eachdraidh | video; unseelie.

Well, now that that silver nonsense seems to be sorted out, I think we need to start talking about things we can actually fight back when they attack us.

[ About as direct a greeting into the topic of this message as you can get. Katsa sits somewhere outdoors, cross-legged in the grass with her locket angled to show the sky clear behind her: fitting for the mismatched colors of her eyes, unusually bright green and blue. ]

I know our High Majestic King and Queen [ the titles spoken with a hint of irony ] don't seem to care always how old someone is or how much experience you've with weapons or fighting when they decide to claim you. Whatever you think of this war, whether you'd rather run right into the Void right now or wait for it to come to you, everyone here should have the skills to unlock their own strength. It's better that you've the ability to jam a knife into a man's eyeball and never have to do it than find yourself at the end of an attacker's blade with no way to get out of it. You shouldn't have to rely on anyone else.

So I'll teach you if you've no experience of your own. I usually teach young girls—children—but I'll not turn my back if you need it. That includes how to use your shard—the thing that Seelie will try to take right out of your chest.

[ She moves to close the locket—then halts, fumbles, and picks something off the ground to hold flat in her palm to show anyone watching. ]

And what in the name of the Middluns am I supposed to do with this?

[ WHO HAS TURTLE CARE TIPS???? ]

( dated after boon delivery on the 25th! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Contingency planning that's gonna take a lot of work. I'm game with everyone else learning this, but I kind of counted myself out. [He shrugs.]

Though it might be that it could be good to know—good to see what comes of it when it's someone like me.

If everyone else is learning it, wouldn't you want a chance to match them? Or at least understand what sort of strength it is they're using?

[ Katsa's pointing these things out but it's less an attempt at convincing Jason than a simple desire to understand him. She hadn't originally thought much about shards herself, either. ]

Whatever it means when you say that, when it's someone like you.

Back where I come from, you don't really get that choice. Here, I've made up for it in other ways. Then again, those ways aren't going to help much against a shard. [Still, he wonders how his instability is going to play into these things. The Lazarus Pit's effects are what they are.]

Also, back where I come from, I'm your standard, well-trained fighter. No extra fancy skills or anything like that. And from what I heard, you draw upon your emotions, right? I'm not sure mine are the best to ... draw on. It might not look too pretty.

I didn’t learn it quite the same way, I think.

[ Katsa mulls that over, too. She’s not quite about to tell Jason, but she does know quite a lot about the danger of emotions. Rage has always been the one that scares her the most, and the emotion that always affected her the most, too; there was a reason Katsa had shut away her emotions as much as she could for her life. ]

You already know of my Grace. Hiro may have told you what it is, that it’s survival. That’s what I think of most when I use it—my own Grace, my strength, and what I can do to survive. That’s what using my shard is for me, far more than—than when I’m angry.

[ That’s something different. Something that still causes her to struggle. Katsa does not feel strong when she feels angry, as terrifying as her desire to hit and kill may be. ]

If you learn from anyone, maybe it’s better that it’s me. I don’t care if you start looking ugly, anyway. I’m not going to start waving onions at you and trying to make you cry.

[There is a long and thoughtful pause as he considers her words. If he taps into that side of himself and it overwhelms him, making him worse than he has been, is it possible that she could be the only one to handle it? He remembers the effects of the harp all too clearly, and that's what's made him hesitate. Even as Harry spelled it out to him a few weeks prior, he hadn't liked it. Drawing upon those emotions had unsettled him.

But she's meant to survive. If there is anyone who could overwhelm his own survival factor, it's someone with a supernatural survival factor. If anything, she would be the most equipped to counter him at every turn.]

Sounds to me like you have it right. There are a lot of people who are strong here, but this is ... different.

But don't think I'm so weak that I cry around onions.

You’d be surprised. I’ve seen bigger and stronger men than you weep at them. [ Katsa grins, just teasing him now. ] Certainly it’s not something I’d recommend relying on, but if you decide it might be worthwhile, I’ll be here.

My eyes are protected from such things, remember? [He doesn't know if they're protected at all.

But maybe he should ask Morla about that, just to ensure that his badassery continues. This is definitely a priority: defeating onions.]

I'll drop you a line once I make up my mind.

video; unseelie.

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