OLD YOU IN THE GARBAGE, NEW YOU IN DISPLAY CASE

[bouchonne]

WHO: Byerly, Alexandrie, Petrana, Sidony...and Helena???
WHAT: Going to reconcile a married couple
WHEN: Prior to the battle
WHERE: Orlais, in Val Fermin
NOTES: This post is part of a player plot leading into the Battle of Ghislain

Two months ago, Comte Michel du Val Firmin found a new lady-love. It's a familiar sort of story, one that hardly even raises an eyebrow in Orlais - the Comte and Comtesse have their lives taken over by duties; their relationships cools, their love is forgotten; one or the other or both meet someone a touch more comely, a touch more exciting. For the Comte, that someone was a lively peasant woman named Eloise, an educated literate young lady with curly hair and strong opinions.

Truly, this wouldn't be grounds for any attention at all...save for the fact that Eloise has strong opinions about world politics, and a strong willingness to voice them to the people around her. Including the Comte. Who listens to her. And so now, on the eve of a major battle, he's debating withdrawing his troops, suddenly (under her influence) troubled by the questionable morality of sending common people off to die.

Byerly Rutyer got word of this looming disaster through a dear friend of his*. And so he recruited a few diplomats, friends, and complete oddballs to help him sabotage this turn of events...by ensuring that the Comte's heart is taken away from Eloise and is instead returned to the Comtesse.




*Monarchies tend not to like nobles - even nobles of other countries - turning all democratic. The peasants tend to get ideas. So this info got slipped courtesy of a few attentive folks down south.

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[indissection]

This is not entirely what Sidony had imagined when she had joined with the Inquisition.

It is true, of course, that Byerly had arranged for a touch more study, the private kind which she might not speak of to anyone else, so she has that in hand - quite literally. She did not, however, think that it might be that talents outside of her medical knowledge might become a necessity, but here she is trying to rediscover a Comtesse's inner beauty. It's a novel task, the kind that might have bored her to tears if she was still wrapped up in Nevarra with a mother peeking over her shoulder, but with the freedom of the Inquisition and her own decision making...

Well, she is more than content to go on a journey to Orlais to help out a woeful woman. It wouldn't be right to neglect her.

She had brought with her a trunk of clothing to entice the Comtesse with, a mixture of something a little daring and something a touch more conservative. The hours before actually meeting with the Comtesse herself has Sidony hanging up the dresses, stroking her fingers down over the fabric and tilting her head, pondering the shape and the colours. They're all rather dark, she can admit that - blacks and reds, wine and blood, with emerald greens and deep violets - but she thinks they ought to work anyway. It's not often the colour that men notice, after all, but what the colour shows and does not show.

After a period, she settles on a chair, leaning back with one leg crossed over the other, deep in thought.

[bouchonne]

Byerly wanders in at some point, quiet enough not to disturb her in her thoughts. Perhaps quiet enough that she doesn't even know he's there. He examines the clothing she's brought, a slight frown on his face as he evaluates the cut and quality of the fabric.

There's so very much you can tell about a person by their dress. Wealth is the obvious one, of course, but there's more as well. Preferences, mores - connectedness to the fashion scene - particularly for young women, you can even get a bit of insight into their relationships with their mothers just by examining her gowns.

"Lovely pieces," he comments, a remark that would be idle and even pleasant if it wasn't calculated to make her jump with its suddenness.

[indissection]

Sidony had done what she could to bring a range of dresses; it would not do for her to bring things that would flatter her and her alone when she was intending to spruce up a Comtesse who had a husband with a wandering attention span. No, the low cuts and flashes of skin might work for her, on occasion, but for a woman who already had a husband and might not want the rest of the world to see what belonged to him? A little daring, maybe. A step too far, possibly.

She's about to get up and start moving the dresses around, considering them with a touch more thought - she really does need the woman's measurements - when she hears Byerly's voice and she does jump, twisting in her chair and narrowing her eyes as she glares at him. Had it been anyone else she might be more sour, but she has a fondness for him.

"It wouldn't do well for me to bring my more hideous of dresses, would it." Pushing herself up, she walks over to hover at his side. "Was it your intention to scare the life from me, Byerly?" And she offers a hand for him to kiss. Be polite after such a scare.