open: a little rain never hurt no one.

[charmoffensive]

WHO: Loxley, Tony Stark, Marcus Rowntree
WHAT: Three awkward ferry rides. (Or more, if I get more tags, but you know.)
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: The Kirkwall docks
NOTES: Tag any of these! I don't mind double ups. This is also just a general catch all post if you want to do something slightly different, or drastically different.

Comments

[charmoffensive]

"Ah yes, of course, the assignment."

It's not over, says the flat, droll tone of Loxley's words. Glasses of wine they weren't pretending to drink from, jokes about how best to convince their quest-giver into affording them more time, all very incognito. He had, at that time, been wearing the scarf he'd bought for Derrica, which he'd given, and what a nice night that was.

So it doesn't take effort on Richard's part for Loxley's mind to flip back in that direction as he asks, "Do you like her?" And, you know, to clarify, because it needs it: "Derrica."

[nonvenomous]

It does need clarifying; there is already a defensive knit twisting into Richard’s brow when Derrica is mentioned by name. He’s capable of orchestrating it into a look of contemplation with only a very faint tinge of suspicion for Loxley’s half-hearted buy-in. He knows when bait is being gummed but not taken.

Even in the rain, the ferryman’s lamp makes picking out the subtleties easier for darkvision.

“I do.”

It’s evident that Loxley does too.

“She seems very well-intentioned. And stable.”

[charmoffensive]

Before he can think about it or help it, the corner of his mouth turns up at this last note of approval, and then shakes his head. "Steady," Loxley supplies, or agrees. "But now we're making her sound like a well-made table, so."

So. What did he ask? Oh yes—

"I'm glad you like her," he says. "I think she'd be a good ally for us. I mean, you know," the inevitable verbal stumble, "I like her for other reasons, loads of them, but, also, tactically speaking, she commands a lot of respect and," he gestures, vaguely, "I doubt would go quietly into Circledom if the time came for that, et cetera."

Certainly, he's not planning to either. "And, she's a good person. One of those."

[nonvenomous]

‘Circledom.’

Richard sighs like a horse, a gout of steam furled out thick through the lamplight, the rain, the slap of black water against the ferry’s flanks.

“She’s one of very few naturally inclined to empathize with us as people,” he agrees, once he’s girded himself back up in the warmth of the liquor buzzing in his veins. “And she saved me from death at the hands of a sexually frustrated Chantry brother.”

So.

“Are you still seeing other people?”