[open] mortal kings are ruling castles

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: miscellaneous open prompts
WHEN: Kingsway
WHERE: the Gallows
NOTES: ya boyyy got his magic back (sort of)

I. Benedict's Hookah Room for Degenerate Hedonists

Most nights, the hookah is lit in its tower room (more easily now that someone can conjure flame again) and the scented smoke sifts from the open window into the crisp autumn air. It seems like he and Athessa just set it up yesterday, but over the weeks there has amassed a healthy population of cushions, rugs, and blankets cast off from every corner of the keep, which now make for a plush if stuffy little nest of creature comforts.
Anyone who happens upon it, or has been told of its existence and wants to partake, will often find him sprawled across a few pillows, sometimes with sketches strewn about, sometimes just gazing at nothing.


II. He's a Magic Man

It wasn't immediate, but after finally, finally being freed of the influence of magebane, Benedict's magic has gradually begun to return.

He uses it sparingly, mostly in the mornings before he goes into Byerly's office to work for the day, perhaps choosing the early hour to inhibit any judgment or interruption from offended parties; and it's the basics he's drilling in the sparring pitch, generating pithy flames and the beginnings of barriers, simply stretching the muscles again after a year of not having access to them.


III. Murally We Roll Along

Progress continues on the dining hall mural, with the lot of it stenciled in charcoal and beginning to be filled in with colored pigment.
High up on his scaffolding, he takes the occasional smoke break and sits with his skinny legs draped over the side, watching the room below.


IV. Wildcard

Come at me. I love you

Comments

[muckspout]

Edgard lowers his bow, sighing.

"Benedict, it's just a mouse."

[altusimperius]

"No!" Benedict whispers, and then, more insistently, "...no!!"

He points at it again. "It's a disturbance! It's disgusting! It'll bring disease and eat our clothes!"

[muckspout]

"Oh no, not the clothes!" Edgard grins, but then sees Benedict's face and sobers a little.. "What do you want me to do about it? If there's one there's likely more and--" Edgard makes a helpless gesture.

[altusimperius]

Edgard receives a withering look at his initial comment, and it's for the best that he changes his tune.

"I don't know," Bene mutters, "how do people deal with mice? Kill it? Block the hole?"

This is servant business, but he's at least conscientious enough not to say so aloud.

[muckspout]

"I don't want to kill it if we don't have to. It's an animal and it is tiny and cute!" Edgard widens his eyes.

If there's a competition here, Edgard is definitely on Team Mouse.

"Maybe we can block the hole with some of your clothes. You have too many."

[altusimperius]

Bene gives a little gasp of offense. First of all, how dare you--

"I just got new clothes," he hisses, "let's just block it with your face, if it means I get some sleep."

[muckspout]

Edgard holds his hands up, laughing.

"A joke! Except you do have too many." Edgard gives him a knowing look. He does.

"But, you know whose clothes we could use who also has too many?"

Edgard sweeps his hands towards Marcoulf's bed, blessedly empty.

[altusimperius]

We don't joke about things like that in this house, Bene's look seems to say, but then he follows Marcoulf's gaze.

And looks back to Edgard. Dare they?

[muckspout]

Edgard's smile widens and he meets Benedict's hesitant gaze. He nods slowly. Come on. You know you want to!

He leans forward and waggles his eyebrows.

"It will stop the mouse!" He says singsong. It may or may not stop the mouse. Mice are extremely determined. But, Benedict doesn't need to know that.

[altusimperius]

Looking once more to Marcoulf's things, and then back to Edgard, Bene gives a single, serious nod.

This isn't really about the mouse anymore.

[muckspout]

With a whoop, Edgard leaps over his bed and starts rummaging through Marcoulf's things.

"What do you think? One of his hats? A nice shirt?"

The laugh that erupts out of Edgard can only be described as wicked.

[altusimperius]

Remaining on his bed, Benedict smirks uncertainly to see Edgard so enthusiastic. What a strange man.

"How about trousers," he says loftily, "--but not too nice. I doubt he has anything that nice anyway."

Marcoulf has been a bit of a bastard, but ruining someone's best clothes is a little below the belt even for Benedict.

[muckspout]

Edgard wilts a little. He picks up Marcoulf's best trousers.

"Trousers are boring. Unless we get rid of all his trousers!"

Edgard has no such reservations about ruining clothes. At least not Marcoulf's.

[altusimperius]

"Not if the mouse eats a hole right in the crotch," Benedict points out with a little grin.

[muckspout]

Edgard taps his nose and points to Benedict. He runs over and grabs his arm to pull him out of bed.

"Help me pick some trousers! HELP ME PICK SOME TROUSERS!" His voice is singsong and joyous.

[altusimperius]

"No! Ah!! Don't touch--" Benedict says frantically, working quickly to free himself and dust off his sleeves, which are blessedly dirt-free, not that he can trust Edgard to wash his hands.

"Ground rules," he says, pointing sternly to Edgard, "if you refuse to bathe, so be it, but don't get your filth all over me." Despite the harshness of the words, he's really just being frank, and doesn't seem angry or even that disgusted.

He continues over to Marcoulf's bed to start sorting through his clothes, brow furrowed in concentration.

[muckspout]

Edgard is far too excited to be offended and dances over next to Benedict, making commentary.

"That one has stripes! Ooh, that looks like it is soft." He touches it. "It is soft!"

Edgard bounces on his feet.

"What do you think?"

[altusimperius]

"This one," Benedict proclaims, holding up a pair of dark trousers of such a pattern that, should a giant hole appear in them, it won't be immediately obvious-- possibly not even until they're worn.

Primly, he hands it to Edgard. You know what to do.

That final sentence is possibly my favorite sentence I've written in awhile

[muckspout]

Edgard takes the trousers from Benedict.

"Alright, I'll deal with the hole, you put away his clothes. No evidence!"

He gets down on his belly to begin stuffing the crotch of Marcoulf's trousers into the mouse hole, laughing wildly.

[esquive]

And when Benedict turns to do just that, he will find a wiry rail of a person standing just paces off. If his blank look of confusion yet to resolve into something more prickling in any indication, he slipped in less than a moment ago. In the dark, something squirms under Marcoulf's arm—

He impatiently adjusts his grip on the cat.

"What the fuck are you doing with my things?"

[altusimperius]

Benedict freezes, looking right into Marcoulf's eyes, then slowly lowers the folded trousers he's holding.
"Oh," he says lightly, "a cat, that's a better idea."

[muckspout]

Edgard completes his task and springs up to his feet to see Marcoulf glowering and Benedict's reaction, but that's not what he notices. He only has eyes for one thing.

Edgard puts his hands to his face.

"A cat!" He whispers reverently.

[esquive]

The cat in question - a drab short-haired tabby with a pinched face who is clearly losing patience with being in held - twists again, prompting Marcoulf to juggle it from one arm to another.

"Answer the question."

It's a brisk, impatient thing - grown sharper and more irritated as he recognizes Benedict's partner in crime.

[altusimperius]

Holding Marcoulf's gaze for a long moment, Bene then loses his nerve and looks away.
"Folding... them," he says quietly, and glances furtively at Edgard, silently imploring him not to completely fuck this up.

[muckspout]

Edgard nods vigorously.

"I knocked them over when I was--sleeping--sleepwalking." Edgard says seriously. "Benedict was helping me clean them up."

His face is beatific with innocence.