[phone calls OTA] Technical Difficulties

[st_abby]

He'd passed by the alien, gleaming thing in his room a hundred times by now, or nearly must've done, and hardly stopped to examine it. It was strange, but so were most other things in this place. A shiny, awkward looking device attached to the wall by means of a long cable, set on one of the little tables that seemed to litter these rooms. It had neat rows of square buttons with numbers etched on, and a handle, so Vax'ildan had supposed it was meant to work some feature of the room in a way he could scarcely imagine. He didn't want to break it, but eventually the boredom and curiosity got the better of him, much like with the door locks. It would probably fix itself, if it came to that.

After the first few moments spent listening to the monotonous warble that came from the handle, Vax'ildan reached to jab a finger into a button. When it beeped but did no more, he pushed another. And a third...

OOC Note: If you would like a thread with Vax, please leave a top-level comment to this post and he will reply! No need to pre-arrange, but as one does when learning new technology, he may disconnect the call etc. accidentally or your character may tell him to leave them alone in very few words if they so choose - most of these threads are likely to be short.

Comments

[st_abby]

"I more or less always assume that I might be watched, no matter where I am." It was said a bit too plainly to be wry.

Yes, okay, Vax did have a slight paranoid streak. A paranoid streak that had helped to keep him alive, and made him very good at his work.

[st_unning]

Alcuin took this in stride, and only nodded.

"Most people do not think that way," he said. "They do not even see what is right in front of them, let alone what might e hiding."

After all, he'd been a spy. And had been so good at it because he was so overlooked in that regard.

[st_abby]

It was the last part of what Alcuin said that Vax found curious. He tipped his head slightly at the boy. "Do you think that way?"

[st_unning]

Alcuin looked at him for a second, and then decided to tell him the truth. "I was what they were not seeing," he said.

[st_abby]

Vax took a moment to try and study Alcuin for greater insight than before. Alcuin was certainly graceful, and unassuming in manner, but he didn't strike Vax'ildan as a fellow tradesman. He was too distinctively pretty, for one, and he didn't move like a bound shadow, for another.

"How could anyone possibly miss you?"

[st_unning]

A small smile quirked at Alcuin's lips. "Perhaps underestimate is a better word. Do you watch what you say in front of a pretty decoration?"

[st_abby]

Vax tended to say overmuch about some things, and perhaps not enough about others. But he'd never claimed to have a silver tongue or even much sense.

"Not really," he spoke to Alcuin's point. "You were, what, a spy then?" That went a ways to explaining the tragedy that seemed to have befallen the boy and his loved one, if only in the broadest sense.

[st_unning]

"Of a sort," Alcuin said. "Yes. I used my position to gain information. Some of it was listening and observing, some of it was inspiring loose tongues."

[st_abby]

"I've never been clever enough for that," Vax admitted freely, not seeming bothered by the admission. He thought back on the Briarwoods, amongst other encounters. "The skulking about in the shadows, I do that very well. But talking to someone convincingly - that's a whole different skill set."

[st_unning]

It was a skill set that Alcuin had, though it was also more complex than that... Oh, damn. He really was not going to have a better opening to confess to Vax about his past than this.

"Yes," he agreed. "Though, Vax... do you remember I told you that the religious doctrine of my people is 'love as thou wilt'? This takes many forms, but one component is the Servants of Naamah. In very simple terms, it is a religious order of courtesans." He had learned this word in one of he romance novels he had read, and determined that it had a better connotation than others. "That was my other role. So you can see how these things fit together."

[st_abby]

Alcuin spoke of it as if those things - love, sex, religion, courtesans, and spying - all went together quite naturally. And if that was the sort of world from which he came, that made sense.

Vax'ildan came from a very different world. Even if they had both of them been from Exandria, or the other way round, they still would have led very different lives. His expression, even before he'd made words to respond, suggested that he didn't actually see how they quite fit together at all. "I... When you say 'courtesan,' do you mean... Like with how you tried to thank me before?"

[st_unning]

Alcuin might have answered the question with dignity, but the second half of it caused a slight flush to come to his face. He tried to maintain his dignity anyway.

"I mean that people paid me for sex," he said. "Yes. But it's also... it's more complicated than that. And I would not offer myself to someone I did not want. Not anymore."

[st_abby]

Vax paid him a small smile, for that. He was hardly the first to cast stones at anyone for the profession they chose. He didn't begrudge Alcuin for making his living in such a way. But it was good to know he hadn't felt as if he was obligated to offer himself either.

"I didn't mean to make you blush," was what Vax ended up saying apologetically. "It's hardly your fault this place seems so backwards to what you're used to."

[st_unning]

"I wouldn't say that it's backwards, just... well. It is different."

He looked at Vax. "I am more than that," he said. "There is much more to me. But it is still the case that, a Servant of Naamah - " He paused. Hesitated. Then finally said, "I am not saying this to be boastful, but simply as a statement of fact. What I offered you - where I come from, it is something of great value. I would not have offered if I did not want it, too. But I still wish that there was some way I could repay you."

[st_abby]

Vax inclined his head a bit, to show he was listening, though it took him a moment longer to sort out what to say. He thought he was beginning to understand that for Alcuin, it wasn't just the offer of a tumble in the hay, but something of great significance - beyond even the measure of coins and debts. He spoke of it like a cleric spoke of their worship, and he'd said as how it was religious in its way.

"I would've seen it as a precious offer no matter where you were from," he promised. "I still can't accept it, as things are." He'd already explained himself, and he knew Alcuin had heard him, so Vax didn't say the words over again. His heart ached a little to wonder what Keyleth would have made of all this. She probably would've laughed at his embarrassment of riches, with a smile brilliant as sunlight on a breeze, but only for knowing that he wasn't a man to stray at the crook of a finger. Not even from a very beautiful young man who had more reasons than most needed to be willing.

"I only acted as was needed in the order of things, when it was shown to me, Alcuin." He smiled a little, offsetting the seriousness of the words a bit. "But I'm glad it was for someone like you. And I may have need of your skills yet, someday." He said it without thinking it all the way through first - and then actually looked a bit sheepish. "Well, your, you know - the other skills, learning from people."

[st_unning]

Alcuin couldn't help but look slightly amused at his misstep at the end, but eventually he just stepped forward and laid a hand on Vax's arm. "You are a very good man, Vax'ildan," he said, entirely sincerely. He was no longer upset, and he did not feel stung by rejection. He was only happy that Vax understood him, did not judge him, and that they could be friends.

[st_abby]

There was a pause as Vax looked at him, something sober and mindful the words stirred. "I'd like to be," was what he said for it, quietly, and he reached to squeeze Alcuin's hand in return.

That settled, he turned his attention to other matters. "Anyway. Didn't you come over to teach me how to use the phones?" He hadn't forgotten that it was supposed to be the other way round, but Vax knew he still had some learning to do and practice to be had before he felt sure of how to use the things.

[st_unning]

Alcuin saw what Vax was doing, and offered him a little smile. "Oh, was I the one teaching you? Considering I did not know what it was called until a moment ago..."

[st_abby]

"Let's learn how to work it together," Vax offered compromise with a smile of reply. He showed Alcuin to where his machine sat, picking up the handle.

"The part you listen from, and talk into," he began, knowing that Alcuin had learned as much already. "And these numbers here are connected to the rooms..."