allthenotes | late night 28

[ For a long, long time he stares at the blank, open pages of his journal, tapping the end of his pencil against the paper, cheek resting against the backs of his fingers. Is this a good idea, he wonders? Will it be any more successful than his previous attempts to get into the martial arts? He's already stretching himself thin juggling magic, work, and survival and he's fumbled even the most basic attempts at self-defence. What's to say learning to wield a weapon won't waste even more time?

He scrubs a hand through his hair and heaves a quiet, dejected sigh. This will be the third time he's opened the journal. Does he want it to be the third time he closes the book without writing a single word? He glances around the storage room nervously, suddenly paranoid that someone will emerge from the stairs or the corridor and ask what he's doing.

This is stupid...

Kaito leans back against the wall and bites his lip. Eventually, he starts to scratch out his request. ]

Hey, everyone. I dunno who still reads these, but is there anyone who'd be able to teach me how to fight? I'm dexterous, good at dodging, and I think I have decent arm strength.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Doesn't trigger that often. Don't worry 'bout that. Should be good for a long while."

She won't tell him what she saw. Anyone would want to keep that quiet. So with a deep breath, she pushes away from the wall, running a hand back through her hair.

"...But I sure as 'ells am gonna teach y' to fight."

There's an anger, there, bubbling beneath the surface. Not at him, not at all. He's someone who was a victim in all of that. But those strange men? Oh, she'd take pleasure in knowing a few more were dead if she could.

"T' start with, what can you do with a knife?"

'A long while' wasn't 'never', Kaito thought sourly. He looked at his feet, sorely tempted to walk away. But was that all he was going to do with his life? Run from his problems? How would he be able to stand beside Walter then and be seen as anything other than fragile?

"...I can juggle them," he said grudgingly. "Thought about learning to throw them but I don't want to ruin the knives I have."

She considers, for a moment, offering her own daggers to attempt with but. Then she reconsiders when she realizes how they'd be swords compared to him--which only happens because she'd removed them. She nods a bit.

"You'll want to buy some fer throwin'. They're useful, in more ways than you could know. But we'll work on that some other time. But if y' can juggle, then this shouldn't be too hard, I hope."

She's going to take a step back and for the moment this is just showing off some of her moves. A preview. So that's going to be a full combo of her moves plus a few other, smaller knife tricks.

"An' if we do it right and I'm 'alf the teacher mine were t' me, you'll be just' fine and be doin'
stuff like that after awhile. We'll start simple an' I'll teach y' throwing another day. Sleight o' hand is gonna be yer best friend as a rogue."

He was taken aback by the ferocity of her moves. True, he had seen Walter fight before, an elegant dance of man and high-tensile wires, but her flashing steel was more aggressive. It hit home the fact that what he was asking was to learn was how to hurt others. Perhaps even kill them.

Kaito was of course familiar with tales of ninja and shinobi from his homeland. It was actually surprising to hear her call herself one since he assumed she came from a foreign world. Perhaps that was for the best, however; it meant there was a small connection to his roots and he found comfort in it.

"I know how to do sleight of hand already. I'm magician." He demonstrated by holding up his hand, wriggling his fingers. Between the clench of his fist and it opening, a playing card somehow appeared between his fingers. "I don't see what that has to do with being a shinobi though."

"A shinobi's greatest ally is stealth an' moving quickly and sneakily. We move in the darkmans--night and darkness--and it's our job to hit the enemy with surprise. It minimalizes the amount of 'urt. Stun, silence, whatever. The more 'armless you seem, the more dangerous you can become at the drop of a pin."

She's hoping that makes sense. Disguise, stealth, that's her bread and butter.

"For example, lookin' like yer browsin' a busy marketplace while yer followin' someone for information. Or even comin' in as one o' their guards an' they'll get a stabber through the 'eart that way. But it also means our 'ands have to be fast an' good at what they do."

Kaito nodded slowly. "I see..." It wasn't that different to what he did as Kid. The difference was he would be stabbing people rather than pickpocketing them.

"We have shinobi where I'm from as well," he admitted. "They don't exist any more but they kinda do the same thing. And I...I already know how to do those other things you mentioned. The non-knife things."

"That's good." So it'll mostly be knife skills. That much is going to be a lot easier. She's going to have to teach him how to whip one around without hurting himself especially.

"Shinobi come from across th' sea. Othard. Refugees. I got lucky, had a spark they liked."

Thancred would claim it was just accidental reflex that he slipped into the ballroom leaning on stealth himself, but the truth had more to do with a mix of nerves about the Castle lately, and his lifelong game of 'where did you come from'.

"It doesn't hurt that our homeland has a similar tradition, either."

Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin with fright. He hadn't heard Thancred enter. He had been expecting the man to show up, but still...

He quickly straightened, hoping his rapidly beating heart didn't show too plainly on his face. "Uh, if I remember... You were more like a thief than a ninja," Kaito said uncertainly.

Syhrgeim stares for a few moments, at Thancred's arrival, then starts laughing heartily.

"He's a rogue, an' a bloody good 'un. I know 'im, don't worry. The rogue's guild--the Upright Thieves afore at one point. So ye aren't that far off. Long story what they do."

She's going to walk over and pat Thancred on the shoulder.

"Well come, Magpie. It's good t' see ye."

late night 28

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