An Ordinary World

Her trip to Tevinter, as an invited academic had been nice. She had dressed in a pretty green gown, had an interesting murder mystery, and had been sent home, all without causing an incredible scandal. And, she had secured more money for her research. Magic would augment potions and elixirs just fine, but when the proper mage wasn't there? And it really counted, physicians needed to be able to adjust dosage properly to heal even a newborn. Her studies and experiments had been able to prove it could happen. And her next steps? Figuring out just how minute she could trace potions, elixirs, and poisons down in someone's blood. She had known early on that she could trace certain things with magic, but, being a useless mage herself, she wanted to make sure those of magical persuasion could solve these things without.

And having secured additional funding, she could do that now. The Tilani family would be a great benefactor for her work. They'd basically given her more money that she had ever seen in her life. Philanthropy work, the woman had said in the letter that had come a few days ago. She had met the wife while in Tevinter, and then the woman herself the night of the ball. A lovely couple, and she hoped she'd get to see the two of them again one day. And then there was the question of if she'd get to see her friend again. Surely he'd come back to Val Royeaux soon enough, and she needed to get over her silly fear of being outside if she wanted to travel around to the different countries and study their plants. So many goals she needed to work towards, and a life of leisure that Luce had given her.

She wondered what her half-brother was up to today, after all -- the other half of the house was rather quiet the past day since her return. She had chalked it up to Luce and Maeve being busy with the baby, and she was certain she'd see them at breakfast in the morning. So, as she rose from the bed to go snuff out the lights around her library room, she paused as she thought she heard foot steps in her hallway. Luce?

He would be the only one up at this time of night, but he wouldn't be coming to her at this time of night, if it wasn't an emergency. She flew to the door, throwing it open, before a hand could even knock, her robes and hair disheveled in her flight from across the room to close the space as fast as possible.

@Lucien Beauvais

Background Song - Duran Duran, Ordinary World

Lucien paced the length of the dimly lit hallway, his steps echoing against the polished wooden floor. His mind was a chaotic whirlpool of regret, confusion, and sorrow. He couldn't remember the night in question, only fragments of a work party and then waking up in a stranger's bed. The shock of finding himself there had been nothing compared to the devastation of Maeve discovering lipstick on his collar, lipstick that wasn't hers.

Maeve had confronted him with tears in her eyes and pain in her voice, and no matter how much he tried to explain or apologize, it had only made things worse. She had packed her things, taken their son, and left him standing in the doorway of their home, watching his world crumble.

Now, the house felt empty, the silence oppressive. He tried to focus on work, tried to distract himself, but every corner of their home held memories of her, of them. Lucien ran a hand through his hair, his heart heavy with guilt. How could he have been so careless? So stupid? As he turned to make another pass down the hallway, he nearly collided with Ophelia.

He took a step back, trying to compose himself. Ophelia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just...I can't seem to sit still. His emotions were etched in his face, he looked like he was either going to cry or scream or both.

@Ophelia Jolfy

There had been a time, when they were younger, that she had seen him so distraught. She couldn't remember the reason why any more, only that it had probably been something about a girl, or their father yelling at him for something. But she knew that look, knew that something was going on inside that large brain of his. Come on, I'll make you a night cap and then you are going to sit down with me and let me pet your hair and I'll either let you talk about what you need to, or if you need it, I will prattle on about the most inane things to try and get your brain to stop.

Of course she had no plans of giving him alcohol. That was the last thing he needed at the moment, not with an empty house and a spousal fight. She hadn't been home when it had happened, thankfully, she would have been a problem in that moment, the moment yelling had been heard. But she knew her brother, she had known him his whole life. She knew better than to think what he stood accused of was factual, and she was sure that Maeve would come to that same reasoning as soon as tempers calmed.

Her brother was the most faithful person she knew. He had stood by all of them, for years, unwavering. Even drunk, even drugged, he would not have done what it had looked like. She was absolutely certain of that.

So she gently took his hand, pulling it out of his hair, and slotted her fingers through his, and started to tug him towards the kitchens, if he would let her. Some warm milk and honey in tea would do him good, and it would do her good too. Come on Luce. You run your hand through your hair like that much more and you'll be bald before you know it.

@Lucien Beauvais

Lucien allowed himself to be led, the warmth of Ophelia's hand a small comfort in the sea of his turmoil. He managed a weak smile at her attempt to lighten the mood, appreciating her unwavering support.

As they reached the kitchen, the familiar scents and quiet ambiance began to soothe his frayed nerves. Ophelia set about preparing the tea, her movements calm and purposeful, grounding him in the present moment.

He watched her, grateful for her presence, and took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. I don't know what I'd do without you, Ophelia, he said quietly, his voice tinged with exhaustion and relief. It all felt like a really bad dream that he couldn’t wake up from, and right now Ophelia was the only thing tethering him to reality.

@Ophelia Jolfy

I'm pretty sure we would have both died as children, burning the house down or some such. We were such difficult children. She teased gently as she set the tea up to steep, the cream and honey added to the kitchen counter. This was their little thing. Midnight honey tea. At one point, when they had been younger, it had been some sort of citrusy alcohol, but that had morphed as they had gotten older. So once everything that had taken him from his side was done, she returned to it, climbing up on the counter top so that she could hold him, really hold him in a hug. Look at me. I know you, I've known you for our whole lives. I know you better than you know yourself, and you know this. And I know you didn't do it. She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

She was gonna clear his name, but in the mean time. Come with me back to Tevinter. I'm leaving again in a few days, and I think the change of scenery would do you good. And I can introduce you to some of our counterparts there. Maybe take you to some places where your after hours work would thrive. And she would put her big brain to work. I think it would do us all good, the change in scenery for two weeks or so. And if something happened with Maeve, they could travel by eluvian home.

@Lucien Beauvais