The good old Meeting the Roomie RP

[Guest Celes]

As his roommates Colin and Nicola had both been promoted to Tower Guard in the last month, the Mistress of Trainees had decided to relocate Alwyn who had had his room to himself for a week now. He was to clear the room for a new batch of trainees and move down to a room that was occupied by Ashley Wilkes who had also recently found a roomie promoted. Alwyn quickly moved out his belongings, some practice swords, some clothes and a leather-bound book he kept tugged under his pillow and put it in the new room. The room was empty, save for the beds and the belongings of the other trainee living there. Alwyn did not disturb any of that and needed little room for his breeches and shirts to lie. He would not be any real bother as a roomie.

 

Then went off to train and spent the rest of the day with his mentor practicing sword forms and after dinner, he was invited for a game of stones with some of the other trainees in a corner of the mess hall. He got out of the game a good hour after the trainees curfew and hurried back to the new room, almost missing the door as he headed down to his old room. This was something to get used to, he thought.

 

Opening the door, Alwyn found that Ashley was already asleep and he quietly took his bunk and tried to sleep himself. It was not that he did not like the room, or did not know his new roommate, as he and Ahsley had practiced sometimes together. Yet, he was still finding his mind linger to a topic he was unsure why it kept returning to his brain. The woman he had met a few weeks ago and had not seen since, Tirzah Behen. He lay awake thinking about her, it might be that he was not used to the ale one of the trainees had snuck into the game of stones, but he lay awake and dreamt with his eyes open.

 

After a few hours of that, he finally fell asleep only to wake up at the crack of dawn. He was no longer allowing his mind to work over the mysterious young woman, or her dark eyes that seemed to burn on his soul like charcoal set on fire. He was not the only one who was awake though as the other bed stirred and Ashley’s gaze found his. “Morning,” Alwyn said and rose from the bed, found a shirt and tucked it in his pants. He was quickly dressed as he knew that he could no longer sleep and turned to see Ashley, “If you are awake too, you want to do a practice spar before breakfast maybe?”

 

Alwyn Fenrir

Trainee, roomie to Ashley

[Lih-Lyh]

A very groggy Ashley rouse himself from bed and gawped at his latest roommate upon Alwyn’s greeting.  He had not expected a roommate after Tarec, and not a day too soon by Ashley’s count, finally got promoted to another group. Living with the bulky, manly shienarian had been torturous for Ashley, although the experience had not been altogether pleasant for Tarec either. When the taunting ricocheted across the courtyard, one struck Ashley to the bones one day by a verbal dart that was not even aimed at him, nor had the dart miss. “Ho, there goes Tarec’s girlfriend!” Ashley walked away from that, not daring to breathe, knowing with no doubt that Tarec would have considered this the most grievous insult he could have ever received.  After Tarec was gone, there had been some loud suggestions that they room Ashley up with a girl, since they would share the same taste, namely the music, the sewing, the vegetarian lifestyle, and so on.

 

He took a moment to take in the room, what with Alwyn’s possessions stacked neatly on the other desk, his clothes folded at the foot of Tarec’s bed, on top of a somewhat cleaner bedsheet pulled so tight a penny could have bounced off it, then stared into his rumpled sheets. How he had slept through the tell-tale creak of the board in front of the door (a fiddler needed sharp ears after all) he knew not, but somehow he had. That was disturbing, but he shrugged it off. Finding Alwyn Fenrir in his sleeping quarters was an improvement on silent, brooding Tarec who had daunted Ashley from the first day he knocked on their door and plastered a silly grin on his face before getting the door slammed into his grin “no solicitors wanted, good day!” At least Alwyn was a friendly fellow, though anybody would have been friendly after the begrudged, wronged Tarec.

 

Walking to the pewter his hands splashed water onto his face from the basin before reaching for a towel by the bedstand. “Sure, Alwyn” he smiled, “but only if you’ll give me a game of Stones after showering."

[Guest Celes]

The deal was easily made, although Alwyn knew he was lousy at playing Stones and his new roommate probably had a lot more skill. Alwyn did like the opportunity to learn and so as they headed down to the training yard, he asked, “Do you play Stones often?” he was not going to admit having learnt almost a year ago and still not practiced more than twice a month or so. Always losing and always falling for someone’s bet, which ended him up with double chores or silly songs sang on the Wall.

 

They found the training yard quite empty and were happy to draw the training lathes that Alwyn suggested for this. They were allowed by some to use weapons, by others to use only wooden weapons or lathes and Alwyn was not about to hurt himself or Ashley on their first day. He liked practicing with the lathes as you could use your full force and strike, but still not really hurt your opponent with more than a bruise. No cuts and separated limbs this morning, he thought and grinned. Ashley looked him over and Alwyn said, “We can start of with some warm up?” and the two men ran a few rounds around the training Yards, then did some ground exercises as their muscles awoke to the level of their heads now.

 

The guard stance was taken and a short block was immediately taken in by Alwyn as Ashley struck him, they were in this game together and Alwyn parried off a second attack. He tried to find the Void by burning his emotions in the Flame, something Thera had asked him to practice more on. But as they moved forward and towards each other, Alwyn had more difficulty finding the Void and emptying his mind than ever. He felt a hard pang on his left arm and stepped back to take the blow. Then used that pain to burn up and enter the Void. He remained in it longer now and could find his legs again to move into some sort of strategic position. Now he wanted to see how long he could stay in the Void and how he could use that in this spar.

 

Alwyn Fenrir

 

[Lih-Lyh]

The world had shrunken to the size of a family, and no heart beat in a stranger. That was home for Ashley as he sat by the fire, whittling different shapes. Nobody knew what those shapes would turn out to be, a stag, a doe, a fierce wolf; the wood would reveal itself as it grew into being, grain by grain. Putting his little creations aside in his mind, Ashley smiled. He was not always so shy, timid-shy; when he was with his sisters the lad was as sociable, as gregarious as his current roommate here. Here was his home, now, his new home, and blast him if he did not try and bring over Stones. Here were some great players, and they had good times together just poring over a board, transported to a realm where they knew what was going on. It was orderly, challenging, and well, when he came down to it, plain fun.

 

When first he played Stones he had felt frustrated, confused – he did not know what he was doing, and kept losing pieces as he hoped for mistakes so to take advantage of, or neglect on the other’s part that his opponent had not seen his risky moves; somebody much more experienced had once told him the secret to seeing, which he eagerly relayed to Alwyn, imbued by his own passion for the game, and initially, gambling away the pieces. Slowly he had bettered himself, but it was through following his teacher’s advice. “Ya, used to play it at home. All it takes is practice and playing different opponents.”

 

A spar would be good exercise before lessons. He had practiced with Alwyn before, using lathes of course. He was very disapproving of live weapons, believing the only time one ought to spar with naked steel was during a battle. Mock battles require only lathes, and he had never been one for the sweat, and muck of the melees.

 

The burden of his sleep slipped off as vehemently as he would unshed boots upon his return. He took up the meditative state ‘Rome had taught him, which he slipped into with surprising ease, although it was difficult for his mind to grapple with when first he learned it. His mind couldn’t bend itself around the concept immediately, and it was only through practice that he wasn’t still standing here feeling silly beyond compare. Once he began to “see” though, spring… spring was not a cheap beauty. It left him surprisingly fresh despite the ordeals that had become run-of-mill, and wore its colours very well with time’s passage. The classic coming of age feel, of awareness, of crisis, of pulling through the brutal charges, the auto-censorship, and leading to his being rejuvenated, and hopeful. Spring strengthened him like the paint did on a piece of mahogany, displaying its richness, its own special shine to see.

 

By the end of warm up, they had both assumed guard position. Gripping the bundle that was the lathe tightly, the trainee rouse from his crouch and struck, a short strike, not too hard, but still fairly fast. This time he lunged forward, gathering momentum as he aimed for the other’s stomach with the sword form, Parting the Silk. Entirely wrapped in the Void, Alwyn parried the second thrust as well, crossed-over to a stronger position than Ashley’s, dancing away then back again with precise, impeccable steps. Admiring his partner’s skillful footwork, Ashley was distracted as he dodged left, and a sudden movement on Alwyn’s side betrayed him, leaving Ashley wide open for a blow. Even with the Spring, he flinched, uneasily expecting to be smacked before he could bring up the lathe and defend himself.