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Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:25 am
by Anton
Freed from any need to maintain the charade of sight, Anton's attention upon it lapsed. Leaning back in his chair, he idly toyed with the knife he had earlier used to slice the pear while considering the Lysanrin's questions. Again, he was struck by how bizarre the entire situation was. While it was clear that Florian was a tool of the State, Eitan had evidently failed in his duty to hone that blade for any sort of political usage. He had started to become obsessed over that question, wondering just why the Commander - himself a scion of a prominent family - had thrown someone so ill prepared into a very different sort of arena than he had trained for.
"I'm afraid that you've put me into something of a difficult spot, private. If I answer you fully, I will bore you with my unending prattle. If I answer you briefly, I will frustrate you with the inane nonsense of people who have never struggled as you have." He seemed genuinely put out by the impasse, face crunching as he thought how best to proceed. "But as far as coordinating, well, that's somewhat embarrassing. I had assumed I could do that with you, but that was before I realized you were simply Private Florian Albrecht. No more, no less. I trust that I can at least leave a message for him with you though?"
He deeply hoped that the answer to that at least was a yes. It would be more than a little embarrassing to have to call directly upon the Angevin manor after so publicly fetching the son's subordinate. Babbling about minutiae at least let him finish composing his thoughts.
"The party we attended was more than my introduction to society," he said slowly. "It was also yours. Men who only knew you as a name in a report, a resource to be directed, saw you for the first time as a living, breathing thing. I am certain that Eitan impressed upon you the importance of your best behavior in their presence, for your own safety if nothing else. We play a similar game among ourselves, but with vastly lower stakes. I must visit the airship to be seen on the airship. Similarly, I must hide that I am blind to prevent others from knowing I am blind. I understand that you do not care about this at all, but it is what is expected of me. To appear a vigorous and healthy son of Zaichaer able to support the State, not a sheltered invalid who will only drain it. You, of course, have greater concerns. If you are still confused however, I suggest you ask the Commander to explain. The Angevins know all too well the importance of appearances."
Anton raised his head to make eye contact, more or less, with Florian, the slightest hint of a smile on his face as he spoke again. "I also think that I would enjoy it. The airship, I mean. To stand above the world, even if for only a time. I have spent more than enough time in ancient estates, don't you think?"
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 9:21 pm
by Florian
Florian outstretched his hand for another strawberry, but decided to retract it before he stole more of Anton's breakfast. He was confused by his response to his behavior. It seemed no matter how far he pushed the envelope, how far he tried to stretch the rules of etiquette he did know, it was only amusing for the sequestered man. It was all too likely that it was because he was sequestered that he thought Florian interesting — he could hazard a guess that no one in his life had ever been as blatantly rude to him as he had decided to be. He didn't think he was a particularly rude person, either, but something about Anton's manner made him think the worst.
"I can bring him a message, certainly." He saw Eitan at least every few days, and often days and days in a row. Anton confirmed his suspicion that he just wanted to leave the estate, at least. He seemed to just like to talk, and talk, and Florian couldn't argue that being spoken to like another person wasn't enjoyable, even if it garnered some suspicion. If he didn't want to offend Eitan, then maybe it made sense that he was being polite. At least he seemed to be enjoying the conversation and his own confusion at the state of things. Florian had not been subtle about the implications of his use of magic, but Anton also did not seem too concerned with that fact. Perhaps he was alike with Brenner and Stefan in that as long as he used it to further the goals of the State, it was okay.
"I suppose," Florian said in response to the implication that the Angevins had particularly pressing concerns about appearances. He knew as much that Eitan was a bastard, but he was also a bastard, and it seemed a thing that only the particularly esteemed or wealthy would ever concern themselves about it. Something about being old and bored seemed to lead to extensive gossip and arcane rules.
"I don't frequently visit these ancient estates, but I can't say I prefer my apartment. If you give me a letter, I can give it to Commander Angevin the next time I see him." Florian refrained from mentioning how frequently he saw him.
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:29 am
by Anton
The lack of concern in Florian's voice brought another smile to Anton's face, the young noble finding himself relaxing around the Lysanrin despite everything he had been told to think about their twice-traitorous kind. "Perhaps it's for the best, Private Albrecht, if you never come to care about the petty trifles that those of us who live in these ancient estates spend our time worrying over. This is... refreshing." To his own surprise, he wasn't even lying out of a desire to be polite. While there were rougher sorts among his father's associates, and certainly the soldiers had a coarse tongue, he was always introduced to them in carefully choreographed settings. This was different.
"I am glad to hear I have not made a complete fool of myself either," he added, one hand feeling among a stack of papers at his side of the table. A particularly smooth sensation under his hand alerted him to the cream-colored envelope he had put his response to Eitan inside, the letter sealed with the venerable emblem of House Michaelis. He slid it over the table with the same smooth motion he had sent Florian Angevin's own letter, not to mention the neglected bowl of sugar. "There is no particular rush, mind. I simply wished to ensure the Commander did not have some urgent errand he was too polite to worry me about. The needs of the service come first, of course."
Anton sat awkwardly for a few moments after his official business, and therefore reason to continue the conversation, was completed. Focusing as best he could on the face of his guest, he eventually resolved to speak. "Florian. So long as you wear your uniform, you will be welcome here. This is first and foremost, a soldier's house," he said, repeating the words he had spoken a week ago. "I must confess a certain concern, given what you have intimated today. I would tell you to be careful, but you know that better than most."
He paused again, turning his head down to gaze at nothing as he realized he was about to say something almost treasonous. The State decreed a position for everyone who served within it, and to question that assignment was scandalous to say the least. To suggest anything of the sort to a Lysanrin was much worse.
"You may take the strawberries with you, if you'd like," he said instead.
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:57 pm
by Florian
Florian took the envelope in hand. His rudeness had gone unpunished, and was, in fact, lauded by the young Anton Michaelis. He was an odd man for sure, and Florian found himself struggling to concentrate on the matters at hand, his mind drifting to speculation as to how he ended up the type to be amused rather than offended. In any case, he would have to find the time to deliver this to Eitan before the end of the season. Or, at least, at the beginning of it. He squirmed a bit at Anton's polite declaration that he was welcome at the estate. It was unneccessary to lie like that. He had no real reason to be so suspicious of Anton's sincerity, but it seemed that the people in his station often said things they didn't mean.
"I am capable of being concerned for myself. Thank you." He stood up with the envelope, but without the strawberries. "But I won't take any more of your breakfast." Was tacked onto his statement before. Now that the official business had been drawn out, he was ready to leave. Then came the question of how he would get home.
"Am I being taken home, or do I have to walk? I didn't bring any money for a cab or train with me." As with the rest of the conversation, Florian spoke rather plainly to Anton. The younger man did not seem to care for tact, and so he would not bother himself with it. It wasn't a walk he hadn't made before, but it would take a great deal of time. He'd even made the walk with Eitan, once, because he'd wanted to save money. But if he were going to be delivered across the city, he wanted to be delivered back.
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 6:24 am
by Anton
"Private Albrecht," Anton said in a clipped voice, unconsciously imitating his father as his tone suddenly shifted to exasperation. "Have you truly been so ill-treated since joining the service that you mistake courtesy for entrapment? Look at me, unlike myself you actually can. Do you truly think I could, or even would eat all of this? Take the bloody strawberries if you like strawberries, it's not a test." His bizarre sense of offense, matched only by his bizarre lack of it, had flared inside of him, the lordling aggravated by - of all things - the Lysanrin's attempts to be polite. At least his attention was back upon his guest, sightless eyes once more staring through rather than at Florian.
The outburst once more stirred words which he did not, dare not, speak, the treasonous thoughts threatening to burst out as his concerns reached their boiling point. But he said none of them. His composure returned mere moments after his compounded annoyances had gotten the better of him, the young heir letting out a soft sigh. When he spoke again, it was in the conversational tone he had taken for most of their time together. "Now, as you are clearly eager to be quit of this estate, you may exit the way you came. The same carriage will return you to your abode, or wherever else within the city you may wish to be deposited."
None of this had gone as Anton imagined it would, for good or for ill. What surprised him most however was the fact that he even cared whether or not a perfidious Lysanrin believed he was genuinely being kind. It galled him in a way that he could barely explain to himself that the one time he had attempted to be candid and straightforward he was nonetheless taken as a disseminating fop. Now, granted, he had been exactly that - but only until it became apparent that this particular Ashborne did not possess a duplicitous bone in his entire body. If Florian was going to shoot anyone, it would be in the front.
The sound of his guest exiting the room somehow banished all of those frustrations and concerns. He had many things he still wished to say, even ignoring his seditious fears, each crowding forward to be the last words said to the departing man. But he said none of them either. Instead, his mouth opened before his mind realized what it was going to say, one of Anton's wayward thoughts forcing itself past his mental filter. A memory, dim and half recalled, of a tale whose star held the same name as he who now took his leave.
"Florian is a fine name, worthy of a knight. Whoever gave it to you had high hopes for your life."
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2021 12:04 am
by Florian
"I see." Florian didn't take the strawberries, but this time it was more of an act. At least he didn't have to pay for his ride home, which he couldn't say the same for when he had been invited to see Thysbae at the Monteliyet estate. Anton still seemed to him as needlessly spoiled as when they first met, but now he seemed so spoiled as to be upset that Florian didn't trust his intentions.
His suspicion spiked when Anton complimented his name. He didn't think it was a jab at all. It felt like a genuine compliment, but considering he had just a week prior shared his name's origin from The Butterfly Knight with Eitan, he wasn't sure what to think, and he especially wasn't expecting it to be referenced. Not that it was a rare or uncommon book by any means. Florian stopped in the doorway and turned his head to Anton.
"And it was there, among the boughs of the trees, where the shimmering wings of fate spread before him, that he saw. His future was not carved into the blade of a sword or a hangman's noose; it flit among him, and landed upon him, and tickled his nose with brazen fragility. There was no path carved into rock for Sir Florian, as it was his alone to choose. He knew there, among the boughs of the trees, where the shimmering wings of fate spread before him, that he chose life." Florian recounted the passage from the book without a stutter, but it was not an emotionless reading. He had read the book so many times he damn near had the whole thing memorized.
"I gave it to myself." He added, before he left to return to his ostentatious ride home.
Re: Audience [Florian]
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 1:02 am
by Anton
Review
Anton
Lore: 13
Points: 10, may not be used for Magic
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None
Florian
Lore: 13
Points: 10, may not be used for Magic
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None
Notes: I thought it was okay