Fic Arrangements Part 5
Mar. 29th, 2008 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljTitle: Arrangements chapter 5
Series: Final Fantasy VII AU (Cetra Restoration AU, linked here)
Pairing: Brangwen/Elena
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: If they were mine Aeris and Zack would still be alive, and not just running around in the Lifestream spying on Cloud. Since Aeris and Zack said goodbye to Cloud at the end of AC and disappeared into the Lifestream I guess they aren't mine.
Warnings: AU, reference to slavery, contraqct negotiations
“You know you could just leave this to our lawyers.” Brangwen smiled at Cloud, she knew that his protest was just for form’s sake, at least it was now, he’d been serious the first few times.
“Why? We haven’t been really arguing over any of this, and we’re getting through it all, even if it’s taking us a while.” And Brangwen couldn’t afford to pay a good enough lawyer to produce an espousal contract that was fair to her - and letting Cloud hire her a lawyer to do this would be a recipe for disaster. She wished Cloud was willing to let this drop, or spend more time working through their contract with her, that they could get through more than two or three clauses before he insisted they were finished for the day, but it wasn’t as if this was delaying anything, not yet anyway. Their wedding wasn’t scheduled for another two weeks, for what should be two or three days before Brangwen ovulated, at least by her count.
“Yeah. The only reason I’m doing this with you is that you’re willing to accept most of the espousal contract I negotiated with Rowan as is.” He hadn’t told Brangwen that before, and she blinked in surprise, resisting the temptation to tell him why she’d only asked to renegotiate the clauses that were specific to Rowan and her lifestyle and wouldn’t fit Brangwen’s.
“Most of it works for our espousal as well as it would for yours with Rowan, at least once the name’s been changed. So, where are we now Palmer?” The sooner they got started the more likely it was that they’d do three clauses, or maybe even four before Cloud decided he’d had enough.
“Yes Brangwen. The next clause is as follows: ‘Rowan Ashe shall start trying to conceive another child by the Planet’s Weapon no more than three years after her previous child has been born, until she has given birth to five children or one of his offspring proves to be a high noble. From the time that each child is weaned until she is ready to start trying to conceive again Rowan Ashe has the right to remove herself and her household to her own home.’ How do you wish to alter it?” The human was looking more at Cloud than at Brangwen but that was perfectly understandable; he outranked her by any measure, and all Brangwen cared about was that the man was ready to write down what they decided on.
“I can’t do anything to change how often you have to try for children. It’s my duty to do everything in my power to produce offspring that can be acknowledged as my heirs in the event there is no true Planet’s Weapon to follow me.” Cloud was deadly serious as he explained, and Brangwen nodded her understanding, although if he was serious about producing potential heirs he needed to consider bedding Elena - but she respected his love for Sephiroth too much to tell him that.
“Agreed. It’s the second half that I wanted to discuss. Palmer, copy the first sentence over substituting my name for Rowan’s. Unless you have a problem with that Cloud?”
“No. What did you want to talk about regarding the second sentence then?” Cloud leaned towards her just a bit in an flatteringly attentive posture, something that Brangwen was fairly sure was sincere. Still, she had to wonder if he was pretending to be dense, or if he really was this oblivious to her background and social status.
“I don’t have a household separate from yours as Rowan does, nor do I maintain a home elsewhere.” She couldn’t afford that, not if she wanted to save for when and if she retired.
“So it isn’t really offering you anything to balance what you have to give the way it balances things for Rowan. What do you want then?” She hadn’t expected that sort of instant empathy, but she appreciated it.
“To go back to active duty as part of your guard between weaning one child and trying to conceive the next.” She didn’t want to give up her entire life to serve as Cloud’s broodmare, and she was scared that was what would happen if she didn’t make sure she could do something useful. It had happened to other commoners who’d espoused to high nobility, at least that’s how it had looked from the outside, and she didn’t think she could transfer her skills to anything else. And she loved being part of Cloud’s guard, loved the challenge, the constant push to improve herself and her skills and the support she was given to do so.
“I...” Cloud sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure how appropriate that is. I know I don’t want you pulling bodyguard duty, even when you wouldn’t be endangering our child by taking risks like that.”
“Exclude bodyguard duty then?”
“Agreed. But I want to talk to Sephiroth about this as well. Palmer, here’s the second sentence; ‘From the time that each child is weaned until she is ready to start trying to conceive again Brangwen Cuprite may return to active duty in, no make that with Cloud Strife’s guard, with the exception that she may not undertake bodyguard duty.’ And I’ll ask Sephiroth to talk with you if there’s an issue with that according to our traditions. Can you accept that?”
“Yes.” It was more than she’d expected, and she appreciated it - and if she couldn’t be part of Cloud’s guard by tradition she was sure there was an acceptable alternative. “Palmer, what’s the next clause?”
“Rowan Ashe and Cloud Strife shall not interfere in any way with the other’s inner household.” As Palmer spoke Brangwen could see Cloud set his jaw with a hint of anger in his eyes.
“I’m not going to let you mess with Sephiroth or Tseng.” Then Cloud frowned, a more thoughtful look coming over his face. “But I’m sharing Elena with you, and this doesn’t give you anything in return for not interfering. So, what do you want?” All she’d considered was making sure that she had access to Elena, Brangwen had recognised the imbalance in that clause, but there’d been other clauses imbalanced in her favour. Still, her brother had asked if she could do anything to help the clan as Cloud’s spouse...
“Give a certain number of low level contracts to my clan every year. Messenger gigs, that sort of thing.” Brangwen knew that her family couldn’t handle anything more than that, and even though nepotism was a fact of life that was about as far as she was willing to go.
“The Cuprite Clan?” Cloud waited for Brangwen’s nod before he continued. “I can do that. Palmer, take this down. ‘Brangwen Cuprite shall not interfere in Cloud Strife’s inner household with the exception that she has authority over the concubine Elena and any future concubines Cloud Strife buys with the specific intent of sharing them with her.’ And this is a new clause. ‘The Cuprite Clan shall receive a minimum of one contract per calendar month from Cloud Strife that is within their advertised skills.’ I’ll follow your advice and contract them as messengers for semi-formal mail. Will that work for you?”
“Yes. Thank you.” It was a lot more than she’d expected, and it was likely to bring her family into contact with nobles, which might lead to additional contracts for them.
“You’re welcome.” Cloud stood, stretching in an implicit dismissal. “Palmer, you can go now. Brangwen, you might want to talk to Elena before the wedding, I don’t see any reason you have to wait on signing our contract before you get involved with her.” Was that an order or a hint? Brangwen blinked to buy time to think of a response.
“I didn’t want to presume, but I can see how she might be feeling anxious. I’ll speak to her today.” With that Brangwen bowed slightly to Cloud in farewell and followed Palmer out of the room.
Series: Final Fantasy VII AU (Cetra Restoration AU, linked here)
Pairing: Brangwen/Elena
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: If they were mine Aeris and Zack would still be alive, and not just running around in the Lifestream spying on Cloud. Since Aeris and Zack said goodbye to Cloud at the end of AC and disappeared into the Lifestream I guess they aren't mine.
Warnings: AU, reference to slavery, contraqct negotiations
“You know you could just leave this to our lawyers.” Brangwen smiled at Cloud, she knew that his protest was just for form’s sake, at least it was now, he’d been serious the first few times.
“Why? We haven’t been really arguing over any of this, and we’re getting through it all, even if it’s taking us a while.” And Brangwen couldn’t afford to pay a good enough lawyer to produce an espousal contract that was fair to her - and letting Cloud hire her a lawyer to do this would be a recipe for disaster. She wished Cloud was willing to let this drop, or spend more time working through their contract with her, that they could get through more than two or three clauses before he insisted they were finished for the day, but it wasn’t as if this was delaying anything, not yet anyway. Their wedding wasn’t scheduled for another two weeks, for what should be two or three days before Brangwen ovulated, at least by her count.
“Yeah. The only reason I’m doing this with you is that you’re willing to accept most of the espousal contract I negotiated with Rowan as is.” He hadn’t told Brangwen that before, and she blinked in surprise, resisting the temptation to tell him why she’d only asked to renegotiate the clauses that were specific to Rowan and her lifestyle and wouldn’t fit Brangwen’s.
“Most of it works for our espousal as well as it would for yours with Rowan, at least once the name’s been changed. So, where are we now Palmer?” The sooner they got started the more likely it was that they’d do three clauses, or maybe even four before Cloud decided he’d had enough.
“Yes Brangwen. The next clause is as follows: ‘Rowan Ashe shall start trying to conceive another child by the Planet’s Weapon no more than three years after her previous child has been born, until she has given birth to five children or one of his offspring proves to be a high noble. From the time that each child is weaned until she is ready to start trying to conceive again Rowan Ashe has the right to remove herself and her household to her own home.’ How do you wish to alter it?” The human was looking more at Cloud than at Brangwen but that was perfectly understandable; he outranked her by any measure, and all Brangwen cared about was that the man was ready to write down what they decided on.
“I can’t do anything to change how often you have to try for children. It’s my duty to do everything in my power to produce offspring that can be acknowledged as my heirs in the event there is no true Planet’s Weapon to follow me.” Cloud was deadly serious as he explained, and Brangwen nodded her understanding, although if he was serious about producing potential heirs he needed to consider bedding Elena - but she respected his love for Sephiroth too much to tell him that.
“Agreed. It’s the second half that I wanted to discuss. Palmer, copy the first sentence over substituting my name for Rowan’s. Unless you have a problem with that Cloud?”
“No. What did you want to talk about regarding the second sentence then?” Cloud leaned towards her just a bit in an flatteringly attentive posture, something that Brangwen was fairly sure was sincere. Still, she had to wonder if he was pretending to be dense, or if he really was this oblivious to her background and social status.
“I don’t have a household separate from yours as Rowan does, nor do I maintain a home elsewhere.” She couldn’t afford that, not if she wanted to save for when and if she retired.
“So it isn’t really offering you anything to balance what you have to give the way it balances things for Rowan. What do you want then?” She hadn’t expected that sort of instant empathy, but she appreciated it.
“To go back to active duty as part of your guard between weaning one child and trying to conceive the next.” She didn’t want to give up her entire life to serve as Cloud’s broodmare, and she was scared that was what would happen if she didn’t make sure she could do something useful. It had happened to other commoners who’d espoused to high nobility, at least that’s how it had looked from the outside, and she didn’t think she could transfer her skills to anything else. And she loved being part of Cloud’s guard, loved the challenge, the constant push to improve herself and her skills and the support she was given to do so.
“I...” Cloud sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure how appropriate that is. I know I don’t want you pulling bodyguard duty, even when you wouldn’t be endangering our child by taking risks like that.”
“Exclude bodyguard duty then?”
“Agreed. But I want to talk to Sephiroth about this as well. Palmer, here’s the second sentence; ‘From the time that each child is weaned until she is ready to start trying to conceive again Brangwen Cuprite may return to active duty in, no make that with Cloud Strife’s guard, with the exception that she may not undertake bodyguard duty.’ And I’ll ask Sephiroth to talk with you if there’s an issue with that according to our traditions. Can you accept that?”
“Yes.” It was more than she’d expected, and she appreciated it - and if she couldn’t be part of Cloud’s guard by tradition she was sure there was an acceptable alternative. “Palmer, what’s the next clause?”
“Rowan Ashe and Cloud Strife shall not interfere in any way with the other’s inner household.” As Palmer spoke Brangwen could see Cloud set his jaw with a hint of anger in his eyes.
“I’m not going to let you mess with Sephiroth or Tseng.” Then Cloud frowned, a more thoughtful look coming over his face. “But I’m sharing Elena with you, and this doesn’t give you anything in return for not interfering. So, what do you want?” All she’d considered was making sure that she had access to Elena, Brangwen had recognised the imbalance in that clause, but there’d been other clauses imbalanced in her favour. Still, her brother had asked if she could do anything to help the clan as Cloud’s spouse...
“Give a certain number of low level contracts to my clan every year. Messenger gigs, that sort of thing.” Brangwen knew that her family couldn’t handle anything more than that, and even though nepotism was a fact of life that was about as far as she was willing to go.
“The Cuprite Clan?” Cloud waited for Brangwen’s nod before he continued. “I can do that. Palmer, take this down. ‘Brangwen Cuprite shall not interfere in Cloud Strife’s inner household with the exception that she has authority over the concubine Elena and any future concubines Cloud Strife buys with the specific intent of sharing them with her.’ And this is a new clause. ‘The Cuprite Clan shall receive a minimum of one contract per calendar month from Cloud Strife that is within their advertised skills.’ I’ll follow your advice and contract them as messengers for semi-formal mail. Will that work for you?”
“Yes. Thank you.” It was a lot more than she’d expected, and it was likely to bring her family into contact with nobles, which might lead to additional contracts for them.
“You’re welcome.” Cloud stood, stretching in an implicit dismissal. “Palmer, you can go now. Brangwen, you might want to talk to Elena before the wedding, I don’t see any reason you have to wait on signing our contract before you get involved with her.” Was that an order or a hint? Brangwen blinked to buy time to think of a response.
“I didn’t want to presume, but I can see how she might be feeling anxious. I’ll speak to her today.” With that Brangwen bowed slightly to Cloud in farewell and followed Palmer out of the room.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-29 12:00 pm (UTC)*nods*
*Hands you cookies*
Keep up the good work!
I'm already wondering how Brangwen's and Elena's first meeting will go...
no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 07:47 am (UTC)Glad you find it interesting.
I highly appreciate that you put these things, like the contract, into it. It gives a lot of depths to the story
Good to know that it works. I've got another fic about Rowan's family that has negotiations prior even to courtship, would you find that interesting?
I'm already wondering how Brangwen's and Elena's first meeting will go...
I might be posting that on Saturday, or I might just post the story about Rowan's brother I mentioned earlier.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 11:23 am (UTC)I'd find it interesting and I think it would make a quite...unusual introduction to the new story^^
I might be posting that on Saturday, or I might just post the story about Rowan's brother I mentioned earlier.
I'll be looking forward to it^^
no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 02:26 pm (UTC)Not exactly. The entire story covers the negotiations of the conditions under which Ian, Rowan's brother, may be courted. I haven't written anything to follow up on that, although if I do it would be a bit during the courtship, possibly how his courter reacts to Ian's status after he turns adult and stays a commoner, and the dinner after they sign the espousal documents all as separate stories.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 02:43 pm (UTC)sounds interesting, too
I just wonder how long/short this story may become
no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 07:54 am (UTC)This was one of the earliest scenes I thought of for this story actually.
I have to wonder though how many more concubines he would buy or have.
Unless Brangwen says no he's more or less obliged to buy one more as a gift for her when she has his first child - but from Indenture you already know that she went through the motions of looking more than anything.
Is there a set number or minimal number that he has to have?
He has to have one, and as long as he doesn't have more than three (who he's kept since he was given/bought them) he can reasonably be offended by any further gifts of concubines.
Is there a set number or minimal number that he has to have?
He could legitimately have Sephiroth do the negotiations for him, but that doesn't occur to him. The lawyer option's out because Brangwen can't afford one good enough to match the ones he has on retainer and any lawyer Cloud hired for her would have a bit of a conflict of interests.