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 Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:26 pm
Chloe arched a brow slightly at the boy's odd-handed comment on her employment and simply let it continue. Were it not for her work at the orphanage, she may have taken him up on the offer. It would be nice to have a constant stream of income... but only if she had the children to spend it on. Besides, her Coincidence becoming her employer would cause all kinds of unpleasant restructuring of their relationship... or not, perhaps? Was Andrus that unique a man? ...either way, it wasn't worth risking. She barely saw her Coincidence as it was, but they were always meetings that she held in high regard. She was a bit shocked to hear the boy mention wolves as well, and then to take such an interest. It almost seemed like he was... going to draw something?
"A bit like dogs... more frightening, for certain, but not too far off if things like this are to be believed," she offered, craning her neck to try and achieve a good look at what the little lord was doing with as little intrusion as possible. She listened to him recount with some vagueness the tales of his youth.
"Truly? He seems so sure of his place now. I would have marked him as a young gentleman in my own mind..." She wondered if it had wounded him to lose the freedom and frivolity of childhood when it came time to impress and to court. Perhaps his apparent affection for her was based on their interactions and how they seemed to tilt over the edge of decency. She was not hurt herself when she heard that Andrus did not speak of her. It was as improper to speak of a maid and female friend as it was of a prostitute. It seemed as if he had mentioned Claudia, though...
"Is your brother to be engaged to the daughter of the countess?" she asked with some hesitation, "He seemed so unwilling when I met him last, but it may have been for the company he'd been forced to keep... or a well-placed lie. She's a beauty for certain, and I can't say she's said a bad word to me, not that she's acknowledged my existence at all." She ended with a little murmur and a huff of laughter; such was the life of the maid!
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Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:11 pm
Frightening, yes. He nodded his head in agreement to her comment about wolves, tilting the sketch toward her when he finished. It would be for his own reference in the future, more so than anything. Jack had seen them, or at least seen evidence of them, and Jordun was prepared for the worst. Knowing what the wolves looked like... that would be a bonus to anyone with a Guardian.
He looked up at her with a smile. "Oh, he was anything but," he reassured her. "I was the young gentleman - to a certain extent. But I suppose that all amounts to naught. Look at him now, and me, I couldn't do what he does for my life." He could always imagine, but that would not change the fact that Andrus would always be more successful at navigating the veritable mine field that was upper class society. Andrus would get the estate, most of the inheritance, and all of the recognition. But then, he deserved all of those things.
"If all goes well tonight, he could be," Jordun answered, studying her with care. "But he doesn't love her, does he? Or dislike her. Or anything her. He knows he cannot realistically expect to marry for love, but..." He drifted into a brief silence, trying to formulate his thoughts into the right words. When he spoke again, he lifted his gaze to meet hers and it was almost confessional. "Nothing frightens my brother more than to end up like our parents. Indifferent. So perhaps he can't simply refuse the potential offer, but then again, perhaps he need not try his best to impress the girl either." And impressing Claudia certainly didn't seem like a difficult task for Andrus if he put his heart into it. He wouldn't, though, Jordun could tell. He couldn't.
"You seem to care about my brother," he said, and would have begun to say more if a soft plonk against the glass window hadn't caught his attention.
The next moment, a pale little doe with softly glowing eyes came into view, smushing her pink nose up against the glass with child-like glee. Her fluffy tail danced excitedly from side to side. HELLO, MY DEAR! she seemed to say, exuding joy as she pranced in place outside.
"Ah, there she is!" Jordun grinned and strode toward the window. "If you would like, you can come meet my little lady, Idriss. Driss, this is... ah," He turned back, realizing he did not know her name.
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Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:57 am
"That's certainly the downside to nobility," Chloe nodded. Certainly there were others, but she personally couldn't imagine marrying for any reason than love. What did your children see? ...what did you do while creating the children, close your eyes and think of Palisade? her mouth tucked into one corner and she offered a shrug, "She seems a kind enough woman, perhaps he could learn to love her? My parents married for love, and it was obvious. A beautiful sketch, by the way. I love the quality of your lines."
The girl had never seen a formal art class, but she had self-tuned her skills over time in repetition of her favorite hobby. Years of sketchbooks lived beneath her bed, the most recent the one of which she was most proud (but that was how it always went). It was odd to see a nobleman so interested in art. Perhaps she should have realized that no sibling of Andrus could possibly be entirely average. She smiled then at mention of her fondless and laughed slightly.
"Yes, well, in the way we met, it would be hard not to--" The little thump had startled her. Apparently her nerves were still thrumming on edge at the idea of being caught... but that was no superior. ... that was a deer. As the beast pushed its nose into the glass, she could only laugh gleefully and clap her hands together. She had seen people in the city followed by loyal does and bucks of odd coloration, but this one was certainly the closest yet! At the invitation to greet the doe, she hurried to the window with the young Kinross and smiled up to him. her hands were still clasped lest she make any stupid moves; she knew almost nothing about horses, and that was still more than she knew about deer.
"Chloe," she nodded, and then turned back to the little deer.
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Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:01 pm
Jordun shook his head. "He won't take that risk. For every chance that he could learn to love her, there is an equal or greater chance that he will not." Their mother was kind, after all, and beautiful enough but that had hardly been enough to win their father's love. Though admittedly, Oban Kinross was not the most affection of men. There were days when Jordun found himself wondering if, in any life, his father would ever have found love. Perhaps it simply wasn't in him to do so. "Claudia is as kind as she is beautiful, but that not what Andrus loves in a woman. There is no adventure in marrying her, and much as my brother would like us to think his adventuring days are over, that is hardly the case. He has simply gotten better at hiding it."
He turned to the sketch and smiled, the sort of proud smile that only comes when receiving high praise. If there was one thing that Jordun excelled at, it was the arts. Drawing, painting, sculpting, even writing... anything that allowed him to turn the wild fantasies spinning through his mind into something real. That was where his passion lay, and to be praised for it... that was certainly a first. "You are very kind," he answered. "It is not often I come across another with an appreciation for art."
He turned the sketch toward the window, where Idriss pranced with her bright, rosy eyes and laughed when the doe wrinkled her nose in distaste. "She does not like Wolves," he said, grinning as he had not before. There was something about Idriss' company that made him relax and forget where he was. "But she seems quite taken with you." The doe did not always get the chance to come in contact with women, and seemed to delight at any opportunity to meet them, whether or not it was through a thick glass window. She blinked eagerly up at Chloe with wide eyes and what could only be described as a smile on her face.
"Chloe," he echoed as she said her name. "My name is Jordun. I apologize for my... deplorable etiquette. I should have introduced myself much earlier."
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:47 pm
Chloe visibly shook her head to clear the wholly inappropriate images that flashed across her mind. Every girl thought about her wedding day, didn't they? Still, she flushed and laughed slightly at herself, the clearing shake turning to disbelief in herself. Imagination was one thing. Fantasy was entirely another.
"Please, I didn't know you brother's name for longer," she admitted, giving Jordun a little smile and a shrug. She touched the glass by the doe, and her professional mind immediately scolded her for leaving a fingerprint and she began to wipe it down with a cloth.
"I must say, I don't entirely understand Guardians. I've only heard stories and myths from when I was very young... but they must exist, mustn't they? Deer don't come in those colors, and they certainly aren't that self-aware..." Again her mind was flooded with images of prancing through the glen with a deer, protecting people from the wolven threat... but she was just an orphan. She'd never met an orphan with a Guardian.
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 1:19 am
The image that flashed through his mind courtesy of Idriss made him laugh. "She says you ought not spend the effort to clean the glass when she's making it all the dirtier on the outside," he informed Chloe as the doe smudged the window by pressing her nose up to it again, her breaths fogging in air and clouding the glass.
"Oh, they certainly exist. In fewer numbers than in centuries past, but growing once again. These tidings of Wolves coming from the North... they seem to mark the return of some ancient magic that has lain dormant for generations." Those tidings seemed to indicate the coming of something quite ominous indeed, but Jordun had to trust that for every wolf that returned, so did another Guardian. The situation could hardly be as bleak as rumors made it out to be. "Some think that a war is coming. I should hope not, but... if it does, I suppose it would fall largely to the Guardians to defend us."
But those were scarier thoughts than Jordun liked to entertain. He turned back to Chloe with a curious smile. "My brother, forgetting his manners?" He said. "That's not a story I hear every day. What could you possibly have done to make him do something like that?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:46 pm
Chloe abruptly stopped wiping the window and colored slightly, laughing slightly to herself as she did.
"Well, she has a point," the girl amended and sat back, content to just watch the silly deer continue her antics. She would rather not consider the impending doom of the world herself, either, especially lacking a Guardian for any kind of protection. There was a part of her that hoped that one child or another would inherit one to protect the orphanage as a whole. They would be alright, she assured herself. They were in the city, and they would be alright.
A fond smile crept up on her lips as she remembered her an Andrus' first meeting and she wrung her rag between her hands. Color returned to her cheeks, but for a much different reason.
"I was rather surprised myself," she nodded, "I was merely working to prepare the Countess' home for Claudia's party when your brother burst in unannounced. We were in a back room, closed in, you see. I imagine now that he was trying to escape chatter about ribbons or marriage. Anyway, we spoke briefly and something strange happened. He took my hand, and we danced." She looked up to Jordun then, the same smile on her lips, her eyes almost ashamed. "I shall never forget that day."
MoonRazor Oogh! I am rusty as hell, I'm sorry! xD;
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Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:16 am
"That certainly sounds like something he would do," Jordun agreed. He remembered reading a letter or two from Andrus in which his brother had complained - tactfully, of course - about the Countess' efforts to involve him in the banquet preparations. That she had ever thought Andrus would have much to contribute to the selection of laces and ribbons was amusing, but Jordun knew that wasn't the extent of the Countess' intentions. "Like I said, the adventurous type."
He was watching Chloe more closely than she might have realized, and saw the way she played with the rag at the mention of his brother, and the flush that came to her face when she spoke. His smile turned devilish and he fixed her with a frank stare. "You like him, do you not?" He asked bluntly, seeing the look in her eyes.
She wouldn't be the first to fall for Andrus, but she was certainly the most interesting, and Jordun could almost picture the two of them together. Chloe was by far the most likely win his brother's affections in return, so different and so down to earth was she. And the fact that Andrus had failed to mention her in any of their communications... Jordun thought it meant something beyond the fact that she wasn't a noble and that it simply wouldn't have been proper to talk about her. That wouldn't have stopped Andrus if he had really wanted to complain, as he had complained about a handful of other ladies vying for his hand in marriage.
"You ought to let him know. Before he goes and marries a Claudia or a Victoria or a Meryl." He was teasing, but at the same time, not. Surely, there was no way for such a pairing to work in their society, but then again... it was hard to say for certain what could or could not happen. After all, Wolves were coming back and he had a spirit deer frolicking outside the window, eating snow and kicking it rambunctiously into the air. Anything was possible.
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Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 1:17 pm
Chloe made a soft, upset sound and stared down at the rag in her hands for a moment. She did like Andrus, at least so much as his brother was implying, but was it the man or the idea of him? So many of her books spoke of adventurous nobility, perhaps it was the way he acted that endeared him to her. Either way, she felt strongly for the man in a way that she had never imagined herself feeling. Unfortunately, her heart had chosen a man that she could never have.
"Yes, well... I had better not worry about that, had I. It was more of a statement than a question. She was no noble; indeed, she wasn't even poor. She was somewhere below even the lower class, far below where she had began in life. She would have to live without Andrus, once he found the right lady to marry. It had always been the truth behind the emotional swayings, and Chloe knew it. It was something that she'd had to deal with. However, she had decided long ago to enjoy Andrus' company while she was allowed it, and to never forget. She may have feelings for him, but she was mistress to no man.
Then Jordun said something... interesting. Of course he was joking, and the names he spoke were bitter needles, but that was an idea, wasn't it? The maid's eyes began to brighten and search the room as she thought. If she was to enjoy the times they had now, what harm could possibly come from telling him of her affections?
He could deny them, of course. He could be so offended that he left prematurely.
Chloe's body relaxed and she nodded. Some things were better left unsaid, but if Jordun could see her attachment to him...? Well, Andrus was no idiot. Perhaps he'd known for a time already. That would certainly ease her mind! She smiled and sighed and looked to Jordun again.
"Life is a silly thing, isn't it?" she posed, "Nothing but circumstance separates us. Nothing but our blood. Strange how blood can alter so much of life, so fickle as it is, by nature."
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 7:22 pm
He would have reassured her that circumstances could change, but he stopped himself before the words came. What did it matter, really? The chances that circumstances would change enough to bring Chloe and Andrus together were slim at best. And Andrus, being quite the servant of duty and society... Who was Jordun to say that his brother would abandon those things and potentially tarnish the hard-earned reputation of their family, even if he could?
He fell silent, thinking perhaps that he had been too rash in suggesting that Chloe ought to express her feelings. But then, what was love if not the one thing that could transcend the rules and boundaries set forth by society? What was it that countless authors, poets and bards had written about if not this? The dreamer in him wanted desperately to believe.
"Fickle indeed," he agreed. "Chance is a cruel thing, though worse to some than to others. I suppose I haven't the right to complain. But I am also not as well suited for nobility as Andrus is."
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 7:30 pm
Chloe smiled softly. How quaint to hear from the lips of the wealthy! She knew that not all nobility was traditional, however, and many of the wealthy had a family history of back-breaking hard work. Still, it wasn't her place to judge, and she wouldn't dream of actual conflict over such a statement. Everyone's problems were their own. Jordun did indeed seem less naturally led toward the expectations placed upon him, and she couldn't imagine the crippling pressure. The poor boy would end up married to some dull bird. It was sad, really.
"We cannot help where we are born... but I don't think that your brother is as 'suited' as you imagine," she said, smiling, "I have heard no outright complaints, but he seems very much a common man, unique but meant for something other than nobility. We have come across each other several times, and each time he risks his neck to spend some time talking. I feel as if we are an escape for one another, but he will not always be able to talk with the maids."
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:07 pm
"Ah, but aren't we all? We are all the same men at the end of the day, but somebody somewhere decided that some of us would be subject to different rules of society than others. I think the only thing that makes us different is one's ability to survive within those confines. And Andrus certainly does it well." How fortunate for their father that one of his sons could adapt so well to the rigors of high society. The reputations of two families rested on Andrus' shoulders, but he seemed to carry them well enough. Perhaps not always willingly, but he did it anyway and that seemed to what mattered.
"He finds small ways to rebel, but at the end of the day, he is very much still a son of this rather ridiculous society. Somehow, he doesn't quite seem to mind." Maybe that was part of the secret. Jordun had never really outgrown the awkward child in him that made him feel distinctly uncomfortable around the noble crowds, but his brother had. His brother had grown up and figured it all out. That he had been able to do that... maybe that was it.
"I suppose you would be something of an escape," he agreed. The idea of that worked quite well. "If you don't mind my saying, you are quite the breath of fresh air, Chloe, especially compared to the women he surrounds himself with most days. And I too, I suppose." In any case, if he found Chloe refreshing, he had no doubts that Andrus did as well.
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:16 pm
I imagine it's just like anything else; you have to get used to it or get tired of it," she said, shrugging. She had had a rather sudden awakening herself, and while she wasn't sure that you could compare a house fire to a life of gossip and scandal, but the same idea lay behind them. You fate was set out for you already, and you had either grow stronger or whisper away.
Chloe smiled then, though, and took a deep curtsy.
"Why thank you, Milord," she said with false reverence, and then stood giggling, "Being that alone is more than enough reason to not change." She peered up at the the clock and gave a soft sight, tilting her head at Jordun.
"I imagine even your brother has noticed you missing by now. Perhaps we should make our way back, young Kinross? I'm sure somebody could find a use for me."
MoonRazor If we choose to end soon, Chloe does have something to request of Jordun before we call it a wrap. |D
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:26 pm
"But suppose you do get tired of it? How unfortunate would that be," he mused. But he supposed it was not to him to ponder the misfortunes of life.
"I suppose you are right. Andrus perhaps, though I doubt anyone else. I don't suppose he will be too pleased that I've left him to his own devices." Not that this particular party, anyway. Jordun understood quite well that this had been neither of their first choice as a place to spend the night.
He reached and touched the window, and the little doe outside looked up from her frolic in the snow to bump her nose up to his fingers. See you in a bit, Driss, he told her with a smile.
"Lead the way, then, Chloe."
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Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:34 pm
The conversation unfortunately met a stopping point when it came time to exit. Chloe led the young man through the same tunnels, tracking backward with perfect accuracy, although she had only been able to explore the place for a few weeks. When they began to round the final corner, the maid suddenly grabbed the cuff of Jordun's sleeve. She didn't imagine that the young noble would have any qualms about it.
"Could you do one thing for me?" she asked, voice lowered. There was a brief pause. "Remind your brother he owes me a riding lesson?"
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