[closed] so baby welcome to the ball

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and Kitty
WHAT: an errand in Tevinter
WHEN: Justinian
WHERE: Perivantium, then a lovely beach house
NOTES: slavery features heavily, as do abusive familial relationships

The arrangements are made, the itinerary set, and they're off.

[Prompts below.]

Comments

[rathercommon]

Kitty shoots him a skeptical glance when he falters. "What's the actual story?" she asks, which is actually quite civilized, as that question is asked in place of what she originally wanted to say, which is a rather-too-biting-even-by-her-standards you really ought to work on your storytelling abilities.

I can tag again yayyy

[altusimperius]

He hesitates for a long time, long enough in fact that Kitty might actually think he's ignoring her. But then after a minute or so, he speaks again, figuring... well, he's this far out with her, she might as well know certain things.

"It was slavers," he says, a bit faintly, "or-- well, they-- were acting as slavers. But they were mercenaries. They took Hanzo and I off to the side while they branded the others."

HELL YEAH

[rathercommon]

Her brows draw down as he speaks, progressively, until her eyes are peeking out from under a thick beetle-black line.

"What do you mean," she says, "branded the others."

[altusimperius]

Sitting perfectly still, as though it will somehow prevent Kitty from seeing him, Benedict clears his throat gently.

"...you know," he says, trying not to emote at all, "like. ...You know." He rests one hand over the back of the other, gripping it in an almost imperceptible wince of sympathy.

[rathercommon]

The concept is - hard to wrap her head around. But she's spoken with some few of the slaves up north. She's seen their scars. Branding is - it's - It's almost unthinkable, that one person would do that to another, but -

She shakes her head once, and then again more strongly. "Why?"

[altusimperius]

Tapping his fingertips together, Benedict looks fixedly out the window. "To. Teach them a lesson, it turns out," he says, as frankly as he can manage. Never mind who was teaching the lesson, or what the lesson was. That's irrelevant.

[rathercommon]

Not to her. "What lesson?" she demands. By the set of her jaw, she won't be put off this easily.

[altusimperius]

It's all Bene can do not to just sink down into a slouch and die. He can't help but do it a little bit, arms folding over his chest, becoming increasingly the picture of stubborn avoidance, trying so hard not to look at Kitty he's practically turned entirely away from her.

He opens his mouth, closes it again, seems to chew on the words for a moment, then mumbles, "to not. ...imprison me." Oh look at you ground

[rathercommon]

Anger bubbles up in her, hot and quick. "To not imprison you?" She knows enough of his history to be able to guess, now, who the others were - other Inquisition members. And who would want that revenge? It's clear enough, in her mind.

"Did you hire them? The mercenaries?" The accusation is fierce.

[altusimperius]

"No," comes the small-voiced reply, the fabric on Bene's shoulders bunching as he sinks lower.

[rathercommon]

Well - he doesn't seem to be lying.

"Then who did?"

[altusimperius]

He tucks a strand of hair behind his ear. "...my mother."

People aren't supposed to know this-- he doesn't even really know why he's telling Kitty, except that she's so weird and aggressive and always makes him worry she'll do everything in her power to ruin his life if he doesn't appease her.

Is this what being married is like?

[rathercommon]

"Your - " She feels a twist of disgust. His mother. His mother did that because he was, what, held captive. That's absolutely, utterly sickening, for so many reasons, not least that -

Kitty shoves down that unbidden thought and buries it deep.

"If it were my mum did that, I'd spit in her face and tell her to jump off a bloody cliff," she declares. "How utterly foul."

[altusimperius]

At the very least, he doesn't verbally disagree with her. Instead, Benedict chews his lip, looking out the window, arms folded tightly against his chest as he seems to mull over Kitty's words-- or perhaps he's just hoping to forget about them. There was a time he would have defended her, but they are, after all, on their way to undo yet another of his mother's bewildering decisions.

So instead, he just lets the assessment lie between them, trying not to engage with it at all. If his mother is foul, that means... well, it means all sorts of things that he isn't ready to face.

[rathercommon]

Silence, unfortunately for Kitty, is hard to maintain anger against. Certainly true when your anger is like Kitty's - hot, bright, fierce, not the long-simmering sort that can maintain itself in the absence of stimulus. So she stares at him, waiting for him to look over, to catch her eye so that she can start the fight again. But - it seems, from his silence, that she's won, and that's so dreadfully, miserably disappointing.

So she falls silent herself, too, and stares out the window as well.