[ OPEN ] Heart's on fire

[ombranera]

WHO: Character(s)
WHAT: Zevran Aranai's School for Rogues Who Can't Sneak Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Too.
WHEN: Wintermarch, all month
WHERE: Skyhold: Courtyard, Stables, Rookery, Battlements, etc
NOTES: Sass, Stealth, and Violence

He had mulled over the notion for a few weeks now; watching the soldiers take themselves to task, the warriors practicing as best they could; the mages training in their spells and thought- aside from combat (and even then there were tricks soldiers did not always think to teach) how was a rascal, a scoundrel, a rogue to learn more tricks? A well trained operation of any sort had well trained members of all sorts; the bruisers, the wizards, the rogues. Perhaps it was high time someone did something for the sneakier sorts.


[ Courtyard ]

Every lesson starts the same- a quick lap around the courtyard as fast as possible, vaulting over people and structures, running along the wall, making use of all the same skills that kept him alive all those years in Antiva City. For those that did not know them? The tricks came as a brief primer after the lap was finished- even a brief demonstration is offered. Afterward he runs them through a few training locks set into empty chests, some of the them wound with ringing alarms for the sake of practice. Trip the wrong tumbler? Off goes the alarm. After that it's stealth and pickpocketing. Sneaking about through a field of tripwires connected to more ringing bells and powder packets, a veritable labyrinth. Any bells go off, any powder on your person? You go through again. One of the training dummies has been re-purposed with bells and pouches on it- each pouch has a bell attached. They're timed and told to get as many as possible without ringing any bells. Ring a bell? Run a lap.


[ Stables ]

Here there is room enough for him to demonstrate proper trap production and dismantling. Every wound spring, every steel mechanism. They start with the basic bladed traps- though none of the blades are sharpened and none of the powder explosions hold more than dye. Once they've made traps that are...decent or satisfactory, Zevran walks them through detection and dismantling. Some of the practice traps have trick springs and triggers- if set off they'll be dusted with powder instead of losing their fingers. Later he goes through a list of common poisons and venoms to create and how to build up a tolerance for them. He does not provide them with samples this early on.


[ Battlements ]

Rappelling and dueling and improvisational combat and you! Here Zevran shows them how to climb, how to fall, how to make their own ropes when they've none of their own, how to throw a rappel to make it stay, how to haul it down, and how to dual wield on uneven ground. Demonstrations with Isabela and sparring with whoever wishes to take their turn happens throughout the day as requested; Zevran also covers grappling, breaking holds, and how to fight dirty. An honorable rogue is a dead rogue after all.


[ Wildcard ]

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Comments

[arlathvhen]

Her eyes are intent on his hands as he explains, and she nods slowly as he asks her to repeat what he did. She felt nervous, unsure, and fairly certain she was going to fail, but she was determined to at least try. She had to get this done, it was important. Not even the pickpocking--she failed to see how that would ever be relevant to her, but she wanted to be able to do it, because Zevran thought she could.

It's easy enough for her to slip her fingers in--They're the long, nimble fingers of a lifetime archer. But it was when she pulled the paper out that she struggled with. She couldn't quite get as much control over the paper as her fingers, and as she tugged it out, the slip of paper knocked around enough to send the bell ringing.

Beleth makes another face.

[ombranera]

"Ah, you just about have it." He reaches over to rest a hand against her shoulder, taking his wrist with the other. "Slow. Coins will be thicker and thus, simpler to remove. Which is why you are learning with paper."

Learn how to do something the hard way- performing it the easy way becomes a simple enough task. He guides her through the motions like this, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her wrist once more before letting go and stepping back. "Again. Relax, Beleth. You are thinking too hard."

[arlathvhen]

Thinking too much. She did that a lot. "Too bad I can't turn quantity into quality." She murmured, more to herself than Zevran. Then she's being touched, and for a second, she stiffens. But it's Zevran, and she trusts him, so she relaxes, letting him guide her. Relax. Stop thinking. Yeah, that's definitely her natural state to be in.

But she knows she needs to give it a try.

So she does--going slower than before, probably too slow for a realistic mark to not realize what she was doing. But she's intent on carefully mimicking Zevran and how he'd shown her to move her wrist, pulling the piece of paper out of the pouch. The bell moved just slightly--better than before, though.

"Ah--I think...that's better...? I'll keep trying."

[ombranera]

"Thinking a great deal is no fault so long as what you are thinking is productive- winding oneself up like a spring when there is no strike that needs to happen? Is exhausting. Trust me." He had been there, done that, gotten it fucked back out of him again with great vigor and enthusiasm, and was slowly on the edge of winding himself back up again. But-

Things his student did not need to know.

"Once more, on your own." He repeated the gesture for her one last time before stepping away so she might attempt it by herself. "Master it slow and you can work on speed. Do not think unless it is to remember how it felt."

[arlathvhen]

"I drink a lot of tea," She mutters again, though this one is accompanied by that wry little smile that comes with Beleth being a smartass. Thank you for not telling her about your own coping, Zevran. She appreciates it.

When he backs off, she takes a deep breath, nodding. Okay, she can do this. She can. She is totally awesome and capable of doing these kinds of things. Just don't think. Stop thinking. No thoughts.

She ends up spending the entire time thinking about how she isn't supposed to think, but at least she manages, slowly, to reach back in to the pouch, slowly withdrawing the slip of paper from it. And, finally, the bell has nothing to say on the matter. Beleth stares at the paper in her fingers, as surprised as if the paper had just appeared there of its own accord.

"I did it...?"

[ombranera]

The smile that breaks over his face feels strange if only because how unaccustomed he is in the feeling that prompts it. Pride. Not in his own skills, but in those of who he is teaching. It is a safer, kinder manner of pride, one he feels he might come to enjoy as his students progress. "Excellent work, Beleth."

He steps back in to rest a hand on her back doubly pleased with her for not only managing the paper- but for rerouting her thinking in order to do so.

Something like that? Is not easily done. "You did indeed."

[arlathvhen]

She continued to stare in surprise at the paper in her hand for a few seconds, almost unbelieving. She was ready to punch the stupid dummy and be done with it, and now she'd managed to successfully remove the paper. It was slow, and she doubted that any real person she did it on wouldn't notice, unless she was picking the pocket of the comatose.

But she did it.

And that is when she turns to Zevran, a bright smile on her face, and she throws her arms around him. As unusual as pride in others may be for him, it's just as odd for her to feel pride in herself. But here it is. And it feels great, all the buzzing in the back of her head momentarily silenced by this achievement, however small it may be.

"Thank you, Zevran."

[ombranera]

Pride was an assassin's greatest tool and worst weakness in the crows. But this is not the Crows and Beleth is no assassin. He is coaxing her slowly, gently into being able to stand on her own without leaning so much. To finding her core and working with that rather than constantly adapting the whole of herself rather than a mask that can be worn or discarded at will.

She's doing so well and yes- he is proud.

That she hurls herself at him in an embrace is a surprise- but he does not let his startle show. He pats her back, hugging her easily. "Well done."

[arlathvhen]

And he's hugging her back, which means that she hasn't over stepped. That's good. Everything is going... really good. It's kind of weird, really. If you ignore shit that's going on with other clanmates. Which seemed like a good idea to do right now.

She pulled away, giving the other elf a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Zevran. It's just because you're a great teacher. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with pickpocketing, but. Um. I'll let you know if it ever comes up? Maybe if I meet someone who keeps those Orlesian cakes in their pocket..."

[ombranera]

Another kiss, another soft chuff of laughter before he steps away, hands on her shoulders. "Every skill you have is of use. It may not come in handy just now but in the future? Perhaps it might save your life. Another important thing to know is if you can take something out without notice- you can too put something in without being detected. It is a fine way to pass along information without being caught or recognized."

That, more than anything else, was the point of this for Beleth.