making an effort

[Tally]

Having obtained a set of keys from one of the guards, Tyne goes in search of the weapons storerooms. He's never had occassion to enter those rooms until now. In the past, someone more knowledgeable in weaponry just gave him what he needed, but that was before all the weapons instructors labeled him a hopeless case and gave up on him. They won't give him the time of day anymore, so he's got to take matters into his own hands.

There were three different store rooms. The largest held the generic weaponry for the castle guards. Another had better weapons for the knights.  The other, the one he enters, is reserved for the Mordecai, and within are the very best weapons in the kingdom's possession.

Tyne shuts the door behind him.  Sunlight slants through the windows and glints off of all the sharp pointy things before him.

He just kinda stands there for a moment, unsure where to start. What does he need? What's best for him? He doesn't really want to be here anyway, but lately he's been feeling like he should try to contribute something. Not that he minds leeching off of the kingdom, but it's occurred to him that they might not keep him around if he doesn't at least put forth an effort, Mordecai or not. So here he is...but now what?

There are lots of swords: curved, straight, light, heavy...then there are the glaives and spears, the maces, the battle axes, throwing stars, and a quite few things that he can't even name. Not knowing what's best suited for him, he starts rummaging around, tossing aside stuff that's too heavy, trying every sword that looks promising, and just in general making a mess and racket.

[Tally]

After sifting through nearly half the weapons in the armory—and leaving most of them piled on the floor—Tyne sits back against the wall and sighs. This is hopeless. How is he supposed to know what sword to choose? He doesn't even know the criteria for choosing a sword! Really, he's just not one of those people who can pick a sword up and know right away exactly why it is or isn't suitable for them.

I bet Kuro Kiraa can do that. Probably Beatrid, too, he thinks, pouting. Those two just up and left on a mission in the village and didn't even tell him they were going. It's not that he would've gone with them or anything—God, no! But he still wants to be kept in the loop. They could at least make him feel relevant.

"I just would've gotten in the way," he muttters. He's never felt so utterly useless as he does just then. Fortunately, he's got something here to take his mind off of things...ninja stars! He grabs a handful of them, carefully after he nearly cuts himself, and starts chunking them at the wall. The first hits on the flat plane and falls to the floor. His aim is bad on the second, and it ricochets off a helmet with a sharp clang. Oh man, how much fun would it be to be a ninja! Then he'd be all stealthy and stuff!

He does a little dance when he manages to get one of the throwing stars to stick in the wall.

[Anonymous]

The first clatter made Krikor, a plump man with violently auburn hair, jump and grab his heart. Metal on stone clanging? Was it really that bad? It didn't seem so bad when he first got to the castle...

The second clattering noise almost startled him as bad as the first. Though when a third followed closely after the second he pressed his lips together and tilted his head to the side, more curious now than scared.

At least until a fourth noise, which was even louder than the previous and had him pressed against a nearby wall with a dagger in his hand.

Wait a minute... Krikor got off the wall and scowled a bit. All four of those sounds were metal on stone. "Idiot," he muttered to himself, sliding his dagger into its sheath. "'S why you lost the promotion to the girly-man commoner."

Krikor wrung his hands out in front of him and continued walking. Until he heard another sound, similar to the other four. What the hell was making that racket? Sosimo could wait, he had to see what was making all that noise. It wouldn't take long, if they were close enough to startle him they couldn't be too far away. Krikor popped his ears and crept forward, listening closely for another-

There, and it was loud one. Wasn't there was weapon's room somewhere in this area? That seemed like the best place to look for a clattering thing. Maybe it was a bunch of new guards arming themselves before they went out on patrol. He hoped it was a bunch of guards, he liked yelling at guards and there never seemed to be enough idiots out at the fort.

Krikor was almost prancing (almost because he nearly tripped on his shin-length green coat when he began prancing) and grinning widely when he got to the guard's storeroom. He flung the door open and was greeted with rows of undisturbed weapons. Not a soul in sight... damn. It'd be a sad day for the kingdom if all the noise was coming from the knight's storeroom. Krikor inched over to it, tapped on the door and opened it. Same sight, better weapons. The Mordecai room? As far as Krikor could remember he'd never seen a Mordecai, but he didn't think one would make such a racket.

It had to be though, what piddling guard would get permission to go into the Mordecai's storageroom? Krikor took a deep breath and walked to the room. He couldn't hear anymore noise. Maybe he was just hearing things?

Then came a very real clang from behind the door. Krikor sighed and rapped on the door, briefly wondering if he should wait until the person behind it opened it before figuring that opening it himself wouldn't cause any harm. The first thing he saw was a metal star thing stuck a wall. He took a step into the room and looked around, raising an eyebrow when he saw the man dancing.

"Excuse me. Is everything alright?"

[Tally]

Tyne freezes in the middle of his victory dance at the sound of a voice behind him, and his eyebrows climb up his forehead. Crap! He shouldn't have been so noisy! Now he'll get in trouble and they'll make him clean up the mess he made. Ah well, maybe if he does a bad job of it, they'll step in and do it themselves.

But the pudgy man he sees when he turns around is not anyone he recognizes. He had been expecting one of the weapons masters that he'd managed to piss off, or perhaps Antaeus, the other Mordecai who he's never met before. This guy doesn't ring a bell, though.

"Uh...yeah, everything's fine! I was just, uh, looking for a weapon is all." He holds up the ninja stars. "Found some! Uh...who're you?" If he's of lower rank than Tyne, then he can't make him clean up the utter catastrophe he made of the weapons room.

Maybe he's blind or something and he won't notice.

[Anonymous]

Krikor's eyebrow began to slide back down to its proper position as the man explained. He looked at the pile of downed weapons and the star stuck on the wall. If they weren't scattered pell mell across the room he might have thought the Mordecai was throwing weapons at the wall to see if one stuck...

Why couldn't this be happening in the guard's storeroom? It was so easy to order around guards, even knights would be better. He could order knights around, he'd get soem dirty looks, but he could order them around. Only a Captain or higher could officially order around a Mordecai, damn.

"Lefteanant-dóú Krikor, you?"

A passing thought made his eye twitch. What if Mordecai could order around those lower on the chain of command? Ugh... hopefully this was the new one he heard about. That way he could find that bit of information later, when he wasn't nearby.

[Tally]

((Hey, Night. How does the whole Mordecai thing work for the people who don't know about them? Is it the Mordecai themselves who are secret, or just their ability to nullify magic?))

There still three throwing stars he has left to chunk at the wall. Ah drats, though. He can't throw them with this guy in here. He'd probably kill him. Tyne sighs as he sets the throwing stars down.  That was fun, though. I should be a ninja more often.

Then the man gives his rank and name and Tyne just kinds of blinks at him. "Eh?" is all he can manage. Damn, he knew he should have been paying attention when they explained the military hierarchy to him! Now how did it go? Generals, Mordecai, captains, lieutenant? He ticks off the ranks on his fingers as he stares up at the ceiling. Or was it captain, general, Mordecai, lieutenant, colonel? And then there are those crazy compound titles like lieutenant-colonel and captain-commander. Where do they fit in? Does Connlaoth even have all these ranks, or is he confusing them with some of the ranks the other nations use?

Okay, you've spent entirely too much time thinking about this, stupid. The guy's gonna think you're slow.

"I'm...Tyne!" he says, scratching the back of his head. Would Krikor know about Mordecai? And how much would he know? When they first brought him here and explained all the rules to him, they made a big deal about that. Apparently he gets a spanking or something if he lets the secret out.

Then Tyne gets distracted by a curved sword that actually looks familiar. It's the kind that he saw Kuro use. Kuro was like a ninja, right? Maybe Tyne would have better luck with that kind of sword.

What was it called again? K...kana...kanala...? Katana? Nah, that's not it.

"Hey, do you know what this is called?" Tyne says, lifting his new ninja sword off the rack.

[Anonymous]

((Their ability to nullify magic. The Mordecai themselves are like a secret everyone in Connlaoth knows more or less about.))

The man's confused reaction calmed Krikor down a bit. At least until he began counting on his fingers. Was he wondering about the chain of command too! Krikor put his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't start wringing them or popping his knuckles. Why didn't he find out about this sooner? Wasn't it safe to assume that becoming an officer meant eventually dealing with a Mordecai? He got too lax once he was sent to out assist Captain Baltoss at the west fort. Krikor tapped his foot a bit and reached around in his pockets, looking for a bit of something to cling to. Nothing, he balled his hands into fists.

What if a Mordecai couldn't order a Lefteanant around and this one was looking for some sort of loophole that made it possible? Krikor gulped and shifted his weight over to his left leg.

Finally the man introduced himself and color began to seep back into Krikor's face. He was just Tyne.

Wait a minute? Just Tyne? Not Guard Tyne or Sir Tyne or whatever-the-hell-Mordecai-were-reffered-to Tyne? Krikor raised an eyebrow. Maybe Tyne was a new... something and didn't know to give his rank when he was introducing himself.

Krikor was snapped back to the room when Tyne asked about the sword. His eyebrow remained where it was and he centered his weight. It... was a sword, some kind of sword. Surely one of his weapons instructors pointed out what kind of sword it was at one point. It was curved, that would make it easier to remember. What kind of sword was curved? Oh!

"It's a scimitar," he said matter of factly, taking his hands out of his pockets.

[Tally]

"A scimitar! Blegh!" Tyne cringes and deposits the sword back where he got it. "Ugh, I never want to use another one of those things again," he says, rather forgetting that he doesn't actually know this guy and letting his mouth take control of his brain. "Let me tell ya, I had the worst experience with one of these things. I had been training with...ah hell, I can't remember his name; some weapons master or other. Anyway, this guy was a real bore. All he did was talk, talk, talk about how a weapon should be an extension of yourself and how a warrior's honor should come before all else and other stupid stuff like that, y'know? Y'know what I mean? I shouldn't be expected to listen to drivel like that, right? Right! So I skipped out on his lesson once and went out fishing. Oh man, I caught some big ones! You shouldn't seen 'em! Anyway, I had forgotten to bring a knife with me, so I had to skin 'em and cut 'em up with that stupid scimitar. What's-His-Name caught me at it and got all pissed. I don't know why; it wasn't even a good scimitar. He got my stipend suspended for month over that. A month! Can you believe that? What a jackass. Anyway..."

Tyne kinda trails off and just picks up the first sword he sees. "This will be my new sword!" he says, still speaking his every thought aloud. "And this time, I'll really learn how to use it! I won't let anything stop me! Well, I mean...so long as I get a few days off every week and stuff. Hey..." He gets a sudden idea and raises one eyebrow at Krikor. "You wouldn't be available to teach me swordsmanship, would you?"

[Anonymous]

Krikor put his hands back in his pockets, smiled. Maybe if he acted natural Tyne would forget whatever loophole he figured out earlier. Act calm, act like nothing is wrong and this is how its supposed to be. Casual, laid back, ugh if a superior officer was to walk in on them right now-

No, no, don't think about that. Just stop thinking and listen to what the man's saying.

Krikor's eyes widened a bit when Tyne began talking about that weapon's master. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. He knew who he was talking about, old whats-his-face. If Krikor saw his face he would recognize him. The bits about fishing went sailing right over Kirkor's head. He never went fishing before, apparently one could use a scimitar while they were fishing.

Stipends however, were right up his alley. Krikor winced when Tyne went on to say that what's-his-face suspended his pay. "How low," he sneered. He just would have had Tyne clean the swords every night for a month. Maybe he would have docked him a day's pay if the sword was nice enough - only if it was nice enough and the money would go towards making the sword better. And maybe a drink or two after the sword was fixed.

Krikor watched Tyne grab another sword. This had to be the new Mordecai, whatever his name was. Strange, he didn't think he was there long enough for a month's pay cut, but time flew out at the fort.

When the man asked if he could teach swordsmanship Krikor paled a little, his eyebrows rising. It would be nice to know a Mordecai personally. If he didn't know much about them how much would others? Hells, how much would that girly-man know? He'd show him how deserved that promotion... "I... uh... I'm not the best, but I haven't got crazy ideas about warrior's honor or what-have-you."

[Tally]

"Perfect!" Tyne says. "You're not the best teacher and I'm not the best student!" He's trying to figure out how to get the sheathed sword strapped to his belt and failing miserably. Damnit, how are you supposed to attach these things, anyway? It would look a lot more impressive strapped to his back. That's how the real swordmasters wear them. But he can all too easily picture himself cutting his own head off trying to get the thing out of the sheath. So on his hip it will go. If he can figure out how to attach it.

"Ah well, I can just carry it for now," he says, clasping the sheathed sword and hopping over the weapons all over the floor and bouncing in front of Krikor with excess energy. "This is great! I thought it'd take several days and quite a few bribes to get someone to teach me!"

This Krikor must not have heard about him from any of his other teachers yet. Heh heh...poor sucker.

No! You will behave, Tyne! You will make an effort! And you will not pawn this sword for coin like you did with the first one they gave you!

"Let's start now, okay? Where are we gonna go? I'm ready, just lead the way! What are you gonna teach me first? Do you know any ninja moves? 'Cause I think I'm getting pretty good with those throwing star things. I even got one to stick in the wall."

[Anonymous]

Krikor 'heh'-ed. What kind of result would a sub-par teacher get from instructing a sub-par student? The strange thing about that question was that it was starting to intrigue him.

Most of that intrigue rubbed off while watching Tyne try attaching his sword to his belt. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side a bit. Maybe the first lesson aught to be getting the sword to rest calmly at one's hip. No. See if he can get it first. He might have just forgotten it. Nevermind.

Krikor's shoulders sagged when Tyne went on to announce that bribes might need to have been brought in to get him a teacher. He felt faint for a moment and put his hands back in his pockets so he could ball them up again. If he could just approach it as a test of patience. The reward was good enough, personally knowing one of the Mordecai. If... Tyne was a Mordecai, Krikor hoped he was a Mordecai. He hoped so hard he almost went cross eyed.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about Tyne being lazy. That a good thing. A good thing. Better than no good things... by one, which... was better than none.

Krikor nodded and tried to smile. One side of his lips pulled through, the other end twitched, he gave up that smile and tried to remember what he knew about ninjas. They were sneaky, and sneaky and wore black or camoflague clothing or something. They were sneaky... and they were sneaky. Ninja's didn't seem to be too hard, he could see if he could teach Tyne how to sneak around until he found out about some genuine fighting moves.

"Well," he said, raising a hand and pointing at the ceiling. "Ninjas are sneaky, we should practice sneaking around before we go into any actual fighting moves. Besides, if you sneak up on your enemy you can just stab him in the spine and the fight's over - easy. We can try sneaking into the inner planning rooms, they're usually well guarded so it'll be a challenge."

Krikor nodded again and began walking to the armory door, his boots clattering noisily against the floor.

[Tally]

Whiel Krikor is going on about whatever, Tyne tackles the problem of getting the sheath attached to his belt again. He just knows he can get it. It's not like they didn't show him how it was done, he just forgot is all. Ah, there are hooks on the side! With little strappy things that loop around the belt! Tyne smiles to himself. He knew he'd get it!

The word "stab" wrenches his attention back to Krikor, and Tyne's eyes widen. "Stab?" he says in a very small voice, and he tries to picture himself doing just what Krikor described—sneaking along some dark hallway, coming up from behind the enemy soldier, stabbing a dagger through the man's ribs and watching the blood spurt out. Tyne shudders. "Blegh." What an awful thing to do! And dangerous!

Krikor is already heading for the door, and Tyne trots up to keep pace. "So, when you said stab, you didn't mean like...stab, right? We're just dealing in hypotheticals here, yeah? Granted, that might be what some ninjas do, but who says all ninjas have to be the same? I'm sure some ninjas do that stabbing thing, and then there are probably some who just...um...don't stab people right? 'Cause I gotta be honest, I'm really not on board with the stabbing bit." He laughs nervously and hopes Krikor gets what he's saying.

"This sneaking job sounds way more fun than any of those boring weapons exercises I had to do before, though! I think this'll work out, don't you? And hey, I already learned something!" Tyne grins and points to the sheathed sword now attached to his belt.

[Anonymous]

Krikor paused when Tyne began talking, listening to him a bit before opening the door and listening again. Where there other ways to stab? Oh, it sounded like he didn't like the idea of stabbing someone. So stabbing was off the list for potential things to teach, good, he didn't know much about stabbing. He knew the concept, stick an edged weapon into a person's torso and hope they collapse, but he didn't have any practical advice about it.

Krikor carried a knife on him most of the time, but it wasn't because he knew how to fight with it. It was more of a 'there if I need it' thing. He nodded as Tyne laughed, glad that one thing he knew next to nothing about was off the list. He strode through the door and became aware of the racket his boots were making on the floor.

Clattering boots weren't good for sneaking. Krikor tried rolling his feet a little when he stepped, focusing his attention back on Tyne since he continued talking. He nodded when Tyne mentioned it all working out and leaned over a bit when Tyne pointed to his sword. Proactive, that was a good thing, he could figure out some things on his own. Maybe that was where the other instructors went wrong... they were teaching him stuff he already had an understanding of and it bored him. What if Tyne was smarter than he seemed?

Krikor chewed his bottom lip a bit and put his hands in his pockets. His boots didn't sound half as noisy now, maybe he should say something about walking silently. "Good Job," he nodded again, "Sneaking is really easy, all you have to do is walk quietly without letting anyone see you. Now, this castle is always noisy, so the guards are a little lax when it comes to normal sounds. You just have to be a little quiet and focus mostly on not being seen." Krikor held a finger up in the air like it was a pointer. "Walk heel-toe like this," he pointed at his feet, which were hitting the ground at sort of an angle and rolling gently against the floor. It almost looked like Krikor was trying to imitate a rocking chair.

[Tally]

Tyne can't stiffle a yawn as they continue walking through the halls. He spent most of last night drifting from tavern to tavern with a group of friends, drinking and looking for some decent gambling to get in on and drinking some more. Ah, good times.

I can't believe I lost this month's entire stipend. I'll have to eat at the castle 'til I get more coin. Damn. Bastards were probably cheating.

Which doesn't irriated him in itself—he was cheating too, but they just managed to do it successfully.

I can't do anything right even when I cheat. He gives a sour look to a wall tapestry because he needs to scowl at something and that's all that's handy. A moment later he's wondering if he should call it a day and just take a nap.

No! That was the old Tyne! The new Tyne is responsible and focused! No naps. I'm going to study with Krikor all day. Until nightfall! Okay, well maybe not all day, but at least a couple of hours for sure. Ah crap, is he still talking?

"Um...what?" Tyne blinks and looks back at Krikor. "Were you saying something? Where are we going again?"

[Anonymous]

"Huh?" Krikor squinted a little bit. Was he just talking to the walls? Ah, he was babbling on anyway. He wasn't even sure if the heel-toe walk was the best one for walking around quietly. It'd be best to move on to the next question. One that wasn't ninja related. "I need to..."

Krikor's sentence trailed off because at that moment the Matron's secretary walked out of the room in front of them and stared at them in wide eyed surprise. At least, Krikor thought she was the Matron's secretary, she wore the long green skirt and fitted jacket the Matron's secretaries always wore. She might have been new, from what he knew the Matron went through secretaries like a fire went through logs. This one was a definite improvement over the last one, who was probably the plainest woman to have ever lived. Red hair twisted up in a bun, a little tan to her skin, small curved lips and big honey colored eyes, he couldn't see much of her figure through her loose skirt and the bundle of papers she held to her chest.

"Excuse me," she grinned a little at them and walked, nearly ran, down the hallway they were walking up.

"She's in a hurry," Krikor mused aloud, turning a little to watch her scurry away.