At home - chapter 2 - breathe of fresh jungle air. (Yes sorry this one's a dialog chapter)

"may I ask why you're putting on a bunch of clothes right now? Why didn't you get dressed in the morning like a normal person?" Cleko said a little weirded out. "I'll get shot on sight in my regular clothes, I don't wear this stuff usually." "Why so?" "I've fought Rayde many times before. In their country there's strict dressing laws for men and women to follow. Especially here civilian and occupation tensions are huge. So I'm not risking anything. You stay here or else you'll make us more suspicious." She said fastening with what seemed to be a dress with the front part missing. "I'm off to buy food, ammunition and extra swords. Stay here and get the ship ready for departure." "Oh alright, stay safe."

Angelica left the boat in her red dress off to a weapons shop. She walked through the docks filled with supply crates and those who await a trip to another life. As she turned the corner to a wrecked street Cleko started cutting ropes in the right places as his father taught him. Small spikes off sadness felt like a brutal club from the inside of his back. He was dead. His brothers dead. His city dead. His county dead. His identity dead. His home dead. He looked around at the streets. Occasional gunshots could be heard. He hoped it was training and not some dreadfull executions.

Back in the Tarlf the capital of Rayde things weren't good either the headline that almost the entire woodland skirmisher branch had been killed during the invasion of a singular city just to not only get to the mythical artifact but have the literal only singular survivor snatch it from reach and disappear. The empress was not happy in the slightest with general Smith.

Back in backwoods -- or what used to be backwoods, things have been heating up. The fighting never truly stopped. Small survivor groups of escaped prisoners, heartbroken widows, survivors, and old men have been fighting back against the occupation. It was essentially like a basketball that has been pumped with so much gas that a single bounce could make it all explode again. On top of that many surrounding communities and their militias have attacked the outskirts so maybe on paper it ended. At least the worst of the fighting but more casualties have been racking up.

Crack! Musket fire from the nearby street rang through the air. Angelica came running shooting a flintlock over her shoulder. "Cut the rope and cover me!" She said frantically running from crates and poles to avoid being shot. Without skipping a beat Cleko scaled the side and cut the last rope. He got shot. While extending his arm to cut the rope he got shot in the forearm. Whoever he did manage to slice it. Even while bleeding he picked up his musket and started firing. Bystanders ran away out of fear of being hit in the crossfire. Cleko beckoned Angelica to run over. After all they just fired so they were reloading. Each shot he fired rattled the exposed and bleeding flesh in his arm. Angelica ran towards the boat taking one last shot before jumping. Cleko caught her hand and pulled her on board. "They were maybe 15 when they chased after me and then a few other squads joined. Maybe like 30 guys cause we killed a few." After she said that Cleko looked around. It was perfect.

He dove for the bag. Yes, THAT bag. The bag containing the nock gun. "Angelica, the sails are set, try to pull the boat out of the harbor." "Alright, I'll use a trick I learned a while back to back out then we'll head down river." She said running to the wheel. While she did that Cleko loaded the nock gun. After over 170 years he would fire it. Generations never saw it ever happen but he would not only fire it but fire it at someone. He put gunpowder on the pan and cocked it. He lined up his shot and KRABOOM. The recoil was so hard on his shoulder it got dislocated. The gun was so strong that there was a stream of fire making a perfect line trajectory. All the opposing troops dead or severely injured. The bullets were so strong and so many that not only were the fools who opposed them completely mangled with insides and gore coating the area but the solid wood wall behind them shattered like a piece of glass under a mallet.

The vessel pulled out of the harbor and they were free leaving a tail of fire and blood to the water.

"Are you okay?! You've been shot!" They were now far from backwoods taken by the rivers current. "Yeah I'm fine..." "No you're not! Look at your arm, not only has it been shot but it's dislocated!" "How do you know" don't worry about it! For now I just want to help it heal" "My arm's just a little hurt from the force of the gun. And I'll just use a knife to get the bullet out!" "No no no! Sit down, I'm the woman, I'll do it for you. You know nothing about this I was taught how to do this when I was a young girl." She forced him down to the floor and then kneeled next to him.

From a large bag she pulled out a kit with what seemed to be a large pair of battlefield tweezers meant to extract musket balls. It was long and made out of iron. Angelica wiped them with a handkerchief. "It might hurt" she said before shoving it into his wound. "Aahh- ow.." "suck it up you're a man, let me do it and you'll feel all better alright?" She said reassuringly before yanking the ball out carelessly, inflicting Great pain. "AHH OOH- that was quite vulgar am I not correct?" "Oh hush! Would you rather it get infected making you look like a deranged goblin? No exactly that's what I thought" She replied while ripping a piece of her dress off to use as a bandage for the bleeding that was ever present. "Now your shoulder!" "...oh Lord this blasted injury is just fine! Look I can move it just fine see - OWW!" He yelled clutching his shoulder. Angelica couldn't help but laugh at him. She stepped over his lap kneeling before his second injury placing her hands on his bicep and lower neck. "On the count of two I'll put it back in place." "What do you-" "One, two!" With a crack of the bones his shoulder felt better and he could move it properly. Just to be safe she ripped and even bigger part of her red dress to use as a sling. "Keep that for a few days Cleko and you'll feel terrific!"

Angelica looked back up the river. Smoke from the volcano could still be seen even in the dead of night. "Sad.. I liked that place.." she said disappointed. "What was it like living there?" "It was awesome. All men were forever in the reserve army. But it was awesome holy I loved it. The streets were beautiful with all the wood houses. Some rich people had brick ones. Nothing bothered us and it was peaceful. Anyways, what was your life like before?" He asked curiously. "Oh it's quite a tale. When I was a young girl my family was sold into slavery - or that's what I'm told, I was a baby. This pirate captain named Ørsëlo decided to raise me after finding me in rubble. I didn't like that life. It was all just murder and raiding. Then one day when I was only 15 so around 3 years a go, during a fight with a Rayde crew I turned on him. We fought sword to sword in the burning Rayde ship as it sank. Then on the front I drew my pistol and shot him making him fall into the water. Ever since then I swore to never steal of the innocent. Although he was a ruthless heathen he thought me everything I know." She concluded after that story.

"You're only 18? I mean no harm in the slightest but you seemed a little dignified. I would've guessed at least 22." Well, this old woman's dress I took a while back does make my few wrinkles pop doesn't it?" She laughed. "Want to see the biggest trick the captain taught me?" She asked with a smirk putting a hand on the handle of her sword.

"uhh sure what is it?" He replied a little worried. Angelica took him by the hand, pulled him up to his feet and to the middle of the deck. "Take this cutlass alright?" "Okay...." "Now instead of doing a cross-like move set you do an X. It disables some kinds of guards pretty well and it also lets you strike quickly" Angelica explained before moving behind Cleko and positioning his arms. She placed her hand in his wrist and her head on his shoulder to show him exactly what movements to do. "Now for a stab you want to try to use the end of the sword to hook it then stab. That's all. It's very late you had a big day. We should get some sleep. The river will guide us, trust me." She said with a soft voice while grabbing two blankets. Angelica laid the blankets on the ground. One was a dark red with zig zags I neutral colors while the other was purple with blue highlights. "They're very comfy, I made them myself!" She said proudly while laying down. "Really? Well I'll see. Good night Angelica" Please Cleko, call me Angel" She said while grasping his hand. Cleko pulled his hand away, he wasn't ready for any attachment. All he needed was the fall of Rayde. He couldn't let feelings get in the way.

"wake up!" Angelica snapped. It was morning. The jungle birds sang, the day was just beginning with the sun rising in the treeline. The air smelled of plants. (Note: this part is more nation lore) "We need to figure out where we stop." She said sitting down next to him crossing her legs. Angelica pulled out a map of the area. "So there's a naval blockade of 2 gunboats. Last time I came through here the little city here didn't let me through cause I had no identification so we must be incredibly careful. We could stay at capital tatoria, i caught a big time jewel thief there so we could get some better supplies and a new boat since this one is small and unarmed. After that there's a bunch of chanal countries like Borland and Neabudiea, a rich spice country. Both of which are second front countries. We should be safe there for a few years at least. They've both for decent armies."

🤔 ought to organize this is a word document for a proper read 👍 pretty cool overall