Open Post: The Arms of the Emperor are Never Idle

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon spends her mornings in the practice yard, bright and early, despite the cold. She jogs and stretches to get her blood pumping and her muscles warm before she draws her sword, and then after drills she brings Tally her coffee, and then after that it's back to more sword—unless Tally hauls her off to some other activity, which she pretends to hate but is secretly devastatingly grateful for. The absolute worst part of this place is all the time. Endless stretches of time, with barely any work to be done.

In some ways it's just like the Ninth—except on the Ninth she knew her exits. They were few, sure, and near-impossible, but she knew them: buy her way out, fight her way out, trick her way out, or truly earn it.

None of those apply, here.

She breaks for lunch, and wanders the halls trying to locate various Clues and Mysteries that might end up giving her a way out, and mostly just finds people. More and more people.

She's not antisocial. She likes the people here, more than she's openly liked anyone in her life, individually or as a group. But a gnawing restlessness keeps her on the move rather than letting her time fill up with idle conversation as so many here do. She's always hunting for something to keep her busy, to wear out her body so that when she sleeps her mind is forced to rest rather than serving her a lovely buffet of the worst things she's ever seen and even worse things she hasn't, the things she was yoinked away just in time to miss.

Sometimes it even works.

[This post is open in perpetuity until something happens to make me close it, at which point I will edit it and say so! Feel free to find Gideon in the morning doing sword drills, or tooling around inside, opening and closing drawers and trying peel the wallpaper off in case there's flesh underneath.]

Comments

[temnota]

"Wonderful!" Aleksander said, the prospect of something new and challenging to fill his hours filling him with delight. If it took multiple days to get everything together, that would be alright. It was better than sitting and listening to the thoughts in his head. "I will be here."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon returns shortly with her axe on one shoulder. "Right," she says, and jerks her head toward the woods. "Shall we?"

[temnota]

"By all means," Aleksander said. He smiled and gestured widely. "Ladies with the immeasurably sharp axe first?"

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon sets off toward the woods. "Not sure about lady, but the axe is sharp. How big a tree do we need to find? Like—you're planning to saw the thing into planks, or are you hoping for one big piece, no joints?"

[temnota]

"Should I use something else?" Aleksander asked curiously. "I do not want to use the wrong term."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon sighs. "It's not wrong, exactly, it's just--you don't have butches in your dimension? Women who prefer to present more masculine, without necessarily not being women anymore?"

[temnota]

Aleksander thought back to all of the Grisha he had known and realized there were those that fit that description. He had never cared how anyone expressed themselves as long as they followed orders and did what needed to be done. Some of the nobles may have objected but if they did, it was their own problem because control of the Second Army had always been his.

"They have another word for it but yes," Aleksander said. "I understand now. So, not lady then. What would suit you better?"

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon shrugs. It remains deeply weird that people here don't just know this stuff by looking at her. Is this an earth-specific problem? Is Aleksander even from earth? "Not sure there's a specific word, really," she says. "Just avoid overly feminine language and we should be fine."

They reach the partially-cleared bit of forest where Gideon's been practicing. Things... sort of stay cut down when she cuts them, though she thinks maybe there are new trees filling in between the stumps she's left. That'll please Tally—she'd been horrified at Gideon's apparent deforestation, that first night. Also, it's good in case the weird forcefield bubble around this place means there's a limited amount of oxygen. Slowly suffocating to death because Gideon got overzealous with her axe practice would suck ass.

She flips the axe into one of the stumps she's left and lays a hand on its haft. "So," she says, surveying the rest of the trees. "What kind of wood are we going for?"

[temnota]

Though the geography of the grounds was just as tenuous as the Mansion itself, Aleksander thought this was the same area where he'd tried to vent his fury and discovered the cap on his power. He glanced uneasily at the trees though why, he didn't know. It wasn't as though they would suddenly decide to speak and jeer at the man who'd failed to bring them down with the Cut.

"I think as much as you can and different sizes," he said. "This is the first time building a table for both Laertes and myself and I am sure we'll need the extra wood before we get it right."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Alright," says Gideon. She sizes up a mid-sized tree to start, cuts her guidance notch, then circles around to the other side. "Those shadow powers of yours can make ropes, right?" she asks, between measured, powerful swings. "You wanna help lower this thing down when it falls?"

[temnota]

"Yes. That's good thinking," Aleksander said. He took a breath and raised his hands, calling forth his shadows. He looped several large strands around the tree and flicked his fingers in unison to make the shadows solidify. When the tree fell, he would be ready.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon gets into the swing of it—literally. It's a satisfying task, precise enough to require focus but simple enough you can't really fuck it up. In not too long, the first tree gives the groaning sigh they give when they're no longer holding themselves up, and then the trunk starts swaying in the direction she'd chosen for the notch.

Gideon keeps one eye on the strands of shadow, but she's more interested in watching how Aleksander controls them. She scans the ground around them, checking to see if he was gathering real shadow—pulling from the shade of the forest—or somehow generating it from somewhere else.

[temnota]

The moment the trunk began to sway, Aleksander's focus sharpened and he spread his hands wide. He pulled the shadows from wherever they laid - ground, other trees, even his and Gideon's own. They wound themselves around the falling trunk and held fast. This was the part he loved best of all about summoning - working his will through the shadows, feeling the power flow through him and knowing that no one else could ever match him.

He flexed his fingers and the shadows carefully lowered the trunk to the ground. "Is it good there or should we move it?"

[ninth_cavalier]

"That's good," says Gideon. Asked and answered on the shadows front! That's pretty cool, and makes a lot more sense to her than a lot of the stuff people have been doing around here that they call magic, which seem to summon shit from thin air in defiance of the laws of physics.

She contemplates the fallen tree. "Okay, I admit I only got this far. I guess we need saws?"

[temnota]

"I had not thought about after the tree came down either," Aleksander admitted ruefully. Since using the Cut was not an option and he did not have a Durast available, they would have to use more mundane methods. "So I agree. Saws."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon nods. "I feel like there might be some where I found the axe," she says. And, in fact, there is one—it's slightly haphazardly put away amongst a number of other tools, only some of which Gideon recognizes, in a big shed next to a weird round structure made of bricks and clay. "Yoink," mutters Gideon as she takes it. She'll return it. Probably. Whatever; this person's loss is her gain.

[temnota]

Found or "found", Aleksander wondered but as he didn't see any angry residents charging after them, he decided not to worry about it. When and if such a thing happened, he would just have to deploy an excess of charm.

"What do you need me to do?"

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon regards the tree, and its not inconsiderable thickness. "Take turns?" she suggests.

[temnota]

"That is fair," Aleksander agreed. He quickly unbuttoned his kefta and shrugged out of it. Lacking any better options, he found a tree with a branch of suitable height and hung it up. He unbuttoned his sleeves and started to roll them up.

"I'll go first if you like." He waited a beat then added, "My technique will no doubt be terrible but since you are helping me, the least I can do is provide some amusement."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon grins and hands over the saw. "I would love to watch you embarrass yourself."

[temnota]

"I live to serve," Aleksander said loftily as he accepted the saw. It had been a very long time indeed since he'd done this sort of manual labor and the first few cuts were as awkward and graceless as any rank amateur. Eventually, he improved his technique a bit but he was more then ready to hand the saw back when it was time to switch over.

[ninth_cavalier]

It's not like Gideon's done much sawing before, either, at least at this scale—cutting through the rusty-ass bars on her cell window with a broken piece of plate doesn't count. But she's a quick learner, and she pays attention to what works for Aleksander and what doesn't, so she manages to not make much of an idiot of herself.

Eventually they have the tree trunk cut into several vaguely table-length sections. She steps back from it, wiping her forehead.

[temnota]

Aleksander considered the sections. Was that enough? Should they cut more wood but in different sizes? It would be more work but he wanted Laertes to have options. It also wouldn't hurt to have extras in case of any mishaps.

"If I promise to cook an entire pot of beef stew that iswould entirely all for you, would you cut a little more wood for me?" he asked, giving Gideon his most charming smile.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon would do it anyway—but she enjoys the barter system they have going. "Throw in some good crusty bread and you got yourself a deal."

[temnota]

"As they say in Ketterdam, the deal is the deal." Aleksander grinned and held out his hand for her to shake.