New Sticks in the Barracks

[Kaze]

Phoenyx After sparring, in the barracks, Kaze clears his throat, obviously uncomfortable.

"Phoenyx." He says, "I wanted to say...what Weavebreaker said about you and I thinking about forming a Cabal, and that she thought of a place that could be a sanctum for us, I was startled. I mean, we just met. I expected to live in barracks and train. It seemed premature. But Weavebreaker is my superior in Wisdom, and said to think about it, talk about it actually. And I have been thinking. You and I are Arrows. I would trust you with my life, probably will before long. So, if at some point it is acceptable to you, I am open to pursue it."

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx removes her coat, revealing a slender, graceful form. She turns her head to look at Kaze as he speaks, her eyes seeming to take in every feature of the man before her. She doesn't respond, but instead removes her holster and pistol, and pulls the knives from her hips, setting them at the top end of the bed.

Eventually, she turns and stares at Kaze intently. "I can see the logic. Two new mages. Needing to have some support in a potentially hostile environment."

She stalks forward like a tiger. "We share an Order. We are both new. But I don't know you, Kaze." Phoenyx takes him in, staring intently into his eyes. "How would I act if the mages of this Consillium turn on each other? What would you do? If I put myself between two of these feuding mages, would you have my back?"

The Obrimos pauses, staring him down. "The Adamantine Arrow has structure. I am a part of that structure. What do you want to be?"

[Kaze]

Kaze smiles slightly, sitting on the side of his bed and leaning forward, looking up into Phoenyx's face, "I would have your back, Phoenyx." he says.

Kaze sighs, "Look, I understand, neither of us knows the other yet. I don't expect words to change that; that would take actions, I think." he says.

"If two mages are determined to duel, I wouldn't necessarily think it was my place to stop them. Perhaps even if it is to the death, though declaring 'to the death' and actually refusing to yield when you are dying are two different things." Kaze says thoughtfully.

"You are right, Phoenyx. Our Order has a structure, thank God, and I will do whatever I can to protect the lives of other Wise, particularly you and anyone in our Order. Alastor is my immediate superior, and I will follow orders." he says. "I will look to those senior in my order for Wisdom and guidance, even if they make a suggestion, not an actual order."

Kaze asks, "Why did you hold back? When you sparred with Alastor. Why did you start with less than your best?"

[Phoenyx]

"Actions. Maybe." Phoenyx replies abruptly, before turning back to her things and beginning to unpack.

She looks back to him, staring. Her tone is hard. "I'm not talking about legitimate duels, dummy, I'm talking about people supposed to be Wise argueing and coming to blows. Neutralising conflicts. The way Weavebreaker was talking we may have to be peacekeepers as much as defenders here." She goes back to pulling tops out of the black duffle bag.

She doesn't look up. "Following orders is all well and good, but you need to think for yourself too."

When he asks about her choices, Phoenyx slams the top she's looking at down on the bed, turned her head and gives Kaze a hard sidelong stare. There's murder in her eyes.

  Overawe!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-10-02 05:35:02		Phoenyx rolls 5 to Overawe! Pres2+Intimidate3 (10 Again)		3, 10, 2, 3, 6, 10, 7		2 successes

Phoenyx is trying to stop Kaze talking by being scary! (Wits + Composure is the roll to resist).

OOC, I'm not trying to stop the scene at all, but Phoenyx takes a lot of opening up.

[Kaze]

Kaze nods at Pheonyx's assertion of inappropriate dueling behavior, "Could be. There is a lot we don't know yet. We are all 'Will Workers,' after all, so strong willed people, with strong opinions and strong disagreements come with the territory. We can't expect a community of sheep...." he muses, ignoring her insult, suppressing a smile at the irony of her stated goal of neutralizing conflict.

When she seems to say that following orders is an unthinking state, Kaze says nothing, not even nodding as he tends to do when listening.

When Phoenyx slams down her things on the bed and glares murderously at Kaze, he is startled at her vehement, aggressive reaction to his questioning her earlier apparent lack of aggression!

Kaze finds himself standing, facing Phoenyx, his arms loosely at his side, prepared to dodge or attack without consciously thinking about it!

He takes a breath. Looks away from the apparently angry young woman's fury.

"Okay." Kaze says. "I am sorry, Phoenyx, for any offense. I did not mean to criticize your choices."

Kaze remains standing, but consciously de-escalates, leaning against the bed frame, giving up his combat ready stance.

"I would like to understand your strategy, so I don't make false assumptions. For example, when Alastor just said, 'Show me what you can do', it threw me off. I am used to more...formally bounded sparring sessions, so I guess I basically just reacted like it was what I was used to; We sparred without any magical protection, all out, fighting through wounds, until we couldn't keep on, and then stopped to heal ourselves." he explains. "I didn't want to sound like I was making excuses though, so when he called me on it, I chose to fix it, and take my lumps if he took the initiative to attack."

[Kaze]

Including the roll vs Intimidation; I rolled it before driving to work and didn't have time to post it till now (cause forgot when I actually got to post).

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-10-02 11:03:38		Kaze rolls 6 to Rolls Wits 3+ Composure 3 vs Phoenyx's attempt to Overawe "I don't want to talk about it!" (10 Again)		4, 4, 1, 1, 9, 6		1 success

[Phoenyx]

"Good." Phoenyx saws abruptly. "Don't." She goes back to her clothes.

Phoenyx sighs. "Uuuurgh...." A talker. This is some kind of elaborate plan by Uncle, I'm sure of it.

She sets her things down, gently this time, and leans on the foot of her bunk.

"That sounds extreme. In my experience, people cast shields as soon as they can, and keep them up as much as they can. It's an inobtrusive, enduring defense. Anything short of Awakened magic cannot affect it."

She takes a deep breath. "I had never faced a weapon like that before. I elected to put my faith in my defense, my experience, to try and learn a little more about it." The Obrimos looks at her counterpart, and puts on a small wry smile. "This time it was the wrong choice."

[Kaze]

Kaze smiles back and nods. "Thank you, Phoenyx, for giving your time to help me understand". he says. "We don't have to talk. I am not going to keep bugging you all the time, just because we're both here in the barracks. You did say that you didn't know me, and asked me what I want to be." he says.

Kaze sits down, facing Phoenyx. "I want to be good. I want to serve righteously, to keep my oaths, my promises. I want to putaside my personal agendas, and be there for the team, for my team mates, for the external conflicts, and the ones inside our self...without being a jerk about it."

Kaze smiles. "Those are long term goals, anyway. Is there anything you want to know about me? I can leave you alone, if you prefer."

[Phoenyx]

The Obrimos leers skeptically for a moment, as if trying to decide if he's mocking her, then relaxes slightly and shakes her head.

"You sound like a posterboy for the Arrow," she quips sardonically, but there's a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

"I..." Phoenyx opens her mouth and closes it. She finds a way of looking slightly awkward yet vehemelantly defiant at the same time. "I... am not good at small talk." Her posture is like she dares a comment.

After a semi-awkward pause, she goes back to sorting her things.

Seconds pass in silence.

Eventually Phoenyx ventures, "You... were swift in attacking. Did you learn to fight in the Arrow?"

[Kaze]

Kaze waits, listening, still as Phoenyx talks, then is quiet for a while, working on organizing her possessions. His are mostly still in a large, leather duffel bag by his bed.

When she asks him where he learned to fight, Kaze answers Phoenyx, "Mostly, yes. My grandfather...might have known about things, I don't know. When he was alive, he insisted I learn martial arts. That was my foundation. He also made me go to Okinawa, as a condition of his Trust after he died, and connect with someone he knew there. I Awakened there. That person, referred me to the Order there, because he was not Obrimos, and the head of the Adamantine Arrows there, was. They were the ones that really trained me, in, as you say, 'over the top' methods. They believed I needed to learn Mastery of my physical before I could really learn Wisdom. I learned just enough to enhance my physical training."