Earlier...Toman led the way below deck, his helmet on, visor down, and mouth set in an unreadable line. Drake followed, a mixture of worry and anger on his face - and a hint of embarrassment and frustration as his bow got hung on a door frame and he had to take it off and carry it in hand to get through. The brothers entered Toman's room and closed the door behind them. For a few minutes, an awkward silence reigned. Finally, Drake spoke.
"So... these allies of yours seem like nice people. I noticed you never mentioned any of them in your letters home. Your -rare- letters home." Drake leaned his bow against the wall as Toman merely shrugged.
"Right. I forgot. You don't care about anything. For all that armor and muscle, you're just a coward." Toman stepped toward Drake, grabbed his tunic in one hand, and lifted his younger brother up to eye-level.
"A coward? I see you forget, brother, whose shadow it was that you hid in, who it was that protected you, who protected all of his siblings and his mother, when Father was injured and bandits attacked Aldbarrow. You forget who alone held that house against all invaders and who, when the time came to rally, fought his way to the leader of the bandits and slew him. That was me. I always wanted nothing more than to protect my family." Toman dropped Drake and shoved him back a step.
"I see YOU forgot who it was that ran away from home without even so much as a goodbye because of some 'cursed armor' instead of trying to stick around and prove people wrong, that you weren't evil. Do you know how hard that made it for the rest of us? With his injuries, Dad couldn't work, and Mom was barely making enough for us to get by. All of us had to do what we could, however we could, to help out." Drake took a deep breath to calm down before he started yelling.
"I remember once that you were a good man, and a follower of Saint Cuthbert. But when I set out to find you, all I heard were horror stories about this black knight who destroyed everything he crossed paths with. Are you going to deny that's you?""No. It's a fair charge. I have indeed visited retribution upon many souls in need of it.""So it was you that killed the leaders of the Aun tribe, destroyed a fortress of dwarves, slaughtered an entire village...? People back home are even saying this business with the stars is all your fault, and from everything I've heard, I'm willing to believe them.""Then you're an idiot, Drake, which is surprising given that you were always the smartest of the seven of us. Yes, I killed the leaders of the extremist Aun tribe. Yes, I massacred a fortress of racist dwarves, because they had something we needed, because they were a threat to themselves and others, and because they preferred to attack first rather than negotiate. And yes, I'm not particularly proud of it, but several years ago I burned down a village because most of it was disease-ridden and the plague had to be stopped there. But the constellations are not my fault. The people of this ship, myself included, are doing everything we can to prepare for what's coming from that constellation."A sound from above interrupted them; it seemed as if another ship was nearby.
"We'll finish this later." Toman hefted his axes as Drake picked up his bow, and the Fears brothers headed back to the deck...
Currently...Toman didn't mind being spattered. He was damp himself from assisting with the sailors to get everything tied down. His armor would absorb the water eventually, anyway; he still had no clue about how it worked, but it seemed to take care of most of his needs for him.
"I'm going to go get some rest. Wake me if there's any trouble." He went back to his room. Meanwhile, Rae had crept up behind Tali.
"I think the best thing for you right now is some tea and a hot bath, I don't want you to catch a cold," she said, wrapping her arms around Tali's shoulder and nuzzling her ear with a giggle.
"Luckily for you I already had that prepared, hmm? Come along."Anya was playing cards with Bael at the moment, shocking absolutely no one, and listening quietly to his stories. He seemed to be making them up on the spot about the sea and clouds.
In Anarose's Sanctum, Drake happened to spot Ikkeliou
despite mechanically not being able to do so simply so that someone would be able to interact with her. It seemed she was following the dwarf, so he figured he should address him first and see if he could get some answers about her before he approached. There was an awkward silence as the dwarf apparently waited for him to introduce himself first.
"So, uh, yeah. My name's Drake Fears. You, uh, you look really familiar. Do you have a daughter?" For some reason he felt compelled to hold a hand out as if to indicate how tall Tali was.