regisescutcheon:
@gladys-sis-iris from here
Gladio might be a soldier at heart with enough muscle to lend to three men, but he was smart and he knew his sister well enough to recognize the look on her face. She brought news he wouldn’t want to hear and feared his response. Which could only mean she’d either found a guy she liked or someone he knew had died. Was it wrong to prefer the latter? His gaze falls to the cup in question, brows furrowing subtly. She even brought him a peace-treaty. Was the news really that bad?
“You weren’t interrupting much.” A gentle gesture with book in hand, he places it pages-down to keep his spot while he relieves her of the tea, shifting to give her a proper place to sit around his bulky frame. Even if the drink was nothing like Ignis’s, she’d made it specifically for him. Not many people took time to prepare things properly anymore and if her time with them, during her own travels, had taught her anything, he knew this would taste better than his usual swill.
“Thanks. Something wrong?”
It was obvious he knew she was hiding something. She was never good at hiding anything and she should’ve seen it coming. There was nothing she could hide from her big brother. His side glance always told her what he was already thinking. He wasn’t stupid. Far from it. The girl kept her head down but did come closer when he made her more room.
There was a moment of silence between them as the younger tried to gain the courage to speak up. “No not something wrong just…I-I was offered something and I don’t know what you’ll think about it.” She sighed softly before turning to her brother with an apologetic smile. “Cor offered me a position to train with him. To become his apprentice and….Ii think I might take him up on that offer. Would you….be okay with that?”
Iris hoped he didn’t get too angry at the news.
For a heartbeat when she mentions having been ‘offered something’ he thinks it’s some asshole’s idea of a marriage proposal (or worse), but he doesn’t interrupt. Not yet. Not when his baby sister looks ready to bolt for the door the moment she says whats on her mind. If he can’t be understanding and supportive for her, who else is left to? They’re all they have in the way of blood relation and she’s the last person on earth he wants mad at him. Especially when there are so few people left.
At last she gets to the meat of her worries and he chews on it thoughtfully before swallowing the bitter truth. It makes sense. In fact, that’s the only thing that makes sense. He can’t spend his days corralling her back into the city, and she certainly can’t continue on without getting some training in order to defend herself. He breathes in and sets her peace offering on the table, book set aside face down against the pages.
“It ain’t what I’m okay with. It’s what needs to be done. I think Cor training you is...the best idea . Am I happy about it? Hell no. But I gotta face the facts. You need to learn how to defend yourself and help the people who can’t.”
