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Post by enchilada on Jan 28, 2019 22:29:18 GMT
Yesephina wiped her brow.
She’d volunteered her time, and her muscles, to help a traveling merchant get his things sorted before he left to purchase more wares to sell. Lifting crates and running around with them was just starting to get a hold on her, but it was the rather ill mule in front of her that had her attention now. The merchant was borrowing a different one while this one got better in Waterdeep, he’d be back soon, and Yesephina had promised to check on the animal, which she would, every day. There’s no point delaying, just grab it.
Getting the animal around her shoulders, the blue woman lifted with her knees, slowly, slowly straightening up. Keep it steady - yes - yep - okay. It was probably best to take this more slowly. She’d been going as fast as she could bear with the crates, but this was a living creature. She mumbled to it, to reassure it. Knowing that the mule would understand her made jobs like these easier. It wasn’t a long walk, just over to the wagon, then it’d be carted off properly, though if it came to it, Yesephina would absolutely walk with it on her shoulders all the way to the stables it was to stay in.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 28, 2019 22:52:45 GMT
Arioch felt like a stranger in an even stranger land. He had never seen such creatures walking alongside humans out far in the northlands where he lived. He had heard of the elves, those knife-eared aloof creatures that if oral history was anything to go by used to try and hunt his tribe out of existance in ancient times. Dwarves too, those hardy and stout short people that every now and then traded with his tribe. But everyone else? The weirdly colored humans? The half-orc breed talking freely through the streets and even some.. straight out animal people? That was crazy. That was insane. He wasn't sure on how to feel about that, it was like a huge world had just been dropped on top of him.
The first few weeks had been nothing short of staring at everyone and everything until he got around to become used to the sight of such strange beings. Then came the realisation that his gold wouldn't last forever and he would have to find a way to make more. Trading had done it's thing, and he was staying outside of the city but poaching could only get him so far. He had seen amazing weapons on display, he often stayed outside the shops just oogling at the fantastical looking weaponry and wondered what it would be to wield such things. But he needed gold to purchase it.
Of course, he could also steal them. But he didn't feel like trying his luck on the issue, he was reckless but not that foolish. Feeling so ignorant, so vulnerable left him feeling odd. Things came to an absolute excess when he saw a blue woman carrying a mule over his shoulder like it was nothing. If he hadn't had his mask on, it would have been obvious the way his jaw dropped in unbelief. It couldn't be, even the women were that strong on this land? He was worthless. Why couldn't he lift a mule if he was a warrior too? No, he wouldn't have it!
He quickly closened the gap towards the woman. The young man was wearing exotic clothing of what seemed to be a bizarre mixture between leather and some sort of fabric, with no armor whatsoever. He was carrying four javelins on one side of his back though, and a greatsword on the other. He spoke firmly and openly.
"Hey you! Yes you, strong blue voman! How can you possibly be that strong? Fight me!"
His voice was energic and young and his accent was thick, and harsh sounding. Surely her strength was but a ploy, or strength was all she had! He thought. What a strange creature.
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Post by enchilada on Jan 28, 2019 23:08:57 GMT
Yesephina was guilty of assuming everyone around her would be eight feet tall. She’d always done it, she felt she always would. She knew she always would. She held her face in soft confusion, then looked down. “Ah, o’course. Lemme sling down ol’ Humphrey here and I’ll get my wraps on.” Was that the mule’s name? She had literally no idea. She used it like a label, a pet name. Well, suppose it is a pet name since it’s a pet animal of sorts. Huh. Yesephina shrugged, and gently put the thing down in the back of a wagon, stroking its head gently and reassuringly. Everything will be okay. “You go on an’ get better, alright?” The mule had rougher fur than she anticipated. It was speckled and hefty, and had big eyes that made her heart long to stay with it. The animals were so much more pleasant than anything else that she’d met around Waterdeep, and even that could be said to be a stretch. The forests gave off this... energy that made everything sweeter, and everyone more tolerant and open. Gold had a nasty taste and it left everyone bitter, that was her bet.
“Now, le’s see here.” She walked on up to Arioch, crouching a bit to get a good look at his face. “What is you? A human? Or an elf! No.” Her jaw got a half decent stroke as she analysed this man with squinting eyes. There was something off about him. She didn’t dislike it - just found him in general to be strange. Eventually, she threw her hair up into a fresh bun. The work had left it loosely bouncing around the nape of her neck, that wouldn’t do. “Well, I’m a monk of the wandering temple.” She said it as though she was introducing herself, no name given, just her label. Funny how she’d forgotten the first label she’d ever spoken in this common tongue. Funny how she’d forgotten nothing, just made choices. What funny choices.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 28, 2019 23:30:33 GMT
The young man nodded with full expectations, getting hyped because his challenged had been accepted almost instantly. He was as excited as he was scared and he liked it. The woman was huge, it would make for an excellent challenge. Yes, he could surely prove just now how strong he had gotten. And after he blue woman, he could go on to find a blue man. If she was this tall, probably a blue man would be even bigger. Yes, he would take them all, Tempus as his witness he would make a name for himself. He'd challenge the entire city if it needed be, nothing would stop him.
"Yes!"
He payed no mind to the name of the mule, or the nature of the girl in and of itself, only the fact that she was super headstrong and forth about the challenge. He liked that, yes, there were strong people here. And when she declared to be a monk? He had absolutely no idea what a monk was but what else could it be other than a warrior title.
"My name is Arioch, warrior from the..." he hesitated, it wouldn't do him any good to just blurt out the name of his tribe there now, would it? Specially considering his reasons for being there in the first place, no, none at all. "Just a warrior, nothing special!" He then added energically at the end.
"I am no elf!" He protested "My ears are short and round!" Added, his voice still pretty firm and loud like if he was talking to a drill sargeant the whole time. He reached for the straps of his mask and untied it, revealing a young face beneath, pretty young in fact. He was ignorant of the laws of the city beyond the most basic stuff that most settlements shared. "Don't steal", "Don't kill illegally", "Don't go against authority", etc. So he wasn't quite sure if brawls in the streets were actually allowed or both of them would end up thrown in jail soon.
Anywho he got ready to toss the javelins and the greatsword aside in the ground and prepare to have a fist fight with the woman. He had no idea what she could do, as this was his first time facing off against anyone from the wandering temple tribe.
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Post by enchilada on Jan 28, 2019 23:47:19 GMT
“Well, while we go somewhere more quiet, I recommend you give it a second thought.” Her face fell for a second, she didn’t feel her wraps in her pocket, and she knew they helped prevent injury, and injury was bad because it meant she couldn’t help anyone down in the markets, like she always did. Huge hands patted down her clothes, before falling against a strange form, ah, yes, the wraps. They were in the wrong pocket.
As Yesephina started securing parts of her body, she continued, “See, with the Firbolgs in the forest, my lovely blood tribe, I was the biggest, the strongest and the best fighter. That said, we are related wiv giants, so ‘spose we’re meant to be big. No one tends to grow bigger than me though...” she blathered on, and on. She’d scared off all her sparring partners so far, she really hoped that Arioch would be able to sustain her attacks long enough, and, if he didn’t, at least she hoped that he wouldn’t be easily damaged by being crushed to death under the weight of a near twenty stone blue fuzzy mountain. No one had died! Yet.
“And treat yer shit better, maybe. It’s not terrible quality, but it might end up being terrible in a few days if you chuck it around.” She chuckled. “Nearly had my eye out!”
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 29, 2019 0:02:11 GMT
"Where should we go?" He questioned in that same high-energy, loud tone. After all this wasn't something ilegal, something to be ashamed of, it was something to be proud of an open about it. Right? When he heard about the Firbolgs the first thing he thought was "What the hell is a Firbolg?" But figured that it was the name of the blue-people race he had seen... Though she looked quite a bit different from them. He nodded at her explanation, excited. Yes! Not only was this woman huge and could carry a mule but also was related to giants and was the biggest and strongest from her tribe.
He kind of wondered what the hell would such a warrior be doing carrying a mule around, but in truth he couldn't care less, he was too excited about the thought of fighting her that for all he cared that could just be her way of exercising, lifting mules, because weights were too easy for her. It would be easy to get scared at such a prospect, but he had this kind of almost suicidal kind of courage, recklessness.
"Yes, yes, yes!" He said, hyped. "Excellent, great! I knew you'd be a warrior" He blatantly lied, he had no idea about anything in Waterdeep. "Surely with your training you became able to carry such a burden!"
He looked at the javelins on the ground and then up again at her and almost shouted in that military tone. "Javelin tips are meant to be cleaned, resharpened or replaced, they get smeared with fat and gore and dirt, surely some Waterdeep dust won't be any worse!" Once again he had no idea, it could be that the dust of the city rusted blades at an incredibly high rate. Nonetheless he picked up his stuff once again, a bit embarassed actually but he tried his best to hide it and keep a straight face like he knew exactly what he was doing at all times.
That was the same reason why he hadn't laughed along, he was too caught between embarassment, hype, and trying to look serious that he was too stiff to relax and actually take a joke. This was a matter of utmost honor that would be one of the many trials and tribulations of his tests as a warrior in order to regain his honor, the idea about taking it lightly enough to joke about it was, at least right then, a bit far out of his reach.
"Outside of the city no one would bother us!" He proposed then
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Post by enchilada on Jan 29, 2019 0:18:14 GMT
Running fingers along her jaw again, she mused for a second, eventually nodding. She could be wise, but she couldn’t be clever, she didn’t care to read, even the rules and regulations of a city she’d live in for a span. A part of her was excited by this boy’s eager tone, but another part of her was... worried. There was something she was missing from this situation. What person in their right mind wanted to brawl with a stranger who meant no ill, and had openly said she was the strongest of a race of giant-kin? Of course, she now assumed that he assumed she was being truthful, but Yesephina didn’t lie, and never would. It was dirty and dishonourable to do so.
Although, she didn’t exactly carry her tribe’s honour on her shoulders. She was unusual, a freak. No one wanted a fighter, no one wanted some machine built exclusively on brawn, like her own body. She’d carried the wisdom of the protectors and nurturers of nature with her for sure, but something like a charming demeanour, or a studious nature probably would have satisfied those around her more. Of course, she wasn’t there any longer. She was entirely able to do her own thing now, and her own thing was pretty much being exactly what they wanted as a person, just with different skills. She wasn’t angry any more, she could control it.
“You ‘n’ me, outside these walls, let’s go. Just don’t let me hurt you too bad, okay. I’d hate myself forever if I hurt someone for real.” She rubbed her arm, sighing to herself. Here we go again.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 29, 2019 18:28:24 GMT
"Vounds heal" He declared "Vear them with pride"
And that was true as far as he was concerned. Pain was temporary, but glory was eternal. No path ever worth walking was easy. His courage was still burning for now and so it was he began to walk towards where he thought the exit of the city was located... Not an easy feat right then. Still he pretended to know what he was doing but deliberately slowed down his pace as he tried to remember which path led to the exit passage. In the end he just looked up to the sky for a quick glance and traced the cardinal points and used that to remember that the exit was to the east and began walking eastwards. Eventually he would run into the exit, or against a wall but it couldn't be much farther away other than that. He had no plans about letting himself be hurt real bad, no more that any warrior would have, but if it happened, it happened.
Eventually he found the gate that led to the outside and walked past the long line of people walking into the city and past the tired guards who watched over the procession. He walked until they were far enough from the walls that no guard could intervene, near the farmlands and past the people who lived at the shadow of the wall. Then he turned around to face her, and finally took both javelins and greatsword and laid them against a tree before stretching a bit. There would be no such thing as warming up, because of the simple fact that walking so fast and so intently, while being so hyped, had pretty much done the trick for him already.
He wouldn't boast about being the best because he certainly wasn't yet, and neither would he try and provoke her or belittle her, that was beneath him.
This was an excellent chance to fight against someone native to this strange land and measure up against them. He could never win against the best warriors of his tribe, but now wanted to know where did this foreigners stood.
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Post by enchilada on Jan 29, 2019 18:54:53 GMT
Following after the boy wasn’t hard. She latched onto his figure in the crowds with her eyes, never losing sight of him. She threaded and weaved her way through the people, keeping herself from bumping into too many. Yesephina often found people didn’t like a tower of blue muscle ramming into them and stopping them on their way, usually from being knocked over. Her stomach may have been rock hard, but inside it was goopy and mushy, knotting and flipping. No matter how far she got in this tapestry of life, she still felt like a young pup, still at her first sparring session with her instructor. He really handed her ass to her that day, and she wouldn’t forget it. His calm and his way of life would always win over the pure anger and frustration that had built within Yesephina for decades, not towards anyone in particular, it’s just that the restraints put on her socially by her tribe made her feel so horrible, but she kept it for so long that it condensed into emotions that it never started as.
Yesephina cracked her knuckles, pulled her arms this way and that, rolled her neck around, and, while Arioch was being far more gentle with his belongings, she balanced on one leg, then the other, finally cracking her back. It felt so good to be readied. Anticipation was the best part, in her opinion, next to the aftermath. Seeing fresh bruises and cuts, feeling the acid in her muscles fade away, and actually massaging it away were all reasons to do this, reasons to fight, to train. Training would make her stronger, and pain would drive her forward, cycling forever until she underestimates a giant beast and fails to wrangle it. Although going out with a bang sounded fun, another part of her wanted to be in the forests, peacefully, maybe on the elder council, with flowers in her hair and a smile on her face. She’d be smiling either way.
“You come at me when you’re ready.”
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 29, 2019 19:56:44 GMT
"I'm alvays ready"
He declared, while it could have sounded like an awfully presumptous boast in actuality it had none of such tone. It was a plain declaration, like saying the sky was blue, no condescention in his voice, and no pride either. A warrior should always be ready to fight and take on any opponent. His own body despite his own youth had been honed by practices and hardships; the muscules could be clearly made out at a single glance, a hardened figure, and althought he had no scars yet on his body his eyes did not flinch at the challenge nor at the height and build of his opponent. He was afraid and could sense that fear being always present in the back of his mind but he had learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the resolution to go ahead despite it's presence. To be a coward was to give in to that fear, to listen to it's petty words long enough to be convinced to give in. No, he would take the hard route. The painful route. The route of effort and choose courage this time.
There were hardly things that could be considered martial arts among his tribe, it was a crude art without floriture or finesse, as it was meant for warriors of considerable build and not for everyone. He preferred combat with weapons, because he thought of it as a combat not only of the quickness of the body and the strength of your muscles, but also your wits, the ability to think on the moment and make judgement calls. Nonetheless it was also true that it was considerably harder to have a challenge that was not to the death while using weapons, so using fists was also just fine, even if it put him at a disadvantage against the giant woman. That was just all the better.
"Let's start!"
He declared, and lunged forward.
The fight lasted long enough; real fights never usually extended beyond the first minute, or maybe two if the people fighting were really resilient. Everything else was just theatrics or people just not giving it their all from the get go. His rage allowed him to last that long but did little to prevent the almost inevitable outcome of him almost quite literally biting the dust as his body hit the ground for the last time leaving a small trail as it skid aalong it's surface for more than a couple centimeters. Air escaped from his lungs, and his teeth were clenched together. He willed himself to get up once again but his body had decided it would no longer listen to his commands, as he was physically unnable to muster that kind of strength right then.
"Rrghhh" He gruntled on the ground, the view of the open sky above him and the winter trees being forced upon him as he squinted his eyes. "Damn it" He said, it was meant to be a shout but that was as loud as it came out. "I can't believe it..." He complained. It was a hollow complaint however, he very much could believe it, but it was just a way to voice his frustration at the whole deal. He had expected to at least be able to hold his own but being defeated had a sting all of it's own. It was bitersweet all in all, he had a tense smile upon his lips, his body hurt but it would heal. This just served to prove him that he was not yet even ready to take on a warrior of another tribe, he had a long way to go. Young as he was, that journey seemed far, far to long and his progress far, far too little.
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Post by enchilada on Jan 29, 2019 21:35:32 GMT
It was hard to press on when she knew he was almost spent, there’s no point overworking your body, you only have one. When it’s gone, what are you supposed to do? She felt like she was... mistreating him, it felt bad towards the end, but she saw in him a familiarity. A drive that was all too samey, and a defeat that she could feel through memory alone. The blow of the monk against her primitive chest, it didn’t have to be hard if it knocked an absolute beast down. Running her tongue over her lips, she could practically taste the busted lip, and she threw her head back. The sky soothed her, the Sun’s rays kept her in comfort, and the earth beneath her feet would stand strong for as long as it went undisturbed. She had to ground herself sometimes, and the situation forced it. Something felt really off... but that wasn’t the problem right now.
Yesephina caught her breath, doubling over with her clammy hands on her hot, worn out knees. This luxury she only indulged in for a second, before she strode over to her defeated opponent. She thrust a hand down, the other running her hair back to lie against her scalp. “C’mon, let’s get you up.” She grunted, between her heavy breaths and a slight wince. Punching might have gone too far, actually. That didn’t feel like a bruise, that was a muscle that desperately needed to relax. Or maybe even repair. She knew she’d fight through it, and by fight she meant help others do some heavy lifting. Although she was adept, she didn’t plan to punch another living being for some time yet. Firstly, it’s kinda rude.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Jan 30, 2019 22:03:27 GMT
"Ugh..."
He complained, and the grunt became more pronnounced once he reached out with his hand to meet her's, and hung on tight. One could see with luxurious detail the way his torso and abdomen hardened as he put whatever effort he could into holding on, and tried to bring himself up to stand again. Once he was up he hunched ever so slightly forward bringing both hands towards his knees.
"Yes. That vas alright." His squinted with his eyes as he tried to summon air back again into his lungs, to calm himself down and regain some manner of energy.
"Thanks for having me" He offered still without looking at her in the eyes, but it was mostl because he was still recovering from it. He only did it after he could stand fully straight once again. Not that it needed to be said; any warrior that took himself seriously would have accepted the challenge he reckoned, but that was no excuse to be impolite about it.
"I have seen you do not carry veapons around. But you said you vere a varrior... How can that be?"
He asked then
"Are you forbidden from carrying veapons vithin the city, or have you committed any crimes?" He hazarded a guess. He knew it could have been some kind of punishment for a warrior, to not be able to carry or use weapons, as punishment for some crime or shame. What was worse is that she was pretty good without any weapons at hand which made him think just what manner of warrior she really would be with a weapon in hand. He wanted to see that... And fight against that. In spite of his defeat, he felt he had learned a lot, and that was enough to keep him satisfied in his shame.
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Post by enchilada on Jan 30, 2019 22:35:38 GMT
“My weapons are kinda attached to me. I punch stuff good.” She cracked her knuckles to punctuate the sentence, allowing herself to grin triumphantly. “That’s what the monks taught me, no one’s ever tried t’teach me fightin’ with proper clubs and stuff, could probably give it a go.” Yesephina laughed, she sure could.
They’d tried to give her weapons, she passed tests and forgot about the training for the most part. She felt a direct approach ended up more successful, she had complete control over her blows, she could feel each impact with her own hands. All good things for a ‘warrior’, surely. Hot summers wasted away just striking, striking, striking again, training, kicking, slapping and punching, finding pressure points and subduing aggressors. Really, the simple life where she could use her muscles constructively rather than destructively made her happier, but she’d train with the monks again, she absolutely would, if only to come closer to tranquility.
“Listen, you’re welcome, sweetheart. If you wanna fight again you’ll probably find me in the market, I’m happy to help you get better at this.” She stood tall, back straight, shoulders back, but casually. Everything about her was natural, everything came naturally, except containing her emotions, that took effort. Yesephina felt too much, but that was a good thing, now she was happier.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Feb 3, 2019 17:54:56 GMT
For a minute he was dumbfounded at the response that her weapons were attatched to her and that she punched stuff "real good". He was used to warriors using... Well... Weapons of war! That was why they were warriors, were they not? Using weapons to slay either beasts or each other, fighting. It seemed common sense that they would be far better weapons that blunt fists or open hands... But he thought about it for a moment. Perhaps one on one really skillfull warriors would be able to best someone without anyone weapon in hand. After all it was known that in close quarters, for instance, a dagger was a better weapon than a broadsword.
But what if she were to be facing say, for example, a bear or a rather larger beast? Would her fists then still suffice to wrestle the beast down to the floor? It would be impressive to see but he had trouble believing someone could punch something so hard that it would make damage regardless of the size. Then he thought about it for a little bit more. Well, she needn't go around facing bears now, did she? She lived in a city and the most dangerous things of any large settlement he had learned, were the people that lived in them themselves. Perhaps using fists as weapons wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Specially when it came to beating people, if you were to kill someone in self defense or not it would be hard to pint down the murder on you, and also no one would want to throw shade on you if you could just outright walk up to them and smash them down with your bare fists. Certainly no one would try and take on you no matter the alcohol... At least no warrior. But he regarded the excessively violent ones, and the particularily cruel ones as little more than dumb beasts without honor.
The blue woman had earned thus a certain degree of respect from him, and not only becase she had beaten him.
"I could teach you if you vant." He said then as he stood up and regained his breath. He found it unbelievable that no one had taught her how to fight with a proper weapon. Had they been keeping her down on purpose, because they were afraid she would be even better than she was now? That was a crime. "To fight with veapons"
Then he nodded. He would ask around again to where the market was to have their rematch after he had more practice and experience to show, not that fighting unarmed was his forte precisely but he wanted to learn all there was to fighting. After all it was not unthinkeable that eventually he could find himself without his weapon, and could be forced to fight unnarmed. Maybe even a superior foe, or a foe armed with really heavy armor or something along those lines. No, one really had no excuse to not know any and all forms of combat available. At least not if you called yourself a warrior.
"I vill then" He said with a bloodied smile, the white of his teeth smeared with red "I vill find you in the market again soon, blue voman of the vandering temple."
He looked forward to the prospect of fighting here again. He didn't ask for her name, if he didn't give it to him she probably would of have a good reason or didn't consider him worthy enough. It was within her rights as the winner, however, and he would not dispute that. But maybe next time he would learn it. Perhaps she didn't want this fight to be remembered or did not consider it important enough. It was full of different possibilities. She knew his name though, but not where to find him.
In truth he was not even staying withing the city but outside, the place was much too cramped for him and there was too many things going on at once. It would take some serious acclimatization before he felt ready, or at least comfortable, living within the city. That and the fact that he did not yet understand half of the strange customs most people bled into the city. He gathered there were many travelers and merchants inside, all of them with their different cultures and ways bleeding into one massive miscilanous pile of tendencies. He disliked that. He disliked that very much: The lack of a cultural identity was something abhorrent to him. Made it easy to fall prey to coin. To greed. Saw them turning inwards. To not live for something greater... If you had no tribe, no god.
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Post by enchilada on Feb 3, 2019 22:06:35 GMT
“You don’t need to teach me. I just choose not to use em.” Yesephina grinned. Maybe she’d manage to get someone to take an interest in the great skills that were martial arts. She believed in herself and her body, and so it did. Did what? Everything she believed it could. Her force of will kept her up, kept her fighting and stretching her boundaries, finding the maximum and breaking that ceiling, pushing past breaking point. She had no doubt that she’d harm herself quite badly this way. She didn’t care. It was how she got to be the way she was. “I can’t... really explain it, but it’s just better. Trust me.”
She pondered on his words for a second. “You don’t wanna grab a drink? I’ll pay.” A quick ale sounded nice, but a part of her also wanted a nice warm tankard of something softer, but Yesephina figured she should stay all brute in front of this guy. A weird one. “And I’m a firbolg woman, sorry, I never caught what you were?” Labels. Grass, tree of oak, fox. All these were things. Given that this boy was from somewhere outside the city, maybe he would understand what she meant. Nothing special warrior... what? Just calling him boy seemed rude, maybe less rude in a town of his kin, but that’s not where they were.
Yesephina thought she’d tell him some stories. Especially ones about weakness, or growth into strength. Perhaps he’d learn from them. She wasn’t a mentor, but she’d been alive for a fair slab of time, she knew, she saw, she heard. She had scars to prove it. Less recently, since she’d grown a bit, on her journey as a warrior, plus, she was a monk for a little while. Like a proper one, in a monastery. She’d never live that down, but she learned so much there.
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