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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 3, 2018 1:24:19 GMT -8
Florence leaned forward to begin writing: she began with a single bullet and let the words follow afterwards as she spoke.
"To speak with the Red One, you must make a small incision and allow it to bleed, and then to consume the blood. Do not undertake this lightly-- do not undertake this measure yourself, at all, if you do not have to. Allow someone else to commune with this Red One, preferably one with more experience in dealing with these unnatural beings."
She paused until she finished writing, and then marked the second bullet,
"Tilly is approximately..." There was another pause for a brief moment of silent arithmetic, "Four months into her gestation, maybe five: halfway. The nausea should have subsided, but she may experience joint and back pain-- iperlordosi lombare, an excessive... spinal curve forward. Beginning today, do not permit her to stand for more than four hours at a time, or to lift heavy objects, so as to limit permanent spinal and joint damage. Prepare for the child to be born between November and December; visit another physician regularly if I do not return."
She added a third bullet,
"I shall leave you my notes. You may share them with Adeney and others whom you deem trustworthy. Continue to interview and observe Audrey and record changes in her mental and physical statuses. Endeavor to keep her mind stimulated so as to model normal human psychological growth. She will need specialized shoes to walk without her toes, but given time, she may learn to adapt without them."
The quill was dropped into the inkwell as Florence sat up.
"Do you have any questions?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 3, 2018 1:32:05 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"None."
He understood clearly as he watched Florence write with some sombriety given the nature of the topic at hand. Lekalis reread the bulleted instructions again and nodded, glancing to Florence... he made to reread them a fourth time for her sanity before he sighed and stroked his chin and reclined back.
It was certainly a curious will, but a will all the same, he supposed.
Lekalis reached out and patted Florence's hand,
"Do try not to die though; it'd be a hassle to find another physician worthy of trust, especially here." He offered logically and with a knowing smile,
"... Speaking of Audrey, have you checked on her today?" Lekalis inquired forwardly, as he made to turn the notes to face him so he might read them better.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 3, 2018 10:15:28 GMT -8
"It is my intent to continue living, and I shall endeavor to do so." Florence nodded, making to cap the unwell once she was satisfied that all Lekalis needed to know from her, in the short-term, was laid out plainly on the page between them.
"I will visit her after we have finished here. And I will remain in the Hamlet until you have married. Afterwards, I shall depart."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 8, 2018 6:22:20 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
Florence's words were stark and harsh to swallow, a familiar and bitter prescription that he'd grown numb to as he read the words she'd written. There was a moment of sudden weariness that crossed the Ex-Lord's features as he nodded quietly to the Good Doctor's intonement of her intents this evening. Perfectly planned, as per quo, he supposed.
"I see..." he offered quietly, a touch of sadness in his tone as he smoothed out the papyrus for no reason sans to stave of idleness, before he folded it carefully after letting the ink dry and tucked it dutifully into his satchel.
"... Depart... to the Cove?" Lekalis inquired soberly, nodding with a glint in his eye,
"I think I have an idea of where you must go."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 11, 2018 21:26:42 GMT -8
With satisfaction Florence watched him stow the notes safely away; it improved the likelihood that he would be able to return to them at a later point. And it was the last of her things that she had to stow away, until...
...until Lekalis's wedding, that is. That was her final obligation, and it did not even involve tedium or drudgery.
She looked down at her ungloved hands and consciously interlinked them, feeling the skin there.
"What idea do you have, and how did you get it?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 11, 2018 21:46:57 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
His satchel opened and he spied the crystal glasses of wine there, yet unbroken and lingering still... He felt stricken with a sense of melancholy before he sighed and shut his eyes against the momentary wash of emotion before he stowed the notes betwixt them so they might clatter less noisily.
Though he never could get them to be utterly quiet, no matter the stuffing.
He gave a small and curious "Hm?", as his now tired eyes swept over his person and over the inkpot and quill Florence had used, checking if anything needed to be immediately put away before his gaze swept up and across Florence's sat frame with some small and warm smile.
"When I'd gone out on an expedition to the Cove, recently... I felt a pull, an ushering along. No doubt by our good paracausal ephemeral and cosmic friend in my amulet." He shrugged,
"This ushering persisted until we slayed a creature of snakes and shells... I saw the Red One guiding Tilly to lay the killing blow, wherein it looked to consume whatever energies the creature had in a blinding flash of light... Though, I still felt the urging; there was something further along that the Red One wanted; below the waters, Deep and bulbous. I... still sometimes see it when I look into water and close my eyes."
"I still yearn to go back, to see just what he wants killed..." There was a bloodlust in the glimmer of his eye as his smile waned some and he sighed, the glimmer flickering away just as he palmed his brow lightly with a yawn.
"... I reckon I'll wander there before the month is through."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 12, 2018 2:26:16 GMT -8
The dark eyes of Florence's widened under furrowed brows as she stared intently at that flash of red-- a color that she had accepted to be undetectable by her eyes. Until now.
She almost seemed not to be listening, in that moment, straining to see something behind Lekalis's eye.
But she caught the last words, evidently:
"...What? No!" She rose onto her knees and shuffled forward to grasp at his hand that touched his brow; she made gently to angle it downwards, away from his face.
Her other hand was warm as it pressed its thumb to his cheek, and the index finger above the eyebrow, so as to spread the eyelids well open and see on its inside.
"You will... not. No. You must stay here. Do not wander." She insisted, almost frantically as her eyes searched his for the last vestiges of that fleeting crimson.
"It is your duty to avoid risks to the best of your ability. There are now those who depend on you to stay alive."
In resignation, she made to sit back down on her heels.
"You will be married, soon; you will have a family, and a warm house. Indulge now in the life that few are privileged to lead."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 12, 2018 2:44:19 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Wha-Hey!" Lekalis began and fumbled with his fingers as Florence lunged forward and grabbed his face, his eyes shot open and whatever tired malaise lingered on his shoulders vanished with a short giggle of surprise before he lightly grabbed at Florence's wrist. Lekalis had tried to lean back in an attempt to escape Florence's surgical grips, but she moved with surprise on her side.
So, he was stuck tilted back a ways, with his legs in a mess as he'd tried to unbind them to escape her sudden strike.
The glimmer had seemed to wan an vanish but... with Florence's rather lacking contrast of color, and perhaps most importantly, her surgical eye; she could yet spy the flicker of red, twisting and coiling like a strand of iron. It pointed North.
It took a moment, but Lekalis eventually got over himself and Florence's touch,
"I... I understand; I won't wander too far... But that beach was brimming with loot, and I'd like to scour it. I won't go alone... I promise." Lekalis assured her as his tone softened from surprise to kind consideration, and his thumb move to curl into her palm. His fingers eased around her knuckles and he idly fascinated himself with the practiced pulls and tenses of the bone and sinew there.
"... And it's "We"; we're leading this privileged Life. I wouldn't be here without you...", he tried to subtly bit his lower lip as he glanced away and sniffed quietly.
It passed quickly, and his eyes looked back to Florence, his brow knitting up to match hers;
"... What are you looking at?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 12, 2018 3:19:03 GMT -8
"My facilitating of your current life does not make it mine. It brings me joy to watch you develop your household in spite of your unfortunate circumstances, and it is generous of you to invite me into it. I gladly anticipate to see what new opportunities and decisions become available to you without the threat of your Curse, or your Assassins."
Florence squinted into his eye, committing to memory as much detail of the sliver of red as she could.
"It is unwise to risk death just before you escape your Curse. It is unwise to risk death at all when a woman and child are dependent on you. I will retrieve the beach loot on your behalf, but I will be very disappointed and concerned if I find that you have visited the beach."
She sighed, relinquished his face at last.
"You have a streak of red across your cornea. I have not noticed it before: it is now the only red I have seen since I last wore the Amulet."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 12, 2018 3:28:33 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He held Florence's hand close to his face for a second longer, before he let it go and assumed to sit a bit more straight as he let his hands rest in his lap. She made a fair retort, but he still felt the need to insist his Life was yet hers to have as she desired... But he understood her sentiment and rationality, so he nodded and ceded his thoughts on the matter.
"With all due respect, Florence... I've more experience at scrounging for loot than you; I've scoured battlefields and lairs and caves and ruins... and other locales, far more successfully and abundantly." Lekalis nodded and patted Florence's shoulder,
"At the very least, come with me when I go to loot the beach..? I could purchase a horse to see to my safety of retreat." He posed with a shrug.
Again, though, he nodded at her closing words;
"You think it is the Red entity?", he remarked with surprisingly laxitude, though he did idly itch nervously at the brow where Florence had spread.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 12, 2018 3:36:01 GMT -8
"Yes. I think it is." Florence confirmed with a grim nod as she made to settle more comfortable into a sitting position after her aggressive examination of Lekalis's eye.
"I would predict it is the Red One that causes you to be so insistent on visiting the beach. You admitted that he urges for you to slay a creature at that location, and your red mark upon your eye appeared as you began to speak about it. This is more reason for you to not visit the beach."
She stared at him intently.
"Do not go to the beach. To slay as the Red One demands is no longer your responsibility, as I have assured him I will do so. Promise me you will not go to the beach."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 12, 2018 3:44:32 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
The Ex-Lord frowned and shook his head slowly as he watched her relax some,
"It may be more of a reason not to visit the beach, but the fact remains I'll be better suited to explore it than you." He huffed as he crossed his arms a bit testily.
"I can promise not to go forth and slay any creatures, but if I'm able to procure yet more funds for me and my Love before the Wedding, it will be by visiting the beach myself." Lekalis sighed and let his arms undo themselves as he pushed back some stray strands of hair, he looked back to his cloak for a moment then to Florence.
"I will also need to start gathering friends and allies... A simple expedition for plunder is the safest and most efficient means to strengthen some bonds."
He stood, then,
"I do it because it is my duty to care for and supply my Love and child. Not to slay some creature." he grumbled as he made to retrieve his cloak.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 12, 2018 4:01:55 GMT -8
"Why do you credit me with your life, and then avoid my advice on how to preserve it? Do you expect treasures to remain unguarded so near the Cove's great evil?" Florence queried hastily, as she watched with alarm and dread as Lekalis began to collect his cloak.
"Now you will embark before your wedding?" She was horrified, and began to stand.
"Where are you going?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Dec 12, 2018 4:12:18 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He paused as he collected his cloak and idly examined the grime collected on the red silk, he quickly turned to look at Florence and cleared his throat,
"I've followed your advice best I can, as often as I can... But you said it yourself, you don't own my Life." Lekalis nodded as he flourished his cloak about his shoulders and fixed the clasps.
"I'm not expecting the treasures to remain unguarded... It's why I said I'd bring allies and comrades. And you, hopefully. And a horse." Lekalis listed off, some of the growing frustration came through in his shorter words and the harsh means at which he bound his cloak fast about himself.
"I'd like to embark before the wedding so I might have a font of funds to hire more guards at the wedding, and to reinforce my home with strong locks, barred windows."
With a stiffled yawn, he lightly motioned up the stairs,
"Tilly is sleeping in the shack... I mean to join her?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Dec 12, 2018 4:27:54 GMT -8
At the flourish of the grey cloak Florence even visibly seemed to accept defeat.
"I would exchange my time, my sight and my life in my effort to free your soul, and you are willing to risk everything in the name of wealth."
She sighed and pushed back slicked locks of stringy hair away from her forehead as she turned to the table to attend to her own mask and gloves.
There was little reason to remain in this room once this meeting had concluded.
"Very well. I am unlikely to convince you otherwise. Go attend to Tilly."
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