[CLOSED]

[esquive]

WHO: Character(s) Marcoulf and Benedict
WHAT: C is for casual extortion.
WHEN: Now
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: n/a, will add if necessary

[It's difficult to say when exactly it begins and at first it could be construed purely as coincidence, but at some point a paticular narrow man begins to make regular appearances on the margins of a certain chamberlain's work. He happens to be assisting some girl from the laundry bringing up fresh linens to a room being remade for a new guest; he is conveniently stationed at the bottom of some stairwell well frequented in the business of running the Gallows day to day; and so on.

Today, Marcoulf is sitting in the shade of some narrow side courtyard that Benedict happens to be passing through. He has his legs stretched out before him and a handkerchief with a half eaten heel of bread inside it spread on the bench beside him to suggest his time here may simply be some idle moment taken between work. He isn't following anyone; he certainly isn't a spy. But Marcoulf does look up when Benedict passes into the yard and nothing on his narrow face indicates he's at all surprised to see him there.]

Comments

[altusimperius]

Benedict is unnerved by Magni, doesn't like the way she looks at him, and has somewhat regretted that she tagged along with Lakshmi-- but she at least seems to be serving the intended purpose, which has him more at ease.

What he hadn't expected was either--both??-- of them recognizing his tormentor, and his gaze flickers warily to Lakshmi when she looks toward him. A drag off his cigarette and subsequent blowing out of the smoke keeps him steady, however, and willing to see this through.

[esquive]

If his feathers are ruffled, it's hard to say in which directions. He might even seem somehow easy and unconcerned there between all of them, only he hasn't quite looked Magni in the eye or corrected that quarter turn he'd made back toward Lakshmi. It's all a bit like some kind of prey animal trying to convince anyone watching to look in some other direction for something to devour: stupidity? There must be some mistake.

"You seem to know more than I do, Madame Bai."

[shri]

Lakshmi is left - blinking owlishly between them, mouth open, about to say something, to answer that question. Does she? Does she know what is going on?

She thought she did. "I came to aid a victim of a blackmailer." It fixes unhappily in her mouth, gaze narrowing, working on the next piece of information.

"Benedict, do you want to explain why the man I can least imagine being capable of what you say, is standing here?"

She whirls, the knife still pointed, but more in gesture of indication than in threat. Stepping towards Benedict, a gaze that is not threatening, but it is demanding. He will start talking, and he will do so now.

[villieldr]

Her stand remains shielding, protective, and then—

Quickly, she snaps her elbow backs to drive into the Vint's breastbone, to leave him winded. Yes, yes, she realises that's not conducive to speaking, but it's even less conducive to running, and if he went to Manikarnika for aid then he may not be pleased that his hero turn a critical gaze and questions to him.

So, she just... makes sure he can't run, her reach long, and steps backwards to walk around him and stand behind the little wretch, shoving him forwards so they can have a nice discrete conversation.

And she tilts her head at Manikarnika, a little I know, I know, sorry as she couples it with a shrug and grasps the scruff of his neck.

[altusimperius]

When Lakshmi meets Benedict's eyes, he looks as surprised as she does-- and that surprise turns to shock when there's so abruptly an elbow to his chest. A most undignified choking sound escapes him as he buckles, only to go careening forward with the shove from behind; he'd cast a spell if he had more than a split-second to think, but then he's caught again with a hoarse yelp before he can faceplant on the ground, and his hands are raised to cover his face.

He lowers them just enough to look at Lakshmi again, genuinely terrified and desperately imploring.

[shri]

Sometimes, she thinks she'll never get a grip of this place and it's all this nonsense. Her frown fixes firmly in place as she looks up at Magni.

"Let him go, he's not going anywhere, his word to me is good."

Maybe she's weak to that scared, confused gaze. Going soft in her old age, probably - And as a show of goodwill to descalate this mess, she sheaths the knife with a heavy thump, into her back.

"So why don't we start, from the beginning? Marcoulf?"

She hasn't forgotten about you.

[villieldr]

"I don't think so."

Her fingers slip around to grip his throat. Light pressure, precautionary. She's fought against shamans often enough to know the dangers of leaving them able to speak totally freely.

She doesn't think that his word is good, either, if he is claiming Marcoulf tried to blackmail him. So, you know, she's just going to stay here. Not crushing his throat, just careful.

[esquive]

If there's any credit to give him, it's that leaving doesn't seem to have crossed Marcoulf's mind. He's remained more or less exactly where the touch of Lakshmi's knife had pinned him, nevermind that it seems the breeze has turned in his favor. A tip of the head - some calculating study made of the three of them in the dark.

From the beginning, Lakshmi says. He can't see what Benedict's face looks like in the shadow Magni casts, but he can imagine the expression clearly enough. From the beginning starts with the Wounded Coast at night. From the beginning loses him a clear opportunity.

He slides his eyes to Lakshmi - her shoulder anyway - and says, "We were given an assignment. I believe he was of the opinion it was below him, and so I did the work alone. Afterwards, I suggested to him that if he heard of any work - the paying kind - from the Inquisition's guests that he didn't care for, that I would have it. It's possible I worded it poorly, or that he thought I would report him for avoiding his work if he didn't do what I asked."

[altusimperius]

When the woman's hand shifts, Benedict freezes, his heart hammering in his chest and his lungs still struggling to get up to speed. She'll feel the scar there, right across his throat, a little ridge of tissue the only remnant from the first, but not last, attempt on his life.

He's wise enough to be silent at first, now gripping Magni's arm and hand with his own, as much for balance as it is to buy himself breathing room. But he nearly chokes himself when Marcoulf concludes his story, and Benedict interjects with a plaintive "NO!"

A gasp after the fact indicates he moved too much, and he looks to Lakshmi again, pleadingly.

[shri]

Her hand lifts, cuts off that shout and Marcoulf's words. Watching him, silent in whatever judgement she has on that matter - considers Marcoulf a friend in the way that matters, at least where Magni is concerned.

Even if there wasn't exactly a lot of love lost.

"Magni -" sharp on her words, that says they're talking later, about this, but it isn't happening right now. Right now, she needs to sort this out. "Let him breath." she snaps, redirecting her gaze but to the same measured point. "Benedict, what do you say happened?"

[villieldr]

Just a look to Manikarnika that lasts a few moments before she lets her hand loosen at the Vint’s throat.

“You cast any spells, if you bring any harm to either of them, nobody will find your body.”

Quiet, before her hand drops away to let him breathe and speak more easily. The scar she’d felt was not so dissimilar to one that marked her own throat, and she can appreciate the amplified anxiety attached to anyone near your throat after that.

[altusimperius]

Well, there goes the barrier idea. Late to find his footing, Benedict stumbles to the ground, quickly crabbing a few feet away from Magni with his hand clutching at his throat, then returns to his feet like a newborn foal finding purchase.
Though he glances at Lakshmi, and then at Marcoulf, he seems reluctant to let the Avvar leave his line of sight.

"He's-- been following me," he explains, "watching me, for weeks, months-- he threatened me."

[shri]

"Benedict, that isn't what I asked." her fingers tap against her leg. "I asked what happened that makes you worried this man is blackmailing you. It usually requires more than following."

Knows she plays stakes higher than most, knows she deals in absolutes far steeper but they tended to get results more often than not. So she digs on it. "You see, the way one deals with blackmailers, is killing them. I'd rather not kill a friend." Marcoulf can object to the familiarity later. "So I want you to be very clear, and honest, about what you say happened. Again, please and this time, don't be vague and say things like 'a servant man has been following me about'. "

It's punctured with one very stern look to the both of them.

[esquive]

The sharp look seems to glance off him like water from the back of a particularly mild water fowl. It probably helps that Marcoulf isn't so much looking at Lakshmi as he is the space between her and Benedict. But he does cock his head: tipping his attention to the younger man. The small motion hangs there like a question mark.

Well, Benedict? How would you put it?

[altusimperius]

This isn't fair. It's not right that asking for help made him the sole suspect, Benedict thinks, especially because his request had been in earnest; and now, with the threat of either death or imprisonment looming over him once again, he looks to Lakshmi with the air of one begging for mercy.

"I-- I went to see a rift," he explains, "--months ago, before the battle. And--" Now he looks to Marcoulf, half afraid, half furious, "--and he followed me, held me at knifepoint, nearly drowned me, and hasn't left me alone since."

He folds his arms miserably, his left hand tucking under, both of them gloved. "He's threatened to tell Coupe, and I-- I'm not stupid enough to think they won't find something to accuse me of." A wounded glance to Magni: let no one deny the bias.

[shri]

She wets her lips - pressing them together afterward. She's missing something, a Rift? Why would a rift cause all this?

"You're not telling me something. I go to rifts all of the time, I fell out of one. They've yet to be a reason to do anything but from time to time call me a demon." She swears, one of these days - "One of you, spit it out already."

[villieldr]

"Marcoulf." Sharply, not the quiet, rasping growl of before, tone closer to the blades she grants shape. "You haven't spoken plainly since I returned from the Hold." Has been evasive and closed-mouth with a discomfort that didn't fit their usual silences.

She doesn't seek to intimidate him. Not a friend, both because she values him and because she doesn't imagine either of them would need to intimidate the other. If their friendship, the history of work side by side carries any worth, then he will speak. Magni looks at him intently now.

"Where is your faith?" Because whatever has passed Benedict knows already, and he can trust not to go past her, and with that even if he doesn't trust Manikarnika for his own sake, perhaps he can trust what she will do for Magni's sake as things have progressed and bettered.

[esquive]

Somewhere in there, that dismissive calm in the slope of Marcoulf's shoulders and the angle of his hip had started to evaporate. In the dark of the narrow courtyard, it's now difficult to make out the exact particulars of his expression, but there's light enough to see how sharp his eyes have gone and how uneasy his stillness has become.

(He's distantly aware of how tight his chest feels, dread like a cold hand at the scruff of his neck. You've lost your footing, the pressure of it says. You never had it. What now, what now, what now?)

He could insist: it happened at night. That he saw a Tevene mage alone in the dark going to a Rift near Kirkwall on the eve of battle. That even now this might all of this be a charade to cover whatever Benedict had meant to do there by pretending at honesty and that the trip had been of no real consequence. Or, or, or. But what's it matter, really? Either way the reason for him being in the courtyard has already slipped well through his fingers.

Marcoulf's attention flickers. He looks to Magni. "What he says is true. I followed him to the rift, and I did put a knife to him, and I have followed him since, and I did say I would tell the Commander if he refused to do what I asked."

Without looking at Lakshmi: "Will your draw your knife again now, Madame Bai?"

[altusimperius]

It's already been made abundantly clear whose side the women are likely to take, and Benedict has waited for Marcoulf's answer, his stomach about to give out-- but then he just.... agrees.
Attention momentarily drawn from either pleading with Lakshmi or eyeing Magni warily, Benedict watches the Orlesian in disbelief.

[villieldr]

"Swear it. On my life, you swear it."

Soft, as always, though she looks intently towards her friend. They have had their differences; he does not approve of her and her lady, and that she can understand. His relationship with nobility is more complex and experienced than her own, and her acceptance of spirits and those who might walk or cross the Land of Dreams is very different his. They have been friends for many seasons, worked side by side, saved each others lives and protected each others backs.

The disbelief in the Vint's face spurs on the suspicion that twists in her gut. "If that is the truth, all of it laid out, then you swear it on my life."

[esquive]

He says, "I swear it."

There. Done. What do reasons matter.

[shri]

Right - that was... that. If Marcoulf swore it to Magni, that was, apparently, enough for her as she moves back. Because in the end - Marcoulf wasn't a cruel man, a wicked man. He cared for his friends even when it was hard for him to do, and he - had to survive like the rest of them.

So that left.

"Which leaves you, Benedict, what were you doing near a Rift that could be so damning to you?"

[altusimperius]

Benedict feels that the attention is back on him again, and not in a positive light. He looks from one person to another, but manages to keep his poise this time, now that he isn't being manhandled.

"...I'll tell you," he says quietly, now only to Lakshmi, though he nods his head in Magni's direction: "but... not with her here."

[villieldr]

Discomfort crawls under her skin. Marcoulf came here without support, did not ask her for her aid, and she's not sure if she fully believes him. Did he make a false oath on her life? Did he mistrust her and place so little value on their friendship?

And the Vint speaks, and though she doesn't scoff, her mouth twists with a cynical smile.

"Tevinter and Orlais are so civilised."

A look to Lakshmi, brows just slightly raised, to see what she wants her to do. Admittedly that Manikarnika was willing to do a favour for a wretch like this might mean her sentimentality has compromised her, but if she is given a nod then she will walk past Marcoulf, pauses only to look at him intently, mark her doubt, and moves on some twenty metres away. Enough for the Vint's precious privacy, close enough to return and defend her lady if needed.

[esquive]

He tips his head by a degree, by two, to follow Magni's first footsteps. But he doesn't stray any farther. Instead, Marcoulf's attention slides back to between Lakshmi and Benedict. He waits there, head bowed, absently flexing his left hand in and out of a fist--