself-- adventurous enough, and with a refined palate, but not one to go looking for trouble-- Benedict shrugs at Athessa with his mouth full.
Once he's swallowed and can therefore speak again, he says, with an air of bewilderment, "I never got close enough to piss one off?"

She knows he was an indoor kid, this shouldn't be news.

[keenly]

"Mm-hm!" Colin says innocently as he dips his next piece into the black bowl. "But my mother taught me how to cook, and she was from Treviso."

He looks dead into Byerly's eyes, pops the piece into his mouth, and chews unflinchingly as if daring him to do the same.

[bouchonne]

"Absolutely not," he responds to that wordless challenge. "I'll stick to this and this, thank you - " The two indicating items being a hookah pipe and a glass of wine. Sometimes, one might be led to wonder if Byerly gets all his nutrition in liquid form.

To Athessa, he says languidly, "Can't you tell by looking at him? Fancy little toy dogs aren't sent outdoors to meet with dangerous beasties." One hand goes out to scratch Whiskey's rugged little hound belly. "I'll bet he's never seen a bee in the flesh."

[sulahnan]

"I just figured there's plenty of opportunity to get stung in a garden, and the sorts of folks that have toy dogs have gardens. Generally."

She puffs on the pipe, blowing a few smoke rings straight up into the air. She's sat with her back to the hookah so she might lay her head on a pillow and stretch her legs out, plate on her lap. It's a very silly way to sit when eating, or when smoking, but she is a very silly person sometimes, too.

"But Ben's not a toy dog," she says, and reaches over to poke said not-dog in the side, amicably. "He's more cat-like, I think. Climbed a tree quite admirably for such a softie." (And she may be teasing him, but her smile is fond. Athessa herself can be a softie, which they all know about well enough to tease her back, even if she doesn't remember showing that side to Benedict.)

[altusimperius]

Byerly receives a wrinkle-nosed scowl which smooths out when Athessa corrects him, and Benedict sets his plate aside to pick up the second hose and draw from it. His gaze and bearing as he seats himself is, to be fair, rather more feline in its poise and caution.

"Dogs are dirty," he agrees, tossing his head with a smirk as she pokes him in the side, "and they usually smell. Present company excluded, of course." This spoken to Whiskey, who almost certainly care.

[keenly]

"Thank you, that means a lot," Colin says, deadpan, to Bene.

[bouchonne]

"Counterpoint," By says, "your arse is also dirty and smells, but you've spent a fair amount of time nestled up there."

[sulahnan]

Athessa nearly chokes on her food due to her sudden fit of laughter at that counterpoint and has to clap her hand over her mouth to stop herself from spitting.

Fucking hilarious.

[altusimperius]

"Ew," spoken with a quiet sneer, accompanied by a stream of smoke.
He's certainly not rising to that.

[keenly]

Colin chuckles around a hose before putting it back, holding his breath for a moment.

"Shows how much you've seen of his arse," he says, puffing smoke. The spicy food causes him to sniffle.

[bouchonne]

Um. "What," By says, "are you implying that it's squeaky-clean and rose-scented?" He wrinkles his nose, because one, how would Colin know, and two, that's so much worse than a stinky butt.