The Art of Aegis (ThomazM)

[Meng]

Feeling as though she was being moved around constantly, Lillian's eyes slowly opened up to see that she was face to face with Franklin, who was standing in front of her bedroom down with herself in his arms. "You can put me down." She said as she maneuvered her way out of his arms and gently landed on the floor. Straightening out her dress with her hands, she looked up to him and nodded her head towards him. "Thank you for bringing me to my room, but I can take care of myself now." Opening the door to her room, she then wished him a goodnight and closed the door in his face, not even waiting for a reply.

After taking a bath and dressing herself for bed, she ran her fingers through her damp hair as she walked over to her bed, wondering what she could do to keep Franklin at a distance. Lillian obviously knew that he wasn't a bad person, but she also wasn't someone who loved having someone watch her every movement. 'I'll just have to find ways to lose him..' She thought before laying down in her bed to sleep.​

 

[ThomazM]

The sudden awakening of Lillian startled Franklin, the blush, so far hidden, in the deep profoundness of his being, entombed over the unusual sight of the manor's marble walls and its countless amount of paintings, and decorations, became slightly more apparent, as he assisted her, on her way towards the ground more comfortably. "Christ, I wonder if she thinks this was my idea", the soldier sighed internally, frowning to his own thoughts, "It's not worth explaining, I don't think. She probably won't care, either... I'm getting way too nervous, just for this-- you've been to war, Franklin, 'Christ's sake, why are making such a big deal out of th-" his course of thought was interrupted abruptly to the sound of a door, closing itself, followed by a small mechanical tick sound. She locked the door, "obviously".

-"Wait, Li-..." -Mid-sentence, Franklin simply stopped.

"Why bother?". Concluding it wasn't worth the hassle, the soldier sighed, looking upwards towards the roof-- letting his back slide downwards against the door. He sat there, on the ground in front of it, tired, exhausted to say the least. Not physically fatigued-- just pure, unmitigated mental exhaustion. He remained there, eyes closed, paralyzed, for about two minutes, until the almost lackadaisical sound of water woke him out of his nigh-vegetative state. The soldier stood up, inhaling deeply, pondering where he would sleep. After the noise ceased, he waited a few more minutes, before knocking on the door.

-"Lady Lillian?" -Almost too coincidental, after he finished saying her name, a single thunder lightened the halls of the manor for a splitting second, letting itself aside to the now ever-growing sound of rain. The soldier sighed, clearly retracting what he was going to say, he said, faintly- "Sleep well".

After grabbing a chair out of the main saloon, he positioned it next to her door, sitting on it, sighing once again. Much well-crafted that chair was, it wasn't nearly as comfortable as a bed. He adjusted himself as much as he could in the chair, it was going to be a long night.​

 

[Meng]

The next morning, maids were walking towards Lillian's room when they noticed the soldier resting in a chair right next to it. A lot of the maids were young, so they found him to be very handsome while giggling among themselves. Walking over to him, they smiled at him quickly before going into Lillian's bedroom to serve her breakfast and dress her for the day. It was rare for the maids to dress her, but the family's butler asked for them to get her ready for her lessons on etiquette, which she truly hated doing.

As they entered her bedroom, they sat the tray full of food on her table before going over to the bed to wake her up. The youngest maid quietly stood on the side of the bed, moving her hands towards the covers and pulled them back to find a surprise. "Lady Lillian is missing." She said, looking towards the other maid, who then began to check the bathroom to see if she was in there. Running out of the room, the maid shook the man by his shoulders, explaining that the lady of the wasn't in her room.

Earlier that morning, Lillian had woken up almost an hour before breakfast was to be served. Not wanting to deal with Franklin so soon, she quickly got out bed to change into one of her casual riding outfits and exited out to her balcony. Since she was in an adolescent, Lillian had a rope tied to one of bars of the railing and would throw it down in order for her to sneak out of her bedroom, then when she came back she could easily pile it up on the side after she had climbed back up to the balcony. Making it safely to the ground without being scene, she went over to the stables were her horse and Ralph were.

Seeing the young woman walk in, like many times before, Ralph handed her a trunk full of equipment before going about his usual routine. "You don't think he'll find you here?" He questioned as he began tending to the horses from last night. Smiling to herself, she walked over to one of her few friends in her life. Noir, her pure black stallion, who she had raised since the horse's birth. "It'll take him a while, believe me." Replied Lillian, as she started cleaning Noir up for a ride around the estate.​

 

[ThomazM]

Startled by the distress in the voices of the maids, Franklin sighed, "Christ, this woman...", he frowned, opening the room's doors abruptly, startling some maids. He wouldn't show it too loudly, but he was slightly mad. Mad and concerned. Something about this shouts that Lillian had escaped herself, that became even clearer once the soldier started examining the room. "Open window", "drawer opened", "messy blankets", "rug underneath the window slightly moved", she went down the window, of course. As soon as the realization downed on him, he looked over the window she'd escaped out of and almost immediately, the soldier spotted some stables-like structure, out in the distance-- he sighed, strolling out of the door:

-"D-D-Do you k-know where she is?" -The maid asked, terrified.

Christopher inhaled deeply, pondering how to reply.

-"Yes, she'll be back soon, don't worry" -He smiled towards the maid, leaving the room, heading towards the stables.

~

Once there, Franklin spotted here almost immediately, riding a white horse around the gardens. Ralph, the coachman, was already there, leaned against one of the stables' walls, watching over her.

-"She thought you would take a little longer". -The coachman said, noticing Franklin's presence.

The soldier stayed silent, arms crossed, watching over her together with Ralph. He wasn't mad anymore, though. He wasn't the master at analyzing people, but he knows pretty well how irritating this type of life can be-- finding hard to blame her for a little "alone time".​

 

[Meng]

As Lillian was riding Noir, she noticed Franklin standing next to Ralph, who had finished with the horses and was now watching her. Sighing in disappointment, she pulled on the reins directing the horse to go off towards the forest area. Stopping just outside the wooded area, Lillian jumped off Noir before sitting down on the ground next to her, only for her to follow suit and settled down right next to her owner.

"A bit longer and then I'll have to go back to the house.." She said to herself, pulling her ponytail over her left shoulder just running her fingers through it as she thought about what she would be doing that day.

After what seemed like about half an hour, she had returned back to the stables handing Noir over to Ralph, so she may be taken care of. "I see you're no fun." She said, mentioning that it didn't take him long to find out where she was. "It would have been nice to see you flustered over me missing." Gesturing him to follow her, she walked with him to the dining room, where food was sitting for the both of them to eat.

Taking a seat, Lillian watched Franklin as if to see how he felt in his now current situation. He wouldn't be treated like a soldier in the home, but like one of the family members. A butler walked in to see the young lady and soldier about to eat for breakfast.

"Sir Clifford, it would be a problem to have you sleeping in front of Miss Lillian's door every night. So we have a room prepared for you right next door to hers." For the butler and the maids, it was a huge problem to have him there especially when they had to do daily and nightly cleanings of the manor.​