crystal.

[cozen]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Bastien
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Nonsense. If your characters will not say anything but are obviously/observably involved with people, please feel even more encouraged than normal to "not here" reply with the deets for everyone's gossip-gathering purposes.

Bonjour, mes amis.

[ Faintly sing-song, but in a drawling and subdued way. It doesn't do to sound too chipper and excited about asking people semi-invasive questions. ]

I have been talking to the Seneschal, and we thought—well, it's possible we might need a fraternization policy. Or a record, at least, in case it becomes a problem later. And to decide whether that is necessary: information about fraternization.

[ It's obvious from his voice that he's pleased that that rhymes. ]

So who is together? Or involved, if together is a scary word.

Please feel very free to rat out your bashful friends.

[ As an afterthought, ]

If you have opinions about the policy or record part, I will take those, too.

Comments

[indissection]

I'm not particularly offended by it, if that's what you're worried about.

[cozen]

[ That’s not a no. At least not a very convincing one. But mostly he’d like to stop having this conversation, or at least pause it until he’s acquired a better understanding of what will bother her and/or make her threaten him, so— ]

Alright.

[ He sounds easygoing about it, at least. ]

[indissection]

It's quite sweet, truly.

[cozen]

[ And now the added complication of deciding how a 37(?) year old man out to respond to being told, publicly, that his flirting is sweet. ]

Oh.

Thank you.

[indissection]

[ Especially from a woman barely 27 herself. ]

You're quite welcome.

private

[bouchonne]

[ By way of explanaton - ]

My dearest sapphic wife is still - hm - a bit skittish about being open about her preferences.

[cozen]

I would not force her to be,

[ is the source of his imbalance. Having you don’t have to answered with I’ll hurt you if you make me. But frightened people jump at shadows. So it still doesn’t make sense, but the lack of sense makes sense, perhaps. ]

[bouchonne]

I know. I know.

[ His voice is gentle. By way of, perhaps, better explanation: ]

Everyone gets odd in their first real relationship.

[cozen]

Mm. That’s fair. And it’s alright, I’m not—I don’t want to upset her, that’s all. I’d like for her to like me.

[ He’d like for everyone to like him. But she is a special case. He’s not sure what will happen after the war, if she’ll come to Ferelden and wherever else Byerly plans to roam, or if they’ll have a long-distance marriage, or if they’ll have the whole thing annulled once she’s comfortably out of her family’s reach. It’s only now occurring to him that it might be something he has the right to ask about.

Another time.

Right now, brightening with interest: ]

Were you odd about yours?

[bouchonne]

[ This is a nicer topic. Or, well - a more amusing topic. ]

I challenged someone to a duel.

[ He says it with a laugh, because - what a thought. ]

[cozen]

No.

[ Though young Byerly being earnestly dramatic about romance is really not so unbelievable. ]

I assume you survived.

[bouchonne]

[ A laugh. ]

Wouldn't you be surprised to learn that, all this time, I was a revenant?

[cozen]

The prettiest corpse in the world.

Who were you dueling for?

[bouchonne]

A woman named Mary. She was an actress in Denerim.

[cozen]

Pretty?

[bouchonne]

Memory certainly paints her so.