faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Hanzo and Beleth
WHAT: Hanzo is a liar. Beleth already knows.
WHEN: Post-battle and recovery
WHERE: Scouting office
NOTES: Possible references to fratricide.

As soon as Hanzo can work he knows what he must do.

He is not comfortable with it, but it is something that must be done. It would be dishonourable to continue to lie to the Inquisition when it is clearly beginning to pose a problem to their defences and what they are building around them. If more assassins come from the Venatori, if more people emerge threatening his life whilst approaching Kirkwall... The Inquisition will not stand for it and Hanzo needs this for his own path to redemption.

He does not want to admit the fact that he needs a place, that he needs his position here, that he enjoys researching Corypheus, he enjoys scouting, he enjoys being part of his projects and divisions. It is the kind of enjoyment he might not have been allowed, would not have permitted himself to have, a few months ago, but now? He does not want to lose it.

It takes him a little while to make his way to Beleth's office if only because walking is still difficult with his shaky legs. There's a rolled up scroll in his hands, a written report on what had happened on the outskirts of Kirkwall, but he knows it must be better to say this personally. He cannot avoid it by hiding behind the written word, and he seems much like a man walking to his death, hand rising as he knocks on the door.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The tension in Hanzo's shoulders is obvious as he keeps himself upright, intense and strict as he doesn't tear his gaze away from Beleth. It is nothing like the feeling he had when he was sat before Sojiro Shimada, the intensity and the panic of being under his thumb, of feeling as though he might be falling apart somehow, as if everything he had done was to be ripped from him and torn into pieces. His father had a way of making him feel as though he would lose everything if he took one step too far.

Beleth is not like that, but the discomfort is familiar enough.

Aged enough to recognise his own wrongdoings, Hanzo is prepared for whatever she might give him. It is within her right to restrict him, to limit him, to even remove privileges or rights he might have. If it were in his house and he were still Magister he might be far crueller and more dangerous, demanding a loss of limb or long term imprisonment... But the Shimada house is not the same as it was and neither is he. Ten years of desperate attempts to grow and learn and change and redeem himself have shown a path that, perhaps, Genji might approve of one day.

Listening to Beleth, his face does not change. He waits until she is done, until she has said her piece, and then he pauses to find a means to reply. The tea gives him an excuse to mull on his words and he takes that chance, fingers brushing over the cup as he sips, knowing the elfroot will ease his aches even if he is not particularly keen on the idea of it. He does deserve to suffer, after all, and he deserves to be pained. There will be alcohol later and that will numb him completely - a far more successful attempt.

"I would not have mentioned it if I did not think that it would have long term merit to the Inquisition. Corypheus is a threat to my homeland and I am aware of the strength it might bring the Inquisition to have a foothold there to contest that. What happened in Minrathous cannot continue." Watching the home he had once loved so desperately be overtaken by the Venatori and worse had been painful for his heart even if he had given up on the mantle of Magister many years before them. Tevinter is his home and, at times, his heart aches for it.

Breathing out, Hanzo tries to continue.

"Over the last ten years they have sent numerous assassins to take my life but none of them have ever been successful. I do not fear that. They did not know where to find me until I showed my face in Minrathous and they linked my arrival and disappearance to the organisation I have become a part of." He shakes his head, frown on his face, marring it just a little. "I have only returned to the Shimada household one a year over the last decade, so I cannot say whether or not my return would truly be welcomed, but there are many that would long for a true heir to take the mantle once more."

Slowly, he settles back in his chair, frown marring his face all over again.

"I will have the support of other houses. House Shimada would not stand alone."