π prostitution mention
whenever a new member gets hired in their company, shinon makes it a point to observe the new recruit from afar based on how they react to literally everything to asses whether they're a worthy asset to the company and if they're also worth shinon's time and energy. you could say that he would make a decent detective in another lifetime.
and it was because of this that shinon has the most accurate hunch that oscar was once a prostitute.
despite being the eldest, oscar is shy and has trust issues so it took a while for him to warm up with the others, but shinon observed that oscar had to adjust around gatrie the most, not the more rude and insufferable shinon, which is usually the case of recruits that sooner or later resigns
whenever gatrie flirts with a woman, be it during marketing duties or out of town missions, oscar barely squirms or even flinches. not that gatrie would invade physical boundaries, but the act of attempting to court a stranger somehow triggered a sort of fight or flight response within oscar.
it was oscar's obvious hesitancy to drink with the mercenaries in bars that shinon connected the dots.
oscar would tag along out of politeness, especially when it was greil who offered them drinks. but unlike titania, gatrie, and shinon, oscar would time and again refuse, excusing himself that he either needs to tend to his brothers or that he was tired. shinon would sneer at oscar for being a coward to rile oscar up, who isn't buying it one bit when he just wordlessly smiles at shinon.
the one time shinon (begrudginly) only sipped his drink for the entirety of the night to see how oscar would behave when heavily drunk, it was... quite the sight for everyone.
oscar becomes whiny about boyd's rashness and rolf crying over the littlest things. he'd also be cynical if there was any hope for them to reach their long forgotten dreams, spitting curses here and there. he would even pick fights with strangers if they so much as tap his shoulder. thankfully his companions were sober and strong enough to hold him back and drag him out of the bar before the commotion escalates.
what gave it away the most was right before oscar passed out on titania's arms, oscar points at gatrie's chest and slurs, "you.... all those ladies you've been *hic*... don't you- don't you dare toy with them. you-you don't know what they've been through... or else i'll... i'm going to kill you."
ever since then, they seldom invite oscar to join them for drinks in the bar, and oscar seems relieved now that they stop peer pressuring him.
shinon would only insult oscar around others, not just to put on a show but he simply dislikes everyone like the lil shit he is. but when they're both alone, shinon doesn't see the need to belittle oscar more than he should. oscar would go to unspeakable lengths to keep his brothers fed and safe. the only thing left unanswered for shinon to still look at oscar with malice was why would oscar pick prostitution.
shinon would have understood more if oscar had a history of being brigand or an assassin, but why that of all jobs? hell, he'd make a fantastic cook in a little diner, so why? shinon had a unique reason to resent oscar, which was oscar's willingness to sacrifice his own self-respect for the sake of his own brothers.
shinon constantly questions why the worst things happen to the kindest people. and it pisses him off to seemingly no end.
but of course shinon's pride didn't let him get the answers he need directly from oscar until a war or two later.