Aedan Vael (takeathief) wrote in angellogs, @ 2017-05-15 03:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !trigger warning, aedan vael, balthier, elthina vael |
Who: Ellie, Aedan, Balthier.
When:.Saturday
Where: A park
What: Aedan takes his sister to meet Balthier and he asks a few questions about Damien. Balthier’s touched by the spread they brought, and wishes he’s a bit more convincing that he’s fine.
Rating/Warnings: Ellie discussing emotional manipulation in relation to being a mage, then some discussion of how lesser ranking members of the court in her time are sometimes treated, especially women. Aedan discussing consent, prostitution, technically underage (not in their world) sex, etc. Aedan's life almost needs its own warning label. Oh and the Vaels casually discuss 'watchwords', aka canon's version (or at least The Iron Bull's version) of safewords.
Status: Complete
Aedan’s not sure how all this got arranged, but there are things you do for your little sister that you don’t do for just anyone, and that includes setting them up on semi magical playdates. Well, magical playdates with people who have a KNOWLEDGE of magic and not the tendency to whip it out willy nilly, anyway. There is, after all, a big difference between the two, and he does owe Ellie for a lot of things. There’s the fact she waits around outside their father’s study when he’s asked to head up there to have a conversation about something he’s done (and he’s started trying to do the same, though it rarely comes up, and instead of Horse Illustrated and Irn Bru, he hangs around with Seventeen and Cadbury’s best drinking chocolate). They’re starting to get the whole siblings support each other thing, so he’s organized tricking her into meeting Balthier, mostly by pointing out that if she doesn’t bring her guard, he’s going to have to track down one of his, or worse, Hanzo, and adding that he can barely get away with leaving the house for this picnic with her going, and if she refuses, he’s stuck inside.
Playing on that sense of guilt actually helped, and Ellie and Aedan are hauling a large picnic basket into a wheelbarrow, complete with a case of drinks and cream for the scones and berries, before he really knows what’s coming next.
“Have I mentioned you’re a good sister?”
Balthier’s kind of - honestly, he looks different from Basch and Noah. Which is to say, he’s not a copy of Thor. He’s got a sort of shaggy darkish haircut, and sharp features. Probably had some embarrassing baby photos with his ears looking huge and sticking out. As it is, he’s got some sideburns that look like they’re more there to make him look older, a couple of earrings, and a brightly colored mess of rings on his fingers. “Oh!” He blinks at the wheelbarrow. “I - this does look wonderful. I - uh - I don’t know if G - if Noah talked about it, but in Archades you tended to bring gifts.” He slides the two little bags over. “And I brought this ground chocolate which might be interesting with the whipped cream? It’s also good on ice cream, if that sounds horrifying.”
He’s got a strong British accent, and it’s a bit nasal compared to Noah’s. You probably could recognize Noah’s faint Landisser accent if you got them in the same room, but the idea that he and Noah lived in the same area? It shows. He’s wearing a waistcoat over a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, some dark trousers, and some sandals. Well - it is a balmy warm day.
“Sounds interesting.” Aedan smiles. “I don’t know if I’ve done the formal introductions bit, but I don’t THINK so, anyway. This is my sister, Ellie. Elle, this is Master Balthier.” He settles on the term for someone learned in a craft or profession. “Pirate Captain in some realities, brilliant magical engineer in this one, from what I’m told.”
“Is this some sort of an odd set up?” Ellie asks him, looking..pretty amused, actually. “Not a...I don’t mean SET up, set up, more a…”
“You need to meet people,” Aedan says. “Hells, I need to meet people. And I’ve heard good stories and his work’s...well, he studies magic from a more technical standpoint. I’d thought maybe it’d be something of a help.”
“I haven’t technically broken the law? I mean - well - if you google me, apparently that version of me was being a pirate at sixteen, so it’s no wonder I got warrants after me. That me. I just tried to break Basch out of jail. So - still a reckless character, but - yes.” Balthier offers his hand. “Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
“Sounds like fun.” Ellie comments, grinning. “Pirate at sixteen. I’ve got a couple more months before I hit that. Think I ought to be planning on my own illegal chance to see the world, do some good?” She’s mostly joking of course, clapping Aedan on the shoulder. “Not many people can compete with my big brother, but other version you might have that all bagged up nicely. “
She starts to curtsey, since she’s in a sundress, then stops, offering a hand instead, when Aedan coughs, adding words in between, half under his breath that sound something like ‘come off it, princess’.
“The pleasure’s mine, I’m sure.”
“Well, you do have the advantage on me that I’m the youngest of my three siblings. Your brother can wield the eldest hat still. I think that’s how it works.” Balthier looks amused. “Put me to work? How would you like to set things up? And I can ramble about magic.”
The ground chocolate came in a ground coffee and chocolate version, and a ground chocolate with nuts version, but he went for the simplest one, since he wasn’t sure if this was traditional anywhere. Even if it was really good. He hasn’t had the chance to try it in hot chocolate or oatmeal yet.
“Something like that, I’d suppose.” Ellie smiles, “We’re working out the sibling bit. He’s much older than I am, at home.” She’s not too sure how the timing here works but. “It’s different when you’ve suddenly got to share a water closet with someone who’s barely been home in over a year.” she jokes, though they haven’t shared a bathroom for a while now. “As for setting things up..” She glances to Aedan. “You set this up. Any ideas?”
“I may have some ideas.” Aedan says. “For what to talk about that is. I’d thought Ellie might be a bit interested in hearing how magic seems to work, where you’re from. If something’s got a visible law behind it..”
“I’ve been a bit...scared.” Ellie admits. “So I don’t use what I have and bury it until...it can’t be done. Is this a good spot to stop, do you think?” She glances around. “There’s a lovely bit of shade here.”
Balthier squints at the shade and holds his hand up to check the sun angle. “I think this side of the tree would stay in shade for a good couple of hours too. Well - I am - everyone’s magical, technically. I’m particularly terrible at it, but what I did was more - think of it like taking a little bit of force of pulling a lever, and shoving it through a bunch of gears to make the end result stronger? Efficiency? With lots of fancy terms for things that doesn’t seem to carry over.” He looks at her. “But we can chat about it. And - uh - Basch talked a little about you, Aedan. He said he was kind of worried if you were happy. So I bet just having some time should give me ammunition to let him know you are.”
He grins as he dusts off some tree roots. Almost some good seats with how they’re gnarled. “Two pronged approach or something like that.”
“Noah did mention that he seemed...concerned.” Aedan admits. “I think he saw...I posted something on a fairly rough night, while I was locked up and looking for a way not to have to break it to my family.” He says, which gets Ellie snorting.
“Aye, right” he says to her, waving a hand at her absently, “And I’m happy enough, I’d suppose. Be happier when I work out how to STOP tearing things apart, but nothing’s terrible,” He leans over to tug out a blanket for them to sit on, a fairly thick woven throw blanket featuring a design with kittens playing with a ball of yarn, all done in shades of purple and grey. It’s...pretty awful, but it’s big and comfortable enough.
“Translation being, he’s technically restricted to the grounds here for a few more weeks, proper and they had a long conversation about choices.” Ellie glances skyward slightly. “I could near deliver it by now, myself. But more pleasant things for now. Have you tried the local lemonade? It’s fizzy here. They call the other sort something else, but in America that was considered lemonade. We brought a bottle of the local sort, but there’s regular water and ah…” She eyedarts. “Something else if you’re inclined.”
The something else being a light wine that’s apparently been aged for a fair bit of time. It’s nothing valuable, she’d checked online, making sure they didn’t drag out one of the hidden fancy wines, but it should be nice anyway. “And for foods, we’ve got a few things. A cheeses and olive tray, some cold chicken and a few salads. The pasta one’s especially nice. We changed it up a little when we started it to keep it from being something that’d spoil as fast.”
“Well and Da’s a bit afraid of mayonnaise and sour cream and all that sort of thing if it’s not going on something especially fresh,” Aedan puts in. “I think he’s worried about it poisoning you where you stand. There’s scones too, they’re meant to be nice. Some have berry and some apple and cheddar baked through. And soft drinks and water.”
“I feel a bit like you’re trying to coax me not to run like a skittish deer.” Balthier smiles as he leans to help smooth the blanket and unpack the containers. “But - that sounds good? All of it, really. I’d offer to show you how arthiromancy works, but I don’t know if that counts as - does a bit of light count as too magical? Or fussing around with paper, I suppose.”
Since he can do a few things with that. “What’d the lemonade be called at home? Or here? They’d carbonate fruit - like grapes, and put them in water at fancy parties, but that got out of style after a while. People noticed you could use lesser fruit and people wouldn’t notice.”
“We didn’t really have it called as such.” Ellie figures she’s more in the position to answer. “There were things like fruit juices, if you could get the ice or have hired a mage to keep them especially nice, but nothing so sour as that. Some limes, but they were smaller and more tart and mostly sugared to be used for most anything. Mostly from Tevinter and parts of South Orlais. They seem to like drying out fruits there to be used again. What were those things with the small oranges in the tins?”
“Callisons? Something like them.” Aedan looks reminiscent. “We should find them here, it’d be nice for company the next time. And less coaxing and more…” he pauses. “We’re unpopular and you’re interesting among the people we have friends in common with.”
“You’d get citrus in winter, in Archades. And melons. A lot of them weren’t really shippable, so you’d travel a day or two, and there’d be an entirely different set of things on offer. One of them was sort of wizened, and had a rather grim local name. Pretty and white on the inside, and textured like a pear.” Balthier leans to snag some water and settles in comfortably. “Still -”
He looks thoughtful. “We could negotiate it? I mean - I’m happy to talk and I’m happy to be here. But that doesn’t change the fact that the past is the past. What might help?”
“I always did enjoy on the market days, before Prince Goran came to power and the merchants and shippers all lost out on profits and no one could afford to come selling any more.” Aedan muses now. “You’d be able to get such interesting things. They’d go half prices at the end of a day or so, and sometimes you could find something nice. Or, you’d use other means.” He looks nostalgic really. And who could blame him? Stealing fruit from vendors is something every boy’s done in Thedas, right? “Negotiating, what exactly in this case? The terms of our possibly hanging round? Because I’d thought maybe let you two chat a bit, I’d like to hear the math parts of what it is you’re doing and...I’m not sure what we’ve got to offer.”
Well, he IS , but he’s pretty aware it’s not something Balthier is interested in, and with that as his main skill, and thieving as the other… “I don’t think you need a thief on hand.” He looks thoughtful. “Fire, maybe?”
“My ability to palm stuff is horribly rusty to start with,” Balthier points out. “You’re selling yourself short. You’re here, there’s lunch, and I’m totally going to attempt to steal bits of chicken skin if you don’t distract me from it.” He’s smiling though. “I can get gossip on how Noah and Basch are doing. How things are there.”
He waves a hand. “And there’s - other stuff we could negotiate. How - uh - rude would it be if I leaned against someone’s arm, for example. Or - is there something here we should start on first, or is it more explore what looks good? And talking about the math aspects - I can do that. How detailed do you want me to get?” Since no, he’s not mentioning the fact that just having people around is amazing - or at least not until he knows how to put it. And - it might help to have Aedan not feel like this is begging that he stays? The meal looks wonderful.
“More of an explore what looks good,” Aedan stretches a little. “Not so formal or pressurized as anything with official courses. There’s no wrong way to go about it.” Which is a relief for him. “ANd contact’s not bad with me, since you’re asking. I mean, as long as I have some idea, so I can’t lose my mind and jerk you too hard across the room or field or wherever.”
“Oh we’ve got gossip of sorts.” Ellie grins broadly. “You’d not believe how adorable some of it’s gotten. And Noah has a cute new friend who’s slightly crazy in the traumatized sense that Aedan scared away...were you actually around that day? I’ve only heard the basics there.”
“Regulus?” Balthier asks, leaning to fill a plate with some bits of the various salad options and a bit of chicken. It’s odd to start, but - well - it might not hurt. Noah implied that food was an issue with Aedan. “I don’t think he got scared away as much as - it sounds like he grew up in a family that was kind of like Archadian house politics, but worse. I suspect he’d be a bit jumpy if anyone talked to him and knew who he was. I was there though? I got to visit and see the house.”
He waves a hand. “Well - I might lean, with permission. I kind of - before I got warped here, I was alone for . . . a long time, or having a bad time of it. A prison. It . . . mostly it just manifests in feeling like having people around is heart wrenchingly good, but - knowing they’re really there helps? I know it sounds weird.” It sounds weird to him. “So - there’s another thing you two have. You’re people, and I’m a bit - I’m still happy to have people here, anyone.”
He may or may not have watched a lot of late night tv just for having voices. Mostly prone to discussing weird plastic devices for chopping food or jewelry, but still.
“That’s sensible.” Ellie speaks up now, though she glances at Aedan a little uncertainly. “It...don’t get too upset when you hear this. It was a while ago for me now, and you’d not have known at home. Or anybody else. I’d some tutors who...it wasn’t the same as being in a prison, but once the sisters they had coming through found out about what I was, and if they didn’t want to be involved anymore, but couldn’t get out of things...they’d leave for a while.” She glances at Balthier now.
“The worst part was the knowing it was all because of something WRONG with me. It’d be...they’d walk out of the lessons, especially the religious ones, so that I could have a good long think about whatever concept they were disgusted over my existence with, and not come back. No one knew.” And she hadn’t been going to tell most of them. “Well, one person, when I got my warder. It’s none os bad as yours, but the concept...that’s a hard thing alone. I can’t imagine yours.”
“In a way, it’s - kind of like that? I was arrested mostly because he wanted to get me to change what I was doing or something like that. Trying to apply logic to madness just frustrates the pig or whatever the metaphor is.” Balthier waves his fork a little. “Still - power games by people who think they need to show they have power is ghastly behavior.”
The pasta salad is pretty good. It reminds him a bit of some of the cold rice salads he’s had. “Still - I’m here now, and I’m well, and we’re safe. And there’s nothing wrong with you. Reality is how we define it, right? So, like - the entire fact that Master Sebastian’s apparently working for one group, and I’m living with a group that’s the other side of the coin - it doesn’t particularly matter unless we want it to. That kind of thing.”
“I’m not officially in yet, but it’s looking more likely than not that they’re going to be wanting me.” Aedan sips some of the secreted wine ‘accidentally’, though he’s being careful not to get himself wrecked here. “And WE manage enough without tense dinner conversations and the like. It probably helps that Master Kenway’s son was an assassin. It’s gotten my Da’s thoughts around to the idea. And Elthina, really? That seems like something to be said.”
“He’s so much closer to just out of the chantry himself.” Ellie makes a little face. “Too much rocking the boat. And Elthina’s a dead old woman who emotionally manipulated people. Don’t.”
She looks back to Balthier. “I was lucky it wasn’t my family who wanted for that. I couldn’t imagine...I feel like I need to hug you tightly, even though it’s technically not DONE with strange young men on the first meeting, no matter how charming and unavailable. But aye, no, we’re not the ones who’ve the problem, are we then? It’s the others around us. Bullies.” She scowls. “I never did like those.”
Balthier eyes her. “My father named me Ffamran mied Bunansa. It’s not a particularly odd name, for where we were, but - I prefer Balthier. I’d sooner pretend that Ffamran didn’t exist at least for now.”
Something in the entire - Cid insisting he use Cid’s full name, and the insistence that he was Ffamran, and that he’d not flee - all of that just made using the name all the more uncomfortable. He offers his hand. “Well, we should probably go with what is done for strange men. Technically, if you were older, I could still invite you to join with us, and I’m not officially courting Basch, but - I understand what you’re saying. Could you hold a hand, or would that be just as bad?”
“I don’t mind it as a name so much outside of that.” Ellie nods at him. “But that’s just...not. I’d as soon pretend I share a name with my aunt Lily. Ellianna, though we’re not technically at a place my uncle talks about her much. It’s all the family secrets I’ve had to glean out slowly, but it’d be a bit more reasonable, considering Grand Cleric Elthina had a starring role in the Chantry versus mages battle.” She snorts. “Ironic, but...names are important, Balthier. I’ll remember. And I think hand holding should work as well. I’ve not heard anything against that, among friends.”
“And you’ve technically got me around, even if I’m not a chaperone, given the nature of this meeting. You would be surprised,” he tells Balthier. “How much you can get away with if an older sibling or close family friend’s around.”
“That does carry over here? I swear Isannah and Evan spent half my childhood years conveniently not noticing things.” Balthier looks bemused. “Middle sister, older brother, for context. Though we did get in trouble.”
He looks thoughtful. “I suppose - that’s a place to start. Magic at home was a - there was a thing called Mist. Mist wasn’t safe for someone to be inside of it, but everyone carried a little. Magicite absorbed Mist slowly, and could, with enough time, float. Nethicite, on the other hand, had a more violent reaction. You could cast magic without the two stones, but it tended to be - either you were in a Mist heavy area or you were personally magically inclined.”
“It’d be the first time if we manage it that both of us did it at once.” Aedan comments, amusedl “Though we’re pretty good at ignoring things that people may be interested to know, let’s leave it there.” After all, Ellie hasn’t commented on some things he’s tried, and vice versa. They have each other’s backs, oddly enough.
“That’s….” Ellie nods slowly. “We’ve got lyrium. It helps with some casting, though it also helps Templars carry out the spells that’d silence a mage if they had to do it. It’s not a fun experience. For mage or templar, so they take it pretty seriously when it’s got to be done. Do you mean that even those who aren’t inclined can cast big things then?”
Balthier nods. “And that’s where your brother would likely be interested.” He leans to dig out his sketch book. “So - let’s say we’ve got a door. Like so. The lock is a pin - this L shape, that goes into a socket here. You could, with technomancy make - say - pressing this flower physically or with magic, lift that pin. The reason why it works, versus being horribly inefficient, is by basically making a network that feeds the power into a stronger network. Sort of amplifies it.”
He flips over a page. “So that - that’s a basic thing you could draw on an engine. It’s designed that any power in the center, goes as quickly as possible on any path to the edge. And it’s - sort of - wedges? That’s how you can make a small amount of power seem like more. Or in this case, you tap that, and you get some light to check your wiring.”
“So it’s possible to…” Aedan considers the phrase here. “Hack into it, that sort of thing?” He does sound pretty interested in how that works. And the phrase feels right, considering it’s a network he’s referring to here. At least based on how he understands what Shaun Hastings does for a living. Is it a living when it’s probably going to kill you? He’s not too sure, actually.
“That’s fascinating.” Ellie leans in. “Some mages can sketch or cast glyphs to make their spells work faster, that sort of thing. It’s more in the realm of a spirit healer or someone who does more work with them, Mine’s a bit more elemental, though...I’ve had a few schools I lean towards that may use them.”
“It’s akin to electronics, in a way, just - well - different systems. Think of it like wire from a lamp to a plug sort of thing.” Balthier slides the sketchbook over. “The patterns are usually standardized on the number of lines of symmetry you’re using or customized to fit the space you’ve got. That’s the sort of magic I do. Or things like solving other people’s locks, which - act a bit like that. I’m a pilot, but that’s more - it’s the fun part of things.”
He looks curious. “The elemental thing is - usually the things you could cast weren’t limited by the magic in yourself. But I think that’s a bit like - we’re carrying magical junk around sort of a thing.” He’s found a scone to nibble on. “Do you have a sort of scanning like spell? Or is that more - a vision thing? Or is that the spirit healing entire field?”
Since that is an interesting difference.
“Huh.” Aedan nods slowly.”I do like patterns, where I can see them. Solving and the like...some spy networks would probably kill to have things like this available.” He could imagine some of the more involved groups in Thedas handling something like this.
“What’s left of the Inquisition.” Ellie looks intrigued. “The DIVINE probably has something similar. Our religious leader.” she explains for Balthier’s benefit. “She used to be a spy. A very, very good one. And I can tell where magic’s been, more or less. It’s harder to say that a mage specifically, has been somewhere and not done anything. The Templars had a way.” She adds. “They collect a bit of blood from mages, and, well, something while they’re casting, and it goes into a phylactery. Lets them track where an apostate might have gone, and what he or she’s done.” She makes a face. “Makes it easy to drag one ‘home’.”
“Sounds - abuseable,” Balthier offers. He eyes her. “So - does my left arm look odd? Or is it just the usual field of - a person’s sitting there? Medic Damien said he could notice something off about it.”
“Oh, eh, aye it was.” Ellie agrees, fervently. “Some of the Circles had decent points, in Orlais. Mages weren’t free, but they had power over the templars stuck there with them. There was Madame de Fer.” Her voice takes on a bit of reverence there. “She was a leader in their circle and then the Inquisition had her on, and several of the courts and she made it...not so bad to be a mage under her control, but there was still always that ...leash. I’m glad I was born after all of that had ended. It used to be so rare that a mage could get away from that. They had a lot of tactics that were aimed at keeping them all where the world could be safe.” And here she snorts. “Which probably backfired more than once, seeing as you couldn’t get to your best option for a healer or a distance fighter if you weren’t within a day or so’s ride worth” it’s not FUNNY, only it IS.
“Let’s have a look.” Ellie pauses. “Well, now, look isn’t the best way of putting it, more...everyone quieten down for a moment, right? I don’t need to hear, but I’ll need to focus to see it…” She’s closing her eyes a moment, grounding herself in the moment and…”There’s a bit of a hum running through me.” she says, after having scooted a little closer to Balthier. “It’s as though...that feeling when you’ve turned on the television or can feel it’s turned on from another room? Or how it goes quieter somehow, when a lightbulb’s burnt out? It’s not so strong as any lyrium sources.”
Balthier nods slowly. “That’s - interesting. So - perhaps compatible in some manner.” He frowns. “That - thing with my left arm is probably fairly quiet. It’s the side effect of wearing nethicite. If you - feel that - it’s on Noah too. If you feel that, and stronger, you’re dealing with someone who theoretically can protect themself from magic. It’s not automatically dangerous, but - well -” He shrugs. “I have some nethicite that came over with me. I don’t think you should mess with it. Not the trauma sense as much as - I’d be afraid what it’d do, and I doubt you’d like it.”
He sighs. “So - changing the topic, right? It is grim, that.”
“I hadn’t pinpointed anything.” Ellie paused. “It’s easy to tell the differences when he and Ser Basch come into a room. At first, it wasn’t so easy to see, but once you’re clued in...they have similar footfalls, but the energy around them’s a bit different. I suppose that might be a part of how that worked. “
And being told she shouldn’t mess with something is the sort of thing that makes her want to mess with it all the more, but she knows it’s a terrible idea and pushes it away as stupid, nodding instead. “No touching the strange magical materials from other universes, aye. That’d be for the best as I can see.”
“And, bit grim, now you mention. I’ve got another that Aed was meaning to bring up.” She smiles in her brother’s direction. “So. Damien. They’re an item and…”
“And I want to apologize for whatever it was happened there. He comes on strong at times. It’s not acceptable, but that may be where it came from. I get it was uncomfortable though.” Aedan scuffs his toe in the dirt a little.
Balthier winces. “Well - it’s not your fault? You weren’t there, and -” Balthier sighs as he tries to get words together. “He’s - I’m twenty two, and I’d guess he’s near my age? I look young. I - got warped out of the prison. Managed to scramble together enough clothing that I could - you know - go outside and not get arrested again and then they asked him to help. And he . . . erm -” Well - Aedan suspects and - Ellie’s likely heard worse. “Well - I likely shouldn’t repeat. But -”
He makes a face. “It’s not the innuendo? You’d do that in Archades. It was - he kept saying he could give me anything if I wanted it, and implying I’d have a good time with him.” He looks at Ellie. Would she understand the problem? “And - tired and paranoid, all I was hearing was . . . the consequences of owing something. He could’ve been saying nothing at all and - I could’ve been uneasy? That part was me. But -”
He looks down at his hands. “Some of it, I think, was a culture clash. Or - you and Damien know your words, and - Basch was an outsider.”
“Nineteen, so close.” Aedan nods slowly. “You DO look young at that, especially given what all’s...usually that sort of thing can age a person a lot, I’m told. Hair color changing, hair LOSS, that sort of a thing.” He nods at Balthier’s last. “You can say anything you need. We won’t repeat it.”
The innuendo sounds common enough that Ellie’s nodding, grasping it sort of dubiously, but then it gets to the owing things stage and she’s nudging Aedan, hard. “You were like that, Aed.”
“I...feel a bit funny sometimes, that’s true.” Aedan agrees. “When I’d first met Noah and he was a help to me I’d wanted to make him feel better, show him I appreciated it. There was a part of me that said I should be hitting my knees in front of him. And there’s sometimes...I do wonder if people’d not prefer being thanked properly, still.”
Balthier clears his throat. “But . . . you know that if I . . . said I’d not do something you hated, in return for you doing anything I wanted, it’d be shady. That’s - what Basch was afraid of.” Since - it might be better to stick to that sort of consent and not bring up the sex aspect. He hesitates. “When you say hitting your knees you mean -” He trails off. “Noah’s - I knew him when he was working in the army, and he had a reputation of being terrifying if he wanted to be, but one of the safest people to take to bed, but he’d never -”
That’s something he should probably mention. “In Archades, someone demanding - your time in private - or - something of you. Your reputation, or your . . . body - that’d be - if I demanded a kiss from your sister, without any kind of polite pretense at talk, I’d either be ridiculous higher ranking than her and not caring the rumors about me - or incredibly insulting. Abusive. And I know that’s classist as all get out, and I don’t like it. People are people, no matter where they’re from.”
‘’Technically, a euphamism for something I can’t exactly manage anymore as it is.” Aedan’s grin is a little crooked, “Trust me, I get it’s not...Just because I’ve got an instinct doesn’t mean it’s at all acceptable. It was screwed up at home too, aye. And no, I got that idea about him. “ he pauses. “If it helps, technically, it all worked like a transaction. Occasionally, you’d get an arse who didn’t want to pay up…” He shrugs, not wanting to go into detail there, and nodding at Balthier instead.
“Seems like the way most social circle things ought to work. I mean, I see a couple of your isms being played up there as is, but generally, there’s what, criteria for consenting? And general not being an arse about it along the way.”
Ellie wouldn’t mind a kiss, truth be told, but she’s nodding. “You wouldn’t manage that at court, with us, not really. It’s been known to happen, not to me, I’ve a bit too much riding on a few facts staying, or seeming to stay intact, but there’ve been times, through the years, if you’re not someone inclined to report it, but the lower down the social scale you get..” She makes a face. “Well, we’re agreed on it being wrong.”
“Criteria for consent and - definitely the idea that -” Balthier makes a face. “Speaking as myself, versus the standards, someone in a whorehouse shouldn’t be so poor that their choices are starve or invite customers in. Standards would waffle about the quality of place, and where people were from, which is wrong. It has gotten better. Drace, being a female Judge, doesn’t tolerate idiots arguing that men in poverty shouldn’t get the same protection.”
He’s twisting the rings on his fingers and fidgeting and he knows it. “It’s . . . a freedom thing, I guess. The freedom to have a choice, and to face it when you want to. Versus someone just grabbing your door and demanding a yes or a no now? Or something like that.” He - why is he feeling uneasy? Is it the entire echoes of prison thing? The mess of Basch in general? The way that Noah occasionally seemed to quietly barricade himself that he could make choices and have people listen to him?
Aedan nods at that. “Right it’s...Guard Captain Aveline, in Kirkwall. She’s like that.” He glances at Ellie. “You’ve probably met her at some point, right? The one that talked Da down after...the thing he doesn’t know about.” he makes a little face. There’s a can of worms no one wants to have to pull the lid on. “People who’re in trouble, they’re people. She used to be a knight but that’s all changed now. Hawke.” he adds. “The one here and the one where we’re from. They wouldn’t...It’s a matter of people first, everything else second. And aye, freedom. Sounds like something worthwhile.”
He’s spent some time, not lately, lately, but recently enough, having some of the assassins run down what it is they mean by freedom and it applies as well. And, well. “I had some ah training about it too. The big thing they brought up is you’re meant to keep asking, making sure that it’s all fine with your partner. And you listen to them.” He’s not sure he’s really done that himself with Damien lately, but he does know if he asked him to stop, he definitely would. Which is important too. It’s part of why it’s all so strange to him, about what happened with Basch noticing what they’d been talking about and being worried and…
“Has anybody done that to you? That’s probably rude, but I mean, anything at all we should know about?” he adds. “Anyone I should talk with?” because he’ll give it a shot.
“Done -” Balthier trails off. “There was . . . the arrest wasn’t like that. Father just said he was going to detain me, and the guards were . . . professional enough.” His father had joked that Balthier had barely anything with him and made fun that even to a prison he took his usual baubles. Balthier wants to bluff and joke about this, but - it’s like the banter’s not working in his mind to dig it out. “It was . . . I guess I wasn’t acting how he expected, so then things got worse. But -”
He doesn’t know what happened with Basch. “And Basch - I know he -” He trails off. “Apologies, Mistress Ellie. Putting polite language on torture is a bit like silks on a boar. Noah . . . from what Basch said, it was probably mostly mind games.” But Noah said they both were healed. So - someone’s not telling him everything. He looks down at his hands. “Basch said you were drunk, and Damien offered to get you out of jail.” And the drunken sex isn’t either of their business. Surely they talked it out. “And said something about seducing the arresting officers. So - he asked me if Damien had touched my mind, or me, or asked me of anything I wasn’t willing to give.”
“Ah.” Aedan says, nodding slowly. “That explains, well, a fair bit of...Hastings has been WEIRD when we exchanged emails. If the concerns got to him...it’d make sense, I think, considering we’re an item. And aye, I was, and he did and...it’s all true. Being at least a little fair to Damien. I’ve tried seducing my way out of arrests before. And we’ve got a few things set up, between us that you’d not have seen. That Basch wouldn’t have seen. How much do..it seems like you’ve probably got something like our watchwords, where if something’s gone too far or you don’t feel right or into something anymore, it’s set up so your partner knows to stop.”
He probably shouldn’t be having this conversation in front of his little sister, he realizes, belatedly, Or WITH for that matter, but then again, maybe that’s the exact reason this is important. “So you’d pick something you wouldn’t say otherwise, like…” he shrugs, “I’ve no idea, Gecko. I can’t think of a bedroom circumstance where ‘gecko’ is a word that’d come up, else.”
“Or you could probably just say ‘watchword’ depending on what was going on.” Ellie nods. “But aye, right, it’s a safeguard.”
“We’ve…” Aedan nods. “It’s been negotiated, I guess you’d say. But I’m guessing that without the context, and Damien coming on a little...a lot strong…”
“A . . . watchword.” Balthier repeats. “I - I could see that.” He scrubs his face. “And - I don’t know how he came off. Just - it was unnerving, and I don’t -” He sighs. “Can I - erm - gecko at this?” He desperately wants to kind of - he can’t put words on why he’s not feeling secure about the conversation. Just that it’s - there.
“Of course.” Aedan nods quickly. “Consider the conversation over, then.”
“You all right?” Ellie asks, leaning over a little. “It’s...probably a lot to take in all at once. Would it be weird to offer to hold your hand or something? Considering the moment’s a bit...messy.”
Balthier offers his hand. “It’s - well - we didn’t make that much of a mess of things. But - I am feeling a little off balance or something like that.” It does help, this. “I feel like I should apologize. I don’t think Damien did - it would probably more weird than totally rude by Archades standards? What he said to you would’ve been seen as - unnerving. But there’s no reason to apply home to here.”
The contact helps. “I believe I’ll be all right? Beyond that -” He leans back against the tree. “This was pleasant. I feel like I should try to do a picnic like this. Perhaps your uncles and everyone. Noah might enjoy it.”
Aedan nods at that. ‘I don’t think you need to apologize, exactly. It was a bit of confusion that makes sense more now, seeing where it’s stemmed from.” He doesn’t really like it, or knowing that, but things are what they are, and it’s something for him to deal with explaining to Damien now that he knows. He’s relieved that the dealing won’t be awkward as such anyway. Well, in the case of BASCH, it might be a bit. He’s not too sure how it works with protective partners, Damien’s generally sure he knows what he’s doing or can call for help if he needs, but…
“I’m glad.” Ellie smiles, sort of relieved in spite of herself. There’s something in her that’s been trained to be the hostess, after all, so hearing this went well is good. “That would be nice, more people along. Considering we’re all likely to be in each other’s hair for years to come now.”
Balthier nods. “Or - at least - I’d like to keep talking with you two, and - Calum was good company. Noah and Basch are mostly - my sister should meet them too. I hope they’ll want to keep in touch.” Because he still should try to keep the option open in his mind if Basch decides that he wants privacy for a while. Or well - privacy with a limited number of people. Balthier’s pretty sure Basch and himself cannot handle being totally alone for . . . a while.