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

[quote_gentle_unquote]

One morning when Gideon finishes sword drills, she'll find Susan leaning against the same fence she usually lounges by whenever she comes to watch Lancelot train. Susan is bundled up against the cold, longbow in hand, and she's clearly been assessing Gideon's ability, coming to any number of conclusions about her skill, her force, and her dexterity.

When Gideon notices her, Susan will give her a friendly nod and greet her with, "So you're the hairdresser."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon grins at her—at her eyes, Griddle, though she's at least aided in this effort by Susan being so bundled up. "Hi. Nice to meet you in your own bod."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Likewise." Susan takes in the sword. "That's a formidable blade."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Aw, I bet you saw that to all the girls," says Gideon, but she pats the hilt of her two-hander happily. She nods to the bow. "You're an archer?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I am," says Susan; she has enough practice in now that she feels less like adding the caveat that she used to be much better every time her shooting comes up in conversation. She's working on distance and strength now that she's regained precision, hence the longbow. "I hear you defeated Lancelot."

[ninth_cavalier]

"I did," acknowledges Gideon. "You here to take revenge? I always wanted to see if I could smack an arrow out of the air." Her tone should make clear that this is mostly a joke—but only mostly. "Never tried—no one where I come from uses bows, and I definitely can't hit a bullet."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Revenge? No, I'm impressed," says Susan. "Lancelot is rather skilled, so you must be prodigy."

[ninth_cavalier]

If Gideon weren't wearing her paint, Susan would probably see her blush; she raises a hand to scratch at the back of her neck. "Ah, yeah—I mean. I'm not expecting it'll happen again in any kind of hurry—now he knows what I'm capable of, he won't be letting his guard down."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, possibly," Susan says. "Perhaps not. I expect you'll just have to try it again and see."

[ninth_cavalier]

"I expect I will," agrees Gideon, who fully intends to, especially since she'll actually be able to understand him if he gives her compliments afterward. She gives Susan a little smirk. "You want to watch?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I rather think I should," Susan says, suppressing a smirk of her own.

[ninth_cavalier]

"I'm ready whenever he is," says Gideon. "Even got this sweet coat—though it's always a shame to hide the guns."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"It is a lovely coat," says Susan, who isn't certain what the coat has to do with it, actually. She hesitates, then rests a hand on her quiver. "Would you like to try? I suppose I could spare an arrow in the interest of experimentation."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Would I," says Gideon, eyes gleaming. She pauses. "That's a yes. Yes I would."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Very well," says Susan. She might sound serious, but someone who knows her well might be able to tell that actually she's rather enthusiastic about the whole affair. She glances around the practice yard. "I shall need more range."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon nods, and exits the fenced-in portions of the practice-yard to stand about double the distance away from Susan she had been previously. She doesn't know Susan well enough to see the enthusiasm, but she isaware that agreeing to fire an arrow at someone you barely know just to see if they can swat it out of the air with their giant sword is a little unhinged, and she appreciates it. "Here?" she calls.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan squints, and then draws an arrow from her quiver to sight along its shaft. "Ten more paces," she calls back, cupping a hand around her mouth to ensure the words carry. She only has the longbow today, after all; it has considerable range.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon whistles; she hadn't realized bows had such range. She wonders if arrows, like bullets, draw an energetic line back to the person that fired them; they probably do, or people would be shooting necromancers with arrows all the time, right?

She backs up ten more paces. "Maybe aim at my shoulder, or something?" she calls. "Non-lethal? Just to start."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Non-lethal to start. Susan snorts. She shan't be shooting to kill at all, thank you very much! She shan't even shoot to injure. Gideon might've defeated Lancelot, but she's still terribly young, and this is not a war. Susan nocks the arrow - a practice arrow heavy enough to travel the distance, but with a blunted point - and aims for a spot of air two inches up and to the left from Gideon's shoulder, adjusting for the wind; as long as Gideon doesn't leap in front of it, it shouldn't do more than snag the seam of her coat-sleeve. She holds for just a moment, then releases and watches as the arrow flies true.

[ninth_cavalier]

It's immediately clear that this is not going to happen. Or at least, it's not going to happen when Gideon is this far away, and this unfamiliar with how archery works. So much of how she understands how to move is tied into how the thing—or person—she's fighting moves; her body responding to their body almost without intervention from her brain. If she could see the motion of Susan's eyes, her arms; if she knew what it meant—but she can maybe cheat it, a little.

She doesn't even move, letting the arrow whizz by her, a hair's breadth from her arm. "Okay," she calls. "I've got the measure of it now. Once more? Same spot?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, very well," Susan calls back. She has a few more appropriately-built arrows. She draws another, aims for the same spot, and looses it.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon starts moving as soon as Susan starts drawing the string back in her bow, and the arrow pings! off the blade of her sword just above the hilt. It's not exactly the glorious, fluid motion which cleaves an arrow in two, but it's not half bad, either, for a technically second try.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan shoulders her bow and approaches to retrieve her arrows. "Good improvement," she says, once she's close enough that she needn't shout.

[ninth_cavalier]

"Yeah," grumbles Gideon, "if I always know exactly where an archer's aiming before they fire I'll be fine." It's a cheerful grumble, though. "Can I watch you draw, up close? Maybe there's a tell."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, why not," says Susan. She glances around them, seeking a target, and then raises her eyebrows at Gideon. "What shall I aim for?"