Aftermath and Revelations

Posted on Tue Jun 9th, 2020 @ 7:23am by Alison Bliss & Jacob Lara

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Jacob's Shuttle
Timeline: Day 3 - When No Means Yes, but No One Knows

Watching Alden storm out, and listening for the clanging of his boots to stop Jacob stood, eyes locked on the doorway to the shuttle. He couldn't believe how badly this had all gone, and suddenly he started to wonder if leaving Poseidon had maybe been the worst idea he'd had in his entire life. Finally, breaking out of the almost trance-like state he was in he moved to pull on a pair of loose lounge pants, and a tank-top, so he wasn't still standing there naked as the day he was born.

"That was less than ideal," he said, with a vexed look on his face.

Alison turned away from leaving Alden and watched Jacob putting on pants. She sighed disappointed. She wouldn’t mind the show to continue, but well, nothing was going to last forever. Still holding her elbows, she slightly tilted her head hearing Jacob's comment.
“And what did you expect will happen? You know Alden for a few months now.” She asked calmly.

The question actually made Jacob stop in his tracks, and really think about the situation. When you got right down to it, she was right, this was exactly how he should expect Alden to react based on what he'd seen so far. "I guess I'm more surprised about how confused the situation is..." he admitted. "It seems like there's what actually happened, and then there's what Alden things happened, and the two are completely different things."

Alison gave Jacob a long look wondering how much did he believe in what he said and how much he wanted to believe in it.
“Are they?” She asked and looked around to find herself place to sit down. “What do you think Alden thinks happened?” Whatever was in Jacob’s head, she felt asking questions and forcing him to analyze emotionlessly things was the best approach at this point.

Noting her looking for a place to sit Jacob stepped out of the way of the chair he was standing beside, and waved her to it. Moving to the bed he folded himself onto it in a cross-legged position, head tilted to one side as he considered the best way to answer her question.

"From what he said, he seems to think I forced myself on Tristan, and that I in some way intentionally hurt him and made him think that that was okay..." he said, still working through processing what the man had said, and wondering if there were any bits he missed that would make it all start to make any sense at all. He was also considering Alison's words from before, about him not being able to be sure he hadn't actually manipulated Tristan if he hadn't been thinking clearly.

Alison moved across the shuttle and sat down at the chair indicated by Jacob. She crossed her legs and put her hands down, on her legs. It seemed to her that this situation overwhelmed Jacob.
“All right, let’s start with Tristan. You spent with him more time than I did, so tell me. What is he like? What is he afraid of? What does he like? What gives him satisfaction? What gives him a sense of security? In what state of mind is he?”

Alison's questions swirled around him, coming one after another, and truly driving home the point she'd made to Alden earlier, directly to him now. He knew next to nothing about Tristan. That thought truly made him feel terrible. Even if he hadn't exactly taken advantage of the guy, he still shouldn't have jumped straight into bed with him knowing absolutely nothing about him.

"I can't answer most of those..." Jacob admitted. "And the ones I can answer are probably going to sound like weak answers at the best. What's he like? He's timid, he's shy to a fault, and he's terrified. And as to his state of mind, I'd say he's lost, and he's scared, and he's looking for somewhere he can be safe again."

Alison nodded slightly accepting the answer. It was exactly something she expected. Unless Jacob spent a night talking to Tristan or was a mindreader, he wouldn't be able to answer those questions.
"Would a description of you like this be true?" Alison asked and made short pause giving Jacob assessing stare. "Sophisticated, confident, warm, friendly, inviting, trustful, safe, independent?" She weighted each word. "Do you agree that you emanate those traits?"

Jacob had never really had someone ask him questions like that. Well, that wasn't exactly true, during this training questions like that were incredibly common; mostly because those were the traits all companions were expected to exude. He gave it some thought and then nodded, slowly. "Yes, I would say that is correct. At least I try to display those traits or similar."

What worried him was that he felt like he knew exactly where this line of reasoning was leading, and he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he'd very badly misjudged this entire thing.

Alison was looking right into Jacob's eyes as she continued, slowly and thoughtfully.
"You have enough training to realize now the effect you had on Tristan, right? You realize that technically, with you present when you engaged in a conversation he had little free will. He was vulnerable. He was unable to resist because you fit into his vulnerabilities. Moreover, he likely acted on his desires and his wants that you triggered not fully aware he was doing it. It was down on you, especially with your training, to control the situation. Instead, you... stopped thinking. You acted on those vulnerabilities. You used your skills fully to seduce him. Maybe in a passive way, maybe also not fully aware what you were doing. But the end proves what was on your mind too. So in a broad sense, you forced yourself on Tristan. Because he didn’t have a choice here. You were the only one capable to stop it." She paused to let it sink raising her hand to signal she wasn't just finished. "I am not here to judge you, Jacob. But the fact stands. You did it. Regardless if you did it in affection. So what had happened is it that completely different from what Alden things it had happened?"

Jacob's face fell, and it felt like the world fell out from under him as well. The true impact of his actions hadn't really hit him, not when Alden was screaming at him, not when Tristan was avoiding him, not until just then, when Alison laid it all out, plain and simple. "You're right," he said, and that's all he could think of to say. His heart was heavy, and he felt slightly nauseated, and his mind was a swirling storm of emotions that he couldn't even begin to work through.

"No wonder he's been avoiding me, he must think I'm a monster..." he added, a few moments later. There was no self-pity there, he wasn't looking for Alison to comfort him, it was just a pure statement of fact, and the tone of voice he said it in made that incredibly clear.

"I doubt that." Alison said leaning forward. She brushed her blonde hairs with her fingers, as she paused for a moment. "Assuming that we are right to his vulnerability, then he likely is not aware fully of what had happened. Likely is trying to cope with it and find his way, and he likely is developing feelings toward you." She said softly. "I would say that if you said A, you need to say B, Shwai. It is still up to you to take the lead and if you are a good person, take care for Tristan. At least until he can get past what had happened fully aware. Help him understand and help him find the way." She paused again briefly. "Can you do that?"

Jacob didn't answer right away, allowing his mind to catch up with everything he was thinking and feeling, and then what she had said on top of it all. Finally, still looking down at the floor, he nodded. "Yes, I can. And I'd like to, actually. I just have to find a way to do it that is healthy for both of us, and, of course, get him to talk to me again," he said.

“Good.” Alison nodded and gave Jacob a wry smile. “I am sure you’ll figure out something. After all, you are the companion, right?” She finished lightly, stood up, and cleared her throat. “And give Alden a bit of time. He needs to… digest the situation. If he will see you are trying to own your mistake, he will likely give you the second chance.”

For a longer moment, Alison considered giving some physical reassurance to Jacob, like a pat on the shoulder but eventually decided against it.

"I'll do that," Jacob said, and then looked up. "Thank you for staying to talk to me. It was a big help," he added.