Nothing ever comes without a consequence or cost [Aftermath | Closed and open]

[ellrigaeta]

WHO: Lorne, Dain, Tuo and and you! Closed and open prompts
WHAT: Lorne is recovering and receiving some visitors
WHEN: After these events
WHERE: The magistrate's house
NOTES: CW for mentions of corporal punishment and resulting injuries, will add more as needed

A | Dain and Tuo | Closed

After being tended to by Finian and watched over by Colin at the guardhouse, Lorne was able to make it back to the house before too long. His legs are just fine. The only part about walking that's truly painful is the need for clothing when he's outside, so as soon as he's home again the shirt is abandoned. Fortunately and very much thanks to Lance, Lorne has far more welts than cuts, and those will all heal in time.

A nap might be in order, if laying on his stomach weren't uncomfortable, so he settles for dozing and trying to ignore how everything aches.

B | Open

Lorne is going to be home resting for the next few days or more - probably more, if Colin and Finian and the rest of his family have anything to say about it. Lorne is wise enough to know he should listen, even if he can see extraordinary boredom on the horizon. He can't reach enough of his own back to take care of most of the welts, in any case, so he's relying on the assistance of others. It's going to become frustrating without a little distraction, so conversations are welcome where he can get them.

He sneaks out after about a week just to stretch his legs and shake off some of the stir-craziness. Any and all soldiers are avoided.

Comments

[ellrigaeta]

Does Elena ever slow down? Lorne arches an eyebrow at her, but since she seems so intent on providing entertainment and-or cheering him up there's probably no stopping her now.

"Sure, why not. I'm not going anywhere," he replies, gesturing for her to begin. Maybe it'll ease some of the worry for others in the house, too, if they hear it.

[strumpeting]

That's probably one of the first times anyone in this town has been willing to listen to her play. But of course it doesn't register to her, everyone obviously wants to hear her play!

So she begins a soft, slow tune with lulling arpeggios and a contemplative chord structure. Slowly, so naturally it's hard to tell when it even started, her voice joins in. It winds and weaves over the lute's music, sometimes taking point and other times a clear accompaniment to her deft fingers.

However, once she begins to sing, Lorne might notice a change: the pain slowly vanishing from his mind until suddenly it's as if it doesn't exist at all. Or maybe he'll just be wrapped up in the music. Anyone in hearing range may also feel any pains of their relieved, like they've forgotten they had pain in the first place.

[ellrigaeta]

Lorne meant what he said when he first met Elena: she's talented. All of her other eccentricities and brashness aside, she is a bard for a reason. With little else to keep his mind off his injuries, and all his focus on her, he barely notices the pain melting away. It happens so slowly that it is easy to assume he's just wrapped up in the music.

Whatever the reason, Lorne doesn't lend it conscious thought. He's too grateful for any relief from pain to look closely. Some of the stiffness in his posture relaxes, and though he doesn't properly smile there's definite appreciation in his expression.

[wardsdottir]

It isn't originally Elena's melodic voice and deft fingerwork on her lute that draw Pippa's attention--the door crashing open did a good job of that--but nevertheless, it is what stops her halfway down the stairs.

There are lots of different ways that pain can afflict a person, and while she would never be so obtuse as to suggest that the pain she's endured (for the last two years since Hal left, or since childhood because of her mother's death) compares to Lorne's, she still spends most of her idle time heartsick over one or the other. Now it's like someone has taken a balm to wounds that she didn't even know she possessed.

She sinks down onto the top stair and just sits there, listening.

[strumpeting]

Elena is truly absorbed in the music, and for once her face takes on a calm, pensive expression. She finishes up in a lovely major resolution and lets the end linger into silence. Slowly she lowers her lute before shooting a quick glance at Lorne with waggling eyebrows, face back to its full-mischievous glint.

"So, how was that? A little more subdued than I usually go for but I thought you could use something calming."

[ellrigaeta]

Of course Elena's subdued demeanor couldn't last long. Idly, Lorne wonders if he'll ever see it again.

"It was… excellent," he replies after a moment, sounding a little surprised. Lorne knows she can play well, but that performance was-- something else unexpected. The music was fine enough that it's evidently distracted him from being in pain. "Thank you for sharing something a little less colorful from your repertoire," he says with mild amusement.