Closed, Complete

[strahlpilot]

Title: Defining Trust
Characters: Balthier, Dani
Location: Balthier's room
Rating: PG
Summary: She's still not his patient, but he hopes his past hasn't ruined where he stands with her
Day/Time: 71, late morning

Comments

[sci_fi_horror]

And Dani was the one to totally see it. Being that she was concerned about Balthier, something like knocking was discarded. Don't give them a minute to compose themself to lie.

She silently slid into the room and closed the door softly so there was barely a click. "Balthier."

[strahlpilot]

He jumped when he heard her voice and quickly turned around. Balthier rubbed between his eyes and sighed. Dani was one of the people most likely to be hurt by that news. Seeing her made him both relieved and worried.

"You move like a ghost. Reddas will be glad for that once you join him."

[sci_fi_horror]

"You get used to it, living on the street for ten months. Or avoiding snooty parties." Dani said, studying him intently. If everything else about Vlad was bad, at least it was good he bothered to teach her how to read an opponent. Lord knows she was used to put competitors off guard and reveal something he could use how many times.

"Reddas is your pirate friend?"

[strahlpilot]

"He is one of my closest friends. I trust him with my life, and yours once it comes to that." He didn't sound as certain as usual. It made him seem closer to his actual age than he did most of the time.

"I assume you're here because of that annoying information about me," Balthier guessed.

[sci_fi_horror]

"Yes." Dani said, studying Balthier. "To be a pirate or smuggler is one thing. You can easily be noble in those jobs, depending. A mercenary, however...is not so trust worthy."

[strahlpilot]

"I was no mercenary," he began. "I was a recognized Judge in the small country I grew up in, but Judge and executioner were one and the same, especially when we wished to expand our borders with war. When that began, I left. My father used his political power to get me the title and job. He disowned me when I gave it up."

As long as he could explain himself, if she believed it, that would be one less person he'd hurt unintentionally.

[sci_fi_horror]

"That seems like a foolish thing to do. Depending on how bloodthirsty the judge is, the death penalty could be often or not often enough." Dani commented, still watching him closely.

[strahlpilot]

He nodded as he sat down. "I never said my homeland made sense. It's a strange place I couldn't return to even if I wished for it. Quitting earned me exile, and hatred. Staying would have caused hate as well. I did as I felt was right. But you don't need to listen to me babble. I'm the therapist, not you."

Balthier weakly smiled. It would be wrong of him to use Dani as a substitute for Fran, since his partner's phone didn't seem to be in service right now.

[sci_fi_horror]

"And this isn't a session. This is determining if you are truly trust worthy. Why did you kill people?" Dani asked.

[strahlpilot]

His heart pounded, but the look on his face barely wavered. "I killed because it was my job and only when the evidence against a murderer or rapist was overwhelming. No other criminals deserve death."

[sci_fi_horror]

"And why did you stop?" Dani asked.

[strahlpilot]

He sighed as he thought of it. "I was asked to kill people whose only crime was being born in the country we planned to invade because they might start a rebellion and I could not shed innocent blood." The words were completely honest.

[sci_fi_horror]

"What did you do about it?" Dani asked.

[strahlpilot]

He almost laughed as he remembered that confrontation. "I turned in my things, told them that I wouldn't kill innocents, and got run out of the building by guards. Then I changed my name and ended up helping the rebellion beat the ones who had wanted cruelty from me after spending a few years trying to deny what I'd been."

And after that, he'd come to Malaise.

[sci_fi_horror]

"What was the country called?" Dani asked.

[strahlpilot]

"Andorra. They tried to sieze some territory from northern Spain, since there's plenty of dispute going on there right now anyway." He didn't see how it mattered, but he'd give her the information.