[open] a me party

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: birthday boy celebrates solo-ish
WHEN: late Solace
WHERE: around the Gallows
NOTES: feel free to wildcard or request a custom starter

No Colin, no Athessa. No Lakshmi. No D'Artagnan, no Kitty, no Gabranth, no Jone, no Allumin-- why does he keep getting so hung up on Rifters, anyway, they just vanish-- there's still Byerly, but asking him to hang out after work seems awkward, especially considering what happened the last time. Better not.
But it's Benedict's birthday, and the weather is fine, he has money of his own and freedom to do what he pleases when he's not working, so he intends to make the best of it anyway.

A few pillows are strewn around the central hookah, which is placed in a nice shady out-of-the-way area down in the Gallows courtyard. Benedict lounges there, puffing idly at the hose, an open bottle of red Antivan wine and a little tray of assorted fancy canapés close at hand. He's wearing what looks to be a new outfit, Tevene in motif but clearly made in Kirkwall, luxuriant enough to satisfy his taste (within reason) while remaining within his means.
His hair is shiny and his skin soft, indicating that some serious self-pampering occurred before he graced the public with his presence. He wears a pair of the strange dark glasses Riftwatch acquired some time ago, rendering his expression distant and inscrutable.

He lingers there for several hours, lazily beckoning forth anyone who seems interested in partaking. The food, the wine, and the elfroot are technically to share, not that he'll complain if he doesn't have to.

Comments

[muckspout]

Edgard takes a long inhale.

"Lots of people don't like their birthdays." He shrugs. He is one of them.

"All day and all night is a long time! Were you very ill afterwards?"

All of this sounds somewhat nightmarish to Edgard, but fascinating.

[altusimperius]

"Oh. Probably." Benedict pauses to consider. "I don't really remember, which is a sign the parties were good."
He waggles his eyebrows at Edgard.

[muckspout]

Edgard smiles lightly.

"Doesn't happen to me much. The forgetting. Not for lack of trying!" He laughs.

"What are you hoping for this year?" He finds a piece of fruit arrayed on the blanket and takes a big crunch out of it. And then--"Wait, how old are you?"

[altusimperius]

"Twenty-six." He takes a drag from the hookah and blows it out luxuriantly, lifting his gaze to the sky as he thinks on the question.

"Hoping to stay alive, I suppose. Onward and upward."

[muckspout]

Edgard blinks.

"That's it? Only twenty-six years?"

He bursts into laughter.

"You are a child. A mere babe!"

[altusimperius]

Edgard's wild laughter is enough to garner him the stinkeye from Benedict, who wrinkles his nose indignantly.

"No I'm not," he grouses, "if I were still in Minrathous, I'd be married by now."

[muckspout]

"That says nothing. Young people can still be married."

He takes a deep breath.

"Didn't think you so young. Didn't think you old, but--"

Now that Edgard thinks on it, it makes a lot of sense.

[altusimperius]

"Well," Benedict mumbles, "at least I haven't completely wasted my youth." It's not a jibe at Edgard so much as a comment on his own trajectory, emphasized by a sigh as he lets his head fall back onto one of the pillows.

"May I never get all puffy and saggy," he muses wistfully.

[muckspout]

Oh, but it is for sure taken as a jibe. He examines his own hands in front of his face looking for wrinkles.

"What are you trying to say?" He says laughing a little.

"Who's wasted their youth? Who's puffy and saggy? I" He puts a hand to his chest. "am gorgeous."

[altusimperius]

Though he's about to apologize, Edgard's reaction instead causes Benedict to laugh, a delighted, genuine sound.

"In a filthy way, maybe," he concedes, (because I couldn't help myself), "I didn't mean you. If you saw my father, you'd understand."

[muckspout]

Edgard does a long nod that lifts his chin up.

"Well, my father was bald very early and my hair is still here."

He folds his arms.

"Sometimes sons are different from fathers."

[altusimperius]

"We could always shave your head and see if you look the same." Benedict waggles his eyebrows impishly.

[muckspout]

"You would do that to my beautiful locks?" Edgard says, shaking his head with his eyes closed as his hair flops around wildly.

[altusimperius]

"Gladly," Bene shoots back, "if you're not going to wash them, you don't deserve them."

[muckspout]

"Don't think that's how that works. In any case, don't want to risk it. Thank you for your" He gives a little bow. "kind offer."