"Ay, tranquilo, both of you."
If there was one skill where Amerigo's mastery was self-evident, moreso than even the blade, it was the subtle art of speaking with a sharp yet unbothered tone when cutting into a conversation that was trying to speed past. In a way they were similar, demanding poise, precision, timing, command— but few pushed the metaphor quite so far into reality as the Brother strolling out from the ashen cloud.
To wit:
The length of his blade sank between the faces of the two tiny abhumans, coming to a controlled stop a few inches above Raguelie's arms, regardless of how vigorously she attempted to throttle Erfir— as pointed and inarguable a barrier as any man could muster. In the hands of a lesser, begging for an accident— but Amerigo did not allow those. To him, this was little different from getting his bare arm between them, corded muscle where he'd instead gone and put the flat of the coral. He spoke in similarly even, pedestrian tone, his clipped Arrowfellian falling back behind the curtain of he and Aubri's lilting vowels and melodic Republican cadence. Like discussing the weather, albeit with a blade in one's hand.
"You show good, strong spirit," a hint of an acknowledging nod Raguelie's way began his chiding. "But remember how that eyesore found us to begin with, claro? The wind carries voices. Theirs and ours both." He glanced to the castle, eyes narrowing before barreling on, heedless of any protests from those barely scraping the four-foot mark.
"Now then, allow me to make something clear. Signore Aubri and myself are not pirates. I am in fact paid to cut pirates down. We are here on business. Our business." A glance to his employer, before his eyes were cast back down onto the two children he was looming over. "The interests of the Most Serene Republic are represented through him— and its' protection through me. We are not quite so partisan in the conflicts of a faraway place as you may believe. Though, in saying that,"
As smoothly as it had passed between the two, Amerigo's blade rose, and returned to its sheathe with a brief flourish, sliding Bone against leather until the swept hilt seemed to click into place. The barrier between them now removed, his point seemed more or less made. For a moment, at least.
Then, with both hands now freed, each settled atop the scalps of either side of the little proxy war in the courtyard, blonde and coal locks both getting worked over by the foreigner and his cheesy grin.
"I do represent my own interests as well, and chief among them is ensuring I won't be made into a liar. I promised you both your lives— let us four at least not 'liberate' one another. The blaze has surely taken enough already from the city and the people, before what other demons may yet prowl. This Countess Vernon being our next best option after the Queen, to hear you say it— she must have the guards available to keep you safe until this blows over, no? A Brother's duty is to deliver his charges to safe harbor."
He returned his gaze to Aubri even as he continued to mess with the two runts, his tone dropping ever so slightly closer to serious. "And in a storm like this, any safe port may work, so long as we arrive with a favor in hand, no? We are here to make an impression. I doubt either option could find much fault in learning the first thing we did here was save innocent lives."
He would follow his charge's lead with little fuss, at the end of the day— but a Brother of the Bones' word held certain weight, as Aubri well knew. Amerigo, flighty and lax as he had so often been on the voyage, still had his points of pride. To one of them, he had tied at least the assurance that these two would draw breath by tomorrow. Whatever happened on either side of that, he had no qualms ceding.
"I have seen good friendships begin with far less."
1x Like
