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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 9:18 pm
(4/7) Amon's jaw worked as he fought to keep his composure, remaining standing, chest heaving, even as Asa took his seat at the table. There was something so dismissive about the motion that it made him want to flip the table, just to get a reaction from him. One beyond the irritation on his face. Like Amon was a pest, an annoyance. He only stirred when the other boy jumped, and at that point snapped his gaze in shock to the other boy who had silently slipped in. When he was introduced, Amon inhaled sharply, standing up a bit straighter.
The shred of logic in his brain pointed out that at least Asa was willing to sit and explain, and hadn't instructed his sons to kick him out - so when the older brother waited expectantly for him to sit, he finally did so, flexing his hands a few times to keep the tremble out of them before he accepted the cup.
At the question though, he looked at Arden as if he'd grown a second head, then snapped his eyes to Asa. His sons had no idea about the Sargsyans. Which made sense, based on his and Arden's brief conversation, and yet it still confused him. He'd been raised to think of the family as some monumental thing, and yet his father-- Asa... had thrown it away like it was worthless. "The Sargsyans are an affluent merchant family in Zena, one whose influences spans almost across the continent, and F--" He stopped himself, gritting his teeth, setting his teacup down. "... Asa was the only heir. He disappeared before I was born, although everyone I've ever known said you passed from your... your illness."
He trailed off, then looked at Asa again, unaware of how pathetically pleading the stare was. "I intercepted a group of mercenaries who were reporting to Grandfather, saying you had been seen at the airdock in Sauti, and sought you out from there. I assumed it was to find you and bring you home."
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:32 pm
Asa
When Amon snapped his eyes to Asa, the Zenan simply took a steadying breath and reached for his tea. "I had hoped," He started and willed the warmth from the cup into his very being. "That by never speaking their name they might cease to exist and with any luck they would hope the same for me." When he'd finished he shifted his eyes to Colm, only taking his eldest's words in for a moment before taking the smallest sips of tea.
Only after he'd set the cup down did he look up to Amon - to really look at the boy - and all he felt was a profound sadness. Sad that they'd allowed this to happen again, that another life had been trapped in their webs and that now, even after so many years of running, he'd never really gotten out of that room.
"Geir has no intention of bringing me home." His voice was low, "I am now and forever will be a stain on the Sargsyan name. My father has wanted nothing more than to replace me from the day I first took breath and if he were here with us today, in this very room, he would sooner take a knife to my chest than to allow me anywhere near Zena."
After a moment, he added, "...Your mother and I never married. The day before my wedding I ran off with the one person who saw value in me and not my name. When I left Zena I left that life behind and for a while Geir chased us. He wanted me returned and Ygraine dead, but after a while the mercenaries stopped coming. I assumed it was because he'd given up, but now I know. It's because she was carrying you and whether he knew the truth or not, it was too easy to write his problem off than to waste expenses tracking down a dying man."
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:41 pm
Arden
The Sargsyans were truly that powerful? And his father - his delicate, unassuming, melancholy sire - was the heir? "So all of our travel...the years of moving from place to place...It wasn't solely because of your health." He murmured. They had been hunted; actively chased, and his parents had done their damndest to keep them safe. "If the Sargsyans wanted mother dead then..." What would they have done to us? Two healthy boys, the very things Geir might have wanted in grandchildren, if only Ygraine hadn't been a hybrid. If she'd been a proper lady, of proper breeding, and someone they could mold...
No wonder Asa experienced life with such vigor. How many times had he watched his father simply sit in camp and revel in the feel of stone underneath his fingers? Even when he'd baulked at the way Arden might have come home soaked in mud he'd never outright told him not to do it. He'd encouraged his wild nature as much as he'd pushed Colm to explore his own passions. Asa had given so much -
-because they'd given so little.
And yet, that still didn't answer the looming question; was Amon actually his? Or was it something deeper?
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2024 8:17 pm
(5/7)
Colm watched his father, forcing himself to remain steady despite the fragile part of his heart that ached to see the man so tired. That ache only sharpened as he learned more; he was unable to contain the horrified look on his face as his father continued to speak. His eyes slid to Arden, briefly, because he could see it in his brother's face too - that realization. How much bitterness had Arden carried in him, for being made to leave the continent behind and come here? At the time it seemed another cost of their father's health, or perhaps their parents' whims, nothing more.
Colm was no stranger to feeling bitter towards their parents, but he found as painful as this truth was - it felt a bit like a balm. Or - he thought it probably would, once the surreal feeling to this situation settled somewhat.
Now, though, they were at a rather awkward position. Colm kept watch on the other boy from the corner of his eyes, rather acutely aware just what it was their father had just confirmed. How desperate would this person become, learning they were at the table with three people who had a better claim to his inheritance than he did? "That's quite the burden you've lived with, Father. I hope it's a relief to have it off your chest, finally." Colm finally said, voice warmer than his previously distant tone.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2024 8:43 pm
(5/7) While Arden still had questions as to whether or not Asa could still be his father, Amon knew. Logically, at least - emotionally he was still frozen to the spot, unable to comprehend, but his brain had snapped up all the pieces as soon as Asa laid them out, and had come to the same conclusion. Asa maintained that he had already left home the night before his wedding. Meanwhile, his family always swore that that was the night they wed in secret, and shared their wedding bed - which miraculously led to him.
There were only two realities laid out before him; that his mother and Asa were intimate together leading up to their wedding (and that wasn't likely, if Asa was well enough to run away from Zena and NOT on his death bed like he'd always been led to believe), or that Asa was telling the truth, and they had never been together - which was only right, considering they were both of respectable births, and wouldn't have dared be in the same room without an escort. Their family might have been willing to bend the rules, but not his mother's - not even if it meant marrying into such an esteemed family, they would have demanded a wedding first.
Amon sucked in a breath, elbow nearly jostling his half-empty tea cup as it propped against the table, clasping over his mouth. He felt sickened, mind swirling at the revelation. He wanted to scream at this man, to stand and shove this weak person from his chair for lying, for being so desperate to insist Amon wasn't his. For being one more person Amon wasn't good enough for.
But it made no sense, was the sad part. In a world where Asa was truly Amon's father, the only concern would be who was born first... Amon or 'Ygraine's' first child. And was that really anything for Amon to worry about, when his competition was a hybrid? No. No, Geir might have sent assassins to remove a smear on the family name when they were infants, but not so many years later - not when it meant risking discovery of the plot.
Having mercenaries still sweeping for news of Asa and his progeny... it only made sense, in hind sight, if they were truly a threat, despite being mutts. Especially if Asa was right, and Geir never truly wanted Asa himself to be brought home.
Maybe Amon should have stood from the table, pulled out his knife, and tried to do his grandfather proud - remove the heirs so that his tenuous claim was uncontested, and no one would have to know. He could go home, step back into the facade and no one would ever have to know he'd found out he was a fake.
Amon looked up from the knotted pattern he'd been staring at on the table, eyes slipping up to Asa, and the tension in his stomach twisted further. Isanna cared more about Holo and wine and gemstones than Amon. Geir wasn't even his grandfather - to him he was just a placeholder, a puppet to use so he could die knowing his legacy passed on. Holo... he didn't know if the man was his father, or was still just his step-father, but he'd always unnerved him, always tried to buy Amon's approval with gifts and trinkets. Asa was the last grasping chance at... he didn't know. Something. And there wasn't even that shallow bit of blood binding them together that would make any far-fetched connection possible.
In this moment, with this stranger across the table, and his two actual sons, Amon felt a crushing weight of shame and embarrassment so strong his throat didn't want to work to even croak out a weak 'excuse me' as he stood up and stumbled towards the front door.
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 10:11 am
Asa
"I should have told you," Asa said at length. "Both of you - all of you - but I just hoped that maybe if you didn't know you were a Sargsyan that you wouldn't have to be." They'd played family on the continent - did their best to hide the truth from the boys - but the risk never went away. It only festered and even in Belrea, so many leagues away from that house, it found them. They were young when they ran, just a little older than these boys now, and Asa had to wonder if it was right. If he should have just let Ygraine go, stayed put and maybe...
...but that would be regretting their lives - his own - and he couldn't do that.
And maybe he should have let Amon leave. He certainly needed the space to process the information, much like everyone here, but with the Zenan making a move to exit Asa found himself pushing against the table to rise. Letting him leave now didn't seem right. It felt...cruel. Needlessly so. This boy was little older than his own and the look on his face in that moment, the slope of his shoulders, it pulled at him.
As much as having him near terrified Asa, the older Zenan came up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder. "Wait." His eyes sought the others. "Come back and finish your tea. Or take a moment in the sitting room to...think," He finished awkwardly, "And then I'll walk you back. There aren't any inns on this side of the city so I know you've come far and by the time you leave the sun will have set."
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 10:21 am
Arden
This wasn't - None of this was- For once in his life Arden was stunned into silence. His eyes moved to Colm, catching that same look before turning back to their father. To Amon, who looked as if his world was quite literally being burned around him and he could do little but to watch. How many times had he screamed at his parents, snarled and pulled away from any attempts at comfort like a brat because he wanted to go home? Because it wasn't fair for them to give up their lives when all they'd tried to do was ensure they even had one?
His parents hadn't wanted to leave - that much was more obvious now than ever before and Arden just...The teenager looked down at the table. His eyes reflect outright shock and horror, disgust at people he didn't even know and more over at himself.
Maybe I am like them. Maybe I'm worse.
He didn't so much as move when Amon stood to leave, but when Asa pulled himself up to follow - that caught his eye. Why? Why was he still trying to help? When they had already taken so much and even now-
Arden lowered his head into his hands and pressed his palms against his eyes.
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 7:46 pm
(6/7)
Whatever pity their father felt for the boy, Colm had no interest in partaking in it. At least, not while it was clear his brother was suffering, and the other boy no longer seemed like a threat. He could understand, a little, even if he couldn't fully put himself in his brother's shoes... because where Arden had rebelled against this life they'd built in Belrea, Colm had thrived in it. How could he sympathize with someone who chafed at this place, whose definition of who their parents were had been fully turned on its head, redefining them into survivors and protectors instead of simply the people complicit in the upending of his life.
Gently, Colm pressed his hand against Arden's back, offering solace in his companionship, and praying his brother, alienated as he was from Colm these days, would still appreciate it. "Think of it this way. Now that we know what waits for us back on the continent, you can be better prepared for when you return, right?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue May 14, 2024 8:06 pm
(6/7) Amon was so intent on wresting himself from this situation that he nearly stormed out of the apartment, before remembering his boots. He cursed under his breath, feeling almost hysterical as he stooped to retrieve them, freezing when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. It was such a shock, to be touched, that he flinched away from it before he recognized just who it was standing behind him. Standing, Asa was smaller than him, despite Amon's age. That same embarrassment threatened to turn his tongue cruel and dismissive, a childish mechanism he'd never quite managed to reign in. He wasn't quick enough to stop the baleful glare he shot the older man's way, full of hurt. This man had had no issue lying to him before, so why be gentle with his feelings now?
Unbidden, Amon remembered his gentle warning, Asa's attempt to dissuade him from this search. His attempt to leave Amon ignorant of his true heritage, an extension of mercy - an allowance to let him flounce around claiming he was his son, even when he knew he wasn't. And any anger eked out of him, leaving him exhausted and defeated. He nodded, miserably, feeling for once his age - a child alone in a continent, no longer the proud heir playing at a man he just wasn't yet. How could he be a man, when he didn't even know who he was, without a pedigree to prop him up? He couldn't even feel insulted that now Asa knew he was toothless - he didn't even seem concerned that Amon might walk him into an ambush or trap, on that walk back to his inn.
Distantly, he remembered that Arden still had his heirloom necklace, and the image of the hybrid's disgusted expression when he first saw it made him want to curl in on himself at the shame of it all over again.
He returned to the table, pointedly not looking at the boys as he took his seat again, cupping his suddenly too-cold hands around the still warm cup. "Only a fool would leave, when he has a place carved out for him - would leave a world where he had everything he could ever want." Amon said, at length, looking at Asa again. "You left for love? Would you have ever left it, if not for that?"
In between the lines of what sounded like mocking, he was desperately asking the question - was it worth leaving? Even when Amon didn't have some great love to motivate him?
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 4:04 pm
Arden ll 7
"...We'll be targeted if we go back." He murmured and slowly lowered his hands away from his eyes. When Arden turned to look at Colm shame and regret flitted through his eyes, but through that was also a vein of fear. "If Amon made it this far on what little he had then whose to say someone else can't? What if he was followed?" His voice was low, barely above a whisper and certainly low enough to pick up bits of the conversation in the other room. "I can't leave; not now."
The realization of it all was slowly crushing him. If he left that would leave his family vulnerable. While his parents had kept the Sargsyans at bay, could they do it now? If it were just them and Colm, maybe, but the twins...
As the pair sat back down at the table, Arden sat up a little straighter and took in Amon's posture. This wasn't the same young man who had grabbed him by the shirt...and maybe that was why Arden found himself digging into his pocket. He slowly - carefully - revealed Amon's necklace and gingerly sat it on the table in front of him.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 4:32 pm
Asa ll 7
Asa couldn't contain the flinch anymore than he could hide the way his body stilled under such a intense glare. All the emotions that Amon wasn't verbally expressing came out in that look and despite himself, Asa felt fear. It was a reaction he'd never been able to truly grow out of; the way he would shut down whenever a male larger than himself grew irate. He'd felt the feeling more than enough around Arden to push through and keep his heart open. His father would have called it weakness, but there wasn't a soul under this roof that Geir's influence hadn't tainted.
So, Asa chose to push past his caution and keep an eye on the boy. Wordlessly he led the way back to the table and waited for Amon to take his seat before slipping down into his own.
"Is that what you truly believe? That only a fool would wish for more than the walls that bind him?" His tone wasn't mocking, nor was it harsh; if anything, Asa was genuinely curious. "I left knowing that I might very well die the next day. We were young and scared, but I lived more in one week with Ygraine than I did the whole of my life." Even with emotion weighing heavy on Asa's mind, there was no hiding the light that came to his eyes.
"I don't know that I would have had the strength to leave if it weren't for her. Having Ygraine by my side gave me the support I needed to try and while I can't say our journey has been without it's faults I would do it again, without question. All of it." Looking to his sons - first Colm, then Arden - Asa offered a wan smile. "I don't dare ask for your forgiveness, just your understanding."
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 5:29 pm
(7/7)
Colm continued to reassuringly rub his brother's back, but his brother wasn't hiding away his feelings behind a mask of anger or disdain. For the first time in a long time, Colm could read him - and what he saw there both broke his heart and made him proud. Colm was young when the reality of a little sibling hit him - when he felt responsible for a smaller person. Arden was a great big brother too, to the twins, but this was the first time Colm had seen the reality of that feeling of responsibility hit him so hard.
When Asa returned, he was surprised to see Amon slink in with him, but Colm ignored the feeling of unease that went through him and instead gazed at his father, smiling at him a bit weakly, but honestly. He also ignored the strange necklace that was presented - he would much prefer the other boy at the table didn't exist.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 5:48 pm
(7/7) All his life, Amon had been raised to intimidate those around him. Before now, it had made him feel powerful, as a scion of a great house should. But now, as a fraud facing someone who he'd wanted to acknowledge him all his life - seeing him flinch only made his gut twist in discomfort.
Slowly, he padded back to the table. He should toss a look to the other two boys, to dare them to object to his presence, but instead he wanted to shrink down in his seat - the way his grandfather would have punished him for as a child.
The fact Amon couldn't look Asa in the eye was answer enough. But he didn't have to look to feel the spark of joy in Asa's words when he spoke of his wife.
It... was something to think over, at least. But as it was... when Arden somewhat guiltily presented the jewels he'd held hostage, Amon stared at them, hard, unsure if he should even pick them back up.
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