[ darling, astarion says, and kaveh once again has to resist the urge to look behind him to see just who astarion is addressing because it couldn't be kaveh. it has kaveh realising that there must be a specific type that gravitates towards being a host of a club like this, and midnight knows that type well enough to pick it out in others. or perhaps they're self-selecting? don's never called kaveh darling before, but if she ever did, kaveh suspects he's going to stand to attention. instead, he considers astarion's answers bleakly, because studious is probably the kindness way that anyone's put kaveh's obsessiveness on tap and he knows it, strategy is the excuse that the many, many bullies in kaveh's life had justified their good-natured (?) bullying, and that disappointment over it not being a large enough fire makes kaveh think it's a good thing they went in for a second layer of fire-proofing the other day.

the last -

kaveh reddens. the tips of his ears burn as he waves his hand back and forth in the universal gesture for 'nope, that's alright', ]

Alright, alright. I understand the shape of it. You're wholly innocent of every possible charge, and everything that's come from this is more or less me digging myself into a pit. I'd better stop digging before I hit bedrock, or with my luck, an underwater source of somekind and find myself drowned. [ but kaveh's laughing a little as he pulls the bottle from the desk. pouring both himself and astarion another round of drinks, he lifts his glass for a cheers, ] Here. To your win. Though genuinely I didn't think I'd last so long against you, so perhaps I ought to be a little proud of how long I managed to coast along in this game. Midnight certainly knows how to pick his employees, or perhaps his employees certainly know how to pick him.