2017-04-17: Escape to the Abbey
- Log: Escape to the Abbey
- Cast: Lily Keil, Leon Albus
- Where: Curan Abbey
- Date: April 17, 2017
- Summary: Leon and Lily, after meeting with Jude, decide to get out of Adlehyde for a few hours to play it safe, and discuss their options.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
This ancient monastery looks gorgeous right now from the outside, and outside is where Leon and Lily find themselves after a trip to the stables. Great stone walls, beautiful stained glass, dramatic architecture...
It suits Lily at least, still wearing red and still wearing her red gloves and generally with that sort of... expression, in her golden eyes, in the way her black hair hangs. She's still pale, looking up to the open doors ahead at this hour.
She took Leon's suggestion to heart, about getting out of Adelhyde, and rode hard the first while out. Where they actually ended up was more of a collaboration... And Lily has a lot of logic to be here.
She looks to Leon beside her, shifts her satchel on her shoulder. A little worn book and a bunch of vials are packed carefully away with her other things now, including still her pistol.
But Leon won't have seen Lily often among such things, and as she starts inside, a nun starts towards them.
"Two travellers. Are you here to pay respects?"
Lily answers before Leon, for once, "I would appreciate that, Sister, but may we have a place to sit and talk, first? It's been a dusty ride." Her voice is low and quiet, but smooth and clear.
"...Very well, child."
In short order they are led through a side chamber, a waiting room with a few chairs, and some privacy. "Here you are," the nun says. "After you've had a chance to rest, we can speak."
They'll have questions, naturally.
But Lily takes off her satchel and sits in one of the chairs, letting out a sigh as she does, staring to the side into nothing. It's not quite her usual brooding.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon whistles, lowly, when he sees the Abbey. It was a hard ride to here, but he didn't mind in the slightest. He suggested they get away from Adlehyde, to think and to throw anyone following them off the trail. He has dust on his grey coat, now, and he tries to shake it off before he steps through the door. His eyes meet the nun's, and he stays quiet when Lily speaks for them. "My thanks," he says, before he follows after Lily. He sits down, sinking into his chair, and lets out a long, low sigh of his own.
His silver eyes meet hers. He wonders what they will tell the nuns. He isn't religious -- and certainly not in the faith of the Nisan Orthodoxy, even if it isn't uncommon in Kislev. "That was close," he says. "Though..."
He frowns, momentarily. "...I expected a second meeting with that man to go far worse than it did."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily found the hard ride bracing; yes, she wasn't feeling well, but even so. It wasn't particularly a physical affliction anyway, even if it felt that way, and she can recognize that, though it was hard to check her vitals like this.
There's dust on her boots, too, but she walks through the monastery with her head high, as if accustomed to it. ...And, well, it's not the first time either of them have walked somewhere with road dust.
But here they are, and Lily's golden eyes meet Leon's with a look that answers his thought to begin with, tat she's thought of that. She already knows of something they can tell the nuns. ...Lily, though she doesn't discuss it or show many signs, is religious. For that matter, she doesn't even discuss it with Leon.
It's complicated.
"...Exactly," Lily answers, "It wasn't close enough. I..." She sighs, again, leaning bac into her chair back. "That man is..." Lily shakes her head. "I can't believe him. I can't believe that it would be him, of all people."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"That... I can see it," Leon says, as he leans back. "As he said. It draws attention -- and from those who would do someone harm. He may not have had someone to share the secret with. Keeping himself safe... it may have hade him into the person that he is."
He sighs, before he looks back down at his hands. "...Not that it makes him any less of a pain to us," he says, looking down. His frown sharpens then. "Nor some of his behaviors."
Leon still has the receipt in his coat pocket. He intends to demand his money back.
He looks up at Lily, then. His expression is calm; he had a hard ride and a few hours to work this out in his head, to be used to the idea. "You want to go talk to him about this, don't you?" he asks. "About... everything."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"..." Lily leans forward again, elbows on her legs, her hair falling past her shoulders and down in front of her on the sides. Her hands lace together, and her eyes stay on Leon.
"...What you're saying..." Lily lets her head fall downward a little more. "You're suggesting I could've become like him."
His behaviors are pretty infuriating. But they aren't what keens her for now.
Lily looks up again in time for Leon to look at her; while he has had hours to work it out, there are aspects that stick, for Lily, that don't let her keep going on ahead.
But this?
"Yes," Lily answers Leon immediately. "He may be awful, but he's the first person like me I've ever met. I need answers. I need to know. And..." She looks down, "Maybe he knows more than I do. About..." She hesitates. "About where I may have come from. Maybe being... whatever this is, isn't random."
There's something very quietly hopeful among the dim of her voice.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Not entirely," Leon says. "I don't think anything could make you like him. But the reason he felt he needed to lie and trick people... I can see how this would have pushed him towards it."
He frowns, and then he shakes his head. He meets her eyes then -- and he knows. He knew the moment that Jude implied it. Lily has never had answers about why she can do what she can do. She has never learned the truth, or even found a sliver of it, and he knows how it bothers her.
They may both be orphans, but there was a greater question about where Lily came from.
"It's worth asking," he agrees, quietly. "But we'll need to be careful. He may be more complicated, now... but I still don't trust him. Not yet."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Mm," Lily answers. She inclines her head a little at Leon's correction. "...You're right. I don't have the temperament. But it could have..." Pause. "It did take me to extremes."
She's already done things she isn't proud of to safeguard her secret.
Lily makes not so much as a moment of doubt about the fact that she wants to go. That she will; Leon can see it, and Lily can tell that he's seen it, something clearer than words ever manage to be for her. This isn't new; this isn't strange.
Lily places her hands in her lap as she sits up... But slouches. "Mm..." He does agree with her, but...
"...I guess you're protecting me again," she says softly, with a little melancholy. "It's so hard to be careful with this. Even if he'd told us it was a trap I would have to walk into it."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon nods, once. He has seen those extremes -- and has gone to a few of his own. Of course, he knows, he also tries to make it so she doesn't have to. He failed her, there, though. His silver eyes look away for a moment.
But then he catches the slouch, and he looks back.
"We protect each other," he says quietly. "We have to watch the other's back. Right now, there isn't anyone else to do so." Not since the Black Wolves died -- and he doesn't know, yet, that he can trust Bart, Josie, or the others that much, even if a part of him hopes.
Leon looks at her, then he nods. "So I want to come with you. And... let's ask some people. Let's see what we can learn about who he is. So far, he knows more about us than we know about him. Let's try to change that."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily doesn't see it that way, of course; there's nothing of failure in Leon to her. But she catches Leon looking away. Before she can say anything though, he's already looking back.
The answer he gives her makes her look bak his way more clearly, distant topaz eyes focusing a little more on him. "Mm," she says first. They watch one another's backs. She thinks the same, of those others who could have done so and are gone. She hopes as much as he does, for those they know.
"I..." Lily is quiet at Leon's request and his suggestions. It's clear that she's thinking about it, and eventually nodding.
"You're the Captain," she says wryly, if with little feeling behind it. She doesn't smile; she instead takes another breath, and nods. "If you come with me, then we're both caught in whatever trap it might be. ...But to be honest, I would feel better with you there if it isn't. And you being there, I'm less likely to do something rash."
Lily bites her lip, before, "I'll protect you, too. You're the only person I really trust." Even her father... Well, "But..."
Lily leans against the back of the chair again. "It had to be talking. Can't I just do surgery?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon smiles a little more, when Lily admits she might do something rash. He knows which of the two of them is more likely to do something terribly impulsive. He leans forward and reaches a hand out, laying it over the top of hers. Then, he nods. "I'm aware" he says.
His smile doesn't fade, when she says she trusts him. He knew that already, of course. Nor does it fade when she leans back and complains.
"It is hard to avoid," he says. "Talking is the only way we can learn more, in this case. And we both want to learn more." Which includes him; he would be a liar to say that he doesn't wonder how she has this power or where she might be from.
"I can talk to a few people," he says. "Ask around town. Even if Moshe hears we're asking about him... I think he should expect us to."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily knows, too, and she knows it's definitely her. For a moment she just watches Leon smile, though, expression softer than her usual just a little. Whn his hand rests on hers, though, she nods back. "...Of course." Of course he's aware.
And she was sure complaining, something she never does so openly... But the fact that he's smiling through that is something she spots.
"Yes, you're right," she says, ruefully. But he suggests what he can do, and she nods. "I can start with Josie. I need to talk to her about something regardless." A beat, "I think you're right. He should expect it."
"I'll... deal with talking to him. Maybe I can get some information about him beforehand." She stops, and then frowns.
"Why did it have to be him?" she says again, and sighs.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"If he has half a wit, and given that he managed to trick us before... he better," Leon sighs.
He rubs at his forehead, between his eyes, and then looks at Lily. The smile stays, though it fades a little. He nods to her. "You can. But... I don't know why it had to be him," he says. "A twist of fate, maybe. They haven't usually gone our way, of late."
He looks out the window of the room, onto the well-manicured grounds of Curan Abbey. It is a grim, cynical thought to be having in a place of worship -- but neither God nor the Guardians have done much for him, of late. He lets it rest, before he looks back at her.
"Are you ready to face the nuns?" he asks.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
There's a little exhalation that might be the ghost of a laugh from Lily at Leon's comment about Jude. It's a dark sort of humor, but then, that's the kind she favors on her own. She doesn't sanything about it, though.
The smile can only last so long; Lily was glad for it while it lasted, whether she looked it or not... Thouh it doesn't fade just yet. Her own is long gone, however, despite the encouragement.
"Mm. Fate... I wonder if you're right?" It seems a helpless thought.
Lily looks out over the grounds, too. Not in much detail, just taking in a little bit of how they look. Her own thought she keeps to herself, until...
"I suppose it's time," she answers. "I hate to say it, but... Let me do the talking."
She waits a beat, as she takes Leon's hand in both of hers, resting the free one overtop the one on hers.
"...I'm here as a believer who needed a bit of rest. Simple, and it gives me the right to request a bit of time."
Wait, what?
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Mm, maybe."
To say that Leon lost his faith is an understatement -- and he never had much in the first place. If something is meant to be watching over him, he certainly hasn't felt its presence. He stands up, then, and looks at her. He blinks, surprised by her statement. She doesn't usually ask to do the talking. For that matter--
He squeezes her hand, even as her other one rests atop his. He looks surprised for a moment, before he nods. He doesn't know, quite, what to make of that. Her family had followed the Nisan Orthodoxy, hadn't it? His father never belonged to any church.
"All right," he says. "Lead the way, then."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily doesn't continue on talking about whether or not it was fate. Definitionally, it would be, wouldn't it?
But she knows it'll be strange for her to ask to do the talking, and waits for Leon as she does, prepared for some greater reaction... that turns out to be a squeeze of her hand and a little bit of surprise.
Surprise is fair, in her mind. Surprise she doesn't mind, and indeed she offers a small smile to him. She knows that Leon never belonged to a church, and certainly still doesn't.
With his hands in hers, Lily makes use of them to pull herself up and lets go to dust herself off and collect her things.
"All right. After me..."