[open]

[engravitas]

WHO: Ben and you
WHAT: soldiers gonna solj
WHEN: evening, sometime in February
WHERE: Hill Road
NOTES: I literally just haven't done anything with Ben in a while 8V

Normally unwilling to leave Kit's side unless he absolutely has to, a frustrating day has had Ben pining for a mug of mulled wine and a little bit of time away from their crushingly modest little workshop. He hasn't stormed out, per se, but has excused himself to the Hammer and Spoke for the evening, stepping primly along on the cleared path, his face its usual mask of sour discontent.

He just happens to intercept a gaggle of soldiers coming out from the mines and headed in the same direction, and though he lowers his eyes and steps out of the way, hoping to be ignored, quite the opposite happens: several joyous cries of "The Duke of Merriment!" and he's quickly surrounded, arms forcibly linked with theirs, and dragged along toward the tavern.

The mood would seem jolly and harmless enough if Ben weren't now wearing the panicked look of a cat being forced into a bath, but they compel him into the tavern nonetheless and sit him down with them, all six or seven of them, shoulder to shoulder.

"A round on the duke!" calls one.

[one thread please]