Open

[muckspout]

WHO: Edgard and YOU
WHAT: I'm doing the catch-all thing too
WHEN: Now-ish, post-Murderhaus and Satinalia
WHERE: Various places
NOTES: Open to all unless otherwise specified. Post-murderhaus stuff might have murdery discussions

All prompts in comments! Feel three to throw wildcards in here if you so desire. I love you.

Comments

Sad Birthday

[muckspout]

On a very specific day in Firstfall sometime in the middle of the day, one will find Edgard sitting in the middle of the garden with two empty wine bottles next to him. He opens a bottle and fills up a cup, drinks it down. He fills up another, drinks it down. He's on his third cup when someone approaches.

"What do you want?" He snaps.

[poleaxed]

Jone likes to wander the grounds because they're pretty, the sort of pretty that feels like a prison. The dissonance is... fun, in a dangerous sort of way, which is to her the most fun.

She catches sight of Edgard, clearly soused, and answers honestly, "fantastic riches. You?"

[muckspout]

Edgard blinks a little, registering first that it is Jone and second that she answered his question.

"Doesn't matter what I want." He grumps. "Not that, though."

He drinks a cup down again.

[poleaxed]

"Boo hoo, poor you." She sits next to him, kicking him a bit-- not hard, just kind of communal kicking, which is a thing that exists in her mind-- "What's crawled up your arse?"

[muckspout]

Edgard smiles weakly at her kick which he probably deserves. "Poor me." He agrees. "'s just a bad day." He blinks at the sunlight as if it personally offended him.

He pours another cup, takes a sip, and then hands it to Jone.

[acreage]

"Easy."

He holds up both hands, pausing near where Edgard sits. He sounds more or less unruffled, though.

"I was just passing through."

[muckspout]

Edgard looks up to see Holden and his gruffness abruptly exits.

"Oh." He says stupidly. "Good to see you moving about." Edgard slurs. There is a brief pause and Edgard moves to pour himself another glass, hiccuping.

[acreage]

Buddy. His eyebrows go up, but he doesn't comment on that...yet.

"Mind if I join you?"

[muckspout]

In response, Edgard looks down at the cup he just poured, back up to Holden, then back to the cup again. He moves it over to right by Holden's feet as an offering. Sure, you can join, I guess, the offering says.

[acreage]

He'll take it. So he moves to sit, pulling the cup towards him. (And, more saliently, away from Edgard.)

"What's the occasion?"

[muckspout]

He watches as Holden sits down and takes the cup.

"Found wine. Decided to drink it." He grabs the bottle and takes a swig.

"Occasion is...not dead yet."

[acreage]

"I'll drink to that."

He tips the cup towards Edgard briefly in a little toast, then drinks some as well.

"That the only occasion?"

[muckspout]

Is this man a mind reader? Edgard shrugs, closing in on himself a little, and shakes his head. He takes a long pull on the bottle, tapping his fingers on them. Finally:

"'S also my birthday." He winces a little.

[acreage]

Ah.

The thing about the Canterbury is that she was the absolute bottom of the barrel, as far as shipping work went. She was also, with her long voyages and infrequent docking, a great place to disappear. That was a big part of why he'd stayed aboard for five years, and he was just one of many.

What this also means is that he knows a thing or two about spotting when a person has a past. He doesn't question why Edgard wouldn't want to celebrate, why he'd rather drink himself into a stupor.

Instead, he makes another little toast, and says, "To your health."

[muckspout]

His health? This far into the drink it feels like an insult and Edgard has an urge to snap at Holden. But, he nods, raising the bottle a little, and then drinks deep mastering the impulse. He knows Holden means well and after all, he has been through a fair amount recently.

"And yours." He returns once he's come up for air. "Still here at Riftwatch, I see."

"'s good." He says meaning the drink.

[cozen]

"To say hello," Bastien says, in Orlesian, bonjour compatriote et cetera.

He doesn't usually bother people who don't look like they want to be bothered. But people who don't want to be bothered don't often sit in the middle of open gardens, drinking alone. So he sits down next to him, and leans over to get what he just said he wanted:

"Hello."

[muckspout]

Edgard is far enough in his drunken rampage against himself to have a hard time comprehending friendly conversation, but the sudden switch to Orlesian snaps his head up. He looks up at Bastien, brow crinkled.

"Hello?" He responds in the same language and then after a moment: "Bastien?"

[cozen]

“Yes, that’s me.”

He picks up one of the empty bottles to examine it, then sniff the contents, as if judging the quality of the now-missing wine.

“This is a lot of wine, my friend. Did you have help?”

[muckspout]

Edgard opens his mouth and thinks for a moment. He looks at the cup he just poured and then back to Bastien.

"No," He says a little defensively. "by myself."

[cozen]

He gives a low, impressed whistle, and says, "You hold your drink much better than I do."

It's true. Bastien avoids being a foolish, lopsided drunk by not drinking all that much. After three bottles of wine he'd be on his back, singing off-key at the clouds.

But Edgard's mood doesn't seem to be a sing-at-the-clouds sort of mood.

"What's the occasion? Your favorite day of the week?"

[muckspout]

"No," He says brusquely. "That would be Tuesday." Obviously.

Edgard takes another drink, perhaps slower than he might have otherwise.

"Today is the day I get to celebrate that I am alive." He hiccups, seeming unhappy about it. He holds his cup up in a sarcastic mock cheers. Whoopie.

[cozen]

"Oh! Is it your birthday?"

Of course there are other options, like the anniversary of some horrible event he was lucky to survive, but birthday seems like the more obvious one.

[muckspout]

Edgard starts at Bastien picking up on this so quickly. He nods, shrugs, and pulls a face like he tastes something bad.

"I am guilty of this you accuse me of." He monotones into his cup as he drinks.

[cozen]

“Guilty!” Bastien echoes, what that what could you possibly mean sort of disbelief. “I would have gotten you something.”

[muckspout]

Edgard shakes his head like a dog and answers sharply. "No. This," He gestures to the empty bottles. "is all I get." He takes another drink and then belatedly realizes Bastien's kind intention and absentmindedly pats him on the shoulder.