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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2014 21:39:49 GMT -6
Streams of gold and glints of silver played through the room, the fiery rays of the dying sun reflecting off the polished steel of the countless weapons that lined every available surface, fastened to the walls and displayed prominently on shelves. Outside of the bed, it actually looked pretty spartan, Selene finally realized what literally everyone else on the ship had known since day one. It wasn't like she had planned it that way or anything, she just... didn't really own much that wasn't related to killing people or care to show off what she did, and she had a lot of weapons. She smiled ruefully as she leaned back in her chair, leaving the paperwork momentarily unfinished in favor of staring out the massive window, a potential tactical liability but borderline required for her to sit inside for long enough to work, especially during long voyages.
Outside, she could see the frenetic activity of the docks - while the fleet would not all be sortieing at once, the sheer amount of work to do to prepare an entire fleet for what very nearly amounted to war was a truly Herculean task. Which was also why she was here, signing release forms and authorizing purchases and checking over work logs and incident reports for discrepancies in an attempt to ferret out any possible laziness among her many crews. Loose lips might sink ships, but loose links in a fleet could very well sink all of them, and she did not want to come home in a dinghy and be faced with explaining that she had managed to lose most of Etruria's navy just because she hadn't bothered making sure anyone was doing their job.
None of which meant she was having fun, of course. She would have liked to have had a chance to spend more time with her father before leaving, or perhaps even do a little sight-seeing in a country she had barely experienced, but work came first. Trivial hardship now would pay off in success later, and AFTER she had completed her campaign she could take some time off for R&R, but now she had to focus. Was supposed to focus, anyways, she hadn't actually gotten any work done in the last ten minutes. Maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea to go for a walk or something.
The sound of movement outside roused her from her reverie, unexpected due to how close to abandoned the Sathanas was at this hour, followed by a hearty knock on the door. Time to pretend to be working. Clearing her expression, Selene sat back up, regretfully leaving the sun at her side. "Enter."
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 19, 2014 2:16:48 GMT -6
It's been over 20 years since he last saw any of his family, he missed his loving mother but that would mean he would have had to deal with the asshole of a father he had. He barely knew his sister, while it didn't feel like much of a loss he would have loved to be able to get to know her but oh well, the past is the past. He had spent the past half hour pacing the deck of the ship, walking around the side back and forth. Occasionally he would walk to the other side to change up the view and he walked nervously. Normally he would be wearing casual clothing, but he was worried that somebody would either recognize him as a former pirate or catch him in a lie. He had been telling them he used to work for merchant ships as both a sailor and as a body guard. Nobody would question that right? As long as he kept his mouth shut about ways to attack other ships he should be in the clear.
He had been all over the Western Isle in his day, even to the parts most wouldn't dare stepping into because how nasty and cruel the men that like to hang out there. Fear was one word that he didn't recognize, but today it was a new lesson for him. He wasn't scared that somebody would call him out on who he was, hell he enjoyed a good fight and that would draw in all of those suckers for a beating. No, what had him trembling in his boots was Selene, yes she was intimidating to most but he always faced people like that head on. Quite literally most of the time, he would great them with a big headbutt to the face. What had him worried the most about her is how well is she going to take to her brother who ran away when she was little? What kind of lies did their dad tell her about him? Was it too late for him to act like an older brother? Ah, to the hell with it.
His heart was pounding as he walked towards her office, he now knew what those helpless people felt as he slain them with fear in their eyes. Knocking on the door he took one last deep breath as she told him to enter. He opened the door and quickly shut it behind him. He looked around the room, weapons were on display all over the wall, it was truly amazing and he had to admit that he was slightly jealous of her collection. While he would love to have a collection to rival hers one day, he was happy with the axe on his back and his bow on his side. He leaned with his back against the wall next to the door with his arms cross, he sat there in silence for a couple of seconds not making eye contact with her. "I'm sorry I ran out like that as a kid. I was stupid then." His voice didn't sound as apologetic as he really was, another emotion that was alien to him. He now brought his head up in her direction, looking her in the eyes. No matter how stern she had looked, he could see their mother's eyes in her. "You know, you have mother's eyes. I don't know what our parents told you about me, if they did ever say anything, I did always wonder what has happened to you three. I'm happy to see that you turned out so... Well."
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2014 3:00:04 GMT -6
"Emil." Her voice hadn't cracked, Selene was rather proud of that, but her brother's surprise appearance a few days ago had rattled her more than she had let on. She had never even seen him as a kid - he had disappeared when she was too young to understand much of the world, and she'd had nearly two decades to come to terms with the idea of him being dead. To have him show up out of nowhere and want to pick up where they left off was - like being confronted by a ghost, but with the fear coming from within rather than the situation. Fear of what she wasn't sure, buuuut it was pretty clear she wasn't going to get much paperwork done in the immediate future.
Selene laid the quill neatly beside the stack of paper, using the motion to focus her mind and think about a response to her brother's words. It was sort of ironic actually that they had both ended up running away from home to seek the sea, but their paths had diverged so vastly... he had been a merchant of some sort, or a bodyguard given his obvious proficiency in weaponry, and she was an admiral now, technically one of the highest authorities in the entire navy, not to mention that she held more sway on the doctrine side of things than even her position would suggest.
Something about the whole situation brought a crooked smile to her face, one that refused to dissipate immediately though a few moments of work was enough to banish it and return her face to careful neutrality. "At least I waited until I was twelve years of age to follow your example." Was that a joke? She wasn't sure, nor was she sure if it was in good taste. Selene was so used to not really caring what others thought that while she was perfectly adept in most social situations, she really didn't have any experience in dealing with people she liked. It was sort of like her visits to her father; neither of them were very good at communicating with each other, so they mostly just did things together and communicated nonverbally. Her mother had once served the bridge the gap, but...
"Dad never talked about you much." The one time he had, he'd sworn up a storm and said that Emil was probably dead, and it was better that way. She could tell even then that he didn't entirely mean it, but he'd never spoken of it again, and she certainly hadn't had a chance to tell him that his son was still alive yet. "Mom is, well..." It was weird to have to explain their family to her own brother. "The plague took her years ago. I never talked to her much. They thought I was dead, too, until I randomly showed up at the front door a few years ago. Dad looked like he'd seen a ghost." And he had, in a way. After his wife - her mother - had died, he had retreated from the world, probably feeling like he had lost his entire family. He never talked about it, of course, but she could tell. Woman's intuition, sailor's insight - whatever you wanted to call it, didn't change the fact that it was what it was.
Sooo. Conversation. She had read what little of a file Etruria had on him, of course. The Church didn't like leaving loose ends or mysterious men lying about uninvestigated, but much like her, most of his history was blank. He had apparently been quite busy in the merchant marine, though he had never made a name for himself such that anyone really recognized him. Not a bad thing, really. Doing one's work well was a reward in itself, and merchants did not have nearly the opportunities for fame and glory that the military offered. She would rather have drowned herself than consigned herself to a life of moving crates around, but it wasn't shameful work, just not what she wanted to do with her life. "So..." Yeah, that was an amazing start to a scintillating conversation. "What made you decide to quit the merchant marine and join the navy, Emil?"
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 19, 2014 3:55:48 GMT -6
Emil chuckled at her initial response, she was able to hold off for two more years than he had before running away. Such an achievement, at least in his eyes staying around the old man it was. He wished he could say he was upset to learn his mother had passed away, it wasn't that he didn't care for her, he did a lot, but since he left at such a young age calling a stranger "mom" was just as weird as referring to Selene as his sister. He had hoped in time he could get used to having a sibling once again. He did smile at the thought their dad looking as if he saw a ghost upon seeing Selene, if Emil joined her on a trip home one day he'd get to see the same look. "I'm sure it was pretty close to the look on your face when you heard the man standing in front of you was your brother." For the first time in a long time, Emil cracked a smile just from a conversation about life with a woman.
Her question made him uneasy, in a way much more worse than hearing her fleet was on the prowl sinking his fellow pirate's ships. This conversation would be a hell of a lot easier if cuts and bruises were then answer to the question their fist were asking, no words just fist to face contact. Don't get him wrong, he would take a swing at a women at day but Selene was different, she was his younger sister... Curse the gods, that was still weird to think of. He still couldn't think of a response that would be fitting, it was a good question. Why would a sell-sword turn to the life of a soldier? It made absolutely no sense to him, there was always a demand for mercenaries and they could take any job they wanted regardless of morals and images to keep up. He couldn't stay quite for too long, or else she'd know he was lying. Granted, stumbling out a response was just as bad, he was going to attempt to change the topic hoping to think of a good response in that time.
Pushing off the wall he walked to the center of the room with arms still crossed, once he stopped walking he began to look around the room. "Mighty fine collection you have here. Are they all just for looks or have they seen battle before?" Emil was never the type to gamble, most of the time it ended up with him losing all of his coin but this time there was far more on the line than a few gold coins. His relationship with this woman, the one he may get used to knowing as his sister. If he ever told her the truth, or she figures it out on her own, would it be good enough to sell out his brothers? Even now he wasn't sure why he felt compelled to create a bond to a family that was once dead to him.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2014 10:31:09 GMT -6
"Hm." She cracked a glimmer of a smile, but nothing more, recognizing her brother's jest but uncharacteristically uncertain how to respond. Dealing with sailors she could do. Dealing with unwanted suitors, she could very much do. Dealing with people outside of the chain of command, people she wanted to treat well... Selene found herself entirely out of her depths, having almost forgotten how to treat people as... people anymore? Or maybe it was just that this was the first time she actually cared on a personal level what the response was, rather than primarily with an eye to order and discipline. No, she did have a few friendships and there was her relationship with her father to consider. Maybe it was just that she was a terrible sister.
It was almost comforting to see that Emil was as awkward about it as she; while she thought she was doing a fairly good job of hiding her own unease, Selene could tell quite well that he wasn't. She was no mind reader, but one did not command men for as long as she had and fail to learn something about people. It was one thing to tell that someone was avoiding a subject, though, and another entirely to tell why - she didn't know him worth a damn in order to make an educated guess based off of her impression of his psyche, nor did she have any clear information on his past that might lead to such a response. If he had killed a man, for example, or gotten into trouble of some sort. There was no documentation on him, nor did she have much to go off of.
A subject change. So it was something he really didn't want to talk about. Was it a question of pride? Did he feel it would make him less of a man to admit to his reasons, perhaps? Like father, like son. She almost smiled. Their father was perhaps the most reserved individual she had ever met, and doubly reluctant to show emotion or weakness even to his own daughter. Maybe Emil had taken after him in that regard. But what? Chasing a woman? He didn't seem like a blatant womanizer, but appearances could be deceiving. "...Each of them is a piece of history, engraved with a story." She did love her weapon collection. Each of them meant something, more than it looked, but she could remember most of the scenes off the top of her head. "Trophies from opponents, mostly. Proof that they existed even after the original bearer does not. A sort of twisted immortality, I suppose." Which was a nice way of saying that pretty much everyone who had 'donated' a piece was dead, and also implied that she had killed most of them, which was GREAT conversation material when talking to your own friggin' brother.
The thought crossed her mind that maybe he had wanted to try the family thing again, he had approached her and all, and here he was now, but at the same time it seemed... strange. What could he want from her after all these years? Certainly she wasn't that difficult to find anymore, not since she had become the youngest Admiral in Etrurian history and launched a savage campaign of carnage through the Western Isles, making a name for herself and lending credence to the threat of Etruria's military supremacy. If he had just wanted to see her, he could have done so years ago. "Any that catch your eye?"
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 21, 2014 0:43:31 GMT -6
Emil had began to admire the weapons on the wall even more after hearing the story behind them. So his little sister killed at least that many people and took their weapons, just hearing that lead him to believe that she was ruthless. She would have made one hell of a pirate, but thinking upon the two subjects it was a good thing that fight ended in a stalemate, either she would be dead or his axe would be hanging on these walls. Part of him wanted to challenge her to a dual right now, he wanted to see how strong she really was and if he could best his little sister, but doing so would be totally out of line seeing how he's such a low rank sailor and she's so high in command. Emil slowly walked towards one wall looking at each weapon as he went around the room.
"There are quite a few nice looking weapons hanging up, but I like the axe on my back. It kept me alive quite a few times, call me crazy but I enjoy the sentimental value attached to it. But I would be lying if I said I wouldn't want a collection to rival yours one day. In my old line of duty, holding onto such trophies was a waste of valuable space." Which was partially true, why hold onto such trivial things when they could be sold, less clutter meant more room for plundered goods. He stopped walking as soon as he got to the windows, he stared outside at the sea, the one thing that connected his entire family. He bought enough time to figure out how he would answer her previous question, luckily he was able to learn a little bit more about her to validate his response.
"Each ship I was on, we were weary of Etrurian ships. We weren't exactly scared of Etruria itself, in fact we loved knowing they were around but it was rumored one group of pirates used their flags to approach a ship before boarding. They were a dreadful bunch, I had a run in or two with them on the seas and we barely escaped. Around that time I heard of an Etrurian admiral named Selene Aurion, most people referred to her as the 'Iron Maiden'. Obviously I recognized the last name being the same as mine, I vaguely remembered your name from my childhood. Long story short, I had saw the Blackmist Pirates in an Etrurian port and used that information as a bargaining tool to get on your ship."
He told her a half truth, mostly about how his crew would prefer to approach others and turning them in to be placed here. He never had any morals before, why did he start to have them now? He couldn't even look at his own sister as he told her a bold faced lie, normally he would stare them in the eye. Could it be Emil was growing softer since he found somebody from the past, from before his pirating? Again, he felt the urge to spar with her. The fact she intimidated him enough to hide the truth was enough for him to want to cross blades with her.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2014 11:11:57 GMT -6
A waste of space, huh? It was as true now as it might ever have been for him, she supposed, but Selene really didn't have any fantastic ideas on what else to deck the walls with. Without them the room just looked sparse, which was admittedly not a HUGE step up from the torture dungeon look it could be said to have now but dammit they were classy not cruel, and seriously what kind of charlatan could possibly fail to see the beauty in her collection? Friggin' inspectors, that's who. 'Danger to yourself and others' this, 'foul weather hazard' that, she wasn't retarded enough to leave completely unsecured lethal weapons lying around on the floor.
"Maybe I just haven't found the weapon I'd stake my life on," she allowed. Oh, she technically did so every time she used any of them, but there was little bond to most of the ones she had lying around; they were functional and useful, and she had indeed used many of them, but they were little more than tools with a story attached. Functional, but there was a certain - beauty missing to them, a spirit to bond with and become one. "Perhaps someday I'll find one of the Legendary weapons and see if it can keep up with me." It wasn't something she had really thought about in the past much, but her fighting style showcased how little she cared on a personal level for her weapons. As belongings, sure; she kept them clean and tried to retrive them. But in the heat of battle, there was no compunction in discarding one for another, no shortage of replacements, and she was fluent in a great many weapon styles so there was little she couldn't turn into a weapon.
The Iron Maiden. It wasn't a - terrible title as these things went, but it bothered her a little that she wasn't sure if it was due to her demeanor or her fighting style. Or if she was supposed to be a person-shaped iron case that spiked any flesh that entered her body.
What the hell, Selene?
Suppressing the urge to shudder a little at how horribly wrong that mental debate had gone and shelving the subject forever, she focused on the subject at hand. So he had come for her. Assuming he was telling the truth. On one hand, he didn't have any obvious reason to lie, and by default people were supposed to trust their family. On the flip side, lies were as common as water around these parts, and she didn't actually know the man who was supposed to be her brother. Technically there wasn't even that much proof that he absolutely was; circumstantial evidence and his own word were all they truly had to go off of, and while it seemed unlikely that someone would go to all the trouble of learning that much about her family history just to impersonate her dead brother, fame did have its crazier downsides, as she learned by the day.
Still. There was nothing wrong with giving him the benefit of the doubt so long as it didn't interfere with her work, and he was apparently a solid fighter, so he could prove useful regardless of whether or not he was who he appeared to be. ...Perhaps she'd have Karen look into it if anything strange came up in the future. No harm in being prepared, as she always strove to be, but there was no benefit in driving him away based on the possibility that he might not be who he claimed to be. "Well," the admiral smiled frostily, "I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to settle your debts with them at some point." With how lucrative the Western Isles were, it was quite unlikely that the resident hooligans and ne'er-do-wells would clear out peacefully.
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 22, 2014 1:08:12 GMT -6
Damn it to the hells. She suggested that he could settle his debts with the other pirates one day, that wouldn't be so bad if he wouldn't be recognized but that wasn't the case. On the Isle he made a small name for himself, people knew who he was and when they saw him... Things wasn't going to end well for him. There was no written code of being a pirate, only the strong will survive feeding off the weak, if you had something somebody wanted and you intended to keep it, you better one hell of a man or woman to be able to ward them off, that was the extent of the pirate code. The only 'dishonorable' thing among them was a nark, being a turn coat was just as bad if not worse than being a nark. Not only would they gang up on him, they were going to be vocal about it too and this whole act was for nothing.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Emil was stuck in-between a rock and a hard place, either he tells her now so she hears it from his lips or he rides it out and prays for success. He still didn't have enough information to gauge how bad her response would be to hearing that her brother was once what she seeks out to rid the seas of, and the fact he was part of the ship that attacked her. "I..." He was going to admit to being a pirate at one point, to 'ease' her into the truth one day but decided against it. Since he opened his big mouth he couldn't just stop there. "I know how it feels to be down on your luck, I even thought about piracy to solve my money woes once or twice. I can't say I'm exactly looking for revenge or anything, for now I'm looking for reconciliation with what little family I do have left."
The only thing he had meant was the last part, about restoring his relationship with his sister. His dad could burn at the bottom of the deep end of the sea though. Walking over to her desk he took a seat on the corner not caring what he may have sat on, half turned towards her. "Obviously I missed out on a lot in your life. Do I have a bother in-law, nieces, nephews, roughly 30 cats that you'll refer to me as their 'uncle'? Oh is there any other siblings that I don't know about?" He figured if he talked about her, it would be easier to dodge any unwanted questions. It's not like he didn't want to tell her, but how does one react to 'Oh yea, I used to be a pirate by the way'? Sure it shows he's wanting to turn his life around but it makes a horrible first impression saying you were once a lawless man for so long.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2014 11:51:49 GMT -6
Something was up with him, his reaction to her comment made that much clear and his hesitant response afterward cemented it, but Selene was still at a loss as to what it was. He didn't seem like a bad sort, so she didn't doubted it was anything terrible, but Emil was definitely hiding something. She didn't like secrets on board ships, especially from people she didn't know. Selene considered confronting him about it, dragging the truth out whatever it took, but hesitated uncharacteristically. He was her brother. She didn't really know what that meant, but - if they were to ever build a relationship as family, there had to be some level of trust. Assuming he was telling the truth, he had left behind everything he had, all that he was, in an attempt to be family again. It didn't seem right to disrespect that and ruin the situation entirely.
So... she didn't. He would tell her when he was ready, Selene decided, and she could wait until then as long as it didn't endanger her ship or her crew. Everyone had their secrets, she certainly had hers, and she had heard the crew discussing her when they did not think she was near. ...At least she wasn't being hit on by her own brother. She could be grateful for that, right? Selene cracked a thin smile at the thought, timed roughly to Emil's crack about cats, though it was entirely generated by her own thoughts and not his attempt at humor. A secret of her own, then; a joke only she understood. Neither was the thought of other family amusing; their family was nearly eradicated. "We are the future of the Aurion family." No mother; if neither she nor Emil married, the family name would die with them. Selene did not much care about family in general, but she intended to engrave her name into history and ensure that that name, at least, lived on forever.
Not least because the chance of her getting married and settling down was somewhere in between zero and negative infinity.
"I suppose it's up to us to make sure our name outlives us, mm?"
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 25, 2014 5:53:27 GMT -6
So they were the only two children eh? It was partially a relief and partially a burden, I guess. It was nice knowing he wouldn't have to another 'Well yea, I'm your older brother... Now what?' conversation with anybody else but it also meant if their family name would go on he would have to do his part to ensure it does. Emil wasn't exactly sure if he fathered some children when he enjoyed many woman's presence, he never stayed around long enough to learn most of their names. He knew even if there was children missing their father, their family name ends with him and Selene. He reached over towards Selene and nudged her shoulder with his fist. "Well, is there a lucky man you've been eyeing? Am I going to have to give him the older brother talk, well assuming you didn't beat him into submission already." Emil winked at Selene.
By Neptune's beard, what the hell was he saying? Not only did it sound stupid it was equally creepy. I mean, what would he say to the chap if she was seeing somebody and how was it his place to do so. Yea he was her brother by birth, but their relationship is barely at the acquaintance level at the moment, honestly it felt like he said that to some woman he just met. He almost considered just dropping it all, the whole sibling thing, and just following orders like everybody else on the ship. It would definitely make things easier on the two but he wasn't entirely sure how she feels about him being around in general.
"Or uh... Let me put it this way, want me to off a dude and I'll gladly place my axe in his skull for ya. Free of charge even." There were a few people he wouldn't mind throwing off the ship out on the sea here, he figured some guy just popping in out of nowhere off the streets claiming to be their caption's brother would make a few of the feel uneasy but man, the lack of respect for his was pretty damn high. Truthfully they probably had to earn their way here while he bought his way into their ranks, Emil figured he kinda deserved it but that doesn't give them the right to give him the stink eye. He's whooped whole sale ass for less, but he has to stay on their good side and under his sister's 'pirate radar'. "So, what do we do exactly. I know we sail a ship and junk, but what else?"
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2014 20:38:57 GMT -6
Selene stared blankly at her brother in the wake of his action, brows furrowing for a moment as she consciously restrained the urge to rip his hand off. It was harder than it usually was, so she occupied herself by brushing off the shoulder of her uniform, as if his hand had left filth behind. It was a very, very clear implication that she did not appreciate the touch, with little care for such concepts as politeness and concern for his feelings on the matter. Her crew knew better than to touch her, more by the consequences rather than vocal request.
On one hand, Selene supposed there were certain expectations of sisters. Affectionate, caring, demure, reserved... none of them were her, and she refused to change for any man, even if he was her brother. He had done little to earn any right to expect her to change for his benefit regardless. It didn't feel quite right to dismiss her own brother so coldly, though... gods damn it, this was harder than it was supposed to be. Selene leaned forwards, her elbows on the desk as she steepled her fingers and rested them on the brow of her nose... not far away from looking as though she was praying, were her hands away from her face, the thought occurred to her to the accompaniment of some amusement. It was more a thinking pose though.
"...This is harder than I thought it would be." She snorted, half amused at an unspoken joke. "You've been dead for so long I hardly know how to react to you being alive, here, wanting to revive bonds I had buried years ago alongside all else that made me weak." Perhaps it sounded harsh, but there was truth to her words - Selene was not one to dwell on the past, and she had truly given up on him long ago, determined to live in the now rather than a past that no longer mattered.
And now it did matter, in a future that was now the present, but what did that actually mean? Was she supposed to turn into a blushing maiden being saved by her beloved brother? Suggest he transfer to another ship? Make it clear that he was to act simply as one of the crew? Rank no longer mattered, nor did her past accomplishments, even her skill with steel or men... the frustration was gnawing at her, growing greater by the moment, and yet she had no answer for her questions.
Something snapped inside her, and the admiral abruptly stood, circling the desk and heading to the door without warning. "Come." She didn't bother taking one of the weapons from the wall; there was bound to be something on the deck, or in the worst case scenario she'd use her lance... but that just wouldn't be fair.
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 28, 2014 3:09:19 GMT -6
Caption Iron Roger Vane was right, she was nothing but trouble. Here he was trying to fix the broken family he caused, he jokingly touched her shoulder and that's how she reacted? Brushing off his uniform as if she was better then him? It took a lot more will power than Emil was used to using not to slap the living crap out of her, beat some respect into the woman. Emil had spent many years murdering the weak, raping women, pillaging, and much worse out of enjoyment, he loved the pirate life. You wouldn't see prissy little women who let power go to their head react in such a manner, if you did a well placed back hand would remind them who's the boss.
"What, are you going to show me how to 'swab the deck'?" Emil said sarcastically with an undertone of annoyance. "One of these days, I may tell you how I saved your life but not if you react like that when I was just joking with you." He folded his arms as he rose from her desk, shaking his head as he walked around it towards her. If she couldn't take a joke, how the hell would she ever take the news that he was once a pirate, or better yet may return to pirating? If she couldn't learn how to become more compassionate towards him he was more than willing to struggle to get a ship of his own along with a crew. Only time will tell if she was going to figuratively and literally bury her relationship with her brother.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2014 15:13:58 GMT -6
Yeahhhhh this wasn't going well at all. It was clear that he had expected her to be more pliable and sisterly, and she had expected... Selene wasn't sure what she had expected, really, but she had certainly hoped for someone she could at least respect; older brother or no, she had no intention of being touchy-feely with a man she did not know. It was not a matter of pride, but the simple fact that Selene no longer knew how to be a sister, or even much of a woman - she had sacrificed so much of herself to try to shoulder the immense burdens of her work that she was as much a product of the seas as she was the girl who had illegally signed up as a cabin 'boy' so long ago.
While the ship itself was massive, easily dwarfing any other vessel in the West, her cabin was close to the deck, saving what might have been a rather long walk indeed had it been located just a few floors down. The burning orange of the setting sun illuminated the underpopulated ship as the fresh and salty sea air filled her lungs. This is where she belonged, Selene knew, in the sun and wind and tides of the sea. And where her brother existed also, if they were to have any chance of reconciliation.
"We seemed to be having issues communicating. I just realized we were trying to communicate in a language alien to us." Businesslike, calm, and yet foreboding, tightly coiled and controlled emotion barely evident in her voice. Selene strode forwards, ripping a random sword from where it sat in one of the weapon barrels... which were probably the least secure idea she had ever had, but for a crew that sparred as much as they did, having plenty of weapons handy was a blessing. Inspecting the blade with a perfunctory glance to make certain that it was not about to fall apart, Selene gave a practice swing, a galeforce diagonal slash into the air that could have bisected an armored knight. Or her brother. "You'll be swabbing this deck with your blood if you don't fight to kill me."
"You say you saved my life?" Selene turned to face him, fire in her eyes as she pointed her blade at him. "Now's your chance to take it back."
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Post by Emil Aurion on May 29, 2014 3:12:49 GMT -6
The two had walked in silence, this was probably the first time he felt comfortable around his 'sister'. He could tell she was just as uncomfortable as he was while they were talking, the least she could have done was make an attempt to get to know him as he was doing towards her. That woman was the prime example of why he didn't like the whole relationship thing, it was too much work to be good. He had always preferred to get what they both wanted and split ways, no headaches, no awkward silences, nothing but satisfaction and never seeing them again. The two had made their way onto the deck when Selene had grabbed a sword, now she was speaking in words he could understand, he fought back the urge to fight her out of respect of her rank and being his sister but now all bets were off.
Emil reached behind himself the bottom of the handle of his axe at the small of his back, lifted up a little and brought his axe in front of him. "So, you figured out that I wasn't completely honest about myself and now you're trying to remove me from the picture." There wasn't a point in saying more, she knew who he really was, or used to be. This was a fair fight, actually it was more in her favor than his. It was a one on one fight on her home terf, she could navigate around on the deck with a blindfold on where he would have to be aware of his surroundings, her sword couldn't deliver a devastating blow like his axe but it was far quicker than his weapon of choice.
Emil cursed under his breath, if he had fancied a smaller axe he would fare better chances against the speed of her sword, not only could it deliver a quicker strike than what he had it would also allow quicker movements for him in general. Emil had started to bounce from foot to foot as he gripped his axe tightly, there was no way in hell he was going to let her get the first blow nor attack on him. As he started shift his weight to the other foot he charged the woman in front of him, his axe was behind him as he ran and right before he was in range he started to swing his axe going from his right to his left looking to cleave the woman in half. The only advantage in them being alone was if he killed her, he could escape before somebody noticed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2014 17:26:17 GMT -6
"What the hell are you talking about?" Thoroughly pissed off by this point, Selene met Emil's charge with a measured walk, letting him take the first move in order to study him - his response, his approach to combat, if he even had the balls to come at her. He did... but more like a raging bull than a man, a telegraphed horizontal strike with no apparent planning or finesse to it. "Pathetic."
In a moment of calculated risk she stepped forwards as he swung, bringing her own blade forward with her full force to meet Emil's axe directly - not exactly the best way to use a sword versus an axe, and she could feel her wrist reverberate from the force of the weapons colliding, but it was enough to stop the axe's blade from gutting her - and more than enough to demonstrate that she would not simply let him overpower her. She had dueled countless pirates, countless men, and she had long since learned that sowing the seeds of doubt in her opponents early, allowing them to fester and rot as she proved herself anything but a helpless woman, could drive them to make mistakes as fear grew within them.
"Is THIS all the prodigal son can do against me?" She pushed harder, trying to force him to fall back - or set his stubbornness off, if he was ANYTHING at all like her. Being as hard headed as a mule was the preeminent Aurion family trait, after all! Another push, and even as she guided both blades away from them she lunged in to shoulder-check Emil somewhere in the upper chest if he didn't dodge, relying on the weight of his weapon to make it hard for him to recover it immediately.
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