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.
"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."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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."