Angua von Uberwald (
von_uberwolf) wrote in
refractedlight2017-06-28 11:32 pm
Entry tags:
Sometimes all it takes is a smile
Who: Angua and various Licians.
Where: Around Liciae
When: For a week or two after the Archon attack
What: Patrolling while remembering weird things.
The Crimson Rose only existed at the pleasure of Liciae and Dalvarus. They could only maintain that by making sure their dealings with both nations were as even and fair as possible. Angua had taken part in the defense against the Archons in Dalvarus, and that meant that in the interest of balance, she now had to spend some time working in Liciae, pouring water on hotheads and generally keeping the peace. She'd been doing this for the last few days at various towns across the kingdom with poor grace.
Normally she had no problem with this. It was her job, after all. Right now, however, she was having strange troubles. She kept having tiny glimpses of strange memories distracting her. None of them she could remember clearly until this had been going on for almost a week. Finally, a scene played out in her head as clear as if it had happened to her. She was talking to someone.
"Well...if it happened...if it did...would you do what Vimes did? Carrot? Would it be you who picked up a weapon and came after me? I know you won't lie. I've got to know. Would it be you?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
...And that was it. Why did she want someone to come after her with a weapon? Who was Vimes? Who was Carrot, for that matter? What was she worried about happening to her?
As she considered these rather weighty questions, she neglected to pay proper attention to the real world. So it was that a couple of very patriotic Licians were starting to yell insults at the young woman in a Crimson Rose uniform. She was clearly not paying attention to them and anyways everyone knew that as long as you didn't actually attack them, Crimson Rose agents weren't allowed to do anything no matter how much you provoked them, right?
Unfortunately, they were right. Angua, shaken out of her reverie by the harsh words, did her best to deescalate the situation with a polite smile, which was incredibly lame but really all she had to work with right now. What the patriots saw was something else entirely.
Sure, it LOOKED like a young woman smiling at them, but deep beneath the conscious, civilized parts of their brains, the part that governed instincts that had let primitive people survive without getting eaten while living in the wilderness woke up and started screaming that a predator was nearby. Though it couldn't be sure, it said that making a lot of noise would attract slavering death, and while staying quiet might still attract slavering death, it wouldn't attract slavering death right this moment and so was the smart move.
Which was strange, as there were no wolves or tigers here. Just a young knight in a Crimson Rose uniform. Smiling politely.
Angua watched in surprise and confusion as, for reasons that they couldn't exactly explain, her tormentors nervously decided that they didn't have time for this and slunk away, looking nervously over their shoulders as they left.
You, fellow Echo bearer, witnessed this exchange. Perhaps you even felt some of the inexplicable dread that you were being watched by a horrible predator, though probably not as strongly as those guys did.
Where: Around Liciae
When: For a week or two after the Archon attack
What: Patrolling while remembering weird things.
The Crimson Rose only existed at the pleasure of Liciae and Dalvarus. They could only maintain that by making sure their dealings with both nations were as even and fair as possible. Angua had taken part in the defense against the Archons in Dalvarus, and that meant that in the interest of balance, she now had to spend some time working in Liciae, pouring water on hotheads and generally keeping the peace. She'd been doing this for the last few days at various towns across the kingdom with poor grace.
Normally she had no problem with this. It was her job, after all. Right now, however, she was having strange troubles. She kept having tiny glimpses of strange memories distracting her. None of them she could remember clearly until this had been going on for almost a week. Finally, a scene played out in her head as clear as if it had happened to her. She was talking to someone.
"Well...if it happened...if it did...would you do what Vimes did? Carrot? Would it be you who picked up a weapon and came after me? I know you won't lie. I've got to know. Would it be you?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
...And that was it. Why did she want someone to come after her with a weapon? Who was Vimes? Who was Carrot, for that matter? What was she worried about happening to her?
As she considered these rather weighty questions, she neglected to pay proper attention to the real world. So it was that a couple of very patriotic Licians were starting to yell insults at the young woman in a Crimson Rose uniform. She was clearly not paying attention to them and anyways everyone knew that as long as you didn't actually attack them, Crimson Rose agents weren't allowed to do anything no matter how much you provoked them, right?
Unfortunately, they were right. Angua, shaken out of her reverie by the harsh words, did her best to deescalate the situation with a polite smile, which was incredibly lame but really all she had to work with right now. What the patriots saw was something else entirely.
Sure, it LOOKED like a young woman smiling at them, but deep beneath the conscious, civilized parts of their brains, the part that governed instincts that had let primitive people survive without getting eaten while living in the wilderness woke up and started screaming that a predator was nearby. Though it couldn't be sure, it said that making a lot of noise would attract slavering death, and while staying quiet might still attract slavering death, it wouldn't attract slavering death right this moment and so was the smart move.
Which was strange, as there were no wolves or tigers here. Just a young knight in a Crimson Rose uniform. Smiling politely.
Angua watched in surprise and confusion as, for reasons that they couldn't exactly explain, her tormentors nervously decided that they didn't have time for this and slunk away, looking nervously over their shoulders as they left.
You, fellow Echo bearer, witnessed this exchange. Perhaps you even felt some of the inexplicable dread that you were being watched by a horrible predator, though probably not as strongly as those guys did.

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He's not in range when the hecklers get started, and before he can get there to help defuse matters, Angua manages to scare them off on her own by... smiling at them?
"Well. That was... interesting."
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She was still not quite sure what had just happened.
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A vain attempt to defuse an already awkward situation with humor. It had already worked against all odds today, so why not one more time?
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Not that Yusuke's not still a bit concerned - what in the world brought that reaction on just from her smiling? - but this isn't the time to try untangling it, nor is it the place. He can allow the joke to carry the moment.
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"Do you know anyone in the Rose named Vimes? Or Carrot?"
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"Can't say that I do, no. Why do you ask?"
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She doesn't talk much about her past, so it's a possibility Yusuke can't readily rule out.
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She hesitated before going on.
"Something weird is happening to us, isn't it?"
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"What do you make of it?"
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She bit her lip a bit in worry, "So I can make a lot of things of it, but known of them are good."
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Maybe it'll be all right. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. (Though he does hope there's nothing that gruesome awaiting him in the days to come.)
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"As we get more information, we can decide if we need a different one."
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Daisho had seen the exchange and come running to assist, although it seems his services were not needed.
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"Just fine, apparently." She said, with a bemused air.
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That was the official line, anyways. She'd said it enough that by now she could actually say it with a MOSTLY straight face.
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Daisho idly cracks his knuckles.
"What brings you here, anyway? Haven't seen one of your folks around here in awhile."
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Word had been not to talk too much about the attack if she could avoid it in the interest of avoiding spreading confusion or rumors.
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Those Liciaens were having a rough day.
At the end of it, he left the two quivering -- not proud of the fact, but resigned to its necessity -- and approached Angua. "On behalf of Liciae," he said, "please allow me to apologize for the treatment you just endured."
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"Comes with the job. I've been called worse."
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"What's 'right' has very little to do with how people actually act, in my experience."
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"... It's just not the sort of thing I'd expect from my fellows, is all." More in line with some rather disturbing behavior from back home, in fact.
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She smiled, this time without the murderous aura. "I'm really not going to lose any sleep over this. It's fine."
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She also had a broadsword and some kind of wooden truncheon hanging at her hip.
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It was unfair, but in many respects he couldn't blame them, and had simply learned to let all of that roll off him.
"Still, I'm glad nothing more came of this on either side."
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Something about the words sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't place the source. "Look at it this way, if they have so little wrong in their lives that they have time to yell at me, that means we're doing our jobs right."
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Okay this was really starting to bug her now. Just who WAS this guy? "And it's Corporal Angua. We don't have any sex while we're on duty."
That...perhaps could have been better worded.
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"Roy Greenhilt, at your service," he said with a bow and a quiet pass for his titles.