keenly | Fade Rift: Inbox

Edgard stops. "Yes?"

"Only a madman would think I was saying griffons are exactly like horses. The main difference I find is that they are much more independent. And if you can't respect what I say on the matter, then the next meeting won't go any better than this one. So. What's going to change?"

Edgard sputters and flinches like he's been slapped.

"Well, I'm a madman because that's what I thought you said." He gestures helplessly. "I am sorry I offended you. Things seemed to go better when I repeated what I said." He stops and thinks. He's trying! Reflection is very hard for him and this was a confusing interaction.

"I don't know, but I will try to listen." He says the next in a softer tone. "I hope you will listen too. Sometimes I have bad ideas. But, I have good ones too."

"That's why I agreed to the good ones." Most of the rest of the tension goes out of him. Good enough. A bit of a sigh. "Honestly, I'm really glad about this. Work keeps me from spending as much time with her as I'd like, and I know she could use as much exercise as possible. They're very athletic."

So, now he's happy about it? This man is extremely complicated and confusing. But, Edgard accepts this and nods.

"I'm glad." He awkwardly shifts. "I'll see you soon then. Goodbye, Maman."

He walks toward the door.

And Athessa walks through it, scribbling something into a journal, and right into Edgard. She looks about as shocked as someone would after walking into a wall after she rebounds a step, blinking.

Edgard steps back a little, surprised, and dips his head to her.

"Athessa." He steps to the side.

Colin gives Athessa a somewhat glum look that he punctures with a disheartened smile.

"Bye, Edgard," he sighs, feeling drained.

In the same tone one would expect her to acknowledge Edgard with his name as he did hers, she says: "Worm," and steps past him.

"Hey, Col', d'you know anything about brewing mead?"

Edited (missed a few keys) 2020-10-29 05:30 (UTC)

Edgard moves his hand to the door and does a double take.

"Did you just call me worm?"

Colin immediately pretends to be so engrossed in what he’s doing that he has no idea what’s going on in front of him.

Athessa rolls her eyes and turns.

"Maybe if you cleaned out your ears you'd be able to hear better. Yes, I called you worm."

Edgard makes an incredulous gesture at this open hostility. What is her problem?

"Why?" He asks flatly.

She shrugs.

"Because you're practically a human earthworm that yells all the fucking time."

Duh. Anyway, back to Colin:

"I'm gonna try to reverse engineer the Keeper's rowan mead..."

Edgard inhales in offense and then pauses a moment, the wheels turning. He wants to yell, but that would prove her point. He takes a deep breath.

"Worms don't yell." He says and walks out the door.

Colin remains quiet and frozen until Edgard's footsteps have faded away, then releases a breath and sits down in the nearest chair.

"He is exhausting."

She nods. "Notice how he didn't yell, though?"

Congrats, Edgard, you just proved her nickname right.

"Turns out he's become a rider to Sunbeam. He came by to talk about what we have to do to be good parents to her, started telling me all about griffons..."

A shrug. "Anyway. I could probably taste it and have useful notes, but we'd need someone who knows mead."

"As if he knows fucking anything about griffons," she scoffs. "Man doesn't even know how to wash properly."

Athessa brushes some dirt from her journal, which had taken the brunt of her Orlesian collision and paid the price, and opens it to show Colin the page she's been scribbling potential mead-notes on.

"Barty really chose a great time to take off with Teren, he would've known stuff about mead. But this is what I have so far, do you think those flavors would mix well? I don't remember much about my nan's process for making any of it, just that she used rowan from those trees I showed you in the woods."

"It's hard to be sure. Things taste can really different after they've been made into wine. Why don't you bring a bottle by this evening and I can make notes?"

Edited 2020-10-30 05:10 (UTC)

"Or...I could bring myself over this evening because I kind of already...hid a bottle at your place."

"Oh!" She probably told him that around the time it happened and he forgot, but he's not altogether surprised. "We'll do that, then."

She grins. "Great! In the meanwhile I'll help out here, since you're utterly knackered."

She says it as if it's code for something, but really she's just referring to how exhausting Edgard is.

A chuckle and a slight shake of his head, his eyes briefly shutting.

"He's crazy. First almost getting us all killed on that mission. Then he wouldn't let me sleep in Ghislain just because he couldn't sleep. Now we both ride the same griffon and he doesn't believe me at all when I say caring for one isn't that complicated."

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sulahnan - 2020-10-30 07:02 (UTC) - Expand