Jacob Frye freed London (and Evie helped) (haltthemachines) wrote in angellogs, @ 2018-11-14 01:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, balthier, courfeyrac, emmett frye, jacob frye |
Who: Balthier, Jacob, Emmett, Courfeyrac
When: Current
Where: Bunansa's house, near a lake
What: Balthier's cooking again, with Jacob. It's pleasant and Jacob wants them to meet again. Balthier's not entire sure what to make of it.
Rating/Warnings: Nothing bad. Emmett averts a seizure with medical marijuana at one point.
Status: Complete
Balthier wasn't - thrilled to see Courfeyrac's scrapes from his last practice vanish, but Courfeyrac did check in with who he was going to and why, and he was okay with having someone go with him. Still, he checks in with Isannah if having a spotter along with them openly isn't bad. Keep Emmett and Courfeyrac from getting too excited.
The plan is to let the kids play, and Balthier and whoever is interested could make lunch.
Which works out well for Jacob, since Emmett’s got some time off for something or other at the school that he doesn’t really remember. Some administrative thing, anyway. He’s glad to have something to do with him, and he’s waving them off a bit as they head through. Just because things have been much better lately, it’s still not something he’s totally okay with, leaving Em to his own devices, so just as well other people are around.
Besides, it’s dress rehearsal week, so Courfeyrac DEFINITELY said he wanted people to avoid anything that’ll show on his face or won’t be covered by a kilt and knee socks. He’s quite glad to go off with Emmett, which leaves Jacob in the kitchen there.
“Hey.” he greets Balthier, easily, much more so than the last time. “Need a hand? I brought cider, both sorts.”
"A hand'd be nice?" Balthier smiles at him. "Interested in cooking again?" He's leaning to look at the cider. "Did you heat it up with spices where you're from? Usually they'd do it with the first imported oranges, at home."
He's got vegetables laid out, and a pack of sausage, and a video up on a laptop.
“Sometimes.” Jacob says. “And why not? I’d be interested to see something else and how it works. “ He heads around to wash his hands.
"They had a nice looking tart on this." Balthier waves at the video. "Let me snag what we'd need, and then would you like to pick out a jam?"
“Sounds good.” Jacob says, nodding. “What DOES go into this sort of thing anyway?” He wonders a bit, actually. He’s watched Arno a few times, but...it’s a little different, actually watching someone DO it.
"They're suggesting pre-made cases." Balthier's washing his hands too, and hefting a pot over. "Noodles, a salad, probably some bread since the kids will be hungry, the tarts. That sound good? We'll be done in an hour and a bit, on average, so we've got a time limit on them playing and time for them to clean up?"
“Sounds like a plan.” Jacob grins.
“And, well. Sounds like they have reason to be careful now. Courfeyrac’s got his rehearsals, Em was saying, and apparently the dance guy from Glasgow lost his mind even more than their poor director. Sounds a little good cop, bad cop if you ask me. And Em will probably not want to go chancing anything that’ll come up and bite him in the arse come spring. The lads made him one of their captains.” He shakes his head. “And Desmond wants to train him, which. We’re not going official. Shaun says that’s right out,. And that’s only fair to Aedan, who waited it out, too, but some things...it wouldn’t be bad to practice. Em’s got the sight so might as well train him in THAT, and he’s refused flat out for me to be involved in that one. Everything else, he was fine with me being around for so…” He shakes his head.
“Doubtlessly, that’ll come back to bite me later, the not knowing what’s happened, but, well. I’ll do what I can with it just now.”
"Might be that he feels uncertain about people seeing him fumble with it? I don't know how the sight works, but I could see it being easier to oh - learn to ride a horse with someone who isn't your family." Balthier's waving him over. "Up for cleaning up the veggies here, and we can chop them? I've got some time while the oven's heating, so we can get the meat sauce going, and then make the dessert."
“It’s there but it takes a bit of mental power to access and it can wreck havok with your brain when…” Jacob slowly seems to be getting an idea there. “Ah. Might be making him pass out or something. He wouldn’t be the first. I can see it being embarassing. Desmond could be worse. He’s always liked Emmett since the first time he stole his blade.” He moves around to grab that. “Skins as well? Grating those off I can handle. Or scraping the skins or whatever the term is.” he’s never all that sure.
“How’re things with yours besides that? And, well, Basch too? I never hear much from that end of things.”
"We're all right. Noah sent me goofy photos of cake, since apparently he sat down with Sebastian to look at wedding planning things. It sounds like they're sort of convinced about what they want." Balthier looks. "The recipe says we can just scrub them, but I'm not entranced with my carrot supplies, so I'd say - peel? I think peeling the outside is the right verb on carrots. I'll do the celery. Idea is that we want about - one and a half of veggies compared to the meat. Basch - he's got a steady job with the hospital, and I think he's enjoying it. Noah's been nudging me to take him down and see if he wants some new shoes or coat for winter."
“Sounds good.” Jacob goes for one of the peelers and gets to work. “Carrots seem like they can be tricky things. And good on them for knowing. Evie was most adament about not making things into a huge fuss. They waited until Henry’s parents would be in England, to visit and to bring him home again, since they’d been working on something with getting the brotherhood to take him back, after, well. Like what happened to Arno, only he was supposed to have been KILLED by my father. Who didn’t go that far. Killing your apprentice should be reserved for really serious things.”
He moves around to set a carrot down and then pick up another. “Anyway, Evie knew she didn’t want a fussy wedding and that was mostly all she said. The one thing both of them were absolutely MAD about ensuring were the flowers fitting a certain message. “ he laughs a little at the thought. “Otherwise, I think they’d have happily worn their robes and had a pint at the pub after. Mine…” Jacob eyedarts. “It was sort of a hurry up affair so I didn’t have my old Mentor’s brother coming after me in the night. Thankfully, Emmett was in enough on the plan that he was small enough to look about six weeks early when he was born. And that’s good for Basch’s job. I thought a little more about what I could do, looked into a few things. They want people to do work with local teenagers, some scheme the council’s doing in our area of the city. I need to work out what’s marketable and won’t get me looked at like some violent lunatic, but you were right it might be a good fit for me.”
And oh right, things for winter.
“I’d sort of not thought much about winter things before now.” He admits. “Evie’s birthday...it’d be a good idea maybe to do something like that. She’d probably like more practical than I tend to do.”
"I know Steve wanted to do some art with kids. Steve Rogers, that is. And he's friendly with the Assassins in the sense that he's done the -" Balthier waves a hand. "You know how people look at you intently and say they're really okay with something, and what they mean is they don't want you to be afraid? He does that, about them. I'm not sure he's interested in being one, but he thinks the overall ideals aren't bad."
Balthier's setting up things to chop the veggies. "You like impractical gifts yourself? What sort of things do you like? Because if her birthday is coming up, that means I could send something your way."
“Well more like I tend to choose them for her. For women.” Jacob laughs a bit. “Something in me can’t keep from wanting to go for it. But soon, yeah. Friday, actually.” he looks thoughtful. “I’m fairly standard myself, I guess. If it shoots or explodes or is potentially messy, I tend to love it. Or food. Food’s always a good option.”
As for Steve and the Assassins, he nods. “That’s true. The ideals are the good part. We try to stick to them, but sometimes it doesn’t always happen. It’s better here, with a smaller group.”
"I don't think any group under stress does perfectly." Balthier's running the food processor thing and grimacing at the noise before dumping the mess of veggies in the pan. "They say - let me see here. The carrots will tint everything orange when they're just about softened. Add a little oil, so they'll cook faster, and I'll get the sausage ready to go in. So you'd prefer good food things - like chocolates over a good scarf or a jewelry thing?"
“True enough. It’s the trying, I’d say. And well, now that you mention that sort of a thing.” Jacob smiles. “I used to do embroidery a bit. My robes, when I wear them around. That was all my own stuff. I won’t deny I’m a little bit of a fashion plate.” Not quite a dandy, he doesn’t think.
Balthier looks thoughtful. "So - silks and needles? That's not impossible. I know there's a second hand shop with a bunch of kits, but I don't know if they're interesting or good. Older stuff. I could take you down and you could look around though?"
“That’d be fun in and of itself.” Jacob smiles. “I’ve liked this, spending time around you again. You’re charming and kind, you know. Basch is quite lucky.” Not that he’s jealous, really, any more. It isn’t like that so much as calling out the truth where he sees it.
Balthier laughs and moves the skinned sausage over to sit near the pan. "Thank you. I'd still feed you all, you know. Even if you didn't think that. And I woke up Basch last night trying to not wake him up, so I suspect it's not all roses. We can make time. I'd say you should call me, since you've got two things calling to your time, and my painting work can be shifted around." He's not sure if Jacob has Balthier's taste in old suits, but Balthier likes having a lot of vests and dressier things to mix and match, and the low prices helps if anything happens.
He fishes out the little pie tart shells. "As soon as we call the vegetables done and toss the meat in, we can get to work on dessert. Want to grab a seat and I can throw some music on?"
Jacob laughs at that part of it. “I DID suspect you wouldn’t let idiots starve themselves even if they were asses, somehow.” he says. “It’s more of a...I was nervous around you for a long time that I stayed away that I’m glad is resolved. Timelines are weird but I didn’t really learn much about being emotionally stable until I was older. Until I became a father, probably. And ouch the waking up.” he frowns.
“I wake Evie up, a lot. “ he says, frowning. “I’m glad Em’s on a medicine regimine that usually keeps him asleep unless it gets REALLY bad. If you wanted to, at night, the chances are I’d be around if you wanted to send a quick text message. You COULD call of course, but I feel like you wouldn’t want to. Still,the option is there.”
And that sounds good.
“What sort of music do you have up then?”
"I could? If you don't mind rambling and me suddenly trailing off if I actually do get back to sleep." Balthier blinks. "Is there - anything I can do about the nervous?" Since that seems fair. The meat hisses a lot as it goes in, and he brings over the laptop. It's got a steampunky case which Issannah found, but the keyboard protector was one of Basch's. Which is to say, it's bright. "And we've got -" He opens up the e-mail from Noah. "He just keeps track of stuff. Things with words, things with words in English, quieter stuff, louder stuff. I've been listening to this one. I've been doing mail and paperwork to 70's era supermarket music."
“That’d be good for us, I think.” Jacob says, nodding. “People to talk to about this, who I can help too...it’s good, you know? And I’m not really sure about that. Usually it’s better, now. A lot has helped.” He adds. “And huh, really? Sounds like Molloy would find that amusing. I’m up for hearing whatever.”
"Who you can - is this a therapist advice thing?" Balthier's smiling. "I'm just curious. And it's - not bad. I do get lonely, when I'm feeling awful, so talking to people really does help." He's putting on some music, which is mostly some drums and a bit of singing. "Is this okay?"
“Not really.” Jacob shrugs. “More of a, well, I’ve been there, they’ve been there. Solidarity or something like that. I mean, I do feel less alone with this myself, after. It feels like there’s only things Basch or you would understand.”
"And - there's probably other people out there. I mean - who get it." Balthier nudges the meat. "It's broken up, and just cooking down. We'll add the tomatoes and some water in a while, and then dump the pasta in at the last minute. Probably after we tell the kids to clean up, so they can come in here to the final stirring. Want to do the tarts and I can stir and give you instructions?"
“Sounds like a good idea.” Jacob nods. “It’s once things go in the oven that I tend to have it go wrong. It’s not an attention thing, like Steve either, where he wanders off. I just have a genuinely weird bad luck thing so anyone around to supervise? That’s a good thing as I’m concerned.”
Balthier smiles at him. "Then I can do that. You may want to talk with Shaun a little about talking with Aedan. I heard from Noah that he's been tense, and I think it's partially Assassin related stuff. Arno, I think, did well talking with him, but Shaun might know the best thing to get the story out of him? I know he's been kind of worried that you talking with Basch will go wrong." Balthier snags the laptop to bring up the recipe. "I'm not worried, mind you, because Basch hasn't had any complaints and he says it helps? But Shaun might help or know how to help. Recipe here - let's see -"
He adjusts his glasses. "Yeah - so the bottom of the piecrust gets a layer of jam, about - the width of a finger? You can do these smaller, but I'm doing a big one in favor of having slices for everyone. And if they like it, we can bake another."
“Aedan? Worried about the Basch thing?” Jacob blinks. He’s not quite sure why that’d be but. “Must be protective of near family. I can reassure him. Or see how Shaun thinks I should go about that.” He’s not quite sure why it’d be an issue for Aedan otherwise.
“And I can do that, sure.” he goes for the jar he’d picked.
"I get the feeling Noah's very unsure to make claims on the Vaels. He . . . was not seen as a marrying type, in Archades, and I think that sunk in." Balthier's stirring the meat and moves to open up the tomato cans. "So we'll be mixing up - basically it's like a loose cookie to go on top. Fairly simple proportions. The website said you could toss some pears in here, but the ones at the store were wizened and scary looking."
“That’s fair really.” Jacob keeps working a bit more. “Ah pears’ll do that. And ah something like that makes sense. Hopefully he gets it eventually, right? Good for him he has it happening then.”
Balthier leans. "That looks perfect. So - for this, it's a stick of butter, and we'll mess with the scale for the rest. They're doing grams." He looks thoughtful. "I think - I do hope he'll realize it. I know he was saying how confused he was that the Vaels were talking more about doing things now that the engagement is official. Basch, I think, is more confident on a lot of this."
He suspects Basch is just working from things he saw in the army. But he didn't seem to have the same unease that Noah did about banter and gentle joking.
“He seems it.” Jacob ,says, working on the crumb bits for the top of the tart there. “Like somehow, if you didn’t have it? It must be strange indeed.” ANd that’s...he nods.
“That would be good for him TO be able to realize it for keeps. I’d imagine, well… it must be hard to live with such uncertainty.”
"Aye. I wasn't aware - well, I was, but not really. I was shielded, living with the chaos that was my home and Noah was never around out of uniform." Balthier shakes his head. "And that looks good. We bake it for 10 minutes. Let's dump the tomatoes and water in, and do you want to tell Emmett to get in and get washed up while the pasta cooks?"
“Sounds good.” Jacob agrees. “Give them a little time.” He figures there’ll be less drama this time, at least. That’s a good thing. “I’m glad our two are friends of a sort, now. Em needed that.”
"I'm glad of it too. Courfeyrac - I think he wants to spar with intent, and I'm okay with it as long as he's doing it with people trained to handle it? And he's careful. I'm glad you trust your son with him." Balthier smiles at him. "He's been sad. The lady he was talking to left the area."
“Ouuuch.” Jacob shakes his head. “Young love, cast aside by fate.” He winces. “Someone I liked...it happened to me too. We hadn’t exactly spoken things but there were...implications. I was young and stupid, he was young and brilliant and all about helping the deaf and inventing the telephone.” He smiles fondly. “We might have been good. But, life and all. And if Courfeyrac has the distraction, better for him. Emmett’s... “
Jacob shakes his head a little, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“I didn’t know he could fight like he does. Or that he was THAT angry that it gets put into that focus. Explains a lot about it but…” He shakes his head. “Our two’ll sort each other anyway.”
"And if not, they're having fun." Balthier pours the tomatoes in and pokes at them before getting a can of water to add to it. "Okay, let's go tell them and we can cook the pasta?"
“Something like that.” Jacob nods and heads around to the back to go and find them. Hopefully, it’ll be so far so good.
Emmett’s got a foil that he’s using as more of a bludgeon at the moment than anything, given how he’s swinging the hilt toward Courfeyrac, who is neatly dodging and parrying, and looks, frankly, really frantic as he does it. It’s sort of interesting to see them play against each other.
Jacob’s approaching and clearing his throat a little. “Lads? Time to come in if you don’t mind.”
“That fast?” Emmett looks slightly disappointed, but he IS stepping back. “Good match.” he tells Courfeyrac, who looks, well, like he’s a little calmer today than he has been. So it’s something.
Balthier's outside the door. "Lunch is almost ready, but you'll have time to wash up. How're you, Courfeyrac?"
“Not bad.” Courfeyrac’s drawing up neatly, pushing some hair out of his face. “Better, I think?” He shrugs a bit. “We talked a little.” Emmett had seemed kind of irritated at a lot of little things, but not at Courfeyrac or his updates, so he didn’t take it personally. “How’d the cooking go?”
"Not bad. Why don't you get cleaned up, and we'll probably have everything ready. About ten minutes? Or will you need more?"
“That should work.” Courfeyrac nods. “We didn’t do all THAT much today. Mostly some footwork. He seems a little..” He shakes his head. “He didn’t take anything out on me or anything, and was CAREFUL but there’s something off.”
Emmett’s close enough to hear that and he shakes his head. “I DID say I’m fine.” he says. “Trust me, I’d be madder if I was about to have anything happen. “ Then he pauses, thinking about it. “Actually, I’ll be responsible. I might need an hour or so after lunch. I don’t think anything will happen but I feel a little...vague?”
“I think we can organize that.” Jacob says, and he’s trying really hard to NOT jump in and fix this. He WANTS to do that but he knows it’s not the best idea. “Food if you can though.”
“I knooow.” Emmett sounds more than irritated there, and he realizes it a second later and frowns, trying to pull it back. “I know, sorry. Food might help.”
Balthier touches Courfeyrac's shoulder. "We can find stuff to do for an hour easily enough. Maybe we'll make something for Jacob to take home. Let's get the pasta going, Jacob."
“Good idea.” Jacob nods and Emmett’s fishing a bottle out of a pocket, uncorking it, and spraying a few bits of mist into his nose. It’ll kick in now, and he’ll avoid worse, but he thinks he’ll be tired after they’ve eaten. For now, though it should be okay.
Jacob’s watching him and Courfeyrac head off, with Courfeyrac looking protective and then letting out a sigh when he’s out of earshot. “That went remarkably easier than it usually does. He’d probably have avoided things alone. Thanks.” he adds. “For all of this.”
Balthier smiles sheepishly. "I've got no clue how you wanted me to handle things. Thanks though. Let's get that tart in baking. Want to watch it? We want it to puff up a little."
“I’ve honestly got no idea how I’m supposed to handle it.” Jacob confesses, giving him a sheepish little smile. “Seems like it’s been so far, so good this time. It’s good somebody else was here.”
As for the rest. “The tart sounds like a plan. Give them a bit and...Courfeyrac have any interest in training to become an alert dog?” he jokes. “He’s really really intuitive.”
"He is really great." Balthier smiles at him. "Maybe we could see if they want to do study group stuff, if it's not too much togetherness. If nothing else if they're good with each other." He's helping put the tart in. "Thanks, by the way, for coming over."
“Good idea.” Jacob nods. “I think the curriculum should be roughly the same for a LOT of stuff. And yeah, they definitely are. It’s a good combination. There’s some things Em’s mates on the team would never GET, just because they haven’t been in other timelines, universes or whatever. Great bunch of lads they are, it’s just...not a shared experience between them. Every bit of that helps.” He looks thoughtful. “Let’s get started with the tart and see what we can schedule?”
"See what they think as well." Balthier's got the tart in, and sets a timer. He starts the noodles too and rubs his spine. "Okay, self." He's digging out the aspirin to take one. "Can you wrap that loaf of bread in damp parchment and shove it in the side of the oven?"
“Also that.” Jacob nods, and slips around to do that. “You all right? Need to sit a while?”
Balthier snags a stool to sit on. "Just a twinge. It happens? I'm not too bad, but I should probably pick a comfortable chair later."
“Sounds advisable.” Jacob nods and winces a bit. “My leg goes a little, sometimes, knee and shin. It’s mostly time that takes care of that. But rest? Definitely does its job as well. “
"Might end up doing some sewing instead of baking, or jewelry. See which room you like better. If we'll be being quiet for a while." Balthier's not sure how to talk about Emmett's needed hour to feel better. "See how the tart's puffing up? It looks pretty good."
“That might be a good idea.” Jacob nods. “Sometimes he needs a little for the meds to fully work. He probably stopped a full on seizure but they’ll make him a little too tired to really do a lot sometimes, for a while after, and he can get a little...tetchy...er if the synapses are still firing, Not really something he can control other than doing what he did but he really doesn’t like it when he loses friends and alienates people.” He pauses. “Alienates Shaun, mostly. Though that one’s understandable But, it scares him, I think. Jack was always angry and people got hurt.”
Balthier nods. "I can handle that, I think. There's hammocks set up in the upper porch, if he'd like to rest there too."
“We can bring that up.” Jacob nods. “He’s noticing what helps and what starts things a LOT better now. Noah finding Combeferre and seeing how other people have come through things okay helped. I needed to back off sort of a thing. Letting Em handle it, giving him that control, was huge.”
"I think too it helps - you know your body? But that doesn't mean you know what's best for you." Balthier frowns. "I guess what I mean is - let's say your knee can handle so much walking, but someone pushes you to walk a little less than that, so you're not ending the day in as much pain? That kind of thing."
“Makes sense.” Jacob nods. “And well, goes with the age for him. Obviously he didn’t want his father breathing down his neck and saying he didn’t know how to handle himself.” He nods. “You having a better balance these days with how you’re feeling, really? You LOOK to be, but you did mention the dreams.”
Balthier shrugs. "It's probably going to get weird in the winter. But so far, I'm not doing too badly."
“If it does.” Jacob frowns a little. “Let me know, all right? Winter’s a bad month for a lot of people, but you..I think I might actually be able to HELP, there, at least distraction wise.”
"Of course, if you're - I don't want to ask too much," Balthier says. He's smiling. "I need to figure out what'd help. We can try things. Just - tell me if you're not comfortable. I'm trying to be - normal here for Courfeyrac, but I suspect it's not standard Earth family patterns."
“Normal’s a thing that people claim happens but trust me, I’ve never had much idea about what it means either. Em and I, we’re far from standard too. Most of our family were people we weren’t at all related to. So I understand THAT part of things. And I suspect people are better for not striving for a standard. Means we get more people involved, too.” Jacob adds, grinning.
“And trust me, when you’ve got a cop as a member of your family, AND several of your best agents, it works out. “ Jacob checks on the tart now, then turns to show Balthier. “How does this look? Okay?”
Balthier leans to look. "That looks good to me. Let me get a coaster to put that on."
“Sounds good.” Jacob nods. “Want me to see about setting places or…”
A moment later, he’s pretty sure that’s not necessary. He hears plates being set down and the boys chattering a little.
“So. actually.” Emmett’s saying. “Thanks for saying something before I got worse. I’m GROUNDED or something after a thing earlier this week. Stupid, really. Stupider that DESMOND’S allowed to say that, but he’s trying.”
“Look. my cousin gets this look with his headaches, you get a tone when you’re about to have a seizure.” Courfeyrac shrugs. “NOT the biggest deal.”
“I guess NOT.” Jacob raises am eyebrow a little.
"Courfeyrac?" Balthier raises his voice a bit. "Do you want to test the pasta and see if it tastes done? If it is, we can serve." He pulls the bread out and starts fishing out the things for the salad. The plan on that is basically lettuce and shaking up the jar of dressing they made the other night.
“Coming.” Courfeyrac heads over to give that a shot. “Looks like it should work with the sauce now. Not too soft.”
Balthier smiles at him. "Were you two doing the table? I should thank both of you. Want to get Issy and Evan, and we can eat?"
“It seemed like it’d be helpful.” Courfeyrac explains. “And that sounds like a plan.” He wasn’t really aware he WAS that hungry until now that they’ve stopped practicing.