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[staysail]

Comments

[staysail]

Fair point. Just tell me they were Orlesian plays instead.

Leading him on and knocking him out is familiar, at least. You weren't going to do that to me, were you? That first night in the village?

[hassaran]

Of course not. [ Teasing: ] You clearly were not a source of intelligence.

Familiar how?

[staysail]

[Indignant,] Cruel. And still so full of mysteries.

Anyways, I don't mean familiar exactly. More similar to stories I've heard before.

[hassaran]

What does her voice sound like in those?

[ Not a real question. This one is: ]

Do you really want to know these sorts of things?

[staysail]

[Not quite ready to be serious--]

Depends. Is the Lay Brother going t' show up at the Gallows asking after his merry Osburga who left him with a broken heart?

[hassaran]

[ That's acceptable. She laughs. ]

Osburga! Maker, I think I'd need a false nose at least to carry that one off.

And no, I think it extremely unlikely you'll ever be faced with him.

[staysail]

Well, that's a comfort. The lack of Brothers, that is. Not the nose. Osburga comes of Ostwick, don't you think? What's an Ostwick nose look like?

[hassaran]

I don't know, but an Osburga nose is large. Bulbous. This is quite far from where I thought this conversation was headed.

[staysail]

You're disappointed to be talking about your bulbous false nose with your husband?

[hassaran]

A purely hypothetical false nose. And 'disappointed' isn't the word.

[ In that voice again: ] I'm never disappointed to be talking to you.

[staysail]

[Caught off-guard by the expert deployment of that voice, Darras laughs again.]

Oh, now you're cheating, with that.

[hassaran]

[ In a different voice, closer to her own but still definitely not--same accent but pitched deeper, smokier, and with an almost sing-songy cadence-- ]

What are you going to do about it?

[staysail]

Come and put a stop to it. Now.

[hassaran]

[ Her laugh is her own, quick and pleased. ]

If only. I had to meet a contact on the other side of the city. I won't be back for at least an hour.

[staysail]

After all that? You can be back sooner. Half an hour.

[hassaran]

I can't make the distance shorter! As soon as I can.

Leave the stuff in the tub, I was serious about it needing a wash. There's a box on the shelf behind my desk with some other examples. If you want.

[staysail]

Personal cuffs in a box on the shelf behind your desk?

[hassaran]

It's all different kinds of locks, for practice.

[staysail]

It's so hard to believe you now that I know you went around soliciting and collecting unwashed sex cuffs and left 'em in our bathtub.

Can you not get a carriage to get back sooner? Run it, maybe? Horse?

[hassaran]

You make fun and then you want me to run back to you in the freezing rain?

They're for the class, I need enough examples for everyone in Riftwatch. They may be perfectly clean, but I don't trust them.

[staysail]

If I really thought I had some influence over getting you back here quicker, I'd do it. Or not do it, if that's what it took.

I could wash them for you. Instead of sitting here, looking at them.

[hassaran]

Thanks, that would be helpful. But it's not urgent, if you've other things to do.

And I am in a carriage, but it took me ages to get one because I refuse to share and be coughed on all the way across town. It's slow going in this weather.

[staysail]

Ah, then you were smart to wait. Tell the driver you've got something to get home for. See if that helps. You could try using your voice on them, but I think I want that voice saved for myself, now that I've heard it.

[hassaran]

[ She laughs. ]

Absolutely not. That's for a joke or work, nothing in between.

[staysail]

And Orlesian comedies. You forgot about those.