Voicemail

[smilestopscars]

It's Ez. You know what to do, darling.

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"So maybe I shouldn't be calling you," Anders returned idly. "After all, I wouldn't want to violate a man's mystique."

[smilestopscars]

"Well, there's always room for a little dent in the mystique," Ezra replied with a lazy drawl that was another affectation. "But I reserve the right not to be forthcoming if it doesn't suit me."

[not_every_mage]

"Sure, as long as the same goes for me," Anders said. "It's a little early to start exchanging our darkest secrets, anyhow."

[smilestopscars]

"I don't know, some people like to get those out in the open fast so they don't show up to spoil the mood later," Ezra mused, leaning back in his chair. "Me, though? I'm mostly made of marshmallow fluff and expensive suits. I have no dark secrets."

Anders had already seen him kill someone in cold blood and with practiced ease. So that last bit was a little heavy with the sarcasm, if not in tone then in message.

[not_every_mage]

"You don't look or fight much like marshmallow fluff," Anders observed dryly, thinking back to the church. "But I guess sometimes experiences are deceiving."

[smilestopscars]

Sometimes, his hair was pretty fluffy. Didn't that count for something?

"Well, I'm not sure how up you are on your mob terms --" Well, what little he'd picked up about Anders' background, it seemed a little more old-fashioned and magical than his, so he wasn't going to assume. "-- but I've worked as an enforcer for a long time."

Which was always a fun thing for a 21-year-old to say, but, oh well. It was one of those things he didn't necessarily go shouting from the rooftops, and which he'd in fact actively hidden from all Fandom folk for a long time. But, Anders had already seen him at the church. In LA in general, too.

And anyway, he was talking about it now as a sort of a token, a sign that he was at least trying. Whether Anders could read it for one or not.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm not up on my mob terms at all," Anders told him, both surprised at and appreciative of the candor. "Not except what I've seen on TV, anyhow. But ... I'm going to guess that means you make sure the rules are being followed."

The implied violence didn't bother him, both because of the world he came from and because he'd known enough people in desperate situations in Fandom to realize Ezra was likely one more.

[smilestopscars]

Sometimes it wouldn't even have gone amiss to say that Ezra was a desperate situation, all by himself!

He was getting better, though.

"Got it in one," he said with a brightness that did not go at all with the subject matter. "The specifics have changed a bit, but that's still the core of it."

[not_every_mage]

"How'd you get into it?" Anders asked, out of genuine curiosity. "I can't imagine they put out job ads."

He was keeping his voice light, both to match Ezra's and because he wasn't letting the squirmy feeling in his stomach about Ezra's career hit him. Not yet.

[smilestopscars]

"The fox thing's been covered amly so far, hasn't it?" Ezra checked. He was pretty sure his were status was no secret by now. "So, like that."

Whether he'd elaborate hinged on whether Anders got it without help or not.

[not_every_mage]

Anders wasn’t going to get it without help, no.

“I know about the fox thing,” he confirmed. “I don’t know why that leads to the rest of it.”

[smilestopscars]

"It means I'm valuable." Yes, he said it very lightly. Couldn't bring himself to feign smugness about that, though. "So I'm theirs, and in exchange, my family gets to lead normal lives."

Although 'normal', as always, was relative.

[not_every_mage]

“So you’re indentured?” Anders asked. “Is it for life?”

That didn’t seem very fair to him.

[smilestopscars]

"Until I'm twenty-five."

Really, it was life, because Ezra and Lock weren't going to be leaving Ava behind when their contracts ended. But that would've meant getting into Ava's crap, so he wasn't going to say it.

You didn't really ever leave the Coterie without someone on your tail, anyway.

[not_every_mage]

Anders let out a low, impressed whistle.

"So they get you for a good long time," he said, some bitterness around the edges of his tone. "Sorry about that."

[smilestopscars]

"It is what it is," Ezra replied, in the verbal equivalent of a shrug. Light, casual. "I'm still fabulous."

[not_every_mage]

"True," Anders said. "Doesn't seem like it'd be easy to take that away from you."

[smilestopscars]

"Oh, good, you're already realizing fundamental truths about me." Or at least that he was incorrigible about not being modest.

Ezra sounded amused - perhaps even genuinely, although it was hard to tell with him. "It's a decent start."

[not_every_mage]

“I listen when Kathy talks about you,” Anders said. “Occasionally.”

There was the faintest pause, then: “I suppose it’s my turn to tell my life story, isn’t it?” He’d been nervous about the prospect, but somehow right then the idea didn’t seem scary at all. He wasn’t even sure what he’d been nervous about.

[smilestopscars]

Well, his boyfriend and girlfriend weren't so fond of Ezra for nothing.

He was kind of a trap of niceness, in some ways.

"If you'd like," he said, lightly. Not because he wasn't curious, but because this was very much a situation for observing varying levels of comfort.

[not_every_mage]

"Seems a bit silly to call you and then not tell you anything," Anders observed lightly. "Anyhow, so where I grew up, they shut you away if you have magic. Supposedly it's to keep everyone safe."

His tone made it perfectly clear how he felt about all of this.

[smilestopscars]

"Oh, the good old 'ostracize the weird one to make everyone else feel better' routine," Ezra said with a brightness that was dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, I know the one."

You ran into stories of that a lot in his circles, funnily enough.

[not_every_mage]

"Funny how every world seems to have some version of it," Anders sighed. "Anyhow, my father handed me over to the Templars when I was not quite 12. I couldn't stand the Circle, so I spent the next few years trying to run away. Ended up in Fandom on ... attempt number five, I think?"

[smilestopscars]

"Are Templars like I imagine they are?"

What he's thinking isn't very flattering at all.

[not_every_mage]

"If what you're imagining is musclebound, drug-addicted arseholes who terrorize and lock up children because they think it's what their god wants, you're exactly right," Anders said brightly. "Truly, Thedas's best and brightest."