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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7413162" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>A tale of four butlers</strong></p><p></p><p>Carlyle's talk with Don Cippiano takes some time though and so Auryn decides to ease the waiting time by relaxing in front of her partner's door. When he finally returns, she's almost fallen asleep and drowsily asks Carlyle for a spare moment as she'd like to talk a bit about what happened between the two during their trip to Vendricce. He's a bit surprised to see her being up this late, but nonetheless invites her to share a glass of wine. </p><p></p><p>What really surprises her in their initial exchange is the fact that he suddenly addresses her informally and pretty familiarly. She first asks him for his methods of saying goodbye to “Hector Ignacio Fernandez” as she confesses that she's grown quite fond of her Amiranya persona. Carlyle explains that he saw their mission as some sort of strange vacation and now he's just returned to his regular day-to-day life. So to answer her question, yes, being Hector was a pleasant and interesting experience, but he doesn't feel as if he'll have any troubles returning to being Gabriel Carlyle again. </p><p></p><p>Auryn sighs and states that matters are not that easy for her. She's grown very fond of Amira's carefree nature, and lacking the weight of being a matriarch's daughter almost felt like a blessing. She also enjoyed having a loyal husband and companion in Hector which is why she's having some troubles to let go of Amira's emotions. She understands that she has to return to her responsibilities though, especially as someone needs to take care of both Isobel and the crimes of the Traverse family. Even if it isn't decided yet whether or not she'll be the one to make them pay and to liberate Isobel's family. </p><p></p><p>“Seems like you have little troubles returning to your 'Vekeshi Avenger' self...” Carlyle jokes and adds that while he can leave Hector behind, the trip nonetheless changed a lot for him. He had to think much about his own morale and responsibility and he felt like being a mere RHC agent and doing what he's been told by Delft just wasn't enough this time.</p><p></p><p>“Remember when I said that helping Isobel just... felt right? From the perspective of an RHC agent, I was acting extremely reckless and endangered our mission on top of that. But we both couldn't just leave her at the mercy of this Elanor Janette, could we?”</p><p></p><p>He then explains that “doing the right thing” heavily depends on your perspective and also the role you're currently fulfilling. For him, these are the roles of (Ex-)butler, soldier, constable, deva or just the human being that's still left inside him and who has to play all of these roles. Regarding Auryn, he can see that she's in the very same situation whenever she has to balance her RHC job with her Vekeshi outlook, her Eladrin heritage and her ideas for a better future and the society she'd like to found someday. </p><p></p><p>So he'd like to play a little game with her: The tale of the four butlers, a game that he and the other students had to play during their lessons in their butler school in Alais Primos. As students, they were presented with four cases where butlers had misbehaved or overstepped their boundaries and it was up to them to assess the situation and tell where the butlers had acted wrongly. He explains that the cases he's going to present her all belong to real people he once knew, so she can be sure that there is no hidden butler bias included. And as Auryn is quite a capable investigator, he'd one-up the situation and present only the very basic outlines of the four cases so she might get additional information via questioning. As an additional rule, he asks her to assess the cases from different points of view: the perspectives of an RHC agent, a member of the Vekeshi, and a matriarch's daughter. </p><p></p><p>Auryn, being both curious and interested in what Carlyle would call “a game”, agrees to play and asks him to present the cases. So he starts with the simplest descriptions and adds that all of these cases are not only cases of misbehavior, but also small to serious crimes:</p><p></p><p>The first butler, a woman, forged her master's documents to coerce him to sell a factory to one of his competitors. She then received benefits from said competitor as a reward. </p><p></p><p>The second butler, a man, committed sexual misconduct against the underage daughter of his master and then murdered a man afterward. </p><p></p><p>The third butler, a woman, stole money from her household to buy hard drugs she then consumed during her job. </p><p></p><p>The fourth butler, a man, broke into the houses of his master's competitors and blackmailed them to abide his master's wishes. </p><p></p><p>Auryn thinks about the cases for a while and says that she has simply too few information to properly judge the four persons. She sees that, even without further information, her perspectives might lead to very different assessments. She explains that for an RHC agent, all cases included punishable crimes, but only the murder case and maybe the forgery could be of greater interest for an agent. For a Vekeshi, it would really depend on the master's and his competitor's characters in cases one and four and she jokes that the last case sounds very much like the stuff Carlyle did himself. So it might just be that this butler was simply helping a very generous master in need. As an eladrin woman, the second case sounds just disturbing and, depending on the additional information, she might just feel the need to properly punish this man. She also could not tolerate any illoyalties from her household. </p><p></p><p>Carlyle thanks her for her first assessment and then turns to answer further question. As she's reminded of her partner's previous life, Auryn starts with case number four. It turns out that this butler was indeed a secret guardian of his master who turned on his competitors when they started to use dirty tricks to gain an upper hand in their business deals. He didn't interfere in any regular deals or business relationships, but also didn't tell his master about his secret life as he didn't want to get his hands dirty as well. </p><p></p><p>Auryn says that while the butler did indeed commit a crime, he only acted against those who'd use similar methods against his master, so to do nothing would have been far worse. A Vekeshi would have lauded the man's courage and she adds that by trying to keep his master's hands clean, he also took the blame upon himself. As a matriarch, she would be glad to have staff as loyal as this man, even if she'd prefer to be informed about such actions. Carlyle thanks her again and explains, that the man overstepped his boundaries as a butler because, while he did help, he also put his master's name at risk should his methods of coercion come to light.</p><p></p><p>She then turns to the third case. The stealing butler turned out to become addicted to drugs after suffering a heavy loss after the death of a loved one. She couldn't deal with the pain and nonetheless wanted to continue doing her job, so she used the drugs to numb her feelings and simply function as an employee. When she became addicted, she quickly craved more and as she didn't have enough money to buy her daily dose, she began to steal. Also, she became negligent in her job as the drugs took their toll on her and so the master's family found out about her situation eventually. </p><p></p><p>Regarding this case, Auryn explains that while the case of this butler is tragic, it is pretty irrelevant for an RHC agent as theft as a crime is dealt with by the police. It also doesn't touch injustice or exploitation, so the Vekeshi would shrug it off as well. However, as a person and future matriarch, she understands the woman's need to continue doing her job while being in pain. She knows exactly what it means to lose someone close as she's still suffering from Zahir's death even today. Still, the woman should have tried to talk to someone about her troubles instead of harming herself and her master's family in the process. She adds that she's used to talk about her emotions with her fellows as eladrin of the same enclave regard each other as family (and are very often related by blood) which is why she kind of pressed Carlyle into talking to her in the past.</p><p></p><p>The second case turns out to be the most complex of the four cases, at least for Auryn. Bit by bit Carlyle unfolds the story of a man, a Yerasol veteran, who tried to find peace with a new occupation after years of war. He had a healthy relationship with his masters, a very nice couple who had small kids, including one curious daughter who soon followed the butler everywhere. As she grew older, her feelings for the man intensified and as he didn't know or realize what was happening, he also didn't put a healthy distance between them. And she found excuse after excuse to be close to him, like breaking her own stuff to make him repair the items. When she was sixteen, she confessed her love and the two entered a forbidden relationship, a relationship her parents turned a blind eye to. This continued for a few years until they had to break up as the woman was to be married to the son of one of the master's business partners. But the marriage ended soon in a tragedy as one day the woman was found dead after being horribly abused by her husband. After having heard what happened, the butler decided to take justice into his own hands and killed the man slowly and painfully. </p><p></p><p>Auryn is a bit shocked at the conclusion of this tale. She says that, from the perspective of an agent, criminals are to be punished by the officials, not individuals. Still a Vekeshi would understand the man's need for revenge, especially in such a brutal case like this. As an eladrin, the woman's husband had committed the worst possible crime, abusing his privilege as a husband and also harming, even killing a woman. So he'd be executed in public anyway after being properly shamed by his community. By killing the murderer himself, the butler would have circumvented this judicial process, but as he acted out of love, compassion and devotion to a woman, he'd be easily forgiven, maybe even seen as an exemplar. </p><p></p><p>Regarding the relationship, the daughter entered it willingly and she isn't sure whether this age difference is considered immoral for humans. She also doesn't know whether a sixteen year old human is capable of making her own decisions. But she adds that she herself was once in a maybe similar situation: 30 years ago she had been in a relationship with the veteran Meloreen, a man 500 years older than she was. She adds that while having a hand-picked veteran as first husband isn't unusual for a young woman, they are not really considered appropriate for first experiences. Still she was attracted by this man and didn't regret choosing him as her lover. </p><p></p><p>In the first case, the butler had changed financial reports of one factory as she deemed it to be a bad investment that threatened to financially ruin the whole family. As the master had been really enthusiastic about the new project, she felt as if she had no choice but to force him to sell the bad apple. The master's competitor didn't know about the intricate details of the project and thought it to be a rather good catch, so the butler sort-of conspired with the competitor to get her master to selling the factory for a rather low price. Which is why she got a provision for her “help”. </p><p></p><p>Auryn says that forgery is a crime, but this case would be hardly matters for the RHC. And a Vekeshi would most likely be more concerned with the question whether or not the master and competitor would be unjust or cruel. As both were fairly regular businesspeople, this wouldn't concern them at all. She herself can understand the butler's motivation, but she'd judge the butler as being disloyal, even if she had only the best intentions for her master's business in mind. And her final, selfish act to get a provision only made her actions look even more grey. She explains that, were she in the master's shoes, she'd not be sure whether she could trust her butler ever again. Auryn finally concludes that the butler was right to try to convince her master to sell the factory and warn him about the bad investment, but that's it. Making the right decisions and bearing the consequences for failures is the job of leaders, like masters, kings, queens or matriarchs after all. </p><p></p><p>Carlyle thanks Auryn for her analysis of the four cases and then explains where these four people failed in their job, even if the human side to all of their decisions is truly understandable: The first butler had no reason to intervene in business decisions as this was, as she correctly points out, neither her job, nor her place. The second butler failed to put a professional distance between himself and the daughter and the murder endangered the good name of his master's family. The third butler did not only steal, but also failed to continue doing her job properly because working in such a sensitive position while being on drugs is rather dangerous. The fourth one, again, endangered the good name of his master and being a secret agent isn't really part of a butler's job description. </p><p></p><p>“Unless the butler's name is Mr. Carlyle and the masters are the Vantrys family.” Auryn adds with a knowing grin. </p><p></p><p>Carlyle laughs softly in response and adds that he now knows her a tad bit better and maybe she'll be able to reflect her different mindsets more properly. Auryn thanks him for putting his trust in her and sharing these stories of his (most certainly long-dead) colleagues. Still she isn't really sure whether she can get over her own turmoil as she isn't sure at all about her, or even their, future. She explains that whatever happened in Nalaam was the result of an emotional roller-coaster and that this day, she truly saw an esteemed husband in him when the lines between Carlyle and Hector started to blur and fade. After all, he just turned out to be worthy of her deepest trust and had helped her in times of need, so she knows that she can rely on him no matter what. </p><p></p><p>Auryn adds that she doesn't regret spending the night with him, even if she fears that it could have a negative impact on their friendship on the long run. She's also a bit hesitant right now when it comes to their future relationship as she's been used and told to take more than to give. At least from a Risuri's perspective. So she's not sure whether she's been fair to Carlyle at all and whether her companionship means anything to him in return. </p><p></p><p>Carlye seems a bit surprised at this question and he returns that Auryn does not only mean much to him, but also lightens up his everyday life and inspires him to be more than a mere butler or agent. He confesses, that even if he didn't want to see it, his life was kind of lonely before he crossed paths with her. Also, she's maybe the only person in all of Risur who can help him fully understand his destiny as a being touched by Srasama. </p><p></p><p>“Isn't it a funny coincidence how that divine aspect, that magic inside me had lain dormant for five hundred years, right until you came into my life? For me, this is no coincidence at all. The two of us meeting was meant to be. It had always been meant to be. Call it destiny or fate, but I believe that all of my existence has led me right to this point in time. This is just the right time, my time to be. And whatever has been put into motion in this world, I feel like I have a part to play in what is yet to come. As do you.” Carlyle explains. </p><p></p><p>Regarding her affection, he understands how Auryn must have felt, but he's not much interested in a purely bodily relationship. It is not like he would object to being in a relationship with her, but he won't make compromises in this regard. He adds that he'd also not be really comfortable with “sharing” Auryn with possible future husbands as long as they're together (in a relationship, not as RHC partners), even if he knows that this would violate her enclave's tradition. </p><p></p><p>Auryn answers that matters like these are really difficult for her. Then she smiles mischievously and adds that now that her pact with Ashima-Shimtu is fulfilled, she can share her “secret no one else knows about” with Carlyle: That she does have feelings for him, even if she lacks the experience in this case to fully understand them. </p><p></p><p>Regarding her people and traditions she explains that he's right: While being in a continuous relationship doesn't mean a woman should take additional partners, a true marriage would usually include more than one husband. And as serious as he sounds right now, there's also the fact that eladrin cannot have children with other races and she surely won't let her bloodline come to an end as this would mean violating everything she believes in. This, and her rather irritating feelings are therefore putting a heavy weight on her decision. </p><p></p><p>Carlyle says that he truly understands her and he doesn't want her to make a rushed or forced decision. After all, time is the one thing they both have plenty to spare. Even if he doesn't feel the need to exist for all eternity – which was, in fact, his “secret” he told the demoness. He then asks Auryn to show her one more thing, a secret she needs to know if she's really about to make such a profound decision.</p><p></p><p>He then leads her to his attic and brings forth an old, dusty chest. Inside are four different sets of objects: A black mask, a syringe, binding, spoon and burner, a small, broken jewelry box, and a contract about the sale of a factory. </p><p></p><p>“Now you know everything there is to know. This is my moral compass, the periods of my life I left behind. Reminders of the acts I committed.”</p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">This episode was really unusual in many kinds of way. First, Mr. Carlyle's player isn't very into too much prep work for his character. He does write and play great characters, but tries to keep the workload minimal. The tale of the four butlers was something he did write in advance, even without Tizbiz' knowledge – Tiz was just as surprised as I was. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">Second, this was the end of a really long session and it took us more than two hours in pure dialogue. So we, like our characters, were both a bit tired, but nonetheless wanted to play through it all. In the end, Tizbiz feared to have lost some detail and when he asked “So... will they or won't they?”, Mr. Carlyle's player and I laughed and simply said “They don't know. It's complicated.”</span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">Then there's Carlyle's story. Remember that moment when Hector lashed out against Boone? And none of us understood what the heck was going on with Carlyle? It all became crystal clear after his tale of his lost love. So this is one of the topics where even stoic Mr. Carlyle cannot hold back his emotions and stay calm. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">For the acts themselves, Carlyle kind of let Auryn judge him from different perspectives and besides the forgery, she didn't really condemn him. However, the second story did disturb her to the core, even if the reasons for that were different ones than she'd initially expected. For in her society killing your wife is just as much of an anathema as eating babies. So she didn't inquire too much further, fearing that she might tear open old wounds. But yeah, this was what the mysterious “Vantrys daughter seeking comfort”/”the woman he had to leave behind” was all about. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">Also, Carlyle cleverly used male and female butlers so that Auryn couldn't simply extrapolate from that one case that was very obviously Carlyle's own story. Which made his final revelation a truly big surprise. Well played, Mr. Carlyle.</span>) </p><p></p><p>This leaves Auryn really surprised. She thanks him for sharing this darkest of secrets with her. Then she says she feels sorry for his loss as she now understands why “butler number three” would have started taking drugs. And also why he wasn't able to talk to anyone about his troubles. Carlyle explains that he owes the Vantrys family much in this regard as they did find out about his “habit” eventually, and then didn't just fire him but sent him to a rehabilitation clinic in the countryside. Regarding his feelings for the Vantrys daughter, he didn't really realize what happened to him or her until it was too late. Had he been more experienced, he'd have recognized the development and put a safe distance between them, but this time his perception had utterly failed him. </p><p></p><p>Auryn says that she kind of understands what he's talking about, especially as she lacks experience with such feelings herself. </p><p></p><p>“For an eladrin woman like me, romantic love isn't necessary to fulfill my duty. To help my people grow strong again. So I never learned much about it.” she explains. </p><p></p><p>She then goes on and says that she'll definitely need more time to understand her own feelings. Especially if she's about to make a decision that might change her whole life. And specifically if that decision could change their – very successful - partnership forever. She adds that, no matter what, she won't want to live as a pariah, torn away from her family, her traditions, rites and values. So she asks Carlyle whether he'd be willing to join the Eladrin community should they eventually accept him. </p><p></p><p>Carlyle, again, acts a bit surprised at that question. He says that he knows enough about his partner to have this figured out in advance. And yes, he'd follow her to Elfaivar, meet her family and ask them for approval. When asked about his own feelings for her, he says that besides finally understanding who he is, he also stopped merely existing thanks to her. He explains that, after his death during the assault at the Vantrys estate, his connection to Nathaniel Vantrys and the household loosened so much that he'd rather consider himself a relative of the young man. In contrast, his connection to Auryn is growing stronger day by day. So not only does he feel as if he'd finally belong to someone again, he also feels the desire to care for her.</p><p></p><p>Auryn thanks him for all of his honesty as she knows that he usually isn't very keen on talking about private affairs. She says she's now got a lot of things to think about and also needs to gather much more information on top of that. Before she bids him goodbye, she makes a final turn and asks him how she should address him from now on as an informal address and “Mr. Carlyle” sound really weird in combination. </p><p></p><p>“Well, as long as it is in private... call me Gabriel.”</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(So in hindsight, these two just managed to simultaneously discuss possible means of a theoretical marriage – meeting the parents, having kids, etc. included – while also totally beating about the bush regarding the rest. And yes, this is pretty weird, but not that unnatural for two people who are pretty old and capable of understanding the full scope of decisions, but also kind of emotionally handicapped in some regards.</span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">Also, the means of address thing... yes, they had that night in Nalaam and still stayed formal. That's why Carlyle's sudden switch came as a real surprise. Regarding Auryn's last question, using informal in combination with a formal surname – Mr. or Mrs. - is something you'd see young kids do in kindergarten or primary school. So it would be really weird to combine that as an adult)</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7413162, member: 6816692"] [b]A tale of four butlers[/b] Carlyle's talk with Don Cippiano takes some time though and so Auryn decides to ease the waiting time by relaxing in front of her partner's door. When he finally returns, she's almost fallen asleep and drowsily asks Carlyle for a spare moment as she'd like to talk a bit about what happened between the two during their trip to Vendricce. He's a bit surprised to see her being up this late, but nonetheless invites her to share a glass of wine. What really surprises her in their initial exchange is the fact that he suddenly addresses her informally and pretty familiarly. She first asks him for his methods of saying goodbye to “Hector Ignacio Fernandez” as she confesses that she's grown quite fond of her Amiranya persona. Carlyle explains that he saw their mission as some sort of strange vacation and now he's just returned to his regular day-to-day life. So to answer her question, yes, being Hector was a pleasant and interesting experience, but he doesn't feel as if he'll have any troubles returning to being Gabriel Carlyle again. Auryn sighs and states that matters are not that easy for her. She's grown very fond of Amira's carefree nature, and lacking the weight of being a matriarch's daughter almost felt like a blessing. She also enjoyed having a loyal husband and companion in Hector which is why she's having some troubles to let go of Amira's emotions. She understands that she has to return to her responsibilities though, especially as someone needs to take care of both Isobel and the crimes of the Traverse family. Even if it isn't decided yet whether or not she'll be the one to make them pay and to liberate Isobel's family. “Seems like you have little troubles returning to your 'Vekeshi Avenger' self...” Carlyle jokes and adds that while he can leave Hector behind, the trip nonetheless changed a lot for him. He had to think much about his own morale and responsibility and he felt like being a mere RHC agent and doing what he's been told by Delft just wasn't enough this time. “Remember when I said that helping Isobel just... felt right? From the perspective of an RHC agent, I was acting extremely reckless and endangered our mission on top of that. But we both couldn't just leave her at the mercy of this Elanor Janette, could we?” He then explains that “doing the right thing” heavily depends on your perspective and also the role you're currently fulfilling. For him, these are the roles of (Ex-)butler, soldier, constable, deva or just the human being that's still left inside him and who has to play all of these roles. Regarding Auryn, he can see that she's in the very same situation whenever she has to balance her RHC job with her Vekeshi outlook, her Eladrin heritage and her ideas for a better future and the society she'd like to found someday. So he'd like to play a little game with her: The tale of the four butlers, a game that he and the other students had to play during their lessons in their butler school in Alais Primos. As students, they were presented with four cases where butlers had misbehaved or overstepped their boundaries and it was up to them to assess the situation and tell where the butlers had acted wrongly. He explains that the cases he's going to present her all belong to real people he once knew, so she can be sure that there is no hidden butler bias included. And as Auryn is quite a capable investigator, he'd one-up the situation and present only the very basic outlines of the four cases so she might get additional information via questioning. As an additional rule, he asks her to assess the cases from different points of view: the perspectives of an RHC agent, a member of the Vekeshi, and a matriarch's daughter. Auryn, being both curious and interested in what Carlyle would call “a game”, agrees to play and asks him to present the cases. So he starts with the simplest descriptions and adds that all of these cases are not only cases of misbehavior, but also small to serious crimes: The first butler, a woman, forged her master's documents to coerce him to sell a factory to one of his competitors. She then received benefits from said competitor as a reward. The second butler, a man, committed sexual misconduct against the underage daughter of his master and then murdered a man afterward. The third butler, a woman, stole money from her household to buy hard drugs she then consumed during her job. The fourth butler, a man, broke into the houses of his master's competitors and blackmailed them to abide his master's wishes. Auryn thinks about the cases for a while and says that she has simply too few information to properly judge the four persons. She sees that, even without further information, her perspectives might lead to very different assessments. She explains that for an RHC agent, all cases included punishable crimes, but only the murder case and maybe the forgery could be of greater interest for an agent. For a Vekeshi, it would really depend on the master's and his competitor's characters in cases one and four and she jokes that the last case sounds very much like the stuff Carlyle did himself. So it might just be that this butler was simply helping a very generous master in need. As an eladrin woman, the second case sounds just disturbing and, depending on the additional information, she might just feel the need to properly punish this man. She also could not tolerate any illoyalties from her household. Carlyle thanks her for her first assessment and then turns to answer further question. As she's reminded of her partner's previous life, Auryn starts with case number four. It turns out that this butler was indeed a secret guardian of his master who turned on his competitors when they started to use dirty tricks to gain an upper hand in their business deals. He didn't interfere in any regular deals or business relationships, but also didn't tell his master about his secret life as he didn't want to get his hands dirty as well. Auryn says that while the butler did indeed commit a crime, he only acted against those who'd use similar methods against his master, so to do nothing would have been far worse. A Vekeshi would have lauded the man's courage and she adds that by trying to keep his master's hands clean, he also took the blame upon himself. As a matriarch, she would be glad to have staff as loyal as this man, even if she'd prefer to be informed about such actions. Carlyle thanks her again and explains, that the man overstepped his boundaries as a butler because, while he did help, he also put his master's name at risk should his methods of coercion come to light. She then turns to the third case. The stealing butler turned out to become addicted to drugs after suffering a heavy loss after the death of a loved one. She couldn't deal with the pain and nonetheless wanted to continue doing her job, so she used the drugs to numb her feelings and simply function as an employee. When she became addicted, she quickly craved more and as she didn't have enough money to buy her daily dose, she began to steal. Also, she became negligent in her job as the drugs took their toll on her and so the master's family found out about her situation eventually. Regarding this case, Auryn explains that while the case of this butler is tragic, it is pretty irrelevant for an RHC agent as theft as a crime is dealt with by the police. It also doesn't touch injustice or exploitation, so the Vekeshi would shrug it off as well. However, as a person and future matriarch, she understands the woman's need to continue doing her job while being in pain. She knows exactly what it means to lose someone close as she's still suffering from Zahir's death even today. Still, the woman should have tried to talk to someone about her troubles instead of harming herself and her master's family in the process. She adds that she's used to talk about her emotions with her fellows as eladrin of the same enclave regard each other as family (and are very often related by blood) which is why she kind of pressed Carlyle into talking to her in the past. The second case turns out to be the most complex of the four cases, at least for Auryn. Bit by bit Carlyle unfolds the story of a man, a Yerasol veteran, who tried to find peace with a new occupation after years of war. He had a healthy relationship with his masters, a very nice couple who had small kids, including one curious daughter who soon followed the butler everywhere. As she grew older, her feelings for the man intensified and as he didn't know or realize what was happening, he also didn't put a healthy distance between them. And she found excuse after excuse to be close to him, like breaking her own stuff to make him repair the items. When she was sixteen, she confessed her love and the two entered a forbidden relationship, a relationship her parents turned a blind eye to. This continued for a few years until they had to break up as the woman was to be married to the son of one of the master's business partners. But the marriage ended soon in a tragedy as one day the woman was found dead after being horribly abused by her husband. After having heard what happened, the butler decided to take justice into his own hands and killed the man slowly and painfully. Auryn is a bit shocked at the conclusion of this tale. She says that, from the perspective of an agent, criminals are to be punished by the officials, not individuals. Still a Vekeshi would understand the man's need for revenge, especially in such a brutal case like this. As an eladrin, the woman's husband had committed the worst possible crime, abusing his privilege as a husband and also harming, even killing a woman. So he'd be executed in public anyway after being properly shamed by his community. By killing the murderer himself, the butler would have circumvented this judicial process, but as he acted out of love, compassion and devotion to a woman, he'd be easily forgiven, maybe even seen as an exemplar. Regarding the relationship, the daughter entered it willingly and she isn't sure whether this age difference is considered immoral for humans. She also doesn't know whether a sixteen year old human is capable of making her own decisions. But she adds that she herself was once in a maybe similar situation: 30 years ago she had been in a relationship with the veteran Meloreen, a man 500 years older than she was. She adds that while having a hand-picked veteran as first husband isn't unusual for a young woman, they are not really considered appropriate for first experiences. Still she was attracted by this man and didn't regret choosing him as her lover. In the first case, the butler had changed financial reports of one factory as she deemed it to be a bad investment that threatened to financially ruin the whole family. As the master had been really enthusiastic about the new project, she felt as if she had no choice but to force him to sell the bad apple. The master's competitor didn't know about the intricate details of the project and thought it to be a rather good catch, so the butler sort-of conspired with the competitor to get her master to selling the factory for a rather low price. Which is why she got a provision for her “help”. Auryn says that forgery is a crime, but this case would be hardly matters for the RHC. And a Vekeshi would most likely be more concerned with the question whether or not the master and competitor would be unjust or cruel. As both were fairly regular businesspeople, this wouldn't concern them at all. She herself can understand the butler's motivation, but she'd judge the butler as being disloyal, even if she had only the best intentions for her master's business in mind. And her final, selfish act to get a provision only made her actions look even more grey. She explains that, were she in the master's shoes, she'd not be sure whether she could trust her butler ever again. Auryn finally concludes that the butler was right to try to convince her master to sell the factory and warn him about the bad investment, but that's it. Making the right decisions and bearing the consequences for failures is the job of leaders, like masters, kings, queens or matriarchs after all. Carlyle thanks Auryn for her analysis of the four cases and then explains where these four people failed in their job, even if the human side to all of their decisions is truly understandable: The first butler had no reason to intervene in business decisions as this was, as she correctly points out, neither her job, nor her place. The second butler failed to put a professional distance between himself and the daughter and the murder endangered the good name of his master's family. The third butler did not only steal, but also failed to continue doing her job properly because working in such a sensitive position while being on drugs is rather dangerous. The fourth one, again, endangered the good name of his master and being a secret agent isn't really part of a butler's job description. “Unless the butler's name is Mr. Carlyle and the masters are the Vantrys family.” Auryn adds with a knowing grin. Carlyle laughs softly in response and adds that he now knows her a tad bit better and maybe she'll be able to reflect her different mindsets more properly. Auryn thanks him for putting his trust in her and sharing these stories of his (most certainly long-dead) colleagues. Still she isn't really sure whether she can get over her own turmoil as she isn't sure at all about her, or even their, future. She explains that whatever happened in Nalaam was the result of an emotional roller-coaster and that this day, she truly saw an esteemed husband in him when the lines between Carlyle and Hector started to blur and fade. After all, he just turned out to be worthy of her deepest trust and had helped her in times of need, so she knows that she can rely on him no matter what. Auryn adds that she doesn't regret spending the night with him, even if she fears that it could have a negative impact on their friendship on the long run. She's also a bit hesitant right now when it comes to their future relationship as she's been used and told to take more than to give. At least from a Risuri's perspective. So she's not sure whether she's been fair to Carlyle at all and whether her companionship means anything to him in return. Carlye seems a bit surprised at this question and he returns that Auryn does not only mean much to him, but also lightens up his everyday life and inspires him to be more than a mere butler or agent. He confesses, that even if he didn't want to see it, his life was kind of lonely before he crossed paths with her. Also, she's maybe the only person in all of Risur who can help him fully understand his destiny as a being touched by Srasama. “Isn't it a funny coincidence how that divine aspect, that magic inside me had lain dormant for five hundred years, right until you came into my life? For me, this is no coincidence at all. The two of us meeting was meant to be. It had always been meant to be. Call it destiny or fate, but I believe that all of my existence has led me right to this point in time. This is just the right time, my time to be. And whatever has been put into motion in this world, I feel like I have a part to play in what is yet to come. As do you.” Carlyle explains. Regarding her affection, he understands how Auryn must have felt, but he's not much interested in a purely bodily relationship. It is not like he would object to being in a relationship with her, but he won't make compromises in this regard. He adds that he'd also not be really comfortable with “sharing” Auryn with possible future husbands as long as they're together (in a relationship, not as RHC partners), even if he knows that this would violate her enclave's tradition. Auryn answers that matters like these are really difficult for her. Then she smiles mischievously and adds that now that her pact with Ashima-Shimtu is fulfilled, she can share her “secret no one else knows about” with Carlyle: That she does have feelings for him, even if she lacks the experience in this case to fully understand them. Regarding her people and traditions she explains that he's right: While being in a continuous relationship doesn't mean a woman should take additional partners, a true marriage would usually include more than one husband. And as serious as he sounds right now, there's also the fact that eladrin cannot have children with other races and she surely won't let her bloodline come to an end as this would mean violating everything she believes in. This, and her rather irritating feelings are therefore putting a heavy weight on her decision. Carlyle says that he truly understands her and he doesn't want her to make a rushed or forced decision. After all, time is the one thing they both have plenty to spare. Even if he doesn't feel the need to exist for all eternity – which was, in fact, his “secret” he told the demoness. He then asks Auryn to show her one more thing, a secret she needs to know if she's really about to make such a profound decision. He then leads her to his attic and brings forth an old, dusty chest. Inside are four different sets of objects: A black mask, a syringe, binding, spoon and burner, a small, broken jewelry box, and a contract about the sale of a factory. “Now you know everything there is to know. This is my moral compass, the periods of my life I left behind. Reminders of the acts I committed.” ([COLOR="#008000"]This episode was really unusual in many kinds of way. First, Mr. Carlyle's player isn't very into too much prep work for his character. He does write and play great characters, but tries to keep the workload minimal. The tale of the four butlers was something he did write in advance, even without Tizbiz' knowledge – Tiz was just as surprised as I was. Second, this was the end of a really long session and it took us more than two hours in pure dialogue. So we, like our characters, were both a bit tired, but nonetheless wanted to play through it all. In the end, Tizbiz feared to have lost some detail and when he asked “So... will they or won't they?”, Mr. Carlyle's player and I laughed and simply said “They don't know. It's complicated.” Then there's Carlyle's story. Remember that moment when Hector lashed out against Boone? And none of us understood what the heck was going on with Carlyle? It all became crystal clear after his tale of his lost love. So this is one of the topics where even stoic Mr. Carlyle cannot hold back his emotions and stay calm. For the acts themselves, Carlyle kind of let Auryn judge him from different perspectives and besides the forgery, she didn't really condemn him. However, the second story did disturb her to the core, even if the reasons for that were different ones than she'd initially expected. For in her society killing your wife is just as much of an anathema as eating babies. So she didn't inquire too much further, fearing that she might tear open old wounds. But yeah, this was what the mysterious “Vantrys daughter seeking comfort”/”the woman he had to leave behind” was all about. Also, Carlyle cleverly used male and female butlers so that Auryn couldn't simply extrapolate from that one case that was very obviously Carlyle's own story. Which made his final revelation a truly big surprise. Well played, Mr. Carlyle.[/COLOR]) This leaves Auryn really surprised. She thanks him for sharing this darkest of secrets with her. Then she says she feels sorry for his loss as she now understands why “butler number three” would have started taking drugs. And also why he wasn't able to talk to anyone about his troubles. Carlyle explains that he owes the Vantrys family much in this regard as they did find out about his “habit” eventually, and then didn't just fire him but sent him to a rehabilitation clinic in the countryside. Regarding his feelings for the Vantrys daughter, he didn't really realize what happened to him or her until it was too late. Had he been more experienced, he'd have recognized the development and put a safe distance between them, but this time his perception had utterly failed him. Auryn says that she kind of understands what he's talking about, especially as she lacks experience with such feelings herself. “For an eladrin woman like me, romantic love isn't necessary to fulfill my duty. To help my people grow strong again. So I never learned much about it.” she explains. She then goes on and says that she'll definitely need more time to understand her own feelings. Especially if she's about to make a decision that might change her whole life. And specifically if that decision could change their – very successful - partnership forever. She adds that, no matter what, she won't want to live as a pariah, torn away from her family, her traditions, rites and values. So she asks Carlyle whether he'd be willing to join the Eladrin community should they eventually accept him. Carlyle, again, acts a bit surprised at that question. He says that he knows enough about his partner to have this figured out in advance. And yes, he'd follow her to Elfaivar, meet her family and ask them for approval. When asked about his own feelings for her, he says that besides finally understanding who he is, he also stopped merely existing thanks to her. He explains that, after his death during the assault at the Vantrys estate, his connection to Nathaniel Vantrys and the household loosened so much that he'd rather consider himself a relative of the young man. In contrast, his connection to Auryn is growing stronger day by day. So not only does he feel as if he'd finally belong to someone again, he also feels the desire to care for her. Auryn thanks him for all of his honesty as she knows that he usually isn't very keen on talking about private affairs. She says she's now got a lot of things to think about and also needs to gather much more information on top of that. Before she bids him goodbye, she makes a final turn and asks him how she should address him from now on as an informal address and “Mr. Carlyle” sound really weird in combination. “Well, as long as it is in private... call me Gabriel.” [COLOR="#008000"](So in hindsight, these two just managed to simultaneously discuss possible means of a theoretical marriage – meeting the parents, having kids, etc. included – while also totally beating about the bush regarding the rest. And yes, this is pretty weird, but not that unnatural for two people who are pretty old and capable of understanding the full scope of decisions, but also kind of emotionally handicapped in some regards. Also, the means of address thing... yes, they had that night in Nalaam and still stayed formal. That's why Carlyle's sudden switch came as a real surprise. Regarding Auryn's last question, using informal in combination with a formal surname – Mr. or Mrs. - is something you'd see young kids do in kindergarten or primary school. So it would be really weird to combine that as an adult)[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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