(1874-07-13) Whiskers on Kittens
Whiskers on Kittens
Summary: Lillian manages to corner Ludovic, an the two speak on a potential prospect for some recovery from his injury.
Date: 2018-07-13
Related: Firestorm Pt II: Blind-Sided
NPCs: None
Players:
Lillian  Ludovic  

Daemon's Hall
One of the many rooms, not much different from any of the other rooms.
1874-07-13

It had been days since the surprise attack on the Hall and the surround, and Lillian's troupe had been working in rotating shifts always one or two for the entire hourly cycle. One of the second troupes which she had requested to be sent from Barjols had received word and had set out at speed and that had eased some of the load. But regardless of the number of hands, there did not seem to be any be to the flow of those who needed assistance, and the Lord of the lands no less than the others.

And yet, it was different, and when Lillian received word in one of the halls that had been converted that the Viscount and his men had been sighted returning to the castle, Lillian had quickly handed off the task of preparing new linen bandages and made a dash that would have given credit to the knight who squired her, weaving through the halls on her way to attempt to intercept Ludovic before he could manage to make his escape to his private rooms and his solitude.

Ludovic's squire decides to pitch in and help Lillian in her efforts, claiming concern over his master's ability to do anything, and so Lillian manages to find Ludovic as the squire fumbles over a piece of armor that he should have removed minutes ago. Glancing back at Lillian the squire, Brandon d'Juliano, gives her a quick grin and then miraculously finishes working on the last strap. "About time boy." Ludovic says somewhat irritably. "Was starting to think you'd lost your fingers." He starts to pull the unfastened cuirass up over his head. Apparently completely having missed the fact that Lillian is somewhere outside his new visual field.

Lillian, however, had not missed, the fact that she was missed, and she stepped forward, into Ludovic's field of vision, allowing him time to acknowledge that she was there, and close enough that she could, lifting her hands, offer to assist him with what remained of his armor. She of course, had waited to do so until she had had a chance to flash a rather conspiratorial smile with the young squire, "Ludovic. It's good to have you back. I had begun to imagine that you might have been avoiding me." It was not a time of rejoicing, but neither had anyone been healed with tears, and so Lillian offered only he had always known from her. Confidence and companionable conversation, "No doubt expecting a lecture? I will promise not to give you one if you will walk with me. A meal is already being prepared for you."

Ludovic swings his entire head around to look at her, his movements still exaggerated by the innate desire to get her properly into his visual field. He grunts at the comments about avoiding him. "Not avoiding nobody. Just getting something done. As of now we are working with the imperials in this entire farce of a fight." His face is surprisingly intact. There should be some sort of superficial wounding or something at the least. But the areas around his missing eye don't even look swollen. "Or were you planning to lecture me about how I can't do my job anymore?"

Lillian, unless Ludovic fights her for it, will accept his chest-piece, and carry it over to where the rest of his gear had been set to be cleaned and repaired as needed. "Actually, I can't imagine a single reason why you would not be able to do you job, Ludovic. In fact, that was precisely what I meant to speak to you about, if you'd be so kind as to allow me to set your table. I'm certain you must want little more, right now, than to sit, rest, and refresh yourself." There was honesty in her expression, and open engagement. She was, it would seem, not planning to ambush him, literally or figuratively, "And, I had an idea which I thought might help."

Ludovic isn't about to fight someone for control of his armor, although he is a little flinchy about movements on his right side. "Uh. You can of course." he says. "But isnt that kinda beneath you? We can just as easily call my squire back." He turns his head to look at her again. "But your not wrong about me wanting to sit down for a bit. Right now I'm hungry even if I've eaten so much my belly hurts." He reaches for the back of a chair, misses and then tries again. Once he's got hold of it he maneuvers himself to sit and waves for her to sit too. "Gotta say I'm real grateful about you helping my people so quickly. It was a real boon having you there."

"I am not so old, Ludovic d'Korbina, that I have forgotten all of the lessons I learned from my uncle. And whatever else he taught me, the greatest lesson was this: it is never beneath you to stop and help a friend. So, sit, I will manage this. I do believe I see young Brandon waiting in the wings." It's quite obvious she must know the boy, for as soon as she looked off in the direction he had run off in, he darted back, to begin the task of tending to his Knight's armor. Lillian, however, as she saw Ludovic sit, did not sit herself, but instead, stepped from the room to receive a tray of cheese, meat, fruit, and something that smelled like mulled wine. "We were grateful to be in a position where we could assist you. We could hardly leave you in a time of need."

Having received the tray, Lillian stepped back around, always making sure to stay on his good side, so that he did not have to worry very much about where she was standing. "If you will break your fast, I have some thoughts to share with you on your injury."

"Still worthy of thanks." Ludovic tells Lillian with a grin. "Would you pour that?" He waves in the general direction of the wine. "Its bloody embarrassing when I try it. Who'd have thought it huh?" He stretches for some cheese. "The stormbull brought low by a pitcher of wine."

"We will be here as long as you need us." At Ludovic's request, Lillian sets down the tray, pouring a glass for himself, before she sets one aside for her own use. "Of course, I'd be happy to." She seemed to take no umbrage to the work, nor to make any attempt to find a servant to handle such tasks, "Not low, Ludovic, only inconvenienced. You are used to looking at the world one way, now you must learn to see it in another. That is all." A beat, "May I inspect your eye? I had an idea which I thought might make life easier, but I need to see what damage was done."

Ludovic sighs and puts the food down so that he can slump down in his chair. "Suppose so. Lianna already made sure all the, uh, remains, were cleaned out but I've not had all that much time to worry about it." He gives Lillian a quick grin. "My knees great."

Lillian's grin is bright, the tone of her voice amused, "Dilan does consider himself a master of his craft. He will be glad to know that your are recovering so well." Once she's given Ludovic's permission to approach him, she does so with care, never straying from where he can see her, her hands gentle as she began to inspect the injury, "Vitae?" She might be no alchemist, but she had been too long in service not to recognize the sign of its work. Her fingertips pause, marking that place between his brows, "You may have noticed some difficulty when you blink, some dryness in the eye that remains? If you have, it is not uncommon. Your muscles expect for their to be two eyes their to support their movement."

"My right eye just feels wrong. Hard to explain it." Ludovic tells her. "and I swear I've had a headache ever since." He frowns. "Well. You know." His fingers creep up to touch his right cheekbone. "He threw me away like a ragdoll." A mournful sigh. "Wasn't anything like ready for him. Should have known better. I knew he was out there but its just been so long since anyone heard anything of him."

"Yes, I think it will for some time. You grow accustomed to your body a certain way, your life a certain way, and it can be a trying time to adjust when your life is completely turned over end on end." Lillian nods, as she completes her inspection, "Lady Lianna has done good work, and I think my idea may work for you. It might well ease your headache as well." Lillian steps back, reaching into a pocket of her dress and withdrawing a rounded riverstone, "The one thing we do not want to do, is to allow scar tissue to eventually grow in the space and distort the shape of your face and potentially impede the function of your other eye. So…we need to find a way to compensate for what you have lost." She offers him the stone.

Ludovic accepts the stone from her, glances at it and then gives her a curious look. "Reminds me." he says. "I already told my men, and hiding it from you's just going to be a real pain." He gently caresses the pad of his thumb over the back of the stone. "But need your oath that you're gonna be careful with who you tell. You definitely can't tell nobody from the church."

"Your body expects you to have two eyes, yes? Whether you can see or not, for example, if you are in a dark room, your eyes still move and function regardless of whether you can see anything. That hasn't changed since you lost your eye. Your body still expects to have two. I think it is why you have had your persistent headache. So…we need to find a way to replace what you have lost, as we would try to replace a limb that was lost, such as we can." She allows a gesture of the hand to indicate the stone, "That is only an example, it is much too small to properly fit in the socket." When Ludovic picks up his end of the conversation, Lillian's brow furrows, "I have spoken of anything that has passed between us since you became my patient, Ludovic. I do not intend to do so now."

"Need an actual promise." Ludovic sits up straight and turns his head about until he can look her in the eye.. ish. "You'll understand. Just swear that what I tell you now is in confidence."

Lillian, hearing the demand, stepped back, making sure he could see her when she spoke, her gaze settling, "I give you the word of a Knight of the Order Reliant, and the word of the Signora of Bordeaux, both of which I hold to be sacred. Whatever you reveal to me, I will discuss with no one, unless with your express permission."

Ludovic gives a serious nod at that and lets go of the stone so that he can start unbuttoning his coat, he's peeking at Lillian through his eyelashes as he does so, his smile a little sly and his features full of focus. The river stone just sort of falls into Lillian's hands after a few moments. Impossible. But its what happens. Just after it drops into her hands (or at her feet if she doesn't move to catch it) he softly says "There is a reason i wear this bandage."

Whatever magic or mischief kept that stone suspended, in the time between when Ludovic released it, and when it tumbled down into her palm, Lillian's eyes had widened, her body's reflexes, more than conscious thought, pushing her to step forward and take the stone. But the expression that settles onto her face, as she watches him begin to remove his shirt is vastly different from the one she offered just before. And it was not fear, or dislike or any dark emotion. Except that it was. it was worry, for him. "It was old, the bandage, and you never asked me to look at an injury there."

"Easier than trying to explain away my mark anytime I get hurt." Ludovic starts unwrapping the cloth. "I'm what they call a stone sorcerer. I can manipulate stone. Not exactly the greatest gift there ever was. But its got its uses. Least that's what I keep telling myself." He holds his hand out for the stone. "Mostly I can just move them and change their shapes. Been making goblets." he gives a dark chuckle. "Hunted by the inquisition for my power to make goblets."

Lillian remained perfectly still, as she watched Ludovic both unwrap the bandage and reveal the secret that went with it. Her expression did pale, but even now, there was not an ounce of the righteous fear or fury he might have been faced with before. "The earth tremors we felt a few nights ago?" She did not wait for an answer, really, only turning her attention to the stone that now lay in her palm. "Does it comfort you? Feeling stone? Before or after you work with it?" She handed over the stone he had, in his way, returned to her, before she knelt to examine his mark.

Ludovic's mark is an image of a rock on his upper right abdomen which actually has a rocklike texture to it although it feels no tougher than a tattoo might. His head turns to watch her as much as he can as she looks at it. The rock he goes back to stroking. "Maybe." he admits. "Took me months before I could get on a horse without feeling anxious after it started. Really don't like not being in contact with stone." He considers and then says. "And to much openness isn't great neither."

Lillian's touch was gentle, curious, but careful not to cause him any discomfort. She did not, after all, know how to approach such a marking, having never encountered one before. "Perhaps it was a good thing, that you call a place like this your home." She lifts her hand away, kneeling up and ten pushing herself to her feet, "How long have you had this gift?"

"Just turned up one day." Ludovic tells her. "about six years ago." He gives her a smile. "Am i lucky to be a stone sorcerer in a mountain or am i a stone sorcerer because of it?" There's absolutely no sign of any discomfort in touching it. It truly does seem no stranger to him than a tattoo. He does however start buttoning his coat back up when she retreats. "There's been a lot of practice in being able to do what i just did. Honestly I'm kinda surprised i got away with it." A grin. "But then its always easier to do fine things when I'm calm." He gives her a sheepish grin. "The earthquake. Yeah.. I was a lil upset."

Lillian shook her head at the question, even if it was, perhaps, intended to be rhetorical, "That, I could not say. I do not have any experience in treating a sorcerer. At least, not one who had revealed themselves to me. But behind here…being comforted by stone…I.." Lillian caught her lip, chewing on it as though she could in so doing, catch the edge of the thought she was worrying. "You said you feel better with the stone around you, but what about stone like that?" She points to the rock. "Do you feel some sort of…increase in affinity after you have worked it?" She finally does smile, a slight curl of her lips, "I would have to see what you might do when you were truly enraged."

Ludovic shakes his head. "Stuff like that tremor. I can't do it when I'm all here." he taps the side of his head. "Its like there's some kind of block and you can only get through it when you're real emotional but then you don't have no choice about it neither. If you think that was impressive you should see what happens when i'm frightened." he gives her a grin. "Then again i'd hope you'd never be near anything that scary." He reaches for her hands. "I get tired when i'm not around a lot of stone or when i'm around a lot of people. Hard to keep it all from overwhelming me. But, we were talking about my eye and the fact that those glass eyes are about something other than vanity." He gives her a sheepish grin. "Always figured people did it so other people wouldn't look at em and flinch."

"Is that something that you know to be true? That you have to be emotional or out of control, or only something that you've experienced? So far, I mean." Clearly, there were ideas being mulled over in Lillian's mind, though she did not voice them immediately, "I wouldn't wish to be around anything that terrifying either, but…I have a feeling that that may not be something that I have the freedom to choose any longer." Lillian offered her hands, as he reached for hers, one pair of hands free, the other holding that rock between them, "Yes, but…for you? No, not glass. Not now that I know what I know of you. You said you can manipulate stone…" She paused once more, and then started again, "You will make one, and I will help you." He had the gift, after all, and she the knowledge of what he needed to make. "Something that is as close to being a part of you as is possible."

"Uh. Well we don't really know anything about magic Lillian." Ludovic tells her. "The church burned all the books. Probably under the hand of that damn monster that was hiding amongst them for the one knows how long." He studies her for a long moment and then nods. "Yeah." another nod, this time with a grin. "Yeah you're right. I'm weaker when i'm not in contact with stone but who's gonna think to take my eye away?"

"You're right, Ludovic, but I don't know anything about it either, and I do not even have personal experience to help me. And there are many lands I have never been to, and do not know what knowledge they hold. But it makes me wonder…is it really emotion? Or…is it actually the absence of fear that enables you to tap into your power? We have all been indoctrinated into certain ideas about sorcery. To hate it, or to fear it, and especially to fear it in ourselves." And then the final piece slips into place, "Yes. That…is what I am thinking. Not only would it be a bit of stone, and you could…I mean, there are so many different sorts of stone. And it would literally always be on you, in you. And a part of you as well, because it would be made by your hand."

"Do you know how they are made?" Ludovic asks her. "I mean.. I've done what that monster did me to my opponents before.. I've just never stuck around to work out how its fixed."

"A glass one?" Lillian's, not distracted, but in a way it was, as if the woman was already planning out everything that would need to be done, "Yes. Normally, we would take measurements for the eye, using instruments not so dissimilar to what a jeweler might use, measuring the width and depth of the socket, the shape of the eye so that it would fit neatly into the socket. Once that is done, a mold would be created, and then glass cast from that. The final polishing and fitting would be done by hand. So…I think, for you, it would be measurements, and then providing you with a model from which to work."

Ludovic rubs at his ear. "I'm not sure how we'll do it. I'll be honest and say i've really got no idea how things are made and admit that I'm thinking I might need to try and learn. But. Yeah. I'd like that." He holds his hand out, palm up, for the river stone. "Whats your favorite thing?"

"The model, that I can handle for you. We have a number of artisans in Rikton who we have used before. I can manage the measurements, and have them sent there. You would not need to be involved at all." Not physically, at least, "I would make certain not to reveal whom it was for. Once we got the model back, you said you had made goblets before?" She allowed the stone to drop into Ludovic's hand, "My favourite thing? I've…" Lillian frowned, as if it were a question she had never considered, "I have favourite memories. Watching over the wall at Fort Benide when we had a lull in battle. The lavender fields at Barjols. A kitten my Cousin Vem rescued and brought back to me when we were children."

+froll/basic: Ludovic rolled 4 FATE dice plus 0, getting 1 0 0 1 plus 0 for a total of 2!
+froll/basic: Ludovic rolled 4 FATE dice plus 0, getting -1 1 0 1 plus 0 for a total of 1!

"Yeah if I've something to copy i probably can do it. Or even just the mold." Ludovic's fingers close around the stone and he focuses on it before slowly opening his fingers again. Its not a river rock anymore. Now it's a little stone kitten. "Yours"

"I think…no, I know, this is new territory for both of us, Ludovic. But I'm certain we can succeed. It may take some trial and error, but I believe that it can be done." Seeing his fingers close, Lillian's eyes dropped to his closed fist. A smile of pure wonder lit her face, as his hand opened and revealed the kitten within, which she lifted with no small amount of reverence from his palm, "It's beautiful, Ludovic. I can't imagine…thank you."

Ludovic just gives her a smile. "Surprised honestly. Been making them for a while now. Seemed a good way to practice and, well, most of em look nothing like what I want." He smiles a touch. "Must be getting an artistic streak."

"Yes, that makes sense." Lillian returned the smile, as she glanced up, before she returned her attention to the tiny kitten. "Begin with small things, things that you know, things that are familiar, giving yourself time to grow accustomed to your power." Lillian finally settled into the seat he had directed her to so long ago, "One does not, after all, discover all of their talents in their youth."

"Just nice to have something i'm good at right now." Ludovic admits. "I cant even beat my squire in training right now. It's real frustrating." He stretches for some more of that cheese. A touch of uncertainty in his movements. "And I've no idea how i'm gonna cope with not being able to see what's happening to my right. Think I can get Faith to stay there most of the time though." He smirks. "Gonna keep falling over the poor dog."

"It can be an anchor in an uncertain world, for certain." Lillian finally set the kitten down, placing it in pride of place on the small table, before she took up the glass she had poured for herself. "It will come, Ludovic. Any loss this terrible…something that impairs your senses, it is going to take time. Time and practice and effort. But you can do it."

"Its not that terrible." Ludovic tells her. "Could have lost a leg or an arm or all my teeth or, you know, died. Or worse he coulda drained Imogen in front of me whilst I couldn't do nothing. Or I coulda lost control and pulled the mountain down on all our heads. There was a moment there where I wanted to just bury him." He eases himself up to his feet. "So this ain't so bad See. Luckily he hit something I had two of."

"And that would have been the most terrible blow of all. Cold you have imagined a life of never being able to ever eat a good steak again? You, the Lord of a House which prides itself on its cattle?" Dentures were…not exactly a thing, "There are many things that could have happened. And what did happen was terrible, but…it might well prove some form of blessing to you." If they can manage to find a way to keep him in permanent contact with stone? Lillian rose as Ludovic did, "I should leave you to your rest. You certainly need it."

"You're right." Ludovic says. "I never even thought of the steak. I was just thinking of the drooling." He goes to pat her on the shoulder but doesn't exactly hit where he planned to causing one of those awkward moments before he just laughs it off. "Remind me to aim lower next time. Thanks for the help Lillian."

"Do not let your cooks hear such words. They would call it blasphemy that you would forget about their prized culinary skills." Lillian's voice was genuinely merry, as Ludovic began with the best of intentions, but ended up tousling her hair, before his hand settled on her shoulder. And that, seemed to amuse her all the more, "Perhaps I will attempt to gain weight. Present you a larger target." And then, for a moment, she falls serious, "Thank you for trusting me, Ludovic. We will make this work. I promise you that."

Ludovic grins at Lillian. "Those same cooks would be bragging about how they managed to make pureed beef into fine cuisine within the week and you know it." As she turns things a little more serious he says. "Don't be too grateful. Told my household first."

"I cannot imagine anything more horrible than…meat pudding." She did, in point of fact, looking momentarily ill at the thought, "They are your household, may, I have no doubt, you have know since cot and cradle. I am, in many ways, a stranger to you, and one who comes from a place that, not long ago, would have called you enemy. So for your trust? Yes, I am grateful. And you, are likely starving by now. Rest and eat. I will see about getting the tool that we need to begin."

"Eh." Ludovic says. "Never was at war with the reliant and its that that I trust more than anything else." But then he is frankly awful at keeping secrets anyway. A sheepish grin and he moves back towards the platter. Foooodz

"Then I will count my Order lucky to have your trust." Lillian, as she almost always did, after her check-ins, made her own way to the door, pausing only once, to retrieve the tiny kitten he had made for her, and to farewell the Viscount, before she slipped out. To the task, and, quite possibly, to hope.

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