The Abbey

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

He huffed and pulled himself away from the wall; nodding as he looked out to the now vacant central hall of the Abbey, where the Sermon had transpired some time ago... Though its words still lingered. He supposed that was what was meant to happen.

Forgiveness, the Cloth was hypocritical across the globe, he knew; praising good deeds and humors, while vileness yet still occurred beneath their nose. Sometimes with zealous intent behind it. 
It was belief, an excuse, in the Ex-Lord's eyes; a reason to someone's actions, be they good or bad. In a way, he had seen it as weakness, even, something to pity. 

In the words beyond the Bathhouse door, he could hear the fallout of someone without reason. He held a laugh to himself, as he realized the humor of the debacle: the Head of The Abbey, so bereft of religious light. Perhaps she still clung to some past ideology in villainizing himself; some embodiment of sin... If it were any moment before today, he would have let himself stoop to such a debaucherous low, impressed upon her some Adversary to pose against.

But he had Tilly now, he couldn't be her best-friend's villain. Couldn't be a Villain at all, not to The Cloth or Nobility or the Dregs; his respect wasn't just his anymore, it was hers too. Wounding himself meant wounding her; and that wasn't something he was willing to do.

It would seem that he'd a growing list of person's to talk to... He wondered who he'd be able to get to before departing for the expedition.


However, at present, he shifted the pail of water to be held in both his hands, as he rapped upon the door the best he could with his purposely-made-occupied hands.
"I could use a hand with the door!" He announced, as means of some fair warning...

//

[Vanitypirate]

"You interacted just fine at that sermon, I'd think." Tilly pointed out, swaying her feet idly as she spoke, a lazy fidget. The former robber would playfully bounce the side of her boot against Grace's shoe intermittently as she spoke, what with her hands occupied so.

"If you're married to your duties, you can always squeeze something in, I'm sure; Sunday only comes once per week. Else, you could pack up and maybe find some other job. You'd be rather helpful in the sanitarium, I bet, with your heal-y hands." She smiled, gaze flicking to the door at the sound of Blood's voice from behind the wood. It was high time he'd returned, then, lest he had found himself somehow lost in the foyer or in the bowels of the abbey.

"Right! I'll go and grab it for you."

She unknotted her long fingers from Grace's as she moved to stand, although a smile warmed her face, and she gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder,

"Just remember to be compassionate, above all." She nodded, steadying her hat before making to trot towards the wooden bathhouse door to grant Blood and his freshwater-pail passage.

[Outisakanobody]

"I do not seem to get along with that Blood fellow so well. He always seems so eager to get rid of me." Grace says, as Blood announced his presence, the timing very inopportune indeed.

She would try and grab hold of Tilly, urging her to sit back down. "I should be the one to do that. You should rest." she says.

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly shook her hatted head, and eyed the bench a tad disapprovingly. She would have more than enough time to rest later.

"Truly? He was the one who trundled out to the well to go and pick up some water. I don't think he's got anything against you." She looked to Grace's grasping hand at her arm and gave it a reassuring pat with her own slender hand before making to shrug out of her grip again,
"Come now, I feel healthy as a horse with all of that over. I wasn't made to sit around all day."

She nodded again with some false confidence,

"I'll be quite alright."

And then she made to go open the door.

[Outisakanobody]

Grace wasn't fully comfortable, but she decided to trust Tilly was right and kept quite, sitting on the bench and folding her arms over her chest and nervously biting her lip.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

He hummed a small tune; barely getting the bitty beat off the ground when the door opened, though he did note the slight pause, and murmur of voices. He couldn't rightly put together the words, what with his less than spying state at present; he still figured what words were being exchanged.

As Tilly opened the door, he tilted his head to preemptively scout out her features and the scene as it were; happily noting that she was the one to come to the door. Albeit, it meant that Grace wasn't like to part soon, and he had words to speak with his dearest Love most poignantly. He wished he could play with 'if's and 'maybes', but such disregard for potential evidence could be... Terminal.

Still, he flared a private and toothy smile at Tilly; raising his brows scandalously in what could only be an utterly lewd expression, for but a brief moment before he dropped the sleazy look and chuckled, shrugging, as he adorned a typical lazy, or tired, demeanour.
"Kept you waiting, huh..?" He asked, as he waited for Tilly to open the door proper; and hefted up the pail emphatically.

"... Fresh runoff from the gutters of the Sanitarium, just like you ordered, comrade." He jested with a sanguine tone, his tone lightened, though there was just the barest amount of haste in his words, as he took a step forward into a somewhat more intimate bubble of Tilly's personal space, the pail stopping short of bumping into her sticksome frame.

"Jesting, of course--" He shrugged, as his japes passed, and his nature sobered to something quieter; though a soft smile still made his dimples pock his cheeks.
"--I didn't think to grab any cups or ladles but..." He glanced over Tilly's shoulder and bowed his brow to Grace, though more using the moment to hide his lips behind Tilly's shoulder.
Though, he paused... He looked to her with some conspiracy, as he contemplated proposing the wine crystals in his satchel. But, he couldn't... That much was precious to Florence, or rather, to Lekalis himself.

The only hint to some phrase better thought, was from that brief pause as he cleared his throat,
"... I'm sure there's some here..? Or you can join me in a search; there were a few cups in that cell we rested in, surely?"
The Ex-Lord straightened, realizing his bow was dancing just on the fringes of too long. Though, he did risk but a few words more, as he let his head tilt to hid behind Tilly's own rather large and convenient hat.
"Perhaps we can speak in private there, swiftly?"

With a final shrug, he took a step back and held up the pail of water; sloshing it slightly from side to side.
"Pray hope, it's up to par for the good Hatted Water Connoisseur" He smirked, baring a small hint of his canines as he rose a brow in friendly mock.

//

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly rolled her eyes as much as she could manage at his playfully sleazy expression, although that much was difficult, what with both the joy and malaise that came at seeing him again.
There was still that vision to share, after all, that she was veritably bound to sharing with the ex-lord. How things would change, afterwards, and its sheer amount, and the range thereof, of possibilities was what was worrying, even if he believed her at all.

She simply prayed a bloody nose was enough evidence for him, beyond her own hallucinations and gut feelings.

It seemed the reality of what she was set to confess came to a fore when Blood manifested right before her.

Tilly, instead, worked a smile and rubbed her palms together with forced jubilancy,

"Oh, yes, gutter-water's my favorite, right next to old smoke-pipe water." She agreed sarcastically, pausing to glance at Grace; she seemed to be doing quite alright, for what it was forth, if not a touch closed-off. Although she couldn't entirely fault her for it, for what it was worth.
Regardless, she kept her listening ears on as Lekalis rambled on about drinking glasses and the like, moreso in regard to his more conspiratorial plans.

She found it quite odd. For what need would he have to speak in private?

"Why, we can't have it all, can we? We can just drink right from the bucket. S'too much of a hassle to go running around looking for fancy glasses for just a bitty drop of water." She turned halfwise to face the seated Grace on her bench, and nodded,

"We ought to get ready for our expedition; we leave tomorrow morning, and it's already gotten dark. Haven't got the time to go hunting down the good silverware." She rubbed her brow. "I say we all share some of this fancy-fancy wellwater together before we go running off somewhere else, hm? 'Less one of you's scared of sharing drinks and the like."

[Outisakanobody]

Grace frowned despite herself. The constant requests forprivacy proved rather grating. She found herself standing abruptly, sending a none too subtle glare Blood's way as she made for the door. "Well i suppose I have served my usefulness and will grant thelovely couple their requested privacy." she says, directing her bile at Blood still as she tried to move past him.

[twostepsback]

"Sorry I scared you, sir... I forget how light my step is sometimes..." Charis trails off as she takes in Milo's scars. "... That's a lot of scars..." Charis remarks flatly, as she mentally notes Milo's cringing posture. "The last time I saw this amount of scarring, it was on war veteran... Something tells me that's not the case with you." Charis observes with a concerned look on her face.

[Unter]

Francois listened to the sister while still giving a corner look at Milo. He was clearly displeased by the lack of courtesy of Charis, courtesy he himself lacked. "Hmf. And can we have the pleasure of knowing your name, Sister? We are at a disadvantage, starting the conversation on our looks while your idendity is unknown to us."

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

The Ex-Lord gave an indifferent shrug, as he looked at the water with a skeptical brow; trying to divine as much critique as he could of the rather plain substance, though he found himself dreadfully short on words, come time to describe it.

Albeit, as he made to speak in countenance, Grace rose and left with an ever signature brusqueness that was becoming somewhat tolerable, like the sting of alcohol. Lekalis watched her as she went, though spared no time in slipping into the confines of the Bath-house, to stand sidelong with Tilly.
"... We're not... that obvious, are we?" He muttered to her, though he sported a cheeky and toothsome grin all the same just before he turned away to hide it from public prying eyes.

He thought on the words she spake; Tilly, that is, primely on the topic of their haste in the morning. While he wasn't opposed, part of him wouldn't mind breaking their morning with something more mellow. Especially considering the rather unwanted nature of Brenton.

Doubtless, he would need to have words with the man: dismissal or counselling, it would take the morning, he knew.

None to mention the more present matter at hand; not of a Lover's friend's ire, but of the presumed cursed nature of Tilly. Lekalis refused to acknowledge the situation as definite, though, the evidence was stacked against him high as any castle wall.

With a deep, weighted breath, he quietly nudged Tilly's arm with his elbow, as he made to enter the Bathhouse, Lekalis' features, while ever casual, held a wan of shadow in his brow and inkish eyes that were cast to the ground in rumination... 

//

[rumsztyk]

Milo shot a brief glare at Charis - weirdly enough, it was a hateful one. "I'm fine." He said, very insistently.

But after this momentary outburst, uneasiness came back and his eyes were studying the Abbey floor very thoroughly.

[twostepsback]

"Whoops... I apologize for the lapse in manners." Charis ruefully remarks. "My name is Sister Charis." She then turns back to Milo and says. "I'm not judging you, sir. What's happened in the past is not for me to judge."

[Unter]

Francois is quickly pleased by the apologetic sound in Charis "I accept your apologies. I am Francois Louis Xavier de Paladines, and this is... well I will let him present himself." He turned to Milo. "With the respect due to a sister, of course." He smiled, his face smoothening up.
"So, I've been wanting to ask. What can you tell me of this place ? I'm freshly arrived, and I want to know what we will be facing." He fully expects to fight monsters in the Hamlet.

[rumsztyk]

"I'm Milo... Sister." He says briefly, scratching the back of his head and looking back at Charis, if only for a while. After that, he returns to being uncomfortable, his eyes now wandering in all directions rapidly, looking around the Abbey.