faderift | open

[Edgard hadn't quite made it to the Forces office yet. There has been a lot going on and a lot to explore and--yes, the idea of offices and the implied superiors that come with it makes him twitchy. He opens the door and is delighted to see a young man creating an absolute mess.]

Excellent, are we trashing the place?

Wh-- Oh. No. Erm--

[Hastily, Matthias tries to shove as much of the crumpled papers under his desk as he can.]

I'm just working on--something. Sorry. Erm, you're-- [tall, in reality not that much taller than Matthias, but giving off a very tall impression.] --Sorry.

[He scrambles to his feet and plops back into his desk chair. Please kindly ignore the pile of paper around his feet.]

Can I help you?

[Edgard watches him scramble as he walks forward to the desk. He's up to something for sure. The man goes all business and Edgard's eyes narrow as he leans on the desk.]

Oh. Are you--in charge? [He swallows a laugh, but the ghost of it remains on his lips.] I'm Edgard, new recruit for Forces. Been here a week or so. Thought I should stop by?

[With all his teenage sensitivity, Matthias is tuned to pick up on adults not taking him seriously. He frowns.]

Matthias. Forces assistant. Obviously not in charge, [THANKS FOR NOTICING] that'd be Commander Flint. But he's out at the moment. You can come back later if you'd like to meet him properly. Or I can take a message, like.

[Surrounded by a drift of crumpled and scribbled-upon papers, he can obviously write enough to take a message.]

[Edgard is not a message person.]

No, no! I will--meet him eventually, I'm sure. [Edgard claps Mattias' shoulder roughly. It's intended to be friendly.] Pleasure to meet you, Mattias. I'm Edgard. If you were trashing the place or anything else, I wouldn't tell this Flint.

[He probably wouldn't tell him much of anything, but that's beside the point.]

[Matthias sees the shoulder clap coming just in time to brace himself for it and save himself from an awkward fall forward. Not that he'd have fallen, but it still would have been awkward.]

Yeah. Erm, same to you, Edgard. [Hopefully.] I really wasn't trashing it, though. I'm working on something and I didn't think anyone would be coming round. I'd've tided it all before I left.

When did you get here?

[Edgard glances to the piles on the floor and then back to Matthias.]

Tidy is overrated. And like I said, I won’t tell anyone. I got here a few days before the abomination.

[Edgard puffs his cheeks out, releasing air, and his eyes go skyward.]

[Oh. Matthias looks back down at the top of his desk. There's a divot in it where he'd once dropped a paperweight and chipped away a bit of the surface. He focuses on it.]

That's not normal. Abominations, I mean.

not normal for Riftwatch or not normal in general?

[Edgard stands upright creating more space between them. Edgard doesn’t know what the boy’s experience of it was. He rocks back on his heels.]

[He pulls a little face. Well.]

Not normal for Riftwatch. But not for mages, either, not--really. It happens, 's not as if it's every day or at the drop of a hat or anything.

[The boy speaks with such candor that Edgard has a sudden realization.]

Oh. Are you a mage?

[Edgard’s seen mages before, but not really spoken to them. And certainly not self-conscious teenaged ones. Edgard’s face remains impassive.]

[Matthias straightens his shoulders and says--perhaps with more defensive aggression than is really necessary--]

Yeah. I am.

[Edgard starts a little and laughs awkwardly at Matthias’ reaction. Maybe that wasn’t a question he should’ve asked. He raises his hands.]

Easy, I just didn’t realize. What do you usually do around here? Surely not, uh, just paperwork?

[Mollified, but also a little embarrassed at himself, Matthias settles back.]

Yeah, well. [Fine.] Forces isn't paperwork. Just this bit is, the assistant bit. I do loads of other things, missions and all. We're what it sounds like. The force bit of Riftwatch.

Good. I imagine paperwork would be dull. Or [Edgard looks at the balled up papers, still finding the mess of them appealing and shrugs] maybe not? I guess I wouldn't know.

[He squats down to pick one up.]

[oh shit wait; Matthias scrambles to get up and come around the desk so he can grab that paper before Edgard gets at it.]

These aren't that. Paperwork for Forces, I mean. They're--mine. I'm working on something. It's not important.

[Edgard is very tempted to grab the paper, but instead allows Matthias to take it from him. He's now all smiles.]

You are up to something!

[Edgard, laughing, folds his arms over his chest, satisfied, and waits for Matthias to explain further.]

Hardly.

[--Defensively, but, ugggh. He's clearly settling in, there's no getting around this. Matthias puts the page back on his desk.]

It's mage stuff. So it wouldn't mean much to you, as you're not a mage. Just--lessons and things that I want to learn from the enchanter that's teaching me, and it's not anything big, all right, so you haven't got to crow over it or tell anyone.

[Amused]

Alright, keep your shirt on. Even if I wanted to tell, which I don't, [Edgard's no snitch] I've got nobody to tell. But, you're right, I don't know anything about mage stuff.

[Teasing] Probably shouldn't be giving one such a hard time, but I never had much sense.

I'm not going to explode. You can give me a hard time, and same goes for any other mage as well, I reckon.

[Explode, after the abomination, is a word with some weight to it. Matthias feels it. That weight is also why he uses it. He pushes at the crumpled page until it is tucked up against a ledger book, left there after his actual work day.]

And it's not that special. I mean, it is, 'course, but it's like anyone learning anything. I just don't want anyone thinking I'm skivving off my actual work to do it. I can manage both.

Did you just give me permission to give you a hard time?

[Edgard laughs, he has no inclination to stop giving this kid a hard time anytime soon. He waves a hand to say nevermind.]

I'm not here to judge, secret or no, special or no. You seem very responsible, just a little messy. But, [shrugging] I like messy.

[His ears go a little red, but he manages not to say anything terribly stupid, just--]

I'm not that messy.

[--a little stupid.]

I'm just working on it and it's not easy, coming up with--y'know, this sort of a list. Haven't you ever worked at something before?

I have. [Well.] Nothing that requires papers or lists, I guess, but I’ve worked hard at things.

[And failed at most of them.]

Usually trying not to care too much is a good place to start.

[Matthias wrinkles his nose.]

Right, only I do care about this, so it wouldn't do me much good to try not to care.

[Edgard puffs air out his mouth.]

I don't mean don't care at all, I just mean--sometimes when you try too hard, then its kind of like not trying.

[He's not expressing it well, but Edgard actually has a lot of experience with this concept.]

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Was I spelling his name wrong this whole time? Yes, yes I was.

names schmames

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