tomorrow we fight.
for Amalia <3
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#1
ASHE
   The bakery was easy to find. Ashe had never met Amalia before the storms, but it became increasingly clear that it was ridiculous she hadn't. She was well known in the community, mostly among Naturals, and she had directions to her shop after only a few minutes of searching.

   Her gut gave an uncomfortable twist as she walked through the front door, the scent of mouth-watering baked goods wrapping around her. She had asked after Amalia since the rescue, but she'd been apprehensive about stopping in herself. After her time with Kiada, she knew Jigano had been forthcoming to his friends about what Ashe so stupidly shared with him last year. If they were close, she almost certainly hated the wolf.

   She still couldn't stay away. She tried to leave the feline be, but that lightning had struck her in helping the once-assassin -- a fact that rubbed her very much the wrong way. Lighting was hers. That was her element, her very lifeblood. Storms filled her lungs, the beat of her heart was thunder. Not out there, though. Out there, the storms were traitorous, unpredictable, and without discrimination. She liked to think she could have redirected that bolt that hit Amalia, but her magic had not exactly been reliable in that hellstorm.

   The she-wolf paused in the center of the shop, golden sunlight filtering in motes through the windows. It was quiet, a thing she was still getting used to after months of roaring wind and thunder. She took a slow breath, pulling at the loose threads on her royal blue cloak -- ragged and in tatters at its ends after her excursion. "Hello?"
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
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#2
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
Amalia has felt better.

Her keg is healing nicely, but the twinges of pain still linger there, taunting her when she walks too long. It is hard for a baker to be off her feet, harder still when she has no help; so she grits her teeth and power through, long fingers mixing together the ingredients for a batch of pumpkin bread.

The Shield does not glance up, at first, as the slight young woman walks into her shop. Her response is intinct: "Welcome to Devas." she calls from the back, her alto voice easily projecting throgh the small space. "I'll be with you in a minute."

It takes her thirty seconds to finish shaping the loaves, and another thirty to set them out to proof. It's good work, muscle memory, soothing in hard times, and Amalia relishes every moment, working with Swift and skillful hands. Hands which she is wiping on her apron as she rounds the corner at last, coming to an abrupt stop as she finally recognizes her guest.

"Ashetta." A pause: what is one supposed to say to a woman who threatened to kill your best friend, who you subsequently pulled out of a desert Storm? "How have you been?"
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#3
ASHE
   Amalia's voice rang out from somewhere in the back, and Ashe didn't move from where she stood. She should have left. She glanced to the door, as if considering, but her scent grew stronger, and a moment later she appeared. The welcoming demeanor she carried fizzled out as soon as she laid eyes on Ashe, the rest of it leaving with the way she said her name. Oh yeah. She definitely should have fucking left.

   Ashe took quick stock of Amalia, appearing healthy and, as both Jigano and Kiada had told her, healing. She cleared her throat, twisting a rich blue thread around her prosthetic little finger. "Amalia," she replied, giving a tight smile. She dropped the thread of her cloak and crossed her arms, but she didn't let herself drop the leopard's eyes. "I'm fine. Recovering." A half truth, but at least not an outright lie. Amalia was surely asking to be polite, and Ashe wasn't about to open up the box of chaos she had been keeping tightly shut in her head.

   "I actually came to see how you were doing," she went on. "And to thank you. What you did out there…" She resisted the impulse to avert her eyes, taking a slow breath to ease her racing heart. She could kill her way through a unit of soldiers, she could face down a demon, she could take on collosal golems, she could embrace the God of Death himself. But make nice with people? Of course that's what got her heart racing.

   "Do you need… help with anything?" Jigano mentioned a limp. A scar. "I owe you that much at least."
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
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#4
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
They regard each other like two feral creatures, both predators, neither sure where they stand, whether or not a threat looms near. The baker watches the assassin fidget, watches her consider, watches her smile. Why is she here? Slender fingers pull at her apron, the starlit edge giving her some comfort, the whale on her breast a soothing motif. They are not friends, but they are not enemies, either.

At least, she doesn't think they are.

Amalia is glad to hear that Ashe is doing well, for Remi's sake if nothing else. "Thanks to Vi." That the assassin came to see how she is doing catches the baker by surprise. Unconsciously she runs a hand over her hip, shifting her weight and thinking of the red scar underneath her dress. Half a smile softens her angular face; Amalia shakes her head easily, relaxing visibly with the thanks. "I'm just glad you were safe. That we were able to find you." And this time the Shield is fully sincere: to be lost, alone, in those raging storms...

She stifles a shudder and sighs.

The offer of help raises an eyebrow, bemused now, glancing quizzically at the girl. "Ah... No?" she replies, not unkindly. "I'm just finishing up the afternoon bake. Then I'll do dinner deliveries. Then clean, and evening prayers, and..."

She realizes she is rambling and trails off with a shrug, anxiously pulling at her apron again, not sure what more to say. "Did you want anything to eat? There's a nut loaf from yesterday, and a couple apple tarts from this morning, and pumpkin scones..."
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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Posts: 1,248 | Total: 1,553
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#5
ASHE
   She would never admit it, but she would have sagged with relief any other time at the refusal for help. Ashe wasn't often welcome in the kitchen for those that knew her. They knew her well enough to know that cringe-worthy food or house fires tended be the only results she found in trying to cook.

   As Amalia went on, Ashe started to take it as her cue to leave. The leopard seemed busy, and her thanks had been accepted.. The she wolf nodded, her shoulders tense, and she was about to take the dismissal for what it was, but it... wasn't?

   She tilted her head at the offer of food, blinking. "I..." She glanced toward the counter, and she assessed the smells. Her stomach clawed with hunger in reply. She took a deep breath and looked back at Amalia, pulling at another loose blue thread. "Sure," she said with a breathless smile. "The pumpkin scones... those sound good. Sounds beyond better than what I've been eating for months." And that was to say nothing much. "I have things I could trade, back at the Guildhall." At least Amalia would have the comfort of knowing where to find Ashe if she was worried about not being paid for her goods.
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#6
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
Maybe she should be gentler, patient, less pressing, less unsure- but honestly Amalia does not know how to interact with a known assassin, let alone one she dragged from a storm. She does not know how to interact with anyone, or so it sometimes feels, but she remembers wisdom from her grandmother's lips. Food is a language everyone speaks, beti.

So she offers the assassin treats, and smiles a little when she says yes, a careful curl that doesn't quite meet her eyes. That it's better than she's had for months hits Amalia with a sudden pang; she frowns again, shaking her heada nd worrying her lip as she turns away from the girl, retreating briefly to the back of the shop to pack a basket and think.

As Amalia works Jyoti appears, the starwhale crooning a greeting to Ashetta as she swims into the shop. Curious and unafraid, she floats on silent waves beside the stranger, starlit and silly and spun on her back, waiting for belly rubs or praise. Amalia cannot help but laugh as she sees it, returning with a basket laden with snacks: pumpkin scones, yesterday's bread, blackberry preserves and more.

"Here." A little awkward, she pushes it forward, slid toward Ashetta across the counter. "Remi and Ronin both eat like wolves, and Aoife loves bread," she offers by way of explanation, not meeting the electric eyes, the thin gauntness of her face. "And... I was going to have lunch soon. If you ea yes to join." This is true: Amalia often does not have her lunch until late in the day, noon being a rush time for the bakery. She isn't sure why she extends the offer, but something in her hurts for Ashetta.

She remembers being lonely, and scared, and lost, and needing a friend.
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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Posts: 1,248 | Total: 1,553
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#7
ASHE
   Amalia responded with a careful smile and disappearing to the back of the shop. As soon as she was out of sight, Ashe let out a heavy breath and slumped her shoulders, pinching the bridge of her nose. Why bother, why bother? The lightning girl was a much easier person to hate than to like. It was easier to be hated, sometimes.

   She dropped her hand and looked up, and she blinked with a soft gasp. Floating, swimming through the air was a whale. A miniature version of the whales that crashed through the sea of Northwind, it trailed leaming stardust in its wake, crooning a soft sound that rang pleasantly in her ears. Ashe blinked with a breathless smile, eyes full of wonder as the glimmering whale turned upon its back. Her scarred, slender hand reached out to brush over the whale’s belly, unable to keep her smile down.

   Then there was a laugh, and the once-assassin’s heart lurched as she drew her hand back. Amalia placed a bulging basket on the counter, and her brows shot up. ”That’s more than scones,” she commented, glancing again at the whale before she approached. She half smiled down at the basket as she explained the extra was for the Taliesin family. ”Sometimes I wonder if Aoife will end up eating more than the both of them soon,” she said wryly, placing her hand over the handle of the basket.

   It was the offer to join the leopardess for lunch that caught her. Guarded eyes darted up, her whole body going very still. ”Lunch…” she replied slowly, almost a question. Ashe bit her lip and glanced down at the basket, the smells of the foods near to making her dizzy. Another deep breath, and she looked up at Amalia with a hesitant smile. ”Honestly, I’m starving. Do you.. go anywhere specific?”
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#8
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
She laughs a little, unbidden brightness as Ashetta speaks of Aoife's hunger, the appetite of toddlers being a notorious thing. "At least she still has upward growth - they're only growing sideways," the baker replies, also wry, humor lighting the darker edges of her alto voice. It is nice to pretend for a moment that they are two simple people, unknown and without blurred history, no sharp slices of threats and mistakes arcing like lightning between them. Does Ashetta know what Rory is to the girl? Does she remember who Rory is at all?

Amalia clenches and unclenches her fists, looking away again. Spiderwebs of connotations, interactions and raw red wounds. The world is bigger and more complicated than ever, a fact that Ashetta shares responsibility for - but Amalia bears it, too.

The slight assassin takes her invitation, admitting to hunger and eliciting another smile from the baker. She may not know how to talk about the past, but she knows how to feed, to soothe wounds with the balm of baked goods, smoked meats and hard cheese and vegetable pies. Looking back over at Ashetta, the Shield rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "I usually put something together here - people bring me food a lot, to trade. I have some grouse and dumpling stew from yesterday which should be good."
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#9
ASHE
   Ashe let out a barely shaken breath. She half expected the baker to retract her invitation, to tell her something like no, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I haven't the time. She seemed uncomfortable, no doubt with Jigano's warning and... were they all friends? If she was close to Jigano, didn't it make sense that she was close to Rory too?

   There was an uncomfortable twist in her gut, but she forced a smile with her nod. "I'm sorry I can't do the same," she confessed. "I'm hopeless in a kitchen." There was a flicker of blue light at her fingertip as a thread broke from her cloak. She cleared her throat and glanced down, quickly quelling the nervous magic. Her fingers found a new thread, and she looked back up at the woman.

   It was stupid to be so nervous, wasn't it? She had been a killer most of her life, and a fucking good one. She had nothing to fear from Amalia. Nothing to fear from any of them, really. Nothing but rejection, and she almost laughed at herself. Once, he idea of being afraid of something like that hadn't even been a concept to her. Everyone rejected her, she was an infamous assassin, a villain of Northwind, so who fucking cared, right? Only now... now that wasn't her anymore.

   "Do you live here, at the bakery?" she asked, glancing back to where she must cook, then around to the warm and cozy bakery. It felt... almost like a bakery in Northwind. The sort that her father took her to on the rare mornings they were allowed to have.
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#10
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
Amalia has never been a killer. She has never been more than a village child, born into a snow-globe world where the dangers were constant, but at least there were known. Not until the Outlanders began to descend did en masse did the girl gain some inkling that there were bigger troubles than those she knows, vast and unknown and terrifying and nigh impossible to overcome.

One of those is the blight. One of them is the Spire.

One of them is sitting at her kitchen table with a known assassin who threatened her friend, and keeping enough composure to offer her lunch.

"I was hopeless when I started, too." She works as she talks, the busyness keeping her hands from trembling, keeping the nerves from winning the war. She is doing this for Remi, for Ronin, for Aoife, because if her friends can find humanity in this killer than surely it must be there. "I think I ruined half the loaves I made. My grandmother would have me do tiny batches, to spare ingredients." Those days she has been more interested in learning about the outside world than sitting in a kitchen. She'd been six or seven when she began to help in the bakery, too young, perhaps, for any real expectations, but old enough to work in their world.

Those are easier days to remember, when the world still makes sense. It brings a smile to her face, faint and fleeting but very much there, and her eyes are softer when she hands Ashetta a pair of wooden bowls. "Will you set these on the table? I'll grab the soup."

She is halfway back with the pot of stew when Ashetta's question meets her ears. Amalia pauses, biting her lip, suddenly self-conscious and concerned. The anxious, animal part of her howls: why does it matter? Why does an assassin want to know where she lives? Trust, she tries to remind herself, swallowing down and calming her face. "Ah... yes. I... my family had a house, but it's easier to just stay here." She shrugs, setting the pot at the table and extending her arm to invite her to sit. "What about you? How long will you stay with Remi and Ronin?"
Messenger

Age: 28 | Height: 5'0" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 7 (lvl 3 Attuned) - Strg: 10 - Dext: 27 - Endr: 19 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#11
ASHE
   Ashe half smiled as Amalia shared the memories with her family, and she found herself grateful for the piece of the woman before her. She tilted her head, trying to imagine, to understand such a simple and warm life. Once she'd had a glimpse of it, but that was never her life to live. "Kalt and I used to sneak down to the kitchens in the middle of the night when we were kids sometimes," she offered quietly, never having shared these memories out loud before. "When we couldn't sleep. He's a phenomenal cook, but I spent most of my time sitting on the counter and hiding his ingredients. He still gives me grief about never paying attention."

   She followed Amalia to where the table was, and she nodded her head, glad to have something to do. Even if it is only setting bowls on the table, she did it. She was careful not to put them too close, she would have to be an idiot not to sense the discomfort in Amalia. Once more she considered excusing herself, freeing the baker from the presence of an assassin, but she was already returning with the soup.

   Ashe seated herself at Amalia's direction, adjusting her cloak. It didn't surprise her that she lived here. Back in Northaven, people lived where they did their business for the most part. There wasn't enough space to house them separately. She glanced up at Amalia, her face falling for a moment before she managed to force a smile. "I'm not sure," she said, pulling at another thread in her cloak. "I have a house, but they... opened their home to me. Until I find my family. I don't...like living alone."
when you first see her, she will be
light refracted, splintered divinity,
some unlovely portrait of a goddess misremembered.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#12
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
She listens to Ashe's story with something unreadable on her face, a strange mixture of wariness and empathy as the slight assassin speaks of midnight kitchens and phenomenal cooks. Is it all a trick, a ploy, to leave her unguarded, to make her sympathize with the young (ex) killer? It is a level of malice she would have expected based off the stories she had heard, yet not one she can bring herself to believe in now.

Either Ashetta has turned a leaf, or she truly is an exceptional liar.

Seating herself across the table, the sharp eyes Shield watches the girl pull and pick at her cloak, recognizing the signs of anxiety, the uneasiness, the faltering smile. She explains her living situation, and again Amalia feels a pang, seeing far too much of herself in a killer to be comfortable. "Neither do I," she admits softly, though she has done it for years.

There is something to be said, still, hanging between them like a fog, impermeable and suffocating. Placing her spoon down Amalia looks up, her dark eyes piercing electric blue, suddenly serious and wickedly sharp. "You once threatens to kill my friend. Would you do the same today, Ashetta? Are you still a killer?"


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