[Someday, he will realize that Myr tends to be asleep in the afternoons. Today is not that day. Still--it's well within acceptable lunch hours right now, isn't it? Unless Myr hadn't meant specifically today. Van takes a brief, silent moment to berate himself for his own embarrassing eagerness to bury the hatchet.]
Still sounds like our best shot at finding some, though. I remain optimistic.
Hi. [It all sounds above-board, so far.] Anyway. Did you want to meet somewhere, or plan for later in the week?
[He scolds himself, yet again, for the little pang of disappointment at delaying lunch for a few days. He hadn't even planned to have anything to do with Myr at all, after that last conversation. Why should he be so desperate for his cousin's company now as soon as the prospect is dangled in front of him? He needs to get a grip. He's not that lonely.]
Sure. Uh, let me think. [He doesn't have anything going on that he couldn't reschedule--hoarding library books on the Veil and sweet-talking his way into Lord Baerendorf's operation can always be put on hold for the length of a lunch, after all--but he'll pretend he needs to consider it for a moment.] Thursday?
Tevinter food's going to be even harder to come by, if we're disappointed. You can't even get liquamen around here. It's a port city where they don't make fish sauce.
[The slightly surreal cast to all of this is probably because Myr just woke up, and not because Van's being strangely agreeable when Myr'd been certain his note was a fruitless gesture.]
You can't? What'n the hell do they even do with the guts, then, leave them out to rot? [Not that...that's not how fish sauce is made, but there's edible rotting and then there's waste.]
[It feels like cowardice to say so, when nothing's been off-limits between them since they were kids. But he can't foresee things improving any if they don't stop opening each other's old wounds or give things time to heal.]
Anything else is fair game. Including how we can take up a collection to get some proper fish sauce.
[He'd expected worse. The details of the 'worse' had been left unspecified in his mind, but whatever they would have been, Myr's actual request doesn't qualify. He's quiet a moment, considering. He feels a little as if he ought to protest, on principle, but...no. It's not a bad request. It's for the best, so long as he can remember it and rein himself in.]
All right.
I'm sure there must be something else we can find to talk about.
How do you know I'm the one who has all the Callistus? [He's not wrong, of course. Van can't keep a hint of a smile from creeping into his voice.]
I haven't really, no. I keep trying to read up on the rifts, but there's so little written yet. Obviously it would be better to talk to the ones with the shards firsthand.
[There's a wary part of him that wants to save the rest of this conversation for when they actually get to lunch, lest they run out of safe things to talk about. He's never had to worry about running out of things to talk about with Myr before--but he's also never in his life been trying to avoid a fight before.]
[Myr's own smile is likewise audible.] The bookshelf Ser Coupe helped you demolish was apparently home to the library's collection of it. I got an earful of how it's all gone missing between being reshelved and someone hoarding it all.
--Oh. You know, that's a good idea. I've just been talking to them about their magic, not...the shards.
That's-- [He surprises himself with a yawn.] Uhm. Something we can talk about at lunch, though. Later.
That's what happened to the rest of it. I knew there had to be volumes I was missing. It's not my fault if they don't know how to put things back.
[The very idea of the shards has fascinated him, and he opens his mouth on pure instinct to tell Myr everything he's learned about them so far, before he's cut off by that yawn. Right, yes--save it for later.]
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Myr starts awake with a snort, grabbing for the sending crystal where it's lying beside him on the table in the library carrel he's borrowing.]
'f they don't, we're going somewhere else. Not bothering with lunch at any "Hasmali" place that hasn't got dormice.
[Yawn.]
Hi, also.
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Still sounds like our best shot at finding some, though. I remain optimistic.
Hi. [It all sounds above-board, so far.] Anyway. Did you want to meet somewhere, or plan for later in the week?
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Uhm--later in the week, was my thought. Have to finish this piece of spellwork I've got going right now. [And his nap. Also that.]
What's convenient for you?
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Sure. Uh, let me think. [He doesn't have anything going on that he couldn't reschedule--hoarding library books on the Veil and sweet-talking his way into Lord Baerendorf's operation can always be put on hold for the length of a lunch, after all--but he'll pretend he needs to consider it for a moment.] Thursday?
Tevinter food's going to be even harder to come by, if we're disappointed. You can't even get liquamen around here. It's a port city where they don't make fish sauce.
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You can't? What'n the hell do they even do with the guts, then, leave them out to rot? [Not that...that's not how fish sauce is made, but there's edible rotting and then there's waste.]
...Thursday's fine. One request, though.
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[Ah. There, perhaps, is the trap he was half-expecting. He pauses.] What request?
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[It feels like cowardice to say so, when nothing's been off-limits between them since they were kids. But he can't foresee things improving any if they don't stop opening each other's old wounds or give things time to heal.]
Anything else is fair game. Including how we can take up a collection to get some proper fish sauce.
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All right.
I'm sure there must be something else we can find to talk about.
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There's always whatever you're researching with all that Callistus.
And--have you spoken much to any of the rifter mages yet?
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I haven't really, no. I keep trying to read up on the rifts, but there's so little written yet. Obviously it would be better to talk to the ones with the shards firsthand.
[There's a wary part of him that wants to save the rest of this conversation for when they actually get to lunch, lest they run out of safe things to talk about. He's never had to worry about running out of things to talk about with Myr before--but he's also never in his life been trying to avoid a fight before.]
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--Oh. You know, that's a good idea. I've just been talking to them about their magic, not...the shards.
That's-- [He surprises himself with a yawn.] Uhm. Something we can talk about at lunch, though. Later.
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[The very idea of the shards has fascinated him, and he opens his mouth on pure instinct to tell Myr everything he's learned about them so far, before he's cut off by that yawn. Right, yes--save it for later.]
Sure. I'll meet you here then, if you like.
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Sounds good.
[A moment's hesitation.] You take care of yourself in the meantime.
[It's the closest he'll come to worrying over what happened between Van and Kit. For now.]