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.
"A knife in the tent, she says. Do you know how to use a knife, little one?"
The orphan in question, some snub nosed boy who can't be older than seven, makes a face as his hair is ruffled and his head wobbled around on his thin neck before Marcoulf withdraws his gloves hand, spins the boy about by the shoulders and swats him back in the direction of the tent he'd crept from.
As the boy grudgingly stumbles back toward the tent, Marcoulf turns his face toward Laura in the dark. His tone drops by a few notable degrees. "You ought not to give them knives."
Using a knife is simple. He must know how. That certainty colors her answer as she looks up at Marcoulf, stone-faced. "We are supposed to protect them."
If they don't have weapons, they will not be able to protect themselves. And if the adults are overwhelmed, they will have to be able to protect themselves. The logic of it is obvious.
You and I are, says the way he points wordlessly first to her and then the center of his chest - distinctly unimpressed with the justification.
"Just because you are accustomed to the business doesn't mean they ought to be acquainted with it. And if they are," he mumbles, fetching a glance over his shoulder back to the tents. "Then all the more reason not to arm them."
No telling what some half wild child from the street might do with a blade.
"If they are," she replies, "they will be helpful."
At what age do children start learning to use knives? Laura's observed enough to guess that it's older than she expects, but she hasn't managed to figure out (or bothered, for that matter, thinking too hard about) when they make their first kills. Some of them are clearly capable of reason, though; there's no reason they shouldn't also be capable of stabbing something, if asked.
As a supporting argument, she adds, "And she might need the knife for something else."
He holds his attention there on her, then hums skeptically low noise in response. Her tent, her rules; if, when Laura is not posted up as a make-do sentry, some wastrel opts to poke her with something sharp in the night in service to the immediacy of the security provided by whatever is in her pockets versus the unknown of the place they are being fetched to, then who is he to argue?
"If the seven of us can't manage," he opts for instead. "I expect they won't have much luck either."
If she is poked, she will poke right back--neither hard nor in a vital place, but she is not opposed to the judicious threat of claws, should the need arise. (She is not, perhaps, a model childminder.)
"If we are killed, they can run." It is not the ideal outcome to this mission for a number of reasons, but it is within the realm of possibility. And it seems to her reasonable that the children might be able to survive on their own, if required. "They are small; they can hide."
"A knife in the hand won't make them faster or smaller."
It's said dismissively while shifting the lay of the cloak across his shoulder. Then, because the disapproval has been clearly stated and he isn't here to debate the finer points of arming orphans, he cuts to: "A rotation has been decided, and I'm to post up on the other side of the camp opposite this one." Their party being large enough that it makes more sense to keep two sets of eyes open. "Should you need anything, call out."
"But it will let them cut things." They will be able to move quickly, stab nugs, cut firewood, and dig little lines in the dirt. There are reasons to want to do all those things, if they want to survive in the wilderness.
But it does not matter. Marcoulf sounds as though he is uninterested in talking further; if he was, he would not bring up the fact that he is supposed to be standing someplace else. "I will," she tells him, and then adds, "and you should, too."
(They should teach the children to manage for themselves, she decides. If the worst happens, at least one of the group should know how to survive. She will start to give the orphans advice in the morning, once they are awake again.
The look he gives her is narrow. Or maybe that is just his face - faintly pinched and drawn, the corners of his mouth turned faintly downward behind the scratch of his ginger beard. It says nothing at all except for perhaps 'Noted.'
The, with a nod and a leading tip of the head, he is off. Opinion and purpose stated, there's no reason left to linger in the girl's company.
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no subject
The orphan in question, some snub nosed boy who can't be older than seven, makes a face as his hair is ruffled and his head wobbled around on his thin neck before Marcoulf withdraws his gloves hand, spins the boy about by the shoulders and swats him back in the direction of the tent he'd crept from.
As the boy grudgingly stumbles back toward the tent, Marcoulf turns his face toward Laura in the dark. His tone drops by a few notable degrees. "You ought not to give them knives."
no subject
If they don't have weapons, they will not be able to protect themselves. And if the adults are overwhelmed, they will have to be able to protect themselves. The logic of it is obvious.
no subject
"Just because you are accustomed to the business doesn't mean they ought to be acquainted with it. And if they are," he mumbles, fetching a glance over his shoulder back to the tents. "Then all the more reason not to arm them."
No telling what some half wild child from the street might do with a blade.
(She might know though, wouldn't she?)
no subject
At what age do children start learning to use knives? Laura's observed enough to guess that it's older than she expects, but she hasn't managed to figure out (or bothered, for that matter, thinking too hard about) when they make their first kills. Some of them are clearly capable of reason, though; there's no reason they shouldn't also be capable of stabbing something, if asked.
As a supporting argument, she adds, "And she might need the knife for something else."
Not just defense. Laura is not sure what.
no subject
"If the seven of us can't manage," he opts for instead. "I expect they won't have much luck either."
no subject
"If we are killed, they can run." It is not the ideal outcome to this mission for a number of reasons, but it is within the realm of possibility. And it seems to her reasonable that the children might be able to survive on their own, if required. "They are small; they can hide."
no subject
It's said dismissively while shifting the lay of the cloak across his shoulder. Then, because the disapproval has been clearly stated and he isn't here to debate the finer points of arming orphans, he cuts to: "A rotation has been decided, and I'm to post up on the other side of the camp opposite this one." Their party being large enough that it makes more sense to keep two sets of eyes open. "Should you need anything, call out."
no subject
But it does not matter. Marcoulf sounds as though he is uninterested in talking further; if he was, he would not bring up the fact that he is supposed to be standing someplace else. "I will," she tells him, and then adds, "and you should, too."
(They should teach the children to manage for themselves, she decides. If the worst happens, at least one of the group should know how to survive. She will start to give the orphans advice in the morning, once they are awake again.
no subject
The, with a nod and a leading tip of the head, he is off. Opinion and purpose stated, there's no reason left to linger in the girl's company.