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Jul. 15th, 2020 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mostheavenlyWe failed. She yet lives. They are coming.
It's all there was time for before Estinien was gone again, but Aymeric knows enough of his friend to hear every last unspoken word, knows why he left before he could respond. If Aymeric leaves with him, then they know that they know, that someone survived to bring them the news. If Aymeric leaves, they would know to pursue, know the victory was not assured and the battle not over.
If Aymeric stays...
He tells Lucia, gives her completely plausible and unsuspicious orders that take her outside of the city, gives a completely plausible reason to take some of their stoutest allies with them. It gives them a chance at least. And then he sits back down at his desk and calmly does paperwork, his mind racing, his eyes not seeing the letters, until the Heaven's Ward comes for him.
He knows how to show people what it is they want to see of him. This is no different. The surprise is not real, but the panic is, even so, he makes sure it's Zephirin who takes him down. It is both a gift and a survival tactic, he does not think the other will kill him outright, at least not in accidental zeal like some of the others.
Still, it is somewhat a surprise to wake at all and more of one that he is sore and hurting beyond the ability to remain asleep any longer but that nothing immediately seems to be broken. Keeping his eyes closed, he takes stock. His wrists are shackled behind him with iron and he's laying on something that's making a passable attempt at being soft, with a similar pillow under his head. His shoulders protest the position in a way that suggests he's been here a while. He still has feeling in his fingers and toes (except for the arm he's laying on) and he seems to be clothed, though he can tell he's no longer wearing his armor. A deeper breath, taken cautiously, confirms he's badly bruised in the ribs, but he doesn't think anything is broken. Really, other than the blow to the head, which throbs, he's hardly been beaten at all.
The thought brings no comfort. If they have left him alive and unharmed, it is not out of mercy. It is to make sure that, when they harm him, he feels it. He's already endured one round of their torture, which left him almost too wounded to stand and his mind screams in fear at having to face it again. Even so, if he can stay calm in the terror of staring down a dragon, there's little reason to not remain calm in the face of this one. Aymeric opens his eyes and looks at the bare room around him, bars, crates, stones. It is slightly more comfortable than his previous Vault accommodations and he's picking over what that might mean when there are footsteps-- shoes rather than greaves-- and the curiosity of his first visitor not being of the Heaven's Ward makes his decision to not pretend to be asleep, but rather to keep his eyes open and see who's coming for him, though he doesn't quite trust himself to sit up just yet.
It's all there was time for before Estinien was gone again, but Aymeric knows enough of his friend to hear every last unspoken word, knows why he left before he could respond. If Aymeric leaves with him, then they know that they know, that someone survived to bring them the news. If Aymeric leaves, they would know to pursue, know the victory was not assured and the battle not over.
If Aymeric stays...
He tells Lucia, gives her completely plausible and unsuspicious orders that take her outside of the city, gives a completely plausible reason to take some of their stoutest allies with them. It gives them a chance at least. And then he sits back down at his desk and calmly does paperwork, his mind racing, his eyes not seeing the letters, until the Heaven's Ward comes for him.
He knows how to show people what it is they want to see of him. This is no different. The surprise is not real, but the panic is, even so, he makes sure it's Zephirin who takes him down. It is both a gift and a survival tactic, he does not think the other will kill him outright, at least not in accidental zeal like some of the others.
Still, it is somewhat a surprise to wake at all and more of one that he is sore and hurting beyond the ability to remain asleep any longer but that nothing immediately seems to be broken. Keeping his eyes closed, he takes stock. His wrists are shackled behind him with iron and he's laying on something that's making a passable attempt at being soft, with a similar pillow under his head. His shoulders protest the position in a way that suggests he's been here a while. He still has feeling in his fingers and toes (except for the arm he's laying on) and he seems to be clothed, though he can tell he's no longer wearing his armor. A deeper breath, taken cautiously, confirms he's badly bruised in the ribs, but he doesn't think anything is broken. Really, other than the blow to the head, which throbs, he's hardly been beaten at all.
The thought brings no comfort. If they have left him alive and unharmed, it is not out of mercy. It is to make sure that, when they harm him, he feels it. He's already endured one round of their torture, which left him almost too wounded to stand and his mind screams in fear at having to face it again. Even so, if he can stay calm in the terror of staring down a dragon, there's little reason to not remain calm in the face of this one. Aymeric opens his eyes and looks at the bare room around him, bars, crates, stones. It is slightly more comfortable than his previous Vault accommodations and he's picking over what that might mean when there are footsteps-- shoes rather than greaves-- and the curiosity of his first visitor not being of the Heaven's Ward makes his decision to not pretend to be asleep, but rather to keep his eyes open and see who's coming for him, though he doesn't quite trust himself to sit up just yet.
