WHO: six, marcus, marcoulf, barrow, matthias, laura & derrica WHAT: escorting some stranded orphans back to ostwick WHEN: firstfall 9:45 WHERE: on the road to ostwick NOTES: n/a.
"You'd better listen to her, mate. She knows knives. And if she says you'll be safe, you will be."
Matthias has a cape to match Laura's. Mere coincidence. He'd raided Riftwatch's stores just as she had. Stands to reason that something as simple as a cape would be there in bulk for them to take and use. It fits him well enough. Capes are difficult to get wrong, even on someone half-grown half-done-growing as Matthias is.
He grins at her orphan as he unbuckles the strap that keeps his staff fixed to his back. Doesn't like kids very much, mostly as he has to try really hard to distance himself from them, so as to remain wholly and very visibly separate, lest he risk being mistaken for a kid. He's not. Neither is Laura. They're in charge here, and that aspect has given Matthias a certain authority to be the bigger one here.
Physically, and, you know. Metaphorically as well.
"Tell you what. If you're particularly lonely, you can kip in my tent, and Laura can come by after her watch is up and take you back. 'Course, you'll have to wake up, then, and go out in the cold... and it'll be cold by then. So maybe you'll want to just stay. Dunno."
"But it's dark--" the boy starts, as if it is not dark around them at this very moment.
"Do not argue." Laura looks at him steadily, her mouth firm, and while she has no idea what she has done to convince the boy to turn tail and go back to the tent, it seems to have worked. His expression seems to her like a mix of displeasure and worry.
And then it is her and Matthias, and she realizes she doesn't want him to go to his own tent quite yet, if the alternative involves him sitting down beside her.
"I do not think they like me," she tells him quietly, reaching up to take one of his hands and tug at it. Stay.
Matthias cranes his neck a little so he can watch the orphan make his way back to the tents. Nothing's likely to befall him in the short distance between here and there, but then again, you never know, do you.
With this distraction of duty, Laura's tug at his hand comes entirely as a surprise. Matthias looks down, but the startle passes quickly, replaced by a pleased smile. It'd be awkward if he tries to shift his hand about and grip her fingers back, right--at least from this angle, stood over her as he is--so he crouches down beside her instead, and all without moving his hand from hers.
"I like you," he says, easily. "So you've got one vote here at least. Anyway, if they really didn't like you, you'd know. Wake up to beetles in your boots or something. He went off and he's not gotten revenge yet. That means respect, if nothing else. S' a good thing."
And this is why Matthias is good, with the children and in general. Laura did not think to keep an eye on the child until it became clear that Matthias was. In retrospect, it seems obvious. Necessary. But only one of them knows that instinctively.
He is also good for the fact that he does stay for the moment, giving her an easy smile and promising that she might be wrong. I like you. Laura doesn't smile, exactly, but there's something warmer there in her eyes, something softened in her jaw.
"It is possible to obey without respect," she points out, because she knows that fact personally. But she does not argue further, preferring Matthias' idea of what qualifies dislike; if they have not committed petty vandalism of her things, they have not yet made up their minds. And, reviewing the facts now, she realizes--"No. They are afraid of me. They are afraid of my claws."
Which means they are afraid of who she is. Adults are, too, sometimes, but their fear doesn't snag in her mind and stay there. She doesn't know what the difference is.
"See, that's why we ought to show 'em off or something. I know that's complicated," he adds, quickly, and gives her fingers a little extra squeeze to demonstrate that he's on her side. "So I'm mostly taking the piss, all right. But the best way to get kids on your side is to show 'em something brilliant. And since you are brilliant... it'd be easy."
He does know that respect isn't necessarily bound to obedience, or vice-versa, for that matter. Went along with a load of orders as a kid while hating the templars, so Matthias knows that well. But he also knows about being an impressionable kid--something Laura (all coolness and quietness and loads of trauma, never having time to play at impressionability) wouldn't know.
"When I was them, all we ever did was talk about how incredibly wicked the older mages were. Like--Marcus Rowantree. He's here now, joined up with Riftwatch, and came along the mission with us and everything--we used to piss ourselves trying to get a glimpse of him when we were at Andoral's Reach. He didn't even have to show off for us, we just knew a squillion stories about the brilliant things he'd done--and Voss, she's with Riftwatch as well, dunno if you know her but she's this," he sighs, and holds up his free hand, empty, "force, and we'd go on about her as well--oi, there we are! What if I tell them tales about how brilliant you are? Then you wouldn't have to do anything and they'd be in total awe. It'd work, trust me."
Laura knows, as he speaks, that this is an area in which she has no useful experience. Even if she'd been a child, with time to stare wide-eyed at other people, she'd never met other children; she would not have known whether her experiences were universal. (As it is, she's found that they are not, as a rule, commonly shared.) So she's willing to consider the idea, even without all his justifications bolstering the suggestion.
"What would you tell them?" she asks, when he's explained himself and seems to have come to something like a breath. There are things she would dislike the orphans to know about--most things, she realizes, that are true about her--and while Matthias would never tell them unpleasant stories about her, there are few stories that aren't.
But if it would work...perhaps they could know something of her. She looks down at her free hand, the one that isn't clutching at Matthias', at her knuckles. A bruise is ground pale on them, but they are otherwise unmarked. Perhaps they do not have to be quite as frightening, if she knows what Matthias wants to say about her. He could tell them she is not frightening, and she could attempt to be...not frightening. Friendly? Willing to kill for them, at least, which is more important.
"I would tell 'em you're brave." Easy answer. He smiles over at Laura after he's given it, letting that reply have a moment before he goes on to the rest. "And clever, and that you can get people for 'em, if they need it, 'cause you're good and you aren't afraid of much. Or anything, maybe. I dunno if you are. It doesn't seem like it, to me. And I'd tell 'em a little bit about your claws, but just enough so they know that they're brilliant. Like, you could cut an apple in half, in the air, if someone threw it at you. So imagine what you could do if like, a bear came along and tried to tear us all to bits. You could fight a bear and win."
There's no reality in which Laura would lose, so Matthias says that with great and assured confidence, and gives her fingers another little squeeze for good measure, and another little smile. She'd murder a bear. He knows it.
"And maybe you could show off a little bit as well. Not competing with anyone or anything. Not even like on purpose. Just, stand somewhere, and then, oops, claw. We ought to work out which one of 'em has the biggest mouth," he adds, thoughtfully, "and make sure they're the one that sees it, 'cause then we're guaranteed that the story'd get out quickly. It'll be easy, once we get that going."
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no subject
Matthias has a cape to match Laura's. Mere coincidence. He'd raided Riftwatch's stores just as she had. Stands to reason that something as simple as a cape would be there in bulk for them to take and use. It fits him well enough. Capes are difficult to get wrong, even on someone half-grown half-done-growing as Matthias is.
He grins at her orphan as he unbuckles the strap that keeps his staff fixed to his back. Doesn't like kids very much, mostly as he has to try really hard to distance himself from them, so as to remain wholly and very visibly separate, lest he risk being mistaken for a kid. He's not. Neither is Laura. They're in charge here, and that aspect has given Matthias a certain authority to be the bigger one here.
Physically, and, you know. Metaphorically as well.
"Tell you what. If you're particularly lonely, you can kip in my tent, and Laura can come by after her watch is up and take you back. 'Course, you'll have to wake up, then, and go out in the cold... and it'll be cold by then. So maybe you'll want to just stay. Dunno."
no subject
"Do not argue." Laura looks at him steadily, her mouth firm, and while she has no idea what she has done to convince the boy to turn tail and go back to the tent, it seems to have worked. His expression seems to her like a mix of displeasure and worry.
And then it is her and Matthias, and she realizes she doesn't want him to go to his own tent quite yet, if the alternative involves him sitting down beside her.
"I do not think they like me," she tells him quietly, reaching up to take one of his hands and tug at it. Stay.
no subject
With this distraction of duty, Laura's tug at his hand comes entirely as a surprise. Matthias looks down, but the startle passes quickly, replaced by a pleased smile. It'd be awkward if he tries to shift his hand about and grip her fingers back, right--at least from this angle, stood over her as he is--so he crouches down beside her instead, and all without moving his hand from hers.
"I like you," he says, easily. "So you've got one vote here at least. Anyway, if they really didn't like you, you'd know. Wake up to beetles in your boots or something. He went off and he's not gotten revenge yet. That means respect, if nothing else. S' a good thing."
no subject
He is also good for the fact that he does stay for the moment, giving her an easy smile and promising that she might be wrong. I like you. Laura doesn't smile, exactly, but there's something warmer there in her eyes, something softened in her jaw.
"It is possible to obey without respect," she points out, because she knows that fact personally. But she does not argue further, preferring Matthias' idea of what qualifies dislike; if they have not committed petty vandalism of her things, they have not yet made up their minds. And, reviewing the facts now, she realizes--"No. They are afraid of me. They are afraid of my claws."
Which means they are afraid of who she is. Adults are, too, sometimes, but their fear doesn't snag in her mind and stay there. She doesn't know what the difference is.
no subject
He does know that respect isn't necessarily bound to obedience, or vice-versa, for that matter. Went along with a load of orders as a kid while hating the templars, so Matthias knows that well. But he also knows about being an impressionable kid--something Laura (all coolness and quietness and loads of trauma, never having time to play at impressionability) wouldn't know.
"When I was them, all we ever did was talk about how incredibly wicked the older mages were. Like--Marcus Rowantree. He's here now, joined up with Riftwatch, and came along the mission with us and everything--we used to piss ourselves trying to get a glimpse of him when we were at Andoral's Reach. He didn't even have to show off for us, we just knew a squillion stories about the brilliant things he'd done--and Voss, she's with Riftwatch as well, dunno if you know her but she's this," he sighs, and holds up his free hand, empty, "force, and we'd go on about her as well--oi, there we are! What if I tell them tales about how brilliant you are? Then you wouldn't have to do anything and they'd be in total awe. It'd work, trust me."
no subject
"What would you tell them?" she asks, when he's explained himself and seems to have come to something like a breath. There are things she would dislike the orphans to know about--most things, she realizes, that are true about her--and while Matthias would never tell them unpleasant stories about her, there are few stories that aren't.
But if it would work...perhaps they could know something of her. She looks down at her free hand, the one that isn't clutching at Matthias', at her knuckles. A bruise is ground pale on them, but they are otherwise unmarked. Perhaps they do not have to be quite as frightening, if she knows what Matthias wants to say about her. He could tell them she is not frightening, and she could attempt to be...not frightening. Friendly? Willing to kill for them, at least, which is more important.
no subject
There's no reality in which Laura would lose, so Matthias says that with great and assured confidence, and gives her fingers another little squeeze for good measure, and another little smile. She'd murder a bear. He knows it.
"And maybe you could show off a little bit as well. Not competing with anyone or anything. Not even like on purpose. Just, stand somewhere, and then, oops, claw. We ought to work out which one of 'em has the biggest mouth," he adds, thoughtfully, "and make sure they're the one that sees it, 'cause then we're guaranteed that the story'd get out quickly. It'll be easy, once we get that going."