Lebeaux Desrosiers smiled serenely as the two entered the room. He’d heard two sets of footsteps and merely assumed one was Gilbert. He tilted his head in a polite enough greeting without getting up to bow. “Lebeaux Desrosiers, actually. A pleasure. You must be a clergyman.” As though the hat and robes weren’t a dead give away. “And bodyguard?” He asked as he smiled between the two, the expression never making it all the way to his pale eyes.
Gabineaux Liautroix spares a moment to glare at the ..bird, sure. He's not glaring at Florimond at all. Soon his attention is snapped back to the stranger man, and he goes about appraising him. Finding him in such a state, in such a bed, he makes the worst sort of assumption. "Bodyguard? Oh, sort of. Don't mind him, he goes where I go." He must still be upset with the man if he's not even going to introduce him properly. "So, what's the issue? Did Gilbert hit you like that?"
Florimond Rochedalaix gives a quiet snicker at the assumption of bodyguard. He doesn't seem to take offense to not being introduced. Rather than follow Gabineaux into the room, he leans against the door frame and proceeds to give the rather fat hawk on his shoulder a scratch on the cheek.
Lebeaux smiled between the two a few moments longer then lifted a shoulder in a small shrug. Sounded like a bodyguard to him, fair enough. He wasn’t introduced and was therefore relegated to ‘The Help’. Fingers laced together primly in his lap. “Nothing of the sort. Gilbert arranged a fight between myself and another. If either party refused to participate he threatened to expose delicate information.” He gestured to his own cheek. “I lost. There’s rather more to it, this is all that’s visible. Now that it’s through It’s been made clear I’m supposed to take confessional before I’m permitted to return to my work.”
Gabineaux chuckles quietly. He can only assume Gilbert meant well, but by the sounds of it? Sounds like blackmail to him. "Ah yes, that's why you shouldn't give sensitive information out to the common folk. It seems unlike Gilbert to do that to someone he's willing to ..allow in his bed. Regardless, he's perhaps right. How long has it been since you've been to church? Did you do anything that could be considered a slight against Halone? Have you paid your tithes at least?"
Lebeaux held up a hand briefly before lowering it to pause that trail of thought there. “I presume we’re already under the seal of confessional and anything I say to you will not be repeated.” The smile remained ever serene as he glanced pointedly between the Priest and the Help and even the bird for good measure before returning to Gabineaux. “Assuming you are indeed a Priest? You’ve not even given your name in return.”
Gabineaux waves his hand in a dismissive gesture. "So that means you haven't even been keeping up with your tithes then? What, have you not the coin? Halone deserves your respect. As for me, I am Father Liautroix. I thought it unimportant, as this came to me sounding as if it were an emergency. All he said was that he needed a priest, that's all. I had assumed someone was dying. That's usually the case when it's an emergency. You don't seem half dead to me."
Florimond pipes up from his spot at the doorframe. "Perhaps he just got better, is all."
Lebeaux considered that for a moment, smiling silently all the while. Finally he tilted his head in a small nod. “Not even a quarter dead, I’m sorry to disappoint. My injuries weren’t grievous and I’ve healed much of it on my own.” He flicked a hand vaguely in Florimond’s direction, agreeing with him. “I’ve not kept up with my tithes so long as the church is in the hands of the Reformists. I’ll not fund their madness I show my Faith in other ways. You’ll have to forgive my concerns, there was the lingering worry that it was some elaborate ploy to bring me to trial proper.” He cleared his throat slightly. Probably as close as he came to saying ‘sorry’. “As the trial by combat was unsanctioned, to say the least.”
Gabineaux turns his head away from Florimond slowly, eyes wide as all hells. The REFORMISTS. Things are sort of falling into place, but nobody has said the H word yet. "Reformists.. trial. I think I understand now. Regardless, the Halonic Church is what it is. Tithes matter. Prayers matter. You will of course lose your trials, should you continue to neglect Halone. I can see why Gilbert suggested I help you. What exactly is it, you can't let go of the old ways?"
Lebeaux allowed the small smile to flatten briefly, perhaps pouting a bit at that though he had the decency not to jut out his lower lip. “They’re not simply the old ways, it’s the true Faith.” He insisted. “Ishgard has lost its way yet I have not. I didn’t lose due to lack of faith or conviction, it was because my opponent resorted to foul and heretical magicks.”
Florimond lifts his brows as he continues to listen in on the conversation. His arms fold across his chest and soon an amused grin speads across his face. "If they wish for Ishgard to change, perhaps the lot of them should stop stooping to such lows."
"Now that's quite the term to toss around willy nilly. We can't call anything involving dragons 'heretical' any longer. The sin does not define the person. All children of Halone are capable of forgiveness. It is no secret that those who love the dragons only come to church to torture the clergy with their presence. However if you're talking about a void-loving heretic, I can see the concern. Over time we have lost a great many men to the voidsent." Gabineaux corrected.
Lebeaux gestured a little more intently over at Florimond in a ‘see even the help gets it’ sort of jab. He then remembered the needle and mirror in his lap and promptly moved them aside before he could injure himself further with them. He smiled solemnly back to Gabineaux, tilting his brows in an attempt at ‘concern’. “Under the assurance of the seal of confessional,” he reminded the others, “my opponent is without a doubt voidtouched. One of the monsters of myth, men who sold their soul to the darkness and feed upon the aether of the good and devout.”
"Goodness, this man wouldn't be that soft faced little runt who's always muttering to himself? The one who was attending the scholasticate? I had a bad feeling about that one. Gilbert wanted you to fight him? To kill him? He always did like to honor Halone with combat." Gabineaux is just making assumptions ALL OVER the place.
Lebeaux smiled primly, wondering what right the somewhat plump Priest had calling others soft-faced but he kept that to himself. He was trying to bring them to his cause, after all. “Ah, well. The reformist I dueled was Isghardian by birth, at least partially. Likely not who you’re thinking of, he’s older and a bit… angular.” He gestured at his own face. “Nonetheless. He accused me of crimes during my time with the Tribunal and Gilbert decided to way to settle the matter was trial by combat, under his watch.”
"Was he grey-skinned?” Florimond chimed in.
Gabineaux cringes a bit. He reaches up to scratch the bristle on his chin, as if he were deeply considering something. "Crimes during your time with the Tribunal. What, is he daft? The few crimes in Inquisition endured, were for the good of the people. For the good of Ishgard. Most Inquisitors were granted leave, weren't they? Pardoned, for the most part. And what of it now? Do you feel guilt for that, of all things?"
“Nothing of the sort. He’s sort of a sickly looking fellow, gaunt with white hair and a hideous scar along his cheek.” Lebeaux explained to Florimond. “A perpetually sour look on his face.” His attention returned to the Father and he nodded his agreement. “I do not feel guilt, all I did I did for Ishgard.” He declared proudly. “Yet he is one of the Reformists of the mind that the faithful should pay. He accused me false charges of torture and abuse of power. Which I am now supposedly guilty of in Gilbert’s judgment due to my loss.”
Florimond tilts his head to the side, thoughtful. "Not the one I'm thinking of, then.."
"The faithful did pay. Did he not attend the mass execution of the Heaven's Ward? The highest ranking were all slaughtered. Perhaps he wasn't important enough to be allowed to witness such things. To be truthful, I've not met even one ..dragon loving cleric. Not one. I've heard they exist, they must be uninterested in the clergy of Ishgard. Regardless, I can see why Gilbert would make such an assumption. That IS the way of things, yes? Halone was simply not with you." Gabineaux explained.
Lebeaux tilted his head slightly at Florimond’s musing. “Do you know many aether-sucking leeches masquerading as men?” He mused thoughtfully in return before he turned his saintly smile back to Gabineaux. The expression froze and the medic bristled visibly. Fingers curling slightly as the bridge of his nose wrinkled and thick brows furrowed. “He was a coward who had already fled Ishgard to avoid the war. She was with me, as She is always.” He declared, his tone sharpening somewhat. I wasn’t powerful enough to defeat his dark arts.”
Gabineaux lifts his brows to blink delicately, as if he were smacked or something. Is he offended, or simply making a show of biting his tongue. Just Ishgardian things. Either way, he shuffles over while fishing an ornate looking bottle from his person. Holy water, obviously. "I know being at fault is difficult, for some. But you should take the burden on yourself, rather than suggesting that a heretic is more powerful than Halone Herself. Perhaps you did not make the proper preparations. We both know you've not been to church in some time. Did you have your weapon blessed? At all? Did you offer a prayer before the battle? Halone does require even Her best to bend to Her will."
Lebeaux inhaled sharply at that, immediately swallowing down whatever other excuses or explanations he had. He had made a mistake there. Implying not only that Halone was not infallible but that she could be bested by a few underhanded tricks from one Heretic. He lowered his gaze and managed to look properly chastised for a moment. “Of course, that must be it. I’ve been working as a chirurgeon in the Far East, I haven’t had opportunity to have the new blade blessed nor to offer prayers at a church proper in some time.”
Aesthetic Builder - Florimond de Fierlaine - Template
Slowly working through these for all of my characters, it’s a really enjoyable challenge so I encourage anyone who thinks it looks appealing to try it, I love to see them for other people’s characters too.
Florimond was hard to pick for because a lot of imagery came to mind so I will have to make some future posts to capture those additional things. I thought about picking a less subtle image for his element - holy - but I decided to go with what I instinctively felt represented it to him personally.
Somehow, some way, Florimond happened. The first chapter here is the prompt that kicked it off. First one was a serious attempt, second one is more silly.
