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[staysail]

Comments

[hassaran]

They needed washing.

[staysail]

How dirty can they be?

[hassaran]

They were lent to me by people here. What do you expect most of them own handcuffs for?

[staysail]

Yseult.

[hassaran]

I'm serious!

[staysail]

No, you're speculating about your coworkers. Casting disparagement. Gossiping, nearly. About the good fine people of Riftwatch who I can only assume are all living holy blessed lives, and if they have got manacles and irons they've had them all along and for perfectly blessed reasons.

Really.

[hassaran]

You're right, I'm a monster. It likely reflects more on me than on them that I would even think such things. I should go to speak with a Sister immediately.

[staysail]

Only make sure to bring all the cuffs with you when you do. And pay careful attention. I want to know exactly what the Sister says, when you explain it all to her.

[hassaran]

I think I've heard this story before, and it had a very unlikely ending.

[staysail]

No. I don't believe that.

[hassaran]

That I've heard it before? Or that I'm not likely to seduce a Chantry sister?

[staysail]

No, I believe both of those. One in the service of your work, one because I think you know every story that's been written down, nearly, which is why I've got to keep inventing new ones to tell you and continue to be unable t' write 'em down.

What I don't believe is that the ending was unlikely. 'Cos it seems likely, as an ending. Not with you as its star, that's not a requirement, just in general.

[hassaran]

I have never seduced a Chantry sister! And if I were inclined to, I don't think I'd start by dropping a pile of manacles at her feet and saying oh Sister I was just trying to run a class on lock-picking for my woefully undertrained rogue pseudomilitary organization but I just don't know what's been done in these before!

[ The voice she affects is breathy and high, with broader vowels suggesting perhaps a country naif. ]

[staysail]

[Laughing--]

What is that voice! You had a voice ready! Don't tell me you've never when you have a voice all prepared for the situation--

[hassaran]

I haven't! I don't have a voice, that's just how they sound in plays and things, isn't it? I have never seduced a Chantry sister, I [ a brief but deeply suspicious pause to confirm ] swear. I swear.

[staysail]

Oh, aye? In all those plays, where Chantry sisters get seduced? That's what they sound like in those? Must've skipped Afsaana with that one, 'cos I never saw it. That little pause isn't doing anything for your story either, by the way. The way you just said it. Little pause like that, sounds t' me like you might have, actually.

[hassaran]

It happens in every Orlesian comedy!

I haven't, [ she insists, laughing, but it is harder to deny the suspiciousness of that pause, and the way she pauses again, now, does nothing to make her seem less guilty. ]

But I did once seduce someone as a Chantry Sister. And there was a Lay Brother, another time. I don't think that counts.

[staysail]

[The second pause gets another laugh, surprised.]

You were acting as a Lay Brother? Or you seduced a Lay Brother, as a Chantry Sister? I just want to make sure I've got the details correct. Am I ever going to know everything about you? First Viana Velez of Kaiten, and her librarian, now this.

[hassaran]

[ Dry, incredulous: ] Would you want to? There were a few years where most of my missions were that sort.

But no, if you must know, the Lay Brother was a completely separate incident, I was not in disguise as a Chantry Sister at the time, and I didn't really seduce him, I just led him on and knocked him out.

[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.