[The Docks] Etzori Arrivals
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:15 am
"Yaaaa-HOOOO!”
There was no mistaking the excited whooping from one of the Scalvoris Town natives manning the ship’s crew.
"Home at last! Ain’t she a beaut!”
The other island-born men began to whistle and whoop their appreciation. A thick buzz grew in Maxine’s head. While the sailors smiled at the modest skyline of familiar roofs and the dock beckoning their return, the Rusalka found herself reeling in slow, backward steps from the rail she leaned upon. Every fiber of her beings screamed one command.
Run.
She could feel her heart involuntarily hammering in her chest, her pores opening despite the cold in time with the dilating of her eyes, and the tunneling of her vision as the ship merrily eased toward port. Her hand moved to grip the safety of her sword hilt.
"Ophelia!”
Maxine nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice so close and the arm fall over her shoulders. It was Vaul of course. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he gauged her reaction. Max folded her arms across her chest.
"Look at ‘em all, all merry like!” Vaul’s smirk grew when she shrugged his arm off, but undeterred, he pointed at one especially joyous sailor in particular. "Betcha he’d give you’s a grand tour! Y’know, you’s bein’ a virgin to this island and all.”
"Keep it up and I’ll turn you back into a virgin, Vaul,” Maxine hissed at him between grit teeth, voice low.
"Nah, Ophelia would never! I quite like her. She’s so quiet and profess’nal, and minds her tongue. Unlike that stuck-up bitch M—urghhhh!”
Vaul groaned quietly and started to buckle at the knees, lips pressed together and face red. Max didn’t break her expression even though the snap of her fist into Vaul’s groin brought her considerable joy. No one seemed to notice save for the High Mark of course.
"Say that name while we’ll here, Vaul, and it’ll be your neck instead of your balls. I swear it.”
"So she ain’t all gone,” Vaul observed through a grimace as he forced himself to straighten. "An’ yer fer real ‘bout this charade then?”
"I should not be here.”
"Alright, alright.” Vaul started to gesture toward her visage. "Just ole Ophelia when you’re in the get-up. We got it. Morty’s cunt…that hurt.”
"You wanted a reaction and you got one.”
"Least you’s quit tremblin’,” Vaul scoffed half-heartedly. "Can smell the guilty conscience. Lock it up, wee monster. Or the plain Jane look won’t hide ye none.”
As Vaul walked away, adjusting himself, Max forced herself to stand up a little straighter herself. He was right, loathe as she was to admit it. Her instinctual adversity to this place wasn’t serving her so long as she let it show. She exhaled the rush of self preservation impulses sharply through her nostrils. The captain rotated the helm, guiding them into port.
Sailors shouted and scurried like rats atop the deck. Sails were neatly tied up and ropes were getting tossed toward the dock. She felt the resistance as the boat slowed to a halt. As her eyes roved the Scalvoris Town Docks, she noticed the wood was marred and discolored. It had lost its shine since Faith and her volunteers restored what collateral damage Sephira had annihilated.
Maxine’s hand fished into the pocket she knew had been empty of Ambrosia, Katomise, or any other vice for a little while now. Old habits died hard, and her nerves were so on edge it elicited the involuntary tick. She sniffed and yanked the hood over her head. Even with the enchanted gem granting her this bland appearance, with the straw hair and plain features of this “Ophelia” disguise, paranoia remained.
Max moved to stand beside Kasoria. Delegates huddled among themselves, reviewing their notes on Scalvorian customs, culture, and language. A couple others stood with wonder and this novel capital. The rest of their work force was moving their cargo and animals to the top deck to make unloading as efficient as possible.
"Knights Inn is a nicer inn the knobs would like,” she murmured. "It’s popular though so it leaves plenty of discretion to be desired. The place I know is starkly the opposite but too risky. If you want something in between, we might have to send one ahead to shop a little. A lesser inn or something.”
Now that Kasoria was back, the burden of leadership was off her shoulders. Raand’s mere existence and comfort as Kasoria’s right hand was a godsend. To play her new role here, she had to relinquish all identity of self. She could only be Kasoria’s second in the form of a silent shadow. It was best that way.
"I shouldn’t be here, but I am," she sighed, glancing over her shoulder. Then she focused her vision on the town before them. "I know this place, it’s people, and the powers here. I’ll help you however I can, but you can know no name of mine but Ophelia. I mean it. For now.”