the escaped logician (cadence) wrote in kinkfest, @ 2007-09-13 01:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: cadence, f: final fantasy x-2, p: baralai/seymour, september 12 |
"Easy Manipulation", Final Fantasy X-2 (Seymour/Baralai)
Title: Easy Manipulation
Author: Cadence
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 500
Summary: Baralai has to remember that he would likely be lost without Seymour’s support.
Prompt: Final Fantasy X-2, Seymour/Baralai: Politicking - Baralai wasn't sure if he should be taking notes or merely recoiling in disgust.
Maester Seymour sphere-records all his meetings.
“Just for my personal records,” he’d said when Baralai had looked confused at the request. “Among some, the Guado have a reputation of being… untrustworthy. I find it occasionally to my advantage to have proof a deal has been made.”
Recently, he has apparently been having more meetings than usual in preparation for some pending reception, and he convinces Baralai to sit in on some of them. (“Keeping a low profile doesn’t have to mean complete boredom, you know. And it often helps negotiations to have someone quietly observing.”) Most of the people he sees are craftsman, not anyone influential, but Baralai still finds the conversations… elucidating.
He has to remember that he would likely be lost without Seymour’s support. Whatever services the maester requires of him, it is not too much to ask. And watching as he barters with a tailor over price is hardly an ordeal.
Still, sometimes it makes his skin crawl, the smooth way Seymour bends these people to his will. Baralai considers himself hardly a novice at politicking, but he can hardly follow Seymour’s easy manipulation. It makes his own offer to Seymour a few days ago seem clumsy and obvious, and he wonders why it was accepted.
The tailor makes an offer of everything Seymour had asked for, for lower than the price he’d quoted ten minutes ago for half as much work. Baralai presses his lips together. He can’t possibly be getting much above cost.
The man looks still looks satisfied when he bows and leaves, and Baralai tries to rid his face of all traces of unease before Seymour turns to him.
The raised eyebrow tells him that he didn’t quite succeed. “It’s not a bad arrangement for him, you know.” Seymour says lightly, walking over to the corner of the room where Baralai stands. “It would likely be worth it for him for the exposure, even without any payment.”
Baralai nods noncommittally, and Seymour moves closer.
“Or don’t you trust in my judgment?” This close, Seymour fairly towers over him, and Baralai has a feeling the effect is deliberate.
“Of course I trust you, Maester.” Baralai responds. As long as your interests align with mine, and until it is safe for me to be elsewhere, he thinks, with more cynicism than he’s been allowing himself lately.
Seymour’s lips curve upwards. Then suddenly his arm is hooking around Baralai’s waist, hand pressing at the small of his back. Baralai shifts forward instinctively, but that just puts him closer, and the hand shifts – lower, long fingers trailing downward, pressing firmly, making Baralai freeze even as it sends a jolt through his body.
“Good.” This close, Baralai can sense traces of the scent of slightly-overripe fruit that the Guado seem to carry with them, but it is almost overcome by a very human male musk. It combines with the coursing shock to make Baralai dizzy and unable to act.
“Come with me, then. I’ve another duty for you.”