[open] gay baby jail 2: son of gay baby jail

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and Approved Visitors
WHAT: Treacherous Vint in a dungeon and he's just happy to be here y'all
WHEN: Kingsway
WHERE: below the mage tower (I think??)
NOTES: will update as needed

It might be at any hour of the day, though likely in the daytime, when one comes to find the dungeon's current occupant.
It's bizarrely nostalgic, that he should be in the same cell, on the same magebane, as he was several years ago when he first arrived in Kirkwall, kicking and fighting and shouting to anyone who would listen that he wasn't Venatori, dragged in and abandoned by his not-Not-Venatori mentor. He'd worked his way out from that, fought tooth and nail for two years to be someone worthy of freedom, of influence.

And now he's back. There's no kicking or shouting this time, and the young man seems a decade older. When he isn't sleeping, Benedict sits quietly on the bed, back straight, staring into space; he eats what he's given, magebane and all, without complaint. He doesn't speak unless spoken to, asks for nothing, and is on the whole so utterly unlike himself that it would likely be less surprising to learn he had been swapped out with a double, the real Benedict still in Minrathous making the same mistakes and never coming back.

But he's here, it's him, and he's at the mercy of any visitors-- good-standing members of Riftwatch only, of course-- who choose to make the trip downstairs.

Comments

[sulahnan]

It's not that she intends to visit him--or even that she knows he's there. No, she's just meandering in her free time between assignments, between errands, and happens to pass by the tower, the small barred window at ground-level, and is stopped by mere curiosity.

She first tips her head, sees someone down there, then drops to her stomach to peer in closer, shielding her eyes from the sunlight to see better into the dark room. The dungeon?

"Wow," she says, recognizing the husk of a boy below. "You look like shit."

[altusimperius]

Giving a little start, Benedict looks up toward the window, and seems surprised to see a familiar face there.
Not so long ago, his instinct would've been to snap back with a counter-insult or a gripe, but instead he just looks at her, at a loss for words.

Yep, I sure do.

[sulahnan]

She's only heard second- or third- or even fourth-hand gossip about Benedict being gone in the first place, and surprisingly little about his return. To find him here? Some of those rumors must be true.

"So is this all a big misunderstanding, or did you royally fuck up while you were gone?" She says it lightly, resting her chin on the back of her hand while the other taps idly on the iron bars.

[altusimperius]

He can hear the mockery in her words, and winces faintly, but otherwise lets the question wash over him. Taking a deep breath, he sighs it out through his nose, angling his head away to look at the wall across from him.
"I fucked up," he says, definitively enough.

[sulahnan]

"Must've been pretty bad for you to end up down there, eh?" She flicks a piece of debris from the ground through the bars. No bigger than a pebble, but with her ears she can hear just how loudly it taps against the wall he's staring at.

Seems like a kind of sad, lonely place to be, even for someone she doesn't like all that much.

"What happened?"

[altusimperius]

His eyes follow the debris from the window down to the floor, and linger on it for some time, as if he's waiting for it to sprout legs and walk away.

"I betrayed Riftwatch," he answers dully.

[sulahnan]

That's not what she's expecting to hear at all. And the lack of sarcasm, banter, badgering, or any of that ribbing they usually would exchange has the corners of her mouth tugging into a frown.

"You what?"

[altusimperius]

"I went to Minrathous," Benedict explains, his voice level but brimming with tension, "I gave them information, and they sent me back here to give them more." He doesn't look up.

There's more to the story, of course, far more. But it all just sounds like qualifying an unforgivable trespass, whining for pity, and there's no point. He's too tired for that, knows how useless it is, knows how little anyone wants to hear it.

[sulahnan]

After a moment of contemplation, she responds, but not with anger or spite or disgust. It might be that she just doesn't get the gravity of the situation, or it might be because Benedict is clearly being dealt with in whatever way the division heads see fit, but she seems remarkably unperturbed.

"And are you? Gonna spy for them?" She asks, leaving if they don't execute you unsaid, but implied.

[altusimperius]

Benedict looks at her for a moment, with the briefest flash of his characteristic incredulity.

"No," he says flatly. The subtext here seems to be, do I look like I'm going to do any fucking spying right now?

[sulahnan]

"I guess that should've been were you gonna," she says, carding her hair behind her ear. In the same motion, she retrieves the spliff she had tucked there and rolls it over her knuckles. With her free hand, she gestures to the cell. "You know. Considering."

And then of course, she realizes she doesn't have matches. They're already expensive, and with the rationing they've been implementing, she's not likely to get more anytime soon.

"Hang on--" she pushes herself up off the ground and disappears from the window.



Several minutes later, Athessa reappears in the hall outside of Benedict's cell, lights her spliff on the torch next to the bars, and sits cross-legged on the stone floor.

"So," she says through the smoke. "Kinda sucks to be you right now, I guess. Have they figured out what to do with you?" Once she's sure the coast is clear, she reaches through the bars and offers him a drag.

[altusimperius]

Benedict watches her wearily, but there's a decidedly hungry look in his eyes at the sight of the spliff Athessa produces. He's silent while she talks, and perhaps faintly disappointed when she disappears; even second-hand fumes would've helped, but.

He's already thinking about something else by the time the elf reappears, and he looks a little surprised to see her. But then she offers it out, and he hesitates with a longing gaze-- if he could get in any trouble for this whatsoever, he shouldn't risk it.

"I'm staying here," he says quietly, almost humbly. If the thought of his own execution didn't still make his heart seize in his chest, he'd mention how narrowly he missed it-- she'll probably make the inference anyway.

[sulahnan]

Her arm stays extended until it's clear he isn't going to even move, much less take her little peace offering. No? Ok, suit yourself.

"Staying here with your head still attached," she takes another drag for herself. "That's better than the alternative, right?"

[altusimperius]

It takes all of his restraint not to, but he resists.
For now.

"I'd say so," he says, leaning back against the wall with a little sigh. "It's better than... a lot of things." Such as, for instance, being sent back to Tevinter to face his own people.

[sulahnan]

With her limited knowledge of him, she can't really guess at what his idea of worse than a dungeon boils down to. She knows the ones she would have in mind, but her past is nothing like his. She can't even imagine what his is like.

After a long moment of appraising him, she asks: "Why'd you turn yourself in?"

[altusimperius]

The question bears consideration. Benedict thinks about it, arms folded so he won't be tempted, feeling his resolve crumbling with every passing second.
"...I was tired," he says after a long pause, gazing at the far wall again, "...of... hiding." After a moment, he looks down. "And trying to lie."

[sulahnan]

Athessa leans back slightly. Not a full retraction, her wrists still resting on the cross-bar of the cell door, but enough to convey that his answer doesn't sit well. He turned himself in because he was tired? Because he was scared.

"Not because you felt bad about betraying Riftwatch?"

[altusimperius]

He notices how she withdraws, but doesn't take offense to it. It's what he's come to expect.

"I did," he says quietly, "...I do." Hands folded, he fidgets a little. "Denying that was part of the lie."

[sulahnan]

"Uh huh." Unconvinced.

"So. Say there's a kid crying because he's lost, and you help him get home. Someone asks you why you did it, and you say because I was tired of him crying." She looks at him, expression flat. Do you hear how selfish that sounds?

[altusimperius]

He seems unmoved, unwilling to rise to the bait, however true it may be. He honestly isn't sure, at this point. Instead he just stares forward, his gaze fixed and his expression muted.

"I made choices," is all he says, distantly. Some have turned out better than others.

[sulahnan]

"Yeah," she scoffs. "Bad ones, we established that already."

[altusimperius]

Benedict closes his eyes slowly. "Would you like me to list them," he asks, clipped but doing his best to be patient. Whatever he says, he doubts she'll believe him unless it fits what she's already decided.

[sulahnan]

She almost says no, almost gets up and leaves, but she's unfortunately finding that in this moment she actually gives a shit.

"Yeah, actually," she says, leaning forward again. Gestures, the intent of let's have it, then leaving smoke in its wake. "Lay 'em out one by one."

[altusimperius]

He winces. It's not that Benedict isn't prepared to be honest, but what he hadn't prepared himself for was to prostrate himself before everyone who asks him to.
But he made a promise to himself, that he'd make the effort. And he will, no matter how degrading it is.

"I chose to return to Tevinter, which put Kitty in danger," he says, "I chose to remain there with my mother, who I was too stupid to realize was already a traitor. Then, I chose to comply instead of letting them punish me, and I chose to hide when I came back, instead of turning myself in right away."

He looks down, brows furrowed. "...and then I chose to turn myself in. And now I'm here."

[sulahnan]

Something about his controlled manner of speech and the way he's managing to answer the question in strict technicality while offering no insight into the mind behind the actions has her hackles up. It's somehow worse that he's answering her, but not revealing anything than it would be if he simply didn't respond.

"But why? I don't get it."