open | with the sound of my heart

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa, Madi, Lucien, Skull, and YOU!!
WHAT: catch-all
WHEN: mostly Satinalia and later
WHERE: Kirkwall and The Gallows
NOTES: post-murderhaus h/c is gonna go here

Comments

[bouchonne]

[ He does come around now, taking the chair that's clearly been set aside for him. It allows him to take Athessa in more fully. He doesn't comment on her state - not yet - but there's a sharpness in his dark eyes, a tension in his hands, that would not be there normally. ]

Deal me in, then.

[coquettish_trees]

[ It spreads, that tightness. Out from the loss of his smile into the most expressive parts of him, and Alexandrie sighs inside herself. He’s not going to be able to relax now.

She cannot be the slightest bit cross; it is part of what she loves in him, that there are times he cannot see pain, people he cannot see pain in, without becoming brittle.

But she would rather not have Athessa pick the unspoken tension off of him. Thinks it better that she addresses the source, with sympathetic curiosity, while the cards are collected to be dealt again: ]

How is your healing?

[ It’s not specific. The arm, the psyche, anything Athessa chooses to ascribe to the question. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Just when she thought she could get away with not answering questions about it. Her triumph at calling out Lexie's deliberate loss is short lived, and Athessa tries to be as nonchalant and affable about it as possible (even though there is a precedent here of Lexie manipulating answers from her, and of Byerly...being Byerly). ]

It's fine. It doesn't hurt much anymore, but Colin doesn't want me using it for a week, so.

[ She gives a wry smirk. ]

He made sure I knew to appreciate the fact that I only have to be laid up for a week with mage healing rather than six without.

[bouchonne]

Was it broken?

[ By's voice is quite bland. His concentration, apparently, is utterly absorbed by gathering and shuffling the cards. ]

[coquettish_trees]

[ Alexandrie scoots the discard to Byerly to shuffle in, acknowledging the card she'd been called out on as she does with a tap and a wink for Athessa to temper the impending mood with a little lightness: we're not leaping on you. ]

[sulahnan]

Dislocated.

[ Further proof that she's fine and dandy, she settles back in her seat, one leg draped over the arm of the chair. ]

I'd say you should see the other guy but I know you're the squeamish sort, By. So just know he got what was comin' to him.

[ He deserved worse. Athessa idly sorts her buttons into stacks like poker chips. ]

[bouchonne]

A bar fight of some sort, then, perhaps?

[ He recovers some lightness in his manner, though a practiced bard - and maybe even a bard-in-training - can tell that it's different from when he's truly feeling relaxed. There's an uneasiness to it, a falseness. ]

[coquettish_trees]

[ Three "relaxed" people. Byerly papering over his restiveness with nonchalance, Athessa defending by opening further, and Alexandrie with her feet tucked beneath her skirt watching the two of them with the sort of mien of mild amenability that settles on her when she is Watching.

When she turns to look at Athessa for the answer... well. Perhaps Athessa knows by now that the sort of placid curiosity in her eyes is a veneer over a much more intent attention. ]

[sulahnan]

Of some sort. You know how I love a good bar fight.

[ An inn is practically a pub, right? But perhaps that last bit is something of a hint; he witnessed one bar fight in particular that was orchestrated by none other than herself. Will that make him suspicious of the assurance? ]

Do we play clockwise from the dealer, or the other way 'round?

[bouchonne]

The other way around.

[ His smile is even tighter. ]

And I thought you were not prone to getting injured in those fights, dear Athessa.

[coquettish_trees]

You need not deflect, cherie, [ it’s even, cordial. ] If you do not wish to talk about it you may certainly say so, and we shall not.

[ She slides her gaze over to Byerly for confirmation: Right? asks the look (it’s not really a question), before returning to Athessa. ]

But if you do wish—

[ It’s left hanging like an extended hand. ]

[sulahnan]

I'm just flattered that Byerly holds me in such high regard, [ she is, a bit. ] To think I always walk away unscathed.

[bouchonne]

[ By doesn't respond to that. Instead he looks to Alexandrie and asks, sweetly: ]

You were saying something about deflecting?

[coquettish_trees]

I believe I was.

[sulahnan]

I don't wanna talk about it.

[ There. Happy? ]

I'm on the mend, so let's just play cards.

[bouchonne]

[ His lips tighten further. A moment, and then he pushes back from the table. A bit tightly: ]

I've recalled that I've work to do. I shall leave you.

[coquettish_trees]

[ Alexandrie little registers what she's doing until she's already caught what she can of him: just his little finger, with two of her own. A look of entreaty. He knows, yes? That it is hard sometimes? ]

Have you?

[ She pauses for a moment, holds, and then lets go. ]

I should hardly wish to interfere with official business, but we should miss your company now that we have had it.

And the buttons are already in three.

[ A sidelong glance: back me up, Athessa. ]

[sulahnan]

Please, Byerly. Stay and play cards.

[ She doesn't have to act for that to sound sincere, because she really does want to learn to play and who better to observe than these two? ]

I want you to stay and play cards with me and your lady fair.

[bouchonne]

[ A moment, then: ]

Fine.

[ But from the fact that he's not even bothering to look pleasant, it's clear that this won't be a pleasant, quippy, banter-filled game like it would ordinarily be. ]

[coquettish_trees]

[ There's something more here, more than just worry after Athessa, more than Alexandrie's own minor exasperation at the attempt to run them around continuing even after she'd named it. She thinks it has never sat well with either Byerly or herself to be shut out by those they have made the effort to open to, but...

Her lips thin, brows drawing together slightly. Does the friendship between the two of them yet have uncertain brittle edges? If so, her staying him may have wrought more harm than else.

If she were not concerned with Athessa's wellbeing, she could press the other woman until she folded and spoke or left. If she were not concerned with Byerly's, she could carry on blithely with the game and ignore the gathering frost. As it is, she hesitates, her fingers still curled around his. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa doesn't notice Lexie's expression — a minor slip-up on the Bard side of things — because her attention is on Byerly. Trying to figure out what she did wrong this time, what she can do or say to fix it. ]

What can I do, By?

[ Plaintive questions can't hurt, right? ]

[bouchonne]

What a question.

[ There's a caustic sort of sarcasm there, because the answer is patently obvious. Actually answer his damned question. Tell him what happened, so that his mind can stop twisting itself into knots imagining the possibilities. Ease his terror in some way.

He looks over to where Lexie's hand touches his. A momentary impulse makes him want to pull away - but Lexie doesn't deserve to suffer just because his anger tends to the dramatic. Instead, he turns his hand over and strokes the back of her own hand with his thumb. I'm fine. I'm sorry. ]

[coquettish_trees]

[ She'd expected the pull. Had been gathering herself to keep hold and follow until he'd worn through the taut momentum of his anger and would speak.

But he doesn't, and she smiles for it, and then leans towards him with brows curving in entreaty. Athessa has some Orlesian, she knows, but perhaps not the facility to catch it murmured low. It is as private a moment as she can make. ]

Nous avons assez perdu en pensant que les autres savent ce que voulons, non?

[ Her thumb smooths the back of his hand, in echo. Tell her. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa doesn't have enough Orlesian to parse the full sentence, catching only a few words. Enough, lost, others.

She sighs. ]

We ran into some trouble on the road back from Ostwick after a routine rift job. Found a guy who'd been quietly killing...people. And he must've thought we were there to apprehend him because he turned on us in the night. We were put through the ringer but we're all alive and the murderous innkeeper isn't.

[ That's as succinct as she can make it without hinting at any of the horrors they'd had to face. ]

The details will be in the report. Is that enough? I'm not trying to hide anything from you; I just don't much fancy talking about it or being fussed over.

[bouchonne]

I'm not altogether certain what makes you think that I'm the sort of person who would fuss.

[ He says that with all apparent sincerity. Self-awareness is a skill not all people possess. ]

What does that mean, put through the ringer? [ His eyes turn to Lexie, now, a tiny twitch of his head asking her, Do you know? ]