1 - What do you do with a drunken swordsman? {audio & action}
Hm.
[A fairly tall man, pewter wine cup clutched in one hand as if to make a toast, is standing at the end of the pier. He glances curiously over one shoulder towards the sea, frowns, and looks back up to the shore. Stooping to pick up a small, polished-brass box of sorts, he begins to walk ( Read more... )
[A fairly tall man, pewter wine cup clutched in one hand as if to make a toast, is standing at the end of the pier. He glances curiously over one shoulder towards the sea, frowns, and looks back up to the shore. Stooping to pick up a small, polished-brass box of sorts, he begins to walk ( Read more... )
For a while he listens to Athos going about his business. Then he lazily taps a few buttons (my, look at him getting the hang of this trinket) and announces cheerfully: ]
Well, well, well, Athos. If that isn't a wonderful surprise. Bienvenue!
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...Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.]
Buckingham.
[Athos grits, stock-still and glaring at nothing in particular. Withdrawing the mechanical contraption from his pocket, his lifts it slowly and speaks into it (because apparently that's how they work.)]
Somehow, I'm not at all surprised.
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[ He smirks. Given how much it wouldn't surprise the narration if Athos could actually hear it through the transmission. ]
You have met the people here, have you not? Interesting, although perhaps a bit... well, I suppose you would find them more to your liking...
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[Athos rolls his eyes, resuming his walk to the "mansion." He's found the company so far to be decently tolerable. Nothing can fill the gap that Aramis, Porthos, and D'Artagnan have made, but...well. Nothing probably will.]
And how are you enjoying having a single room all to yourself? A step down for you, isn't it?
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Ah yes, certainly. But one simply has to make do with... a little modesty. A... refreshing exercise.
[ A pause on account of him taking a sip of wine on the other end of the line. ]
One I trust you are already thoroughly familiar with.
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[Athos starts making his way by the gardens, meandering around well-trimmed rose bushes that remind him far too much of noble households he'd rather forget about entirely.]
-I'm not particularly inclined to hear you talk anymore.
[He smirks. It is a rare expression. Treasure it!]
There is no real royalty here, Buckingham. I am therefore not obligated to follow the usual protocol concerning a man of your status.
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[ Status protocol is to Buckingham what doing good deeds is to a morally sound breed of people: A thing to be observed because it is the right thing to do so, not because it is required or monitored.
Of course Buckingham would not expect Athos to understand... ]
Now tell me, did you have a safe journey home after your... visit?
[ There is a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but the audio-only transmission on his part will sadly allow no treasuring of the same. ]
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[Oh, Buckingham. Actually interested in Athos' shenanigans? Well, it was your airship, after all. Pity about it, really. The poor thing is firewood now.]
And we had a guest.
[She didn't stay long.]
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[ He chuckles. ]
Always in such a hurry to leave you, isn't she?
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[Her departure. That's a pleasantly mild way of putting "falling from hundreds of feet in the air into the channel."
And thank you for asking, but she took her time. Brief though it may have been to others, it felt like years to Athos. It was years to Athos.]
The last time I saw her hurry was when we picked her up while she was fleeing your stronghold. Leaving before the grueling defeat of her ally - very much her style.
[He would know.]
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[ The word rolls off his tongue slowly, as if trying to recall its meaning, trying to recall in what context it could possibly-- ]
Ah, I see. Your... little intermission.
[ A week of clenched teeth in Wonderland and Buckingham can all but laugh about it. Bitterly. With clenched teeth. ]
Hardly something she would trouble herself with, but...
[ Deploying surprise in
3...
2...
1... ]
I picked her up just in time for the next act.
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He had thought it was over.
That he could move on.
That she was gone.]
...you lie.
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