4 ✦ voice ✦ unseelie locked ✦ 1/7

[erythristic]

By now, I'm sure nearly all of us have heard the news. This is a war, despite the slight amount of peace we were afforded.

To this, I've set up preparations to have space at the Ward cleared out, for use in conducting a series of training sessions this month for those who wish to learn the arts of hand to hand and swordplay, or wish to refine their technique. The beginner's class will be in the morning, the more advanced class in the afternoon.

I am also looking for those who'd wish to instruct beside me. Our ranks have quite the accomplished sort among them, and if you have the time, the desire, and the patience to impart your knowledge, I ask that you please do.

We begin tomorrow morning at half past eight.

Comments

[erythristic]

What a question. [she laughs softly, but she's seriously considering the words.] Perhaps not so abstractly, but I've faced forces people might see as nothing more than superstitious lore on multiple occasions back in my world.

[none needed to know she'd failed in killing them in both circumstances. that was her private shame. but had she really tried to destroy rather than play or capture, she wonders how different it would have gone.]

[manipulative]

[ katherine purses her lips, a hm evident over the locket as she mulls over grell's own response. perhaps her blurring and disappearing from sight to only appear on the opposite end of a field won't surprise her as much as it may another. the revelation she's a vampire isn't one she shies away from revealing, but it's a card she likes to play carefully. ]

Perhaps you'll teach me? I'm used to wielding weapons as spears, but there's no harm in learning how to hold a sword, even if I happen to be a little clumsy with it.

[erythristic]

If you show up to the lessons, I can make it a promise. The fact that you're used to a type of combat already gives me ideas...and I promise that I won't go easy on you just because we know each other.

[manipulative]

[ katherine laughs lightly, feeling as friendly as she sounds, ] I wouldn't dream of asking you to go easy on me.

[ but she can't quite leave it at that. her bond with grell had begun beneath the chase of the moon and the ripping into a specific knight. it's only fair she make this a training that both of them can walk away pleased from. she sounds almost giddy. ] But you may find the spear I bring with me familiar. [ she pauses, grinning as though she's the cat who caught the elusive and rare canary. ] It's from our dearest friend.

[erythristic]

[Grell laughs at that, high and honest. it's been a while since she got such good news.]

Glorious! I would say you should carry it into battle the next time you go, see if you can't add some insult to the inevitable injury. What I would give to see her face.

[manipulative]

Perhaps we'll be side by side. [ instead of katherine merely coming in at the right moment, her timing always impeccable. but she thought grell would get a kick out of it, the spear that had split and perhaps even fractured a young girl's hope tethering them together. ] I wouldn't want you to miss witnessing me piercing her heart with her previous weapon. It'd be a shame.

[erythristic]

I wouldn't miss it for the world. Remind me at one point to tell you just how darling Miss La Rue is.

[manipulative]

[ hey, there's a name there. katherine had ripped the thank you note from the seelie monarchs elijah had in his possession to shreds, but she hadn't quite acquired her name. ]

If I don't impale myself on a sword, you should tell me when we train. It'll be great incentive. I love stories.

[erythristic]

If you can focus on two things at once, I'll tell you while we train. Sound promising?

[manipulative]

[ katherine laughs. ] Oh, it does. I'll work even harder for it. [ without breaking a sweat, she presumes. perhaps this training thing, which sounded mundane to begin with since it was so human, can be fun for someone like katherine after all. ]

And if there's any others … I'm afraid I haven't been in the Drabwurld long enough to collect stories of my own.

[erythristic]

I've been here for some time. There are a few stories I've collected, and if you'll allow me to boast, I could even tell you about the time involving an actual dragon.

[it's been months and she's still so proud of that.]

[manipulative]

[ katherine's old, but she's not that old — or that fanciful. ]

[ she arches a brow, but her disbelief is palpable in her voice. ] ... A dragon?

[erythristic]

[Grell laughs, coming to a decision that was as simple as it was impulsive.]

...Oh, why not, I can finish this dull work later and come tell you the story now. There's a bottle of wine I've been saving for drinking with company as well.

[y/y?]

[manipulative]

[ y! ]

This must be a very good story if you'll put aside dull work for good company. [ katherine preens, nonetheless, in her teasing. still, she can't really get over dragon. she'd look to armel and request he explain it to her, but she's currently still taken aback. ] If you're in Caer Scima, it's the door with a handsome man waiting outside for you.

[ armel will simply stand outside like a butler. he's really good at that. ]

[erythristic]

[she is in Caer Scima, and she'll show up after borrowing two glasses to hold the wine she brings. the man outside? a lovely bonus for the eyes, and even better when she is informed that yes, these are Lady Katherine's quarters, and shown inside.

someone's got to explain that dragons are less than myth here, after all, and since she's had a personal encounter, why not her?]

[manipulative]

[ referring to her as lady katherine as he enters her rather unimpressive suite, it fit for a peasant more than the lady armel falsely believes her to be, she smiles when she sees grell. vibrant red hair, a tale on her lips — it's the kind of company katherine has always enjoyed. pearl had a great many stories from her years as a vampire; it's a shame she had to waste within the tomb and meet her inevitable end so soon after she'd been found. but it's what she's always missed — a good story. she's been the writer of so many she's forgotten she had once been an avid reader. ]

Grell. [ her voice is warm. armel remains where he is, always so stoic and on alert, a guard when she has never quite required one. her eyes drift toward the bottle of wine, still smiling. ] You weren't lying about the wine.

[erythristic]

Did you have any convictions that I would lie?

[this was the kind she'd charmed Saber into gifting her, slightly heady but certainly sweet smelling and something one had to be cautious not to get carried away with. thus, it is the perfect accompaniment to the dashing tale.]

Really now. I don't lie to people I like.

[manipulative]

[ would katherine lie? she never has — always on the receiving end of such accusations, she had always preened beneath the fact she had always told the truth. she'd learned, very early on, that it often lured those she wished to gravitate toward her to her as a lie often spurred them away. she doesn't think grell to be a liar, even though her compliment of liking her is often thought to be a lie in itself — for no one likes katherine pierce for katherine. ]

[ she smiles. her room is very sparse and small, but she's managed to fit a small couch inside of it to bring herself some comfort within a rather mundane suite. gesturing toward it for grell to sit, she takes to her end of the couch as armel disappears out the door for a moment. ] I find the best stories are often those with a little truth to them.

[erythristic]

[she'll take the other side of it, falling on the couch in a sort of graceful lounge. it's a bit of a long story, so she wants to be comfortable.]

And this one has a lot of truth in it. I'll only skip over the boring parts.

Now, it actually doesn't begin at quite the beginning you'd think it would. There was a battle some time back -- if you ever hear about something called a Silmaril, that's what I'm referring to. That was....tragic business. [Celegorm.] Anyway! Before that battle, Her Majesty gave me two things, which were the sword I carry and a letter asking me to help eliminate our enemy at Redgate.

Redgate, if you don't know, is a city and fortress both in the western lands. An extraordinary place, beautiful and severe, and constructed with a very special property in its very walls...blood granite.