[closed] let's go girls

[altusimperius]

WHO: Bastien, Benedict, Byerly (the Better Business Bureau)
WHAT: DRAG NIGHT
WHEN: sometime in [mumbles] winter
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: will add if necessary, I don't think anyone who's offended by any of this would last very long in this game

Fausta was an amalgamation of things: undergarments and cosmetics and shoes from Byerly, a wig and hair decorations and a fine Minrathousian gown from the Scouting closet, all mishmashed together in a convincing approximation of a wealthy lady in Tevinter's high society. It had done the job, and Benedict enjoyed the effort, but has since summarily refused to participate in Kirkwall's scene until he's gotten all the details just right.

And finally, he has: it's the night of an event in one of Lowtown's more curious establishments, and, having born witness to it before but in plainclothes, Benedict is ready for Fausta to make her society debut.
Or, at least, he will be when they're finished getting ready-- having arrived at Byerly and Bastien's house with all his things and a fancy cheese tray, the preparations have begun.

Comments

[cozen]

"You said I was an arsehole," Bastien replies before Byerly might have a chance to intervene, "and you said Rat Red loves you more than me," with such unbothered serenity (and such a firm hold on the puppy) that a clever ear may detect that this was why he did not laugh and call Benedict back into the workroom to make amends on the spot, "and you stormed out like a child because I pretended very politely not to recognize you — "

He flips the paper in his hand to resume reading below the fold.

" — which was funny."

[bouchonne]

Byerly turns towards Bastien, his eyes narrowed. He caught that saintly serenity. He knows what it means. But he is also not about to elucidate that meaning front of Benedict, because as fond as he is of the lad, By isn't about to reveal Bastien's tender heart for common viewing.

"That is funny." Objective facts are objective facts. "And quite arseholish, too. That does not answer the question of why it is persisting."

[altusimperius]

“She does,” Benedict answers primly, looking back to the mirror as he begins to dab color onto his lips, “but I wouldn’t have said it if you weren’t being so nasty. I was sincerely apologetic and you threw it in my face.”

[cozen]

Bastien narrows his eyes back at Byerly — what combined with don't you dare — before giving them a slight roll in response to Benedict, who cannot hurt him with repetition and also has not even begun to experience what it would be like if he was nasty and throwing things in anyone's face.

"I am going to get ready," he says, restrained and dignified and dismissive, rising from his seat and tossing the paper onto a pile of others.

He does not toss Rat Red anywhere. She's coming upstairs with him.

[bouchonne]

Once Bastien has ascended the stairs, Byerly casts an unimpressed look at Benedict.

"You know, dear lad," he says, "in Ferelden, you'd be cut down where you stood if you implied a man's dog wasn't loyal to him above all others."

This is not a joke.

[altusimperius]

“Good thing we’re not in Ferelden, then,” Benedict grumbles, continuing his primping, though he pauses after a time to meet Byerly’s gaze.

“It’s all my fault, I suppose? Because I didn’t correctly interpret cruelty as what was clearly just a joke at my expense?”

[bouchonne]

"It's somewhat your fault." Which is perhaps the most frustrating response - it neither absolves nor martyrs.

"What happened the other month was miserable for him. Specifically for him." By plays with his eyeshadow palette a moment, then decides to be a bit reckless. "How much has Bastien told you of himself? Who he truly is?"

[altusimperius]

"It was miserable for a lot of people," Benedict retorts, though with less venom than before, "Clarisse managed not to mock me when I remembered her. Which wasn't our fault, by the way. The forgetting."

He turns back to the mirror, and begins to line one of his eyes with kohl, a slow and painstaking motion. "I know his name. And I know he picked this one when he was a child."

[bouchonne]

"Any notion why he picked a different name in the first place?" By purses his lips, watching Benedict.

[altusimperius]

"There's no reason I would have one," Benedict says quietly, slowly, as he traces the line around his eye, "but I imagine to get away from someone."

[bouchonne]

"Mm." It's a good guess. "No. It was a bit of...Well, seeking a new identity for himself, I suspect, after what happened. His family just left without him, you see, when he was a child. Let him come home to an empty house."

It's matter-of-fact and simple. No specific highlighting of why that loss of memory might make Bastien particularly prickly; he trusts that Benedict will see it at once.

[altusimperius]

Benedict does see it, but it fails to weaken his resolve: "imagine, your family not loving you," he says dully, distantly.

[bouchonne]

That earns a bit of sarcasm. "Oh, aye. Do extend a bit of grace, dear Benedict; we can't all be like you, and utterly resist developing any neuroses or hang-ups or obsessions as a result of that coldness."

[altusimperius]

What begins as a stinkeye becomes a little bit humbler as Benedict meets Byerly's eyes in the mirror, a trickle of amusement in the glance.

"All right," he says, yielding quietly, "but that means he gets to speak to me however he wants, and I just have to roll over and let him?"

He glances away again. On the topic of soft spots, Byerly knows better than anyone where this one lands-- it wasn't overnight that he and Benedict reached the rapport they have, and it was a journey punctuated from the start with the latter figuratively rolling over every chance he was given.

[bouchonne]

"Maker help us, absolutely not. You've worked too hard on developing that spine to toss the poor thing into the flames just yet."

By offers a wry smile to the mirror.

"Just - this time, it might be worth it to let him be a bitch. We can all take turns. Which - I think your turn to get a pass on bitchiness is coming up next in the rotation."

[altusimperius]

Benedict's eyes widen in a display of excitement so genuine it's almost tragic, "really?"

[bouchonne]

By casts a glance at Benedict. Honestly, that excitement is so overt that it seems like a bit.

"I'll get you a chit. You can cash it in."

[altusimperius]

Nobody, not even Byerly, understands how hard Benedict has to work to be even this normal.

His smile meeting his eyes, he focuses back on the mirror again.

"I do love Rattie though," he adds lightly, "I hope she knows that."

[bouchonne]

"You're very subtle about it," Byerly says, blandly.

Then - "The other thing to know - the key to my beloved's heart - is to just listen to him. Insist on listening to him. He may be prickly at first, but don't give up. Just stay with him and say nothing. He'll crack eventually."

[altusimperius]

Benedict falls silent again in the process of lining his other eye, but it’s as good an excuse as any to spend some time listening. His mouth purses in a subtle scowl that stays contained to the lower half of his face, but his discomfort with the topic gradually settles into a reluctant acceptance.

“Fine,” he agrees, in a manner demure enough to fit the face taking form, “I’ll try.”

[bouchonne]

"You'll be glad you did." By starts in on his own cosmetics again, applying contouring to his cheekbones. The warmth in his voice is a little sickening when he says, "He's one of the most interesting people I've ever met in my life."

[altusimperius]

Drawing on his shallow willpower reserves to not roll his eyes, Benedict sits with the conclusion and seems content to let things lie. It’s only a moment later when something occurs to him, and he’s managed to say, “do you think—“ when the sound of feet descending the stairs quiets him again.

[cozen]

Getting ready is much simpler for Bastien: he's dressed only medium-well, fashionable but understated, ready to be a respectable but overlookable member of the audience, with the dignity he carried upstairs with him arranged into something less pointed.

But he's also Orlesian. That means he comes to the mirror to join them, Rat Red still wriggling in his arm as he stand close to Byerly and reaches around him to borrow kohl. After a moment's calculation he decides there is no way to apply it steadily and hold her at the same time, so he sets her down and pretends not to notice that she immediately darts to sniff Benedict's ankles.

He doesn't have to pretend to be oblivious to the fact that Byerly's been naughty. On his toes to look over By's shoulder into the mirror, he meets his eyes and grins. "Tu as l'air en forme, mon bijou."

An apology, in a sense. He's decided he's not going to ruin Byerly's evening, even if that means he has to nobly not ruin Benedict's either.

[bouchonne]

“And you look as handsome as a summer day,” By replies, and places a quick kiss on Bastien’s lips. Then he starts applying his lipstick, meaning there won’t be any further kissing for a long while.

“Do you recall that time when you incited that duel between the Duc and the Vicomte? He did it with nothing more than cosmetics,” is Byerly’s explanation of the relevance of the question. “Pointedly chosen cosmetics.”

[altusimperius]

Taking the opportunity to mind his business, or at least appear to do so, Benedict offers Bastien one quiet glance in the mirror before refocusing on his makeup. When Rat Red is freed, he pauses just long enough to bend and pick her up, unable to keep from cracking a genuine smile as she takes to sniffing at all the strange new textures on his face.