faderift | open, catch-all

Right?

[Matthias wiggles the sword in the dirt, digging its tip a bit deeper.]

That's why I like it. People don't know it so they don't like it. Me, I'm best with fire, which yeah, it's dead scary, 'course it is, but fires happen all the time. So people know it, don't they. They can get a bucket of water and, [he makes a fizzling sound,] at least if it's small enough. But lighting is up there, in the sky, so people haven't got a way to fight it.

That's why you went for it, then? Or were you just natural with it, like?

[ Linden has never been a natural at anything in his life. ]

I've always had a preference for small magic. This can be small.

[ Then: ]

What is your name?

[Small? Can't relate, but to each his own and all.]

Oh--sorry. I forget, sometimes--not my name, 'course I know that. The introduction bit is what I forget. I'm called Matthias. What about you?

[ A very light smile touches Linden's grim lips. There and gone; he lowers his head in a bow a moment after. ]

Linden.

[ He lifts his head again. ]

There are ways to use lightning with a blade.

[Matthias brightens at that mention, a little flower turning its face toward a sun, if the sun was a ball of lightning, or a short old elf. He looks down at his sword--chipped, worn, used, ready to be used. He hefts it.]

Show me?

[This is another mage, so. He does have manners enough to make that sound more question than demand.]

Edited 2022-02-16 04:28 (UTC)

[ Linden is not particularly charming. His manner doesn't exude confidence or charisma. But - Well, apostates train apostates. As someone who's made it to an advanced age, he's had several generations of students, now - and so there's a familiarity and sturdiness to him as he draws his knife. ]

That blade is ill-suited to it.

[ Instead: a dagger, grip wrapped in leather, but metal pommel exposed. He holds it out briefly for Matthias' inspection, then shifts his hold. It is worth noting: this grip is that of a back-alley cutpurse, a reversed grip with the knife's edge pointing outwards. And his movements - slowed, to make them more obvious - are likewise nothing that would be seen on most battlefields.

He feints at half-speed, then mimes driving the knife into Matthias' thigh, stopping a few inches short of making contact. At the moment when the knife comes in nearest, his thumb comes up and covers the pommel - and a spark leaps off the blade, zapping lightly at Matthias' thigh, light enough that it hardly stings. ]

The skin is a powerful barrier against lightning. It blocks most damage. But if you can get past that barrier...

[Matthias takes the initial critique in stride and drops his sword arm without blanching or pulling any sort of face. He's used to being on the receiving end of this sort of plain instruction, as used to it as Linden is to offering it--and he listens attentively, watches closely as Linden demonstrates, marking out the moves so he can (with any luck) recreate them. And he thinks as he's watching--well, the fellow's style does look different. Then again, Matthias has been training with Riftwatch now, learning from mages and from those that know swordplay more expertly. That might be why.

He makes a little grimace at that tiny jolt of lightning, but only for show, acknowledging the effectiveness of the it. Nothing to do with any pain.]

You can get past if you can force your way past. So it's got to be power, and something what channels it. That's what the blade is for?

[ A nod. Linden's manner is still solemn-bordering-on-grim, but there's perhaps a bit more ease in his manner. A little less stiffness. ]

The metal conducts. Silver is best. Copper does well, as well. Steel, less than you'd think.

[ Another slow movement as he demonstrates a strike - this time, to Matthias' side, just below the armpit, where an armor-clad enemy might have a gap in their protection. ]

The closer you can get to the heart, the better. It disrupts the functioning of the circulatory system. You can kill a man in one strike.

[Circulatory. Matthias bites down on his tongue, lest he actually mouth the word like a right idiot. But he will remember the word, and the instruction. The heart, central in the body, second to the brain and a step above the spleen. Circulatory. He raises his arm a bit so he can look at the place Linden is aiming for, mentally adding in the armor that ought to be there.]

But wouldn't a sword be better? I mean, not a steel sword, if it's not going to, [what did he say? Circulatory, no, the other one,] conduct as well. But if you had a copper sword, it'd do the job and it'd be longer so you'd have better reach and all, right?

[ He inclines his chin in agreement, then tilts his head to the side in a silent but. ]

If you can move quickly enough. But while swords have superior reach, they also are slow. Heavy. A knife is quick.

[ He considers a moment. Thinks about the battlefield, how it's different from the alleys and corners of Starkhaven. ]

If reach is what's desired, a spear might do. Wires running up to the tip.

[ Interesting thought, now that he's thinking it. ]

[Already Matthias had taken encouragement from even that brief acknowledgement. He is always eager to be considered even a little bright and useful--and eager, too, to be taken seriously, to have his suggestions thoughtfully weighed. This shows plainly on his face, as does his every emotion. At the suggestion of a spear, he brightens even more.]

Yeah. A spear. And you could chuck it, too--easier'n you could chuck a sword. I only ever thought of swords--in general, like, for fighting--but a spear would be dead brilliant. I s'ppose--well, I did want to be a knight-enchanter for a bit--only when I was small, before I grew a real brain and got sense and all. That might be why. 'Cause a knight-enchanter, that image, it sticks with you, doesn't it.

[ Linden supposes he ought to know what a knight-enchanter is. He also knows better than to ask. He'll find out before the next time he speaks with a real mage. ]

There is no shame in having an aspiration, young Matthias. On the contrary - you should be proud to have been so driven.

[ Which isn't idle flattery. Many of Linden's own students were paralyzed with indecision, and he had to be the one to set a path for them. To strive for a goal - even if it is not your final goal - it is admirably bold. A way to keep moving. (And besides, Matthias seems so starved for praise. This seems a simple way to win an ally. Just a few easy words.) ]

I'm not that young.

[--For the record. Matthias gives Linden a little grin to show that there's no hard feelings at having been addressed that way. At least, not this time, and not in this setting.]

Thanks, though. I dunno about being driven. No one's ever said that to me before, precisely. I like to be good at things and I like to be useful and I like magic.

[That, he says with real pride. Less defiance than maybe he might have put in before. But who would he be defying, here? If you can't admit to liking magic to another mage, who can you admit it to. He sticks the tip of his sword back in the dirt, wiggles it about a bit.]

What were you doing? Before Riftwatch, I mean. Well--the war, I reckon, obviously.

[ Linden lowers his head in a bow. ]

Forgive me. At my age, everyone appears young.

[ Not even a lie. So few get to his age. Particularly if they're mages. There's a faint, distant twinge as he wonders how many wrinkles Matthias will have time to develop before he dies. Not many, if the child's manner is any indication of his recklessness.

Then, something slightly closer to a lie - ]

The war. Where do you come from, Matthias?

[He gives Linden another little grin, appreciative of anyone who can be a little self-deprecating. Olds don't always want to call themselves old, do they, so when they do, it's amusing. And no hard feelings besides, seriously.]

My Circle was Tantervale, but I was a Marcher before that as well. You're from Starkhaven?

I am.

[ A very, very faint smile, faint enough that it might have been nothing more than a passing bit of gas. ]

Could you tell by my accent? Or have you simply heard me speak of myself?

We-ell--both, a bit, if I'm honest.

[Matthias wiggles the sword in the dirt again.]

I'm Forces assistant so I've got to pay attention to who's in the division, for reporting and all. I try and learn about everyone as best I can on the sending crystals before I've actually met them. Not like a spy, [he's quick to clarify that,] only so I know what I can. But I know Starkhaven accents as well. You've got to know Marcus Rowantree.

[Enchanter. He manages, only just, to keep the title back.]

[ Linden does...not. But by context, he can presume that this fellow is from Starkhaven as well. So, note to self: avoid him.

A noncommittal grunt that sounds like affirmation. ]

Cleverly done.

Maybe.

[His grin tints a little self-conscious, and Matthias drops his gaze to the dirt, where the point of the sword has worked a little hole. He wiggles it again, driving it deeper.

For someone that likes to talk, Matthias knows plenty of people who don't like to talk. He's with someone who doesn't like much to talk. He knows how to balance a conversation and then some. He doesn't bat an eye at the lack of engagement, but presses onward. (And anyway, he does like the compliments. There's nothing wrong with that.)]

I do get bored as well sometimes, so. Listening in on the crystals, making little maps, like, of everyone--that helps. Maker, but boredom is something. I think about that now and then. Everything's so different. I never even knew what being bored was and now I do. Er, anyway--so how're you finding Riftwatch, then? Liking it all right?

[ And Linden - Well, he likes people who talk. Really honestly does. A little of it is calculated, yes - someone who chatters is someone who lets things slip - but more of it is just that he likes it. Likes having someone simply chatter away. It's a bright and friendly sort of sound. ]

Well enough.

[ And an encouraging little nod. ]

War wasn't boring?

Good. If you need anything--

[He lifts his chin in a self-referential little nod.]

But you know how it is, though. With the war. Not boring, precisely, even in the quiet bits, 'cause you've always got to be a little worried in your, whatsit, [he waves at the side of his face,] periphery. Here--well, we're at war, but... I dunno. It's different.

[ He tilts his head slightly. ]

Why do you think that is?

'Cause--

[Matthias charges straight ahead into answering before realizing that he doesn't know how he plans to respond. He cuts himself off with a frown and--trying something somewhat new to him--thinks for a moment.]

'Cause... Well, freedom, is what it comes down to. I'm not only a mage, I'm in Riftwatch, and I'm a mage. And that's appreciated and valued in a way it's not always. I know in the war we were all mages, but we weren't hardly living. At least I wasn't. It was running from one place to the next and hiding between battles and sleeping on the ground, couldn't hardly breathe. Riftwatch is an organization, yeah, but there's--space, like, to live in and in the day as well. And I get paid--that helps as well. I never had as much coin as I do now in Riftwatch, not in the Circle or after and certainly not before. [You know, at nine years of age and all.] So that helps as well.

[He shrugs with a measure of self-consciousness.]

If that makes sense.

Edited 2022-03-07 00:39 (UTC)

It does.

[ Linden says nothing else, but his quiet is an inviting sort of quiet - he looks interested and engaged, his eyes remaining on Matthias, giving slight nods at appropriate times to indicate his agreement. It's not the sort of quiet that makes you feel embarrassed; it's the sort of quiet that leaves you room to expand on anything you want to. ]

[And Matthias, in turn, gains confidence as he goes on. His shoulders drop, his manner becomes increasingly relaxed, and--at least by the time he finishes that first speech--his ears are only a little pink from being listened to.]

Only I do miss it sometimes, if I'm honest. The other way. Not--the Circles, 'course. Not the bit where we always thought we were going to die. But there's, politics, like, to being in Riftwatch. It's a load of people, a load of different people--Templars, even, sometimes--and you've got to work with 'em and listen to 'em--and sometimes Riftwatch isn't for us. It ends up being for someone else, or something else, and you've got to go along with that, at least in some way. Or, well. Leave, I s'ppose.

open, catch-all

o to be a mage with powers of lighting

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