[ For the first time since Astarion has entered this place, uncertainty flickers across his face. The woman is inviting him to sit, as if they're settling down for tea and genteel conversation rather than awaiting the arrival of their sadistic master.
Is this... another test? Astarion's gaze darts uneasily around the room, as if searching for whoever is watching. A test implies a right answer. Sitting before his master's arrival would have been taken for disrespect back at the house, but if this woman is acting in Cazador's stead, he might be expected to obey anyway. He stands for another beat, brow furrowed—and then, finally, does what feels safest and imitates her own position, kneeling on the bare floor.
If the woman isn't going to answer his questions, then there's no use wasting his breath. Astarion simply kneels there and waits, jaw clenched, for whatever penance comes next, be it at the woman's hands, Cazador's—or, if his master's powers truly are unchanged by this place, by his own. ]
no subject
Is this... another test? Astarion's gaze darts uneasily around the room, as if searching for whoever is watching. A test implies a right answer. Sitting before his master's arrival would have been taken for disrespect back at the house, but if this woman is acting in Cazador's stead, he might be expected to obey anyway. He stands for another beat, brow furrowed—and then, finally, does what feels safest and imitates her own position, kneeling on the bare floor.
If the woman isn't going to answer his questions, then there's no use wasting his breath. Astarion simply kneels there and waits, jaw clenched, for whatever penance comes next, be it at the woman's hands, Cazador's—or, if his master's powers truly are unchanged by this place, by his own. ]