let's get deep

[champions]

FORM: crystal
SENDER: Marisol Candelas Ximena Odalys Esmeralda Hierro Asturias de la Nieve Vivas
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: a question
WHEN: whenev
WHERE: Kirkwall (Hightown, probably)
NOTES: don't hate her because she's beautiful

You know, I feel it has been too long since I have had a chance to speak with many of you. That is the way when we are all working so much, no? The coming and going makes it so easy to work with people and never truly know them.

( Imagine her, if you will, reclined on a fainting couch, a glass of port lightly held in one hand, a cigarillo balanced between the fingers of the other, and wearing something appropriately luxurious. )

So, I am wondering, what does responsibility mean to you? More what you consider your responsibilities, than the offerings of a dictionary. Understanding one another is key, I hear.

Comments

[champions]

You don't! Tell me more.

[bouchonne]

Oh, with pleasure. The first is not so well-known, but I treasure it dearly. It's called Death of a Rake, and it's more popular in Ferelden, but the chorus goes something like -

[ He clears his throat. And then he sings in a pleasing, resonant baritone, in the common tongue - ]

Smash his head, crush his eyes,
Sever the tongue that tells those lies
Don't believe a word he's said
My dear, the rake must end up dead.

[champions]

No. ( She slips into Trade for a moment, before switching back to Antivan. )

Surely this cannot be. I refuse to believe that anyone so charming could ever be false.

( She says, 100% never a liar, never a problem, no sir. )

[bouchonne]

[ Cheerily: ]

You may choose to believe that it was slander.

[champions]

May I? Very generous of you, esteemed sir rake.

[bouchonne]

Thank you. I know sometimes it hurts to feel the sting of distrust. So I invite me to trust me - for your pleasure.

[champions]

You are the very definition of kindness and generosity. And you, can feel quite free to trust me.

[exsecutus]

[From some adjourning sofa (because I have empirically decided that Nikos is hanging out at the mansion, deal with it), Nikos makes a noise of disgust. It might carry over at the tail-end of Marisol's message.

To Marisol, directly:]

This is disgusting.

[champions]

( (Nikos has his own designated room for whenever he wants to crash, so he can basically be there any time tbqh.)

She chuckles. )

You love it when I disgust you.

[exsecutus]

[Don't tell him that]

When you disgust me to the point of vomiting in my mouth, love begins to curdle. "Sir Rake"?

i'm assuming this isn't on the crystals as well but just in case: let's take this to PURE ACTION

[champions]

( She laughs to herself, and sets the crystal down. )

I think I'm very funny. ( Marisol looks over, and beams at her cousin. ) Being playful is a way to make people compliant.

YEAH NO RAKES ALLOWED

[exsecutus]

Your opinion of yourself is highly biased.

[Truthfully, Nikos' opinion of Marisol is also highly biased. But still.

He is currently engaged in balancing his wine glass on his gut, his hands hovered in a careful halo around it--to catch it, should it fall. Fixed attention is required, to keep it in place. He spares her a glance anyways.]

Sir Rake is annoying. Play him quickly into obscurity or I'll be more annoyed.

OR SHOVELS, FOR THAT MATTER

[champions]

Biased does not mean wrong.

( Idly, she wonders if she should help or hinder his effort. Slowly, like a stretching cat, Marisol pushes herself up to sit, and then stand, grabbing the bottle of wine and standing over Nikos, and tilts her head at him, bottle slightly raised. Top up?

Be advised, she is holding the bottle only a little below the height of her shoulders, and intends to pour from a distance. For flair. )

Why is he annoying, instead of funny? ( what did Byerly do, and should she lull him into a false sense of security and kill him? )

YEAH

[exsecutus]

[Suspiciously, he eyes the bottle, charting the trajectory. But also, wine. In his glass. Even when Nikos is dead and mummified, he will not reject a wine refill, so he nods to her silent offer. Yes. Of course.]

I've been here the whole time, you know. He sang you a song that was written about him. He might as well have hung a sign around his neck that identified him as an insufferable tit.

[champions]

But I am an insufferable tit, and you love me.

( And the pouring commences. It is magnificent, truly, this waterfall of wine.

Her aim is rather good, as it turns out. The sadistic thing is actually that she fills the glass right to the brim. )

[exsecutus]

Middling insufferable. Two tits. How am I supposed to--

[Instinct makes him want to sit up, but if he does that, he'll lose precious wine. Nikos cranes his neck, trying to get the angle right, to get a better idea of the glass.]

Cruelty? Really?

[champions]

Me? Cruel?

( She hums, musing. )

You must be thinking of someone else.

( And she is just going to swig some wine straight from the bottle, because why not. )

[exsecutus]

I know you. [So, no. Not someone else.] And what is it--

[Speaking very, very carefully, without any deep breaths from the stomach, so as not to disturb the wine glass--]

--that you would call overfilling a precarious wine glass, if not cruel.

[champions]

( With a quiet laugh, Marisol holds her hand out towards the glass. A blue light glows in her palm, and the sides of the glass grow taller as ice climbs the sides of it and reach above. A simple little thing, but enough to let him sip down the wine without being in too much peril.

Unless he leaves it to melt, in which case he's on his own. )

I would also call it "funny," but because it's you, I will concede your point and offer my sincerest apologies.

[exsecutus]

[Like fuck he's going to leave it to melt, not when he could sit up and rescue his full glass. "Rescue" here, of course, means "consume", and Nikos doesn't so much as blink at the sudden ice. Ice, with Marisol, is nothing. Very convenient when you're drinking something that requires ice, which in honesty, this wine does not. But who is he to complain.]

Your apology will half-ruin the wine. This wasn't meant to be chilled.

[Who is he to complain? Nikos, that's who. In this case, because it's Marisol, he's teasing. Despite his protest, and before she remove the extension and spill wine all over him, he sits up and takes a quick sip.]

Is this insufferable tit really so amusing to you, that you're willing to suffer his singing?

[champions]

( And she gently flicks his ear. Brat. )

Few people are so amusing, but sometimes letting people believe they are can be very useful.

( A little tilt of her head. )

Is he truly so insufferable that you'd be upset if I keep his company?

[exsecutus]

[Pleased, Nikos rewards himself with another sip of wine, and only wrinkles his nose a little when his ear is flicked. Bitch.]

How long are you keeping it?

[champions]

As long, ( she hums, musing, ) as he is useful.

[exsecutus]

[Ugh.]

How undefined. Uninvite me for the duration of that usefulness. I won't be able to take it.