[open] far from my mother's home

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: October catch-all
WHEN: throughout Harvestmere
WHERE: Kirkwall dungeon/gay baby jail
NOTES: will add if necessary

For Riftwatch members in good standing, there's a built-in captive audience residing in a cell below the Kirkwall mage tower. One barred window peeks out onto the dreary courtyard, and on the opposite wall an interior door opens onto a dark, torchlit hallway, a bench placed on the wall facing in for the comfort of guests and interrogators.

Inside the cell, every day is the same. Sometimes Benedict is sleeping on the little bed supported by chains from the wall, sometimes he's pacing, sometimes he's standing on his toes to rest his chin on the windowsill, hands gripping the bars to keep himself upright, starved for any form of stimulation whatsoever.

Increasingly, he can be found sitting or lying on the floor of his cell, staring at the ceiling or fiddling with the straw scattered on the floor, bending and twisting it in such a way that, on closer inspection, he might be trying to figure out how to weave it.

Visitors will find him quite receptive, even excited to see them. Unless they're Flint.

Comments

[keenly]

Colin nearly clocks heads with her. He's carrying a small basket. Inside is the fragrance of spices and crisp crust--savory potato and cheese pies. Between salt and a touch of sourness, he managed to flavor them so the bitterness of the magebane would be offset. The flavor of it must be upsetting for Benedict, so he should at least have that much less to be tortured by.

"Oop!" he says as he pulls back, seeing her. He stops and squints. "Were you visiting...?"

Because really, who is there here who would possibly be visited by anyone from their organization?

[sulahnan]

"That absolute walnut known as Benedict?" Probably not the way Colin meant his unfinished sentence to go, but she can't help but editorialize. She glances back the way she came, as if she even needs to indicate where he is. "Yep. You too, huh?"

[keenly]

"Yes," Colin says with a flash of a smile, not arguing with the walnut part. Somehow, they are both here nonetheless. Colin's reason might have slightly more to do with having slept with him than Athessa's. He holds out a hand. "Um, hello. I'm Colin."

[sulahnan]

His reason definitely has more to do with having slept with him, since even if she were Benedict's type, he's markedly not Athessa's. Truthfully, Athessa doesn't know her reason well enough to put words to it.

"Athessa," she doesn't take his hand, but rather gives some bastard child of a wave and a salute. "I kinda feel like we've met already but I don't remember and there are probably worse things than getting a second chance at a first impression, right?"

[keenly]

Colin's not really the sort to take it personally, given his own occasional sensory issues, so he returns the wave with one of his own. The announcement of her name, however, gives him a double-take.

"Wh...Adessa?" Obiously it's not important, but it's the thing she says that really catches him off-guard.

[sulahnan]

"Athessa. With a THUH sound. You can call me Tessa, though, if that's too hard." She shrugs, dismissive. Actually, she kinda hopes he does call her by the nickname. Nobody's used it in a long, long time.

[keenly]

There's a second's pause before Colin waves it off with his hand. "Sorry. Sorry, um, my mother's n-- Anyway, I didn't mean to keep you waiting. Though there's plenty of pies, so, here."

He reaches into the basket and takes out a small pie, offering it to her.

[sulahnan]

"Oh, I don't have anywhere to be or anything--" She's saying, but then he's offering her a pie and her face lights up and she switches the track on that train of thought. "But I mean sure I'll take one of those off your hands."

She doesn't chow down right away, though with how good they smell it's hard not to.

The thing is, she's thinking about the aroma of baked goods wafting down to that cold, lonely cell, and how bereft the dungeon will be once the air is no longer bearing that warmth. About how easy it would be to focus only on the moments between visits, uncertainty in repose. She's feeling it more than thinking it, and wants to say something about it, but hasn't the words. So she says that.

"Y'ever get a feeling that you're sure there's a word for, but you just can't place it?"

[keenly]

"All the time." Dark brows pinch toward each other briefly. "What's on your mind?"

He'll want to keep it short so the pies are still somewhat warm when they get to Benedict, but there's time to listen.

[sulahnan]

She makes a face, trying to come up with a way to articulate the feeling, but ultimately comes up short.

"Eh, it's not important," she says, shaking her head and putting a smile on her face. "Maybe I'll figure it out later."

She likely won't, but oh well. Athessa raises the pie in her hands in a little cheers motion and ducks around Colin to leave.

[keenly]

Colin bobs his head and heads further in. The guard inspects his pies thoroughly (though Colin makes a sad noise when they get cut into enough pieces to rule out a weapon hiding inside) and doses them with the magebane before allowing him through.

The next day, Colin is in the apothecary compounding leaves in a mortar when the bell on the door announces someone has arrived. He glances up in faint surprise.

"A...thessa?" It's going to be a bit of work, getting used to that name.

[sulahnan]

Athessa doesn't frequent the apothecary, which would explain why she's surprised to be greeted by name, but it's a pleasant surprise, greeted in turn with a smile and a nod.

"Colin! Got it in one." She's not the best with names, so her comment is both in regards to him getting her name right, and her remembering his.

[keenly]

"Athessa," he repeats with a smile. "Good. How can I help you?"

says aloud "oh no he's cute"

[sulahnan]

"Well, first I'm gonna need some arbor blessing, spindleweed..." She counts off the herbs, a variety of common and rare, as one recounting a grocery list they wrote down and then forgot to bring with them. "Crystal grace, salubrious embrium and...I guess some regular elfroot to last until I can go pick some myself."

awww, he's adorable

[keenly]

Colin jots down the herbs as she lists them. When she's done, he starts to collect what she needs.

"How much of each, and should any of it be powdered or compounded?"

[sulahnan]

Ah that's right, when you don't go to an apothecary for herbs, you don't have to know what system of measurement they use. Athessa clears her throat, chagrined.

"No powders or compounds, but bear with me here, I need about--" She puts her hands together as if she's holding a ball, the negative space between them just enough for her fingertips to not touch. "This much of the arbor blessing..."

She estimates the rest of the ingredients out with similar metrics; a few sprigs of this, about this much of that, this many of the flowers--actually a few more, they're small.

"And I guess just a couple, maybe three of the elfroot. You don't have any witherstalk, do ya?"

[keenly]

Colin registers the estimated amounts fairly quickly. Most people outside the Circle and Riftwatch don't know ciphering or weights or anything. He gets to work measuring everything.

"Of course I have witherstalk," he says, half-distracted. Everyone here is having sex, so there's quite the abundance of it so that no one who can get pregnant will get pregnant.

[sulahnan]

"Well it's good the shortages haven't affected everything," There'd be rioting if the shortages were such that nobody could have coffee, tea, or sugar, and were banned from having sex without the unfortunate side effects.

"How well do you know Benedict?"

[keenly]

"Fair-to-middling," Colin says with a bit of a shrug. "He was here before, and I thought he was just another arsehole nob who's never had to think or do anything for himself before. Which, he was. After a while, though, he didn't really have much choice but to start thinking and doing things for himself. Seemed to be getting better. Nicer. Then, he was gone."

Dull hurt appears in Colin's eyes, his hands slowing for a second before he picks up the pace again.

"Why?"

[sulahnan]

Evem with things changing, it's vindication to hear she wasn't the only one with such opinions about Benedict.

"Just trying to figure him out. We didn't get off to the best start," That unfortunate first meeting during the truth bomb, where she threw a book at his head for his ignorance. "And it didn't improve after that, but here I am feeling sorry for him and all. He just seems... sad."

[keenly]

Colin looks ready to say something, but whatever it was flits from his mind. Athessa's summary is very apt, though Colin, at least, got to see some of the good in Benedict before the man disappeared.

He starts popping the measured herbs into a drawstring bag.

"He is sad," he sighs. "He's just now becoming aware of what he is, and he hates it. And hates that he isn't good at it. He's...he was self-centered, very much. He was never cruel, but his actions still hurt people. Now he's trying to figure out how to live with what he's done, and become someone he actually likes. He does have good qualities, and I've seen them."

[sulahnan]

A frown draws a furrow between her brows. "What he is?"

[keenly]

"A spoiled, bratty, entitled little nob who betrayed his only friends? Not that that's the only thing he is. Or was."

[sulahnan]

"Oh, right, that. I thought maybe you meant something else," she waves it off. "Yeah he doesn't seem like...evil or whatever, just...kind of a dumbass."

[keenly]

"He's not evil. He's not even bad. And he's definitely a dumbass." He can't resist a small smile. "But he tries, and he learns. And underneath all the bits that drive you mad, he's thoughtful and kind. Gentle, even. And now that he's back, suddenly, he's not asking for anything. The first night he was back, he thought he'd be executed in the morning, and all he wanted was for someone to sit with him. He doesn't beg to be an exception. He's just...doing his time. Proving himself. No shortcuts. And that's the kind of person that should be given a second chance, I think, even after what he did."