Logs:Putting Family First
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| RL Date: 20 April, 2013 |
| Who: Jo, Sabella |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Jo and Sabella has a mentor/mentee session while throwing knives. |
| Where: Lake Shore, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 25, Month 7, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, Taikrin/Mentions |
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| It's an early evening on the far end of the shore that finds one black leathered Jo facing some make-shift wooden board set up like a throwing post. There's three knives lined up on the sitting log to the side of it with one in her hand, and she's a little distance from it all as she lines her stance up to throw. Tacuseth is nowhere in sight, but he's sent Ghislaith a summons to the shore anyway. At least this time, he's not loud and jarring like before. Ghislaith was glad to have not had her boards shaken up this time. It doesn't prompt her to be anymore friendly, she's been her same short but polite self in response. Sabs arrives at the lake shore, the path she's taking seemingly casual and aimless to the unassuming passerby. But ultimately it winds her up by Jo, thumbs hooking into the pockets of her pants as she comes to a stop. "Do you try to knock one into the other? Like how the bowmen try to shoot one arrow into the shaft of another arrow?" Finding Sabella suddenly there, Jo lets loose the knife she aims, and it hits the marked center target with just a slight off-the-center mark. Exhaling as she straightens up and walks toward the post to retrieve the knife. "I don' keep the last one in for that," is her answer as she pulls the knife free and walks over towards the weyrling. Holding the blade out to her, hilt facing her, "Aim is good, for a lot of things," she says. "Have ya learned to throw a knife back home, before ya got here? If not, I can teach ya." While they talk, she doesn't have to say. "No, I never did. I didn't have any particular use for it. It wasn't really part of my skill set then." Sabella admits with a crooked smile and little shrug of her shoulders. She accepts the blade, not seeming adverse to picking up a new skill at any rate. Testing the weight of it in her hand, she glances over to Jo. "I wouldn't mind learning something different." "I intend to have ya learn a lot of things," Jo agrees, smiling at Sabella's interest. "It wasn' a coincidence that ya were present when Grathon was in town, and the not the others." She hands the knife over then and gestures for her to take her place, lining herself up to the post. She herself moves in place too, plucking up a knife from the sitting log to demonstrate. As she shows the proper stance, and the way to aim the knife in hand, "I think ya impressed him with how ya handled yerself with us," she notes, showing how to loose the knife from the arm without actually loosing it. "It don' need be said that whatever ya heard must stay between us. Even from Canie and Sybile. Right?" and she looks over at her for confirmation on that. "But, I bet ya got questions. I can answer them, if I can." Sabella settles into the stance, albeit rather awkwardly at first. She's really not the knife wielding type and it shows in the stiff-limbed way she mimics Jo. So she stops that and relaxes a moment before taking it up again. "And I thought it was just that all three of us weyrlings would have been a little conspicuous." The girl teases as she pulls her arm back and lets the knife go. It doesn't land where it's supposed to, but it doesn't end up twenty yards away or in the lake either. "You think so? I mostly felt like I didn't have much to contribute. So I just kept my mouth shut." Approaching the post she pulls the thrown knife free. "Of course not. I'm not so catty that I'd go bragging to Sybile. Even if it would be vastly entertaining." She smiles again, a smirky thing this time. "I almost always have questions. This time isn't any different." Laughing, "I did take him to meet Sybile and Canie, briefly later," Jo states wryly, "but he seemed to be just interested in makin' sure the three of ya were adjustin' to Weyr life okay. I don' ever recall one of them comin' here when I was a weyrlin'." She shows her the stance again, nodding and pointing at parts to adjust and correct before she hefts her own knife and says, "Any weapon's an extension of ya. A blade might not be yer things, but somethin' else will. Could be anythin', in how ya use it. Nice," she gives on the throw. "Try this..." and she demonstrates, landing her hand on the weyrling's arm and guiding it to minutely before letting her go. Continuing now, "He was considerin' yer answer to our little proposal," she answers on contribution, smirking. "Taikrin, and Aishani. That's somethin'. It's good to listen, to keep yer mouth shut. I learned that, bein' here. That's how ya learn what's useful to ya, and to the family. Weyrlinghood won' last forever, and, it'd be good to know what sort of thing ya think our family should employ ya in. Among other things, information is my particular talents, for example. Perhaps it might be yers, too. Somethin' to think about, when yer to yerself." Nodding towards the post once Sabella reclaims the knife, "What questions ya got?" "I think all three of us have adjusted pretty well." Sabella comments as she mimics that stance again, more relaxed and natural this time from the last. "Maybe they didn't feel comfortable coming here when you were a weyrling. It's a more favorable environment now than it was before." She observes as she stands still, allowing Jo to point out the necessary adjustments. "Like a tree branch? Much more ladylike." The green weyrling teases as she cocks her arm back. "I guess he thought that it was an alright sort of answer?" She ventures carefully as she sends the knife sailing towards the post. It lands a fair bit better than the last time around. She repeats the act of going to retrieve it, yanking it free from the wood. "I learned it at Crom, more at Greenfields. But you know, it's amazing how many people don't know how to just shut the fuck up and listen." There's a shake of her head for it, a little bit of bemusement too. As for her future employment with their family, "That's what I was doing when I was dressing hair. Listening. Reporting if it was necessary." She sends a sly look Jo's way and wiggles her fingers. "Information." A valuable commodity. "They don't trust Taikrin, do they? Is she on her way out with them?" "Better," Jo gives when she seems improvement in her stance, nodding. "Ya could be right," she says then on why the bosses choose now to show up. "Chaos is good for us. It makes what we want to do easier when those in leadership are too busy lookin' inwards than outwards. Very good." The next throw gets a more favorable nod from her, then she hefts her own knife and demonstrates again without letting loose. "I stayed quiet a lot in the mines, when I wasn' busy lookin' over my shoulder," she notes idly, studying the post. "Learned which guards to trust, which guards were sympathetic. Shuttin' the fuck up is taken for granted, I agree," and there's a sardonic tilt to her tone as she says it. Turning then to Sabella, "Is that somethin' ya wanna stay in, then? Information?" she asks. And then, there's the questions, and she walks around her to set her knife back on the sitting log as she answers with, "There's a history between her and the bosses. I dunno the whole end of it, but I know she's made some questionable choices in the last several turns that's had them questionin' her loyalty to the family." Straightening up, "She puts the Weyr first," she says it simply. "In a way, I understand it. We're dragonriders now. This is as much our home now as Greenfields." But. There's always a but, and the ex-con drops down to sit next to her knives, tracing an idle finger along the blade of one as she says, quietly, "We can' forget who we look to first, Sabs. Our dragons look to this Weyr, but we look to Family. We wouldn' be here if it weren' for them. Bein' here, it's real easy to forget that. People here are nice. Friendly. They show us a life we've never had before we came here. We all came from nothin', and these people can make us forget that. We can'." Meeting Sabella's gaze, "I never do," she states coolly. "I would be dead if it weren't for them. I dunno yer story, for we all got one, but I'm sure they saved ya, too. Taikrin's....well. They worry, is all. Worry that when we really need her, she might not be there for us. She might choose this over us." "Or... Even when they're looking right at trouble they don't care so much. You said Aishani knows that we're here, well. She should be worried, but she's too busy putting out other fires to pay the appropriate level of attention." Or such is Sabella's view of the situation. As with the last time, taking up the stance comes with greater ease each time that she does it. "I don't know. I think it's something that I never intend to truly leave behind. A person should always be on the alert for information. But maybe I could try my hand at other things, it couldn't hurt me. Too badly." She flashes Jo a smile before she sends the knife hurtling forward again. "What happens to Taikrin if she decides to choose the Weyr over us? What happens to anyone that comes here from Greenfields if they decide to..." Quit? Opt out? Desert? "Retire?" That's the word she finally settles on. The knife finds it's mark this time and Sabs claps her hands together, girlishly delighted at the success. She heads over and removes it from the post, "They've saved a lot of kids that didn't have a place to go. Taikrin can't be the first one of them to have eventually gone on to choose a different life?" "What does she have to worry about?" Jo casually puts to the weyrling then, leaning an arm back with a shrug. "Greenfields, made no threatenin' moves towards this Weyr. We have a good thing goin' on here, Sabs. What we need is to get more of us into positions that matter. That's why they sent those of us here. It's good to get us on dragons, but we've gotta look farther. Taikrin's in the position we need to make things happen. Shani-" there's a pause, and it's almost an awkward one. "Shani's somethin' personal," she chooses to say then. "She understands us, and that's good for us. Move yer left foot apart just a bit." She nods to Sabella's feet. "And, I encourage ambition. There are more things than information, and I do them, too. Depends on how far ya wanna go, darlin'. Information is well, but, can' forget we're a bunch'o thieves and worse, first." She then runs a hand through her hair at the question on Taikrin, shaking her head. "Taikrin's been with them longer than I have," she gives. "So, I dunno. I know what happens to those that fail the bosses, or give us up to someone, or some manner. They vanish." Her look is significant. "Ya know too much, right? I dunno about those that try to leave. I just know that I don' plan to. Ya know how dangerous Lanvec is." Sabella hits her mark and the bluerider flashes her a congratulatory smile along with a wry, "Fast learner. Practice that at least once or twice a seven, ya'll get a good as me. I think every girl should know how to throw a knife properly." On that last though, she drawls out a non-committal "Maybe. Perhaps there are those that leave without repercussions and find themselves different lives. I never cared to ask. Thinkin' of leavin', yerself?" "A move doesn't have to be overtly threatening to be worrisome." Sabella responds as she shifts her feet apart, preparing for another throw at the post. "But if I were a Weyrwoman. Even if the group of people were friendly to me and we had a mutuallly beneficial relationship, I would probably be wary of allowing them to get any such foothold as the one we've been looking to get." She cocks her arm and throws it again. Not on the mark this time, but close. She frowns at the not quite a sucesss of her aim this time. "But then I'm naturally suspicious. My mind just goes to those places. Information can be more valuable than gems or marks. It can save a life or lose one. But I understand what you're saying." She steps forward and pries that knife loose. "Some of the kids as they got older, if they made it without getting caught or killed or whatever. Some of them just move on, you know. As long as they don't say anything. Depending on what they did too. I guess it gets more complicated as you get to your age and Taikrin's." Hers too, maybe. The look seems to spell across the weyrling's face. For Jo's final question, she quirks her lips to the side. "I don't know. I don't close the door on any possibility, really. I won't be looking to betray anyone, you can count on that. But someday I might be sixty years old and just quit." There's a flash of her girlish smile for that and she hands the knife over to Jo. "Twice a seven. Make it three times." Sabs corrects at the end. "Who's to say she's not wary of us?" Jo counters with that smirk. "Aishani looks to be the sort that would cover her own ass, like I would mine." She nods on the throw, it being close. Something said though has her arching an amused brow Sabella's way as she drops, "Are ya callin' me and Taikrin old, eh?" As for that answer to her question, that gets her open laughter and her getting to her feet to clap her on the shoulder. "Sixty. If we're that old and still thievin', darlin'." She takes the knife and nods on the correction, saying, "Three times. That can be arranged. Be nice, hangin' with one more of my kind around here. I better get goin'." She looks towards the bowl suddenly, adding, "Got business. Not Greenfields. Congrats on the silver threads thing again. Ya know to get at Tac if ya ever need me, right? Anytime, anyplace?" "I'm not saying she's not wary, just maybe not as wary as she could be." Sabs clarifies, lifting her index finger. With the knife out of her hands, she hooks those thumbs into the loops of her pants again. "Oh, no. Not old, mature is old. Graceful. Refined. Ah, aged." Or is that her calling them both old in a better way? Well, she is nineteen. A lot things probably seem really old to her. She grins though and nods her head in understanding. "Don't have to explain to me. And thank you. If we need anything we'll get ahold of you. It is nice to have one of my own kind around here." When they depart, the weyrling loops the long way around the lake. Taking a path that walks her far away from whatever direction the bluerider is taking. |
Comments
Comments on "Logs:Putting Family First"Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:53:41 GMT.
Interesting critiques of the shady by fellow shadows, so to speak. And throughout it all, Jo's still mentoring/teaching Sabella, in more ways than one. ^^
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