open ♔ september castle socialization

[wynn]

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, etc!
WHEN || First half of September, any time between the September squiring ceremony and the War announcement on September 18th
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of the first half of the month.    Because not everyone is into parties, ok.

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. WE ARE BIG ON THREAD-JACKING HERE. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt.]

On this log:
Drax @ the desk
Kate Bishop @ the desk
Sam @ the desk
Henry @ the desk
Kate Bishop @  roof/dining hall/library/grounds/bathrooms/desk/Dragon's Hoard/etc
Abigail @ Movie theater / library /firing range / training room
Francesca & Val'drin | closed
Penelope & Sam @ the woods
Emma Frost @ the library
Spike @ rec room
Lydia, Stiles, Astrid, Adam | closed

Comments

[olreliable]

[Willow doesn't have a problem sleeping, really. But sometimes she stays up too late on her new fancy phone and ends up too wired to sleep at a decent hour. So she wanders the castle and ends up in the training room. Where she finds Abigail slicing a dummy's throat open. And doing it really well.]

Wow.

[She didn't really mean to say that out loud. Oops.]

[lurings]

[ abigail jumps a little, startled, whirling to find willow. ]

Sorry. [ its automatic, the apology. what is she even apologizing for??? we don't know, she doesn't even know. ]

[olreliable]

Huh? [Willow snaps out of her daze to meet Abigail's gaze.] No! Don't apologize. I was just... Where'd you learn to do that?

[lurings]

My dad taught me. [ not a lie. not quite the truth. her dad taught her to slaughter animals, abigail taught herself how to defend herself. ]

[olreliable]

[Willow blinks at the answer, not expecting it.]

I think the most dangerous thing my dad taught me was how to tie my shoes. [She steps a little closer.]

So have you ever... [She makes a motion with her finger across her throat.] You know- in real life?

[lurings]

Yes.

[ TRUTH BOMB. or at least a tiny truth poke. same thing. abigail says it with that same quiet impassivity even though her experience with nicholas boyle is far from... unemotional. ]

Once.

[olreliable]

[The answer just makes willow nod. She's not afraid and not overly eager about it. But it is interesting. This girl isn't built all that differently from her. She doesn't look like the fighty type.]

Could you...teach me?

[lurings]

...sure.

[ she looks shades of dubious and hesitant, but can't find a reason to say no. ]

[olreliable]

You don't have to! [Willow adds quickly, catching that hesitation because it wasn't really... hidden at all.] I just- I'm not really good at the whole... fighty thing. But I'd like to be! At least to keep myself alive, you know?

[lurings]

No, it's okay. I'm just not sure how good of a teacher I'll be.

[olreliable]

That's okay. Maybe I'll be a terrible student and you'll never know the difference.

[lol no she's the best student. she can't even pretend.]

[lurings]

Well... what do you want to learn?

[olreliable]

Something... stabby? [She would like to be less useless in combat at some point in her life.]

[lurings]

Okay.

[ yes, she looks surprised she's agreeing to it, too. ]

Come'ere. [ baby steps. teaching her to hold a knife shouldn't be too hard?? ]

[olreliable]

[She all but skips over, super eager to learn!!]

[lurings]

[ you know that scene in leverage where eliot shows nate the different ways to hold a knife and it's so sexy you want to die a little like eliot please you need to stop that's rude? abigail shows willow that, before flipping the knife and holding out the handle for her to take. ]

You try.

[olreliable]

[With a Dex check of 13, willow gets about half of the motions right? Pretty good for her first go. Must be all that scooby time rubbing off on her.]

Like that?

[lurings]

That's not bad. You'll want to practice the second one -- [ the one where the blade is parallel to her arm. ] -- since we're kind of small. It will put more momentum behind it.

[olreliable]

[Willow nods, making a mental note to practice lots.]

How'd you learn all this?

[lurings]

My dad. [ her lips press together and she visibly closes off. sorry willow. :( ]

[olreliable]

Oh. [hm sore subject] Well, it's really useful.

[theminotaur]

Hope so.

[olreliable]

Trust me. As someone who isn't any good at all at that sort of thing, I can tell you that you definitely wish you had it when you need it.

[lurings]

[ she takes that in, nodding slowly. ]

Okay. Let's try again.

[ and then they continued knife stabby lessons. /fin. ]