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[altusimperius]

tell him how pretty he is

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[muckspout]

Edgard throws up his hands in defense against the barrage of yelling, but then points to the hookah.

“Can I just—“ He steps forward toward it. “One puff?”

He smiles wickedly at them.

[keenly]

Colin gets up and storms toward him, preparing to just shove him out of the room.

"OUT."

[altusimperius]

Still on the floor, Bene raises his eyebrows as things go in a rather unexpected direction.
Content to play the damsel, he doesn't intervene.

[muckspout]

Edgard laughs at Sunbeam’s Maman’s ferocity.

“Are you going to fight me then?”

He bends his head down to meet his eyes in challenge.

“Go on. I’m getting my smoke.” And steps past him.

[keenly]

And I'm getting laid! Colin wants to say, but Bene would probably faint. Instead, he takes a joint from his belt and moves to block Edgard again.

"You can have this," he hisses, holding the joint just out of reach, "if you leave. There's no elfroot in the hookah so that's pointless anyway."

[altusimperius]

"It's not even lit, you stupid bastard!" Benedict snips from the floor, very much trying to arrange himself so as to minimize his discomfort.
"I should never have let you touch it anyway, you're so fucking filthy I'm surprised it hasn't molded."

Someone's having a bad time.

[muckspout]

Edgard swipes the joint and turns his clearly hurt eyes on Benedict for a long moment.

He leaves without a word.

[keenly]

Colin shuts the door behind Edgard and takes a deep, deep breath in through his nose before huffing it out and looking down at Bene.

"Go apologize for what you said."

[altusimperius]

This is met with incredulity, Bene's face still hot from how this entire thing has transpired.

"What? Why?"

[keenly]

"Look, I can't stand Edgard, and he definitely owes us an apology, but you crossed a line."

He gestures toward the door, already bummed that he's probably not getting laid after all.

"You wanted consequences? This is consequences."

[altusimperius]

For a moment, Benedict just stares up at him in sullen disbelief, looking every bit the child he insists he isn't. But, because he isn't a child, he is able to reason that he'd rather not sign up for a round two-- would Colin do that? maybe it's best not to find out-- and it might be best to cut his losses on this one.

But he's not going to be happy about it.

He gets up, casts a sulky glare at Colin as he passes him, and goes out, letting the door slam shut behind him. Fine.


"Edgard," he calls grudgingly, since the man can't have gone too far, just up or down the stairs.

[muckspout]

Edgard is down the stairs a floor. He stops, but doesn’t turn around or look up.

“Yes?”

[altusimperius]

It's probably better if he doesn't.

Benedict fights with himself for a good ten seconds before he mutters, "sorry. For saying that."
He doesn't sound too sorry.

[muckspout]

Edgard pauses in response.

“No, you’re not.” He runs a hand through his hair. “But, I am sorry for barging in and messing with you.” He sounds pretty genuine.

Edgard still doesn’t move or look at him. He takes insults pretty hard.

[altusimperius]

"Just--"

With an exasperated sigh, Benedict pushes his hair back out of his face. Fine, maybe he feels a little bad, but just a little.

"...maybe just don't tell anyone about it," he mumbles, lowering his voice considerably.

[muckspout]

Edgard scrunches up his face in confusion.

“Why?” He turns around and looks up now. “I won’t.” He reassures him. “But, why?”

[altusimperius]

Benedict looks incredulous.

"...because--"

His face begins to flush, at least as much as it can for one of his complexion.

"--well because it's. Private." Did he just show his hand by accident?

[muckspout]

Privacy is a bit of a foreign concept to Edgard. His face remains scrunched up.

“Alright.” He says. “Just nothing wrong with it, that’s all.”

[altusimperius]

There's a sense they're talking past each other. Benedict cants his head uncertainly, narrowing his eyes at Edgard like he can't quite pin what he wants to say.
Maybe he's misunderstood.

"...why did you call Colin 'Maman'?" If Edgard thinks they were just fooling around, there's nothing to worry about.

[muckspout]

Edgard’s eyebrows raise. He senses he’s missed something and doesn’t break eye contact.

“He’s Sunbeam’s Maman.” He says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

[altusimperius]

This is genuinely surprising, and Benedict almost does a double-take. He opens his mouth and closes it again.

"All right," he concedes, and sounds rather relieved. Then he starts to turn back, his mind shifting gears entirely.

...and then he turns toward Edgard again.

"You know," he says, with more confusion than malice, "...if you're that sensitive about it, why don't you just clean yourself more?"

[muckspout]

“I am natural.” He insists. “But, I was more upset that you had regrets.” He shrugs.

“I just—don’t seem to be fitting in very well.” He waves his hand like he’s swatting the thought away and turns to go.

[altusimperius]

"...oh."

At that, Benedict actually seems to feel a shred of remorse.

"Well it's-- I was just--" He fights with the words for a moment, then sighs. "...I panicked. I said it just to hurt you. So you'd leave."

It hasn't been one of his prouder days, on the whole.

[muckspout]

Edgard nods and grins a little.

"Excuses acceptées" He says in Orlesian. "Be nice to Maman."

And heads down the stairs.

[altusimperius]

Well that wasn't so hard.

Benedict watches after him for a moment, then turns around to go back up the stairs, trying to be as poised about it as possible for someone whose ass hurts.