"I wouldn't quite call them companions," Shonagon remarks archly, and sips her tea. It's an awkward juggle; her lack of familiarity with the men requires her to hold her fan before her face with her left hand and manage her cup with her right, rather than place both hands on the teacup as she'd prefer to.
"After all, doesn't that imply a degree of familiarity? We'd all only just met, after all. It's not as if we intended to associate with each other. Or to continue doing so."
Still there is something charming about her determination to manage it. Certainly her courtly manners are preferable to the grouch alongside her, though, one admits, he had a certain trustworthy sturdiness.
All of these are things that the prince contemplates as he speaks.
"One Outlander," (He pronounces it carefully, not so much as a belated correction to McCoy as an implication that there exists such a thing as an Outsider and it ought not to be confused with Outlanders at all.) "At the king's audience is unusual enough; five is exceptional. My interest is in whether it was coincidence alone that brought you here on such a momentous day."
If there is any grumbling from McCoy's corner, well, he figures it's a little deserved. "Right, right. And I get where you're coming from, J...your majesty, but from our side, it's gonna be impossible to prove anybody's assumptions wrong other than t'say: Hey, I don't know him or her."
Which puts them in a damned bad spot. "If the assassins were still alive, well...that'd be different."
But someone in the room had seen fit to roast them alive.
Shonagon frowns. "Certainly it looks exceptional, but shouldn't conspirators make an effort to look less conspicuous? It seems to me that such an unusual event would draw a risky amount of attention to any plan."
Neither of these arguments particularly move him. McCoy gets an eyebrow with respect to his subtle quip, and Shonagon receives a patient, resigned sigh.
"Then we are at an impasse. You said you were not interested in getting "mixed you" in this matters, but it appears you cannot be extricated from them."
He sits back against his chair, examining them both carefully.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
"After all, doesn't that imply a degree of familiarity? We'd all only just met, after all. It's not as if we intended to associate with each other. Or to continue doing so."
no subject
All of these are things that the prince contemplates as he speaks.
"One Outlander," (He pronounces it carefully, not so much as a belated correction to McCoy as an implication that there exists such a thing as an Outsider and it ought not to be confused with Outlanders at all.) "At the king's audience is unusual enough; five is exceptional. My interest is in whether it was coincidence alone that brought you here on such a momentous day."
Appearances, in other words, are against you.
no subject
Which puts them in a damned bad spot. "If the assassins were still alive, well...that'd be different."
But someone in the room had seen fit to roast them alive.
no subject
no subject
"Then we are at an impasse. You said you were not interested in getting "mixed you" in this matters, but it appears you cannot be extricated from them."
He sits back against his chair, examining them both carefully.
"Something will have to be done."