faderift | OTA | And She Was

WHO: Alexandrie, et al
WHAT: Slice of life and catch-up catch-all!
WHEN: Mostly now~
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Adding as I go! ♥

The Lady Alexandrie's return to Kirkwall society is not so much a splash as a gentle slip into the water; for a long while, she was gone. Then, of a sudden, she isn't. She resumes her patterns with little fuss: goes to the theatre, frequents the Hightown market, can be found again in good weather wherever there is a good vantage point to paint the sea, the gloves she wears to shield her fingers from the cold doing little to hinder her practiced brushstrokes.

She does not come yet to the Gallows, but does go often to the docks, and anyone wearing Riftwatch colours may well find themselves the object of the lady's benign scrutiny. Perhaps she's vaguely recognizable from someone's reminiscence. Perhaps she's just another member of the Orlesian gentry being a bit nosy. Either way, she is here.

[ Here and happy to wildcard too; send ideas~ ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Perhaps bizarrely, the conversation starter Mobius had abandoned would have served perfectly well. Oh, she would have been mildly taken aback at first, but then she would have laughed and laughed and invited him to come drink the wine she'd brought with her and if he had agreed perhaps by evening they would be accomplices— if not friends— and then Loki would have that to deal with.

But that would require knowing her much better (and more recently) than by the reputation that has been available, and so instead it's this, and her eyes are sparkling with muted amusement at the aggressively benign politesse of his address. ]

There may well be, serah.

[ The lady inclines her head in polite acknowledgement, and then gestures lightly to the island towers across the harbour. ]

The Gallows library— might someone not currently a member of Riftwatch avail themselves of its reference section?

[Now the real question he might find worth asking is, did she know who she is speaking to, or is it mere coincidence? These days, he's not so sure about coincidences anymore.

In any event, it's a fair question. People don't usually like to come to the Gallows unless they have to, deliveries, jobs. But the library is nothing to sneeze at. Anything that's confidential or sensitive in nature is already housed elsewhere; it isn't as though she would stumble upon reports or battle maps. But even still, can't be too cautious. Rowntree would have his head if he let in a spy just because she has a pretty face.]

I'd be happy to assist in helping you find whatever you need. [Which is not an indication either way between 'come on over and take a look' or 'I'll pick out books and send them to you', but at least it isn't 'no'. He would never deny someone learning.] You've come up short at other libraries and booksellers? What's the topic of reference?

Sea charts and known local trade routes.

[ Entire coincidence. ]

If I am to negotiate with the captains here I should like to do so knowledgably, and I have always previously found the Riftwatch collections to be of good quality.

[The smile turns genuine. A small and subtle thing, but there.]

The captains won't stand a chance. Most are hardy and stubborn, ruthless but fair to folk who know how to deal with them. They're just trying to get by these days like anyone else. [They'll appreciate someone who is a go-getter, who meets them head on and has at least a little knowledge under their belt.] You've perused our library before?

I have, yes. I was a member of the organization until circumstance called me home to familial duties.

[ Her smile is genuine too. ]

In the course of them, I found myself becoming much enamored of hardy and stubborn folk. [ The smile broadens, her eyes crinkling slightly at the corners— a human after all, beneath the porcelain veneer. ] And much more successful in dealing with them if I gained enough knowledge of their work or craft to be able to properly respect the depth of theirs.

[A touch of surprise, that she was one of them. But hardy and stubborn gets a laugh out of him.] I expect that being in Riftwatch got you plenty used to stubborn folk if nothing else. Maker knows we're full of stubbornness and spite and vinegar.

Are you back in town for those familial duties?

I am indeed intimately acquainted with the traits.

[ The muted amusement in tone and expression suggest that perhaps she has been known to be stubborn, spiteful, and gently acidic. ]

And yes, [ at least as far as new acquaintances need know, ] I am. As the war changes trade, the estate my family holds and the lands we steward have become more advantageously placed. I cannot say I am fully pleased to be reaping success on the misfortune of others, but we have goods and the market desires them. I should be doing poorly by my family and those we serve to not make the attempt.

What a shame. We could always use more hands that want to see us succeed. But family comes first. [He wouldn't know much about that, anymore.] What was it that you did while you were with us? A diplomat, negotiating for goods?

[ Family comes first.

She had wondered often, in the intervening time, which family. Blood had called, and so she'd packed and left behind the family her heart had found. ]

My happiest hours here were spent at a desk in the Jeshavis office translating correspondence, journals, anything we 'happened' to come across that might hold information of note. Some of the texts in circulation may still bear my handwriting.

In more fraught circumstances, I employed the ebullient perfidy that is my birthright— [ As she appears now, none with the knowledge of them could mistake her as anything but an Orlesian peer and, if the little rueful smile is to be credited, one who knows well enough what sort of creature she was crafted to be— ] and for the most fraught, the rather rough art of combat medicine.

And your hours? How are they occupied?

[He doesn't laugh at ebullient perfidy, though it's a near thing. Not because he thinks it silly for a woman to use such floral language, no, Maker forbid, but because such floral language tends to be rare among their sort. Plenty are educated. Plenty are also not.]

My hours are spent mostly tending to the books and what goes in and out of the library, but also, of late, what goes in and out of the archives. I'm sure I'll have come across your handwriting, then, when familiarizing myself with the contents of the archive. And with however the poor sob before me tried to organize anything.

Though I'm a fair hand at fighting when the need calls for it. Bookworm still attached to his sword sometimes.

OTA | And She Was

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