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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2014 20:06:58 GMT -6
Perhaps the first Church assassin she was going to find tolerable. Selene honestly wasn't sure how to react; the thought was as incomprehensible as water no longer being wet, or pirates not existing in the Western Isles. Well, maybe that last bit was a little too crazy even for this extended metaphor, but the point was that it was weird. "Very well, Karen." At least it wasn't one of those long and hard to pronounce names. "-Don't put yourself down. We may never achieve perfect, but the struggle to reach it brings out the best in people, and if people are willing to pay your work, you must be doing something right."
Then again, the best she could do was sketches, so maybe she shouldn't talk much about art. Sketches about which NO ONE WOULD EVER KNOW. Right. Back to official stuff. "Weaknesses, mm? I wonder if you'll be able to find mine." She smiled, a cold, thin curl to her lips that was as much at home on her features as the warmer version earlier. Selene was always ready for a challenge, and her hackles couldn't help but raise themselves she she was faced with one, even if only implied. "We'll have to test that sometime." It wasn't like her being easy to bait into challenges was exactly a secret, even the friggin' pirates knew it by this point, but Selene didn't mind the obvious flaw - it made things interesting to limit herself in some ways, if only to give her opponents enough of a chance that it made her inevitable crushing of them all the more satisfying.
"...That's going to get me killed someday." She chuckled, any tension that might have been in the air a moment before evaporating like so much dust in the wind.
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Post by Karen on May 27, 2014 21:06:52 GMT -6
"-Don't put yourself down. We may never achieve perfect, but the struggle to reach it brings out the best in people, and if people are willing to pay your work, you must be doing something right."
Well... the Admiral did have a point there. If people were willing to pay at all, then her painting had to be hitting some good points somewhere. Besides, it was also kind of nice to be getting some support for her hobby. A strange source for it to have come from, no doubt. But still more than welcome as she started to smile a bit more naturally.
"Weaknesses, mm? I wonder if you'll be able to find mine."
Selene smiled, a coy grin that spoke of challenge and drew a certain tension to the air. It was like the look a predator gave to their prey as they stalked the lesser beast. Karen knew the stories of the Iron Lady, her love of challenge, of grander and grander victories. She knew the stories of the lauded and massive collection that Selene possessed, trophies from conquests past. And yet even with the tension, Karen began to feel less like she was looking at a predator and more at a beautiful Goddess of Victory.
"...That's going to get me killed someday."
And once more were her thoughts interrupted by the words that the Admiral spoke and Karen practically began to smack herself mentally. She needed to focus, not be taken in by the beautiful woman's looks. Besides, this wasn't the kind of person who would be interested in that, now would she? The tension was gone and left behind was Selene chuckling with a touch of morbidity. "I can appreciate challenge sometimes myself." Karen shrugged a bit here. "Granted, that's more the challenge of figuring out a difficult mental puzzle rather than lethal combat. Though sometimes combat is a mental puzzle too." She mused slightly over that last statement.
"Combat is like a puzzle sometimes as well. You can swing a sword as much as you want, but if you don't swing it just right, you'll never hit anything and probably be dead yourself. Timing of swings takes just as quick of a mind as it does reaction speed."
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2014 15:32:48 GMT -6
Karen seemed to be giving off a lot of interesting signals, only a smattering of which could Selene easily decode. It was clear that the girl was paying attention, sure, but there were... other aspects to her interest, more than simply politely paying attention, and she reacted to the atmosphere rather than blithely immunizing herself to it like most assassins did. "...You are unusual for an assassin of the church. You react. You have a..." she searched for the right word for a moment. "...Self. When I talk to you, it's easy to forget what you're capable of, if only for a moment, as if you are nothing more than a personable young Etrurian lady. An aspiring painter, gardener, intellectual... and yet like a coiled spring there is steel and purpose in your words waiting to be unleashed."
Puzzles had always amused her, though Selene would not lie and say that they meant much to her unless phrased in terms of humanity or tactics. Reading people, cowing them, inspiring them, all useful skills that she practiced when she could. Most people were simple to read, and most assassins were equally so - they learned how not to be read in the same way, paradoxically making them easy to read, and more so to predict. She couldn't tell if Karen was a human being, or simply doing a very good job of pretending to be one, and that intrigued the admiral to a degree.
Not that it really mattered, she supposed, but then she held interest in many things that 'didn't matter' and that did not lessen their value. It was her attention to detail, to seeing that which others glossed over, that had helped her create the battle plans that had catapulted her to unwanted fame, and she would not toss those aside just to be follow the rules that others set on themselves. "-Though sometimes the puzzle is just if you can hit things hard enough. Labyrinths are all well and good until someone starts punching through walls."
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Post by Karen on May 28, 2014 15:59:29 GMT -6
"...You are unusual for an assassin of the church. You react. You have a..."
Karen quirked an eyebrow slightly. She knew she was slightly different from other Inquisitors, but...
"...Self. When I talk to you, it's easy to forget what you're capable of, if only for a moment, as if you are nothing more than a personable young Etrurian lady. An aspiring painter, gardener, intellectual... and yet like a coiled spring there is steel and purpose in your words waiting to be unleashed."
Well, that was... not quite what she had expected. Then again, the Admiral was a very attentive woman herself. Though admittedly Karen had never thought of herself as much of an intellectual either. She did greatly enjoy things that stimulated the mind, but it wasn't like she was an inventor or even one of those magi that studied long and hard into the night over some new groundbreaking research paper. Regardless, the latter really was true. There was a part of her mind, the part her father had taught so well. And that part always thought in how the best way to kill someone was. Yet, this was someone Karen had begun to not want to regard in such a way. It was something the Inquisitor didn't mind too much otherwise.
"-Though sometimes the puzzle is just if you can hit things hard enough. Labyrinths are all well and good until someone starts punching through walls."
Karen chuckled slightly at this. "I suppose so. It reminds me of a story I read once. An explorer came upon a city where they boasted an incredible claim. They said that they hosted a rope tied into a knot that no man could solve. The explorer heard of how many great minds had come from across the world to try, but all who attempted the trial had failed. The explorer then said that he would take the test." A wry sort of grin worked it's way onto her face. "And so when he stood before the undefeated knot, the explorer drew his sword and cut the rope in twain. Then he looked to the officials and proclaimed that he had fixed the knot."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 2:00:56 GMT -6
"HAH!" Selene slapped her leg as she guffawed, grinning like an idiot at Karen's little story. She hadn't heard that one before, but the good admiral was absolutely going to steal the crap out of it and use that for something. "I should hire you to write my speeches or some crap. I'm stealing that one by the authority invested in me by..." Selene trailed off, actually not sure who she should name and which would be least likely to get her court martialed by the inquisition for heresy. Then she remembered she didn't care, waving her hand dismissively. "Dragon Jesus or whatever." Was that a thing? She vaguely felt as if she had just committed some unforgivable blasphemy, but didn't have the least inkling of how.
Maybe she should actually READ the Etrurian holy book sometime. They had one, right? A bible or prayerbook or... that was how religions worked, she was pretty sure. Then again, with how much Elimine's worship had changed when the 'Prophet' took over... that took the wind out of her sails pretty quickly. Staying the hell away from religious squabbles was about as much as she cared to do. Selene was a very non-religious woman, one who believed that if you had time to pray you had time to do something to fix your situation, but she was also intelligent enough to know that espousing said views was a fairly poor idea in a theocracy.
Damn, she missed being on a ship already. Land folk talked about seasickness - Selene was afflicted by a rather blander disease, one she jokingly referred to as landsickness, but there was nothing humorous about how little she cared for a ground that stood unyielding and uncaring. The deck of a ship kept her on her toes a bit, forced her to constantly react and adapt; she liked how it made her feel alive, forced her to think, even if only subconsciously, and consider more aspects when going from point A to B than simply walking straight there. And it was home, in that indescribable, nonsensical emotional way that she would never be able to express, only know. Looking up at Karen in an attempt to distract herself, she spoke up again. "You mentioned you have some experience with the seas. How so?"
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Post by Karen on Jun 15, 2014 3:00:37 GMT -6
"Dragon Jesus or whatever."
Karen quirked an eyebrow slightly. What was a "Jesus"? Let alone a "Dragon Jesus"? Eventually, the Assassin just sort of shrugged it out of her mind and let the comment pass this time. "Well, I don't think I'll do you much good as a speechwriter. Feel free to recite it though, it's a fun story." She continued to grin regardless. The day was actually leaving her in a fairly good mood so far. Why not continue to enjoy it for a bit longer?
"You mentioned you have some experience with the seas. How so?"
"Not much if you mean actual sailing. Simply traveling here and there. My work takes me to all kinds of places, as you might imagine. The Western Isles, islands in the south, so on and so forth. Sometimes I've even had to travel down to Nebata to give chase. If there is one part of my work I enjoy, it's actually all the sights I've had a chance to see while on the job. There's nothing like seeing the world with your own two eyes, I have to say." Karen continued to smile, recalling some fond memories mentally of wonderful sights she'd seen. And remembering to forget the bloodier sights, so-to-speak. Though there was something that began to work it's way up. "There are other things I've seen though, that..."
Karen suddenly stopped speaking as something came to her mentally. A simple question for the woman in front of her. "Selene, I have an important question for you. One that just needs a simple yes or no." She paused and then asked just what was on her mind.
"Are you afraid of the dark?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2014 3:41:05 GMT -6
"Nabata... ah yes, the desert." Selene was reasonably well educated on the locations of the continent from a purely scholarly perspective, but she had traveled to relatively few of them and cared even fewer. Where most people apparently saw natural beauty and mystery, she just saw a bunch of goddamn sand that got everywhere, or a bunch of frozen-ass mountains that were conspiring to give her pneumonia, or a bunch of goddamn grass everywhere. Which was maybe not the most cultured thing ever to say, but that was why she hadn't actually said it!
Maybe it was just an impassable divide between her and so-called landlubbers, though given that her father had settled into it alright, the admiral suspected it was more a matter of perspective. Maybe she'd enjoy them more if there was more fighting to do around them. A little continental war here or humans versus dragons there, whatever, she wasn't picky. She could respect that enjoyed it, but wouldn't profess to understand it herself. But it took all types to make the world go 'round, as someone had said, and Selene thoroughly aware that her own perspective was only possible because those with other perspectives existed to take care of all the things she didn't care enough to.
Ambition was a blessing and a curse, she supposed. If she actually cared that much about the land, she might be bothered more by stuff like the Prophet and his policies, and she wasn't the sort to let things stand if she didn't like them. Much better not to care at all.
Karen's question was entirely unexpected, though the other woman's abrupt halt in speech had signaled that SOMETHING was up. Selene responded immediately, without bothering to couch her words in honey or consider what her companion had meant - "I fear nothing." Tones of steel and conviction, though she cocked her head a bit in the aftermath as she pondered what the crazy church assassin murder machine lady - she kept forgetting that part - had brought up. Was this something where she had been supposed to answer with 'my soul' or some crap? The hell with that and the good saint alike. Even if there were any damn gods, they were uncaring swine she wouldn't bend the knee to regardless.
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Post by Karen on Jun 15, 2014 4:04:47 GMT -6
"I fear nothing."
Spoken without hesitation. Spoken with steel, vim, and vigor. As expected from the Iron Maiden of Etruria. Karen nodded as she spoke the words, already expecting the response. "I figured that's what you would say. Personally though, the dark downright terrifies me. I've had to lurk in it for so wrong that I know all too well the things it hides." A simple truth.
"Ah, but that really is a sour note, isn't it?" Karen waved a hand idly, as if to brush the subject off. "At any rate, I am curious to know about the places you've been and the sights that you've seen." Another simple truth. Karen truly did wish to know more about the woman that would come to have her under thumb. Made dealing with such a situation easier, at least.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2014 4:16:37 GMT -6
Selene snorted, not exactly discomfited by Karen's sudden note of dourness so much as vaguely amused by it for reasons she didn't immediately explain. It was almost so fitting it was ironic; you build a religion about being crazy and expect it to not mess up the heads of everyone naive enough to actually fall for it? It wasn't a mocking sound so much as - she didn't really know what, honestly. Maybe pitying? Selene didn't much care for the church but she knew better than to hate everyone in it, especially given how destructive it could be to the flock.
"Yeah, you sneaky-stabby types are rarely very happy." The admiral smiled grimly, pushing herself off her makeshift seat in one fluid motion as she considered Karen's words and her own thoughts of a minute before. She couldn't think of a single genuinely happy church murder hobo type, much less one who was truly complacent with what they did, and truthfully Selene didn't have trouble seeing why. No matter how many times you tell yourself you're doing the right thing, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that killing fifty million kids was for the glory of the prophet, there's always gonna be a bit of conscious telling ya it's wrong.
Not really a problem for her, of course. Selene mostly dealt with moral quandaries by avoiding them entirely. On the seas, you had the good guys - the navy - and the bad guys - pirates - and you could be pretty goddamn sure every pirate you killed had killed someone, raped someone, or stolen enough crap to be worth killing. The ones that didn't seem that bad she tried to give another chance, and that had served her pretty well so far crew wise. "I think the high seas will do you some good. Fresh air, wind at your back and sun on your face, good guys versus bad guys..." Her smile grew a bit wider, the irrepressible admiral taking the opportunity to mess with her new murder buddy and ruin the seriousness of the situation entirely, "-And a bit of salvation that doesn't require killing the crap out of innocent people sometimes. You'd be surprised how many former pirates convert to damn good crew members when given a chance to actually do something worthwhile with their lives."
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Post by Karen on Jun 18, 2014 17:39:17 GMT -6
"I think the high seas will do you some good. Fresh air, wind at your back and sun on your face, good guys versus bad guys..."
Karen couldn't but look slightly amused before the Admiral continued on.
"-And a bit of salvation that doesn't require killing the crap out of innocent people sometimes. You'd be surprised how many former pirates convert to damn good crew members when given a chance to actually do something worthwhile with their lives."
And now she began to grin slightly. "People can find salvation in all kinds of things. Hearing something like that really is good to hear now and again." To know that such things could still come to pass was heartening to know and in a sense, it did put part of her concerns at ease. This time away from her normal duties and working for the Admiral might prove fruitful in more ways than one.
"I could definitely use a change of pace at any rate."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 6:58:14 GMT -6
"Salvation, eh?" She didn't really have a witty response or silly jibe to throw back, and the contemplative tone of her voice spoke in and of itself. It was an interesting concept, one tied to a network of controlling factors by religion to sink its hooks into people. 'Original sin,' the concept of eternal life, divine forgiveness for entirely human weakness... it wasn't really that she was so much against religion as that she just really didn't understand it. An incredibly complex of controls that gave leaders of the church unbelievable power over people, the kind that kings and dictators only wished they could have, and yet Selene didn't really see the appeal herself.
She didn't regret how she had spent her life, she didn't regret any of the people she had killed so far, and she didn't regret fighting for Etruria, church and Prophet alike be damned. Maybe she was just an uncultured idiot too dumb to understand the beauty of the Church. Maybe it was more like the kid who saw the emperor naked through his invisible 'clothes.' An intriguing subject, and yet one that was so alien and irrelevant to her daily life that she had never found it as interesting as it would be were she a philosopher.
Still walking slowly over towards the nearest ballista - they might not be as loud as cannons but dammit if shooting giant harpoons at people wasn't awesome in and of itself, Selene ran her hand across the forward field frame. "Yeah." Hm. Wasn't really her job to think about what she did or why, the admiral supposed. Nowhere else on the continent would she have a chance to do half the stuff she did on a daily basis here. Maybe she really didn't care what she did with it. "Yeah, you're right. I imagine there'll be plenty to keep us on our toes over there." Not like she had to be all hush-hush about mission plans with the friggin person who had been sent by her bosses specifically to keep an eye on her. "Piracy in the Western Isles has a very long history, and I've gotten a taste of the mettle of the men of those parts in naval combat before." Still touching the ballista, Selene turned to face Karen directly. "They could rout any other fleet in Elibe. Even our 'glorious' crusade is going to have some serious trouble if we go in expecting to crush everything and be greeted by cheering citizens."
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Post by Karen on Jun 19, 2014 15:30:23 GMT -6
"They could rout any other fleet in Elibe. Even our 'glorious' crusade is going to have some serious trouble if we go in expecting to crush everything and be greeted by cheering citizens."
Certainly an important concern when it came to their campaign. The pirates of the Western Isles weren't exactly united in their various concerns, but a massive threat like the Etrurian Fleet would definitely bring up a united cause for most of them at any rate. And that would be enough to mount a sizable armada given the naval history that the Isles held. Straight battle could still lead to Etrurian supremacy, but it would also mean sizable losses and that was something no army could rightfully afford in any sense. The citizens of the Isles were just as heretical as the pirate captains as well, there would need to be some serious changes in power to get that sort of reaction.
And no doubt, that was the core reason that Karen was being sent along with Selene. Though she certainly had a duty to route out any potential problems within the Etrurian force, her duty for the coming campaign would likely involve the assassination of key officials and dangerous captains docked at their ports. It was a simple matter of fact in that regard.
"I'd be amazed if the situation did turn out like that, but I have no doubt to our success. When we begin doubting our own chances, that is when we lose our campaign." A simple statement to her, though perhaps more to the Admiral. "We will succeed, one way or another. I will do all that I can to see us to success and make sure that your plans go off without any hitches. Ideally, I will be able to cut out the most dangerous threats before they come to bare against us."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 16:03:31 GMT -6
"Who said anything about doubting?"
Selene grinned wolfishly, not so much at any clever plan to trick Karen into taking her words that way as amused at an unexpected response. People were gonna have to learn to stop underestimating her some day. She did the impossible before breakfast and had moved into the realms of insanity by noon, a bunch of god damn pirates wasn't going to be the thing to stop her now. "I wasn't going to get a decent chance at a real fight without this; if anything, I'm thrilled to have enough challenge to make this interesting."
And that was the truth, the long and the short of it in one. Not all of it, of course, but Selene had no reason to hide her surface feelings on the matter. There was gonna be a lot of crap to deal with along the way, paperwork and inspections and doubtless stuff on the ground that she already knew was going to happen and didn't want to deal with but would anyways because it was her job, but this was the closest she was liable to ever get to an honest to Elimine opportunity to see how far she could really go. It was easy to take on unorganized pirates one on one or in small battles, and certainly she had more than a touch of experienced with that, but battles between entire fleets... Selene had gotten a taste for that about two years back, and she wanted more.
Much, much more.
"And hey, maybe we'll run into a sea monster or two. Who knows?" Selene threw out her arms, ever the consummate showman in the heat of the moment. "Maybe there is something to those rumors and tall tales you hear bandied about taverns and ale."
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Post by Karen on Jun 19, 2014 18:09:03 GMT -6
"Who said anything about doubting?"
The was something that was very... electric about that predatory grin that Selene adorned. Only emphasized even further by those... absurdly sexy facial scars that attested to her time in combat. A combination of beauty, ferocity, and an iron will that certainly gave credence to her commonly spoken nickname. If she was someone of a weaker will, Karen had the feeling that she'd be swooning like the woman of those silly romance stories that bards favored telling. There was just something utterly irresistible and yet absolutely dangerous about Admiral Selene Aurion. And Karen wasn't entirely sure she was ready for it.
"And hey, maybe we'll run into a sea monster or two. Who knows?"
All at once, her attention snapped back into focus and the fleeting thoughts of the electrifying grin and scars was quick to take it's leave. It was like her mind was screaming at her to focus and stop dwelling over what she'd just seen.
"I-I'd hope not." Her voice stumbled a little, not because of the prospect, though it'd probably seem that way to Selene, but because of her thoughts trying to get all in order. "We've got enough concerns about monsters just about everywhere else." Even if holy Etruria was safe from them now, it was a rather horrid issue that she hoped would be resolved in due time.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 18:37:01 GMT -6
"Pfft. Live a little!" Her tone was playful, jesting; Selene wasn't actually mocking Karen, though she did mistake the assassin's reaction for reticence to deal with monsters - probably just didn't want to deal with the trouble, she figured, she couldn't actually imagine someone crazy enough to work for the church actually being SCARED of an overgrown shark or fifty - without any actual cues to the contrary. She grew deadly serious in an instant, shedding the cloak of humor as quickly as she had donned it.
"Maybe humanity needs a kick in the ass, and maybe monsters are here to do that." The admiral slightly doubted that was actually the case - but whatever they had decided to come back for was irrelevant if it could be used for the better. She took a step towards Karen, abandoning her post at the ballista as she gestured impatiently. "We killed the f**k**g dragons, and what have we done in the millennium since? Argued a bunch about stupid crap? Had some crappy wars that pale in comparison to the Scouring? Maybe monsters will be the thing that pulls us all together. Or maybe they'll kill us all."
Another shrug, expressive and rolling. She clearly either didn't think it was possible, or at least not likely. "I for one don't plan on going down without a fight. Maybe we just need to find the right knot to cut instead of worrying about how to untie the stupid thing."
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