Shadows & Sleepy Smiles [Argona's Forces Only]

Cold gray waves hammered against the rocks, sending up salt spray and foam with every blow. You could still hear it from inside Elodie's cabin, like a roar of an avalanche or a clap of thunder. Rain pattered against the roof, streaming down the windows in rivulets, and the sky looked as bleak and gray as the ocean. It was a tiny village of maybe fifteen families at most, with only one gravel road leading in or out. Briar's Landing, Normandy. Far, far from her birthplace in Aquitaine, where it'd be sunny and green and blooming with spring flowers.

Even still, Elodie never frowned. She just hummed, with that same sleepy smile as always, as she poured the tea into multiple dainty cups gathered around on a small table.

The cabin was quaint, dim, old, but even her decoration had a sort of simple elegance to it. Rugs, candles, flowers in vases, a fire roaring in a hearth, little touches here and there that made the place feel like home. It was her home, in a way. Her home away from Sofia, her home away from her family in Aquitaine. This was where she did her business, where no one from her normal life could find her.

Even in the darkness of the cabin, with her tousled blonde hair and simple black dress, she was more beautiful than most girls could ever hope to be. Her blonde hair, tousled over her shoulders, her porcelain skin, even the way she carried herself. Every action seemed so casual, so fluid and normal, but so elegant at the same time that you'd have thought she choreographed it all beforehand. And her eyes. Blue eyes that could be as bright as the sky, or green eyes that shimmered like the sea. It seemed to change with every shift of light, every slight turn of her head. Captivating was the only way to explain it.

Her expression never seemed to flicker. Always just that smile, those beautiful eyes that never gave anything away, that always hid her black secret.

"Welcome, friends," she said in accented English as the door creaked open, standing up straight with her hands folded in front of her. Shadows stood in the doorway, and the roar of waves and rain grew inside the cabin. "You must be soaking. Please warm yourselves in front of the fire, have some tea."

She glanced out the window, bringing a finger just under her lips. Full, red lips. "I would apologize for the weather, but there is a kind of beauty to the rain, no?" Elodie's smile widened, just for a moment. "It always makes me feel so... refreshed."