Angua von Uberwald (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
von_uberwolf) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
refractedlight2017-06-28 11:32 pm
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.