An RP scene between Thomas Bouric#3602 (Améline the Anvil and Daisy), Keza#2929 (Jean and Evangeline), Foreverodd#1174 (Boi, Dan and the Corsairs) and Red angel#6435 (Varanguard King Khokatch Blaze Heart), begun the 13th of July 2022 in Choggrish Market chat and In The Armoury Thread.
Améline the Anvil and Daisy the sand-scurry join them with refilled packs. Améline approaches Jean directly, coincidentally placing herself between Daisy and the Knight from last night.
“Good morning, Jean. How are you?”
Jean takes a moment to consider the question and who it’s asked by. her hands shake a little. “Well.” she squeaks.
“Hm, good. Are we waiting for anyone else?”
“Are we…? Oh, we need our guides…”
“Hm.”
Améline stands silently beside Daisy, giving off the impression that she’d stand still and wait for hours if needed. Daisy, on the other hand, is rather less patient, and starts shuffling closer to Jean’s warriors, nose snuffling as they get their scent.
Boi has returned, carrying a basket of apples. After offering one to Daisy, he turns to the humans. “Ameline gold-thing got food-stuff?”
Daisy diverts their attention away from Jean’s warriors as soon as the apple comes close to them. They happily devour it out of Boi’s hand, then nuzzle it for good measure.
“I have food, yes.”
The corner of Améline’s mouth almost flickers into a smile, then stays there. She steps closer to Daisy and pats their head again.
“But Daisy never says no to more.”
“The ratman is going to lead us to this ship with the silver-haired woman?” Jean verifies.
“Yes-yes. Boi and human-things walk-scurry through gnaw-hole, reach storm-ship on other-side.”
Jean looks to Améline as if to ask if she trusts this plan.
“Boi, how long will it otherwise take for us to get to the Stormdance Reavers if we travel by foot?”
“Two day-night brain-smart. One day-night brain-dumb, but any-thing may try-do kill-stab.”
Jean says, “Huh? We’re going on foot?”
“You can ride if you want to.”
Améline looks up at Jean.
“How desperately do you need to get to Evangeline?”
“Ah, um, oh, um, soon?” Jean replies, a little startled.
“Hm.”
Améline looks down at Boi.
“Then we’ll go by gnawhole.”
Boi smiles and walks over to a near-by wall. Drawing one of his blades, he stabs into the wall and carves open a green hole in space. “Yes-yes. Follow-scurry Boi.”
Améline takes a step forward, before turning to look back at Jean.
“Are you comfortable travelling like this?”
“It’s the path to the silver-haired woman The Gods want me to find. Why…why would I fear it?”
After the warriors finish filing into the gnawhole, it snaps shut with only the faint smell of scorched fur.
The gnawhole disgorges the warriors into the armory of the Stormdancer, slightly seasick but otherwise no worse for wear.
Améline steps through first, having forged ahead to make sure the gnawhole was safe. When she finds herself intact on the other end, she calls over Daisy, who leaps through; spooked by the experience, but none the worse for wear.
Boi emerges back onto the ship. The armory of the Stormdancer is filled with the dull green glow of warpstone weapons, with parts of cannons strewn about. Five hammocks hang from the rafters.
Jean watches the Stormcast go, puts her helmet on and turns to her warriors. She raises her banner, and her warband cheers, following their Maiden fearlessly into the gnawhole.
Boi sets down the apples and sits on a barrel to wait for the chaos warriors. Pulling out a couple wedges of cheese, he offers one to the stormcast.
Améline politely waves away the cheese.
“Thank you, but I’m not hungry.”
The Chaos Warriors come through with warcries on their lips, but the sounds die as they realize where they are. Jean’s banner bonks into the ceiling, along with a number of the Knights’ lances.
“Yes-yes. All-things on storm-boat. Water-sea wave-rock, so relax-sit if belly-sick. Boi call-squeak for Evangeline human-thing.” Boi scurries out the door.
“Thank you, Boi. I won’t forget the kindness you’ve done for me.”
Améline touches a fist to her chest and bows her head, offering the proper respect and thanks she feels he’s earned.
Boi returns to the armory, Evangeline in tow. “Jean human-thing, this Evangeline crew-friend.”
Evangeline looks very blasé about the whole thing. She’s got her hands on her hips, hair loosely braided in her typical style and only in portions of her armor. She’s a bit confused to be met by a whole contingent of Warriors like this, especially in the cramped armory.
Améline turns around as soon as Evangeline enters. Where before she was guarded around Jean’s warriors, now she relaxes herself enough to more transparently show the worry and guilt that had been pushing her across the Bleeding Wilds.
“Hello, Evangeline.”
Améline leans her halberd against the wall and lets go of it, disarming herself.
“I’m sorry it took me this long to find you again.”
“Uh, hey…” Evangeline awkwardly greets her, looking a little less annoyed, but instead confused. “You were lookin’?”
“Since I found out from a Cyrus Fanghand that you were with the Stormdance Reavers.”
From how travel-beaten and battle-stained Améline’s armour is, Evangeline might be able to guess that that’s been a while.
“Oh…” Evangeline says, hollowly, remembering her lost people. “So you ran across ’em, huh?”
“While fighting the cult, yes. He told me some of what you’ve gone through, and a little about your history.”
Evangeline gets defensive. “He doesn’t nothin’ about me or what I been through.”
Améline’s mouth becomes a grim line as she recalls what Cyrus had told her.
“I gathered as much from the way he talked about you. And the pain he put you and Morathell through.”
She risks a step towards Evangeline.
“But what else had happened to the two of you?”
“We kept fightin’. He just wouldn’t stop claimin’ I’m the one who didn’t get it, or that I needed to ‘understand’. He’s the one who forgot me!” Evangeline says spitefully.
“I got that impression. When I asked Cyrus about you, he called you ‘Justine’s sist-“
“Shut up about that!” Evangeline stamps her foot.
“They all keep sayin’ it, as if I wasn’t anythin’ without her…” And maybe I’m not. she thinks.
Daisy meeps and hides behind Améline at Evangeline’s anger. The Stormcast stands firm, letting Evangeline’s yelling wash over her.
“Evangeline, what happened to you?” she repeats, more quietly.
“What happened? What happened? Where do I even begin with a question that stupid?”
“At the beginning.”
Améline folds her arms, taking on the air of a bastion of patience.
“I’ll listen as long as needed.”
“Why should I tell you about any of that? Especially when you brought some kid here to listen.” she says, gesturing to Jean.
Améline looks at Jean.
“Could you all give us some time alone?”
Jean dips her head and will head to one of the other parts of the ship.
Boi comes with, excitedly chatting about sandwiches.
Améline waits until only she, Evangeline and Daisy remain before talking again.
“I’ve already told you in Gehenna’s Rest why I want to listen. Because I care. Something’s wrong, and if I’m going to help you I need to know what it is.”
“Look, it’s not somethin’ that needs much explainin’. She’s been gone for years at this point.” Evangeline says vaguely.
“Who has?”
Evangeline settles on her hip. “Guess.”
“Justine?”
“You got it.” Evangeline sneers. “And what do you think has had her gone so long?”
“Hrm.”
A spark shoots out of her eye, thankfully fizzling out before it lands on the wooden floor.
“Tiberius.”
“In part, yeah. What do you think he did to ‘er, huh?” Evangeline leans in. She’s liking this little game.
“He put her through the Queenstrial, and it killed her?”
“Wow! Look at you! You got it all right!” Evangeline is openly mocking. “Now do you see how stupid asking me that is? You could’ve figured it all out on your own.”
“And why do you think that happened?” Améline asks, patient in the face of Evangeline’s mockery.
“Why does anything bad happen? The Gods are cruel sometimes, and cruel to me.” Evangeline’s face falls a bit. “Justine gave me all her rations leading up to the fights, and eventually she got weak enough to where she couldn’t even put up a good enough fight. That Blood Warrior murdered her without a second thought. Justine thought I needed help, more than she needed to help herself. I guess she really thought I was that pitiful, huh?”
“It seems to me more that she wanted you to survive. It’s what I would have done in her place.”
“Yeah, well…I don’t get it.” Evangeline crosses her arms and pouts.
“Why not?”
“C’mon, Améline, look at me. I’ve been miserable ever since, alone on that blasted Steppe for years without her and still alone, now that those stupid snakes went and wrapped around the rest of our people. Why would that be something worth sacrificing your life over?”
“Cyrus told me about how you dragged yourself out of a snake pit to save Morathell. You might have done it rashly and without telling me, but you tried to rescue Aenge from a daemon. And stars in high Azyr above, did you forget about how we fought side-by-side to protect Gehenna’s Rest from the Sons of Noctis? Or the Nighthaunt attack?”
Now some passion breaks through Améline’s stoicism as she recounts those events.
“You’re focusing too much on the defeats, and not enough on the victories that you have earned.”
“Well, no one needs to have what happened to me happen to them. But what happened to me still happened. I’m still stuck here without a home, or a people, or a sister, or a leader worth followin’, or really much of anythin’.
“Sure, I win fights. I don’t die no matter what, but how much of victory is that when there’s just…nothin’ for it other than gettin’ to tomorrow? What’s tomorrow got? Same amount of nothin’. The people gone from me are gone forever, and tomorrow’s not gonna bring ‘em back, now is it?”
“But you still have people. You have Morathell and Charlaen. I trekked over miles of land chasing hints of you. Listen to us for a change. We want you to live. That’s. Why. I’m. Here. To help you change your life for the better.”
“How the hell are you gonna do that? You can’t bring back The Rift or Justine, no matter how much you act like ‘er.” Evangeline almost sounds accusatory, and definitely bitter.
“You’re right, I can’t. But the alternative isn’t to never move on from them.”
‘Act like ‘er?’, she wonders.
“What am I supposed to do? Forget everythin’ that kept me who I am while on The Steppe?” Evangeline takes a step back, swiping a hand.
Améline leans back to dodge the hand, but otherwise remains unchanged.
“No. You should leave behind your guilt.”
“My what? This isn’t my fault! Not all of it, anyway.”
“I’m not sure you feel that way. ‘Why would that be something worth sacrificing your life over.'”
Améline takes a tentative step towards Evangeline.
“You sounded like you think Justine wasted her life protecting you.”
Evangeline looks hot with shame. “Well… I haven’t done much with it. Not the kind of things she could’ve.”
“That’s not the point of self-sacrifice. She gave her life for you to live yours, not imitate hers.”
“Why is mine so important?!” she shouts. “What about me is so special that people should die for me?”
Daisy cringes back behind Améline at Evangeline’s yelling. Their foot thumps the ground.
“This has never been a case of should.” Améline sighs, finally letting a little frustration slip through. “Nobody should give their life up for you. But they choose to regardless.”
“I’m not sayin’ anyone should! No one should an’ especially not for me! I just don’t get it Améline. Why would anyone, huh? What sets me so apart? No one can answer that, except with platitudes and it’s just…frustratin’.” Evangeline still all fired up.
“It’s not enough that we want you to be alive and not in pain? Because we care? You’re a brave, determined person when you’re not letting yourself be like this, Evangeline. You’re my friend. I want you to be happy.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to be happy in a world like this, with everything I cared about gone or twisted.”
“You can start by letting those things go. What’s gone, is gone. You can’t keep hurting yourself with them.”
“I know how difficult it’ll be to move on.” She adds, her frustration subsiding enough to reveal her sympathy.
“Without those things, I’ve got nothin’ but all the hurt and pain the Steppe gave me, and I don’t want to be chained there any longer than I was.”
“You feel like you don’t have anything because you’ve been dwelling on all the things that you’ve lost. You have Morathell. You have Charlaen. You have me. And are you sure there isn’t anyone on an entire Black Ark who likes you?”
“I don’t know if I care. It’s probably all fake and they’re lyin’ or don’t really know who they’re dealin’ with.”
“Evangeline, I didn’t leave Aengellania alone with a Daemon in her shadow, fight a Mallus Hound and countless other monsters, travel for weeks without returning to Barak-Drak, chase every single hint of you that I found, and risk coming aboard the flagship of the enemies of the Skyguard to fake liking you.”
Evangeline feels kind of cornered now. “Hrm…” It sounds almost like Améline’s.
“Aside from you and Morathell, and possibly Jean and Boi, practically everyone around us right now has a vested interest in killing me.”
Améline briefly curses and slaps a hand to her forehead as realisation hits her.
“I shouldn’t have brought Daisy here.”
The sand-scurry upon hearing their name edges forward and nuzzles Améline’s arm, succeeding a little in reassuring her.
“Look, I’ll make sure you can get outta here… Eh, maybe we’ll get you to help patch up the boat, huh? And then shunt you off without Casty noticin’.”
“Not until I know you’ll be well.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m staying by your side until I know that you’re healthily processing your guilt, your grief, and everything else.”
Améline sits down heavily on a crate, wood creaking dangerously under her weight.
“Comet of hammers, I wish Aengellania were here. But I’m still helping you regardless.”
Evangeline grumbles incomprehensibly.
“I know you don’t like it. You don’t have to remind me.”
Daisy pushes Améline’s arm one last time, then looks over to Evangeline. Having come out of the other side of her shouting, they seem more curious of her now.
“You really got nothin’ better to do other than chase me down?” Evangeline sounds a bit softer. Perhaps, insecure is the word for it.
“I’ve neglected friends before.”
Améline leans forward, bowed by the memory of her years.
“It never ends well.”
“Hrm…” Evangeline grumbles. “So now what?”
“Well…”
Améline pushes herself back upright.
“It’s almost noon, isn’t it? How do you feel about a steak?”
“Oh, Gods, I’d kill for anything half as good as you make on this boat.”
“Can I talk you down to just assault and battery?”
Améline stands back up again, and for the first time since she came aboard the Stormdance gives Evangeline a smile.
“I bought some new spices in Choggrish, if you’re willing to let me experiment with them.”
“Sure! And maybe you can introduce me to that kid you brought with you?”
“Sure. Jean seems like a good person, she’s just far too young to be in the mess she is.”
“But, well, so were both of us once.”
“Ah, well, I wasn’t leadin’ no armies when I was that small, I can tell you that.”
The door is kicked open as Dan carries a large crate into the armory. Setting it down, he finally sees the assorted people (and rabbit) in the armory. With a quick wave, he starts pulling odd components out of the crate.
“She seems like a capable leader her men respect her and are willing to die for her”
The response Comes from the Varanguard perch on a box on the corner of the room.
“Hello Dan have you seen my wife anywhere”
“Look-try Weather-deck. Dan hunt-kill with Brawen crew-friend recent-time.”
Loud Ulgu aelvish comes from the corridor outside the Armory. Some kind of argument, and it seems to be getting closer.
Améline’s eyes dart to the door, and she raises a fist.
“Daisy, hide. Don’t let them see you.”
The sand-scurry, who had been tentatively approaching Dan in hopes that he’d have a carrot, immediately bounds over several crates and lays flat on the ground, obscuring themselves from whoever would walk through the door.
Améline’s eyes flicker over to her halberd, but before she can grab it she hesitates and looks back to Evangeline.
Evangeline suddenly realizes what’s about to happen. “You’d be better off not fightin’ it. Don’t get yourself killed for no reason, okay?” she says slowly, a little bit of stilted Steppe-speak coming into her voice.
This reassurance is enough to make Améline pause. She gives a nod to Evangeline, putting her trust in her friend.
The door is slammed open by a squad of Corsairs. “Rats, we need…” His train of thought is cut off by the stranger standing in armory. The Aelves draw their hand-crossbows and level them at the unknown Stormcast. “Who in Malarion’s name are you?!”
“Ah ha,” Evangeline nervously laughs. “This is an enterprisin’ lil’ spy for the Skyguard here. She thought she could talk ‘er way in with me, heh, well, looks like she fell for it–my trap, that is.” Evangeline draws her own gun–the same one Améline made for her.
Dan stands dumbstruck, chunk of Warpstone in hand.
Evangeline casts a look over to Dan that says something to the effect of “Work with me here!”
The leader of the coursairs looks impressed. “Hm. Not bad, Rifter. Alright Shiny, follow us to the brig. Unless you’re looking for a quick trip back to Azyr.” He gestures towards the door with his crossbow.
“Be sure to tell Casty for me, okay?” She winks at the Corsair.
“Oh, gods, why can’t you just knock out the guards and do things the easy way for once”
Améline stares equally as dumbfounded as Dan at Evangeline. Slowly, she starts raising her hands above her head.
Evangeline tries to keep ahold of her smug expression. “Well, get goin’.” She gestures after the Corsairs.
“I’ll let the Captain know. Looks like I was wrong about you, Rifter.”
Améline slowly steps forward, making sure to keep her arms up high and make no sudden movements. She takes a step past the Corsair leader…
There’s a black blur, and he’s sent to the ground with an elbow to his head. She scythes a leg into those of the Corsair nearest to her, tumbling them into unconsciousness when their head cracks against the floor. This explosion of violence takes all of a handful of heartbeats.
Then she clenches her fist into a small storm of lightning, and takes another step forward, preparing to charge.
One of the corsairs, in a panic, reaches into a nearby barrel. He pulls out something with a long needle like front, a shoulder stock, and a chunk of barely contained warpstone. Pointing it at the Stormcast, he pulls the trigger and an arc of green lightning strikes Ameline.
There’s no time to dodge in these close quarters. The weapon strikes true onto Améline and halts her in her tracks.
Amazingly, she manages one last step before she falls to her knees. Green lightning fights azyrite for a long few seconds as her fortitude fights to keep her body from shutting down. A long, ethereal growl of pain issues from her throat, the quiet sound heard despite the roar of the Skaven weapon.
Evangeline grits her teeth. She’s going to have to prove herself if she’s going to sell this “caught a spy” story. She kicks at Améline’s back, trying to force her to floor and yield.
The remaining corsairs dogpile onto the fallen Stormcast, attempting to subdue her.
After taking a full blast of warp-lightning, Améline is in no shape to resist. She feebly fights back, scorching some of the Corsairs’ armour with shocks of eletricity, but she’s barely conscious in her efforts. It’s not long she falls to the ground, dead to the world.
Evangeline catches her breath, trying to comprehend what she’s just done. She snarls at the Corsairs, waving her gun at them. “Go on! Get ‘er outta my sight.”
The remaining corsairs lift the Stormcast as best they can, half dragging her out of the Armory. The corasir with the Warplighting gun props it on his shoulder and walks out.
Dan approaches Evangeline. “What in Great Horn Rat was talk-act?!”
“I don’t know! They came in and I just- I dunno!”
“Evangeline throw-toss friend-thing under-bottom chug-wheels!” Dan stops and his face falls. “If bad-thing happen-do, is Dan next-toss? Is Morathell aelf-thing?”
“E-eh, no! I-I just… She was askin’ all that stuff an’ Casty an’…an’…”
“So Evangeline betray-hate for smile-face and head-pats!” Dan goes from sad right back to angry. “Evangeline should leave-go armory-room. Dan have work-build to make-do.” Dan returns to the workbench and his warpstone.
Evangeline’s stung and horrified with herself. She doesn’t argue the point further, running out of the armory.
A black wisp of mist lingering in one of the corners winks out.
