Philo has a secret (whereyoustand) wrote in angellogs, @ 2019-11-02 22:21:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, balthier, rycroft philostrate |
Who: Balthier, Philo
When: Current
Where: Balthier's house, up in the woods
What: Balthier's cooking quiche, a bread pudding, and pasta, as quick meal options with options for harried nights.
Rating/Warnings: Balthier mentions his father wasn't great. Philo refences events in Season 1, Episode 6
Status: Complete
Philo’s not certain what they’re going to be cooking, but he’s heading along per the invite anyway. He’d definitely like to bring around something right now, considering that Arno’s got classes, training at the range, and dealing with Shay’s...whatever it is. Philo was told Shay has bad memories at this time of year, so he’s been difficult to deal with. Apparently the two of them also have some kids dropping in and out, along with having moved Evie in until the babies are born, so...it’s a lot right now. Food’s a quick way he can help if he learns anything decent, right?
Balthier opens the door for him. The house is tucked in with some pines, with a garden that's mostly shutting down for the year outside, and a cat snoozing in the sun on the porch. The budgie's bright blue and green, and twittering away on a bird cage. "Hello there. Anything you know you don't like?"
“Hello.” Philo considers for a moment. “Mm I’ve got a few aversions to a lot of iron. Touching it. Nothing HORRIBLE but a mild rash so I’d best avoid that directly. Food wise, I don’t believe so.” He smiles at the budgie. “Oh what a lovely bird.”
"He warned me about a clown in the woods, I kid you not, and he's stayed since then. He does nip, so be careful. And iron - I bet we can be careful with that. Any opinions on pasta? Because there's a bunch of fast pasta options. I was thinking quiche, a leftover bread thing as a sweet, and pasta? Starch heavy, but they're all things you don't have to think about too closely." Balthier's got a teapot and he's setting up cups.
“That sounds...interesting.” Philo blinks a little, picturing street performances, and Burgueish circuses and blinks a little. “I think that’s likely a reasonable way to go about it. There IS someone in their household eating for three, and the teenagers might or might not be around as well. Shay’s apparently looking in on the pirate from the play about the boy who didn’t grow up. Or well, that pirate’s son. And HIS Captain’s around too, but she’s from the world of that mermaid story, I believe. With the souls and seafoam and depressing ending. So starch heavy’s not quite a bad thing.”
"Oh, the one where they have to be ghosts until they get enough of a soul to get reborn or whatever? It seemed kind of unpleasant." Balthier slides a cup toward him. "There's coffee on the stove, or this is tea. I've got tea bags too, if you don't like it. Do you want me to e-mail you the recipes we're working from? Or to take notes?"
“Yees that one.” Philo shakes his head. “It seems all bit grossly unfair in a divine sense. And that would be fantastic, emails. Then I’ll have it in mind. And the tea, any sort, would be fantastic, thank you. I’ve heard you’ve got some interesting variations at home.”
"This is just dark tea, but there's some tea spices if you go for that in the bowl here? A pinch is about the usual amount. I got a few recommendations for blends from Mr. Stark though." Balthier's adding some milk to his and leaning on the counter.
“I’ll give that a go, then.” Philo moves around to measure out about a pinch with a little spoon, and then stirs it in. “I’ll have to check in myself. Captain Rogers is at the Asian tea shop, right? Mrs. Yang’s?”
"Exactly. They used to have kittens in the shop who are darling, but I think they're now sort of almost young cats? Still very sweet." Balthier adds some of his own spices. "If it tastes a little hot to you, some sugar helps balance it. You'd do something like this when it was raining out, back at home."
“That sounds like it would work out well.” Philo nods. “Rain has a way of being fairly uncomfortable. We had a lot of it to wander through back during the war, but it WAS, at least, a little better than the snow. Winter’s the worst on campaign. Well, weatherwise.”
"It was more - hot and humid where I grew up? We'd go down to the desert, sometimes, to my mother's family, but that stopped eventually. I was more working on things in the capital." Balthier's fishing out ingredients. "So - quiche. You can do this with a crust or without. One advantage of it is that you can use up leftovers. So vegetables, meat, that sort of thing. Want to pick what looks good to you, and I'll do a couple of basic options? In a pinch, you could also just fry the filling with scrambled eggs, and have it with toast."
“I could see that working, and let’s see.” Philo glances over the options. “Mushrooms and onions tend to be pretty safe, right? The onions look great, too. Fresh.”
"You'd want to cook down the mushrooms a bit, in most of the recipes I saw, but that'd work just fine." Balthier's digging out the recipe. "So basically, it's a half cup of stuff, and a half cup of cheese, and the egg mixture per pie plate. I didn't know you were marching in the war? I thought it was more - police work?"
“Seems like that would be easy enough.” Philo says, nodding. “And, well, I wasn’t always an inspector. The war ended seven years before I was sent forward to here, so before that...I fought. After, well, the constabulary had needed someone for a time, and it was nice to have something to throw myself into. Do you have a cheese recommendation for this? The goat sort seems to melt differently to some of the others. I do like the sheep’s ones here.”
"I think in France, the answer would probably be whatever your mother wanted you to use? So maybe Arno would have opinions. For me, I like just about anything." Balthier's digging out the options. "I'm using this gouda here for Courfeyrac's dinner, since he likes this one. I - was in the army young. My father wanted all of us to be useful for his ambitions."
And well, if they spend some time with tea and tasting cheese, that's not bad.
“Well, neither of us had one of those so…” Philo had felt a sort of kinship with Arno about that right away, actually, and though he found out his own mother’s story, not so long ago, he won’t pretend it didn’t still hurt.
And he nods.
“As soon as they thought I was old enough to fend for myself, in my case, I got sent on my own way.” Philo muses. “But it wasn’t a bad life, in the end. Not a happy one, but I survived and then I had some happiness, for a little while. My brother was there, too, which helped. He’s ah...like Shay. You sound exceptionally young, though, for it.”
"I'm - twenty three now? Twenty three. He wanted me in at thirteen, but my siblings pushed for a few more years." Balthier shakes his head. "It was a big city, during a war, and my father wasn't sane, but we had - everything else we could've wanted. Just - it wasn't easy."
“I’d imagine not.” Philo agrees there. “It’s a difficult life, that sort of thing. And not easy, with a father like that at all, I’m sure.”
"I'm not sure I can really put it in words, to be honest? Just the - it was really bad, before I got here. And I was a mess for a while. Still am, some of the time, but I'm doing better. We all are." Balthier waves a hand. "And well - checking up on other people seems like a good thing. You get so used to the metaphorical pot full of crabs on the boil that you never think that other people use different metaphors, or it isn't more of the same here."
“That’s true, actually.” Philo nods. “It’s been...odd adjusting to the fact some issues aren’t issues here. There are things about me that I think it may be safe to say here, someday. Not yet, I’ve still got some wrestling to do with things. It didn’t confront me as something I could not ignore until my last case at home, but, here too, it took a bit to realize it won’t be treated the same way. No one’s going to haul me off to the jail for pretending to be something I am not.”
"Or hate you for claiming something as what you are." Balthier's leaning to check the oven. "So - one trick on these. The eggs and milk or cream puff up, so you want to bake them on a pan or on foil just to be safe, in case they overflow. If you're doing exact measurements, you don't worry about it, since you know it'll work, but think of it like insurance."
They've got swiss and a little chopped chives, leftover spinach and roast chicken, and Philo's chosen ingredients.
Philo laughs at that. “That’s true, actually. A bit of that for me as well.” It’s definitely a dark laugh, but he’s still amused by the whole thing. There’s kind of an irony there, after all.
“And that makes sense. Souffles seem to have that problem, too, so I’ve heard.”
"I'm hardly the guy to ask? I'm not really - Noah can do - wait - have you met him?" Balthier frowns as he thinks. "So - Noah was ex-higher than me in the military, but also in a pretty awful job. He can blend in. I feel - weird in a lot of the standard stuff, and I think he just - if it's comfortable he doesn't care what it looks like."
Balthier's sliding their quiches in and sets a timer. "So, want to have some tea before we slide on to the next thing? What do you think of this one for a start?"
“I think I may have briefly.” Philo muses. “A few people from the Vaels, at least, when I was newer here.” And he nods.
“And I pass easily as the thing I am not, so that helps in my case. Cultural details in my case that have to do with a choice that was made for me as a child. With my interests in mind, of course, I believe THAT of my mother, that everything she did was for me to have a better life, but, well, something out of the ordinary would make it that much harder. My brother’s...it’s MUCH more difficult in his case to pass as anything he isn’t, and Vini, my…”
He pauses, looking thoughtful. “I”m hardly sure what Vignette and I are to each other now, but my friend, let’s say, would never be able to manage it. She shines too brightly in a world that would stamp it out of her, so I do understand that. And I think this sounds good. Something easy to heat as well. Tea would be good again. The spices do add something.”
"And it's not . . . right that people wanted that. I'd probably be a much better person at blades if my father hadn't sneered at guns saying they were a coward's weapon." Balthier's grinning though as he moves to the tea. "I'm glad you like it? One variant people do at home is heat up milk with a pinch of the spices, and then add tea leaves. Or pour that over tea. It's pretty rich though if you're not used to it." He leans on the counter. "I . . . have my own weird? I mean, if you want to hear about it."
“Likely so.” Philo nods. “People shunning what they’re pushed at, right? Common enough story. I think our Chancellor’s son’s like that. Pushed to politics so he veered FAR off.” He’s seen the man, rushing around the whorehouses on the row, fairly often. And he knows of his reputation for loving those.
"Yeah. And sometimes that's pretty awful on the kids. They leap one way, but they're kids. You don't make great choices when you're running as hard as you can from common people to support you." Balthier sips his tea. "And well - my father wasn't exactly a great support. My siblings are probably a bit - we stick together? Because we had to."
“Certainly not.” Philo nods. “No, you can’t, can you? Enough who were in the orphanage with me drifted when they let us out and ended up in other lines of not so legal work. Not a good choice at all. And that makes sense. Darius and I are like that. We were in the army and he, well, his nature had to be revealed during the war and now that he can’t fight, they keep him in one of our more secure prisons. But we had each other’s backs covered through all of our childhoods. Because, as you say, it was necessary.”
"Wow, that's got to be a mess for him. And you." Balthier leans to fish out the other two recipes. "This one, the pasta, won't keep, so I thought that'd be lunch. But the pudding would reheat."
“It’s not exactly a good thing, no.” Philo agrees there. “He always warned me to be careful with ah, my own secrets, of the sort that’d get me in trouble,” And he nods at the pasta. “So that’s more of a when we’re both around for a night sort of a thing. Might not be bad to think about. Shay’s anniversary IS coming, so they’d likely appreciate someone in to cook something simple but nice.”
"I had . . . sketches I couldn't let my father see. I could show you them. They're not cheerful, but I started doing them again here. You could make a sauce, reheat the pasta sort of affair. I've got a recipe for tiny meatballs, one for a lemon sauce, and one for a nut based sauce." Balthier spreads them out.
“I’ve got…” Philo considers, “You’re the first here I think I CAN tell. My mother was a faerie. My father was...I don’t know who he was, but human. The few people I’ve told at home were, well. Vini found out and it was FINE, Darius has never cared because he’s a Marrock, so he understands the being something else, but I told…” he bites his lip. “I thought she loved me, the woman I told, that it would not matter, but she told the police and that’s why I was in prison. For passing as a human and an officer. Not for EXISTING, but for taking a job I should not have had. I’d be interested in the sketches if they’d help you talk. And Oh hmm. Arno does tend to go for the fruit options, when there’s breaks and we get food.”
"Then we'll do that. Since he likes fruit, how does fruit sound in the dessert? Or would you like ginger or chocolate?" Balthier's leaning to top off his mug. "I . . . was in a time loop. Which sounds stupid as all get out, but - I remembered other lives. A lot of the time I ran, and stole an airship. Became a pilot. Got a hefty criminal record because a lot of the time I was - oh - seventeen and trying to survive. The . . . this life, I decided instead of running, I'd try to rescue a guy when I still had a plausible excuse to go in the prison."
Balthier trails off. "So - sketches. Past lives. My father . . . was there. When I got there. That's why he was so furious, because he knew what I was planning. I'm honestly not sure what a faerie means in this sense? I get the iron sensitivity, from stories here. What does Marrock mean? I mean, just if I meet Darius, so I know how to be polite."
“That’d be good. Strawberries tend to be his favorite, but whatever seasonal, I think he’d like just fine. I’ve seen him going for lemon as easily as others. Apple too. And that’s…” Philo blinks. “Well. Interesting, I dare say.”
“And ah, Lycan. Like Shay. A werewolf.”
"It was . . . he decided I should get locked up like the guy I wanted to get out of there. Pretty much told me that I'd either die, or he'd have me patched up enough that when I agreed to be sensible, I could return to society. Not as bad as telling someone a secret that your mom wasn't hume, and they decided that it's great to toss you in prison. That's - horrifying." Balthier's digging around. "How about blackberries? I don't have strawberry jam, but we could do blackberry jam between the bread, put on egg custard, and bake it? We've also got chocolate, marzipan, and ginger, if we want to go one of those ways."
Knowing that Darius was a werewolf does suddenly make Philo's comfort with Arno's family a lot more understandable.
“Well, they did that because I dared to lie about being human.” Philo explains. “In order to become a constable and then a detective. Yours does sound bad. Your own father.” He shakes his head. “And that sounds like it would work, with the blackberries.”
"You're hume in every way that matters to me." Balthier shrugs. "You're a person in every way that I care about." The bread pudding is super simple. Spread the bread with Jam, tuck the triangles in a pan, pour on the custard. It tolerates the quiche temperature, and you can change around the ingredients to suit what you've got. "You can, by the way, make this savory. Do cold potatoes instead of bread, add sausage, roast veggies, cheese -"
“Oh it’s all rather foolish, all considered.” Philo agrees there. I’m a half breed, but it’s not as though it’s ever made a difference what someone’s genetics are, but what they are. Their character.” he clarifies, with a wave of his hand.
“Oh that sounds simple enough. Good to have around on odd shift hours. Is it odd I’ll be glad to get back to them?”
"You're Philo." Balthier gestures. "There's no sin in being you. Your character, exactly. And I could see that? Noah immediately wanted to get back into working, but I think it's - he feels safest when he knows he's got options."
Balthier eyes him. "I'm honored, you know, that you felt safe telling me? I can promise not to tell anyone else. Even people I trust."