Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom laughed easily, even in the face of the warning tone. He held up one hand to forestall her rising ire.
"Oh I'm not asking for secrets, Kiko, not at all." His expression turned soft, wistful, head lowering a little as he leaned on his staff. "When I 'seek' a person's secrets, I mean to make myself a trustworthy person in their eyes. A secret should always be given freely." His voice took on a slightly sad edge, as if remembering something bittersweet himself.
"Yes, a secret given is the greatest gift a person like me can recieve. Gold, fame, comfort. All that is nothing in the face of having someone trust you enough to show their true selves. Especially since people keep secrets even from themselves." He inhaled sharply, straightening, becoming flippant once more.
"Anyway. Enough of that. I'll not press on that dour subject, the day is far too nice."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko gave the Bard's face a sharper look. For a minute there; when he had stated a secret should be offered freely, his voice had changed from lighthearted to poignant. It did not last more than that, but as she searched his features, Kiko saw small cracks in his happy-go-lucky facade. His breath was quicker, his head was low, and his talented hands were gripping the staff just a bit too tight.
Right then and there she wondered what secret Dominic was keeping from himself. Everyone had them, without fail. She did not ask, however, or follow up on that line of conversation. Instead, she recognized the change of subject for what it was and did not pursue it further.
"Is that what prompted you to venture outside of town, Bard? The weather?"
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
He tilted his head as if thinking. His reply was light and conversational.
"Not really, though it is a bonus. I just didn't want to outstay my welcome at the tavern. It's nice they let me play in there and don't kick me out if I've no coin for the lodging room, but I don't want to make light of their hospitality."
He turned his hand up again so that she could better see. The ends of his fingers were reddened, scabbed in places. The callouses that had formed had peeled in places.
"That'll teach me to go into a set just after washing my hands with some new soap. Who knew a rowdy place like that would have a block of softening soap in the stalls...unless...ah..."
He went quiet and a light flush went to his cheeks. He realised that it had been the first time he'd used the privvy at the tavern.
"I...went into the ladies stalls didn't I..."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko's laughter was as soft as her voice. The look on his face was what set it off, too. He was worried about being in the wrong privvy when he couldn't have seen a thing. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the next round of laughter. She didn't know what to say, either. It wasn't like she had been all that cognizant of propriety when running with a mercenary company.
Her lips twitched again. When she thought she could control her voice she spoke.
"I doubt anyone noticed, Dominic. The woman hereabouts... are a bit... brash."
The expression on her face said some of them could stand to be less so, too. Then the laughter threatened to overwhelm her and she shook her head, straightened her shoulders, and took another breath.
"There will be no strumming for you tonight."
Eternity
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom did not mind one bit the laughter at his expense. He knew there was no malice in it, and he'd been on the end of plenty of sharp barbs in his time. It wasn't that which pleased him though. He'd heard the sadness, and hearing it washed away if only for a moment was a heartening thing. He held a lot of stead in what people thought of him, too much perhaps, and always wanted to make people happy.
"Yeah, I'll have to wait for them to heal up, probably a couple sore days practice to build the callouses up again. Since I couldn't play I decided to get some scouting done. I do it in most new places I intend to hang around in. Found a big open space with nothing breakable in it so I thought, hey, why not go through some forms? Worst that could happen is that I could concuss myself."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko's laughter had started to die out, though there was probably a chuckle or too left in her next few words.
"You came out into an open field with nothing breakable? Um... bones are breakable, Bard."
Eternity
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
The songster shrugged again, a nonchalant gesture that spoke of his ease with himself.
"Nah. It's just a stick. I ain't about to smack myself on the noggin with it and anyone damn fool enough to just walk up unannounced to a guy whirling a staff around probably deserves to get a bruise. Plus I'm trying to learn to focus my senses better. Maybe one day I'll be good enough to move about just like normal folks."
He sounded flippant, but there was a core of real determination right down at the bottom of it.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko tilted her head at him. Hm. She could use sensory training or better awareness. She was never one to rest on her laurels. Maybe following Dominic out into this field hadn't been such a random thing.
"What do you mean focus your senses better? I mean, obviously, you are already head and shoulders above the rest of humanity in sounds."
She was too, at least, in the wolf and Garou form.
Eternity
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom laughed quietly, as if laughing at himself. He sounded amused at the concept of being 'superior'.
"Head and shoulders? Hardly. I can tell a few things by the sounds around me, but it's far from what it could be. I've heard tales of battlemonks who could fight in complete darkness. Of men who could see without eyes. I know that, eventually, my other senses may replace my sight entirely, but only hard work will bring that goal close."
He began throwing the staff upward, catching it each time after one lazy rotation. It looked like he were cooly showing off but he began to explain.
"See this? Every time I do this I'm using practice, guesswork and luck to catch it. It only takes a tiny difference to mess the whole thing up. If I became what I want I'd need no guesswork."
He stopped playing with the big stick, planting and leaning on it again. His whole demeanour is wistful.
"Meh. Just getting around without tripping up would be nice." he admits.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko spun her body around in a quick circle. She went through the meadow again looking for places that could catch up a person's feet or motions. She did not see any in the immediate vicinity, and beyond some wild animal - which presumably he would hear - the area was safe enough. Dominic's senses had brought him this far, and it was definitely commendable of him to leave his comfort zone.
She was not sure what she would have done faced with the same situation, either. Kiko reached down and plucked at one of the tall weeds out of the grass. She peeled the withered blossom from the top of it and showered the ground around her with the seed pods.
"My grandfather used to say; vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare."
She gave a rueful laugh and shredded the rest of the weed into bits, brushing her fingers off on the silk of the short kimono covering her armor.
"He was rather more enigmatic than he needed to be often. But, I cannot imagine walking through a utterly strange land without the use of my eyes. That would be a nightmare. This catching of the staff?"
Kiko paused here turning back to face Dominic.
"It intrigues me. I wonder if I could duplicate it. For that matter I wonder how well you would react against an opponent wielding another one."
Eternity
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom took a long breath, pondering on whether to share the 'secrets' of his style of combat with the woman he hardly knew. It didn't take him long to decide it would be fine to do so, as, by the sound of her armour clinking softly when she moved, she was probably perfectly capable of taking him apart should she wish.
"Stand back a little ways so I don't accidentally clock you, miss, and I'll show you the few things I've been taught." He sets himself with his right foot ahead of his left, staff held in the middle in his right hand, head slightly bowed and his eyes closed. He began to explain as he went through the motions of the form.
"I was taught to strike and move in accordance with the situation. To make guesses as to positioning and incoming attack. It is most likely, for example, for an attacker to be right handed and strike from mid to high right. Given that, I move to cover as much of that arc as possible, depending on where they seem to be standing. In front..." He moved swiftly as he could, shifting his weight to his back foot and bringing the tip of the staff whipping round at shoulder level in an arc from right to left, catching the other end in his left hand to give more control. If an attacker were to try and strike him it would be likely that the shift in position would get him mostly out of the way and the path of the staff would catch the attacker's arm or perhaps the side of their head.
"Next counter." he stated, stepping forward with his left foot and bringing his left hand up to chest level to shove the length of wood at the imaginary attacker's body.
"Finally, counterattack." The staff is whipped back around his head, left foot stepping back once again to give enough distance for the double handed overhead strike to come down with terrifying speed, thwacking the ground meatily. He returned to his standing position
"As you can probably see, that little riposte would work on a drunken reveller or maybe a kid with visions of being a street thug but...well..." He sighed, beginning to point out how this type of fighting is spotty at best.
"If they're armoured, use an unusual opener or favour a low set stance I'm done for. If I can't hear them start to attack it doesn't matter how good my reflexes are, I'd still be too slow. Basically, if they know thing one about fighting then every flowery form in the world isn't going to stop them from putting me down." He smiled winningly "It's why I prefer to try and use words to end a conflict, rather than violence."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko nodded automatically. Idiot. He cannot see it. Heh. She was going to have to talk with Dominic, period. There was no other way for them to communicate.
“I’d like to say everyone would prefer peaceful solutions to conflicts. But, I know better. I am not trying to criticize your manners or behavior, Bard. But, it seems to me you’d be more apt to survive such encounters in town.”
Kiko slid behind him silently and shoved a dagger around his hip dangerously close to his solar plexus.
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dominic just smiled, turning his head slightly as if he were going to look over his shoulder. His voice was steady and calm, as if used to being threatened. Did he not care for his own preservation?
"Now I try and avoid things that might lead to a knife in the gut. So as lovely as it is to have a girls arms around me I don't think I want to piss off whoever came storming into the tavern and whisked you away. By the sounds of it you two are pretty well bound."
He made no move to escape the hold and turned his head forward, lowering it slightly and his voice suddenly turned quite cold.
"So what's the suggestion? That I leave? Or should I just up and grow a new pair of eyes? No offense miss but I'm big enough and dumb enough to know what dangers await me. So you're sneaking up in a way I can't hear and, I assume, holding a blade on me either to scare me off or just prove the obvious, that you could kill me if you wanted. So if you have some real way of helping me stay alive I'm all ears, else step away and take your condescention with you."
He was obviously very upset. A man used to being at a disadvantage, he'd greeted her with the openness he thoght she'd deserved. To have her just make an example of him and his trust, in his mind, was a horrid insult to pay.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Kiko pulled the knife back and stuffed it down into her boot. She made very deliberate and audible steps around him to return to her original position.
“My suggestion is to broaden your knowledge, Bard. You said so yourself. You cannot defend against a true fighter or someone out to kill you. Knowledge of the staff is all well and good, knowledge of your area is even better, but knowledge of your opponent is your best bet to survive.
Kiko stepped closer to him. Close enough that she could reach out a hand and touch his shoulder, though she did no such thing.
“What do you know about me, Bard?”
Kiko's voice was calm. If she was upset at his tone it did not touch her words. And in truth, she was not upset at all. She was curious, still.
Eternity
“Put some clothes on, you weird, yellow-eyed, table-dancing, werewolf-training, cryptic, stare-me-right-in-the-eyes-and-don't-even-blink wench.”
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dominic took a long breath, then a second, marshalling his thoughts. She obviously hadn't meant offense and he should therefore take his own best advice and calm. He stays quiet for a moment, recalling and bringing facts up, putting together puzzle pieces.
"You're Eastern in origin, short stature, not much over five feet. You're slender, but built for efficiency if you can move that quietly in armour. Light armour, beneath your clothing. You've got a boot knife, which is what you just pulled on me. You've probably got enough strength in those arms to lay a hard one on me, if the feel of them is any judge. But you don't play it that way. Positioning, leverage, advantage, that's your way. I bet you can move like a snake and know all kinds of interesting ways to put a man down without any kind of strength used. You moved quiet to get behind me, take away what little advantage a polearm would have.
He pondered a little longer and a half-smile cocked the side of his mouth upward. His words were smooth and a little wry as he continued.
"You're likely pretty, judging by how people react to you, and that you've got a fella obviously all over you. You miss home...no...not home exactly..." he ponders a moment "...you had me sing a song of your homeland, but you sounded so sad. Not good memories there I'll wager. So you've had to leave something behind in leaving. You're not used to talking, your voice starts cracking if you speak too much. I'm also guessing you've got some kindness under the armour, otherwise you'd have said a barbed retort or just cold cocked me just now. The best way to not make you an enemy is to stay courteous, don't push too hard and don't try and chase you down. Like I'd ever be able to catch you even if I tried, heh."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.