| Pillows Talk |
| Summary: | Liliana and Lucienne talk matters of home and abroad as they clear out a recently vacated guest room. |
| Date: | 17/08/2011 |
| Related Logs: | None specifically. All the visitor logs generally. |
| Players: |
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| Guest Room — Terrick's Roost |
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| One of the many guest rooms at the Tower. It looks recently abandoned. |
| 17 Aug, 288 AL |
There are many places that one might expect a lady within the Tower to be found. In the receiving rooms tending to the disposition of the retainers. In the kitchens, working on the meals for the family, as well as the guests who have been flowing through the Roost like a river. Perhaps even in the courtyard, entertaining those same guests. Perhaps one of the places they might not expect to find one, is in the as yet untidied rooms left behind by the Camden retinue, lately departed to return to their holdings. But there Liliana can be found, passing the time in the stillness and quiet of the slowly emptying guest corridor by bundling up linens and putting aside other things which need to be cleaned and reset.
Other such ladies slip through the door to said room and close it quietly behind them, the latch ringing out a satisfying snick in the quiet. Lucienne follows that sound up with a short, relieved sigh, and stands with her hands still rested upon the door itself for a long moment as she drinks in the obscene loveliness of /solitude/.
Liliana looks up from where she's quick folding a sheet to throw it into a laundry basket. It seems as though she will never fully escape her rustic ways. But there actually is a precedent for this, in some odd way. It does behoove a member of the family to be present when rooms are cleared, to ensure that anything left behind by the visitor, whether of value or not, is collected and sent on to their home. "Luci. You finally escaped the jaws of the stewart, I see."
"Oh!" The dark-haired Terrick girl very nearly jumps right out of her skin, hands slapping on the door to punctuate her exclamation. She spins round, body following the crane of her neck. "Lil!" A few heavy breaths later, Lucienne has enough wits to finish her sentence. "You scared me half to death, girl. What're you doing in… here. Let me lend you a hand?"
"I am sorry, Luci, I didn't mean to frighten you." She pauses, in mid pull of the next sheet, considering the question, "Hiding." Clearly. If this were a normal event, she would be overseeing, and a retainer would be doing this. As it is, Liliana's Elise is sitting out in the hall now, having found the door locked, when she returned from the room across the hall with another empty clothes basket. no doubt the girl's ear was to the door to check on who exactly might be in the room with her lady, but all seems well as she isn't banging on the door demanding admittance, "Certainly, if you like. I just couldn't be down there any longer."
And now Elise has company, two of Lucienne's favourite girls hovering and gossiping and giggling. "It's not your fault, dear. Meanwhile… is it just me, or are you also finding that our favourite 'hiding' spots aren't so quiet lately?" Lu crosses to the head of the bed, reaching to rid a pillow of its slip. She folds the slip neatly, and offers it out for the basket.
Liliana lifts the basket, holding out to receive the slip, before she sets it down on the now bare pillow, better to be close to Lucienne's hand, "I don't think there is such a thing as quiet anymore. To be sure, I was overjoyed to have my family here. But all of these others. Poor Lady Igara was such a sweet thing and no trouble, but I have spent the last seven day waiting on eggshells wondering when that Oldstones group would come to blows with the Naylands. And those Banefort Ladies." The way Lili says it, is sure sign that ladies isn't the word she'd prefer to use. "I don't see how Anais managed to put up with them for all those years." A moment, as bites her lip, "That was very uncharitable of me…wasn't it?"
Lucienne begins to shake out the pillow, beating and pulling it to fluffy perfection before setting it back down. "The Lady Igara," she says, the words strained with the effort of prepping the pillow, "Was a most exquisite guest. As for the rest… they have their moments, I suppose. I still can't believe the Young Lord Ryker graced us with his presence so soon after the surly Ser Rygar. What a /treat/." Another pillow is freed of its slip. As for charitable… "It's alright, dear. We all need to vent sometimes. I do wonder which, if any, of them will be staying on to try their luck with my other lord brothers?" The way she phrases invites opinion.
"If he had not been looking to draw sword on the Knight of Oldstones at first opportunity, I would have found Young Lord Ryker quite pleasant dinner company. He was uncommonly gracious to me." Which might well have been a Nayland ruse, but they shall never know. "The lady, I believe, is still with us. Though I believe she will soon be returning to Stonebridge, now that her troubles have passed. I imagine she must be eager to return to the Lady of Stonebridge." A hand reaches out, to take the slip, allowing Lucienne to deal with the pillow itself, "I would imagine every one of them will attempt to make their stay as extended as possible. With Lord Jacsen so lately returned to the Roost particularly. He is fair to look upon," is Lili's opinion, "and he has the potential of a connection to Seagard. And I know for certain that there is one of them…the eldest, I believe, the one who always looks decidedly sour in the morning," yes, she really is shameless, "has not been able to take her eyes from Ser Jarod since she arrived. And he would be quite a coup."
A dip of her head marks Lucienne's thanks as she offloads the slip to Liliana and takes up the pillow. "I personally would prefer to dine with Ser Rygar, from what I've seen and heard of both. I must admit, most of my opinions of Lord Ryker are… clouded by hearsay." She begins to stretch and fluff again, eyes staying on the other lady. "Fair?" The question comes with the amusement that is to be expected. "Only fair, Liliana? Come now - isn't the Lord Jacsen one of the most handsome men you've ever set your lady eyes upon?" Is she joking? Her tone is unclear, and her affection for her brother is well-known. "I fear any lass looking to hook Ser Jarod Rivers, though, has an uphill climb on a muddy slope ahead of her."
The slip is folded, set into the basket, before Liliana turns to the next pillow, working that slip off as well. There are four in all, as she shakes the pillow out of the slip, setting it aside and taking the heavy feather-filled rectangle between her hands, "I must admit, I saw little of Ser Rygar, save for when we met him on the road. But he was gracious, in his way. Lord Ryker…takes easy offense, it seems to me. he is quick to assume insult to his family name." Slap, slap, slap, the sound coming between words, as Lili beats the pillow back into shape. "Well," Liliana considers the question of the second eldest Terrick trueborn son carefully, "Before he returned, I might have been given to name Lord Jaremy the most handsome of your brothers, Luci. But now that I have had occasion to see Lord Jacsen for myself," he having been long in Seagard for the entirety of Liliana's fostering at the Roost, "I would have to give the naming to him. There is something subtle in him that outshines Lord Jaremy." The third pillow is set aside, before she holds out the fourth, for Luci to pull the slip off. "But it would be your Lord Father's choice to marry his son, and not Ser Jarod's. But think on it. If he were to marry a trueborn Lady, he would take not only her name, and her noble title," making him Lord Ser Jarod, "but his children of her would as well take her name. And yet he would remain here, likely as not, and so the Baneforts would have a branch of the family with their name within the Roost. A branch of the family who's noble position is contingent upon their good graces, but whose position allows him control of the safety of the Tower. That is a powerful political weapon. How quickly did the Lord Banefort send his daughters to seek out Lord Jaremy's favour? As to like vultures, smelling carrion and seeking a feast. Would you put it above them to attempt to cement their position within the Roost so decisively?"
Lucienne finishes beating her latest pillow into submission, and sets it down in a stark contrasting gentle manner. There, there, pillow. The Terricks sister's smile dawns proudly as Liliana speaks of the lads, something oddly smug about her expression. She sets that all aside however, as she reaches to help unslip the last pillow. Her smile wanes in favor of a more thoughtful curve, eyes shifting upwards as she contemplates all that Liliana has to say. "That's an interesting theory," she finally provides, folding up the slip carefully and placing it in the basket. "I would have thought that a mere swoon was the most capable any of the Banefort sisters - aside from our soon-to-be Terrick, Anais - is. I will find it perhaps even more interesting now, to see who remains. And what of Master Caytiv Hill? He's found himself fortunate in these matters, has he not?"
And the final pillow goes to Liliana, the woman taking no small amount of pleasure in abusing the but of fabric and feather back into proper condition, "You are laughing at me," Liliana offers, at the smug look on Lucienne's face. But no matter, she seems accustomed enough with it to soldier on as she has need to, "It seems to me, that the Lord Banefort's reach is long indeed, and he well controls the actions of his daughters from afar." A moment, as she thinks on the final Banefort blooded guest, "Certainly so. He gains an opportunity to be raised to knighthood, in a House that seems inclined to treat bastards better than most would. And he has the freedom to watch over the Banefort interests in the meantime. But, having had occasion to speak to him, I find him to be personable enough, even with his ofttimes uncouth ways."
"Never, dear Lili," protests Lucienne on the breath of an actual laugh. "You need not be so obedient as to agree with /my/ every word - however I do concur about my lord brother's subtle appeal. And as for Caytiv Hill… uncouth. Why, my girl, have you heard the chambermaids gossip about the lad? Merely looking at him is a threat to a lady's virtue, if they're to be believed. I hear he shows no restraint with his lady sister in public, too. Ah, the Westerlands, hmmm? Different people." The bed now stripped, she latches hands at either side of the basket and takes possession of it. "I'll see this to the laundry, Lil. If you wish to tarry here for a bit of peace, I can leave Hattie to keep your Elise occupied for a time?"
"Even I am not that obedient, Luci, as your Lord Father is want to remind me." There is no doubt that there is true and genuine affection for the Lord who saw fit to open his home to this daughter of a much reviled House in Liliana's voice and person. "I have indeed heard the gossip, but I think it is far worse than that. If the gossip is to be believed, he is slowly working his way through every one of them in turn, and he has no shred of shame in that. But as you speak of his lady sister, I have seen that with my own eyes. There are moments he acts the proper knight in training, and others that cause me to wonder if he has taken leave of his senses." A frown, as Lucienne retrieves the basket, "if you have a wish to escape to the laundries, I will allow you to make your way there, and Elise would be glad of a companion. But you came here for your bit peace. Are you sure you do not wish to hide here in peace for a while longer?"
"Ah, the Lord Jerold Terrick," muses Lucienne, no small amount of affection there, too. "His words sting, don't they? I'm truly sorry if you've had cause to suffer his ire, Lili. Take heart in that you are not the first, nor will you be the last to suffer his smarting scold." She hoists up the basket to hip-height, her brows lifting upwards too. "That bad, is this Master Hill? I shall make sure to keep my eyes on the ground in his presence, then. For shame! I'll take this, Lili." The basket is indicated with a shift. "I've need to speak with Ailsa there about a dress of mine. I've had all the peace I need in your refreshing and lovely company, my lady." There's a pause, and a warm and genuine smile, and then the Lady Terrick starts with the basket towards the door.
"What ire I have had from him was entirely of my own doing. And I deserved the sting of his words. But, I have resolved to do better by him, and not to make light of the affection and hospitality he has shown me." Liliana moves, to make her way to the door, to see to the unlatching and opening of it, as Lucienne has hands full, "That bad, or so I have heard. Perhaps you should consider investing in the purchase of a veil. Or half a dozen." Humour and an answering smile, as she opens the door, "Your gracious company is always welcome, Lady Lucienne, and I am never so busy with my duties that I cannot find the time to entertain you with the word I hear in the corridors." And isn't that one of the duties of a Lady-in-Waiting? To pass along the 'happenings' of the House to the Ladies of that House? "Be well, my lady."
"Ah, my Lili - a sweet heart if ever a lady has had one. Thank you," bids Lucienne, for the opening of the door. She contains another laugh to just a breath through her nose, and continues to smile warmly at the other girl. "How glad I am that you've been sent to us, my dear. Be well, also." She slips back out the door gracefully, even laden with the basket. A few words are whispered to Hattie, who takes great delight in being bid to stay with Elise, though the other handmaiden bears a frown that's quickly schooled neutral. The gossip! The giggles! Will have to wait. She harrumphs at the two, and sashays after Lady Lucienne toward the laundry.
