thenearshore | Drink With Me [closed]

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Drink With Me [closed]

Who: Leo and Aymeric
What: Leo needs a drink, Aymeric has a wine cellar, so the two of them meet in the middle and chat
Where: Aymeric's temple
When: May 24th
Warnings: Alcohol, spoilers for Fire Emblem Fates and Final Fantasy XIV, likely use of the word "bastard", discussions of medievalish social structures, mentions of murder? IDK man

[Leo would normally have called ahead, so to speak, but he was just not having a good day. At all. It was hard to explain why, but he was ready to either kill something or drink his weight in wine.

Given that the former would end poorly and he knew someone with wine, it was obvious what choice he was going to take. A short while after the sun set, Leo arrives at Aymeric's temple, knocking on the door]

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[Normally, he would be wary of surprise visits but on occasions, Aymeric always finds out the reasoning is much more than the paranoia. When he opens the door and sees Leo standing there, he's worried and his face shows it.]

Leo? Is aught amiss?

You have a wine cellar, correct? I am having one of those days where I need to do nothing or something will be broken.

[That bad of a day? Yikes, he knows those and thankfully he does have that cellar.]

Aye, I do. Come inside and I will lead you there.

[Despite how the exterior looked with its tone and high stories, the inside is remarkably warm. In the emotional way than the actual weather, showing a bit of Ishgardian architecture but void of the cold stone, instead replaced with richly colored woods and various furnishings. Not gawdy or tacky but rather homey. And while they did pass by a small bar (Aymeric has a key for that too), it was downstairs that is the goal. And when they do, Aymeric unlocks the door and this greets them.]

Rather massive but it will work.

[It was familiar, oddly enough. Castle Krakenburg wasn't this homey, but it had it's rooms like it.

Leo follows, actually smiling a bit when Aymeric opens the cellar]

Gods bless you and this wine cellar, Aymeric. Join me?

[A part of him is saying that there is no occasion to partake in such a drink but...no harm if it's supervised, right? And they would be much safer in Aymeric's wine cellar than out at a tavern.

Pulling out a bottle and a couple of goblets, he nods.]

Of course. What is on your mind, my friend?

[Leo flops down in one of the chairs, forgoing all pretenses of manners for the time being]

Oh, many things. I think the stress of the last few months is finally getting me, though. I swear for a moment I saw my brother in the mirror.

[Hey, as much as he gives off the air of a classy gentleman, Aymeric knew it was just them in the room. But knowing that the stress can end up building until it explodes, he can relate. But there's so much to wonder.]

Mayhap starting at the beginning and seeing where it goes. Tis always a good start.

[That makes him snort]

That would be arriving here, running into Niles, and realizing that the last time I spoke to him back home is the last time I will ever speak to him back home.

[The naive and obilvious would ask why but Aymeric listens carefully to his words. What exactly did he mean by arriving and learning that someone he knew...? So that meant-]

Your commrade then...they are a shinki?

Yes. The one with the eyepatch who hits on everything--that is Niles. He was my retainer back home and was killed in an assassination attempt, going by what I saw of his death.

[...ok, that may have gotten Aymeric to pour a bit more into Leo's glass. You obviously need the booze more than him.]

He sounds more than a retainer. A good friend, then?

[Leo raises it in acknowledgement before knocking back a good swallow.]

One of the few I had. He'd been in my employ for some time and was honestly one of the few people outside my family I gave a damn about.

[He sighs]

And he died. Doing his job, which is how he'd have wanted to go, but all the same.

[By the Fury, he may need to crack open another wine bottle in less than an hour.]

Duty to oneself and country...tis what they say when farewells are exchanged. That there can be no higher honor. I know someone who would say otherwise; it is for themselves and one other.

[He almost speaks his name. That dragoon that was with him who survived the dragon's assault, who braved the wilds of Draviana with a heretic, a optimistic young potential leader, and the Warrior of Light, whom nearly fought against the entire Holy See to free him...if Estinien died and he became a shinki, would he be able to handle it? Could he pretend to not know him and use him?

Or would he become an ayakashi and die all over again? How could he stand it?]

How do you do it?

[He doesn't ask "do what". He can guess.

Leo takes another long drink of his wine]

Thankfully, he is still Niles. Shameless, sadistic, fond of teasing...that part of you that tells you not to tell the shinki anything about their past helps, as does having fought against one who was told about his past. Same for my sister, Elise. She's still herself, even if she is an amnesiac. And...dead.

[The meeting they called involved that didn't it? Hmmm, well what can he do now? Mayhap...]

I do recall you mentioning your siblings before but never what they were like.

[He only knows very little bit hey, pour hearts out as well as wine.]

Elise is like Sora. She makes friends easier than anyone has any right too, is strangely endearing even when she's being difficult, and a light even when everything else is dark and hopeless. That someone could kill her...

To have siblings...it must be a wonder.

[Ew mush]

I am an only child so I have wondered what it would be like to have a brother or sister. Mayhap my family considered the same way they received me.

Did they accept you? My family had no choice, we were all living in the same palace.

...most bastard children were not given the chance I was. My mother was unable to have her own but she and my father loved me like I was their blood.

[It's funny. Aymeric calls the man who sired him 'father' but only because its proper. The man who raised him was truly the one he can call father proudly.]

It was because of them that I grew up to become the man I am today. I guess one can call me a lowborn in highborn's clothing...but it mattered not. It is not whose blood one shares but rather the actions and deeds that speak more.

Agreed. Though then again, by those standards I'd be no worse than some of the "lowborn". Tell me, Aymeric, how many siblings have you had to kill in your life?

Those of my blood or those I sent out in a meaningless war?

[He has no siblings as he knows of ~~(and lorists know shhhh)~~ but he knows he sent husbands and wives, sons and daughters out to fight Ishgard's enemies. It's a broad question after all.]

That share a parent with you. We can't help a war, no matter how meaningless.

I know none who shared my father's blood so I am unable to say.

[He remembers some of their conversation at least and if anything, Thordan more than likely did not partake in those activities after learning of Aymeric himself.]

I can't remember how many I either killed myself or had a hand in killing.

[He takes a drink from his glass]

It was either that or be killed, of course, and my father slept with more women then you'd find in your average whorehouse, but all the same. Sometimes I worry what that says about me.

[Aymeric could say that his father would fit in well in Ishgard considering but it would be in poor taste.]

You are not your father and if anything, what you have told and shown me is despite it all, you care much more than most men I know. How you speak about your family even with your hardships and yet you show kindness proves it.

Still.

[Sometimes it bothers him]

Either way, I am praying Xander, Camilla, and Corrin never show up. I think I might lose it if they were shinki as well.

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Drink With Me [closed]

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