A/N: Just a dump for all my Talon/Lux stuff that either didn't get into my fic or has nothing to do with it.
She'd been stationed in the Du Couteau household for quite some time now.
Lux's days blurred together, none being distinct from another, and her weeks bled into months, and the passage of time only became notable when her deployment neared a year in length; occasionally she would feel some sort of pang for home, but only for a moment before she remembered that she didn't have a home to return to, and that the spare room allotted to her in the Du Couteau mansion was just as meaningful to her as Demacia was.
Probably more so- Noxus had never personally robbed Lux of anything, although that didn't quite absolve them of the crimes they had committed.
Lux was eager to steer clear of her more resentful thoughts regarding Demacia while she was away because that made her long days drag out terribly, and lucky for her that was easily accomplished; see, as mind-numbingly dull as posing as a handmaiden was, Lux had plenty of fascinating things to focus on when she wasn't actively doing laundry or cooking someone's meal. Katarina was a transient presence in the house with duties tying her to High Command and some battlefield or another and Cassiopeia had long since forsaken her home, but the third Du Couteau heir (if she could call him that) had recently begun spending more and more time encumbered in his room or a training room or making frequent passes through the kitchen and library while he went about his day.
And for some reason, Lux was completely, utterly obsessed with Talon Du Couteau.
She was being creepy, she knew that; being a handmaiden meant that her presence was entirely expected and also completely ignored, so wherever Talon went, she could be. She made his meals, tended to whatever needs he had while training, tidied books he left out when he finished in the library. Small, menial tasks that would, to some degree, require her to be in his presence. The attraction was so bizarre to her because Talon hardly ever did anything worth noting; he ate alone and quietly, he sifted through books without ever reading entirely through one, he trained for hours on end without a word and never once acknowledged anyone else in the house, her or otherwise. Maybe Lux was fixated on him because of the anticipation of someday hearing him speak, to see some outburst of sound or emotion, any little sign of life from him. As the yearly anniversary of her deployment came and went, Lux's hope of seeing such a thing diminished, but she still watched the quiet man do quiet things while she toiled away at a job that never actually seemed any closer to being finished.
It was when the snow was beginning to melt away that Lux finally got what she was waiting for- or something close. It was dreadfully dreary outside, and thick, gray clouds smothered the sun and bestowed an early night upon the household. Lux stepped into the library with a tray laden with a cup and a small pot of coffee, eyeing the darkness outside through one of the giant windows that stretched the entire two floors of the library with a small twitch of annoyance. She liked (rare though it was) the days when the sun shone bright and strong through those windows, covering the floor with a blanket of sunshine that stretched all the way to the walls of books. She sighed to herself as she carried the coffee to the winding staircase leading to the second floor, each step of her foot a muffled shuffle against the thick carpet. She'd never given thought to being particularly stealthy in her approach before because Talon hardly ever looked at her when she brought him anything, but as she crested the staircase he was already laser focused on her face, and she paused on that last step, hesitating beneath what was almost a glare.
In almost a year of him studiously not looking at her, it was a shock to suddenly become the subject of his completely undivided attention.
He said nothing, strangely enough, just continued to stare at her all while leaning against one of the many shelves of books, a thick volume held open in his hands. It was an odd picture he presented; hood hung lower over his eyes, despite being inside, cradling a book Lux was sure he'd only skimmed through. It could have been that she was suddenly uncomfortable and seeing things that weren't really there, but to her it seemed like every bit of shadow in the dark corner of the library he'd chosen to settle in was flocking to him, dusting his cloak and his face until all Lux could really see where two very curious amber eyes.
They both knew that her pause at the steps was a nervous and unusual one, and since Lux suddenly did not want any more of Talon's attention than was already focused on her, she quickly stepped to a small table set a few feet away from the bookshelves, gently laying the coffee tray down and intending to immediately depart.
"You don't like the rain."
Lux froze with her hand on the lid of the coffee pot, taking an inordinately long amount of time to force her muscles to move. It was the first time she'd ever heard Talon speak in more than a year of service; she had expected, based on appearances alone, a rough, gravelly voice that rasped and demanded things of people; instead, his voice was low, deep, but dreadfully smooth and rich. She didn't think it was a voice that belonged to such an ordained killer, but she found it much more agreeable than anything she had imagined.
She turned towards him slowly, ending up with only half of her body facing him; what he had asked was supposed to be a question (or so she assumed) but had come out as a confident statement. He wasn't asking Lux if she didn't like the rain, he was telling her like he already knew for sure.
"No, I don't."
As if to accent her confirmation, a fresh clap of thunder shook the sky, and a wave of rain lashed against the tall windows.
She might have wondered at the question he chose to ask her, but he'd snapped the book shut in his hands with a muffled thump, pushing away from the bookshelves with a step or two in her direction. Lux couldn't help it; her body tensed the closer he came to her, and she gave an almost visible sigh of relief when he stopped advancing a pace away. He crossed his arms as he regarded her with those searching eyes, and Lux suddenly felt very small and exposed beneath his gaze.
"Unusual for a Noxian."
It was- Lux didn't know why she didn't just lie about such a simple thing, although she was beginning to feel that even if she did, he would see right through the deception. Too far gone to feign an interest in the weather now, she simple shrugged, unable to force herself to give a verbal answer. She hated the way he looked at her, like he knew this quaint mouse of a person that spent so much time unnoticed in his presence wasn't who she said she was. Like he knew all along that she was a Demacian spy, and he was biding his time until he exposed her.
A few seconds passed in which Lux did not move and Talon didn't either, only continued to stare her down like he was intent on simply intimidating a confession out of her. Her fingers curled into fists behind her back, nails biting into her palm, and as a nearly a minute of this strained silence came to pass Lux started to wonder if she really was in danger, and if she was then did she really have a chance of running down the stairs and out of the library before he caught her?
Her strained muscles were beginning to twitch as she geared herself to run, but Talon unfolded his arms and gave a nonchalant shrugs of his shoulders, causing that unusual cape to shift around his legs.
And that was it.
He returned to the bookshelf, focusing that eerie gaze on the dusty tomes instead of her, and after a shocked moment where she did nothing, Lux stiffly began her descent down the stairs. She half expected Talon to waltz down them and stop her, she half expected a shout to ring out or a knife in her back, but she was closing the library doors in a daze, and Talon had done nothing.
And even after a year of waiting and expecting, Lux wished that Talon Du Couteau never knew she existed.