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Post by Jess on Jul 17, 2017 16:06:32 GMT -5
It was not often that the Abbess found herself in the cellars. After all, she had never been particularly given to the consumption of alcohol, which was mostly what was stored down there, and she didn't like to risk the wrath of the Cellarbeast by being a constant obstruction and impediment to their work. Other beasts kept out of her way so that she could do her job, and she thought it only fair that she should extend the same courtesy to them. Today, however, she felt that she had little choice. Bardineta made a habit of routinely checking over every part of the Abbey, not so much out of worry as out of deep-set paranoia and long habit. And sooner or later, the fact remained, she would have to go through the cellars. They were, after all, reasonably extensive, and as much as she didn't want to bother the Cellarbeast, she also didn't want to neglect them. Her duty extended to every beast resident in Redwall Abbey, after all; not just the ones which she saw on a day to day basis. Those who worked hard in hidden corners for the good of the Abbey were just as deserving, if not more so, of her attention. Whether she could find the beast or not remained to be seen, but she was at any rate determined to make an inspection of the cellars.
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Post by Luna Broadblade on Sept 9, 2017 21:34:34 GMT -5
Lorne was not very proud of himself right now.
Stumbling along the cellar, and using the wall for support, he tried to pinpoint the exact moment when things went wrong. He’d initially come down to the cellars to talk with the Cellarbeast about wood: Specifically what kinds of wood were available at the Abbey that might make good instruments. He’d heard tales of trees that had been submerged in water for hundreds of years, which were made into fiddles that produced the finest of sounds. Would wood used to store October ale and the like go through a similar process? Of course, instruments were made of softwood, and Lorne hadn’t known if the ales were stored in a different type.
At any rate, they’d gotten to talking. And talking. First about trees, then work, then the various bits of gossip they’d heard, then back to work. The Cellarbeast was in charge of all the various drinks drunk at the abbey, including the fermented kind. In a gesture of kindness he’d offered to let Lorne help him determine how the process was going by sampling a few choice drinks. Not wanting to be rude, Lorne accepted.
What a day to skip lunch. Lorne knew better under most circumstances than to drink on an empty stomach. But he’d thought it would only be one or two samples…
There were more than one or two samples to be taken, and the whole meeting took longer than Lorne expected. A half hour quickly morphed into two. It was only when they were three fourths of the way through the task that Cellarbeast had politely reminded Lorne that he wasn’t actually supposed to be drinking more than a small mouthful, and actually most just tasted the liquid and spat it out to avoid well…
Becoming three sheets to the wind.
Unfortunately the advice was a bit late. With a hearty round of laughter and admonishments, Lorne was told to go upstairs and eat something, then sleep it off. Not wanting to keep him from his work longer than he already had, Lorne had waved off an escort and left the Cellarbeast with a little less dignity than he’d had.
Now to make it back upstairs and to my room without anyone noticing…
Hopefully nobody would be wondering where he’d gone too all day. It was a quiet day at the Abbey, and most of his duties had been seen to. All music lessons were done before lunch, and his other responsibilities were minor. Perhaps if he was an actual brother rather than still in training...
Turning a corner, Lorne stopped, eyes going slightly wide. For there was the Abbess herself, apparently inspecting the cellars. He prayed that his words didn’t slur together and she didn’t notice he was swaying slightly even as he leaned against the wall for support.
“ ‘Ello Abbess.”
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Post by Jess on Sept 10, 2017 16:25:18 GMT -5
Bardineta had never been one for drinking, but neither did she actively discourage it amongst the Abbey dwellers- which was just as well, since she highly doubted that she'd get very far, considering that they had a cellar full of the stuff and made more every year. It wasn't that she disapproved of it; she had simply never done it enough to get used to it. As a result, she honestly couldn't distinguish between a good year or a bad one; once or twice, she had been sitting there at a special event, drinking something perfectly happily, whilst around her, others were pulling faces and spitting it out, and the Cellarbeast was wringing his hands and apologising... and the mouse had been wondering what on earth all the fuss was about.
Herself, she had never actually experienced the effects of intoxication, but she had seen quite enough of it to be able to identify it in others, and the second that Lorne rounded the corner, a little suspicious voice at the back of Bardineta's mind was whispering to her that something here was not quite right. Still, she tried her best to ignore it as she smiled at the vole before her. "Good evening, Lorne." she responded. "I must say, I'm surprised to find you down here. Not an awful lot of music going on in the cellars, hmm?" She always found it difficult to know how she ought to speak to those who lived and worked in the Abbey which she technically ran. The mouse did her best not to speak from an elevated position, as it were, but she frequently found that attempting to speak as she might have done not so long ago, when she'd merely been a librarian, made others uneasy. And yet if she did speak with the authority which her position demanded, it put up the backs of other beasts. So, she really couldn't win and so, having accepted that, she simply spoke as herself. Those who didn't like it could lump it. She waited for the vole's reply, even as a scent drifting through the air began to hint at how he might have been engaging himself.
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Post by Luna Broadblade on Sept 11, 2017 22:04:20 GMT -5
"Good evening, Lorne… I must say, I'm surprised to find you down here. Not an awful lot of music going on in the cellars, hmm?"
Lorne grinned weakly at that. There was probably no point in pretending he was sober. Not if they were about to engage in conversation that required more than a simple exchange of courtesies. Of course, Lorne had been meaning to engage the new Abbess in conversation, and see if he might show he was ready to become a full Brother. Most of those planned meetings had been far more dignified in his imagination.
Great impression Lorne, finally get the chance to actually talk to her in more than just passing, and you’re drunk. Great plan.
Ah well, there was no helping his state now. Might as well tell her that he wasn’t down here purely for a spot of fun and trouble.
“Actually, the cellar has good accus- er, good sound,” Lorne stumbled a little over his words, his clumsy substitution stemming from the sudden desire not to have to put a lot of effort into fixing his pronunciation. “It bounces around a bit, and makes for a fuller sound. But I was actually down here talkin’ with the Cellarbeast about wood, and how water an’ other liquids can change how an instrument sounds.”
Should he also tell her about his ongoing quest to have a fiddle of his own made? That was probably too much detail for this minor meeting. Should he tell her why he was currently leaning heavily on the wall? Maybe she’d already guessed. What should they talk about? Normally he’d go to business, but in his state, she might not take him seriously…
“An’ what, may I ask, brings you down here, ma’am?” Maybe if he got her talking, she’d forget her subordinate was down here in the cellars drinking in the middle of the day.
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Post by Jess on Sept 13, 2017 16:05:50 GMT -5
The Abbess smiled in a way which she sincerely hoped was neutral as she leaned against the nearest wall herself; feeling a little awkward standing straight whilst the vole reclined against the vertical surface. Honestly, it didn't especially bother her if those who resided in her Abbey wanted to drink in the middle of the day. So long as they weren't being sick and they were still capable of rational thought, and preferably movement, she was content to leave them to their own devices, assuming that this kind of thing didn't become more the rule than the exception. Bardineta had the privilege, as Abbess, to turn a blind eye to those activities which she chose to ignore, and she was planning on exercising that now. Lorne wasn't indecently drunk, and therefore she would let this one go. As long as it didn't happen again.
But Lorne didn't know that yet, and much as she hated to admit it even to herself, the Abbess was rather enjoying watching his reaction. She had not, all things considered, been occupying this role for very long, and she was still getting used to the added respect and responsibility which came with it. "I think the word you're looking for is 'acoustics'." she commented with a smile. "I didn't know that. What sort of instrument were you thinking of?" She felt a little uncomfortable herself at his question, not really having a concrete reason for being there, so she decided on vagueness as her best policy. "Oh, just wandering. Looking around. I haven't been down here for a while."
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Post by Luna Broadblade on Oct 12, 2017 20:54:08 GMT -5
"I think the word you're looking for is 'acoustics'."
“So it is ma’am,” Lorne assented softly. He smiled lightly at the correction.
"I didn't know that. What sort of instrument were you thinking of?"
Lorne allowed a moment of silence to pass as the Abbess described her reasoning for coming down. It gave him time to collect his thoughts. Though, truth be told, music was never far from his mind and he was as happy to talk on the subject as the Cellarbeast was to speak on the art of brewing.
“I’ve been tryin’ to see about havin’ a fiddle made,” Lorne confessed in slightly slurring tones. It seemed the longer he stood, the more alcohol flowed to his brain. Or maybe that was nerves. “See, in my travels I was gifted a lute, by mole with black lung who couldn’ sing any more but could still move his fingers, an’ my father gave me pipes, but I’ve never had opportunity to learn the fiddle. Not beyond a few passin’ notes and chords. A Miss… no, it was a Missus…. Green-somethin’-or-other in North Shire, three months travel northwest I believe it tis… She taught me a few chords while me and Brother Andre- Remember brother Andre Sis- Abbess? He was a good soul…”
The world seemed so much smaller without the good Brother in it. For a moment Lorne felt a horrible sense of misery sweep over him. Brother Andre, dead and gone. The one who’d taught him so much, who’d worked so hard to help those in need. There weren’t many Brothers who left the safety and peace of the Abbey to minister to the needy in war torn lands. Did Lorne ever thank him for convincing him to join him on his mission of mercy?
“I’ve never seen his like… Never met another creature who’d hold the paw of the bandit who’d robbed him as he lay dyin’ an’ show the same compassion to a mother o’ five who was bringing a sixth into the world. He sees… saw things in others…”
Lorne wasn’t sure he’d ever see that same kind of light.
…Wasn’t he just saying something? Lorne pushed away his sudden melancholy and tried to remember where he’d been in his story before bringing up Brother Andre
“…Where was I?”
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Post by Jess on Oct 13, 2017 14:08:15 GMT -5
Bardineta smiled but made no verbal response to the vole's agreement. She liked words. In a sense, they had been the tools of her trade for a fairly long time. While she had been librarian, she had been surrounded by them all day, every day, and the sensation had been bliss. She enjoyed bending and twisting them, looking at all their different connotations, taking them apart and looking at the pieces. Words were complex and fascinating things, unlike numbers. Numbers had fixed value. Yes, one could manipulate them; one who had the skill could make them dance on the page, but a word could have a thousand different fascinating interpretations, where a number could have only one. It was this love of the things which made her so pedantic about their use by others. Yes, some found it annoying, but Bardineta enjoyed it, and who was she to be told what she could and could not do by others? She was the Abbess now, after all, and, however strange it might seem, it was unlikely that anyone would contradict her now. Which made the mouse rather uneasy, if she was honest. She didn't want to dictate and lay down the law- in fact, she hadn't particularly wanted the job, but someone had to do it, after all. When she made a bad decision- and Bardineta was certain that such a thing would happen, in time- she wanted there to be someone with the power and the courage to stand up to her and tell her to get her head straight. The Abbey beasts were loyal to a fault. Sometimes, too much so.
The mouse smiled and dipped her head in acknowledgement of the vole's comments. "Perhaps we will have to start an orchestra, hmm? Or at least a band." She knew that a fair number of beasts would be interested. "Yes, I remember Brother Andre. A truly caring soul." the Abbess remarked. She chose not to answer his question, however; assuming it to be rhetorical.
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Post by Luna Broadblade on Oct 26, 2017 21:54:14 GMT -5
"Yes, I remember Brother Andre. A truly caring soul."
Lorne hummed in soft agreement, thoughts still circling between what he was saying and what he had wanted to say. He’d been at where he’d gotten the lute and…
“Missus Green taught me a few songs on the lute, though a Mister Underhill really expanded my understanding…” Lorne continued, though that hadn’t exactly been what he wanted to say. However, after a moment he remembered where he had been. “Me an’ Brother Andre had been in North Shire after it was attacked by the band of marauders a few years past. Though it had been recent when we were there.”
Lorne paused, for a moment remembering what he’d seen. So much destitution, so much pain. Houses burned,people killed or left injured in the streets. Good beasts wounded in body and mind, trying to recover from an act of senseless violence. They’d stayed for weeks, tending to the wounded, helping to rebuild houses destroyed in the raid. Helping to bring order to all the chaos left behind. Lorne had felt so young and unsteady back then, and he remembered feeling terrified of everything for the first week there.
“Sometimes, there’s so much darkness in this world Sister,” Lorne mused, forgetting that he was addressing the Abbess. “An’ it seems so far away when we’re in the Abbey, safe an’ warm an’ well fed… but it doesn’ really go away does it? We see it in the faces of the orphans an’ the refugees… But sometimes I forget… ”
If Lorne recalled rightly, Bardineta had seen more than her fair share of suffering.
“Sometimes I wondered why these things happen…”
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