Gray stood by the window of the reception parlor outside of the king’s study and stared out the window at Sir Wesley and Lady Jennica. That, he thought, was what love was supposed to be like. The shy fluttery smiles mixed in with conversation that was never quite stilted. He clutched the window frame for a moment, his stomach a churning mess. He’d felt like that, once upon a time. Bailey’s face flickered in front of him and he blinked rapidly, the last thing that he needed right now was to get the issues confused.
“Lady Tiffany? Why do you always tell me what she said? What does she know?” Gray heard Lady Fiona’s voice rise sharply. He couldn’t hear Lock’s reply, but apparently it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “She’s an architect, that doesn’t make her all knowing about interior design.”
And he was pretty sure that that was not a way that love was supposed to be like. Lock was his king, son of his lord, and someone to whom Gray’s loyalty was settled on unwaveringly. He would have followed Lock into hell itself with hardly a thought. And certainly Gray didn’t know anything about picking a consort for a king, but so far he was not nearly as impressed with Lock’s lady as Lock seemed to be.
But that was a dangerous path, because it brough him full circle, to the young man currently laying in Gray’s guest room, probably asleep or if not floating in and out of a sedated haze. Lady Kennedy had told him that it was probably better that way.
“Your majesty.” The argument from the next room had apparently come to it’s close because the next thing that Gray heard was the door opening. “Lord Gray.” Lady Fiona said, a cool light tone, as if she hadn’t been yelling loud enough for Gray to hear her in the next room–over the king’s not unimpressive sound muffling spells–just moments before.
“Lady Fiona.” He turned from the window and bowed. She breezed past with little more than a smile. Lock stuck his head out the door after the sitting room door closed. “She’s gone, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Oh–did you hear that?”
“Aye, your majesty.” Gray said. Lock sighed.
“She wants me to paint the dining hall.” Gray looked at him quizzically. “She says it’s depressing. I’ll grant it’s not a cheery room, but…”
“I thought Lady Tiffany’s thoughts on leaving it as was were quite sound.” Gray said, neutrally.
“Me too. Did you find Tate?” Lock asked, peering past the scarlet curtains at the courtyard.
“Aye, he’s–at my house–with Lady Kennedy, highness.” Gray said, surprised at the tentativeness in his own voice.
“Oh, gods! Was–was he hurt, what happened?”
“If it’s all the same to you, your majesty, for Tate’s sake, perhaps we should speak of this in private. He looked at the wall shared with the library. There was a standing invitation to all of the Crestians that they could use the library at any time. It was both too early and too late for the visitors they usually got, but still.
A stricken look shot across Lock’s face, but he turned and lead Gray to the study. Lock seated himself in the single chair on the other side of the desk and waved Gray into one of the chairs by the fireplace.
“Now, about Tate?” The king leaned forward a little, his blue eyes sparking a little with intensity.
“He was at his house when I got there, in the barn–in Dumpling’s stall actually–when I got there. Although he was quite obviously distressed, he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.” Gray, chewed on his lip for a second.
“That’s not unlike Tate.” Lock said, scrubbing his hand across his stubble.
“No.” Gray agreed, if only he told people more, perhaps–but then again perhaps not. He couldn’t know, not any more than he could know that if he’d said something that morning half a lifetime ago, what it would have changed. “But it was obvious something was wrong. I sent him to my house and went and got Lady Kennedy. She gave him something to calm him down a little.”
“So did you find out what happened?” Lock was playing with the quill on his desk. A nervous habit that tended to get ink on him, his desk, and anything else on the desk, but Gray couldn’t find it in himself to scold about it.
“Tate’s been trying to court Lady Zahrah.” Gray said.
“I know, Master Jarrett and Wesley have both commented on it.” Lock looked thoughtful for a moment. “But Lady Fiona and Lady Jennica have both commented that she is much more interested in Alistair.”
“Aye.” Gray couldn’t help snarling out the word. Lock’s eyes narrowed and he abandoned the quill to lean back in his chair and steeple his fingers together. “Well, apparently ever since Lord Dolph’s wedding, the two of them have been at odds over this.”
“That long? And he never said anything?” Lock said.
“Think back to your first love affair, Lock.” Gray snorted.
“If you mean that pathetic–thing I had with Lady Emma. I wouldn’t call it a love affair.” Lock laughed.
“Still, you were at the time, quite heartbroken that she didn’t return your affections.” Gray pointed out. Lock snorted. “Would your uncle have been your first choice of confidant?”
“Uncle Phillip?” Lock asked. Gray nodded. “Okay, no, I wouldn’t have. So what did Alistair do about this?”
“His usual way of handling rivals.” They had both known Alistair growing up. He had been a bully since the first time that Kennan had brought him to court when he was hardly old enough to lace his own breeches, and a cruel one. His pattern had always been one of escalation. At first just taunts or a bit of shoving, if that didn’t work, he’d keep getting crueler, more ruthless. Lock was quiet for a minute then nodded.
“I’m guessing he tried that with Tate?” Lock said.
“Aye.”
“And he’s been sitting there suffering, right under our noses. Damn it.” Lock exhaled a long sigh. “But there’s more isn’t there?”
“Oh–aye.” Gray agreed. “Butterscotch recently had kittens, and I guess that Tate decided that he would give one of them to Lady Zahrah. And I guess that Alistair saw the two of them together.”
“Go on.”
Gray stared at the carpets on the floor. Tate’s dull, slightly slurred voice in his head, telling him of how he had been in the barn when Alistair had approached. How Alistair had told him that he wasn’t an unreasonable man, that he would even offer Tate a compromise on the subject of Lady Zahrah.
Even with the sedative in him, Tate’s voice had become near hysterical as he recounted what Alistair viewed as a compromise. Gray hadn’t thought himself a completely unworldly sort of man, but apparently he was quite provincial compared to what Alistair had been doing.
“What sort of man offers–that?!” Lock asked, his voice a shocked mix of bewilderment and growing anger. “How–how can you even–say something like ‘I’ll let you get the girl if you’ll–you’ll–go to bed with me’?”
Oh, but it got worse. Not only had Alistair said it, he then proceeded to, in stark detail, voice just exactly what he’d do to Tate. Gray’s stomach clenched and he half wondered if he’d be sick–and it hadn’t even been said to him. Just repeated by a shell-shocked voice by the boy who’d actually had to live it.
All of this had been accompanied, Tate informed he and Lady Kennedy dully, by Alistair standing too close, touching his arm, his hair, his face. He told them how he’d tried to shove Alistair away, but the former noble had simply crowded him closer to the wall, trapping him.
“Gods.” Lock hissed. “Is–is that all.”
“That’s all he said, Lock. And Lady Kennedy advised me against pushing it.” Gray admitted. “But–given the way Tate got more hysterical, the longer he talked, somehow I doubt it.” Lock nodded sharply before pushing up out of his chair.
Gray watched as the king drew his fist back and slammed it into the wall by the window.
“I’ll kill him.” The king said bowing his head “You don’t–Gray–tell me honestly–do you think Alistair–raped him?”
“No. Lady Kennedy said the physical signs of a sexual assault weren’t there. I’m not sure what signs would have been there–but she said you would have been able to tell if Alistair had–p-penetrated him. But, she did say that–he could have, with what was there, done just about everything short of–that.” Gray said. “And–she said that he definitely–mind fucked Tate.” Lock hissed a sob in between his teeth.
“How could all of those people die and he lived. Tell me, you’re the priest, Gray, how the fuck could the gods let something like that happen. All of those good people, Gray, all of them dead and some disgusting thing like him live.” Lock said.
“I don’t think that’s the Gods’ jurisdiction. I don’t think the Gods put numbers up on the tally board. We have our choices, Lock, and the Gods let us make them. Sometimes people make bad ones.” Gray said after a long minute.
“How will I ever face Tate again? I failed him, Gray.” Lock said. And what did you say to that?
“I think, Lock, if you could never face Tate again, it’d be worse for him. He–he would probably think he disgusted you.” Gray said.
“He probably would, wouldn’t he?” Lock sighed. “And he doesn’t deserve that.” The king was silent for a long moment. “Can I at least turn Alistair into a pig?”
I VOTE YES! (To Lock’s question.) And it wouldn’t even be hard to find CC for it! Eva’s got pigs, there are animated pigs at Affinity Sims — it would be easy, easy, I tell you! I can tell you just how to shoot it, too! I shot a whole wizard’s duel out of two Sims casting “Benemoodus Simae” at each other!
… Well, and there was a “Servantus Attackem” in there, too, but really, it was most “Benemoodus Simae.”
Anyway, Lock should turn Alistair into a pig, because he is one already. I mean, ugh, how could somebody do that to poor, sweet, innocent Tate? Even Alistair! Van, if you wanted to see him be evil, I think you got your wish.
Poor baby. My offer of hugs and cookies still stands. (Can Olivia make him some cookies? And have Zahrah deliver them? I mean, Tate probably doesn’t want to face Zahrah right now, but it would be a great way to piss in Alistair’s cornflakes.)
Then there’s Gray. Hmm. Bailey is a rather ambiguous name, isn’t it? I think of it as a boy’s name, but I knew a girl in elementary school named Bailey, so it could be either. Hmmm.
Lastly, we finally meet the mysterious Fiona — and wow, her hair is pretty! And she seems a bit of a brat, too, but maybe she really doesn’t like that dining room. If she seriously thinks that might be her dining room, that does give her a bit of investment in having it look nice.
But poor Tate! I vote Alistair gets turned into a pig or something worse!
Wow, considering the idea of Lock turning Alistair into a pig was just a throw-away comment to add a little levity as I closed out the scene, it’s got a large number of fans!
Olivia might send cookies to Tate when she find out he’s “not feeling welling” she does like him quite a lot, even if not in a romantic way, but even if Zahrah delivered them, she wouldn’t be able to see Tate right now. I imagine that Kennedy will try and keep Tate as calm as possible because she doesn’t want to have to sedate him again.
Huh, I never noticed Bailey was an ambiguous name.
Hmmm indeed.
Yes, we meet Fiona, and sadly, she isn’t at her best here. We’ll see more of her in some of the upcoming episodes and hopefully she’ll be a bit better.
Poor Tate indeed. Thanks, Morgaine!
Well. Holy shit
Hell yeah Lock should turn Alistair into a pig. I’d suggest his serving him for dinner too if I didn’t think everyone would come down with food poisoning.
(And yes, he has definitely done his bad thing now! Even if he didn’t actually rape anybody, just threatening to do so is sick!)
Also curious about the mysterious Bailey, since I’ve also met both girls and boys of that name (although unlike Morgaine I tend to think of it as more of a girl’s name–either that or a puppy). Gray hasn’t shown any interest in any of the ladies yet, has he? I guess we’ll find out if it’s just this specific set of ladies that isn’t sparking his interest, or ladies in general
Hey, what is the typical Crestian view of homosexuality? Er, assuming that the kingdom wasn’t in desperate need of repopulation.
Heeeey, Wesley found somebody! And I’m not sure what to think about Fiona. Since this is the first we’ve seen of her I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the queen of a kingdom in crisis really should have concerns beyond how her dining room looks. For now, I think I’m going to hold out hope for Tiffany to one day see Lock in a different light.
Alistair actually didn’t threaten to rape Tate. He did molest Tate. Tate was sexually assaulted in basically every way short of actually being penetrated. It wasn’t just his face, etc. that Alistair touched. That was what I was hinting at with Gray saying he didn’t think that Tate told them everything. With as upset as Tate was (understandably) Kennedy was trying to be cautious. She’s a doctor, not a shrink.
And to pour more sordid nastiness on there, he was talking some pretty kinky sex practices as he was molesting. I have never been one to shy away from reading a good or interesting story just cause it wasn’t exactly kosher. So it’s no real wonder that Tate’s hysterical, if you consider that someone was feeling on him while talking about blood-play and breath-play and worse.
But I decided, as I was framing this, to keep it a little on the vague side. I had it planned out to be in greater detail and even had it half written, but then I thought that maybe this was not the time and place for plumbing that depth.
As for what the preplague view of homosexuality in Shadowcrest was, it’s one of those things where the actual holy book that the religion is based off of doesn’t say one way or the other. But the holy book has been shoved aside in favor of the Rules, which are basically pretty condemning of “different” and “unnatural”.
So it depends on if your priest/family/background whether you were raised with the Writ or with the Rules. The former is kind of “as long as you’re both consenting” and the latter is “you’re perverted and will probably burn in hell for it.” For the individual Shadowcrestians, it’s very much a YMMV thing.
I think an article on that might be in order. I’ve got the thoughts, I’ve just never made it formal.
And yes, Wesley found somebody. As for Fiona, well, it wasn’t the best introduction to her. But I don’t know how much crisis Fiona would be seeing. Obviously there is one, there are twenty-six people. (Twenty-seven actually, as I speak, Blake and Raquel’s baby was born in game yesterday.) But other than the lack of population at this point things are relatively steady.
But far be it for me to sink anyone’s ship at this point.
Thanks, Van!
*speechless*
I really don’t know what to say about this. Except that turning Alistair into a pig is not remotely enough! I’d vote for turning him into an ugly old man who is completely powerless and get’s shoved around by everyone. Maybe throw him into a coma-like state where he dreams of himself in the roles of everyone he ever abused.
I want him to suffer, badly, for a long long LONG time!
No, turning Alistair into a pig isn’t remotely enough. But there is a two fold problem here. 1) Lock could turn Alistair into a pig, or devise some sort of other exotic punishment for Alistair. But, all that would do is make Lock into a sadist. There’s nothing that’s “enough” that isn’t going to hurt Lock far more than it will hurt Alistair.
2) Even if Lock did devise some horribly punishment for Alistair, how would they keep this quiet for Tate? The more exotic Alistair’s punishment got, the more transparent Lock would have to be about why he did it, unless he wanted to open himself up for rumors that he’s a sadistic bastard. Now, the Crestians might not believe them, they’re all at least familiar with Lock and Alistair, but after the borders open?
People talk. And the diplomats would try and spin that. Especially considering that Lock doesn’t like Alistair to begin with. The only way for Lock to excuse a punishment that comes anywhere near severe enough, is by throwing Tate to the wolves.
We may be pissed at Alistair. We may want to see him punished, harshly and with no more mercy than he showed Tate. I may even want to drop him down a well and let him die, but I guess I’m gonna take my cue from Tate himself. Specifically his motto as is on his profile: An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Thanks, Ann!
*sigh* Yes, I know. Poor Lock would suffer for any punishment he had to impose on anyone, whether or not that person derserved it and all the more if it’s by magical means. But damn it!
I like Dominiquex thought about surgical prevention of more viciousness, especially since removing everything that swine could possibly use to hurt somebody would mean that there won’t be much left of him afterwards! *malicious grin*
I know the repercussions of that would not be pretty though and I really don’t want anyone else to suffer because of it. We do not need any more suffering that’s not Alistair’s to bear.
But something has to be done. That bastard can not be allowed to continue like this unpunished!
Sorry if this is a bit less than coherent… I’m rather tired right now, but I coun’t not reply. ~~
Oh, no, it’s okay. I understand. (And for that matter I got what you were saying, so no worries on coherence.)
All is not forgiven and certainly not forgotten as far as Alistair goes and I have some ideas about how I’ll be dealing with him from here on out.
Oh. My.
I don’t even know what to say. I knew he was a pig and a bad person, but I didn’t realize he was that predatory, twisted – evil. By which I mean forcing himself physically and mentally on a sweet young person in a way calculated to leave the most lasting damage. And enjoying it, as you know he must have. This was calculated psychosexual torture. Oh god. Poor poor Tate. Even without being penetrated, the wounds of forced sexual assault take years to heal and always leave a scar. And he’s so sweet, unassuming, and malleable. He will be irrevocably changed. He may be able to grow beyond it and be stronger, but it will be such a journey. And his relationship with women – he was struggling so hard with just coming to a normal understanding with romantic interactions. I shudder to think of everything that poor boy is going through. Ugh. And I find myself directing irrational anger towards Zahrah, not that I actually think she has anything to do with it in any way. How will she possibly be able to deal with this? As far as Alistair’s punishment, in a medieval setting my mind goes to surgical methods of preventing further depravity.
How Tate is going to deal with this is something that’s haunted me ever since I decided I was taking this road with them. I’m much more concerned with what I’m going to do with Tate than I am with Alistair. I can dismiss Alistair with he’s a bastard and doesn’t matter much. (Although I am leaning a fair bit toward dropping him down a well and letting him die. To hell with his random death date. Except of course, getting rid of Alistair won’t get rid of what Alistair has done…)
Above all else, I hope that Tate is capable of staying himself, because of everything that could and will be lost because of this, that would be the hardest loss for me as a writer and him as a person.
He didn’t deserve this, and I know that that doesn’t matter in RL, and unfortunately real life something I have to mimic if I want to stay a good writer. But I will admit I feel horribly guilty about the path Tate will have from here on out.
You make some very good points about where he’ll go from here, and all I can do is “hear” Kennedy going “Damn it, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a magician!” to use the popular misquote of Star Trek. But he’ll find support. Though I doubt it will be very “loud” going around Shadowcrest, I think that both Olivia and Nessa, the two women he was actually closest to before this happened will both be very helpful in his path to healing.
They understand what he’s going through as much as anyone can via experiences in their own lives.
I understand what you’re saying about Zahrah. Especially as she defends and makes excuses for Alistair. It isn’t her “fault” per se. But she never actually said to Tate that she wasn’t interested. And you kinda just wanna hop in ye olde time machine and at least point out, this is what a great guy is like. *points at Tate* and this is what a sadistic, self-serving asshat is like. *points at Alistair* cut one of them loose, this will only lead to bad things!
Hmmm. Well, cutting off his balls wouldn’t be something he’d voice around. Hmmm, very much hmmm. Thanks, Dom!
I’m sure that for something as twisted as what Alistair did, Zahrah had to only be the excuse, not the reason. I wonder how/if she’ll see that – she was only an object in his sick game, and allowed herself to be infatuated with a monster.
Pig!? Nah, that’s my zodiac sign. Too good for him. As a punishment, without appearing to do anything of a physical nature to him, have Lock perform a mental punishment instead. Alistair wanted to play cat-and-mouse, so let that happen. Lock can have him dream that he has been turned into a mouse and being chased by a village of cats, representing all those that are true friends to Tate. In his dream, he sees his transformation along with those people turning into cats, loosed into a large barn/room/field …. and hunted. Each injury becomes inflicted upon his flesh in real life and if caught — he dies in real life. Then, after a month or so, cut off his balls.
I wish I knew how to help Tate though. Even in our time, it would be traumatizing for a person to go through. Maybe Lock could slowly erase the memory during his dreams. Not a total wipe of the trauma … but gradually. I know …. too easy.