Romain de Coucy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
toujoursdroit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
faderift2021-02-17 08:24 pm
toujoursdroit) wrote in faderift2021-02-17 08:24 pm
Entry tags:
Closed.
WHO: Romain de Coucy and Benevenuta Thevenet
WHAT: Postgame breakdown for a soft power assignment in Hightown
WHEN: Some night in early Guardian
WHERE: Hightown
NOTES: No warnings other than their entire respective personalities.
WHAT: Postgame breakdown for a soft power assignment in Hightown
WHEN: Some night in early Guardian
WHERE: Hightown
NOTES: No warnings other than their entire respective personalities.
The evening had gone reasonably well, all things considered. While Romain remains technically unaffiliated, he views his occasional pointed appearance at selected Hightown functions as a reasonable price to pay for the ability to stay apprised of Riftwatch's activities. It is only reasonable that an actual member of the organization accompany him to such evenings. And if Benevenuta Thevenet was not his very first choice, she was easily in the top ten. They have collaborated on enough minor matters that he entered the evening confident she could handle herself.
All of that said, he waits until they'd both been bundled into the carriage and are well away from their host's door before he says, "If you had deigned to warn me ahead of time, we could have coordinated." The note of irritation in his voice is mild; it isn't the future of the rumor that he'd taken a much younger, Nevarran lover that grates, but the barest breath of a pause when he'd noticed what she was doing and adjusted accordingly.
(It's almost certain that no one at the party had noticed that pause. He can name three or four Orlesian nobles who could have, if they'd been present.)
It's too late to put her on a ferry, so they'd already planned for her to overnight in a guest room at his home. He'd wondered, earlier that evening, which part of her plan had come first.
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"I have three very healthy grandchildren," he says, after another pause, and he's every faith she will hear an opening of negotiations for what it is. It isn't a yes, but it isn't a no, either.
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A scandal on a long leash, and two adolescents—old enough to potentially complicate this by having opinions about it, young enough yet that she might be able to influence the sort of men that they grow into being. Naturally she has done her homework before coming to him with this.
She gestures, languid, toward the staff propped in the corner of the carriage. “I, myself, have a mage's staff. It presently disqualifies me from more formal arrangements, and safely guarantees your heirs no competition.” On the off-chance that Romain Charnier can still produce sons, were they Benevenuta's they would have no more claim to his fortunes than Bellerose does now. “A playing field that, perhaps, will allow a greater warmth between us all.”
It's fantastic that he has his current heir's son so close to hand. Benevenuta can think of much worse things than the opportunity to guide a future Orlesian Duke's ascent.
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His eyes linger on the staff a moment, but it doesn't draw a comment; if Romain has any thoughts in particular about mages, they are certainly not known to anyone in Kirkwall and he seems disinclined to change that. Instead, they move back to her, assessing. "So. What would your expectations be in such an arrangement? An allowance? A certain number of social engagements per month to suit your ends, in addition to the ones I attend for my own?"
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He is welcome to pretend that it has one in his granddaughter, but Benevenuta has been with the Inquisition since before Gwenaëlle's first arrival in Skyhold and she didn't broach this subject oblivious to the players involved.
“I would expect a certain amount of your support, where appropriate, of course. But I am prepared to argue my case, where our definitions of appropriate diverge.”
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Finally, he says, "It is easy, almost to the point of cliche, for a younger woman to make an older man look the fool, in this sort of arrangement. A variety of rumors that he's feeling his mortality, or that he imagines his charms to be greater than they are. I am the force that is keeping my family's power what it is, for now, and not all of that has to do with my physical health." All of which she presumably knows, and so: "The same facility that makes you a potentially able partner makes you a potentially difficult opponent. In my place, would you take such a risk?"
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'Gaze'.
There is something of a challenge in that, and it isn't all flirt. Look at me go. Can you still keep up?
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If it comes out a bit like a test, it's meant to.
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“What do I gain tumbling myself into your bed,” she repeats, quirking an eyebrow. “Well, I shall spare you the obvious answer.”
But presumably it is obvious. Does he really have no idea how many in Riftwatch would answer how old is de Coucy? if asked how old they're prepared to dally with.
“I think it's of benefit to both of us if we have...how shall I put this, skin in the game. The appearance of an affair has uses outside of your home, but the fact of one changes the dynamic within it. Don't you think? However, if you would prefer to only play a part, my lord, I am certainly willing to see how long that resolve holds.”
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"I suppose whatever arrangement we come to, we may inevitably need to adjust once we have a better idea of the ways we may or may not suit one another," he said, finally. "If you wish us both to have a stake in the enterprise's success, there is likely no better way than to try it and see."
He still has the faint sensation he's been played, and doesn't care for it. But refusing her feels a bit too much like cutting off his nose to spite his face for comfort, too.