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[altusimperius]

tell him how pretty he is

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[altusimperius]

He perks up a little, but pauses mid-step.

"I-- yes," he admits, with an air of realization. "I'll have to get magebane from Colin."
Not that he likes that idea, but he appreciates it more when it means he gets to go shopping in Hightown.

[sulahnan]

Athessa makes a face — which Bene will recognize as a general purpose yucky face with regards to the magebane — then shrugs.

"Okay, well. Get some and meet me at the ferry, so long as Byerly doesn't have you ironing his socks or whatever."

And just to be a pill, she thumps his shoulder with her fist. Not hard, nowhere near enough to even hurt, much less move him. A friendly little nudge before she heads off on her way.

[altusimperius]

He snorts. "All righ-- hey!"

He pouts and grips his shoulder, because it's the principle of the thing, but then he smiles again when she walks away.



It's a few hours later that he shows up at the docks with a basket, wearing one of his new outfits and clearly ready to take the town by storm.

[sulahnan]

A few hours? Good gods, Benedict, did you iron all the man's socks??

No, Athessa wasn't waiting that whole time. She has other things to do, none of which involve changing her outfit or anything. Her outfit du jour consists of the same dark shirt, same brown trousers, same belt, and a pair of strappy sandals from earlier.

"Took ya long enough," she says as he approaches.

[altusimperius]

"Some of us have jobs," Bene replies with a toss of his head, looking a little rattled for some reason or another-- it's been a bit of a day-- but he's ready to get to work, based on how he scans the boats to see which one they're taking.

1/2

[sulahnan]

2/2

[sulahnan]

"All of us have jobs. That's...why we're all here." Like, congrats on getting on our level, Ben.

[altusimperius]

"Yes, well some have ones that we can't just up and leave in the middle of the day!" He says, throwing his hands up with a little roll of his eyes.
"Are we going or not?"

[sulahnan]

Athessa gestures to the ferry. "After you, Serrah Walnut."

Once they're on the ferry and underway, Athessa pulls out the list again, reading over it.

"I don't even know what half of these things are."

[altusimperius]

"Then it's a good thing I'm here."

Benedict leans over to look at the list as well, furrowing his brow.

"Oh, this shouldn't take long."

[sulahnan]

That's the only reason you're here is what she almost says, but opts for just jabbing her finger at one of the items. "Proski-yuto? What is that? Another fancy fabric?"

[altusimperius]

"It's a sausage, you ignoramus," Benedict scoffs, "Antivan, specifically. But we can do better than that."

[sulahnan]

She gives him a flat look.

"You really wanna start name-calling while I can push you overboard?" Then she shakes her head at his suggestion of better meat. "If Colin wants the proskiyuto sausage then we should get the kind he asked for."

[altusimperius]

"No," Bene says quickly, cagily; there's a story there, but he's not eager to volunteer it.

"Fine then. Be boring. Boring like Colin."

[sulahnan]

It doesn't really matter that there's a story there, because Athessa is too busy noting how thin the ice under Benedict's feet is at that comment.

"Oh, you're right," She folds up the list and puts it back in her pocket. It's safe from getting wet, that way, and now both of her hands are free in case she needs to smack this boy. "If being boring like Colin is what gets you off I definitely don't wanna be that."

[altusimperius]

Seemingly oblivious of any wrongdoing, Bene is immediately scandalized by Athessa's retort.
"What gets me off is none of your business," he says haughtily, but seems, immediately after, to become aware of how he sounds.

"...you soporati dogfucker," he adds, a smirk twitching onto his face.

[sulahnan]

If this were a video game, there would be a pressure gauge hovering somewhere near Athessa, showing a number that increases the closer she gets to dunking the Vint. And, when he introduces their little inside joke, the number stops rising, even falls a few points when she smirks back.

"You're the one who brought up who has more interesting sausage."

The ferry gets to the dock at about that moment, and the number drops even further, back into safe territory — but not before she shoves him a little, playfully.

"You better watch it with that boring talk, though," she warns, but keeps her tone light. She wants him to heed her, not cower like a kicked puppy. "Or I really will have to kick your ass."

[altusimperius]

He grins back at her, perfectly at ease.

He remains thus until they're up on the dock and Athessa offers that warning, which elicits a little scoff.
"Maker, I was joking," he says with a roll of his eyes, "he would've laughed."

[sulahnan]

"I know he would. I know exactly how it'd sound, too."

To prove it, she does an impression of Colin's self-conscious laugh. She's heard it often enough, when she points out something he does that even he doesn't realize, but before she has a chance to clarify the good things about it. Athessa even ducks her head the way Colin would, and feigns the flicker of a smile.

[altusimperius]

Giving an undignified bark of laughter, Benedict quickly covers his mouth and glances around, perhaps afraid someone will see him enjoying himself too much and decide he can't come back on the mainland again.

"...all right, where're we going," he swerves, leaning over her to try and see where she put the list, "I can take you to the best fabric stall."

[sulahnan]

It isn't meant to be funny, Benedict. She gives him a peevish look and places a hand on his chest to curb his looming.

"You'd better be prepared to take us to the second- or maybe third-best fabric stall," she says, and produces the list again. "We're on a budget."

[altusimperius]

Missing the look but responding to the hand, he nods.

"Fine," he agrees without too much fuss, "as long as what we get doesn't look like the second or third best."

[sulahnan]

"I'll leave that up to you, then. They're more likely to haggle with you anyway."

She may not know where the fabric stalls he wants to go to are, but she knows where Hightown is, so she starts walking that-a-way.

[altusimperius]

Strolling along beside her, Benedict remains in high spirits, and seems to enjoy talking to and haggling with the merchants. He actually, perhaps surprisingly, appears to know a lot about different fabrics, how this one will react to that treatment or how that one will catch this kind of light-- in the end, the deals they get are solid ones, as he demonstrates someone who can't be fleeced, at least in this department.

As they move on to the next item, he looks pleased as punch, carrying two bolts of their chosen fabric, one in each arm.

[sulahnan]

Athessa glances sidelong at him, appraising how he seems now compared to...every other time she sees him.

"You sure know a lot about cloth," she says, sounding kind of impressed. But only kind of. "And negotiating."

She doesn't think she has to point out that she would've had to haggle the merchant down from an even bigger markup if Benedict weren't here. Though it comes at the price of people assuming she's his servant.