Bird Song [Eitan]

[Florian]

Searing 78th, 121 AoS

It wasn't too late in the evening - mid-afternoon, by some accounts. Florian had invited Eitan for drinks again, same place, even, but he had no intention of getting drunk. He needed a bit of alcohol to help him process the odd warning he had received from the Order, and a fellow Lysanrin at that, but he had no idea how to bring it up to Eitan, or if he even should. His mind wandered to other places, and so did his speech. Granted, he was only a beer in, but his lips had loosened a touch and he didn't want to ruin the mood.

He tried to pretend like nothing unusual had happened the days prior. It felt easier that way.

"Does your family know that the Order's got you tethered to a Lysanrin?" Florian asked with a teasing grin. "It's been a few weeks, maybe I should meet them." He was only half-joking. The curiosity to see what his home looked like — especially after he had seen his small, sparse apartment — crept in sometimes. He wasn't sure if he wanted to meet his family, per se, but if they were going to be spending so much time together, it seemed pertinent. Another sip of his beer and he turned his torso to face Eitan. "Not that I'm in a rush to meet more...people." He wanted to say humans. Instead, he punctuated the sentence with more alcohol. It seemed a fitting coping strategy for everything else that ran along in his head, everything else he wanted to talk about instead.

Maybe a bar wasn't the right place to have those conversations, though, and he clung to that excuse. Maybe Eitan didn't want to think about what had happened when they'd last trained, and he clung to that excuse, too. Maybe they didn't have to talk about it at all. Even so, he still needed to bring up Thysbae the Spellbreaker and Dreyfus — did he know Dreyfus? — and even the minor details of what had happened. He had wanted to visit the Monteliyet Estate if he ever received that invite from Thysbae, but for some reason, it seemed important to tell Eitan of his intentions.

Not yet, though. Maybe later. Maybe later.

[Eitan Angevin]

"My family doesn't know and likely doesn't care," he said, which might have sounded harsh, but he was smiling. At least, it had little to do with Albrecht and everything to do with Angevin himself. Eitan Angevin was not like the others, and various of them took exception with his mere existence still. He took a sip of his ale and softened it, perhaps realizing how it sounded. "I stay there some of the time when I'm off-duty, but it's mostly so nobody can say I'm avoiding them. But then... we aren't spending quality time together or anything. They will see me in passing and that's about it." He laughed. "I should introduce you to my grandmother, though. She's a vicious cunt, but... I'm quoting her here..." And he smiled, his words coming out through his smile as though he were a ventriloquist. "All you have to do is smile. Nobody knows you're talking shit when you say it through a smile."

He laughed at the memory of the Dowager.

"Mostly she has something to say about everyone in high society, and when she doesn't have something to say, then you know she truly loathes them."

Angevin liked her best of all. At first, she had treated him like a pet, then decided she liked him and that he was going to do his best not to shame the family any more than his father already had by not only coupling with an elf, but begetting a bastard upon her.

"Anyway, you haven't introduced me to your mother. Are you ashamed of me, Albrecht?" He smirked.

For once, he wasn't wearing his uniform. Everything was well cut and made of good quality materials, but his style wasn't flashy. His collar was open and Albrecht could see the fading marks he had made. It was almost as though Angevin wasn't ashamed.

"Anyway, you're going to meet more people. Tomorrow you're coming with me to the Dornkirk Windworks to sit in on my meeting and to see how airships are made."

[Florian]

"I can't imagine having a family that doesn't...care." Florian sounded sincere. Then again, his family consisted of two, and while they had no one else, Eitan's family sounded even lonelier. He wasn't entirely surprised, given what pieces he'd shared about his childhood, but he also didn't pity him. He'd had a certain amount of privilege that Florian felt was well worth the discomfort of an uncaring family.

"Oh, you want to meet my mother?" Florian exclaimed, a fraction away from spitting out his beer. He managed to swallow it instead. The idea of Eitan meeting her had never crossed his mind, and not out of any shame. "Well, I think she'd love to meet you." He laughed, but it was clear by the way he'd said it that she'd already been told about Eitan.

"I visit her nearly every day, when, you know, when I can, but I haven't yet today. You can come with me, if you want?" He finished off his beer, almost eager to leave then and there. His own enthusiasm surprised him — perhaps it was a desire to introduce some of the only two people he could easily claim he trusted together. His mother was also much better at appraising people than he was, as much as he tried.

The latter bit of what Eitan had said finally settled in. "Ah, a meeting?" Florian was not prepared for meetings of any sort, and the name and business begot a sense that they were meeting someone who carried significantly more importance than Florian himself, and that meant a human. He sighed and reached for his pocket to pay the tab. "If you want to meet her, we should leave now. Before I drink any more, at least." He stood up as he spoke, and already began to venture towards the door. Florian's own clothing was lower quality than Eitan's, but in the same way that he could see the marks left by his teeth, Angevin could see the edges of the bruises left by his hand.

"She's about, oh, a twenty minute's walk? It's not far." If Eitan had thought he had a choice in the matter, Florian had quickly dismissed the notion. He was going to meet his mother whether he liked it or not.

[Eitan Angevin]

"It's fine," he said of his uncaring family, and left it there. He almost joked about Albrecht caring about him, but elected not to.

His eyes widened a bit when Albrecht immediately latched onto the idea of introducing him to his mother, but he shrugged it off. The more he knew about Albrecht, the more he would know how he ticked, and the better he would be at managing his temper and the rest of him, especially as the Order was allowing the Lysanrin to grow his magical skills, which had hithertofore been unheard of. Angevin was pleased that he was trusted with such a responsibility now that it had settled. He wasn't displeased that Albrecht had proved to be a ward-with-benefits either, and his smile went slightly smirking at the memory.

"Don't worry about the meeting. You just have to show up in uniform and pay attention." He winked and started to down his beer since Albrecht suddenly had a fire under his ass to visit his mum.

"You don't want more to drink? Worried you'll dive face-first into my trousers in front of her?"

Now he was definitely smirking, but he stood up, prepared to leave. Angevin could be polite to Albrecht's mother. He had nothing against her personally, though he shared most of the world's distrust of them in general, gathered in large groups with armies of clockwork golems and a will to rule the world. That was only okay when Zaichaer did it.

But he didn't mind a walk. Keeping active kept the booze weight from accumulating, and he needed booze to survive in this world, his early "it's fine" notwithstanding.

"Does she know we fucked? Would you like to tell her or should I?"

[Florian]

Florian's face burned red at the comment, even as he rushed out the door. The follow-up question did nothing good for his complexion, either. He hadn't told his mother, but he suspected she'd figured it out, because as soon as he'd bathed he'd visited her. She was an astute observer, and he was terrible at hiding things. Even if he avoided the topic entirely.

"You seem awfully eager, are you looking to go again?" He smiled in jest and gave him a light punch on the shoulder, but the redness in his face took a bit of the edge off the teasing. He'd realized that he wasn't against the idea, but he found it difficult to tell what Eitan meant between what he said and what he felt. "I haven't, but I wouldn't be surprised if she figured it out."

He'd dragged Eitan out the door by this point, and they had started the short walk to his mother's. "Just call her Ms. Albrecht, I think. That's usually what people call her, anyway. I can't remember if I've ever introduced her to anyone." Florian rambled, and he knew he rambled, but it didn't seem to stop him. "She'd been wanting to meet you, actually. She thinks I'm ashamed of her!" He threw his hands up in mock exasperation.

The walk went by quicker than he'd expected. Perhaps it was his growing nervousness at how the meeting would go and time itself having a laugh, but they were at her doorstep in no time. He stepped up to the door and knocked a bit surreptitiously. There was a pattern there if Eitan had deigned to pay attention. The door opened to a woman, taller than Florian and with a bit more weight on her bones compared to him - but then again, the same could be said about anyone compared to him.

"Hi mama," He said, before he stepped aside to give her a better look at Eitan behind him. "This is Eitan, er, Commander Angevin, like I've told you."

"So you finally brought him. I'm Ava," She introduced herself, and held out a hand. She looked no older than her mid-30s, if that, with only a few fine lines. Ava Albrecht looked at Eitan from head to toe as if she were appraising livestock. Her eyes lingered at his neck and his open collar and the marks therein, but she didn't mention it - rather, she smiled, and stepped aside to let them in. Florian walked in, took off his shoes, and placed them neatly by the door. He wasn't sure if Eitan would do the same, but he didn't make a show of it. Unlike Florian's apartment, hers had more space, and a hallway that led to multiple rooms. It was decorated, too, with a couch and rugs and paintings on the wall and even flowers in a vase on the table.

"Florian, can you get me my glasses? I left them in my room." She asked her son as she took a seat at the table, and gestured to Eitan to do the same. Florian complied, and disappeared down the hall. The second he was out of earshot, however, she kept talking. "Now what did you say to my son to make him blush like that?"

[Eitan Angevin]

Angevin didn't tease him too much as they walked, mostly just catching his gaze and giving him arch looks. An eyebrow raised just so could say more than a poet. In any case, her home was much in keeping with the neighborhood and when she opened the door, he could instantly see the family resemblance. If anything, she looked too young to be his mother, but he didn't comment on that. Perhaps aging and reproduction were different for Lysanrin than for humans.

He was prepared to call her Ms. Albrecht, but she introduced herself as Ava and offered her his hand. Albrecht might have expected him to kiss her hand like a lady, but he just smiled and shook her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. If I'm to call you Ava, you must call me Eitan." He jerked his head in Albrecht's direction. "Your son has to call me Commander because it's his job." His smile not fading entirely, he released her hand. Following his subordinate inside, he followed the house rules and removed his boots, setting them carefully by the door. It was clear that she took pride-of-ownership in the place, and if it was humble, it was clean and homey. They had already spoken about how different their family lives had been. He did wonder what it would be like to grow up in a place that felt like home.

"Oh, we were having a drink at the pub," he told her. "He was trying to weasel his way into a visit to my father's house and I countered with never having met his family either. It isn't difficult to get a rise out of him, especially after a drink. Not that your son drinks," he added with mock solemnity. "Not ever." Then he smiled again. "But it has been a pleasure having him aboard the ship, sometimes a dubious pleasure when his temper flares up, but I think he is beginning to believe me when I say that I am trying to look out for him and make his life in the Corps easier in the long run. We're both working on patience."

[Florian]

"Let me know if you manage to make him patient. I may owe you my life." She placed a hand to her chest and laughed, a sound that felt all of warm and soft and comforting. Ava had the same look in her eye that Florian got when he was about to stir the pot, but at that moment, he trotted back into the room with her reading glasses in tow. He was pulled into a hug when he brought them to the table, and with the understanding of a tiny tradition decades in the making, Florian escaped her grasp and walked over to the stove. A few logs of wood and a match and it was lit, warming up the apartment already warm from the Searing's heat.

"He tells me you're nice, too. Thank you." She gestured broadly, "And he trusts you. I can't believe it." Ava had leaned in and talked quietly, as if she didn't want Florian to hear her gossip. Then she stood up and joined him near the stove, and he turned to Eitan, an apologetic grin on his face.

"She won't let you leave unless you eat an early dinner with us." He shrugged and returned to the table with a cutting board and potatoes. Florian chopped them into small bites and soon enough they were in a pan on the stove with a bit of butter and salt for frying. Ava seemed to be in control of the stove, while Florian assisted where he could - he retrieved beer to boil the sausages, and a jar of saurkraut was procured from a cabinet at some point in the chaos. Eitan was, for a few minutes, left to his own devices, but Florian soon enough returned to the table.

"We can sit on the couch, it's a bit cooler over there." He looked a bit hot himself from the frantic pace they seemed to work at. He migrated over and took a seat with the expectation that Eitan would follow suit. "Whatever you told her, she likes you. She brought out the beer for the sausage and everything." Florian whispered conspiratorily and cast a glance in her direction. "If you eat well, she might even insist you come over again."

Truth be told, Florian had no idea how Eitan was taking the chaos. He had no idea what a family as wealthy as the Angevins would eat for dinner, or if it was anything even close to what was about to take place in the Albrecht household. Florian was a poor chef, and he often came to visit her for dinner. Even though they lived apart, it was more on the instinct that he was an adult and should have his own place more than a real separation of the two. Though the Lysanrin was almost excited enough to make Eitan have a sit-down dinner with them that he nearly forgot about the meeting with Thysbae just the day before. Dinner was almost ready, though, and he abruptly stood up and retrieved more beer for the table, just as Ava placed three plates of saurkraut, sausage, and potatoes.

It may have been the most comfortable Eitan could have ever seen Florian, but he broke the conversation with uncomfortable news.

"Another member of the Order of Reconciliation visited me yesterday. A Lysanrin, too. Thysbae. But he was odd. Said he worked with Dreyfus Monteliyet...?" Florian was unsure if he had ever heard the name before, or if it meant anything to Eitan. "He came with a warning from the Order - 'All tools have their uses, and when they cease to have them, they will be replaced.' I don't think, but I don't know. I thought it was odd they would tell me directly and not to you."

[Eitan Angevin]

"I hope he does, ma'am," he said. "The military life is not an easy one, and certainly no easier for being Lysanrin, but I am attempting to protect him from the worst of it, from what he doesn't earn, and hopefully other Lysanrin will be able to earn a modicum of respect for his trailblazing."

When Albrecht returned, he just smiled innocently. "Dinner would be lovely, thanks." He stood patiently aside while Albrecht helped his mother, then followed him into the living room when he bade him follow. He might be his XO and Watcher, but this was someone else's home and he was a guest. He was well-behaved—mostly.

"I just told her the truth," he said softly, smirking. His smirk faded into still attentiveness when Albrecht began to explain that another Lysanrin, this one associated with Monteliyet had come to threaten him. After a moment, his visage softened into a smile like the dawn after the darkest night. "I will look into it. You shouldn't wait to tell me such things, but now I can see to it. Keep your eyes open and your ears perked, but trust that I will see to Order business on your behalf." He reached out and patted Albrecht's cheek like he was a child or a pet, though his wink wasn't unkind.

If anything, it would irk the Lysanrin, which would shock him into some little anger that was better than anxiety. Angevin should know.

"Are you going to beg me to fuck you in your childhood bed next, you cheeky little bugger?" He gave him a knowing look. But his voice was pitched low enough the Lysanrin's mother wouldn't hear. Perhaps he was using the spycraft taught to him by the Order for purposes for which they hadn't intended, but they wanted to make this square peg fit into a circular hole and he hadn't been given tools or direction, so he was doing the best he could.

[Florian]

Florian's expression betrayed some relief at the prospect that such a threat would be looked into, or at least confirmed, but it quickly turned to annoyance, and then to a flushed face and burning anger. He was frustrated at Eitan's comments, at his blatant disregard for his feelings on the matter. It seemed like Eitan had no conception of the fact that maybe it wasn't a good thing to have happened, that maybe it was something more serious that they should have talked about beforehand. He didn't like being teased, and from his perspective, he wasn't even the one to have initiated. Eitan initiated. He was the one who had kissed him first.

"Stop." He hissed through gritted teeth. His eyes had quickly darkened, the pupils hidden in the inky black, and the words tumbled out of his mouth. "It's not a fucking joke. None of this is a fucking joke, Eitan. And you started it, so shut up about it!"

Florian paused to take a breath. Ava continued setting everything up for dinner and mostly ignored the two of them. Whatever she had heard, Florian say, she had clearly decided it was not her business while both of them were around. But he relaxed his clenched hands, his clenched jaw, and he stared at Eitan while his little burst of anger subsided and his eyes turned blue again. He didn't understand Eitan's need to be so vulgar, nor his need to keep teasing him like this. What could he possibly be getting out of it other than pushing the limits of what Florian thought was okay? He bristled at the realization - the confusion - that Eitan wasn't taking him seriously. He wanted to be taken seriously. It may have been a mistake to be honest after all.

Ava called them for dinner, and Florian stood up and ventured to the table, tension still evident in his body language.

[Eitan Angevin]

An eyebrow rose at Albrecht's revisionist history, but he elected not to comment upon it at that time, merely making himself at ease while the Lysanrin mastered his temper and his feelings. The problematic private had been volatile since early on and, in reality, this was all early days still. That shared danger and such had forced intimacy in some ways and their competitive natures coming at each other had forced intimacy in other ways, but they still hadn't truly had time to settle into their working relationship. Time would tell.

He kept the man in his peripheral vision as he looked about the place, studying it in more detail, perhaps for more context with which to understand his charge. When Ava called them to dinner, he stood and followed Albrecht to the table, waiting for some indication of where he ought to sit. But he didn't sit quite yet, wanting to hold the woman's chair out for her. It was her own home, so perhaps unnecessary, but Albrecht had brought him without notice and she had decided to feed him and it seemed the least he could do to show his appreciation for her generosity and her efforts.

It was heart-warming to see that the civilizing influence of Zaichaer could help the lesser races find a place in the hierarchy of things, and that they could live in a society that had a place for the fallen race. Clearly, they weren't to be trusted with authority given what they had done with it previously, but some degree of integration might keep them from attempting to gather and start a new clockwork empire.

"Thank you for your hospitality, ma'am, and without notice." He flashed a bright smile, and considered sending flowers or aught to thank her. Good behavior ought to be rewarded. The pleasure of reward made it more likely for good behavior to continue. Apparently, Albrecht wasn't grateful for his rewards. Perhaps he could observe and figure out what sort of snacks might work.