von_uberwolf: (All sweetness)
Angua von Uberwald ([personal profile] von_uberwolf) wrote in [community profile] refractedlight2017-06-28 11:32 pm

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.
dwellsinthedetails: (what in the world)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-06-29 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course she's not there alone. There's little sense in sending one member of the Crimson Rose into one of the kingdoms alone, especially when the member in question isn't fully familiar with the local customs; Yusuke may have had a crisis of faith before he left Liciae, but he still knows how to navigate the place. Besides, the oddness that's been happening since before the simultaneous attacks makes pairing up even more important. If one of them is lost in thought or suffering from a sleepless night (or, in Yusuke's case, too busy drawing something to notice impending trouble), the other can hopefully give them a nudge.

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."
dwellsinthedetails: (how disheartening)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-06-30 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
"In my experience, they tend to just keep shouting. I've certainly never seen anyone run like that."
dwellsinthedetails: (perfectly satisfactory)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-01 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Perhaps so."

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.
dwellsinthedetails: (Default)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-01 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
...what kind of a name is 'Carrot.'

"Can't say that I do, no. Why do you ask?"
dwellsinthedetails: (how disheartening)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-03 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not familiar to me, I'm afraid. Possibly something from before you joined the Rose?"

She doesn't talk much about her past, so it's a possibility Yusuke can't readily rule out.
dwellsinthedetails: (rain rain go away)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-03 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Something weird has been happening, as far as I can place it, since before those attacks. Unfortunately, that hasn't brought me any closer to figuring out what it might be." Nor has he gained any further insight than that giant katana.
dwellsinthedetails: (the next masterpiece)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-04 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
"You have more to go on than I do so far, I think. All I've got is an unreasonably large sword and... quite possibly my renewed interest in drawing." He's not sure if that fits the pattern, given that he did learn the basics from his mother, but the timing lines up with the strange incidents a bit too well for Yusuke to dismiss the possibility.

"What do you make of it?"
dwellsinthedetails: (never give in)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-06 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
"That's... certainly disconcerting. Still, I really doubt we have enough information to draw any major conclusions, even about ourselves."

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.)
dwellsinthedetails: (a good melodrama)

[personal profile] dwellsinthedetails 2017-07-09 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
"There are worse plans." Granted, there are probably also better plans, but that's neither here nor there.

"As we get more information, we can decide if we need a different one."
reincarnationception: (02)

[personal profile] reincarnationception 2017-06-30 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Hey, you OK?"

Daisho had seen the exchange and come running to assist, although it seems his services were not needed.
reincarnationception: (12)

[personal profile] reincarnationception 2017-06-30 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good to hear. Sorry for that, that's not what we strive to be in Liciae."
reincarnationception: (08)

[personal profile] reincarnationception 2017-07-01 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not a Rose, so if you run into trouble I'll sort it out. King's orders."

Daisho idly cracks his knuckles.

"What brings you here, anyway? Haven't seen one of your folks around here in awhile."
reincarnationception: (09)

[personal profile] reincarnationception 2017-07-03 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, sure but this place isn't exactly a hotbed of rebellion or anything. Mostly nationals."
greatcleavage: (frustrated)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-06-30 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
The would-be tormentors in question didn't get far before the Lord of the House of Greenhilt and his retinue intercepted them. The ensuring dressing-down Roy gave them lasted only a few minutes, but felt much longer by virtue of the edge his irritation gave to his voice. Though Roy himself had no affection for the Crimson Roses, he nonetheless recognized that their existence had merit and virtue in keeping peace between the countries, and his tirade emphasized that fact in no uncertain terms.

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."

[personal profile] zetahatsudo 2017-07-02 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Doesn't make it right," a blue-maned Miqo'te muttered from the side of the aggrieved man, watching the two thugs walk off briefly. He held off from saying much more, preferring to let his lord sponsor hit the salient points while he side-eyed the Dalvaran Rose. Something about her...

[personal profile] zetahatsudo 2017-07-03 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, he was getting danger signals off of her, like something that could kill you if you so much as blinked, but there was something else about her that tickled his memories, and not the new ones that wormed their way into his life. His eyes kept their sideways glance, his new senses were telling him that while dangerous, she wasn't going to actually rip out his jugular... yet.

"... 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.

[personal profile] zetahatsudo 2017-07-04 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
"A person's capacity for decision making doesn't change the reality they live in, though." Rationality and logic are the cornerstones of a Machinist's toolbox, and knowing how the world works is a big part of that. "Nor does it change when they gather together and collectively lose that capacity."
greatcleavage: (i disagree with your viewpoint)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-07-03 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
"It shouldn't, and you shouldn't be." Flat and allowing for no disagreement, because Roy held to his principles all the more tightly in the face of challenges to them. "They didn't do anything worse than words, I trust?"
greatcleavage: Credit: <user name=great_cleavage site=livejournal.com> (sigh)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-07-03 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"And many would rely on the respect and good nature of the person they are demeaning to get away with whatever they wanted. Foolishly or otherwise." Roy shrugged, having been on the receiving end of that enough times. Rather than appreciate the fact that he tried to show respect and restraint towards the lower classes of Liciae, many members of said lower classes took that as an excuse to hurl insults and castigations at him, confident that he wouldn't order his retinue to beat them at best.

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."
greatcleavage: (i disagree with your viewpoint)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-07-04 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"As positive as that spin is, it also means they'll cheer on anything more than yelling, even if they don't participate themselves. After five years you'd think we'd have come a little farther," he said with a weary sigh.
greatcleavage: Credit: <user name=great_cleavage site=livejournal.com> (sigh)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-07-06 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"No action necessary, my lady. Simply commiserating." If Roy could appreciate one thing about the Crimson Rose, it was that its members generally understood the necessity and value of peace. "Though if you ARE sitting on a secret solution to all our troubles, I'll be cross with you when I find out," he added with a little smile.
greatcleavage: (confused)

[personal profile] greatcleavage 2017-07-07 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"...That is a sensible and reasonable policy." Years of diplomatic training and no small amount of absolute confusion meant Roy could respond to her on an even level with no more than a brief hesitation. But seriously, what the hell?

"Roy Greenhilt, at your service," he said with a bow and a quiet pass for his titles.