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Claude von Riegan ([personal profile] bowfaire) wrote in [community profile] elibe2021-05-31 10:09 pm
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-06-19 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't it just? I thought you would feel that way. Look at the little deer at the bottom. Aren't they sweet?

[ She can see the awe in his face and hear it in his voice. Dorothea knows just by his reaction that he understands, without even having to open it, why she might not want to wave this book around outside. The church itself didn't have the best history with Almyra, and the lacquered cover is distinctly not of Fodlan. ]

Anyway, don't just look at the cover. Open it. The illustrations are amazing.

[ Ever the polite host, Dorothea pulls the chair away from her desk and offers it to Claude before taking a seat on the edge of her bed. She's eager to see more of his reaction as he takes in the illuminated pages covered in flowing script that spills across the pages. He surely has some inkling of just how valuable the small volume is, of the sheer number of man hours required in the production of the paper, the lettering, the illustrations, the binding. It's an older book, as well, so the age undoubtedly adds value. ]

This book is one of my treasures from my time in the Mittelfrank. We did a show a few years back that was inspired in parts by an Almyran legend, so the company bought a number of books from an Almyran merchant to get ideas for the costumes and stage design. I kept this one when I left.
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-06-21 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Poetry, he said. There are even a few pages where someone wrote translations directly on the parchment, but I wish they hadn't. This book is a piece of art, why mar it like that? Even so, I do wish I knew what they said. The merchant didn't have time to translate them all, of course, and I imagine some subtleties can't carry over from one language to the other.

[ Dorothea watches Claude's face as he flips through the pages. It's a fascinating exercise, trying to gauge what he must be feeling even as he works to cultivate his expression. She's noticed that he does this through their interactions, not only with her but with everyone he talks to.

When he mentions the copy in Derdriu, she perks up a little and leans in with interest. ]


Do you really? Has anyone bothered to translate that copy or is it like mine?
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-06-22 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Dorothea falls silent as Claude speaks, listening, taking in the words of the poems and the way they roll off his tongue. When she'd transferred over from the Black Eagles, this wasn't what she'd been expecting, if she was honest. Claude was a schemer, it was said--someone who (mildly) poisoned other people as part of his wildly elaborate schemes.

But that isn't him, is it? That isn't the whole picture. He's like her book: a beautiful cover, full of words she can't understand--yet--a poem to be interpreted verse by verse. What would their classmates think if they could see him now, reciting poetry? Maybe it wouldn't have done anything for them, but for her, it's enthralling.

Dorothea leans in, eager for the next line. I have washed the floor with tears for you. She watches his eyes as he recites the words, taking in the rhythm of the couplets. They don't rhyme but it would be easy enough to change up the wording a little. Music didn't always have to rhyme, anyway--the emotion behind the words was what was most important.

And, oh, what emotions he's revealing to her now. He's excited, enthusiastic in a way she hasn't yet seen, yearning for a gentler and more understanding world--a world where people could be friends across arbitrary borders; a world where the language you spoke wasn't an impassable barrier.

Maybe even a world where it didn't matter if you were a common-born girl without a crest.

When he looks up at her, a warm pink blush has bloomed across Dorothea's cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She knows it, too, can feel the heat in her face. Her eyes widen just a touch, and she sits up straighter, playing it cool like she isn't hanging on his every word. ]


I think that sounds like the kind of thing I'd like to see.
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-06-26 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Come and visit?

[ It isn’t an unusual request by any stretch of the imagination. They’re friends now, aren’t they? So it makes sense that she would visit him at his home in the beautiful city of Derdriu if he truly believes what he claims to about equality and the like.

Even so, it’s a little surprising to be so plainly asked like that. What would the archduke say? Lorenz still looks down his nose at her occasionally—would the Leicester nobility even know what to do with a girl who openly aspired to the levels of upward mobility that she did?

She can do more than just visit Derdriu, can’t she? She’s from Enbarr but she isn’t tied down there, after all. She got her start at the Mittelfrank but the whole world is her stage. There are goals of her own that she still has to achieve, to find and settle down with someone who will cherish her all the days of her life being the foremost and also the most challenging of them.

Maybe today she’s taken a step towards making that goal a reality without even intending to. Just maybe. ]


Of course I’ll come visit. You absolutely have to show me the sights around Derdriu while you aren’t busy revolutionizing the world. Or… I could even help you, y’know—give you a commoner’s perspective on things.

[ Maybe it would be good for her, too, to get out of the Empire. Sure, the Alliance has its own roster of unsavory nobles, but they claim to do things in a more egalitarian way there, don’t they? She could thrive there, far away from the street corners and back alleys that had served as the setting of her childhood traumas. ]
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-07-13 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Some small part of Dorothea wishes she could be proud of Enbarr in the way that Claude is clearly proud of Derdriu, but she's seen too many of its dark and dingy corners. Perhaps that's a point of pride, in its own way--she'd haunted those streets and survived--but no, not the same kind of pride as his. She's proud of the Mittelfrank, but again, that isn't quite the same. Maybe one day she'll live somewhere that elicits the same emotion.

When Claude agrees to show her around the aquatic city, Dorothea shoots him one of her most brilliant smiles. ]


I'd be disappointed if any tour you give is a conventional one. I fully expect you to show me all the fun little nooks and crannies that a tourist would never find. I can't wait.

[ His interest in her opinions is pleasing, too, making her grin even wider.

They chat a bit longer, until Dorothea realizes the position of the sun has shifted enough in the sky to have changed the tone of the lighting in her room. The dinner bell will be ringing soon. ]


Oh, goodness, look how long I've kept you. I don't mean to monopolize your time. I know how busy you are.

[ The book is still in his hands, though, and when she looks at the way he's so carefully holding it, she waves her hands once in a small gesture. ]

Do you want to borrow it? I know how much you love books so I'm sure you'd take care of it.
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-12-03 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
Some secret treasures are meant to be shared with people who know how to appreciate them.

[ No, she didn't intend for that to sound as incredibly suggestive as it did, but here they are. Dorothea laughs and shakes her head, though she sighs at Claude's comment about Cyril. ]

Sad to say, but Cyril seems like the kind of person who wouldn't have any interest in poetry unless Lady Rhea told him he should have it. I wish he wasn't so devoted to her, but I suppose he's still very young. When I was his age, there wasn't much I wouldn't have done for Manuela if she'd asked, so I understand where he's coming from. Maybe he'll grow out of it.

[ Or maybe he'll become one more zealot in the church's ranks. She'd rather not see that happen to him, but in the end it's up to Cyril to choose what path he takes. Maybe being part of the Golden Deer class can be a positive influence on his outlook. ]

Oh, or maybe if we got Lysithea to introduce him to it. He seems to have a soft spot for her, don't you think?
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[personal profile] backstreetbard 2021-12-28 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ Claude declines to keep up the thread of flirtation in their conversation, which is a little disappointing, but there's no use in forcing it. Yes, she can admit she likes him: he's cute and smart and ambitious, even if he tries to hide so much of himself. It's fine; there will be time to test the waters again later. ]

Yes, Rhea seems to inspire a great deal of devotion, for some reason. [ Spoken in that same cool tone that Claude employed. It's obvious that Dorothea holds no love for the church, or those who helm it, given that the crest system they enforce so dogmatically is the cause of all of her life's worst traumas. That isn't the subject of their conversation, though, and she's happy too leave it an unspoken truth until she feels ready to tell him about that part of her history.

She leans in a little at the prospect of "creating" opportunities for a conversation between Cyril and Lysithea, her face lighting up. ]


I'll have you know, I'm an excellent matchmaker. I have a sense for these things. How are we going to do it? Arrange little tea dates for them...? No, no, I can hardly imagine Cyril sitting still long enough to really enjoy a proper tea service. Maybe a picnic instead, outside the monastery so he doesn't feel as pressured to do work.