Who: Balthier, Jacob, Bayek When: Current Where: Assassin HQ What: Jacob asked Balthier to come by and discuss Balthier's kind of melodramatic retreat during the inhibitions plot. Bayek's there, mostly to provide another ear and listen. Balthier ends up talking about Jacob's assumptions about Archadian social customs. Jacob realizes that Balthier probably talks more about emotions with friends than some marriages that Jacob has seen. It's a bizarre world view, but it does clarify things. Rating/Warnings: Status: Complete
Clearing the air is a weird concept, but Jacob’s trying anyway. Things have shifted lately and he should be shifting with them, and has a lot of older ground to cover, with things that haven’t so much been settled as shifted aside. He’s...kind of glad, actually that he HAS the chance to fix things.
Some of it’s been too long and he doesn’t want anyone going around still hurt if he can find a way to change it, after all.
Balthier's wearing his sleeves rolled up and a tweedy vest. The cake is definitely getting most of his attention as he's heading in. He messaged Evie with the phone thing to see if she could vote between the top options (a ginger cake with a frosting, a lemon pound cake, and something with a sort of raspberry and creamy layer and marzipan that was on sale.) He's also brought a box of that Scottish tea that Shaun seemed to like. He's guessing the guy could easily get some, but it seems - nice?
He does grin when he sees Jacob. "Jacob, I got here fine. There were small kids in the park for some kind of field trip, and I escaped with the cake." Admittedly, it was mostly that he recognized Roy, stopped to say hi, and held the cake higher than prying eyes could see it.
“Ah good.” Jacob laughs at that. “Which does sound like a feat onto itself. I knew that you were acrobatic all along. We have sandwiches and things out. Don’t worry, Arno helped with setting up before he had to run back to doing...something. “ He’s not certain of the details, since Arno isn’t here anymore to eavesdrop on ALL of the time, even if he hangs out enough.
"I fear I mostly abused the advantage of height." Balthier gestures at the cake. "Your sister said this one sounded good, when I sent her the options. Some sort of almond outside, raspberry filling sort of affair. I've also got some tea for Shaun to drop by at some point. Arno did sandwiches?" That is kind of him. Balthier guesses Jacob's implying that he can burn water, but it's also just nice to think Arno wanted to make this be - hospitable?
Jacob laughs at that. “Ah would that I knew what abusing one’s height was like. EVIE can do it, for some reason.” He supposes that at least she’s taller for a woman at home, so she’s learnt to use it. Here, Jacob feels a little weird sometimes, but he does have the bulk to make up for some of it. Or did. He worries about getting fat now that he’s older, some, but it doesn’t seem to be AS big of a problem as he’d thought. OR being away from home it’s easier to avoid full fat things.
That said, the cake looks amazing.
“That’s lovely. It sounds a bit like a victoria sponge with covering. That one’s sponge and cream and a jam, usually raspberry. I’m curious to see how this one goes. And he did. He was around to pick up a few assignments and saw me trying to toast bread and heard it was YOU coming and took pity on me. And says hello, by the way.”
"Admittedly, most of them were under five years of age, and running around in sunhats. It looked a bit like pastel cabbages on the move from a distance." Balthier's smiling. "Hello. Would it help to know that I accidentally broke one of our toasters because it startled me?"
“THAT is amazing.” Jacob snickers. “I can picture it well. Of course, it’d look a bit different in my mind’s eye still, a lot more lace and white, I’m sure. And I want to know the STORY, but it DOES help to hear.” It’s amusing, really.
And it has to be amazing. “Why don’t I get this set down and you comfortable. The water should be about ready for tea. I DID do that myself. Or anything else if you wanted. “
Balthier nods. "Point me at anything to help with, if you need it?" He's trailing along. "White and grass seems like half the parents would have stories about what to do about grass stains. The toaster was basically - I was reading a newspaper and half asleep in the morning and it popped and I accidentally sent it flying off the table. And poured my mug of coffee on it."
“See for us, it was always a bit easier to just bleach everything and leave it out in the sun.” Jacob looks thoughtful. “At least, everyone claimed it was easy. Personally, I’m mostly glad I don’t have to worry about it NOW. There are some nostalgic things that haven’t stood the test of time. Poor Catherine.” He adds, looking thoughtful. “She DID have a lot to do then. My wife.” he adds for Balthier’s benefit.
He doesn’t think he’s mentioned his wife before, but there’s not really M\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\UCH to tell there. They were both on missions so often, after all, it was a LOT of cramming in time.
"I think what we had back - back at home was something else. Peroxide doesn't smell right, and neither does the borax based cleaners." Balthier shakes his head. "I sort of remember a powder you'd shake on the shirts, but -" He waves a hand. "I never really bothered to study how it worked."
He's perching now on a chair and absently picking up a mug to fiddle with.
“Interesting. Magic, maybe?” Jacob wonders. “You did say you had forms of it. It’s odd what changes and what stays the same. Ah, by the way. I’d thought it might be nice for Bayek to meet you a bit more. He’s FUNCTIONING here, but…that’s about all. May help if he meets people.”
"Bayek - I think someone I know or me talked a bit about cats with him." Balthier looks sheepish. "I really should remember which it was. And I think - there were magic spells for dewrinkling or thawing out damp clothes to help start them drying. I don't remember anything that really worked on the smell like actual washing. Then again, I was more - you know - wash twenty shirts and then spend a few hours sewing little buttons back on. Thankfully I did not end up doing laundry duties that much when I was in the army. I think they didn't like that we just chatted the entire time."
They also chatted on kitchen duty, but that wasn't considered as bad as a group of Bunansas working through a division's worth of small clothes and cheerfully discussing things. Probably because the adults also enjoyed talking over a mountain of potatoes.
“Probably you, but don’t quote me on that.” Balthier probably had the conversation a while ago, after all, and Jacob’s been a little out of things for a bit. And then there had been fight club and the tournament that fizzled and…
He laughs at the mention of that. “You know, I preferred the fancy sewing myself. It SEEMS a little weird, given my…” He waves a hand, “Everything, but it WAS a cheaper way to look fashionable on my own. Never had to do it for a lot of people though. One of us, in the eighteenth century, had a tailor shop as a front for everything else he did.”
“The pirate, wasn’t it?” There’s Bayek appearing now, with a few dishes. “I brought some figs with honey. If anyone is interested. “ And he’s smiling and nodding to Balthier. “Have we met in person or was it online?” He knows he met NOAH personally.
"I think we talked about cats, but I think that was a while back." Balthier waves. "I brought a cake. Thank you for the figs. Are you from the eat them cold or warm them up school of things? And - uh - if Jacob didn't say, I prefer Balthier. My milk name was Ffamran." Which, with that soft "v" like sound, probably is a bit weird.
“Well, these have been out in the sun for a bit to get them perfect.” Bayek smiles. “Balthier, yes. I DO still mean to locate a cat somewhere, but things seem to keep happening. Such IS life, I suppose.”
Maybe too, a part of him is hoping Senu finds her way through and he might be reluctant to bond with another animal companion while the possibilities in his mind. It’s hard to say. "There'd be arguments about how you had to bake the figs in honey, or just eat them with the honey." Balthier's filling up his mug with tea. "Want to join us? DId Jacob warn you that we might be talking about awkward things?"
“Do you know, I’ve been meaning to try something with that idea but pastry.” Bayek looks thoughtful. “When I figure it out, I’ll have to let you know. And he did mention. It...that’s not a problem. I understand it to be a clash in your cultures and phrasings sort of a thing, but I had better let you two really start with this.”
Balthier turns his mug and then leans to add some sugar and - he's not sure if it's creamer or milk, but still. "I . . . was in rough shape, when - everyone was acting oddly. I could not properly pretend everything was fine, and it was - making it hard to sleep. And when I tried to ask Jacob about . . . seeing if we could manage to sleep better together rather than not at night, he didn't like how I was trying to phrase it. I was doing a terrible job of explaining myself, and I kept assuming that it'd work out."
“I didn’t understand.” Jacob nods. “What Balthier meant to say. Sleeping with someone is….well to me it means very obviously not sleeping.”
“And you assumed he was proposing...that IS awkward.” Bayek winces. “On both sides.”
“So when I considered that it was a good idea, because I DID like him then...and he mentioned other people may join us…”
“Oh!” Bayek nods. “That isn’t all that uncommon.” He suspects Cleopatra half wanted to invite him or Aya or both of them over a few times.
“Right and I didn’t want...I don’t like to share.” Jacob says. “But so trying to SAY that, and point out that it was a bit mad with my own potential examples...it did rather spiral out of control. And we vaguely talked about it after I was called home and came back here. After Jack...but…”
Balthier hugs one knee. He'll - uh - probably better if he doesn't say too much here, right? "You assumed I was talking about something intimate with my sister, and I thought it was better to move out of here, if I wanted to continue seeing my friend, Basch. I offended you when I said I was in no shape for intimacy, likely, and would not want to make that be your problem. I didn't mean to insult you, but still - I am sorry for that."
“That’s true, I did.” Jacob agrees. “It all felt a little, I don’t know. Like I wasn’t going to be good enough before the sister thing came up. But I mean, I ought to have asked a bit more if I was confused, not jump to the worst. I’m sorry for THAT.” And the Basch thing is…
Yeah. That’s part of this too, really.
"In Archades -" Balthier trails off. "Well, it matters not. Apology accepted. It was a rough time for everyone." He's honestly more - the gnawing feeling that nothing was real and the wish he had someone there hurt still, but then again, that just - happened. He was getting used to finding ways of coping with it. The Basch thing - that was probably just that he didn't get politics, and why fight about it, right?
“And in Egypt, many places did things differently from each other.” Bayek nods. “That CAN lead to confusion and chaos and problems like this one. It sounds unfortunate, though.”
That IS one way they can put it, isn’t it? Jacob laughs a bit. “But at least you DO have Basch. I mean that IS the thing that matters most...that sounded wrong. He’s the person who matters most and you have that, haven’t you now?”
Balthier turns his mug in his hand. "We're still talking, yeah."
Which is a strange sort of answer. Jacob’s not certain what he should be DOING with that, but he nods. “That’s good then, isn’t it? Or…”
Intimacy problems? He’s a bit confused as to the possible problem now. Or why he’d have been needed.
"I care about . . . a lot of people, I guess," Balthier settles on. "I wanted you to feel safe and happy, but I managed neither. But Basch and I are still seeing each other. I think he's happy." He's not that sure Basch has - Basch seems to still be seeking normal, and enjoying his company, which makes the bitter side of him wonder what happens when he gets normal, but - the jokes and the sheer way they seem to click with each other makes that part not so bad.
Jacob nods at that. “It’s good to hear that you are. And good on the other fronts too. And that makes sense in the newer context, actually. I jumped to too many conclusions, I think.”
"That . . . makes sense, I guess? I could see where you thought I was rejecting you, and trying to prattle about nonsense, and I was trying - the value of privacy, and feeling safe, and the . . . ability to offer time to learn what makes you trust someone - I guess it doesn't translate over that well." Balthier shrugs a little, and his shoulder decides to tell him that it should be hurting. It shouldn't but well. He must be a little tense about this? "But - we talked about it, and - you feel better now, right?"
“That’s, right.” Jacob nods. “And for me it was quite some time ago, but I wanted to not leave anything unturned in...I’ve got a lot of things to consider here. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things, even PROVEN. So it stood to reason I should clear up the rest now.”
Balthier's nodding. He feels - weird. He's not sure why Jacob was asking about how Basch was doing - probably some kind of - you've got him so things are fine? But - Jacob sounds like he's trying to acknowledge that it was weird and sort of jumping to conclusions to assume the worst of Balthier. It's probably one of those - things where for Jacob, the not asking what's going on was the really upsetting thing. And well - he did say Balthier looked like his kid. Maybe that's how you did the dad thing in the Victorian era if you had something go wrong with someone else's teen? "The being wrong thing happens." That should help, right? "I guess it must be weird to think that it was a long time for you, and less for me."
And he's trailing off trying to think. He'd never say Archades was great about talking about true feelings about things, but maybe they were better, in private, compared to Jacob's life. "I really do want you, your sister, and your son to be happy, and I really did care about you, even though I understand you didn't understand me, or have any interest in it."
Jacob mostly wants to know in a vague sort of way, that they’re doing well. He doesn’t think he’s personally done anything that affects Basch, one way or the other. Talking and assuming he was joining up with the templars, because his twin was involved with one didn’t really HARM anyone or anything besides pissing people off for a while, with good reason, thankfully. He’s GLAD nothing came of being that angry, especially over nothing, and well, the templar here are deluded, not evil. Which had been a hard concept to wrap his head around, too.
“And I hope for you and your people to have the same.” He says, then blinks at the rest.
“Didn’t understand, yes. As for interest, no, what you describe, explained properly, or well, explained properly for MY mind to understand the concept, would not have been bad. I think you’re more emotional in Archades. In your relationships. It’s probably for the better compared with how we do these things. “
"That's not entirely - easy to talk about." Balthier leans to snag a sandwich. He shouldn't just start on cake, right? "I can't use love, because it sounds like that's more intimate, for you. Cherish just sounds like I want you to wear a hat when you go outside and not put on damp boots. Maybe offering to press your clothing for you. Adore sounds like I want to trail after you begging to learn how to be as cool as you." Which is probably partially a language thing. "I'm not sure if it's better either. Trust me, Archades was pretty good, in my opinion about letting you have friends where and how and who you wanted, for the most part, and pretty good about defending privacy for people it thought deserved it, and the rest was pretty awful."
“Well, yes, it does sound a bit...socially corrupted from what you’ve hinted at.” Jacob can afford to be polite about phrasing here. London’s a stinking cesspit, but he wouldn’t want anyone saying that but him.
And the rest of that is… huh. Jacob blinks.
“And you...OH! “ He looks stunned. “ You mean you...I’d thought you were HURT at the time because of the more typical rejection reasons, not a...I didn’t realize you had cared beyond the possibility vanishing, the way you would when someone turns you down. That’s…” He frowns. “That makes a LOT more sense for how bad that got for you, after. I’m sorry.”
Because, really. He had thought that once they’d realized things wouldn’t work and Jacob had jumped to his conclusions and all of the rest, that had felt like it. It had been something he’d not liked, but accepted because it’d been obvious at the time that nothing was there so it was time to move along, like you do. Only…some lingering something…obviously…
“I’m not used to this friends being as close as we’d have considered lovers thing that you seem to have in Archades. We might be better off for something more like it.”
"Technically, for stuff where it's people my age, you don't really differentiate between friends like that," Balthier says. "I think part of it was the idea that sooner or later, someone's going to mess up and get a child, and then you'll need to talk about supporting the child sort of things, but -" Balthier shrugs. "I was sort of - I wasn't happy because it felt like I was trying to ask for help, and I couldn't get it. Which I know is selfish. And I was worried about being safe and Basch being safe. But I did honestly care about you."
And Jacob had kind of missed that point entirely. “And I’d wanted to be friends and cared too and...I’m glad that’s worked as something we can voice now.” He pauses. “Not so much selfish as we didn’t understand each other and you were hurt for that. I should have looked deeper, not taken things at MY face value. And Basch…” He nods. “He seems like a decent person besides how YOU feel about him. He deserves to be safe. Everyone who hasn’t harmed people does. And that was…” He nods. “The templars I knew, when I suspected he wanted in...they WERE pure evil. Not like the ones who are here, who believe they’re doing what is right. Crawford Sterrick and his people...they didn’t believe they were doing good, even. They believed they were gaining power and control. That was why I kneejerked so badly. Even if he HAD wanted to be part of it...it doesn’t mean the same thing under Kenway, does it? There’s a place I went wrong.”
It’s good to have that cleared now. “It wasn’t acceptable, but now I know, I suppose, more of what I can do.” And people are fragile. It...thank you for letting me talk to you about it, now. “
Balthier nudges one of the cups. "Didn't Bayek say something about figs? Do you want some?" He's trying a smile on Jacob. The guy honestly just seems - happier? Maybe Balthier is still used to having conversations among people he's not close to just dissolve down to everyone wanting him to agree with his dad.
In a way, that was one of the first things he noticed about Noah, once he knew what Noah did. The man, unsurprisingly, wanted to understand what people were thinking, and other than telling you what he'd prefer you to do, he never said that Balthier had to accept Cid's ideas about the world.
“Oh, right.” Jacob says, nodding, and breathing a little deeper for half a second. The air does feel clearer now, and nothing’s come to bite him for being wrong about things yet. It’s obviously going to catch up to him soon, at some point in all of this, but for now, with this situation? Things do feel better.
"Is there a good way, in your time, for saying don't blame yourself?" Balthier grins. "I mean, I should try to learn how things work, right? Maybe it'd be good to know for Emmett too."
Jacob stares a moment, then he’s choking, and grabbing a napkin for the tea that’s threatening to spray across the table.
“I...sorry. It isn’t you or your question there. It’s the idea that...well, let’s say it’s much easier to express things here.”
Balthier raises an eyebrow. Okay. "So, I think I've got the modern slang thing right. This is where I make an interpretive dance joke?"
Jacob snickers at that. “DEFINITELY not something that goes on there, no. I can’t imagine slipping into it myself. More seriously, I’ve got my own things to learn about how things work here too. You may be doing better than I am on that front.”
Balthier reaches to pat nearish Jacob's side of the table. "Purely faking it, trust me. But - don't blame yourself."