Ceci n'est pas un Chevalier

[coeurdulyon]

WHO: Lucien Amour Lyon du Lyon (The Lionheart) and YOU!
WHAT: The arrival of a famed Chevalier (and catch-all)
WHEN: mid to late Drakonis
WHERE: Kirkwall & The Gallows etc
NOTES: Feel free to make up stories you've heard about this legendary knight, he casts a looooong shadow.

i. reporting for duty [closed to div heads]

ia. flint
[ Diligence is due when Lucien returns with Marcoulf and Ellis, and because diligence is a virtue of chivalry, its due must be paid. ]

Commander James Flint? [ His announcement is preceded by a rapping of knuckles on the door jamb and he stands in the doorway until admitted. ]

ib. yseult
[ It's well after Lucien has had the chance to bathe and dress himself as a member of society when he pays a visit to the Scoutmaster in her office. He knocks, waits to be admitted, and kisses the back of her hand at the crux of his courtly bow. ]

Chevalier du Lyon, à votre service.

ic. byerly
[ Once again, the polite knock-knock and waiting at the door to be admitted, very proper and polite and very much unlike a Chevalier, all-told. ]

Ambassador Rutyer, I presume?

id. thranduil and gwen
[ Lucien knocks on the door jamb to the Research Division Head office, folding his hands behind his back. ]

Provost Baudin?

ii. some things to clear up [closed to salvio]

[ The Seneschal's office is the last stop on Lucien's unofficial tour of the Gallows, but perhaps one of the most important, overall. Yes, it's important to introduce himself to the leadership here, but getting himself declared alive again is also rather important. ]

Seneschal Salvio Pizzicagnolo? I wonder if I might beg your assistance in an administrative matter.

iii. il n'y a pas de feu

[ Wildcard, come one, come all! ]

Comments

[coeurdulyon]

"It is fortunate that you distanced yourself when you did," he says. "Things are not much improved, as you can imagine."

After a moment of thought, he looks down at her, pleasant and curious. "If I may, where do you call home, mademoiselle? I have no ear for accents, sadly, and I don't wish to offend by guessing."

[maidit]

Oh dear... That's the question that always sends the bottom dropping out from her stomach as she quickly reviews their conversation to see if there was a moment where she accidentally slipped back into the familiar cadences of Teven accented Trade. It never helps that she's never entierly sure.

Fortunately she's been faced with the question and others like it enough time that her step does not stutter and her mild expression doesn't change when she says, "Oh, I don't have anywhere I call home exactly. My father had quite the wanderlust and fancied himself a great traveler-" Not a total lie, which makes the telling of it much easier. "I developed a rather strange way of speaking as a result."

The fact that she's nudged her accent more towards a pronounced Rivani one is obviously proof of that.

[coeurdulyon]

He nods as if he knows what she means, but really it's in admiration of her father's situation.

"There is a certain romance to that lifestyle," he muses, a far off look as he remembers the travels of his youth. The double-edged sword that is nostalgia gilds the memory, while also cutting deep with the knowledge that it will never be as it was. "The simplicity of following your feet wherever they might take you. The freedom of knowing your home is on your back and cannot be taken away."

[maidit]

"For a grown man, perhaps so," she says, with a soft amusement that she had certainly not felt, "For a young girl? Well, I'm afraid I didn't take after my father in that respect."

Her terrifying sprint from Tevinter hadn't felt like freedom, not with the bone deep certainty of what she would lose if her husband caught her.

[coeurdulyon]

Of course he realizes his mistake too late, when he's already spoken from a position of entitlement. Of course the situation is different for a woman, moreso for a young girl. Lucien bows his head in precisely one, two, three seconds of shame.

"Forgive me, I spoke without thinking. Memories can blind with biases--no matter. The sentiment I was attempting to express, before, was simply that I hope wherever you call home, you're able to see again, and that the war has not taken too much of a toll."

He certainly hopes that his own home will not become a stranger to him, when all is done.

[maidit]

It's a moving gesture and she can't help pausing a moment, reaching out to rest a work roughed hand lightly on his sleeve for a brief moment.

"It's in the past," she says gently. For the both of them, for good and ill. She begins to walk again, looking up at the, for the moment, clear sky as they reach her line of laundry hung to dry. "And I have found that while I much prefer a more stable lifestyle than my father, in one respect I do agree with his philosophy. Home is where I am and what I make of it."

[coeurdulyon]

"How fortunate, then, that your home shall always be as lovely as you."

As soon as she has a hand free, he takes it in his own and bows low over it, pressing a light kiss to her knuckles. He straightens and releases her to her duties, just as he must attend to his own.

"À bientôt, cherie."

[maidit]

"Oh!"

There are things she's lost resistance to and things she suspects she's never had any resistance toward to begin with. The compliment and the brief kiss manage to scatter her thoughts and bring a blush to her cheeks, but she still remembers to drop a neat little curtsy as he turns to go.

"Have a good evening, sir."