Logs:Masks? Blindfolds? Clandestine?
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| RL Date: 28 August, 2014 |
| Who: Alida, Edyis |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Alida takes Edyis somewhere unexpected. |
| Where: Small Cave, Remote Inner Igen Desert |
| When: Day 26, Month 8, Turn 35 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Warm sunshine and cloudless skies make for a beautiful day and pleasantly warm evening. A breeze tempers the heat with no humidity lingering in the air. |
| Mentions: G'laer/Mentions, R'hin/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: As usual, feel free to add anything I may have missed or forgotten. |
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| 8/28/2014 Logfile from Norcon Edyis. Small Cave, Remote Inner Igen Desert This smaller cave is composed of solid sandstone, the wind and occasional violent flash flood having worn it firmly within a low bluff. The main cavern of this sheltered expanse is set some 20 feet deep within the ocher stone, and its smooth, rounded ceiling rises about 15 feet above the smooth floor...the whole place lightly scented with hints of moisture mixed with the heat of the burning desert outside. At its rear, the main cavern quickly narrows into a five foot deep fissure barely passable by an average human being's frame, then opening again onto a much smaller chamber approximately 6 feet tall and around 8 feet in circumference that sports an unlikely pool of cooler, clear water at its center, and a rounded shelf of sandstone that juts out around 3 foot circumference pool just above its surface.
The only way Alida will take Edyis to their next session of self-defense lessons is if the 'scribe' wears a blindfold. And so - *if* Ed submits to temporarily blinding herself after she's aboard Ilicaeth - along with one of the mats the bluerider is borrowing - they're soon enough above 'Reaches, then blinking Between into a dry heat that could suck the life from a body. The sun, however, has already set here a few hours ago, and so the chill of an arid region's evening is already starting to encroach as the blue wings lower, lower, finally backwinging the two women to a 'crunchy' landing as his feet hit the sands beneath.
Given that Alida's already blindfolded another 'human' and then left them to live or die out in this very desert, Edyis has sound reason to feel at least some stirrings of wariness. Of course, nobody but the bluerider and her lifemate know about that, so its all copasetic. As the blonde removes her helmet, gloves, jacket - stores them inside one of the largest packs affixed to Ilicaeth's harness - her terse first response to Ed is a low "No," followed by more sounds of her rustling around, the creak of leather. In a few more moments, a heavy 'slap-thud' sounds below them, the guard then murmuring quietly, "Stay here, blindfold on, until I say so. Not a move." She sounds serious. Another small set of moments soon sees (or would that be 'hears' for the sightless Edyis?) the woman skittering down from her lifemate to the ground in a soft crunch of sand, followed by a dragging sound that lessens, nearly fades away. Is she dragging a body? Give her about two minutes, and her soft footfalls return, the bluie's breathing coming near again as she somehow quickly ascends Ilicaeth, and starts undoing Ed's riding straps. "Stay still, 'r risk fallin' off..." is grunted out before the scribe's face.
Given Ilicaeth's massive bulk, muscles the ones in his neck barely even register the deep grip of 'alarmed' Edyis' legs, hands...though he perhaps offers a low rumble of some emotion in regards to the scribe's show of her *own*. Even what was once familiar (ie: Ilicaeth's motions, his sounds) might unwittingly become anxiety-provoking in an unknown situation like this. The trainee's blindfold is indeed tripled in thickness to prevent seeing through the scarf, but at least the material is smooth and soft to prevent irritation. As Alida moves around some more, she comments from various places in front of, and to the side of Ed, "Nope. Let yer senses take in everything possible. Ya always wanna stay alert in a potentially bad situation - " and here the bluie chortles low, not a pleasant sound at *all* " - but never miss a chance ta notice yer surroundings. Could save yer life." Pause. "Now, do *exactly* as I say, an' ya' won't get hurt." Unspoken: do otherwise, and you can only imagine the pain. And in patient, slow fashion, the blonde soon verbally and physically coaxed, directs Edyis onto a firm, yet warm and slightly yielding surface...onto her knees, with palms flat before her. "Keep yer knees, hands spread some fer balance. He'll move very slowly, butcha' gotta' compensate with 'im along the way." Him? And very slowly, the 'ground' under the not-Harper begins to move...move down.
Surreal, indeed. Given Edyis is listening to the directions of her 'sensei,' and moving to compensate for Ilicaeth's own motions, the blue's paw and the scribe upon it both make it to the ground safely...the soft settling and lack of motion perhaps signaling this to Ed. Soon enough, Alida's voice is again before her, murmuring, "Tell me exactly how ya felt this whole time...wha'cha' smelled, heard, touched." She's directing Edyis to stand up, but still, that blindfold doesn't come off.
Edyis thinks about the question for a moment, "Metallic I think?" Of fear. "Now it's dry, like there's dust everywhere." Is she sinking? She steps down and feels the ground give just a little underneath her sending her wobbly. "Ilicaeth just took off didn't he?" She asks, head tilted at the sound. "That's fear, yeah. Comes with the spurt uv' adrenaline yer body gives off..." Alida murmurs, moving to Ed's back in barely-audible steps...then just standing there. It's an unpleasant place to have someone like her at, perhaps even in decent times. "Fight 'r flight response." As she undoes the small knot at the back of Ed's grape, lets the blindfold fall away, what faces the scribe is a vast 'wall' of living, greyish-blue hide not five feet from her face, Ilicaeth's nostrils puffing out easy breaths upon the women, the scent of such rather neutral, for some reason, a couple of his off-white, knife-life teeth glimpsable in his maw. "No..." the rider notes with a hint of dark humor. Unless Ed freaks out totally, the guard notes, "Scent c'n lead ya astray, as well as cue ya in. Listen ta *all* uv yer senses...create a picture in yer mind from everything they bring ya." The younger woman's pulse spikes, as the blindfold comes away. You'd think she'd be used to a great big dragon maw far too close for comfort, or that Ilicaeth's smaller size would make the sudden appearance of teeth more pleasant. Even in a blue that gesture still unnerves her just the same. More deep, steady breaths make the squeak in her voice perhaps less noticeable when she speaks. "Oh." The small sound seems even smaller in the presence of the blue. This part of today's lesson over, Alida merely smiles - albeit a bit sharkily - at Edyis' reaction to Ilicaeth 'up close and personal,' and notes to the scribe, "You felt fear again, right now?" Pause. "That's part uv' what people like me 'n G'laer learn ta channel inta other actions." Rather forwardly, the blonde reaches out for one of Ed's hands, seeks to take it by the wrist - firm but non-painfully - then tries to settle it upon one of those still slightly-bared teeth of Ilicaeth's. If she truly wants, needs to, Edyis can jerk her mitt away. "As we face our fears over 'n over - even in small ways - we learn how ta' take control *of* fear, put it ta use. Fear is a good servant, a terrible Lord." Pause. "'r Lady." Smirk.
When Edyis doesn't jerk away, Alida slowly lets the younger woman's wrist go, the blonde nodding a couple of times - even smiling a hint - as the scribe's hand trails over the blue's somewhat over-sized tooth a little. As Ed completes her exploration of dragon anatomy 101, Ilicaeth allows his lip to lower, covering his maw completely again...a quick croon of support offered for such courage from the scribe, even as Alida pats his muzzle, the dragon then lifting his head skyward again. "Hiding is the first way uv' dealin' with fear, beyond attack 'r fleeing," the blonde murmurs thoughtfully, then indicating that Edyis join her as she strides beyond her lifemate. While Ilicaeth vaults into the air, glides off beyond them a little way to land again, the land-bound humans are forced to wait a minute more before they both closely approach a small bluff, likely made many millions of years ago by what could have been some kind of sea. Nothing but rocks and sand now occupy Igen's heart now, though, and it's soon beside the cave opening of said bluff that Alida leads the women, a few active glows pulled out of one of her pockets while the other hand finds a knife at her side, draws it without looking. Beside them, Ilicaeth again lowers his head, rumbles almost ominously into the cave itself, then withdrawing his muzzle. After a few seconds, out come a few avians, and even one wild firelizard, the dark making its color impossible to identify, even as its shriek still echoes on the quiet air behind it. "Well then..." 'lida intones with a smirk, motioning Ed behind her as she enters warily. Most lifeforms are terrified of dragons, but one never can be totally certain. The scribe can't help but chuckle at the blue's method for removing unwanted critters, falling in step with the former guard. Better avians and firelizards than tunnelsnakes and wild wherry. At least that is the Nabolese girl's assumption. Slow steps, behind the blonde now, Edyis tries to make the most of her first lesson of the day, by paying attention to her senses. Not too far within the entranceway, there's the mat Alida formerly dropped and dragged over here, Ed instructed to "Take th' other end," by its rope handles, as the blonde moves glows from hand to a small-meshed pouch at the front of her belt which lets at least part of the light shine through. After she takes up the other rope attached to the mat, re-readies her knife-hand, it takes some careful, foreward motion to bring the two women into the heart of the main cave, the smaller thing still echoey enough, it's circumference not brought into light even by the brightness of those glows. There's some bird crap on the ground about them, but overall, the cave appears to be fairly decent. "Drop it here..." the bluie intones quietly, her low voice bouncing around some as she flops her own end of the mat to the sandstone floor. Next, a few of the glows are handed to Ed, 'lida motioning her to stay put, even as the rider moves off to examine the rest of the little complex, and assure herself of its security. Awkwardly the mat is heaved, Edyis leveraging her modest height as best she can against the thing. Happy when Alida takes the other rope handle, and even happier when the thing can be dropped. Edyis doesn't budge, except to slip off her boots, plopping on the matt to do so and studying the walls and surroundings as best she can in the dim light. She starts to stretching, plopped in the middle of the mat to do so. Only when she's fairly sure that Alida doesn't need quiet to ferret out any lurking dangers does she break the silence. "Igen area, right?" Not that the scribe has ever been to any part of Igen before. She can only guess. While Edyis studies and stretches, Alida investigates outside of the radius of the few glows the scribe bears, the blonde disappearing into the darkness at the edges of the cave, her body hiding the small light of the glows she bears. Not long after Ed inquires about the area, the bluerider's returning into the other woman's radius of light, murmuring, "The senses *can* be fooled..." Grin. "Why not Ista, 'r southern-most Keroon? Why not little explored parts uv the South?"
"Owning an' wearing 'r two different things..." the bluie notes in humored tone back to Edyis. "I rarely wear any just in case it might get tangled, 'r catch in anything while I work. I've seen a few sailors missin' fingers, 'r a chunk uv' scalp an' such when the tools uv' their trade ripped body parts from 'em." Is she kidding, just trying to scare the scribe, again? "Could be..." the blonde brow-waggles to her student, then falling more silent and serious as she listens to Ed's words of G'laer. Finally, "I *did* tell ya uv' keepin' a Healer handy fer pains 'n 'just in case.' He just stated it more...forcefully." Shrug. "Sometimes, no matter how hard we try ta make things go right, they turn out wrong." Murphy's Law. "Did 'e suggest Oli?" And, perhaps just for kicks, the woman closes very quickly with Edyis while she speaks, and seeks to try to bear the scribe to the mat with a series of moves the rider's already taught Ed how to counter, and step out of. Of course, she's never come at Edyis before with such speed and with out-and-out, full intent to lay her low. "He did, said he didn't want anyone questioning his methods." Whoosh! Alida's attack comes and the tanned scribe squeaks in surprise, just barely countering the rapidly encroaching bluerider by the skin of her teeth before stepping loose and turning the same attack pattern back on Alida, in a far more raw manner. It's certainly not as fast or as ferocious as the bluerider's own attack. "Could have - let me finish stretching at least!" She pants. "Questions bring more questions, an' we all want this kept quiet...right?" Alida notes briskly to Edyis. "Unless you 'n R'hin 've changed yer minds?" Peer. The blonde's eyes narrow a fraction at Ed's counter, her own launched attacks, the bluie swiftly and efficiently countering each one until a point comes when the guard 'merely' fakes a right handed jab at the scribe's face, but instead uses her left hand in a different fashion. This consists of her three middle fingers of left hand being suddenly darted out, jabbed at the very middle of Ed's torso, exactly where the diaphragm lies. With a very good chance of scoring her intended hit - given her feint and the speed of the counter-delivery - Edyis will likely feel a sudden gagging from the impact, and a lack of breath that lasts for a few seconds. If all goes well, while the younger woman's recovering, Alida murmurs tightly from a guarded stance, "Is yer enemy gonna' wait until ya' finish stretching?" Frown. Faked out, and gagging, she gasps for breath taking those few seconds, to give the older woman a very dirty look while doubled over. "No" she gasps, finally recovering enough to stand up and take the stance her sensei taught her. It's still unpolished but the hours of practice may still show through. "They will fight dirty to I'd wager." She's entirely focused on Alida now, waiting for any hint of another attack.
There's a short bit of a nod for what Ed has to say at first, though Alida suddenly claps her hands together harshly to make the sound echo brightly around the cave when the scribe closes her eyes. Shortly, but not with anger, "*Never* take yer eyes off an opponent if y' c'n help it." Head-shake. "What I did with the diaphragm jab went a step beyond the formal. I've only got so much time before ya go off on yer own again, an' likely land up in some kinda' unpleasant trouble." Indeed. "So, *you* get the condensed version." Have others received the slower, less immediately painful version? The rider's pale head bobs a few times at Edyis' next comments. "That move's one designed ta hamper, stun an opponent. If I really meant ta take ya out fully, I'd use a slightly different technique, and much more force." Pause. "Always consider the build uv yer attacker when ya bring different moves to the table. If yer opponent's got a lotta muscle mass all over, a move like that ain't necessarily gonna work as well, if they've tightened themselves up." And here, Alida takes a certain risk, given the scribe's newness to this whole self-defense thing. "If yer feelin' better, I want ya ta' do somethin' exactly as I say." The guard looks calm, and quite serious as she speaks. If given the okay, she reaches out for Ed's hand, takes it by the palm, and draws it forward to her, arranging it so the younger woman's palm settles lightly against 'lida's solar plexus. "Press firmly enough ta' feel with yer fingers...tell me wha'cha find." Beat. "No, I'm not tryin' ta seduce you." Though her face remains stoic, there a faint hint of dark humor in the bluie's eyes. "While yer feelin' me, use yer other hand ta search the same area on yerself. Stay relaxed while y' do it...then tell me the difference between us." If she does so, Ed will likely be able to feel an inner 'hardness' within the guard's 'plexus, one greater than the scribe's own relaxed torso. Nodding to each point, committing them to memory. "I don't intentionally get myself into those kinds of situations." She points out with a pout. But then the rider is still talking and suddenly Edyis has her hand moved to Alida's solar plexus. "Good; I'm pretty sure we've discussed that we aren't each other's types." Unable to resist the quip, but her free hand is moving to her own body, "You are definitely less squishy."
"Attention's best paid nearly *any* time..." Alida notes candidly, the blonde then suddenly shaking her head. "No-no; not just build. Build *can* be important, but it's only one out uv' many things ya learn how ta judge in an opponent... just like ya learn not ta judge most people by only one facet uv their personality." Perhaps like a few people have finally figured out how not to estimate the often caustic, irate bluerider on her most obvious personality traits? "It takes *time*, Edyis. That, an' experience. Don't force it; it'll come." Head bob. "Every person, each circumstance combines ta' make every single incident different. My favorite Sergeant's motto was, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome." The woman pauses for a moment to give an actual, if small smile at the memory, a rarer expression for her. "Words ta live by, even if not a guard."
She gives a solid nod for having her wind back, "The more I learn, the more I discover that it all overlaps. No job is ever as simple as it seems anyway. " Edyis rubs at her midsection a moment with a firm nod. "Ready for more beat down time, yes Ma'am." she offers with a playful salute, falling back into the ready, Alida might even notice it becomes more and more natural for the scribe each time. "There is something that has been nagging at the back of my mind though. I'm curious. What made you say yes to R'hin's request?"
She's seen the expression, stance before - on herself, as well as others - and Alida finds herself almost-smiling at Edyis' intimation that the guard herself might not be up to it. When she was in her teens, the bluie would likely have figuratively chest-bumped Ed for that subtle 'offer' to square off with her, but now... All the bluerider does is quietly nod, and offer in a neutral voice, "R'hin's a person with in-routes ta' enough places, people. He now owes me a sizeable favor." For helping Edyis. Unvarnished truth. However, and perhaps more oddly, "I also happen ta' believe... less 'sturdy' people - especially women - should be able ta defend themselves *and* carry a short fight, if they need to." Shrug. "I've seen some really ugly things in my life, already... and I don't really care ta see 'em happenin' ta basically decent, peaceable folk." Edyis nods, thoughtfully, her brow furrowing. "The information you have me looking for in the south? The stuff you were checking up on?" There's a beat, before she lifts a hand to the back of the neck. "Not a bad man to have a favor from." Whatever she had been about to say after gets cut short, with a shake of her head. She offers a toothy grin to the guard. "I think that's probably the first time someone who has a pretty good inkling of what I really do has ever called me decent."
Edyis laughs, "That could be true I suppose in a way, but you still don't quite have it pegged yet. Keep trying though. Let me know when you figure it out." She states of her relationship to R'hin, and the smile only grows wider. "I take that as the highest of praise then, and hope never to prove myself otherwise in your esteem." "The most obvious...not the most accurate," Alida continues to dryly assert to Ed, the woman waving her hand on the air in a dismissive gesture. This is a 'No mind games' zone. As for 'praise,' "Take it any way ya wan' it." Shrug. "Time c'n change people." Time, with its many complex circumstances. "Alright; back to it." And from this point onward, tonight, there's nothing but akido, a little judo, some boxing and fist-fighting moves, and even a bit of 'dirty' in-fighting to see the two women into the deeper part of the night. Three hours of moderate 'work-out' with a few breaks interspersed likely takes its toll on not only student, but sensei, as well...but in the end, the knowledge gained is ultimately worth the pain. |
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