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[jiji moon is in the image for serene which is hilarious

D is already waiting for Rosa when she arrives, standing like a dark and out of place statue. Serene is much too colorful for him as a backdrop, but something about the gentle air of the place somehow matches his quiet nature.

He turns his head toward her and nods under the hat in greeting. Hello.]

[ help. jiji is always here.

when she spots him, she waves cheerfully enough before closing the distance between them. she, at least, does not look out of place at all. but it's easier to blend in when you aren't intimidating. ]

I hope you didn't have to wait for too long.

[ she came as quickly as she can, but it still requires some getting used to navigating here. ]

[Not the first or last time D will just be waiting in gentle stoicism for other people. If he's out of place with Rosa in Serene, then he's extremely out of place here in Radiance, especially outside the limits of the guarded palace building. The whole of him stands out like a sore thumb.

In a fashion Laurent will understand, D is strangled from head to toe in clothes. The only thing visible is his ghastly pale and beautiful face caught between a striped scarf and hat and the ends of both hands. The bulk makes him look older and stronger, but his face betrays where in time his physical youth is caught.]

Hello.

Edited 2022-10-04 16:16 (UTC)

I don't mind waiting.

[After living for, like, ten thousand years, even waiting several hours is really a drop in the bucket for him. It's nothing. A blip of time, like a second.

He allows her to catch up to him before he turns to walk on, leading the way. His gait is slow and without any hurry. Like all he has is time.]

What kind of tea are you looking for?

[ it's freeing, in a way, to sneak about in a manner decidedly improper for a young veretian prince in line for the throne. though he's swaddled in dark clothes, everything about his choices are, as always meticulous — finer fabrics, so that he doesn't stand out as a beggar in radiance, layers and hidden pockets to conceal his extra coin and the dagger snug at his hip, a hat perched at a jaunty angle to hide his yellow hair but doing little else in the way of stealth. laurent greets D with a coolly assessing glance, his eyes moving from head to toe. ]

I can only assume you dressed with the intention of being very antisocial tonight. You might've tried to look more kingly.

[It doesn't seem to bother him when he's appraised. He looks back at Laurent with full attention without looking Laurent over, though he isn't modest about meeting Laurent's gaze.

In a surprisingly quiet and level voice, he says,] I'm not a king.

[The outfit has more professional merit, but he doesn't try to justify his fashion choices.]

There are a lot of guards.

[ neither are you is what the disquiet within him says, now that it's seemed to have acquired a voice of its own. not a king, never will be — his bid for the throne will fail, his uncle will likely parade him naked into the streets and cut his throat, and he would never have been able to fill auguste's shadow anyway.

gaze impassive — ] A lot of opportunity, then.

[ this is a canvassing endeavor, above all, but laurent eyes the guards with a suspiciously thoughtful look, as if they're just more pieces in a game he's playing. ]

Do you think they can be bribed?

A lot of risks.

[Ever so slightly, he turns to follow Laurent’s gaze inward again toward the building. From here, only a few of the guards can be seen making rounds, or stopped and poised in their paths. But D said there was a lot of them.

And there are. He can hear them, their footsteps and movement, but also the beating of their hearts.]

It’s a waste of money. [By now, he assumes Laurent is going to say something about cocksucking, so he adds:] And time.

Are you sure this is what you want to do? If we are caught, I can’t spare you from whatever punishment they decide to give.

[ thinks about serene on fire. anyway.

she has to think about the question though... most of the teas she's really used to getting would probably be far from possible from them. too expensive, or the climate isn't quite right. ]

... something soothing, maybe. Herbal?

[ that's generic enough. ]

[thinking about it not only being on fire, but there being soothing herbal tea at the party............. this truly was them doing so much for nothing]

Alright.

[He's not sure whether Rosa has any kind of innate physical abilities, but she is free to use them as she wants or needs. He follows his nose, searching for something herbal. However, without knowing really any of the flora here, he is left to blindly pick through the scents.]

I've met your coworker.

Oh! Did you? How did that go?

[ she wants to not be too nosy, since it seems rude to get into shalem's business, but rosa is invested in making sure he has an easy time getting along here... there are so many gloomy people (she is talking to one of them right now). ]

I do hope you got along, although that's a selfish want on my part.

It was okay. Their name was Shalem.

[Just in case she has more coworkers running around or something. He does not know if it was a man or a woman because it was through the ridiculous Soul Tinder.]

They seemed concerned for your well-being.

[Me hoping the thread doesn't just randomly turn very sour for some wild RP reason, and I have to figure out how to retcon this all.]

[ it would be funny.

but she nods her her. she isn't entirely sure how to feel about that. on one hand, it's nice to know that shalem seems to also be looking out for her like he said he would. on the other... it feels like a kindness that's undeserved. ]

I see... thank you for telling me. Do you know anyone else here?

[I refuse to look at you dropping the hints about her terrible depression. I can’t take it.]

I don’t.

[It does not sound like he is upset about this at all. Of course he isn’t. He knows about as many people back home as he does here, honestly. Personally anyway.]

[ me handing them to you like a cat offers a dead lizard

but she nods again at that. ]

That might be for the best. Other people being here means that they also supposedly died. I think I would prefer to be alone than to see familiar faces, in that case.

[ she and shalem had a mini panic moment as they tried to figure out if other people from their company also died or not, since that means something went very wrong. but if it's just the two of them, that's... not better, exactly, but it means her friends are likely safe. ]

I didn't hire you to be my personal guard. [ a sidelong look. is this concern? he hasn't bothered to inquire about whatever set of morals that D may happen to live his life by, because they will no doubt prove to be inconvenient at the worst times. he's likely no better than damen, attempting to rein laurent in and lessen his effectiveness due to some misplaced desire for goodness. ] You don't like my dishonestly acquired coin anyway. Why preserve it?

[ easier to comment on the inconsequential bits rather than why D would be concerned about his wellbeing at all. that is uncomfortable and unwelcome. ]

I want to go up to the towers. Do you think they might take a prisoner there?

[While he doesn't stop or turn around, he does swivel his head enough to glance over his collar at her.]

I agree.

[In fact, hilariously, he said these literal exact words almost to someone else about it. Can't believe they're the same person. They can have bad depression together.]

But I would rather someone like you have familiar company.

But you did hire me. [One of his pale, long hands emerges from the edge of the cape in front of him, palm-up.] I don't get paid if you're captured.

Give me two coins.

[For up-front.

He doesn't turn to look at the building again; instead, he stands there like a dark sentinel, waiting.]

No. They would take you to the Gallows. [He doesn't know this for sure, of course, it's only an assumption. He thinks this place is too fancy for prisoners to be not only so near, but so high above the rest.] But you may end up in one of the towers later.

As a soul, keeping it secured to this plane.

You're to deliver the layout to a little bird named Aspen if I get captured. [ he drops the dull coins into D's waiting palm, avoiding contact. he doesn't mention that D will get paid even in the event of his capture — no reason to allow him to think such a tragic event is of little consequence. ] They won't want my soul, and judging from the little I know of you, no one wants yours, either.

[ a statement based on absolutely no factual information. laurent adjusts his hat and slips amongst the trees, light on his feet as he makes note of the various openings of the palace, windows he could possibly scale and ones he most certainly could not. ]

Your concern would be better suited elsewhere. This is what we'll do. I'm going to have a fit and fall into the fountain. The guards will come retrieve me. Use the distraction to enter the palace and steal away to one of the high towers, preferably a lesser used one, and leave the windows unlocked from the inside. Obviously, don't let anyone see you. We don't want them locking them before we return with our bird.

[He does not disagree with Laurent's assessment of his soul, very funny. But he doesn't say anything. The fingers that close over the coins and disappear back inside the edge of the cape look like they'd be frigid.

When Laurent turns and assimilates away, D follows, somehow walking without the spurs on his boots or the outrageous outfit making much noise.]

That isn't necessary. [He still has the same quiet and level voice he's used no matter Laurent's needling. It really does not seem like Laurent can rile him up in any way.] I can get inside without a distraction.

Before I ask if you plan to come, I want to know: why do you risk their ire instead of trying for an invitation?

And here I was so looking forward to throwing myself into the fountain and being saved by a burly man. [ dry. he glances once over his shoulder, then returns his gaze to the palace. ] I'll save my charms for when I'm ready to go in. It's likely I'll only get invited once, and I'd rather not waste the opportunity stumbling about the rooms the Hierarchy does their fucking in when I could be locating things of importance.

[ moreover... he's asked three people, now, to aid him in this. he won't lead them to their (second?) deaths, or to the gallows. he's confident he can manipulate his way into an invitation at some point, but then there's the matter of the others. augustine is a proper man — it's likely he can come into one on his own. laurent will claim aspen is good for entertainment, of the cocksucking variety or otherwise. but D is a mystery thus far, displaying no personable qualities that a cruelly fickle entity such as this Hierarchy might be swayed by. he looks like he should not be allowed in, on a good day.

with a sigh, laurent turns, hand on his hip. ] No need to ask. I plan to come. If you can get inside without need of a distraction, then you will take me as well. We'll need to sketch a map after, and two sets of eyes will cover more ground.

[D pulls slowly up short as Laurent turns. He did not think Laurent was a stupid man before by any means, but he can see now that Laurent is, in fact, a much more cunning man than D initially assumed.

And maybe a bit foolish (D's assessment) in the unyielding way of it.]

If I take you, then you will have to face me and hold onto my front with your arms and legs. Is that something you're willing to do?

[Laurent had not touched his hand. He's a dhampir. He knows this. Many people do not want to touch him no matter how beautiful his face may be.]

[ it has little to do with him being a dhampir — laurent does not wish to touch anyone on any given day. but laurent also lives an uncomfortable life of discipline and duty, swallowing his discomforts when they can't be avoided. without comment, he steps forward and briefly assesses the logistics of this particular request, pulling his hat away and tucking it into the folds of his jacket. his highly identifiable blond hair is pulled back into a loose braid, settled over his shoulder like a sweetly resting serpent.

his expression remains impassive except for the briefest flicker in his gaze, something wide-eyed and caught, an animal quivering in a cage. there and gone, barely perceptible. then there's only cool steel as he tucks himself against D, his slender stature lined with hard muscle, coiled with tension. he has not been pressed this close to a man — to anyone — since his youth. ]

Well? Get on with it.

[Sweet Laurent.

It's not surprising that D doesn't move when Laurent prepares. He always seems to be standing around like a stone. His rust-colored eyes watch Laurent from under the brim of the black hat. He's a quiet man for good reason. There is so much more he can parse when he's silent, when he's listening.

It's fear, but D does not want to insult Laurent with that. Being fearful is not a bad thing to him. The apprehension is not what he is, but what he could perhaps do. The subtle shift he can hear in Laurent's heartbeat tells him, the way Laurent is tight with dislike against his surprisingly warm front. He's lived long enough to have seen this from many people for a completely different reason.

He still hasn't moved, not raised his arms nor turned his head.] I'm going to clear a way for us first. [His voice is soft when he says it. He'll let Laurent be the one to draw back.]

I can find another way if it makes you uncomfortable. I did not want you to be hit if we were spotted.

[ help

that is a nice thing to say... although she isn't surprised. after talking to people, she's probably one of the younger people here. ]

... thank you. Shalem and I aren't very close, but we get along well. It's a good way to keep staying on your toes, I guess.

[ when you have to look out for someone else, as well as yourself. ]

catchall

rosa ¤ serene, tea hunting

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laurent ¤ radiance, parliament house

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