Shopping and Other Things [Rina]

[Tally]

"It's hardly strenuous work.  Not like the kind of stuff you do, eh?"  He nudged Doyle with his hip.  Doyle was always out with the animals, doing whatever it was one did with them.  Butchering, skinning, that kind of thing.  Hardly comparable to anything Ruben did.

[Anonymous]

"Aw, that ain't that hard. Anyone could do it. Just, ya know, lift stuff and, well..." He trailed off, not really wanting to go into any detail. The mage was awfully squeamish about so many things.

"Yer work is the hard stuff. With all them numbers and letters and things."

[Tally]

"Hm.  I wouldn't say it's difficult so much as...of a different level than standard arithmetic.  It's not as though anyone off the street could learn the basics of astromancy theory and go on to developing their own formulas.  Either one has the aptitude for it or one doesn't."

Astromancy had ever been his favored subject to talk about, in those rare times when it was worth it to talk to anyone at length at all.  He could go on about it at length, but it brought him near to boredom when Doyle was around.  Doyle who had been places Ruben had only ever read about, done things and learned skills Ruben knew of only through hearsay.  He wanted to know more.  He didn't know why, but Doyle interested him in a way no one ever had.

"Can you really use every weapon in that house?"  The arsenal had intimidated him at first.  Now he thought he might like to see Doyle wield them.

[Anonymous]

"Oh? Right then. Like...magic 'n stuff? You either can or ya can't?" Doyle grinned at Ruben's question, "That's not a simple answer. I mean, I can use 'um, but not all of 'um are supposed ta be used in a fight. I got a ceremonial one or two, and some of 'um ain't real practical. But, mostly, yeah. I can use 'um all."

When all you were good at was killing, you tended to get pretty good at it.

[Tally]

So many of the weapons hanging in that house made no sense to him, or looked so unwieldy he couldn't imagine anyone making use of them.  Huge spiked iron balls on chains, swords nearly as big as he was, axes that looked so heavy as to be impractical to the point of impossible.

"You should show me.  Not teach me how to use them all, but let me see you do it.  Don't you...you know...spar or some such with any other warrior in the village?"

[Anonymous]

"I can do both. Though, uh, there really ain't many warriors here. Ain't got much use for it." Some soldiers of course, but they weren't likely to be sparring with him. Doyle didn't really know them enough to ask, "I can give ya some ideas of how they work if ya like? Or maybe Starfire. He said he knows some weapon play."

[Tally]

"He did, didn't he?"  He could easily imagine Doyle wielding those weapons, but Starfire hardly seemed to him like a warrior.  He just did not think of the slave as dangerous, and the idea of him trying to be intimidating was laughable.  That Starfire claimed it was worth nothing to Ruben.

Ruben shrugged.  "Either way, you should show me.  Tomorrow evening?"

[Anonymous]

"Of course." Doyle gave another twisted smile, "Ya can pick out which ones ya wanna see me use. Be fun ta get to mess around with 'um again."

[Tally]

Ruben's smile was playful, and maybe a little bit wicked.  "Is that wise?  You know I'll choose the most difficult ones."

[Anonymous]

Doyle flushed slightly at Ruben's smile, though it was hard to tell with his dark skin. He gave an answering smile, "Well, that would mean ya would have to know which ones were difficult."

[Tally]

"It can't be that hard, surely.  Some of them look so exotic.  You have weapons there I've never even seen the like of."  Just looking at them was enough to tell which were the unusual ones and which were common.  He certainly wasn't going to be choosing anything so mundane as a sword.  Had to give Doyle a challenge.

[Anonymous]

"We'll just have ta see then." His idea of difficult might differ from Doyle's. And it would be fun regardless, "There are some real neat ones. It's been too long sense I played around with them."

The walk back was nice, the weather pleasant and soon Doyle's farm was in sight.

[Tally]

"I'll take that as a challenge."  Another wicked grin, and he nudged Doyle's arm.

He was in an almost suspiciously good mood, and bounded over to the door to open it and usher Doyle on through first.

[Anonymous]

Doyle laughed and headed inside. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light inside and he headed up the stairs to his room, "Alright, go pick out the ones ya wanna have me try out."

There was a staggering variety, taken from all over the world. Some were elegant and delicate, art more than weapon. Others were vicious and crude, made to do nothing but kill.

[Tally]

Ruben was right behind him.  He spent one thought on the work he was missing right now then tossed the worry away.  He had all night, didn't he?

At the top of the stairs, he touched a hand to Doyle's shoulder and looked him up and down.  He was so powerfully built, with so much strength in him.  The heavy weapons, the ones that relied on strength alone, would be too easy—or so he surmised.  Doyle had probably used such weapons extensively to build muscle like this...

[Anonymous]

Doyle paused at the touch, unsure what Ruben was looking at. He stayed still, not wanting to disturb the other man, but it was a strange feeling. After a moment, he coughed, shifting his weight, "Uh, what's ya lookin' at?"

[Tally]

"Eh?"  What was he looking at?  He snatched his hand back and snapped his eyes to the weapons on the wall.  "Nothing.  You.  Wondering which weapons you'd be best with.  I was lost in thought."

He picked a weapon at random and pointed to it.  It looked like a quarterstaff, but was jointed in two places.  "Uh...what's that one called?"

[Anonymous]

Doyle looked away from Ruben, feeling a little shy now. He liked getting to show off a little and he was confident in his abilities, he suddenly felt a little nervous, "Three section staff. You want that to be one of the ones I show you?"

[Tally]

"Mm...perhaps."  He would keep it in mind.  It didn't strike him as terribly exotic or difficult, and there were so many to choose from.

He pointed immediately to a pair of metal spheres on a long rope.  "That one there.  And these."  The second arms he pointed two looked like a pair of small scythes on chains.

"Ah!  Is that a fan?"  It resembled one, right down to the decorative paint, but it looked to be made of metal instead of wood or cloth.  "Is that a weapon?"

(OOC: the two he pointed to are a meteor hammer and kusarigama)