[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

[altusimperius]

He tugs the blanket around himself a little more tightly. It's hard to admit to anyone, least of all Kitty, but even she should recognize that he's hardly in a position to do any real bargaining or self-improvement.
He can't even have books.

"Whatever I'm told," he says defeatedly. Nobody ever said he'd be leaving this place.

[rathercommon]

If she rolls her eyes any harder, she'll likely sprain something.

"Never mind that doing what you were told was what made you an idiot in the first place."

[altusimperius]

"I'm not sure if you've noticed," Benedict replies measuredly, his shoulders tense and bristling, "but I'm in a cage."
He's gripping the blanket so tightly he's starting to lose feeling in his fingers.
"I'm doing what I should've been doing. Complying with Riftwatch. Not trying to pretend I'm good for more than picking out wall hangings."

[rathercommon]

"Substituting one master for another," she says tartly.

[altusimperius]

Finally, he releases the blanket to bury his face in his hands. Most people who know Benedict are familiar with his whining and deflection, but more recently has evolved an utter despair, a paralysis of thought and total collapse of resolve.
He's stuck here. He had choices before, but now he has none, and Kitty is here to be the torture she so aptly predicted.

[rathercommon]

She stares at him a long moment. What, that's it? Huddling like she physically struck him?

She clucks her tongue, then, anger welling up inside her. "If you're notneven going to make an effort," she says, "then there's really no point even trying with you."

[altusimperius]

He shakes his head, fingers digging into his scalp. It strikes him suddenly, like an electric shock: for all her airs and moralizing, when he's not looking at her, Kitty could pass for his mother right now.

"Leave me alone," he murmurs, only half-believing she'll listen.

[rathercommon]

But Kitty snaps, "Fine," and turns on her heel to go. She's having a shit week. A shit month. And this after helping him - in no small part because she helped him. Why would she stick around someone whimpering and trembling and crying over the fact that she didn't speak to him with soft sweetness? Screw that.

[altusimperius]

Even at his best, Benedict isn't adept at dealing with attacks from all fronts: with or without an apology, giving a person what she demands only to be belittled for it. He's relieved to hear her footsteps grow softer, and at the same time feels an emptiness that he can't quantify.