The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

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VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » June 29th, 2021, 1:18 pm

The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Image

Full Maiden Name: Vera Verity Shelby
Full Married Name: Vera Verity Silvercrest


Personal Details:
Birthdate: 12th of Dewfall
Birthplace: Outside of the Western Blacklands near Antongrad
Family Origin: Kaduraas
Birthsign: The Archbishop
Profession: Engineer, Architect, and begrudging Master Locksmith
Faction Affiliation: The First Torian Legion
Languages: Decusian, Collatian
Accent: Has a heavy and slightly gruff accent that gets heavier or lighter depending on who she’s talking to
Hobbies: Loves collecting clothing and fashion

Appearance

Age: 26
Birthdate: 12th of Dewfall
Height: Tall, 6’0”
Weight: Slightly underweight
Eyes: Blue gray
Hair: Dark brown
Skin: Well tanned with freckles across her nose
Handedness: Ambidextrous
Posture: Good posture, walks as though someone reminded her not to slouch often

Physical Description:

Vera is tall for a woman standing around six feet in height. She has light gray-blue eyes that contrast oddly against her dark brown hair and tan skin. She has freckles across her cheeks and nose from sun exposure and a small scar her upper right-hand lip, just as the corner. Across the top of her inner forearm is a brand that reads “Legion I” and she has several small scars speckled across her arms. Vera is thin, though has a well-defined bust and hips. She has good muscle definition and appears strong. Her knuckles are scarred and calloused. Vera is in her mid to late twenties but appears younger.

Personality Description:

Vera is friendly, outgoing, playful, and extroverted. She speaks quickly and has a sharp witty tongue that has a habit of getting her into trouble. Despite her often-comical nature, she is very logical, charming and works well with people. To those she loves, she is loyal to a fault and expects the same in kind.


History:


Coming from a large, tight knit and interwoven family, Vera has never really been alone a day in her life. She is the only daughter of eight children and was raised heavily protected by the outside world inside of the well-established Shelby Family Compound. The Shelby’s are well known in the Western territories and it is not uncommon to hear someone say, “there will always be a day when you need a Shelby”. From the outside the Shelby’s may seem like your typical family with peculiar quarks, such as all of them sharing “V” first names, but from the inside they are a well-oiled machine; fiercely loyal and insanely resourceful.

Vera was raised mostly by a nanny and was given a fine education by private tutors, sheltered, and hidden away from the family business. It wasn’t until she was in her late teens did she finally understand that her mother and father weren’t just the heads of their family, but the figure heads of an organized crime syndicate. Once the cat was out of the bag, it was difficult to keep this information from her as she often sought it out. Knowing the depths of her family secrets, understanding the blood that was on all their hands, changed the way Vera saw her family and she promised herself she’d never become like them.

The Shelby family preferred to keep the family name intact, often marrying female relatives to cousins to maintain the lineage. When it came time for Vera to become her cousin’s second wife, she blatantly refused as she had refused every other offer, but this time it wasn’t a suggestion it was a demand. Vera was getting older, near twenty-six now and had gotten a “little wild” according to her father. Her defiance caused a huge rift within the family, some supporting her choice to remain single and others demanding she follow tradition and set a good example. In the end this was the cause for Vera leaving behind the life she knew and choosing instead to come to the First Province.

Strengths: Dedicated, Ambitious, Helpful
Weaknesses: Naive, Vain, Stubborn

Governing Virtue: Compassion
Governing Throne: Pride
(This legacy is posted for giggles and nothing posted here is intended as IG or IC knowledge)

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » June 30th, 2021, 5:27 pm

1. Great Expectations: Song

In the dead of night, Vera packed up what few things held value to her; a small vial of peculiar red sand from her grandmother, a book she’d been using to map out her journey and a wet molded leather pouch filled with coins she’d managed to pilfer and scrape together over the last few months. Her traveling bag was light, and she dressed in uncharacteristically plain clothes, gray pants, a brown jacket, and well-worn leather boots. Everything in her ornately furnished room was in its place, Vera’s intention was to leave it looking as though she hadn’t fled but simply vanished.

Standing outside of the home she shared with her parents and younger siblings the pangs of guilt and anxiety washed over her again. She was leaving behind everything that she had ever known but knew that she couldn’t stay. Staying meant joining the family business, becoming complicit in their sins, and washing her hands in the same blood the rest of them had. Her family’s compound rivaled some cities in its size and amenities, but Vera was unwilling to sell her soul for comfort, regardless of how warm it was under her father’s wings. Stealing one final glance she steeled herself in her resolve and started off down the path out of the compound, the hard soles of her boots softly clicking against the cobblestone road.

The train lurched forward, jerking Vera out of her slumber, and forcing her to catch herself in the seat before falling out of it. The trip from the Shelby Family Compound to the First Province had taken weeks split between walking, hitching rides in caravans and finally the train. She felt disoriented, her body sore and stiff as she collected her things and got to her feet. People shuffled around her, gathering their belongings, and exiting the train into the blinding sunlight. Vera blinked as she exited, holding up a hand to shield her eyes. Though she had finally landed at her destination, the soil felt odd and unwelcoming under her feet. The weight of guilt hadn’t lifted off her chest as she had expected it to, and the listless feeling of a journey not yet over remained with her.

Vera stood on the platform unsure what to do with herself, a requisition ticket thrust into her hand gruffly by a silent and unfriendly official. Her internalized disorientation must have been easily visible as the tall, blonde, and friendly looking man approached her.

“What’s your profession?” he said as an opening statement, his blue eyes scanning her.

“I’m sorry. , My what?. .” Vera replied after a while, forcing herself to swallow down her heavy accent for the Decusian one she’d been practicing for months.

“Your profession. . What do you do?” he repeated “I’m sorry, maybe I should start over. I’m Adam Candleberry.”

Vera looked him over, the man was a little taller than her, likely six two with short blonde hair cut down to his scalp and had moderately young features that weren’t haggard as so many others. He wore gray a traveling coat, longer than hers and looked to her expectantly for her answers.

“I’m Vera Shelby. I’d planned to become a tailor” she responded in an unsure tone, “I’ve always loved clothing-“, before she could finish her sentence the man had cut her off.

“Oh, well you would be the tenth tailor I’ve met, myself included. Have you considered engineering?” the man tipped his head to the side, sizing her up, “I think you might be good at engineering”

Vera stood there in shock, more confused now than she was before exiting the train. Were all people in the First Province so forward?

“Come with me, I’ll show you around”, Adam waved Vera over to follow him, pausing as she hesitated and waving her over again.

Adam showed her around the stuffy, filthy camp filled with refugees and survivors. People in masks dressed in impossibly clean white fabrics sized them up as they walked by. None of this phased Adam, assumedly because he had been here much longer than she had, or maybe it just wasn’t in his nature.

“You can turn in that ticket for supplies over there” he motioned to a building as they stood at the front of the fort, “I recommend a water skin. You can also find a place to sleep over there” he turned and pointed to his right, “and sometimes you can find interesting things in these” Adam walked over and kicked around debris in a trash pile, pulling out a half full bottle of wine and looking it over as though it were a great victory.

Vera just nodded, taking in the information as quickly as she could. Adam talked fast, walked faster, and had a lot of focused energy. He darted from one place to the next, showing her around to medical tents, supply stations and new trash piles to dig through. When Adam was satisfied with his tour, he gave Vera a single nod.

“Well, that’ll be all until they start approving our Visas to leave here. Good luck!” he turned to leave as she protested.

“Wait! But what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” she said breathlessly.

“Meet people!” Adam replied with not even a look back, a hand waving over his head as he walked briskly back towards the train station.

Vera stood there, a water skin in one hand and a half full bottle of wine in the other. Of her whole journey, this had been the strangest moment of it.

The days went by in a blur. Vera started off sheepishly kicking through the trash piles while people weren’t looking to shamelessly hefting furniture out of the piles and arranging it as she pleased, working to make repairs to some as she could. She and everyone else talked to the official at the gates several times a day, checking in about their paperwork. There had been some sort of issue and all of them were to remain inside of the fort until it had been resolved. Dozens of people wandered around the camp listlessly, sitting around the large fire and sharing stories.

One evening a group gathered around the largest fire pit discussing their traveling plans, what they hoped to accomplish once they’d left the fort. Many of the concepts were foreign to her and she tried her best to follow the conversation. Both groups were very religious and spoke on the virtues and vices. Vera had been instructed on the Decusian faith and while some members of her family were followers, most only went through the motions as not to attract attention; Vera was part of the latter.

As the sun fell and the conversation continued, Vera stood as an outsider to the conversation just inside the light of the burning fire. Across the way, standing next to one of the many tents also outside of the conversation and barely inside of the light stood a young man with sharp young features and dirty blonde tussled hair. He was thin and even at a distance she could see the dozens of small tattoos speckled across his exposed skin. He watched the others with an impish grin of amusement. He turned his attention to Vera, perhaps feeling her eyes on him. The young man offered her a winning smile and lifted a bottle high overhead, motioning her over. Not one to turn down free liquor she obliged.

Vera’s hand was extended for the bottle before they had even exchanged pleasantries, gripping the glass, and taking a drink from the neck. The liquor burned her mouth and throat, she knew it was likely collected from one of the piles around the fort.

“Jakell Wormwood”, the young man said in almost a musical canter, laughing as Vera’s eyes winced against the harshness of the liquor.

“Vera Shelby” she choked out, wiping her mouth on her sleeve, and passing the bottle back.

They settled onto the ground next to one another, using the tent siding as a support and passed the bottle back and forth watching the others until it was empty. Vera stared into the dredges of the bottle with a sigh, her chest warm with the drink and her head pleasantly floating in it.

“So, what brings you to this shit hole?” the young man asked, his eyes unmoving from his people watching.

“I didn’t want to marry my cousin” she responded in a gruff monotone, “You?”

“Couldn’t find work on another ship” he responded in the same tone with a sideways look at her and a smirk, bringing the empty bottle to his lips out of habit and frowning in disappointment.

They both knew the other was bending the truth, but neither pushed the subject.

“What do you want to do out there?” he nodded towards the towering fence that separated them from there rest of the First Province.

Vera considered his words for a moment, she hadn’t thought much about what she wanted to do with her freedom, she just didn’t want to be found.

“I want to help people” she said, breaking the silence that was building, “I want to build houses and make people’s lives better.”

“Well, I’d like to build and open a bar, so sounds like we’ll be good friends” he looked to her with his full attention now, his eyes scanning her face with a crooked grin.

She wasn’t sure if it was the liquor or the warmth of the fire, but she felt comfortable for the first time since leaving home. Sitting in the dirt, her back pressed again the tent she watched the as the young man tipped the bottle back again, finding only more disappointment before finally tossing the bottle out of reach to end the cycle. Jakell felt familiar and easy to be around, his comical nature like one of her younger brothers. His eyes were clear and unburdened. She liked that about him.

The days spanned into near a week and the two of them became inseparable. Vera and Jakell walked the camp in circles, digging through piles as new things were discarded and reveling in their discoveries. A skinning knife with the tip broken off, more bottles of discarded liquor, a broken chair and on occasion food that was still good enough to eat. The rations they were given were so little that no one passed up the rare decent vegetable or fruit tossed out.

The evening conversation around the fire pit always turned to Decus and seemed more a chance to preach. Upon walking away from one particularly lively conversation about the Thorn of Lust, Vera, followed closely behind by Jakell met a towering, broad shouldered, tanned, and shirtless man standing just out of ear shot of the others.

“Did you also grow bored of the church talk?”, the man asked bluntly his gaze following where they’d just came from.

Jakell stared shamelessly into the man’s naked chest as Vera nodded in agreement with the man. “It’s always the same shit” she said.

“Say, not that I’m complaining. . But what happened to your shirt?”, Jakell asked, not looking up from the man’s chest to meet his eyes.

The man looked down to Jakell, their height difference was considerable. His expression was set and stoic, his hair mid length and black. “I lost it gambling”, he said in a matter-of-fact tone that said that was the only explanation he would offer.

Vera cleared her throat, trying to break Jakell’s focus but he didn’t notice. She resorted instead to bumping her shoulder into his to break his gaze and end his staring. Jakell gave Vera a scowl, it was obvious he didn’t understand her intention, though the tall man didn’t seem bothered by Jakell’s attention.

“I’m Vera and this is Jakell”, she offered as an introduction, Jakell shoving Vera’s shoulder back as it collided with his.

“Furio”, the man replied in the same tone, watching the two of them bounce off one another like unruly children. If Furio thought any less of them for their bickering and banter, he never expressed it.

“What brings you to Trash Fort?”, Vera asked, shooting Jakell an expression that she hoped read as “knock your shit off”.

“Trash Fort?” Furio looked back to Vera who was motioning widely around them. “Ah, The Rumbling Pass” he corrected her. “A promise” he said in the same tone that would offer no further explanation.

To Vera, Furio seemed practical, unemotional, and most importantly, not someone she would ever want to cross, and that was before bringing his sheer size into account. This man was obviously very controlled and the exact opposite of the jovial and naïve Jakell. Why he continued tolerating Jakell and her after their first interaction was beyond Vera, but the three of them made fast friends and were soon trading trash treasures regularly.

“Wake up!” the sharp voice reached into the deepest points of her psyche and wrenched her suddenly from her sleep. Vera’s eyes tried to focus on Jakell’s face, but he was too close. She shoved him back groggily, his face replaced by the sun that he had been obscuring. Vera swore, almost falling from the bench she’d been dozing on. She could hear Jakell’s laughter as she rubbed the sunspots from her eyes.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” she muttered into her hands, she could feel the warm and rough skin of Jakell’s hand find it’s way to hers and gave a sudden tug.

“Come on, they’re processing our paperwork finally!” he said with excitement leading her to the front of the camp with child-like enthusiasm.

As Vera’s sight finally came into focus, she could see Jakell’s face, excited and full of life. His energy was contagious. People gathered around them, quing up orderly as their paperwork was processed.

“Have you ever ridden a horse before?”, Jakell asked her, looking over his shoulder with bright eyes and a beaming smile.

“Uh. . Once. . “she lied, but he didn't notice. Of course, she’d ridden a horse before, she’d had lessons her whole life, but she wasn’t interested in offering that information up.

“I haven’t”, he said, turning back and watching each person’s paperwork be processed and given a voucher for a horse rental.

It was finally their turn, and after all the time spent wishing to get out of the fort, after all the names she’d come up for it and all the stir crazed nights and cabin-fever days she looked back near wistfully. She didn’t know what was beyond the gate, but she knew it would be different and for a singular moment her excitement was replaced by a momentary pang of fear.

The camp gates opened, a gentle breeze came in and the air outside seemed fresher. She shoved her fear back down, closing it inside one of the many internalized jars she kept her emotions. All of her anxiety had accumulated to this moment and it seemed that no sooner had she handed her paperwork to the official was she gracefully dismounting a horse and looking up to the gates of Fort Praesidium. She stood, her body temporarily frozen by the realization that her goal had been accomplished and she had no idea what she should be doing next.

“Come on!”, the chipper and recognizable voice of Jakell Wormwood caught her attention and after one final glance up at the stone gates, with the greatest of expectation she passed through to figure out where her next steps would take her.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 1st, 2021, 12:42 pm

2. Free Animal: Song

A week had passed since Vera had come off the Rumbling Pass and she was settling into her new life in Fort Praesidium. She and Jakell had rented a nice place right next to the bank close to the east gate and had been scouting out land to build a house and possibly a tavern of their own. The rental suited them well, it had a small kitchenette, two beds, a desk, and a dining table. It was perfect in every way, save for the price tag. To the tune of 60 silver a week, the friends had rented the place before seriously taking into consideration their ability to pay for it.

Vera had taken Adam’s words to heart and upon arriving at the fort began to learn how to make tools and more complicated engineered items. She spent every waking moment crowded around a tool bench with other fledgling engineers. When she wasn’t doing that, she was reading books on theory, architecture, and lock assembly. She spent hours down in mine shafts collecting the ore that she needed while Jakell brought her the lumber she required. Vera had poured herself into the trade and for once felt that she was good at something and was working towards a goal that was her own. She had opened her own small shop above the craft hall selling rudimentary tools made from copper. Her tools weren’t the best, but they were selling, and they desperately needed the coin.

The light in the craft hall was dimming with the setting sun and Vera’s legs ached from standing for the last several hours. Her shoulders protested as she held up the small gear to the lantern light, even this tiny component was too heavy for her worn body. Coming from a life of privilege, Vera was unfamiliar with manual labor and while her mind had willingly embraced the challenge her body had yet to catch up with her ambition.

A soft “Ahem”came from behind her in the doorway. Vera turned to find a tall, dark skinned man with hair so short to his scalp he may as well have been bald. His young facial features were well defined, almost etched onto his face in a handsome way. Khristo Drayden stood sheepishly in the doorway and smiled at her.

“I don’t suppose you could fix this, could you?”, he said, a hint of amusement in his tone as he held up the deformed but usually circular throwing weapon known as a “Chakram”.

Vera recognized it as a weapon she had made for him earlier in the week. She wasn’t surprised it had folded in on itself with moderate use, she had used copper after all. Looking at the weapon she let out a forced and intentionally dramatic groan before her full lips turned to a smile.

“O’course I’ll fix it for you”, she said to him holding her hand out “and if you get me a few more leather wrappings I’ll even make you a better one out of iron.”

Khristo dipped his head in thanks, leaving the mangled weapon with her and going to get the wrappings.

Vera would fix the weapon for him; she’d even make the new one. In the end she wouldn’t charge him a thing for it. She’d met Khristo shortly after coming off the Rumbling Pass and they had exchanged resources for services since. This was typical of Vera’s interactions with people, she was a terrible businesswoman and even charged too little for her tools in her shop. Jakell kept telling her to charge people for repairs, take coins for her goods and increase the cost of things on her vendor; but she couldn’t bring herself to. She knew everyone there was struggling, and it was difficult for her to take their coin knowing it could be taking food from their mouths, even if the tradeoff was her own poverty.

As she made the metal parts of the Chakram waiting for the Khristo to return with the leather, Vera wondered if her inability to take payment had anything to do with the guilt she harbored for being her father’s daughter and the knowledge she held of how many people’s lives he had destroyed.

“O’ no, none o’ that” she said to herself in a whisper and swallowed down the thought, returning it to the fragile internalized jar she kept all of her intrusive thoughts and feelings.

“I got that leather”, Khristo said, returning victoriously with the leather strips held over head.

“Perfect timing”, she responded with a sigh, happy to have work to distract her.

Leaving the craft hall for the evening Vera could hear cheering, grunts and the distinct sound of bone hitting flesh. Barely visible from her position on the ground she could see shadows bobbing and weaving on the roof. She was exhausted, but curiosity got the best of her. On top of the tavern in an area obviously created to be a meeting place or perhaps a theater with raised seating, a group of men were boxing almost exclusively in the nude. Speckled across the raised seating several people sat and watched, cheering occasionally when a particularly good hit landed, or someone was knocked down.

Vera stood in the aisle watching the spectacle. She’d seen boxing matches at home, and this was nothing like that. The seething pile of men were swinging wildly at one another, some blows landing, others falling short of their mark. She folded her tired arms across her chest, glad she’d made the side trip to come and watch. This appeared to be some sort of public training event, and why it was on top of the tavern was beyond her but appreciated.

Within the chaos one man particularly stood out to Vera, an athletic young and agile man with shoulder length silver hair and a short silver beard. He had rugged good looks and his arms and upper torso were covered in small nautical tattoos. He laughed as he dodged blows one after another, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Of all the men in the training ring he appeared the most in his element. A laugh rang out from him as his fighting partner landed a good blow to his ribs. She couldn’t make out his words, but she knew from his facial expressions that he was throwing jovial insults around. She’d seen him and all the men in the arena around the fort and some even in the quarantine camp before but didn’t know any of their names.

Watching the men Vera rolled her fingers into fists, flexing them back out and looking at the callusing palms of her hands. Her previously soft and unblemished hands were growing a thick rind and maybe it was time to extend that outwards to some self-defense skills. Looking back up to the men, her mind and body both protested her brief entertaining of joining the fight. She was exhausted and as interested as she was, a broken nose wasn’t going to help her gain engineering knowledge.

Vera returned to the rental, a notice on the door reminding her that their rent was due in three days’ made her stomach drop. She hadn’t made any coin that day and she wasn’t sure if Jakell had had any luck himself.

Jakell came home shortly after her, a bow slung over his thin frame and a sack of something over his shoulder. Vera nodded to him in welcome and then to the note on the table which caused him to frown.

“How short are we?” he said with a sigh, hefting the bag onto the floor.

“About twenty silver” Vera replied with a cringe that they both shared.

“Well. . I’ve got a little copper. . But I did find some clothing!”, Jakell was always good at putting a positive spin on things.

The two of them went through the bag, the clothes were thread worn, some of them muddy and a few had suspicious holes in them. Jakell cleared his throat in a casual way as Vera held up a tunic with what she suspected was an arrow hole.

“Where did you find these?” she said in what she hoped was a non-accusatory way.

“No one was using them anymore,” he offered as the only explanation.

Vera decided to push their origin to the back of her mind; she was desperate for a change of clothing regardless of where it had come from. She’d been alternating between her traveling clothes and a plain dress Adam Candleberry had made her the day they arrived at the Fort. Sometimes she regretted her decision not to learn tailoring.

“We really should talk about our rent. I don’t think we can afford to continue staying here”, Vera said, still picking through the bag.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Jakell said with a sigh, his brow furrowed with concern. Worry didn’t suit his young face and it looked unnatural painted across him.

“We could rent a room in the inn together, that would be much cheaper. But we’d have to share a bed probably”, she frowned a little at the thought, selecting a satiny skirt and trying it on over her pants.

“Sharing a bed with you? You’re basically a mountain troll, you’d take up the whole thing”, Jakell teased, sorting out the clothes and giving her a wide grin.

Vera rolled her eyes at that. She was all of two inches taller than Jakell and he couldn’t let it go. Besides the height difference, they were both of slight build and becoming slighter with the lack of food coming in. She mused at the idea of sharing a bed with Jakell, she bet he was all knees and elbows. She’d seen him toss in his sleep in his bed across from hers. It would still be better than sleeping out in the open or on a bench in the fort.

“You’d have to put a bow on the door when you had a bloke over”, she said returning his tease.

Jakell had made it clear to Vera that he was interested in men, this was made obvious by his flagrant flirting with every attractive man that passed by. Jakell had once described himself as an “equal opportunity” flirt, but she’d never seen him hit on a woman. Despite this, Vera often found herself confused by or second-guessing their interactions. They were very friendly with one another, and sometimes Vera could swear that he was coming onto her. Pushing these thoughts aside she refocused on their housing situation.

“Either way, it would be better than being homeless”, she stated bluntly, words that seemed to get through to Jakell.

He nodded once to her, “I’ll look for a room, we still have a few days.”

With that it was settled. They’d give up their cushy, too expensive rental and move into a cupboard together. But at least they’d be together. They’d been latched to one another since the Rumbling Pass, two sides of the same coin Jakell said. Vera felt that way sometimes, and other times she felt peculiar about their friendship. She hadn’t dropped her Decusian accent around Jakell, and she wasn’t sure why. She felt comfortable around him, but not as herself.

She sometimes felt as though she were outside of herself, watching a version of her say things and do things, but not being fully present for them. Residual self-preservation tactics? Maybe. She hadn’t even told him where she’d come from and simply let him believe what he wanted to; that she’d come from the western mountains. Jakell was like that, he easily believed what he wanted and often substituted his own beliefs for facts. Vera never stopped him.

Two days passed and the two of them were packed. They’d discarded many things to fit their lives back into two backpacks, leaving most of it in the house for the next person who might find use for it. They stood outside on the steps, checking and re-checking their bags for anything they might have missed. It was obvious to both that the other was having a difficult time letting go, but neither wanted to voice it.

“What are you doing?” the cool, crisp, and even voice rang out behind them.

Vera rounded on the voice to find Furio, shirtless as ever standing in the street watching them. They’d become close in the Quarantine Camp, but they hadn’t seen much of Furio since. His hair was long and wild, his chest dirty and the leather pants he was wearing appeared well worn.

“We’re moving out” Jakell responded before Vera could, “sadly we can’t afford the place.”

Vera pulled the “rent due” sign from the door and held it up to Furio to better illustrate the point.
Furio looked at the paper, craning his head down to read the writing. “Well, that isn’t going to due at all”, he said to Vera, taking the paper from her hand and turning on his heel.

“Uh. . Furio where are you going!?” Vera called after him, holding her hands palm up in confusion.

“I’m going to go pay this”, Furio replied in a tone that sounded as though he thought his actions were obvious.

Vera and Jakell looked at each other and then back to Furio. “That’s a lot of silver” they both protested in unison.

“We can’t let you do that!” Vera called after Furio, her feet frozen in surprise.

With wide strides Furio returned to where they stood, mouths ajar in shock. “And I can’t allow the two of you to give up on your dreams. You came here to accomplish something. To help people, to build a tavern outside of the gates and make people happy. You’re not going to get there homeless”, Furio’s words were well chosen and intentional, each landing with its full purpose. He was difficult to argue with.

“If it makes you feel better, the three of us can share it. I could use a place to store things. I can sleep on the floor”, Furio added and with those words Vera knew it wasn’t a suggestion, the man would have it no other way.

In the end, Vera refused to allow Furio to sleep on the floor and after a minor amount of arguing Jakell and Vera agreed to share one bed while Furio took the other. The two of them slept coiled around each other, often using the other as a pillow. Vera was right, Jakell was all knees and elbows and dug his boney extremities into her as he slept. Despite the cramped rental, Vera found a great deal of comfort sharing the roof with the two men. It reminded her of the full house she’d grown up in, her seven brothers leaving things around the house to be tripped over and the deafening noise of an inhabited home.

Vera sighed with exhaustion, settling into the bed that Jakell was already sleeping in. She pressed herself against the wall, finding space and tucking her arms around the slight man for lack of option. Even in the dark she knew Furio was awake, she always woke him when she came in late, but he never complained. In her mind Furio liked knowing she was home and found comfort in the fact that she and Jakell were both close by as much as she found solace in their company. As familiar as the quarters felt, the rental had nowhere near the space her family home had. Despite the cramped living conditions Vera felt more like a free animal here than she ever had in living in the gilded cage of her family’s compound and she wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 2nd, 2021, 1:46 pm

3.Remember to Breath: Song

Vera dozed in a half sleep; she’d been having a dream she didn’t want to leave just yet. She allowed herself to rest there in twilight, watching the dream continue to unfold. Jakell and Furio were both topless in the house going about their day, cleaning, and sorting the messy rental neatly into crates and labeling them for ease of use. Vera watched them lazily from the dining table. The two men were vastly different in size, posture, and appearance. Furio was dark, impossibly tall, and his muscle mass had been growing by the day while dream Jakell remained fair complected, wiry and perhaps slightly shorter than real life.

“Such lovely ‘usbands”, Vera cooed to them in her relaxed, usually hidden accent.

The two men smiled at her and suddenly Furio was placing a lavish plate of food on the table while Jakell washed the dishes to the meal no one had seen prepared. The dream happened in clips. Dishes suddenly on the floor. Clothing strewn. A firm hand on her throat.

“Vera, you’re snoring”, the voice came through her dream just as an empty leather pouch collided with her chest.

She let out an audible “oof”, recoiling against the sudden attack to find Jakell, fully clothed and smirking.

The single room rental was a disaster, items spilled out of boxes, clothing draped over chairs and weapons and armor piled into corners. She signed as reality washed back over her and laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Have you eaten?”, a smooth and even voice asked her.

Vera looked up to Furio who had recently begun wearing full leather armor in a dark hue and rarely exposed his chest these days. She shook her head no and he carefully placed a cloth bundle next to her on the bed. He gave her a single nod that Vera understood was the Furio equivalent of a smile. Opening the cloth, she found several chunks of charred unidentifiable meat, far from the meal in her dream but still appreciated.

“Furio? You’re not getting all this meat from that bat cave up the way, are you?” Vera asked, her question meant as a joke but with an undertone of concern.

Furio had been bringing meat home from his hunting trips since he’d moved in and was likely the only reason they weren’t starving.

“Yeah”, Jakell replied skeptically as he sat at the dining table where Vera had been in her dream, “where are you getting all of that meat from?”

Furio looked between them, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly into a rare, amused look. “What would be the fun in knowing?” he replied and unclasped the buckles to his leather chest piece exposing his bare skin.

Jakell let out a low wolf whistle eyeing Furio and Vera chuckled as she struggled to break a piece of meat away from a rib.

She and Jakell had both tried their hand at hitting on Furio in the past, though Jakell simply didn’t know when to give up. Vera had made flirty jokes with Furio, poking, and prodding to test the waters. It wasn’t that he ever rebuffed her or even rejected her, he simply refused to play along. Her charms and subtle quips were always met with indifference or brushed over for a different topic.

It would have been easier if he had rejected her, she could do something with that, but Furio gave nothing. She wasn’t put off or dejected by his lack of interest, Vera enjoyed their relationship the way it was, even though her intrusive dreams might have told a different story. Her eyes unfocused for a moment as her thoughts drifted back to the dream she had been so abruptly woken from. Decus, did she ever need to get laid.

Vera moved through the streets of Fort Praesidium; her heavy leather work bag slung over her shoulder. She paused in the street between the inn and the craft hall, something felt different, out of place. Her brow furrowing as she struggled to hear the familiar noise of the rooftop brawl, but nothing reached her ears. She knew she should continue to her work bench, but she found her feet taking her up the stairs to the rooftop auditorium only to find it vacant for the first time. The woven mat that made up the stage area was worn with a darker patch in the middle from circling dirty feet and had a speckling of blood.

“The guards finally broke it up”, a voice came from her right, grabbing her attention. An older man with gray hair and a fair complexion sat at one of the tables, a thick leather book in his hands that he peered over as he spoke to her. “A shame, too. I was making good money on side bets”, the man sucked his teeth in disappointment.

She nodded to the man silently, looking at him only with her eyes. Vera studied the rooftop a moment longer, she kept telling herself that she was going to join but had never found the nerve. She turned to leave chewing idly on her bottom lip at the thought of the lost opportunity.

“They’ve only moved, ya know. They’re still fighting”, the man once again offered his unsolicited words.

“Where have they gone?”, she asked, trying to sound only moderately interested.

“Oof, my old mind can’t quite recall”, the man said with an air of drama and placed his hand out palm up.

Vera’s expression flattened; she may have a hard time charging people for things but nothing else was free in this Fort. She strode over in two steps, dug into her pocket, and placed several copper coins into the man’s open hand.

With a surprisingly toothy grin for a man his age he closed his fist around the coins and nodded to the West. “They’re under Old Town, where the junkies and flop outs are”.

“Thanks for all your help”, she responded in what she hoped translated as sarcasm.

Old Town was a shady and unsavory wing to the West of the fort that hosted a large bath house, small, cramped apartments and a poorly hidden underbelly where one could purchase drugs, recreational and pharmaceutical. Vera had explored this area upon coming to the fort but hadn’t spent much time there since. She knew where she was going, she’d found the stairs to the underside of Old Town once by accident but hadn’t ventured down them.

The underbelly of Old Town was damp, dark and the floor was slick with some sort of green substance. She didn’t need to guess where the training matches had moved to, she could hear the laughter, grunting and familiar sound of bone hitting flesh as soon as she hit the bottom of the stairs.

Down the hall to the right and inside an unused room with ducting and pipes coming from the ceiling she found the familiar group of men brawling. The number had decreased in size, but there were still four of them enthusiastically hitting one another fully in the buff. Vera stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure if she should announce herself.

“This isn’ a spectator sport, either yer in or yer out”, a tall man of dark complexion called out to her with a deep gruff accent that she recognized as Western. He was an older man with dark tan skin, lean muscle mass and not a hair on his head. He waved her over to join them and the rest of the men stopped swinging to watch her, breathing heavily with the physical exertion.

“Vera”, she offered as an introduction as she dropped her bag in a corner and shrugged her heavy brown coat off, dropping it with her bag.

“Itri”, the older western man replied

“Sigismund, or Sigi”, a young man in his twenties with a thin frame, clean shaven face and messy sandy brown hair replied. His features were pleasant, and he had a sharp hawkish nose.

“Lucien”, the silver haired young man she had watched on the roof before stated, following the other’s lead, and wiping his nose on the back of his hand. Up close Vera could see the thin scars that criss-crossed through his face, across the bridge of his nose and through his eyebrow. Obvious signs of a sinful youth.

“Gryhun”, said a man slightly younger than Itri but older than the other two stated. He had medium length brown hair that grazed his shoulders in the back and cold gray eyes under a heavy brow. His lips curled into a devious grin. “No pants in the Dojo”, he stated bluntly.

“What?”, Vera responded, obviously confused by the statement and unsure what a Dojo was.

“Fight naked or not at all”, Itri clarified.

Vera was in no way a prude, but somehow felt that fighting naked in the underground with a group of nude men she’d never met before might go against her best interests. She paused, pursing her lips together a moment before pulling her shirt over head and removing the rest of her threadbare clothing. If her nudity elicited any kind of response from the group, she was unaware of it.

“Alright, we’re helpin’ Gryhun learn ta dodge punches. So hit him.”, Itri instructed, “Ya know how ta throw a punch, right?” he asked, clarifying with Vera.

She nodded to him as she tied her long dark brown hair up and awkwardly changed her posture. It wasn’t the best, but she wouldn’t fall when she landed a blow. Her family had insisted she take a few self-defense lessons, which taught her what to do if she were attacked and how to get away, though it had offered no instruction on how to attack or what to do if she couldn’t escape.

Itri made one or two adjustments to her form, kicking her right foot forward and tapping her left elbow to raise her fist higher. Once he was satisfied, he nodded, “alright, resume”.

Vera threw several punches before she was able to land one firmly in Gryhun’s ribs. The man was dense, and the blow likely hurt her hand more than it did him. Not one to bow out, Vera continued, following the instructions of Itri as they came. The group joked, throwing lighthearted insults and quips at one another.

“Ye call that a fistin’?”, Lucien said between gritted teeth and a chuckle as Gryhun landed a punch to his temple.

“You should ask your mother”, Gryhun responded with a snarl.

“Aw, ‘is Mum was lovely”, Sigismund said, quieter than the rest of the group.

It went like this in a circle, they traded off throwing punches at each other, so each person had the opportunity to learn to duck, dodge, bob, and weave through the swings. Their language became fouler, and Vera joined in, enjoying the battle of wits and opportunity to use her encyclopedia of swear words stored in the dredges of her mind.

“Alright, switch. Hit Vera.”, Itri called out to the group, a command that instinctively made Vera step back away from them, her fists raised.

Itri looked to Vera and motioned for her to step forward. “Ya’ve taken a hit before, haven’ ya?”

“A few” she responded hesitantly, thinking of the times she’d brawled with her brothers.

Itri nodded in understanding and took a step forward, putting his left hand on Vera’s right shoulder almost like a supportive parent. She looked up to his face, his expression was stoic but unreadable.

Before she could understand what happened Vera’s thin frame was doubled over, a blinding pain in her stomach that spread through her ribs and nearly caused her to fall. Itri in one fluid motion had struck her firmly in the gut with his fist, his hand on her shoulder was the only thing that kept her standing.

She opened her mouth and tried gasping for air, her lungs had deflated with the hit. Tears involuntarily streamed from her eyes as the shock from the pain, so sudden and undeserved flowed through her. Vera’s face grew red as she took in shallow, unfinished breaths.

Itri patted her on the back, “Remember ta breathe” he said in her ear, “the first one is always the worst''.

As she finally drew in a shaky and ragged breath, Vera knew that every punch her brothers had ever thrown at her had been pulled.

Hours later Vera half walked, half crawled up the stairs out of the underground of Old Town battered and bruised. She was used to the sore exhaustion from a day’s work, but this was something else entirely. Her ribs ached, her lip was split down the middle and she was positive she’d have a black eye the next day. Her proudest moment of the evening had been landing a blow to Lucien’s face that split his lip, even if his tooth had left a cut on her knuckle.

She followed the group to the tavern for a drink, wishing she had started training with them weeks earlier so she’d be past this hellish point already. Lucien’s hand had already slapped down coins on the bar and he was handing her a bottle of ale before she could even motion to the bartender.

“What the fuck happened to you?” she heard the familiar voice of Jakell Wormwood over her shoulder. She must have passed him coming in and not even noticed.

Vera leaned against the bar, pressing the cool glass of the bottle against her eye, and thumbed over to Lucien who was already distracted by a woman several stools down.

Jakell scowled as he looked at the man, though it was obvious Lucien hadn’t noticed.

“This is Lucien-“ Vera began, though she was quickly cut off by Jakell.

“I know, we’ve met”, Jakell retorted, his glaring eyes still on him.

She was unsure what the nature of their relationship was and pondered on whether something had happened before in their interactions or if Jakell’s coldness was a direct response to her bruised face.

“You’re boxing now?”, Jakell said in the most judgmental tone she’d heard from him to date.

“I am, I figured it was time I learn some fighting skills. These gents were kind enough to oblige”, Vera motioned around Sigismund, Gryhun and Lucien who had joined her at the bar. Lucien’s attention was still pulled away, he was winking and making unrequited flirtatious gestures at a young blonde-haired woman at the end of the bar who looked quite uncomfortable.

The young woman leaned into the dark-haired man next to her and whispered something, the man didn’t so much as look at her choosing instead to mind his own business and continue drinking. The young woman pinched her face into a glare, shooting daggers at Lucien before gathering her long skirts in her hands and storming off.

“Yeah o’course, any time. .”, Lucien said, adding to a conversation he only had one foot in. “Excuse me, I think I jus’ met my future ex-wife”, he said with a crooked grin and pushed himself off the stool to follow the blonde women at a trot.

Vera and Jakell watched him give chase and both shook their heads in disbelief, Vera’s expression of amusement and Jakell’s of disappointment.

“That fuckin’ guy”, Jakell remarked, his eyes following him out.

“I don’t know, I think he’s funny. . “, Vera smiled watching the door Lucien had exited from, she found his antics to be entertaining and appreciated his wit. Looking back at Jakell she caught a disapproving expression on his young and usually carefree face.

A small ball of anxiety welled up in the pit of Vera’s stomach, and for once she was aware of its origin. She had spent every waking moment honing her engineering skills and had finally moved to learning to draft blueprints and lay the foundations for houses as Jakell had wanted. She and Jakell spoke often of their goals to build a house and a tavern, but the responsibility of that construction rested on her shoulders.

Her anxiety burst forth and reared its ugly head, contorting and transforming into resentment. Jakell had spent much of the first few weeks in this land exploring and bringing back treasures to an exhausted Vera who was nearly always found in the craft hall. In the time they had been there Vera hadn’t so much as left the fort for anything besides mining for ore. At that moment she felt like a slave to a borrowed dream.

Her dark brow knitted together, her full lips twisting into a grimace as her eyes burned a hole in the side of Jakell’s head. Vera caught herself before Jakell noticed and looked the other way to correct her facial expression. Just as soon as the monster inside of her had awoken she had shoved it back down and silenced it.

Clearing her throat, Vera brought the bottle of ale Lucien had bought her to her lips and took a deep drink. “I’m going to keep training with them”, she stated in a way that made it clear it wasn’t open for discussion, “you can’t be the only one having fun outside of this fort”.

Jakell looked back to her, his expression had softened, and he smirked at her words, “If that’s what you want, but I worry for your pretty face”.

Vera could tell Jakell either didn’t agree with or didn’t understand her decision to intentionally put her body in harm's way, but she didn’t care. She took another drink from the bottle, just outside of the open tavern doors she could see Lucien pacing back and forth, looking every which way. She laughed to herself, knowing he’d lost sight of his conquest.

She'd continue to train with the men until she was good enough to leave the relative safety of the fort on her own. She hadn't came to this place to be held prisoner by another set of circumstances outside of her control.

She drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes for just longer than a blink and forcing the noise of the tavern to fall away. The remaining tendrils of resentment and anxiety retreated back to their home deep inside of her mind as
she repeated to herself inside of her head, “Remember to breathe”.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 3rd, 2021, 12:16 pm

4. Devil That You Don’t Know:Song

Vera stood in the kitchenette of the single room rental she shared with Furio and Jakell, soaking her battered hands in the cool water of the basin. Wisps of blood danced peacefully from her hands, staining the water pink. Her knuckles were scarred and cracked from boxing and the palms of her hands were calloused and blistered from swinging a pickaxe. Jakell had recently brought home several pairs of ill-gotten leather gloves from his travels, but because Vera refused to stop working long enough for her hands to heal, they were of little help.

She winced as she flexed her hands in the water. For the last several weeks she had been alternating between training boxing, mining for ore and testing different blueprints for structures. Between the two of them Jakell and Vera had surveyed and placed markers for three different structures, but she still didn’t feel confident enough to begin construction.

The boxing pit had dwindled in number as its members took up secondary or tertiary weapons to master. Vera had considered taking up a sword or even a mace, but it didn’t feel quite like her. She found something comforting in the knowledge that she was her own weapon.

Some days it was just Lucien and her duking it out in their own personal fight club.The two of them had become friendly, often sharing drinks after training sessions and Vera was not at all ashamed to admit that she recently found herself flirting with him. Lucien was bold, crass and was often easier to get along with when she was flattering him. She sometimes would find him shirtless around the fort and always made a point to take notice. Vera could tell that he liked the attention as he typically toyed back with her. She didn’t give the flirting much thought, she knew Lucien wasn’t the type to take her flirtations to heart; they seemed similar in that way.

Her fighting skills had improved greatly, and she was becoming harder to hit, dodging punches more often than taking them. Recently, she’d even found the time to go on a few hunting trips with Furio to a cave full of bats and bat-like creatures. As she had watched him skin the animals for their leather, she was more convinced than ever that he had been feeding them bat all those weeks.

The door behind her opened, breaking her concentration on the thought of eating bats and saving her the nausea. Jakell entered the rental flanked by Furio and oddly enough, Lucien. The three of them were locked into a conversation that she couldn’t quite make out, all of them talking over each other in unison.

Vera squinted, watching the group go in circles before putting her fingers in her mouth and letting out a loud shrill whistle to break up the conversation.

The three men turned, finally noticing Vera, and immediately roping her into the debate.

“Lucien thinks we should join the Legion”, Jakell said, filling Vera in.

“The who? Why would we join up with anyone?”, she asked trying to get the full picture.

“The First Torian Legion, and ye might want to consider it because there’s strength in numbers. This is an unforgivin’ place an’ ye can get further with support”, Lucien said, speaking to more to the group than just to Vera.

“Do any of us, particularly them”, Furio said, motioning to Vera and Jakell, “strike you as the army types?” Furio’s words were as usual, even, concise, and well chosen. Vera knew he didn’t mean his words as an insult, but as a careful calculation.

“I for sure am not a soldier”, Vera added, placing a battered hand to her chest.

“Neither am I”, Jakell mentioned, also seeming to not take offense to Furio’s words.

“Look”, Lucien started, “Jus’ come an’ talk to the Praefectus Koss, if ye don’ like what ‘e ‘as to say, don’ join. I jus’ think there’s an opportunity there. Give ‘im a chance.”

The deliberation was over, they all agreed to at least meet with the man Lucien wanted them to, but Vera was skeptical. She didn’t understand what the benefit would be to joining with a faction, the three of them were already tight knit and survived well on their own.

They met inside of the armory next to the tavern and sat around a large wood table. The man, Koss, was towering in height, nearly as tall as Furio if not just as. He had tan skin, short dirty brown hair, and slight stubble around his face. The man wore dark red and a hue that Vera was sure he thought was gold, but it looked more like a bright mustard yellow. Immediately Vera hated the color scheme; this was the first strike against them.

“The Legion is a family, we ‘elp one another and we ‘elp those in need”, Koss said, giving them his recruitment speech.

Furio stood in the back of the room, leaning against the door jam, and listening silently.

“But what exactly would be in it for us?”, Jakell asked, cutting the recruitment speech short, “Are members paid for their service?”

“Well, yes, in time we’ll be established enough to give wages based on rank and we can ‘elp ye with resources to learn yer skills. We’ve got a clearin’ up north, we’re buildin’ a fort on an’ there’ll be space fer everyone ta live”, Koss was unphased by Jakell’s rude language and kept the show going.

“Come with me”, Koss said, standing and waving for the group to follow him. He walked ahead of them, showing them around the center of the fort. “The Legion’s goal is to ‘elp these people.” He paused in front of an older woman who was slumped over next to the tavern. Koss dug in his pocket and removed several silver coins and offered them to the woman.

The woman flinched at Koss’ sudden movement, shielding her face, and bracing for the worst. Her dark hair was matted with mud, her clothes were threadbare, and she looked like she hadn’t had a good meal in weeks. Cautiously and with much confusion the woman took the coins from Koss who only nodded as he continued with his tour.

Vera offered the confused woman an awkward smile as they continued, and Koss led them to the back of the fort where a row of burned and near fallen buildings stood.

“The Legion wants to rebuild the fort and bring it back to it’s previous glory”, Koss said, finally saying something that resonated with Vera.

Vera stood outside of the building, the smell of smoke and ash had long since dissipated and she could tell this fire happened long before their arrival. If Koss had continued talking, Vera didn’t hear him. She looked at the building and saw nothing but potential. All the lessons she had been learning on construction began to come together as she surveyed the wreckage. She could see where she would reinforce the damaged foundation to salvage it. Where a new subfloor would be constructed and decided she would use gable studs in the roofing to give the building a taller ceiling. As she fantasied about the building, she began to think about all the people she could house in a structure like this and the impossible feat it felt like taking it all on herself. In that moment Vera knew she would join the Legion, maybe this would be the penitence her soul needed?

Koss led the group around in a circle, bringing them back to the armory to discuss their options. Lucien, Jakell and Vera settled back around the wooden table as Furio stood again in the doorway.

“The two o’ ye would start off as Immunes”, Koss said, nodding to Vera and Jakell, “that’s the ranks o’ crafters an’ trades people. An’ ye two would start off as Tyros, an’ work yer way through the ranks”, Koss said nodding to Lucien and Furio.

Jakell sat with his arms folded as he listened to Koss. It was obvious he was still skeptical of the situation, but Vera could tell there was some interest behind his eyes. Jakell had spent many years aboard a ship as a sailor. He was familiar with the structure of command and seemed comfortable with it.

“I’m interested in joining”, Vera chimed in as the others looked to her in surprise, “You said you have a fort you’re building, right? I’m a fledgling architect. I think I could learn a lot from the Legion. But I’m not a soldier, I won’t fight for you.” Vera felt it was important that there wasn’t an expectation of her joining any battles. She’d build their fort, place their locks, and make their tools, but she refused to spill anyone’s blood that didn’t attack her first.

Koss seemed unbothered by Vera’s proclamation and nodded, “Perfect, we really do need an engineer, and Immunes aren’t expected to take up arms or be weapons masters.”

“If Vera’s joining then I’m also in”, Jakell said, his lips pressing into a line and running a hand through his dirty blond hair, “but I also won’t be a war dog. You can have me for as long as she’s in your ranks and happy, not a moment longer.”

Koss nodded in response and looked to Lucien.

Lucien’s youthful face, framed by silver hair and speckled with scars, considered the man. His hand, thick with callouses across the knuckles, worried at a spot on the wooden table with his fingernails. Lucien had a casual posture, one arm draped back over the chair as he let out a puff of air from his chest. Vera could tell there was something on his mind that he wasn’t saying, this had after all been his idea. “We’ll talk more”, Lucien finally said, “alone”, he added as an afterthought as though Koss required the clarification.

Koss’ attention then moved to Furio, accepting Lucien’s rebuff.

Furio’s expression didn’t change as he considered the group, “I’m sorry, but I don’t take orders very well. I don’t like to break my word once given and we could be ordered away from each other, stationed anywhere in Eden. They could send us wherever they wanted if it meant their leaders could gain an inch towards their objectives. I have my own goals; I’ll have to decline.”, he said in an even and respectful tone.

Furio’s words made Vera’s stomach drop. She hadn’t expected either of them to join with her, but hearing Furio’s rejection of the offer caused her to momentarily second guess herself. The three of them had worked as a team for so long that she couldn’t see a future without either of them. Furio not joining made it feel like her choice had distanced him from her somehow. Like they had suddenly shifted from the same path to one slightly offset from one another.
Koss spent a moment trying to convince Furio but gave up quickly realizing it was a losing battle.

“We’ve lodgin’ for those that need it”, Koss said, motioning to the rooms above the armory, “There’s a spare room up top with a double bed, we’ve been savin’ it for a couple. Yer a couple, right?”, Koss asked looking to Jakell and Vera, his eyes also lingering for a moment on Furio.

“We’re a couple”, Jakell said before Vera could respond, never one to miss an opportunity.

Vera smirked at Jakell but didn’t correct him. The two of them had been sharing the small single bed for so long that it almost felt like they were together. They bickered about stupid things, bantered in circles, and slept mostly in the nude coiled around one another; but nothing had ever happened between them and they absolutely were not a couple.

“We’ve got our own place, the three of us”, Vera stated, shooting Jakell an impatient look.

“The three of you?”, Koss asked, looking again between the group.

“We don’t like to answer questions about our relationship”, she replied in a coy way that was meant to be intentionally misleading.

Koss nodded, looking down to the table a moment, Vera could tell that the wheels were turning but the man chose not to pursue her comment.

Jakell looked to Vera who shot him an amused grin, looking over her shoulder she gave Furio a wink that he didn’t return and barely acknowledged.

Koss dug into his bag and passed over two badges made from dull tin. Each badge read “Immunes, First Torian Legion”.

“Ya’ll need ta wear those and yer colors are red and gold”. Vera looked to Koss’ outfit and made a conscious decision that she’d never wear that shade of mustard yellow or gold.

She picked up the badge and looked it over, the metal felt cool in her worn hands. Vera brushed her thumb across the etched lettering and decided the first thing she’d do was make proper identification for the Legion. The thought washed over her mind, “For the Legion”, she thought again to herself. Koss had made the group sound very altruistic, but Furio’s words also stuck with her. She knew she was naïve to many ways of the world, a naivety that Furio didn’t seem to share.

“The Devil that ya know, is better than the one ya don’t know”, the cautionary words of her grandmother Vida replayed from a distant memory. She could see her hands, skin stretched and wrinkled like paper over bone reaching for hers and patting them. Vita had offered this proverb several times to Vera after she discovered the family secret that felt like it had intentionally been kept only from her. Grandma Vida used this phrase to describe Vera’s father Vitus every time she confided in the woman about her concerns and fears for their family.

Vera clasped the badge in her hand firmly, she could feel the sharp edges of the metal dig into her raw flesh. She wasn't sure if this was the right choice for her and only time would tell, but it was time that she explored the devils that she didn’t know.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 5th, 2021, 1:27 am

5. How Did I Get Here?: Song

The sun hung high in the afternoon sky, beating it’s heat down onto Vera’s back as she returned to the rental from a long morning of mining for ore. She looked up, glaring at the sun that seemed stubborn, unmoving, and unseasonably warm. Vera was, as always, exhausted. She couldn’t remember a time since coming to the Fort that she wasn’t tired. It was beginning to feel that exhausted and bitchy was her new resting state.

Jakell and Vera had begun their service with the First Torian Legion, gathering resources and preparing the land to the north for construction. Vera succeeded in placing the foundation for and building a small shack there that she was quite proud of, but still felt she needed more practice before taking on a larger project. The Legion kept the two of them quite busy and if she wasn’t mining, they spent near every waking moment together.

Vera entered the rental and found it surprisingly vacant, these moments of solitude were rare, and she valued them. She tossed her heavy bag down next to the bed and sank into it with a groan. No sooner had she closed her eyes did Jakell burst through the doors, all energy and bubbly charisma.

“Guess what happened to me today?”, he said in a chipper sing-song way that rang in her ears.

Vera opened one eye and looked at him; she had no interest in guessing.

Jakell continued anyways disregarding her lack of participation. “I met a very interesting nun, Ramona, she said her name was. She’s with the Order of Decus, I’ve seen a few of her sermons before but I hadn’t met her until now. She’s quite good”, Jakell spoke as he picked out a piece of fruit from the basket on the counter. His sandy blonde hair was growing longer, and he had to tuck it behind his ears now.

“Ya met a nun?”, Vera said, her accent unintentionally slurring with her half-conscious speech.

“Yeah, I did. She’s really intense”, he said casually with a chuckle as he sat down at the dining table in a chair that faced the bed they shared, “She seems to have a thing for me, she was really flirtatious and tried asking me out”.

Vera’s attention was grabbed by his words. She propped herself up on her elbows to better see Jakell across the room. His tone sounded teasing, like he was trying to get a rise out of her. “The nun asked you out. . ?, she repeated, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. “Does she know you play for the other team?” Vera smirked to Jakell, something churning in the pit of her stomach, like a small green-eyed monster had suddenly awoken.

“Yeah, she knows. But I also might have made it sound like you were the reason I couldn’t accept. So don’t be surprised if she asks you about it”, Jakell rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly but laughed, she could tell he was amused with himself.

“Why would you tell her that?” She responded perhaps a little too loudly, “What did you tell her?” Vera was sitting all the way up now, her legs over the side of the bed. She was irritated and Jakell could tell.
“I meant it as a joke!” he said, trying to back pedal, “But I don’t know if she took it that way. She seemed to think of it as more of a challenge than anything.” Jakell laughed nervously, trying to read Vera’s facial expression.

“Well, are you going to take her up on the offer?”, she said, trying to choke down her anger for a more casual tone. She didn’t find the situation quite as amusing as Jakell did, Vera’s family was from Kaduraas, a land that had been rendered to ash not once, but twice in the name of the Decusian faith. The idea of a prominent member of the church being upset with her felt very threatening, regardless of the shallow nature of that resentment.

Jakell hummed and hawed at Vera’s question, rolling his head back and forth not wanting to answer. His lack of reply was crawling under her skin and turning her irritation to anger.

“I didn’t tell her one way or the other, I just kind of left her hanging and told her that I couldn’t right then because you could possibly get upset about it.” Jakell chuckled, kicking his feet up on the table.
Vera felt like Jakell was getting too much enjoyment out of this, he always loved situations that stroked his ego and made him the center of attention. She sat forward, pressing her elbows into her knees, and rubbing her hands firmly over her face and eyes. Drawing in a breath she pulled her hands from her face, her vision recovered slowly from the pressure her hands had put on her eyes.

As her vision cleared, she saw Jakell, looking at her with an amused grin curled across his lips. “I donno, maybe I’ll take her up on the offer?”, he snickered, flashing her a cocky smile and rocking back in the chair.

Her stomach flipped at his words, the small green-eyed monster clawed forward and intruded upon her thoughts. “Why is he so happy about this woman’s attention?” the beast said in a hiss, “She’s probably better than you. If you’re not careful she’ll pull his attention and you’ll be alone. Alone in the faction you convinced him to join.” Vera could feel the manifestation of her self-doubt crawl through her spine and into her chest. She drew in a slow and seven breath but could feel the tightness in her lungs, her emotions fighting for control.

Was she jealous? If so, why was she jealous? She studied Jakell as she tensed every muscle in her body trying not to give away her inner turmoil. Since the Rumbling Pass it had just been the three of them; an inseparable and unlikely trio. With only the two of them joining the Legion they already felt divided from Furio and now Vera feared a new fissure could open.

Her eyes studied Jakell, he was attractive, and she had grown incredibly fond of him, but she had never stopped to consider how far those feelings had developed. Was she worried about his attention being pulled away from her because of a threat to their friendship or because it would lock doors to her that she’d never considered opening?

As she contemplated these thoughts Vera realized that Jakell was fulfilling a companionship role in her life, filling it so well that she hadn’t really thought to seriously pursue anyone else. She was flirtatious, she and Jakell both were with most people, but she never threw around her charms with intent. Before this moment she had never stopped to consider if Jakell’s flirting with others held any purpose behind it.

Vera could feel her face beginning to betray her. Her brow furrowed in thought and her eyes had locked onto Jakell’s face for longer than was socially acceptable. She had been staring at him, her almond shaped gray eyes burrowing a hole into the side of his head as she thought. The green-eyed monster clicked its tongue in her ear, and she could feel her insecurities starting to win.

Jakell caught her staring at him and shifted awkwardly in his seat, perhaps unsure what to make of her expression.

She stood suddenly, grabbing her leather bag in one hand. “I’ve got some work to do”, she said suddenly into the silence that was beginning to grow around them.

“I can come with you”, Jakell said, swinging his feet off the table and moving to stand.

Vera was on the other side of him and to the door before he could catch her. “No, I’m good.” She shot back dismissively, catching his confused expression in the corner of her eye before closing the door to him.

She walked in an almost trot across town. She could feel her face growing hot, a tightness in her chest as she moved. Her thoughts raced, disjointed, and confused. “How did I get here?”, a voice said in her head, softer and more forgiving than the beast of self-doubt, it was almost sympathetic.

Pausing at the junction between the bank, tavern and craft hall, Vera stood looking at the large fountain that stood there. It had always been in this space, but she’d never really taken the time to appreciate it before. It must have been beautiful when it was first constructed. It was crafted from light stone and featured pillars in every corner that held up an intricate statue of people she didn’t recognize. She watched the water as it flowed, it was tinted green and had chunks of organic matter floating in it.

“Ah, Immunes Shelby?”, a loud voice called out from beside her coming from a middle-aged man with slicked back silver hair. His features were pleasant but diminished with age and he had several scars around his blue eyes. He was wearing a tunic with a hood in a bright, horrific shade of yellow.

Vera looked to the man, and simply nodded, motioning to her Legion badge that she had recreated in iron. She had no idea who this man was, but he was standing there looking at her expectantly as though waiting for something.

The man, somewhat shorter than her, cleared his throat and Vera continued to stare. She waved a hand towards herself in a loop trying to encourage the man to get to his point.

“Legatus Vance Silvercrest”, the man finally introduced himself, “That is a very strange version of a salute. . “, he added, his tone friendly and amused.

She clenched her teeth and could feel her ears grow hot with embarrassment. She’d heard a lot about the Legatus, but had never met him in person; he was a very busy man.

“My apologies, sir”, Vera finally said, straightening her posture and offering him the best salute she could muster; it was painfully lacking.

Vance clicked his heels together and returned the salute in a rigid form. “I’m quite impressed with the progress on the fort”, he said, lowering his hand, “Have you received our brand yet?”. The man jumped from topics rapidly and Vera tried to keep up with him.

“Brand? I’ve got my badge on”, she replied, looking down to the medal pinned to her soot covered brown jacket.

“No no, not that. Your brand”, Vance repeated, “Come along, then!” he said excitedly, turning and walking towards the craft hall briskly.

Vera followed him at double time, having to trot to keep up with his quick pace. Vance led them to the craft hall and into the blacksmithing wing, standing in front of the hot forge. As she watched the man dig in his rough leather backpack, she got a nervous feeling about his intentions.

“You see”, Vance began, “Every member of the Legion wears this brand”, Vance produced a metal brand from his bag that read “Legion I” backwards. He rolled up his sleeve to show his healed brand across his right forearm with an enthusiastic smile.

She stood there in shock as the man’s intentions became clear. “Every person in the Legion wears this brand” he repeated himself, gesticulating wildly with the brand in his hand.

Vera watched as he put the business end of the brand into the hot coals of the forge, a cold sweat prickled across the back of her neck. She thought of Lucien, Sigi, Koss, Max and all the other members of the Legion she’d met. She knew Jakell hadn’t taken a brand yet, she’d just seen him earlier that day. If this was something every member went through, she didn’t want to be the only person to go against the tradition, she was trying to build trust and a bond with these people, after all.

Vance rotated the brand in the coals, watching the metal change color as it took on heat.

“Does it have to be on my arm?” she asked, hoping there was an alternative in a more hidden area, maybe the thigh? Vera’s anxiety was briefly broken by her internalized amusement at the thought of asking the Legatus to brand her on the ass instead.

“The right forearm is traditional”, Vance said matter-of-factly and motioned to her coat.

Vera shrugged her coat off with much hesitation, draping it over the stone retaining wall next to her. There were several people around the craft hall, but no one was actively working the smithing area. “Can I think about this?”, she asked with a nervous laugh.

“It’s easier to do it now”, Vance said sagely.

“I’m going to swear a lot”, she warned, her voice lower now.

“I’d expect nothing less”, he said with a soft smile and motioned for her arm.

She extended her arm only halfway, her body refusing to finish an action it knew was about to cause her harm. Vance took her right arm in his hand, rolled it so the inside of it was facing up and removed the brand from the forge. The brand shone red from the fire and she could already feel the heat coming from it.

“Are you ready?”, Vance asked, his blue eyes meeting hers.

“Not even a little”, she responded with a laugh that was cut short.

Vance brought the red-hot brand to meet her forearm and for a brief moment Vera’s vision flashed white and everything fell away. She was no longer standing in the craft hall, but in a solid white room with no beginning or end. The shock pulled her into her subconscious and around her the soft familiar voice repeated, “How did I get here?”.

In the white void Vera’s nose filled with the sickeningly sweet smell of burning human flesh. It was as if she were if watching herself from a distance, she saw herself recoil from the pain, only unable to pull away because of Vance’s grasp on her.

A loud string of profanity began echoing around her, disrupting the peace of her dissociative avoidance, and pulling her back to reality. Vance removed the brand from her arm, leaving a perfect imprint of the word “LEGION I” across her forearm.

“Motherfucker!”, Vera yelled at the top of her lung, grasping her arm by its wrist, and twisting away from Vance aggressively. Her fists balled up with near perfect form and before she could take a swing, she remembered herself. She stood, poised to strike Vance, and instead let out a growl of frustration knowing she couldn’t. She yelled “FUCK” loudly in every usage of the word, stringing it together like foul poetry.

Vance reached out for Vera’s arm, taking it in his hand and admiring his work. “Perfect!” he announced, “they don’t always look that nice. Sometimes people flinch!” Vance waved the brand in the air, the smell of human skin burning off it wafted around in the room.

“Congratulations!” Vance said to her, patting her on the back, “and keep up the good work!” Vance clicked his heels together and gave her a salute.

Vera stood, glaring at the man who refused to move until she saluted him back. She corrected her posture and gave him a sloppy and less than enthusiastic salute back.

Just as quickly as he appeared, Vance was gone. Vera would learn that this was a typical characteristic for him. He popped in and out of the fort, constantly away for meetings or whatever else it was he got up to. She would see him in the early mornings, always with the same intensity.

Leaning against the stone retaining wall she looked at her arm, the skin around the brand was beginning to swell ever so slightly and the brand itself was yellowing in color, slightly charred skin around it. She stared into the trenches the word “LEGION I” made in her skin, the whole interaction seeming surreal.

As the adrenaline began to fade from her bloodstream her arm throbbed and burned feeling like a vicious unsoothable sunburn. She tipped her head back and said the word “fuck” to no one in particular. Tears began to well in her eyes rolling down the sides of her face, the physical pain so swiftly on the heels of her internal strife was overwhelming and impossible to compartmentalize. She rolled her head down to her chest whispering out loud the same question her internal monologue had been asking her all day, “How did I get here?”.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 9th, 2021, 8:53 pm

6. Like Real People Do: Song

“That man did fucking what to you?”, Jakell hissed through clenched teeth, his face turning red with poorly suppressed rage.

Vera and Jakell stood in the woods in the North, just outside of the Legion fort with their newly acquired sable pack horse, Daisy. The afternoon was chilly, and the morning haze had yet to lift from the forest floor, lingering around them lazily. Vera wore her brown coat with the right sleeve rolled up past her bicep to prevent the harsh fabric from rubbing on her open wound. Her exposed skin turned to goose flesh, prickling against the cold air and Jakell’s heated words.

“I- I thought it was a requirement, he didn’t make it sound like an option” she stammered, “He said everyone who joins get branded”, Vera continued trying to explain. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt guilty or like she had done something wrong, like a small child who had been caught misbehaving.

Jakell’s eyes fixated on the brand on her arm as he shook his head slowly at first, building to a more aggressive motion. “Animals get branded, property gets marked, not people, Vera, not you and not me”, he responded, “he shouldn’t have done that to you. You shouldn’t have let him.”

“It happened so quickly. I didn’t want to create waves-”, she started to say, both of her shoulders raising in a shrug, but Jakell cut her off.

“This is something to create waves over” he said firmly, pointing to her arm, his eyes moving from the brand to her face, “I’ll talk to Vance. I’ll talk to Koss. I’m not letting anyone brand me and they should never have touched you”. He reached out and took his hand in hers. His palms were rough from work, but his skin was warm on hers.

Looking into his eyes Vera smiled meekly. She had seen Jakell upset before, but usually in a comical or dramatic way. This was different, he was irate and for some reason she enjoyed it. It felt protective and while she didn’t need anyone to fight her battles for her, it was nice to have him in her corner. Their eyes lingered on one another’s, Jakell’s thumb softly ran the length of her palm. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, had they always been so pretty?

The moment extended on, the silence felt light and comfortable around them. Vera shifted her right hand against his, turning her wrist and lacing her fingers between his. Her fingertips trailed softly against the back of his hand as her eyes stayed locked on his. Jakell drew in a sharp and sudden breath as though he had forgotten to breathe. The sound drew them both back to their senses and the moment of intimacy fell away. Vera laughed at nothing as she released his hand.

Jakell cleared his throat and responded to Vera’s laugh with an awkward chuckle. “Here”, he said suddenly, “this might help with your arm.” He produced a small jar with a sticky amber colored substance in it. “I’ve been getting it out of the Acacia trees, it might help protect your skin.”

He motioned for her arm this time and used his fingers to gingerly dab the sticky sap over her brand. The wound was a few hours old now and it was starting to look irritated and inflamed. Vera made a mental note to have a doctor look at it if it got worse, particularly after having tree sap pressed into it.

She looked to her arm, and then back to Jakell. His face was more placid now, but she could tell this wasn’t something he was going to let go so easily. This was a hill he was willing to die on.

They stood together in the forest, the horse picking at foliage idly nearby. The silence built around them and felt less comfortable than their usual shared silences. They had met out here to gather resources, lumber, and stone for the Legion construction.

“Er, there’s a mine I’ve been meaning to show you!”, Jakell said with newfound purpose that relieved Vera; she needed a change in topic. “It’s over this way”, he nodded with his head to the south and wrapped his hand around the lead for the pack horse.

The mine was to the South East from the fort and despite Jakell saying it was close by, it felt further than some of the places they’d been going for stone and ore. The forest was tightly packed and forced them to weave between trees and change courses frequently because of the horse. Daisy was a good girl, maybe five years old and purchased for them by Koss after a less than subtle conversation about how much faster the fort would be built with a horse.

They followed the hill around the edge, there were signs that this area had been heavily mined in the past. Large sections were chipped out of the earth and paths had been created that lead up into the mountain side.
“Looks promising, right?”, Jakell said in his typical chipper and sing-song canter, his hands on his hips as he looked up to the mining site.

Vera nodded as she surveyed the area, unpacking several picks and other supplies off the horse; it did look promising. Jakell took this opportunity to pack and light a small hand-crafted pipe, filling the air around them with sweet smelling smoke. He had recently begun woodworking and one of the first things he had mastered were making pipes. Jakell, Vera and Lucien all had one and often spent down time sitting outside in the nice evening weather smoking. Vera and Jakell smoked the same mixture of local herbs, but the smoke coming from Lucien’s pipe always smelled stronger and more pungent.

“I’ll come back around after a while?”, Jakell said as he exhaled, his voice slightly muffled by the smoke coming from his lungs.

This was typical of their working routine. Jakell would drop Vera off with supplies at a mining location while he wandered the forest in search of non-punky wood for construction. They’d meet back up in a few hours to overload poor Daisy and head back to the Legion fort and do it all over again. The two of them were a well-oiled machine and together with Daisy they could gather most of the resources needed for a decent size construction project in a day.

Vera slung her pack over her shoulder and gave Jakell an intentionally sloppy salute, turning to make her way up the path. “Yes sir”, she responded as Jakell chuckled at her words.

The path weaved up the mountain and led to the mouth of a cave entrance, the path splitting off in several directions, but only one led to an opening. The area had a lookout tower with a banner she didn’t recognize, the structure looked old and unmaintained. There were signs that others had been using this location recently though, rough cut stone was stacked up in corners and there were obvious signs of fresh excavation from the earth. She slung her bag to the ground, grabbed one of her picks and set to work.

Hours passed, the sun was low in the sky and threatening to set at any moment. Vera was exhausted and her clothing clung to her body with sweat. She had made good progress on carving stone out of the soil and now sat perched on a piece, smoking her pipe as she waited for Jakell to return. She flexed her fingers and stretched her shoulders. Her body had adapted to the physical labor and her muscles were well defined and visible, she would barely be sore tomorrow from the exertion.

Vera sat on the stone, crossing one leg under herself and watched the sun set. Her eyes fixed on the horizon as she puffed at the pipe, her mind wandering to unvisited reaches of her mind freed by the down time. Why had she been so upset by Jakell’s teasing about the Nun? She’d never been upset about his flirting before. She harped on the thought, pulled it apart in her mind and dissected it. Was she catching feelings for him? Or was this just the pangs of jealousy at the idea of someone cutting in to force her to share time with him? She never had been good at sharing her toys.

She remembered her parents and their relationship while she was growing up. Her mother and father were nearly always together, they were a united force in every aspect of life. She’d often catch her mother watching her father when they were in public and he wasn’t paying attention, he was always the center of her focus.

Closing her eyes in a long blink, she shook the thought from her mind. Vivian and Vitus likely weren’t the best example of a loving couple or a healthy relationship. Her father had been her mother’s fourth husband, all from the same line of brothers. The first three had met untimely ends due to the Torment or business deals gone wrong. Her mother had also been her father’s second wife and quickly became his only wife when the first died in childbirth. The parentage of her brothers was a confusing and complicated subject; she didn’t even try to understand it. As the third youngest of eight she hadn’t been around for any of these origins.

Vera sighed, exhaling smoke into the crisp evening air. She didn’t know what normal or healthy looked like in a relationship. It was difficult enough to find people to sleep with back home, let alone anyone who would stick around after learning whose daughter she was. She had no idea what love felt like or what it was supposed to look like. Was she just confusing proximity and friendship with attraction? Why couldn’t she figure this out easily like real people do?

A silhouette appeared on the horizon and Vera knew it was Jakell with Daisy. She finished up her pipe and tapped the bowl on the bottom of her boot to clear the ash before collecting her things and standing.

“Wow, you’ve been productive. We might have to come back for the rest of this tomorrow, not sure Daisy can carry all of it”, Jakell said with a grin looking at the stacks of stone and piles of ore she had managed to dredge up from the earth.

“You were right, this was a promising location”, she replied in a teasing tone, “Come check this out” she motioned for him to follow her.

Vera led Jakell to the cave passage and dropped her bag at the entrance. The hole in the rock was cleanly etched into the mountain side and opened to a straight drop about twenty feet down. Vera carefully stepped into the entrance, her foot searching for the first rung of a ladder. Taking a few steps in, she motioned for Jakell to come forward so she could help him down.

The inside of the cave was cool, damp and smelled of earth. A lantern had been hung close to the ladder and Vera had placed two more around the cavern earlier in the day, but the darkness easily swallowed up the light. Their boots hit the cave floor with soft clicks that echoed off the walls around them.

Vera picked up the closest lantern and held it up in front of her. “I don’t think this is manmade”, she said, holding the light at arm’s length to show Jakell the different paths that connected to the chasm. “I followed some of the paths as far as I could earlier, and they just kept going. I think this might even connect to the tunnels by Prae” she said, walking around the mine to each tunnel opening. “If I’m right, that would mean this whole valley is connected with these tunnels underground”.

She turned to Jakell excitedly, she’d been waiting all day to show him this revelation and his response did not disappoint, he looked just as excited as she was.

“This is amazing, there’s so many possibilities if this all connects. There could be anything down here.”, he said, peering around in the dim light.

“Oh, and look at this”, she said, holding the lantern up to one of the walls and picking at a spot with her filthy fingernails. Vera produced a small stone from the earth and spit on it in her hand, wiping the dirt off on her shirt. The rock shone deep green in the lantern light. “There’s emeralds down here, I’ve been picking them out of the rock.” She reached for Jakell’s hand with a grin and moved to place the saliva covered stone in his palm.

To her surprise his hand bridged the gap between them and curled around hers in a soft embrace. Startled by his action, Vera dropped the emerald to the ground, and it vanished into the darkness. The energy between them felt like a small shock of static electricity in her fingers that ran up her arm and made her heart flutter.

In the dim light Jakell looked older and more serious, the lantern light casted heavy shadows across his face and gave her a glimpse into the young man’s future self. He looked down for a moment, his eyes totally obscured by the shadows before speaking. “I’m sorry about earlier and teasing you about Ramona. I took it too far. I don’t know what's wrong with me, sometimes it feels like I can’t help myself.” His hand gave hers a quick squeeze.

“It’s alright, I overreacted a little, it was early, and I was tired” Vera said, making excuses. “I don’t know why it bothered me, it never has before. It’s not like I really think there’s anyone who could come between us.” She laughed a little awkwardly, the chuckle echoing off the walls around them.

“Two halves of the same coin”, Jakell said in a low voice, repeating a phrase he often used when describing their friendship.

They both laughed, their banter usually came so easily but this interaction felt different, bogged down and heavy by things left unsaid.

“Look, I don’t know how to do this”, Jakell suddenly blurted out, coming around to face her. Up close their height difference was only just noticeable and Vera had to angle her head down ever so slightly to look into his eyes.

Jakell slowly raised his free hand and rested it on her waist, his thumb rubbed softly against the fabric between him and her stomach. Vera lowered the lantern in her hand, her mind racing and unable to settle on what he meant.

“You want to try something?”, he said with a slight upward curl of his lips in the dim lighting.

Vera let out more of a heavy exhale than a laugh and raised a brow with a cheeky nod.

Jakell moved closer to her, coiling his hand to rest on the small of her back and tipped his head up to gently press his lips to hers. Vera felt the same jolt as if static electricity shot through her and she could feel her pulse quicken. She leaned in, returning the kiss, and closing her eyes. For once her internal monologue and demons had nothing to say.

Vera pulled away from the kiss and raised the lantern halfway to better illuminate their faces. Jakell’s hands were still occupied, one on the small of her back and the other laced into her left hand. “I thought I wasn’t your type?”, she teased with a smirk.

“I didn’t think so either” he responded, looking over her facial features starting with her eyes and moving down her face, “but, I guess there’s a first time for everything”. Jakell’s face contorted into a mischievous grin, “Unless. . “he said trailing off, taking half a step back from her and looking her head to toe with a calculating gaze, “. . you’re actually some sort of Siren and you’ve bewitched me.”

She rolled her eyes with a melodramatic scoff, playfully stepping out of his grasp. “Oh yeah, I’ve been using my magic on you this whole time”, she said, raising her hands and wiggling her fingers.

Click, clack, click, the noise echoed off the walls of the cavern and gave both pause. They turned to find a man, probably in his late twenties standing at the end of the ladder and giving the two of them an incredulous look. There was no doubt in Vera’s mind that he had heard her magic comment out of context with the rest of the conversation. Magic was of course, taboo, heretical and in most cultures forbidden.

Vera and Jakell hurried to collect themselves, bumping into one another clumsily as they picked up their lanterns. The man watched them in silence and stepped away from the ladder as they approached. The stranger’s facial expression was all that was needed to know that he was judging them. They crawled out of the cavern and erupted into a chorus of laughter, hanging off each other as they gasped for air. Vera hadn’t seen a soul in this mine all day, what were the odds someone would come at that very moment?

They packed up the rest of their things that would fit onto Daisy and prepared to leave, they’d have to come back the next day for the rest of the resources. Walking back to the Legion camp the mood was light and elevated, their banter once again came to them easily.

That evening the three of them, Jakell, Vera and Furio got ready for bed in their usual routine. Furio offered them food fresh from the day’s hunt, they took turns using the mirror and wash basin and then the two of them sat around smoking while Furio cleaned his gear.

They all crawled into bed around the same time, Vera pressing herself against the stone wall and Jakell laying in front of her. Usually, he slept with his back to her, but this evening he got into bed facing her. She tucked her arm under his head and let him use her chest as a pillow. Their extremities coiled around one another in the limited space and his long blond hair tickled her nose. She moved her hand to brush his hair out of the way and ran her hand across the top of his head, down the length of his neck and across his back. She couldn’t help herself; she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

Even in the dark she could tell that Furio was awake, the whites of his eyes glinted in the moonlight coming through the window. Vera thought she saw him give her an approving nod before rolling over onto his other side. She idly ran her hand across Jakell’s back rhythmically as he slept, the chatter in her mind returned; is this what real people do?

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 23rd, 2021, 10:15 pm

7. Wait a Minute!: Song

The market was lively for how early it was, the sun had barely been in the sky for two hours and already Vera’s favorite merchant was out of apples and carrots for the day. Begrudgingly she purchased a squash she didn’t know how to cook and a bag of beets she hoped Furio could figure something out with. It wasn’t what she had come after, but she was desperate to eat something other than mystery meat.

Nearly four days had passed since Vera and Jakell’s trip to the mining outpost and to the outside world their relationship hadn’t changed. They’d always been flirtatious, touchy, and sewn together at the hip. More people likely would have suspected that they were together if Jakell hadn’t been so overtly interested in men. Neither yet had the nerve to bring about the conversation that would define the nature of their association and Vera for one was fine with that.

In private their relationship had become more physical; they kissed their goodbyes and goodnights while trying not to make Furio uncomfortable. Any action taken for Furio’s comfort was done in vain, the man was unbothered by most things and had told Vera that he always suspected that the two of them would end up “together”. For some reason Furio’s words hadn’t set well with her, but she hadn’t taken the time yet to further explore those feelings.

The most noteworthy thing to have happened recently had been the construction of Vera and Jakell’s tavern and home, erected next to the graveyard outside of the eastern gates of Fort Prae. Vera had been skeptical of this placement, she wasn’t convinced that building next to a graveyard was the best of plans, but Jakell had been so insistent that she eventually gave in.

The two buildings sat on the land, one in front of the other. Lucien had helped them drag the stone and other resources to the location and did his best with the construction process. Vera felt it was the nicest thing she had planned and built to date and finally felt comfortable calling herself a real engineer.

Vera and Jakell had yet to move into the new house and were still living in the one room rental with Furio, sleeping cramped and coiled around one another on a bed no larger than a cot. They had spent the night together on the second floor of the front house the night they finished it. The adrenaline and jubilation of completing the first step in their plan had led to them sleeping together for the first time on the wooden floor in the new house. Vera still had splinters in her knees from the freshly finished floor.

Sleeping with Jakell had been about what she expected, awkward and clumsy, but sweet. He had after all only had experience with men up until this point. She drew herself back from the memory and scratched at her knee as she perused the marketplace.

“That’s bullshit, there’s no way you didn’t know when you suggested we join”, Jakell barked at Lucien in an irritated tone.

She could hear them before she saw them, their voices echoed off the brick walls between the tavern and the craft hall.

“I didn’ know for sure, I thought it was a story-”, Lucien rebutted before being cut off by Jakell.

“I don’t believe you!”, Jakell’s voice grew louder as he snapped back at Lucien.

Vera sighed and turned the corner to see the two of them bickering, Jakell’s arms were crossed firmly across his chest and Lucien was running a hand over his head to push his silver hair out of his eyes. The two of them were like oil and water, they never mixed and constantly bickered. Vera couldn’t understand what the problem was, an evening could be perfectly calm and within twenty minutes the two of them would be at each other’s throats. If you asked Lucien about it he’d laugh it off and refer to Jakell as his friend. If you were to ask Jakell the same question he’d simply scoff and say, “that fuckin’ guy. . “with no further explanation.

Collecting her produce into her worn leather bag, Vera approached the two just as Jakell opened his mouth to sling what she assumed was about to be an insult Lucien's direction.

“What’s going on now?” she said breathlessly.

“Oh, I just met Vance”, Jakell said smugly, looking over to Lucien.

“Oh shit, did he brand you?'' Vera smirked at her own joke, but her eyes still traced down to Jakell’s arms to be sure.

Lucien awkwardly scratched at the silver scruff on his face, he was wearing a vest that hung open in the front exposing his bare skin, Vera couldn’t help but stare. Their eyes met and they shared a grin. Their friendship was built on the back of flirtatious jokes and gestures. Jakell scoffed at Vera and Lucien’s flirting that was less subtle than the two of them knew.

“No, he didn’t brand me. But I did learn that Vance, the Legatus Vance, is Lucien’s Pops”, Jakell said, the corners of his mouth curling into a sneer, “no wonder he was so eager to get the lot of us to join with the Legion, it’s his legacy!” Jakell unfolded his arms and gesticulated aggressively towards Lucien.

“Don’ call ‘im my Pops, an’ it wasn’ like that”, Lucien put his hands palms up trying to defend himself.

“Wait a minute!”, Vera interjected waving her hands in the air over her head, “Vance is your fucking father? As in your flesh and blood?” She was done flirting and felt blindsided by the information, “Why didn’t you tell us before we joined?”

“I didn’ know fer sure ‘e was my father. It’s what my Ma always said, but. . Ya know ‘ow Ma’s make up stories like that ta make their kids feel better?” His eyes fell on Vera now, knowing he’d lost Jakell. “I always thought it was bullshit. Vance is well known, ‘e’s basically a war ‘ero. What are the chances it was true?'' Lucien tried his best to explain, but the explanation fell flat.

Looking Lucien over Vera had no idea how she hadn’t seen it before. Lucien had the same silver hair as Vance and the same piercing blue eyes, his facial features however were softer, likely a product of his mother’s genes.

“Even if there was a chance, you should have told us before Vance was standing there confirming the story in front of me”, Jakell was shaking his head, his voice was quieter now, but he was still upset.

“Ets not like the man raised me, I’ve never even met ‘im before we joined”, Lucien said with a gruff sigh.

“Vance Silvercrest. . “ Vera said to herself, her eyes falling on Lucien’s silver hair, “That’s why you never told me your last name when we met, isn’t it? Lucien Silvercrest?” Her voice wasn’t angry like Jakell’s, it was worse, it was disappointed.

Vera thought Lucien and she were getting closer, but this only proved there were far more layers than she knew. Maybe it wasn’t disappointment in him that was shining through, but the realization that the two of them weren’t so different? Both were hiding their parentage and living in the giant shadows cast by their fathers.

“I. .”, Vera began, the word sticking in her throat as the two men watched her, “. . can’t deal with this right now. I have an appointment with the Order of Decus.” Vera raised both hands in front of her dismissively as she turned to leave.

Jakell and Lucien looked confused, they both began to protest but before they could get out their first question Vera had turned on a heel and walked out of the market away from them.

Vera’s mind reeled as she left the fort from the South gate and made her way up to the clearing that The Order of Decus had been preparing for their settlement. She had put out a flier offering her services surveying land and placing foundations and had become quite popular. So far, she had met Patricia Woods with The Black Wolves, Ashi Kirino with the Crimson Circle and Nicolien de Ravin with the de Ravin Parish. She charged very little so long as the faction supplied the materials and she felt she was earning valuable experience.

“He’s done nothing different than what you’re already doing”, the inky voice from the far reaches of her mind chimed in.

“This is different, I didn’t deceive anyone into making choices they otherwise wouldn’t have”, she responded inside her head, arguing with herself.

“But haven’t you?”, the disembodied voice said in a sing-song way, obviously pleased with itself.

Vera stopped in her tracks as the image of Jakell flashed before her mind’s eye.

“Do you really think that boy would have ever fallen for you without your siren charms? Do you think he would have gotten into bed with you if he knew who you really were?'' her mind dug at her, chipping into her insecurities. Vera’s stomach turned to knots as she forced her feet to continue forward.

She groaned and rubbed at her face and tried to shake the thoughts. She had to meet with Lucian Delavious, the Seraph of the order and the last thing she wanted was to make a bad impression. Vera was still nervous of the church; she had been raised to respect its members through fear. The reminders of their vast power were always fresh in the minds of those from Kaduraas, their message etched into their blighted land.

“Miss Shelby?”, the man’s voice was smooth and deliberate, his words spoke as more of a statement than a question.

Vera forced herself to smile at the Seraph. He was a tall man, perhaps an inch or so taller than she was. His dark brown hair was neatly combed, and his brown eyes seemed to absorb light instead of reflecting it. The man, dressed in white robes, smiled at Vera, but the emotion didn’t meet his dark eyes.

“Yes”, Vera responded as chipper as possible and followed the Seraph to the clearing she’d be working at that day.
The hours passed quickly; they always did when she was working. Manual labor had become an escape for Vera, and she appreciated it when she got a full day of it. The clearing was coming along, and she had already marked out the spaces for three buildings and with the assistance of the Order’s laborers had managed to build most of a palisade. During her work Vera had also met Lucien Delavious’ wife Graelynn, a sweet young woman at least fifteen years his junior who had promised to make Vera outfits as a thank you for her hard work.

Vera had been working so diligently that she hadn’t even noticed when they ran low on lumber for the remainder of the project. This short sightedness is how she found herself, thigh deep in ferns and brush in the forest that surrounded the groups’ clearing, chopping away at trees with an axe for lumber.

The laborers and church members had spread out to collect wood and resources for the construction, despite their insistence that Vera didn’t need to help with the collection she had insisted. She didn’t have it in her to admit that she wasn’t helping due to her altruism, but for the selfish reasons of not being left alone with her own thoughts.

The sun hung low in the sky, breaking through the spaces in the trees and dappling its light across the forest floor. Vera paused in her work to wipe the sweat that was accumulating on her face on the back of her gloved hand. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was tired, hungry and should be making her way back to the fort sooner than later.

With a soft grunt she turned and sat down on the forest floor, pressing her back to a lean against a large tree with smooth bark. She wasn’t sure what kind of tree this was, but it was tall, willowy at the top and had a shallow and easily visible root system. She looked up at the tree’s leaves, pressing her head against its trunk and drawing in a deep breath.

She was stalling, she didn’t want to go home and hear Jakell complain about Lucien, or possibly run into the two of them bickering again. She could hear Furio’s even voice in her head reminding her that the Legion was an army and that armies were always led by the self-serving desires of those in the upper ranks. She shook her head, rocking it against the tree trunk, she didn’t have the patience for any of that today.

The forest was peaceful and filled with the quiet noises of its inhabitants. She tucked her legs up to her chest, listening to the crickets’ chirp, the birds squawk and a soft rustling sound that seemed perhaps too close. “Wait a minute. . “she said quietly to herself, her head turned, trying to focus on the noise. The rustling came again, it sounded as though it might be getting closer. She shifted her weight, twisting her body and extending her right leg to try to look around the tree, searching for the source of the sound.

Vera cried out suddenly, unable to control her body’s response as the blinding pain in her thigh just above her right knee shot adrenaline through her body. She looked down and time seemed to slow as she focused on the neon orange snake that had attached itself to her leg. When she moved, she must have disturbed the animal and it struck her. Instinctively she grabbed the snake and wrenched it off her, its fangs tore away from her skin, and she threw it as far as she could.

She was on her feet and running before she could fully understand what happened. Vera’s vision began to double as she ran towards the order clearing, and her heart pounded against her rib cage. Through the brush she could see Lucian Delavious cutting through the forest towards her, following the sound of her scream.

Vera nearly collided with the man, trying desperately to explain what had happened. Her tongue felt too large in her mouth, she could barely string words together fast enough, and she resorted to gesturing wildly at the bleeding wound on her leg.

“Snake”, was the only word she managed to spit out that made any sense before her vision tunneled in around her and she doubled over to vomit before blacking out.
She woke up some time later, flat on her back in the grass at the order of Decus clearing. Her leg felt like someone was holding a branding iron to it, a feeling she was intimately familiar with. Vera rolled onto her left side in the grass and groaned.

“I found the snake that bit you and killed it”, the male voice said matter-of-factly.

Vera’s eyes tried to focus on Lucian Delavious, with her fuzzy vision his all-white robes cast a hazy halo around him giving him a near angelic look. She tried to grunt a thank you to him but was unsure if it was heard.

“Our Alchemist has looked at your leg and applied a tincture, but it is no substitute for seeing a doctor”, his tone sounded helpful and almost chastising, like he was aware Vera would neglect the wound, “You should seek out a physician at the clinic in the fort, they’re with the church and will treat you well”.

She nodded at the man, trying to get her bearings and her feet under her. Vera finally stood, strongly favoring her left leg, and wobbled and winced as she took a few steps. Lucian Delavious watched her but made no movement to assist her.

Lucian followed Vera very slowly back to the fort, paid her for her work and departed. Fortunately, the rental Jakell, Vera and Furio were all still sharing was just around the corner. She hobbled her way to the house, the bite on her leg throbbing with every step she took on the ball of her foot.

Vera was relieved to find no one was home. She dropped her things to the ground and stepped out of her boots before throwing her body onto the small bed. Vera curled up in the bed on her left side in the fetal position. She tucked her hands between her legs as a wave of chills washed over her. The snake’s venom was still coursing through her bloodstream making her ill.

As she closed her eyes, she fell into the most spectacular fever dreams, the only benefit to her current condition. She saw images of Jakell and Lucien bickering and then suddenly passionately kissing. The colors of her dream swirled around in bright neon and rainbow colors. Lucien pulled away from the embrace with Jakell and then the two of them stabbed each other simultaneously. The blood flowing from their chests was a magnificent magenta that they each gingerly touched with their fingertips. Furio sat in the corner of the room, shaking his head disapprovingly, his beard shifted to the most beautiful shade of purple.

Vera giggled and drooled into the pillow as she drifted off into a labored and difficult slumber.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » July 27th, 2021, 2:40 am

8. Oak and Ash and Thorn: Song

Two days had passed since Vera had tangled with a snake outside of the Order’s camp, a beast she later came to know as a Brushmaster. Furio had left to the north on a hunting trip for a few days and Jakell had been busy collecting lumber and preparing for the next expansion to the Legion’s fort. She had made a point to show the bite to Jakell the day after the incident. He had winced upon seeing it but hadn’t seemed to think it was something to be concerned about at the time and she hadn’t shown it to him again since.

The area around the wound had turned dark purple, veins were visible under the skin on her thigh and the skin punctured by the animal’s fangs had fallen away to expose bright red and inflamed flesh the size of a pocket watch. Vera had been doing her best to keep it washed and bandaged with clean cloth under her kilt. Her pants had been damaged during the incident and her thigh had become too swollen to wear them even if they had been repaired.

Despite her injury, Vera hadn’t stopped working though she was slower than she had been before the incident. Jakell’s goal for the day was to move furniture into the larger of their two houses and set it up for the three of them to move into. The back house had two bedrooms and a large front room that would be perfect for the trio to share. The front house made for an ideal storage area with its four separate rooms and Vera had pitched the idea of giving Lucien a room there to a less than thrilled Jakell.

Lucien had admitted to Vera and Jakell that he was sleeping in the underbelly of Old Town with the flop outs and fiends. Lucien led the pair down to his favorite bar that was filled with seedy characters and a woman missing at least two teeth who was dancing for coins on a dimly lit stage.

Despite Vera’s obvious concerns, Lucien said he was happy living down there and even introduced Vera to his “girl”, a woman with short blonde hair named Sil who referred to herself as “street alchemist”. Vera had wondered if this was a polite phrase for “drug manufacturer” given the state of her workshop and caliber of clientele. Lucien had tried to give the woman an affectionate greeting and she had rudely rebuffed him. Not one to take a hint, Lucien had made a quippy joke and blew Sil a kiss on the way out the door.

Jakell hadn’t been excited about the idea of giving a room to Lucien but came around when Vera reminded him that they were all supposed to be on the same side. They’d settled on giving him the bottom left room in the front house and Vera had re-keyed it for Lucien but had yet to give him the key or even pitch the idea to him.
“Alright, everything is just about ready”, Jakell said as he entered the rental, his long hair was tied back messily, and he wore his usual browns and tans that matched his golden skin.

Vera blinked out of a thought and looked at Jakell, he looked so much taller than her, she looked up admiring his soft facial features. She could feel her jaw growing a little slack before she realized Jakell looked so tall because she was sitting on the floor of the rental, not standing like she had previously thought.

“What are you doing?” Jakell examined her curiously, “are you alright?”, his brow knitted with concern.

She cleared her throat and got to her feet with some difficulty. Vera was paler than her usual self, her eyes were darker and anyone paying even an ounce of attention would notice that she was quite ill.

“Nothin’, Oi’m fine”, her words slurred together before she cleared her throat again and repeated, “I’m fine” again in what she hoped was a crisp voice.

“Are you sure?” Jakell asked her once more, his tone more serious this time.

“I’m fine”, she said again, this time in a voice that even convinced her.

Vera took slow, deliberate steps out of the rental to find their sable horse Daisy overloaded with furniture and items. Fortunately, they weren’t going far as their new home was less than two hundred yards from their current rental.

The two of them spent only a few hours moving furniture in, they didn’t have much and Jakell was not yet a skilled enough carpenter to make many things. The front room of the house featured a bar made from wooden counters with a few stools in front of it. Behind the bar they had stacked multiple crates to use as storage and their bed was very rudimentary and made by stacking smoothed stone together and padding it with animal hides and furs.

The physical exertion had made Vera feel more lucid, her leg didn’t feel as stiff as it had previously, and it felt good to be making progress on their new place. Vera surveyed the house; it wasn’t much but it was a good start. She and Jakell would be sharing the room to the left and Furio would have the room to the right if they could ever get him out of the rental.

Vera winced suddenly and grabbed her thigh, her wound had flared up and gave her a bit of trouble, throbbing and stinging. She shifted her weight to her other leg and leaned her hip against the bar. Hiking up her kilt she looked at the bandage and saw that it was bloody and soaked through with clear serous fluid. Vera gritted her teeth and let the kilt fall back down to hide the wound.

She took a seat in one of the stools and leaned heavily onto the bar. Jakell was in the other room, adding more hides and bedding to their makeshift double bed. Vera told herself she would take only this moment for self-pity before sucking it up. Weakness was not something she easily accepted in herself or others.

The double front doors of the house had been left open while they moved, and a soft breeze was blowing outside. Vera could hear leaves as they danced in the wind on the stone steps of the porch. The wind blew in a familiar smell, it was earthy like silage but had the sweet soft scent of fresh scraped vanilla beans. She took in a deep breath and the scent tickled at the back of her memory; it almost gave away the name of this familiar smell, but the word teased her just out of reach.

Vera swore under her breath as she fought to recollect the memory, like something from childhood you could barely remember but it felt like it was once so important.

“Ye look like yer searchin’ fer a ghost”, a voice rang out to her with a soft laugh. Lucien stood in the doorway, dressed in his pieced together leather armor with a gray tunic thrown over top.

She looked to him, their blue eyes met, and the word suddenly sprang to her mind, oak, the wind brought on it the smell of oak. The breeze blew through the door, tussling Lucien’s silver hair and collecting more of the scent as it blew past him. Vera drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, the fresh air opened her lungs and filled them once again with the sweet, earthy scent.

She opened her eyes and looked at Lucien who now wore a confused expression on his face. Vera was still pale, and strings of her hair stuck to her forehead and face. She might have been feeling slightly better, but she was looking worse.

“Vera, are ye doin’ alright?”, Lucien said and took a step closer to her, his crystal blue eyes showing concern.

She nodded and stood suddenly with newfound energy as if she had just remembered something exciting. Her hand dove into her pocket and closed around the iron key it found there.

“I’ve got somethin’ for you”, she said to him with a weak smile and waved him over to follow her.

Vera led Lucien to the front house and unlocked the door to the stone room. The floor was finished with wood and once Vera had decided this would be Lucien’s room, she had gone over the floor with a darker stain than the rest of the house.

“What do you think?” Vera motioned around the room as Lucien followed her in.

He looked around with a nod, paced the length of the room and looked out the window. “Ye’ve outdone yerself on this ‘ouse an’ the other”, his head nodded north as he mentioned the structure they’d just left, “I’m thoroughly impressed”.

“I know” she gave him a cheeky grin and held out her closed fist, palm down.

Lucien let out a short chuckle and looked to her hand. He reached out his own and tapped the top of her out reached fist. Vera rolled her hand over and opened it, exposing the small iron key that lay within.

“Wuts this?” he responded, taking a half step back and tipping his head to the side, his body language looked guarded.

“This key and this room are both for you”, Vera said bluntly, she didn’t know how else to present the idea to him.

An array of emotions played across Lucien’s face as he looked to the key in Vera’s outstretched hand, his own hand rose to take the key and then fell back before taking it. He looked elated at first, then confused and lastly conflicted.
“I don’ know if I can or should take that. I dunno if I can stay ‘ere”, he said in a low soft voice.

Vera’s eyes searched his as she motioned around the room, “I want you to have it. I want you to have a nice, safe place to live. I also think I’d feel better knowing you were close by”, she smiled at him and moved her hand with the key closer to him.

“Vera, I-“, Lucien started and then sighed, taking the key and holding it up to his face to look at it.

“I made the locks myself”, she added with a sofe laugh, “It’s a fuckin’ awful pain to do”.

They both chuckled and Lucien put the key in his pocket before he stepped forward and scooped Vera into an embrace. She looped her arms under his and crossed them behind his back as his arms encompassed her shoulders. Vera pressed her face into Lucien’s shoulder and breathed in the faint familiar scent of oak. She settled in, while they were of similar height his frame was much larger than hers and he felt comfortable to be pressed against.

The hug went on for longer than a standard embrace which Lucien seemed more aware of than Vera. Slowly, he released his grip on her and reluctantly she pulled away from him with an awkward and oblivious smile. If Vera had been more of herself, she might have questioned the affection, but instead she simply enjoyed the moment of comfort.

Lucien shifted awkwardly on his feet and motioned once again to the larger house to the north, “eh, is Jakell ‘ome?” he asked, filling the silence that was growing around them.

“He’s in the other house, fiddling around with something”, she gestured that way as well as to illustrate her message, “you want to see what we’ve done with the place?”.

He enthusiastically agreed and the two of them left Lucien’s new room for the back house. Jakell was still in the back room, moving things around and shuffling through storage crates when they came in.

“Vera have you seen-“, Jakell started but grew quiet upon seeing Lucien, “I didn’t know you were here”, he began again.

“He stopped by, I was just showing him his new room”, Vera replied and lowered herself once again into one of the stools in front of the newly constructed bar.

Jakell simply nodded and looked Lucien over, the two of them shared a silent exchange. “The room is to your liking then?”, he said to fill the awkward void.

“Everythin’ she builds is”, Lucien replied with a crooked, cocky grin.

Vera leaned her weight onto the bar and silently winced once again as her leg flared up and a nauseating pain traveled from her thigh through the rest of her body. She watched the two of them, they were talking but she was unable to hear them. It was as though cotton had been pressed into her ears and their conversation sounded distant and muffled.

She placed her elbow on the bar and her head in her hand rubbing her temple. The skin on her face felt clammy and slick with sweat. She pulled her hand away from her face and ran her thumb and middle finger together as she contemplated her condition.

Suddenly it was as if someone had turned half of the lights off, the light in the house dimmed and it felt as though time had slowed. An eerie silence filled the room, like a winter’s night just before the first snowfall of the season. Vera looked up, Jakell and Lucien were frozen, locked in an unfinished conversation and everything was tinted in a soft shade of blue.

Small soft and pillowy puffs of what appeared to be snow began to fall into the air from the ceiling as though there were invisible clouds above them. Vera held her hand out to try to catch one, but they were illusive and quickly changed directions as she reached for them. She looked at Jakell and Lucien and as she watched them, she realized the snow was only falling around Jakell. Narrowing her eyes she squinted at the flakes, leaning forward and finally catching one on her fingertip.

She brought her hand closer to her face and stared closely at the substance. It wasn’t cold and it didn’t melt upon meeting her skin. She brushed her thumb over the flake and smeared a line of soft white ash across her fingers.
Vera let out a soft gasp as she realized that it wasn’t snow but ash that was falling around Jakell. She reached her hand out again and caught another soft ember from the air. She worked it between her fingers and as she did it unfolded into a small almond shaped leaf.

“Vera?”, Jakell’s voice pierced through her hallucination, and she abruptly snapped back to reality. The sun shone brightly through the windows and Vera became aware that Jakell and Lucien were both staring at her. Her hand was still outstretched and posed as though she were rubbing the leaf between her fingers.

She sat there, confused, and looked between the two men. With a dry swallow she lowered her hand to her lap and winced again, gripping at her leg as it flared up.

“Is your leg still bothering you that much?”, Jakell’s voice was full of concern as he stood in the middle of the room examining her with his eyes.

Lucien shot Jakell a dirty look and closed the distance between him and Vera in a single stride. He dropped to one knee and motioned to her leg, “Can I take a look at that?”, he asked but didn’t wait for permission. Lucien pulled up her kilt to expose her right thigh, bandaged with bled through white cloth that she had applied that morning. Gingerly he removed the bandage and let out a faint sigh. Vera didn’t even need to look at the wound to know it was bad, she could read it all over Lucien’s distressed face.

“ ‘ow long ‘as she been like this?” Lucien said to Jakell in an accusatory tone, Vera could see the anger as it shifted on face.

“She said she got bit by a snake I think two days ago, but it didn’t look like that then!”, Jakell held his hands up in front of him, “she’s been working and seemed normal”.

“This seems normal?”, Lucien growled as he stood and motioned to Vera.

Vera’s head lolled side to side as she watched the men talk about her as though she wasn’t there. She was merely a prop in this latest argument. She sat in silence and listened to them but didn’t have the energy to intervene.

Lucien looked back at Vera, her wound was still exposed and as his eyes settled on it, he grimaced. “Stay ‘ere with ‘er, there’s a doctor in the fort, I’ll go see if I can find ‘em”, he said to Jakell and turned quickly to leave out of the open doors, pausing only once to look back.

“Vera”, Jakell said in a low voice and sat down next to her in the neighboring stool, “You should have said you weren’t feeling well.” He reached out a hand and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face before leaning in and kissing her forehead.

“I didn’t want to be a bother”, she responded with a weak laugh, “It looks much worse than it is. I swear” she waved a hand dismissively.

Jakell seemed unconvinced and just shook his head, “Here, at least eat something”, he offered a piece of mystery jerky from a cloth wrapping.

Vera recognized it as some of the meat Furio had been bringing home. He held out a piece to her and refused to lower his hand until she had taken it. Reluctantly, with the thought of this meat’s origin in mind Vera took the food and began to pick it apart with her fingers.

“You’re going to be fine, Vera”, Jakell said though she wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. She could read the expression on his face, he felt guilty for not noticing sooner that she was sick.

Vera chewed on the meat slowly and offered him a smile and what she hoped was a reassuring nod. It wasn’t Jakell’s fault, even if Lucien appeared to want to blame him. She had chosen not to seek out a doctor, she had chosen to continue working and she had made the choice to be here moving furniture opposed to resting.

The pain came once again, sharp, and unforgiving. Vera clenched her jaw and closed her eyes drawing in a slow, controlled breath. She relaxed her jaw as the wave of pain subsided and she could taste blood on her tongue. She rolled the food she was chewing around in her mouth assuming she had bit herself but was unable to find the source of the bleeding.

She swallowed the meat and as she did, she felt something stick in her through. Vera coughed once and then again more aggressively trying to clear her air way. Jakell looked at her, eyes flickered with concern and he reached out to pat her on the back. The force of his hand dislodged it, and she spit the sharp object into her hand.

Vera stared into her open palm at a small, hooked thorn that had the appearance of a rose thorn. She rolled it in her hand before reaching into her mouth with her free hand and pulling out another thorn, longer and sharp like a needle. She brought the thorn closer to her face and examined it, it looked like the long sharp spikes found on thorn trees.

“I think the gods are testin’ me”, she whispered in her native tongue of Collatian as she looked closely at the thorn.

“Vera”, Jakell looked worried and confused by her words “it’s just a bone from the meat”.

Her attention moved to Jakell, she was still sitting on the stool, a small bone between her thumb and forefinger. Vera observed her surroundings, everything was back to normal, and the taste of blood had vanished from her lips. She tried to nod casually as she flicked the bone fragment to the ground but internally her mind was reeling.

Oak, ash, and thorn, she went over each of them in her head. Three different trees that seemed so familiar to her, Lucien had been oak, Jakell ash and she had been thorn. She mulled the visions over in her head and she could hear her Grandmother Vita’s voice.

“Beware the oak, it draws the thunder stroke; avoid the ash, it courts the lightning flash; creep under the thorn, it will save you from harm.”

She had taught her this proverb as a child one night during a nasty electrical storm.

“Never ‘ide under oak or ash trees, it’s the thorn tree that’ll shelter ya from ‘arm, even if it doesn’t look like it will”, she had told her as the pair watched the storm develop.

Were these visions some sort of warning for the future or just a product of the venom coursing through her bloodstream?

Lucien came back through the door with a look of defeat, “I couldn’t find the doctor. Learned ‘er name is Theo though, I’ll ‘ave ta keep lookin’ fer ‘er later”, he sighed and examined Vera from head to toe, “’ow is she doin’?”

“She is doing fine”, Vera responded with a smirk, “and she can hear you”

Lucien and Jakell both chuckled at her response.

“Her humor is intact, I think she’s going to pull through”, Jakell gave Vera a crooked grin and leaned forward to kiss her face. He rested his hand on her cheek and ran his thumb over her skin looking into her eyes.

Vera smiled with a sigh and gave a short laugh as she leaned more of her weight onto the bar.

“I’m going to go and at least find some clean bandages”, Jakell said as he stood, Vera could sense his nervous energy and could understand his desire to be helpful.

Lucien nodded once to him, “I’ll stay with ‘er”.

Jakell left for the Fort but not before giving Vera a quick peck on the lips. Vera was impressed at how civil the two of them were being. This might have been the longest they’d gone without being at each other’s throats since they’d met.

Lucien sat down in front of her and searched her face as he hooked the heel of his boot into one of the rungs of the stool. Gently he reached a handout to brush a stray hair from her face, but his hand stopped short and recoiled before completing its task.

“You don’t have to treat me like I’m about to fall apart, I’m really fine”, Vera did her best to appear casual and propped her elbows up on the counter behind and leaned back. She mustered a smile, but she could feel the fever building inside her.

“Ets not that, ets jus’”, Lucien paused awkwardly and placed the key she gave him earlier on the countertop. His hand hovered over the key before he pushed it closer to her, “I don’ think I can accept yer offer”

Vera hadn’t realized how hazy her mind was until his words registered and caused her to become instantly sober and focused. “What do you mean you can’t accept my offer?”, her words came out more aggressive than she had intended.

“Vera, ‘e is obviously crazy about ya”, he nodded out the door as he referred to Jakell.

“I’m aware of that”

“Then ya should understand why I can’t accept yer offer”

She lifted both of her shoulders petulantly and allowed them to fall, she didn’t understand Lucien’s meaning and felt irritated that he was being difficult about accepting the gift.

“Look, Vera, I like ya an’ if we lived this close ta one another I’d never stop tryin’a sleep with ya. Eventually I’d ruin thin’s between ya an’ Jakell, and ‘e’s my friend. I don’ want ta do that ta ‘im or ta ya. An’ unless I’ve read thin’s wrong, that isn’ what ya want either”, Lucien’s cool blue eyes looked into hers as he explained his stance with concise and deliberately chosen words.

Vera felt blindsided by his confession, but she knew she shouldn’t be surprised. Lucien and Vera often flirted overtly, but nothing had ever come from it. She had always assumed that it was a game to him and not something either of them took seriously. Until this moment she thought she had been flirting with him for sport, but his words flipped a switch in her mind, and it illuminated feelings she had been deliberately avoiding.

“Oh”, was the only word that managed to escape her lips. She took the key from the counter and returned it to her pocket with a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Her instinct was to argue with him, she wanted to tell him to stop being stubborn and to take the room. She wanted to assure him that his presence wouldn’t be an issue for her relationship and that he was being stupid, but she couldn’t bring herself to say any of those things. She knew he was right; it would undoubtedly become a problem.

Vera had recently opened up to Jakell about her parent’s polygamist family structure and had explained to him that she wasn’t raised under the idea that love was a starvation economy. She was aware that Jakell was attracted to men, she herself was also interested in women and they both had agreed that a closed relationship wouldn’t be true to either of their personalities. Even with this in mind, Vera knew that Jakell wouldn’t respond kindly to her having even a casual tryst with Lucien.

The two of them sat in the uncomfortable silence waiting for Jakell to return. Vera stole glances at Lucien when she thought he wasn’t looking but eventually their eyes met. The unexpected eye contact sent a thrill down her spine that made her thigh flair up and caused her wince.

“I think maybe I should lay down for a bit”, she said, breaking the awkward tension.

“Comm’on, I’ll ‘elp ya”, Lucien stood and took Vera’s elbow like she was an invalid, leading her to the bedroom.
Lucien helped her remove her boots, got her into bed and covered her up to her neck. Vera’s eyes lazily examined him; he could be very sweet when he wanted to be.

“Ye know, ye’d be real easy ta take advantage o’ right now”, he said with a toothy grin.

She rolled her eyes in response, there was the man she was familiar with.

Lucien sat on the floor and tucked the blankets in around her. He smiled and lifted his hand again to finish the job it had started earlier and brushed a lock of hair from her face. Softly he stroked her head and as she dozed in half consciousness, he began to sing in a twangy tune.

“I went down
Drinkin' with the Legion
I met a girl she was nice
She was pretty and pleasin’”

He sang and she closed her eyes, his hand softly ran through her hair.

“She said ‘‘ey boy
We should do some marryin’’
I said sure but before we do
There's something that you should know. .”

Vera was on the cusp of sleep now and Lucien drew in a slow and deep breath before starting the chorus of the song:

“I like liquor and whoOooOres”, he said in the same low twangy voice but drew out the word “whores” with vibrato.

She opened her eyes and snorted, letting out a loud laugh, she couldn’t help but burst into hysterics at his lyrics and Lucien looked pleased with himself.

He grinned and pressed a finger to his lips making a silent “shh” as he continued to stroke her hair and started the next part of the song in a low voice.

She let loose a few softer giggles as he continued to sing. Lucien’s hand moved from her hair to her face and ran softly over her eyes to bring them to close. His hands were rough and calloused, but his skin felt good against hers.
Vera drifted off to sleep and Lucien sat with her, his back against the wall and he watched her.

As she slept, she dreamed of oak and ash and thorn punctuated and back lit by blinding threads of lightning in a dark blue sky. Whatever the warning was intended to be was obscured and lost in the beauty of the scene.

VeraShelby
Posts: 39
Character: Vera Shelby

Re: The Legacy of Vera Shelby (Silvercrest)

Post by VeraShelby » August 4th, 2021, 3:49 pm

9. Home: Song

It had taken days for Vera to recover and return to normal. The venom in her system did a number on her and even she was forced to admit that she needed to take time off from her constant schedule of working. Jakell, Lucien and ever Furio stopped in to check on her when their days allowed it and she was envious of them each time. She stayed in the house by the graveyard and grew tired of her own company rapidly.

She was now on the mend and the only evidence of the incident was the healing scab on her thigh and the burning in her cheeks when she recalled her behavior while under the influence of the toxin. She remembered her visions and replayed them and her dreams repeatedly. She had been unable to settle on a meaning for the warning and wished her Grandmother Vita was around. Vita would have been able to tell her what their calling had meant, she was sure of it.

Vera now found herself surveying a plot of land outside of the Foundry, just off the road that led to the Bat Caves and the Order of Decus clearing. She had purchased the rights to the land and had spent the morning leveling it and clearing it for a small home. This house would have a single bedroom, a small front room and bay styled windows. She’d designed it herself during her down time while she recovered.

Despite her insistence Lucien still refused to take the bedroom she had offered him, so instead she would build him his own home. If she and Jakell were really the reason he had refused the room then having his own place away from them should resolve the problem. She was sure he would try to refuse this gesture as well, but she wouldn’t allow it this time.

With the land cleared and the plot mapped she started to lay the stone foundation. She was getting faster and could build most of a small house on her own in a day. She could have asked for help, but it didn’t feel right asking Jakell to assist her with this project and she hadn’t wanted to ruin the surprise.

The sun hung low in the Western sky as she finished for the day. She’d managed to get the bones of the house up and its features were visible. The room house would be perfect for one or perhaps even two people.

She packed up her things for the evening and made her way back to the Fort where she almost immediately ran into Lucien standing in the main path outside of the craft hall. She was thankful that he was wearing a shirt today, clad in his mismatched leathers and gray tunic. She had wanted to wait until the home was finished to present it to him, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Oi!”, she called out to him, catching his attention.

Lucien grinned upon seeing her and gave her a good once over, “Look who’s back from the brink o’ death”, he teased.

“It was touch and go there for a while, but I think I’ll make it”, she laughed and rocked back and forth on her toes like an impatient child, “You doin’ somethin’ right now or do you have time to come somewhere with me?”, she gave him a grin that was all teeth.

He chuckled as he watched her expression and nodded wordlessly, extending a hand to motion for her to lead.
Vera led him the short distance to the construction site. The sun hung just high enough in the sky to cast a beautiful glow of gold over everything giving the half-finished house an ethereal look.

“Well” she said motioning to the construction with both hands widely, “What do ya think?”, hints of her Western accent had a habit of coming through when she was around Lucien and if he had noticed he’d never mentioned it.

“Ets lookin’ good”, he nodded as he looked the building over and motioned to some of the beams “They’re eh, real straight?” Clearly, he knew nothing of construction, but he wanted to be supportive.

“Do you like it?” Vera asked and stepped through what would be the door into the frame of the house. “There will be a small room back here for privacy, and extended bay windows”, she walked around the project and showed Lucien who had followed her.

“Ets wonderful, yer work always is”, Lucien said and out of the corner of her eye she caught him staring at her with what she swore was a look of admiration.

“I’m glad ya like it”, she replied, her back to him as she drew in the splendor of her own work, “Because I’m makin’ it for ya”, she turned to face him.

“Yer what?”, he stuttered and appeared taken aback.

“I’m making this place, this home, for you”, Vera clarified, she spoke slowly and looked him in the eyes.

Lucien stood, seemingly unable to articulate himself and returned the eye contact until Vera looked away, overcome by the discomfort the moment of intimacy caused her. Looking into Lucien’s blue eyes for too long stirred something inside of her and she was afraid if she gave it too much fuel whatever it was would ignite.

“I- I-“, he began to speak several times but was unable to find the words, “No one ‘as ever done somethin’ so kind fer me”, he finally said, “I’ve never ‘ad a ‘ome o’ my own, an’ I never thought I would ‘ave one”. Lucien looked overwhelmed and extended his hand out to touch the framing beams around the doorway.

“You deserve to have your own home, your own place of refuge and comfort’, she said, looking slightly past him to avoid catching his eye again.

“Vera, I don’ know if I can take this from ye”, Lucien began to protest, his hand still feeling the grains in the wood beam as he spoke.

“You don’t get to pull that on me twice”, Vera stated firmly and pulled all of her long brown hair over her left shoulder, “Besides, you could have avoided this outcome if you had just taken the room, I offered you”, she smirked and put her hands deep in her coat pockets.

The sun was sinking in the sky and the golden rays of light cut through the unfinished walls and illuminated both in warm, dazzling light. Lucien’s usually silver hair shone gold in the sun.

Lucien chuckled softly and dropped his hand from the beam, “ye really are somethin’”, he said quietly almost to himself and smiled at Vera, “What do ye need to finish it?”, he nodded around the structure.

“Some more lumber and a little bit more time”, she replied and flexed her hands inside of her pockets, she had a sudden desire to reach for his hand.

“If ye get me a ‘atchet Sigi an’ I can collect the wood”, he turned away from her and walked the length of the rest of the project much to her relief.

“I’ll leave a few out for ya in the Legion Fort”, she said as she watched him move around the structure, he was easily visible through the unfinished walls. His face looked softer than usual, the light brought out an appearance of youthful splendor about him and she couldn’t stop her eyes from following him.

Vera cleared her throat subconsciously as she regained her composure and removed her hands from her pockets. The noise grabbed Lucien’s attention and he stopped his exploration to make his way back to her.

“Thank ye, Vera”, he smiled and looked as though he might hug her.

“Of course,”, she shifted her body weight back on her right foot to turn away from him, “I’ll ‘ave it done by tomorrow evening, we can meet up and I’ll give you the keys.”

Lucien hesitated a moment, “Make sure ye make yourself a copy, I’d like fer ye ta be able ta come an’ go”

“It’s cute ya think I wasn’t already going to”, she chuckled to him.

The two stood in the home and Vera could feel the electricity building around them.

Finally she finished stepping back away from him and over to the door, “Have a good evening, I’ll see you tomorrow” she said with a quick wave.

The pair parted ways and Vera made the long walk to the Legion Fort. The clearing had been well developed over the last few weeks and now featured Vance’s ridiculously tall tower in one corner and three rows of housing in various states of construction. Nestled neatly in the southeast corner was a two-story stone building that Jakell had finished while Vera was sick.

The last rays of sunshine were swallowed by the horizon as Vera stood on the porch to her and Jakell’s home inside of the Legion Fort. Soft light illuminated the windows, and she knew she would find Jakell inside, moving around furniture, hanging decorations, and settling into the home for the two of them.

She reached for the handle, but her hand fell short. A pang of guilt welled up in her gut. Jakell had spent most of his time while she was ill finishing this home for them, and she had spent her time planning a home for someone else. She stepped back and looked through the window. She could see Jakell inside, rummaging through a crate for something.

Vera watched Jakell through the window and as she did the metallic pang of guilt washed away and was replaced by the warm static electricity feeling she so often had when she was near him. Jakell had spent his time on this because he loved her and she shouldn’t feel badly because she had chosen to spend her time helping someone else, regardless of Jakell’s feelings about the person.

Drawing in one final breath, Vera approached the door and this time walked through it fluidly. She paused at the hearth and called into the house.

“Honey, I’m home!”

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