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

[matkalainen]

Dain's touch arrests him, as it always does these days, and Tuo pauses before touching the door latch. He smiles oddly, not meeting Dain's eyes at first. "Are you?" he counters in a soft, melancholic sort of voice.

[shepherddain]

It's an answer by itself, Tuo's characteristic misdirection and distraction. They both know Dain's answer to that question is not yes, and addressing others' pain is a good way to avoid thinking about your own.

They may both have good reasons for staying circumspect, but -- in the small circle of privacy they have by the door, Dain pulls Tuo into as much of a hug as time, space, and winter layers will allow. "Stay safe," he says, muffled into Tuo's scarf.

[matkalainen]

Tuo's fingers catch on and grasp Dain's coat, holding his friend as closely as he is held himself. It's not enough; it's not ever going to be enough, but for the span of a few precious seconds he is free to cradle the back of Dain's head with one hand and listen to the sound of his breathing.

This is not getting any easier.

At last he makes himself pull back, but his hand lingers on Dain's cheek. "You as well," he manages, smiles unsteadily, and then quickly pulls open the door and steps outside. In short order he has put enough distance between himself and the magistrate's house that Dain should be able to leave without anyone suspecting that they were there together at all.

[shepherddain]

That Dain waits that long is partly strategic, and partly arrested movement. Even if there were nothing wrong with him leaving right away, he suspects he wouldn't be able to move.

Tuo down the street, and Lorne in the kitchen behind him. In another time, another life, another country --

-- that's not going to help.

With several seconds and a very deep breath, Dain wrests some semblance of level composure from somewhere, and he steps outside, closing the door gently behind him, leaving Lorne to the kitchen and to his family.

[ellrigaeta]

The time between Dain and Tuo exiting the kitchen and departing the house is long enough that Lorne guesses some more private farewells were had. He remains seated until the door finally opens and closes again, not wishing to disrupt the pair and still absorbing all he's learned. Pieces of the puzzle have been added to the board, but the full picture remains well beyond him.

Dain, a Shepherd who joins snowball fights and protects a Profane. Probably many more, for only saving Detlef from execution and not others makes little sense. Tuo, a traveling puppeteer from some foreign country Lorne doesn't even know the name of. A cheerfully irreverent storyteller, sharing any tale but his own. How long have they known each other? How long have they been apart?

Decades of church sermons would have Lorne turning Dain and Detlef in, believing that they are dangerous and evil and here to corrupt anyone they can get their hooks into. Would have quashed the careful tenderness between Tuo and Dain. What the church declares to be right would end lives and annihilate joy. He's seen what it has taken from Colin and Camilla.

Lorne will take their friendship over what is 'right', any day.