Testing Skills (ATTN: Demus)

[Matalina]

OOC: Setting up for a rummage through her trunk, you can take the oppurtunity to snoop or not, your call.

 

IC:

 

It was late in the evening after chores had been done, Cari had asked Demus to meet her in the training room for a little spar. It would be her gauge of his talents and his use of the void todate. She was impressed with his learning and knew he would be a good pupil.

 

Cari sat down on the floor before her remanants of her former life. A truck filled with things only a Warder would have. The contents were the only remind of her life left. Her fancloak was neatly folded with the inside to the outside, hiding the fact that it was a color shifting cloak. It's clasp still read "Gaidin" when it was closed. That had been a present from Yveva, one that Matalina had never revealed to last bond holder. Underneath the cloak was her former set of custom made blades. The sword and matching dual daggers were bundled neatly together. Cari cleaned and polished them regularly and she held them dear to her heart. They had been crafted by Mistress Loari after Carmen had melted a dagger in the Fortress.

 

Thoughts of Carmen and Marcus brought fear to Cari's eyes. Those were two people she wished to never see again or to find her alive and well.

 

A sound caught Cari's attention and her thoughts returned to the matter at hand. Demus' training.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

Demus stood outside the room watching Cari for a moment. He'd been working with the Void the way Cari had suggested and he was surprised at how much easier it came to him now, and how keeping it for such small things would help him. Taking Cari's posture in now, he wondered how she knew so much about all this. He knew part of her story, but not all of it, not by a long shot. Inate curiosity had always gotten the best of him and in this it was no different. Perhaps if he knew more he could help her more with the demons that she fought.

 

He shifted his feet lightly, letting her know that he was there. He could only stand to watch her like this for so long. There was something reverent in the way she handled the items in the trunk and it made him itch to discover it's secrets. Some other time he might have to find a way to her secrets. Today wasn't that day, he thought as she turned to look at him.

 

He smiled at Cari, giving her his best innocent look. "Ready and reporting for training."

 

[Matalina]

Cari returned Demus' smile and stood up. "So formal." It brought back memories of her former self, how proper and formal were keys to getting along with Matalina, she sighed the memory away and took down a practice lathe off the wall and tossed it at her newest student.

 

"Test the weight and feel of it, if it's not right choose another off the wall or the rack."

 

Cari moved to a far corner and unwrapped a bundle. In it held perfectly weighted sword and dagger set. Each matching their real life counter parts. Cari slipped her daggers from under her sleeves and placed them on the blanket that had safely kept her lathes. Then slipped the practice daggers in the sheathes on her wrist. Cari would hate to pull one by habit and hurt Demus. It was a revealing motion, to let someone know of her hidden daggers, but he'd have seen them before anyway. Cari no longer carried her sword at her hip, but it was still always an extension of her body.

 

Cari waved her lathe in the air gettng a feel for it's weight and balance just as she heard. "MOMMMMMMMMMY! Aiden fell out of the tree.... AGAIN!" Kate yelled from the top of the steps, both children knew better than to come down stairs.

 

Cari looked at Demus, "I'll be back in a moment." And Cari hurried out of the room and up the stairs to check on Aiden.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

Demus smiled as Cari left him alone in the training room. Her kids were cute and they were just the distraction he needed. He hefted the lathe, playing with the weight as he moved across the room to the trunk that Cari had been standing over when he had first entered.

 

Curiosity was going to get him killed one of these days, he knew. He just hoped it wasn't today. It just seemed wrong for Cari to be the one to kill him over something like this. Still, he opened himself to the Void, let everything else burn away into it so he could hear her better when she was returning.

 

The trunk was interesting. A piece of a puzzle he wanted desperately to put together. The pieces inside filled in little holes in his concept of who Cari had once been. He knew her life had changed drastically, but seeing the cloak with the clasp was almost like a kick in the gut. How do you get from warder to dark friend in one lifetime? It was a question that wouldn't let go.

 

He stepped away from the trunk as he heard her coming again. He looked up in concern. "Is he alright?" Demus asked, honestly concerned for Cari's son.

 

[Matalina]

Aiden had been climbing the trees yet again and this time feel from the third branch up, hitting his head on the way down and his back. Thankfully a pile of hay was beneath the tree. Cari couldn't recall it having been there before and wondered who had put it there. Someone probably saw Aiden fall the last time. Cari let it go as she tended to the scrapes and bruises of her youngest son. Jeffery Kincaid had never been this much trouble. But then again she wasn't a very good mother then either.

 

When Cari entered the training room again Demus asked after Aiden. "He's fine, a few cuts and bruises but that's what happens when you fall out of trees you aren't suppose to be climbing anyway." Cari smiled.

 

"Shall we begin?" Cari picked up her practice lathe and weilded it in a wide arching motion to get the feel of it again. "Today we test your skills to see what more you need to learn. Attack when you are ready."

 

OOC: hehe, if Demus wants to win this he could as her about being a Warder and completely throw her for a "loop" lol....She'll answer him to some degree

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

Demus nodded as he took a firm grasp of the weapon in his hands. It was good to know that Cari's son would be alright, but he was glad it had happened. Just a few moments time and it had filled in some missing pieces that he wasn't sure he would have found on his own.

 

He knew he had little chance of beating Cari in a fight. He'd watched her with a weapon, saw the way she moved. Still he was here to learn and he knew that Cari would teach him well.

 

He brought the training sword up and began to attack. His first attack was easily batted aside and Demus began testing her, attacking on different sides, different angles to see if there was a weak spot in her defences. There wasn't any that he could tell. Perhaps someone of her experience would see more than he did, but for now he knew that she was simply playing along with him.

 

((He'll get around to commenting about the warder thing next round :P))

 

[Matalina]

Cari waited for the first attack and the second. She wanted to test his skills. He was looking for opening and Cari was glad to see he had an eye. He'd definately had some training before.

 

After serveral more attacks from Demus Cari went on the defensive. Overhand blows, swipes and thrusts all meant to test Demus's defensive style. He appeared to see them coming, but not nearly fast enough. He blocked the easy blows but Cari was sure his heart was racing now. If this where a real battle between them, there would be no competition. But this was just a test and Cari was not even in the void. She didn't want to risk the Shadow pulling free and actually hurting Demus.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

He was at his wit's end and he knew it, just as he knew that Cari hadn't even hit her stride yet. He wasn't going to last much longer, he knew it. It was then that he decided to play the last card in his deck. He might not be a great swordsman yet, but Demus knew how to play people quite well. He knew something now that he was sure would unsettle Cari.

 

As he began another set of attacks he gritted his teeth and asked a simple question. "Did you train this hard to be a Guard, or were you always trying to become a Warder?"

 

[Matalina]

Cari stopped dead and Demus' lathe smacked her in the arm with a loud thwap. But his words had stung more than the beating. She quickly grabbed the lathe and pulled the man towards her. He was taller but she'd master the art of indimidation as Mistress of Trainees oh so long ago. "What?"

 

But Demus didn't repeat himself and stared her down. Cari shoved Demus away, he hardly moved but Cari turned around and walked to the training room door and closed it quietly. "Where did you hear such rumors?" She had hoped that it was nothing more than rumors and not him finding her past. She wasn't sure she wanted more people to know. -He'll turn us in.- Kayla was clearly frightened and May tried to comfort her. This was not going to be a good day after all.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

He should have realized his words were a bad idea. The way Cari had told bits and pieces of her past, he should have realized her reaction to something like this would be bad. The Void dropped and his first instinct was to comfort her. Even as he thought it though, he squahed it. He was alone in a room with a woman who could kill him and in a place where few would even bother to ask why he had disappeared. Self preservation had to kick in and he watched her, worried about himself and her at the same time.

 

"Where did you hear such rumors?"

 

"You told me you were a warrior in another life. It didn't take much to put the pieces together." He said in a quiet voice.

 

[Matalina]

Cari shook her head, he was lying something wasn't right about there. She rounded on him, "So you put the fact that I'm good with a sword and the fact that I was a warrior in another life to mean I was at the White Tower to train?" Cari laughed. "And if I told you I'd only been to Tar Valon once in my entire life, how could I possibly have trained in the fabled city?"

 

Cari wanted to know how he found out. She still wasn't sure how much she trusted him. And trusted him with the biggest secret she'd kept from all but three people, well Sam was from her past, but three people who knew the truth of her former existance. Her death and the Tower would not go over well, but how much did she trust Demus? Enough to let him keep her secret.

 

She trusted Glen with the secret, and he held it high over her head when he wanted something from her. Demus didn't appear like that but why would he keep the secret, he was nothing more than a friend. That's not true you like him. And if he was not younger than your son, you'd want more, and you know it. The truth rang in her head but she would never admit any feelings about this man, no, he was a boy, he was younger than Jeffery Kincaid, by a year, she was old enough to be his mother and yet she was attracted to him more than she should be. Cari pushed the thoughts away as Demus started to speak, she hoped she hadn't missed anything.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

"So you put the fact that I'm good with a sword and the fact that I was a warrior in another life to mean I was at the White Tower to train?" Cari laughed. "And if I told you I'd only been to Tar Valon once in my entire life, how could I possibly have trained in the fabled city?"

 

 

Alright. She hadn't killed him straight out. That at least was better than he had hoped for a second ago. He had a chance to reason with her and that was what he needed. If Cari felt half the connection to him that he felt towards her, it might be enough. The trust that he felt towards her, he hoped, was mutual. He was about to find out. His bluff hadn't worked and it was time for the truth.

 

"If you told me that, I'd have to think you went there once and never left until you finished training." He held his hands out, trying to show his surrender in this. "I'll tell you the truth Cari. Just... I didn't really mean to pry. Earlier, when you went upstairs. I saw the cloak." He said, knowing that he wouldn't need to say anything else.

 

[Matalina]

Cari was glad he was a snoop rather than someone telling him something they should not. It was easier to deal with one person's prying question than to have to kill the one who let off secrets. But the question of whether or not to trust him with the secret of her past was still something she wasn't sure of. He could turn on her as easily as she had turned on the Light.

 

Cari tried to hide the anger she felt for his noseyness but he was a mere child. That you like. Will you stop that! I know how I feel. In the back of Cari's mind childish chanting echoed and there was nothing that she could do about it. Cari shook her head is it would make it stop, but she knew better but it was a visible sign that something more was wrong with her than Demus really knew. It wasn't meant to distract him from the topic. But the chanting stopped as Marosa taunted more. If he knows the truth maybe he'll love you for it. Cari thought that was doubtful but he'd already found the cloak, she wonder what else he'd had time to look at.

 

"That Warder is long since dead." It wasn't an all out lie. Matalina was dead to the known world, only 7 people knew she was still alive, in another life.

 

"I have only been to Tar Valon once in this life, and that was to return my daughter to her home." Cari paused and gave Demus a very threatening look. "What I say next will not leave this room. You talk, you die!" Cari waited to make sure he understood she was absolutely serious. "But in another life, Tar Valon was my home. The Tower my life. You asked if I had always wanted to be a Warder. I can't answer that." -The answer is no. You wanted to be loved more than that.- Cari sighed, she knew the truth in Kayla's statement. "But I was bonded two hours after my graduation."

 

Let him ask his question. She would tell what she could with out revealing other secrets.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

Bonded! The idea still seemed so strange. And instead of deny it she admitted it. A part of him had almost hoped there was some other explanation, like she had stolen the cloak, but he had known it was true as soon as he'd seen what was inside the cloak.

 

He didn't doubt her words either. Any of them. He trusted Cari as far as he had trusted anyone besides his mother, but there were limits and Demus had stumbled onto something much bigger than he had originally thought. He needed to sooth things.

 

"Cari, I wouldn't tell anyone. You helped me out when I was in a bad place, brought me here and helped me get settled. I would have owed you my silence even if I didn't want anything else. But I want to be your friend and I want you to trust me someday, enough to tell me everything. For now, you're Cari and you're a Ranch hand. None of the rest matters anyway does it, who we were before?" he asked, hoping to put her at ease.

 

[Matalina]

Trust was not something she gave easily anymore. Trust always put her in a bad place. Alex died because she trusted him with her secrets. Who else would because of them. Cari wasn't sure if she wanted to trust Demus enough to tell him everything. The only person she wanted to trust that much was the man she would die with. Yet, here this eighteen year old man wanted her to trust him with everything. Her old life didn't matter, but there were things in this that she was afraid to share again.

 

Cari sat down where she stood, no tears came as she thought they would, but the anger subsided. "No our pasts mean nothing here." She was a mass of confusion, and only one person before now had caused such dilema's in her mind and he was now dead. But this was not what this meeting was suppose to be, it was a test of his skills not of her past. The sword always made things better, but this room left a bad taste in her mouth it was time for fresh air.

 

"Let's move this outside, I can't be in this tiny room much longer." Cari stood up slowly and grabbed her lathe and the real thing. "Bring your lathe you'll still need it."

 

Cari took the steps two at a time and dropped her daggers on the table as she walked out the front door . A dusty patch of ground had been worn of grass. The children were not using it and it would be a good place to test Demus more.

 

She smiled at her friend and then raised her sword. "A real spar, no more tests and no more quipping comments. You are a master of your talents, let's master the other."

 

The fresh air made Cari feel better and the pratice sword brought back the life she had felt lost before in that dank room.

 

Cari

[TaeaDawn]

Demus took a deep breath as Cari suggested they go outside. It probably meant she wasn't going to kill him. Unless she just didn't want to have to carry his dead body outside to dispose of it, but he was trying to think positively. It meant something to him, to be able to trust Cari and the thought that he might have screwed that up by peeping upset him. The truth was though, curiosity had always been one of Demus's faults. It was that one trait that was probably the most to blame for him turning to the Great Lord in the first place. His hate for hypocricy had led him to question what he had been taught and curiosity had given him the means to find other ways.

 

With his lathe in hand, Demus followed Cari out into the open air. She was ready to start with his training again. He was pretty sure from her words that he was about to get a beating for his behavior, but he deserved it really and a beating would make him remember his forms better the next time around anyway. He had always been the sort to learn the hard way.

 

As Cari moved into position, the testing began in earnest as Demus brought his lathe up and moved in with a thrust to try to knock her off balance.

 

[Matalina]

Cari easily evaded the thrust Demus jabbed at her middle. It was always fun to test someone new. She wasn't looking for openings to use later, but things to teach him. Before her learnings had been to exploit later, but Demus was on the same side. She smiled as she rained a series of over hand blows to watch Demus' defenses. Only one landed and Cari quickly turned the last into a series of slashes.

 

Cari enjoyed using more advanced forms to test a person. They either knew them or were unable to take them in quickly enough. But the basics were always a good test too. Cari went into The Creeper Embraces the Oak. It would be a good idea to see what Demus would do next.

 

OOC: you want Cari to hurt ya then go for it but I'll let ya make it <smiles>

 

Cari