(2025-07-10) Entertainment, Mostly (Lady Blanche Side Scene)

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Author:	Luridel
Summary:	Emerine encounters a cat (it's Ozzy) hiding on the Lady Blanche. They make a plan. ~1.3k words.
Rating:	M for Mature 17+

On the gun deck of the Lady Blanche, near the bow, a tawny druid-marked feline is curled up almost invisibly in a dim corner, so still she almost blends into the wood of the ship. She is not asleep, though, so if anything, her open, luminous eyes might catch the attention of anyone passing through.

Emerine does not miss her. She is dressed in her usual leathers, but her hair is loose. She changes course and drops down to sit next to the cat, putting a hand on her head. "Hey."

The head aggressively pushes against her hand, raising it slightly. Purrrrr.

"Ey," the cat says, the syllable vibrating a bit as the purr trails off. "I can't believe you saw me much less reconnized me. 'Ow you doin?"

"Can't you?" Emerine grins - the predatory one. "I'm kaldorei, remember. Good eyes, good ears. Although your eyes were open - bit of a giveaway, in that form. They shine." She scritches the top of Ozzy's head and ears. "So far so good. You?"

Ozzy leans into the scritching and blinks slowly. "They shine? Cor… I gotta figure out how to make 'em not do that… I'm doin all right I guess."

Ozzy's accent has shifted a bit toward Stormwind, possibly slightly more intelligible to ears that learned Common in that accent.

"Lot of people on this ship I really like," she says, "and a couple I don't. Bit nervous about the big battle. But I promised Elle I'd be here with him if he needed me. Don't reckon he will, but a promise is a promise. Cor, I guess more than half the Highlands crew's around here somewhere."

That was a lot of H's Ozzy. Well done.

"Who're the don't-likes?" Emerine asks. She's not trying to make it sound menacing, but there's at least a trace of menace.

"Oh, just… not enemies really," she clarifies. "Just, I dunno how I feel about Elle's boyfriend. He reminds me a little too much of some men I got involved with when I was too young to know better. And then there's Lord Arric. He's just a ponce who thinks I'm dirt or somefing." The accent slips a bit as she gets tetchy.

"Elle has a boyfriend?" Emerine raises her brows. "That's news to me. Shine introduced me to that Lord Arric fellow, I've seen him up on deck. He hardly seems to leave. Is that why you're hiding down here?"

"…Maybe," Ozzy admits a little sulkily. "Though I hate it when I think about it like that. Like I'm afraid of him or something. I just… I don't wanna have to hear his stupid chirpy voice, you know? What about you? Lookin for anything in particular down here?"

"Entertainment, mostly." Emerine taps her fingers on the ground. Not with her petting hand; the pets are still happening. "You know that man turned entirely red and fled the room when he saw Velrin in her dressy Sentinel armor. I could put on my workout clothes and head up and he might pass right away from too much skin. No, no, that's not right. Pass out, that's the one."

"Away or out, either works," the cat says slyly. "I would pay you to do that. Just walk up to him half naked. Maybe he'll jump overboard? Flail about a bit? They'd probably throw him a rope though," she says, as though this is a suboptimal outcome.

"How much?" Emerine cracks another grin. "I was going to do it for free, but that's bad business if you're paying," she teases.

"Aw, shite!" says Ozzy. "Stupid, stupid, never offer to pay, make 'em ask first." She gives a strange sibilant little hissy cat laugh.

Emerine laughs and loops an arm around Ozzy's kitty back in a half-hug, gives her a squeeze, and lets go. "I'll do it for free if you tell me why you were calling yourself Oslynn Boles at that party."

"Oh, well because hhhhheeee said to." She overpronounces the H. "Poncy Lord Arric. Same bloke who taught me hhhhow to say all my hhhhaitches properly. He said 'Gravehowl' sounded scary, and if I wanted the upper crust types to like me - which, to be fair, I did at the time - I shouldn't use a scary name. But now… eh. Fuck 'em. Only one of the bluebloods was even worth talking to, turns out, and he didn't seem to care about any of that shite at all. So all of it was kind of a waste of time, other than the fun I got out of imagining it'd all go completely differently, before I knew better."

She flexes her claws, extending and retracting them in a single languid motion that somehow reads very similarly to a nonchalant shrug.

Emerine peers at her, eyes narrowing. "If you're trying to get people to like you, be the person you want to be, and the people who like that person are the ones worth your time. If you just want them to like a person you're capable of being, that's a different sort of skill and task entirely."

Ozzy considers this for a moment, tail slowly swishing back and forth.

"Wot if I don't even know who I wanna be?" she says then, quietly.

"Then you can try it all out, cub," Emerine says, and rubs the top of Ozzy's head affectionately. "That what you were doing? Trying it out?"

Another pause as Ozzy sorts through this. "Yeah," she says. "Ever since I was a little girl, I looked at those people an' I thought… they've got it all. So I wanted it too. You gotta at least try, right? But I dunno if it's worth it. I mean, puttin' on a nice dress doesn't always end with a city destroyed, but… that felt kinda like a sign, you know? I thought it'd be the happiest night ever, and everyone there had just about the worst night of their lives. Felt like someone tellin me, hey, it's shite for everyone sometimes, so this ain't a way out really."

"It's shite for everyone sometimes," Emerine agrees, looking more timeless than usual. It's probably a lesson Emerine learned long ago. "I do like wearing a nice dress once in a while, though."

Ozzy's ears twitch around as they try to decide if they are grumpy cat ears or pleased cat ears.

"I did like how I looked," she admits. "But cor, it was uncomfortable. My feet hurt and I couldn't move right. I can't imagine doing that every day."

"Maybe you need different shoes, or a different nice dress," Emerine says. She stretches her legs out in front of her. "What's your favorite color?"

"Green," she says easily. Then her tail lashes back and forth. "No, wait, pink. Wait, you mean to wear, or just to look at? Or…?"

Emerine shrugs. "Either? Which is which?"

"Well, I like to wear pink, because I think pink looks pretty on other people, but I dunno if it looks any good on me. I like looking at green - trees and things - and I think it looks good on me because it probably brings out my eyes, but if I'm wearin' it I don't get to look at it. They said gray looked good on me, and it sure did, in the mirror, it was my favorite thing I ever saw on me, but it's not much of a color, is it?"

"My favorite color is black," Emerine counters. "Or very dark colors, like deep purple or blue or green, so dark they're almost black. Gray is lovely."

Ozzy nods. "I never even thought of it before, it was always just… rocks or old socks or wotever. But when they put that dress on me… wow. It was like… clouds, but also armor, and … I don't even know. It just… worked."

Emerine nods. "Gray, then." She clasps her arms over her head and stretches, then rises to her feet. "Tomorrow, how about, I'll see how long I can keep Lord Arric off the deck for."

"Yessss!" says Ozzy-cat, tail swishing gently, ears perked. "You're the best."

Emerine laughs. "Oh, it'll be fun for me too, Gravehowl." She shoots Ozzy a predatory grin, gives her one last pat, and strolls off.