Completed To Bleed Enough

All she could was listen, to close her eyes and hear Henk speak of his experience and wish for her to not repeat the mistakes he had come across. Liv exhaled slowly, and heavily before letting her eyes flutter open.

"I do care about this boy." To say it like that, to be so free and open to it, it cracked open her chest and bared her heart. Such inflicted injury was always so hard for Livia to admit to, even sharing his existence beyond their bubble had been hard for her. It meant she was opening up her intentions for him to be received publicly, and her worst fears of being judged for it came to pass. "But... I do not want to lose friends over it. Older Dreadlords would tell me to toughen up, that I am wasting potential if I am worrying over trivial things like that."

But she was not born into this. She only began to think like a soldier in the last four years. Livia had been brought up to think methodically and navigate through a society of nobles and rich merchants. Connections were something she strived to excel in, the illusion of being successful and powerful when she need not rely on herself on such a matter.

"I have not spoken to him after... all that. What if he changed his mind about me? That he decided to like Maseno's sister instead of me?"

It filled her with an ugly emotion, one she felt ashamed to bring to light.
 
As vulnerable and pained as Livia's spoken worries were, Henk could only find a smile on his scarred face as he clicked his armor back into place, reaching over his shoulders to fasten the buckle on the back of the apparatus.

There was a time when Henk would have considered such matters to be his most worrisome hurdles, these matters of the heart. With the innocence peeled from his flesh, though, he knew how trivial they were. And how trivial they would eventually feel to Livia herself.

Even so, it was important now, in this period of her life. To that end, he gave her the most honest advice that he possibly could.

"It sounds to me like..." He threw his cloak over his shoulders and pulled the hood up over his head,a smile still adorning his face as he looked down at his fretful young protege, "You should be talking to him, and not to me. Do not shut one another out, like she and I have. You both deserve better than that. Our lives are fleeting ones, so enjoy love while you can."

Livia Quinnick
 
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Liv groaned loudly.

"He is on a mission right now... with his friend Victoria." She had actually expected him back this morning before she left for the fort, geared up for some more training to defeat the rogue Archons. There had not been much time for her to wait around and see if he had made it back, but her compass always knew when Silas was nearby.

And he was not anywhere near the Academy.

"I just..." She sighed, closing her eyes. "Cannot wait for graduation at this point. A Dreadlord is going to meet me at the Academy later this week, about a position somewhere. My guess is he is from the Vigilite, but Krixus is not denying or confirming anything to me." The change of subject was needed. What point was there in talking about Silas when there was a distance between them? She could not fix anything so soon, but graduation? Her future?

This Taskforce was going to be in her future even still, and soon, she would welcomed back as a Ranked Dreadlord.
 
It was difficult to hide the concern on his face, given the space the Artesto boy seemed to hold in Livia's heart. She'd moved on quickly from the topic, trying to divert attention from her skittishness over their relationship and instead choosing to focus on her own prospects.

Henk did not call out this shift. It was not his place.

"An opportunity, to be certain." He gave a sage nod. If Alistair had his eyes on Quinnick, then something substantial was indeed lined up for her, should she choose to take it. The Dreadlord did question whether the young woman truly understood the weight of such a choice, though. "I would be cautious, though, about rushing into such a thing. Making a heavy choice out of impatience will only lead to pain."

Henk nodded down to the cuff, still half hanging off of her body.

"It is that same impatience that brought you here. You're young, Livia. The only person nipping at your heels is yourself. I implore you to remember that."

Livia Quinnick
 
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Gods, he sounded like Okko.

She was sure her brothers would like Henk for helping train and educate her, but she did not need to listen to anymore brotherly advice from anyone, brother or not.

Sighing, she sat up and looked at the cuff at her wrist. "Pressure on myself gets me results. It is what I was taught when I came to the Academy. Even when the rules changed for Vel Anir, the Proctor's grew softer, but I did not."

And so Livia could feel the slight pressure left from the cuff and held it in her other hand, inspecting the runes etched into the metal that gave it it's ability to null magic.

"I need to master control of it, but I cannot do that without seeing how far I can go wielding it."

Magic coursed through her, crackling in the air around her as she looked to the runes and metal that made the cuff. It sizzled, gave off a horrid scent of burning and Livia dropped the cuff to the floor. The runes no longer held power, at least for a time, but it was still recovering from the charge of corruption magic Livia infused into it.

Henk
 
Henk could only sigh as he watched Livia remove the cuff, rebuking his last piece of advice. It was as defeated as he was willing to sound, considering that he'd more or less expected her to brush off his warnings. For better or worse, Livia was far more like the class Henk came up in than she was like her peers in what many called the 'Gilded' class.

She had a drive, a desire to succeed no matter the cost. And just like Henk and his peers, she sometimes lost sight of what that cost could be.

"I cannot tell you what to do. That isn't my place, nor what you've asked of me." He stated simply. "But mastery does not come from recklessness. Do not confuse overuse with training, and remember that nobody will be there to rein you in if you lose control of yourself in a scenario not quite so controlled."

Henk had been there today, as well as Perrine. If such an outburst would have occurred in the field, Livia would have been a danger to both her allies and herself. Quinnick knew as well as Henk that the Dreadlords had no room for liabilities.

"Since you're feeling better, I'd best be off." He'd spent a considerable amount of time tending to her, and he was already running late for his meeting with Zana to receive new orders. She wasn't going to take that well, he was sure. Reaching out, he clasps a hand onto one of her shoulders. "You, Livia, are more competent and capable than you allow yourself to see. You've grown much in the last few weeks, and I'm proud of you. All that I ask of you, is that you do not allow your ambition to overtake you entirely."

Livia Quinnick
 
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Gods, he sounded like Okko.

Livia watched him, her eyes sharp, lips pursed, and her jaw set. "Ambition will get me where I want to be..."

She pulled a blanket from the bedside table, throwing it over herself as she rolled so that her back faced him. "You should go. Proctor Urahil will be here soon to check on me and you have training to get to."

Liv no longer wanted to talk. Anger was rolling through her, annoyed that she took on too much power and that all of that had to be witnessed by established Dreadlords. Hells, even Maseno and Ivan would hear of this. Maz would want to talk just like Henk did, and Ivan would make a joke of it.

Power, and the ability to control all that festered inside her. That was her ambition now. Her time at the Academy was coming to an end, and Livia needed to secure other routes to help bolster her corruption magic.
 
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