[ But that is when he reaches into the assembled fluff of his outfit, into a pocket, and pulls from it a small wrapped bundle. He holds it up and through the bars. Within is a quantity of biscuits, some with bacon and others with butter and jam.
While he is certainly too small and frail to do so, his expression says he will jam it down Trevor's throat if he tries to fight him on this. ]
No one's in a fit state to remember to feed a troublemaker.
[Trevor is silent when he takes the bundle. He's not amazing at accepting gifts, always hunched and awkward and never knowing quite what to say, but food means something to him. The fact that Florian probably made it and brought it down here in the cells is big.
He gives a low exhale, and re-wraps the food to save for later, clearly touched and dealing with...a lot. Typical of him, he makes a joke to stave off the impending ache:]
What, no beer? I told Shaw to back off the speakeasy.
[ It means quite a lot to Florian as well. He knows how easy it is to forget those locked away. He watches Trevor for a moment more, through the joke, before he lets his pale eyes fill with amusement and roll. ]
Heathen? I'm a heretic, thanks very much. You're the heathen to me.
[Trevor says, disappearing the food into his cloak. He'll eat it later, in privacy. Despite the joking, his eyes are an open book, clearly touched with gratitude]
Fine. Johann killed a few people but that's to be expected given the flood. He has few enough inhibitions as it is. Dorian took his knives once he found out and... made him stay in his room.
[ A slight tic there, though he'd be much more upset if they weren't in the midst of this flood. Now, he just sort of wonders why he feels like he ought to have some concern over someone locked inside a home. ]
Looks like I'm not the only one in time out then, huh.
Stupid...
[Trevor runs through his mental list of calm people who are strong enough to protect Florian until Johann is out again]
Gonou, Kiryu, and Sebastian would be my go-to people if you run into them on the ship somewhere. Hunter and Reid will let you stay in the infirmary and they'll protect it with their lives.
And..if you can't find them, then my inmate, Dimitri. If you tell him you need protection, he'll do it. Same with Shaw, though she has a bad habit of dying.
I wanted to talk to him anyway, but I'd prefer not with that sort of request. I'm not terribly worried about my protection, to be honest.
[ A thoughtful frown. ]
I'd probably go bother Herr Archer if it came down to it. He and I have an understanding. Or Xie Lian. He's my current warden, after all. It's actually his job.
You say that and yet I doubt you have had to spend endless dinners listening to them drone on while clutching at women they are most certainly not married to, smoking the most odious cigarettes.
My family built the city. ...not that it saved them.
But it was considered the thing to do to invite me to any important dinner: 'Elendhaven's last true son', as it were. Thus did I sup with the profiteers who benefited from and those whose orders saw the death of my family most nights.
[ Funnily enough, Trevor is one of the few people he might tell this to otherwise. He won't regret telling him this. After all, everyone in Elendhaven knows anyway. ]
When the plague came, it struck first in the factories, and my father, fool that he was, was the sort who took pride in talking to his workers. He locked himself in his study in the hopes of protecting us after the first signs showed, but one of the servants gossiped.
More fool them, given they shared our fate.
[ A breath out. ]
My family is well known for the magic in our blood, for all that we have claimed it stomped out, and they blamed the plague on old 'Wizard Leickenbloom' and his cursed kin, his brothers and their wives and their children and us. And thus did they barricade us within our own house, locking us away in the hopes of keeping the plague from their doors.
It came for them anyway but it hardly helped my family.
26 rooms in the mansion of House Leickenbloom, each one filled with the dying and the dead. Those that didn't die of the plague died of starvation.
All except for me, the solitary sorcerer in their midst.
[ A soft swallow. ]
Though after two months, it was a close thing regardless.
[ And a breath in. ]
After that, I used what skills I had and what sorcery was at my disposal to convince a distant relative to finance my education.
And I became a living monument to the losses of the plague, a living grave, and a place to lay useless apologies. There is not a shop or businessman in Elendhaven who would turn down an audience with me.
Nor a single person who wouldn't be glad to see me in the ground so they could stop looking at me.
[Trevor breathes in and out slowly, realizing too late this might be the flood talking, that he doesn't have a right to know these things until Florian deems it so. Still, once it's out, there's no putting that back in its bottle.
He leans his head against the bars of his cell, staring hollowly at Florian. What the shit do you say to someone like that, after all that?
[ It's been fifteen years since he's spoken any of their names. And yet, they come out as easily as if it was yesterday. ]
My father, Florent. My mother, Wilhelmina. His brothers: Laurence, Aster, Otto, and Linden. Their wives: Adelaide, Willa, Millicent, and Emmeline. My cousins: Roderick, Florin, Basil, Celandine, Ansel, Conrad, Lily, Rose, Dahlia, Violet, Camellia, Zinnia.
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How many people do you have to fight here?
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[ But that is when he reaches into the assembled fluff of his outfit, into a pocket, and pulls from it a small wrapped bundle. He holds it up and through the bars. Within is a quantity of biscuits, some with bacon and others with butter and jam.
While he is certainly too small and frail to do so, his expression says he will jam it down Trevor's throat if he tries to fight him on this. ]
No one's in a fit state to remember to feed a troublemaker.
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He gives a low exhale, and re-wraps the food to save for later, clearly touched and dealing with...a lot. Typical of him, he makes a joke to stave off the impending ache:]
What, no beer? I told Shaw to back off the speakeasy.
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You get beer with lunch, you sloppy heathen.
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[Trevor says, disappearing the food into his cloak. He'll eat it later, in privacy. Despite the joking, his eyes are an open book, clearly touched with gratitude]
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[ He will be back with lunch. And he will bring a bottle of beer with him, even if he has to sneak into the lounge to get it.]
You're only a heretic to your own, of course.
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[He settles his head on the bars, exhaling]
You doing all right, you and Johann? If you need to get anywhere on this ship, I gave Sebastian my warden item.
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[ A slight tic there, though he'd be much more upset if they weren't in the midst of this flood. Now, he just sort of wonders why he feels like he ought to have some concern over someone locked inside a home. ]
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Stupid...
[Trevor runs through his mental list of calm people who are strong enough to protect Florian until Johann is out again]
Gonou, Kiryu, and Sebastian would be my go-to people if you run into them on the ship somewhere. Hunter and Reid will let you stay in the infirmary and they'll protect it with their lives.
And..if you can't find them, then my inmate, Dimitri. If you tell him you need protection, he'll do it. Same with Shaw, though she has a bad habit of dying.
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[ A thoughtful frown. ]
I'd probably go bother Herr Archer if it came down to it. He and I have an understanding. Or Xie Lian. He's my current warden, after all. It's actually his job.
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Xie Lian is...decent. Has a habit of being condescending at me, or maybe we just rubbed each other the wrong way when I was an inmate.
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He's a fucking asshole but I think I'd feel that way about anyone who lives a preternaturally long life.
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A terrible grudge against the old and ancient? Shall I keep an eye out for doddering opas in case they incur your wrath?
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I'm talking hundreds, thousands of years old. And arrogant to the point of boredom.
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But it was considered the thing to do to invite me to any important dinner: 'Elendhaven's last true son', as it were. Thus did I sup with the profiteers who benefited from and those whose orders saw the death of my family most nights.
I'm not sure which is worse, really.
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What happened after they killed your family?
cw starvation, disease, etc.
When the plague came, it struck first in the factories, and my father, fool that he was, was the sort who took pride in talking to his workers. He locked himself in his study in the hopes of protecting us after the first signs showed, but one of the servants gossiped.
More fool them, given they shared our fate.
[ A breath out. ]
My family is well known for the magic in our blood, for all that we have claimed it stomped out, and they blamed the plague on old 'Wizard Leickenbloom' and his cursed kin, his brothers and their wives and their children and us. And thus did they barricade us within our own house, locking us away in the hopes of keeping the plague from their doors.
It came for them anyway but it hardly helped my family.
26 rooms in the mansion of House Leickenbloom, each one filled with the dying and the dead. Those that didn't die of the plague died of starvation.
All except for me, the solitary sorcerer in their midst.
[ A soft swallow. ]
Though after two months, it was a close thing regardless.
[ And a breath in. ]
After that, I used what skills I had and what sorcery was at my disposal to convince a distant relative to finance my education.
And I became a living monument to the losses of the plague, a living grave, and a place to lay useless apologies. There is not a shop or businessman in Elendhaven who would turn down an audience with me.
Nor a single person who wouldn't be glad to see me in the ground so they could stop looking at me.
Re: cw starvation, disease, etc.
He leans his head against the bars of his cell, staring hollowly at Florian. What the shit do you say to someone like that, after all that?
Nothing. He knows and he also doesn't know.
After a moment, to let Florian collect himself;]
Tell me their names? Your family. Who you lost.
[Scream them at him.]
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My father, Florent. My mother, Wilhelmina. His brothers: Laurence, Aster, Otto, and Linden. Their wives: Adelaide, Willa, Millicent, and Emmeline. My cousins: Roderick, Florin, Basil, Celandine, Ansel, Conrad, Lily, Rose, Dahlia, Violet, Camellia, Zinnia.
[ A pause. ]
My twin sister, Flora.
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