abraxaslogs | [SEMI-OPEN] and all you see

Entry tags:

[SEMI-OPEN] and all you see

WHO: Estinien Wyrmblood and others
WHAT: Local man extremely mad and other tales. Also, farming.
WHERE: Solvunn's Primary Settlement and potentially the Horizon
WHEN: Mid to Late September
NOTES: This is a September catch-all for stuff that goes beyond the intro to Solvunn. Currently just a very general open prompt and specific closed prompts but if you'd like something with Estinien please hit me up on the discord or

quixocalypse.

As it turns out, Estinien settles into Solvunn easily, like a comfortable pair of old boots. Despite his tendency towards aggression and grouchiness, farm life seems to agree with him, and after coming together with a local sheep raising family, he'll be putting the month of his time there into working on the farm and gradually building up his strength after losing so much weight in prison.

Things you may find Estinien doing in September:
- Trimming sheep hooves, cleaning animal shelters, repairing fences, tracking down lost sheep.
- Lifting weights, doing miscellaneous cardio, combat training in a field using a pitchfork instead of a spear.
- Spending time taking care of his domain and exploring the Horizon.
- Quietly drinking alone at a tavern.

Hit me up if you want a specific starter based on these concepts, or alternatively, throw a wildcard starter at this post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Estinien makes an annoyed rumbling sound, rolling over potential diversions in his head. He didn't promise her anything - at least he doesn't think he did. What was it he said... was it that he would consider it? He doesn't feel like he would make any sort of commitment so easily.

Then again, back in those early days, the idea that this would go on for so long has seemed so unideal that he barely wanted to consider it. To realize that it's three months later is startling. Will there be a time months from now, years from now, that he'll look back to this moment and wonder where it's all gone?

He grips the shovel, digging it into the earth at the side of the crooked post with considerably more verve than necessary. He looks like something is turning in his head, his thoughts spiraling inward.

"The techniques of the dragoon are no mere party trick, you realize," he says. "The Order of the Dragoon represented the highest elite of Ishgard's military. I spent as much time as you've been alive mastering the craft."

Kay is very pointedly trying to ignore the whole "how has it been three months already" factor here, and is focusing only on the positives. That is, the potential to lean some Sick New Stunts.

The teen's head sinks more heavily against her hand, slipping until she's mushing one cheek up with the butt of her palm. "Yeah, yeah, you mentioned something like that back then, too," she sighs, trying to skip past the repeat lecture. "I get it! It's an art. Your art. I don't expect you to turn me into some kind of expert overnight. Or at all, really... All I'm asking for now is a chance to learn the basics and see how it works."

Despite her somewhat rude dismissiveness from a moment ago, she is being absolutely genuinely serious about that last part, and Estinien gets the glistening puppy-dog eyes to boot. Please teach her, pa-pa.

The most glaring issue with this, he thinks, is that while he's a master of the art, he's far from a skilled teacher. It's different than training Himeka, given she already has experience in the fundamentals. He has no experience teaching complete novices.

But, he also doesn't really have a good reason to refuse trying at all. Kay is stuck here too - wouldn't it be better for her to be as skilled as possible? She remembered the offer in the first place, so she has to be at least somewhat committed, doesn't she?

He digs silently for several more seconds.

"Have you undergone physical training before?" he finally asks.

Edited (format) 2021-09-15 14:47 (UTC)

She perks up again, now that she's getting the sense she's wearing him down.

"Physical training? Sure! P.E.'s totally my best subject back home! Ask anyone!" Grinning eagerly, she cracks her knuckles and throws a few quick jabs at the empty air in front of her, bouncing in place like an idle character in a fighting game. "See? Totally fighting fit! Wanna see me run some laps, too?"

Part of him wants to ask 'what the hell is P.E.?' but the other part of him decides that it doesn't matter and he doesn't care. He has his doubts about the intensity of the training she's talking about... but he supposes that will be part of the journey.

And he sees the opportunity here to accomplish two things at once.

"Hm. Five laps. Around this pen."

Luckily for her, the bones of the sheep pastures are divided into sections, so she doesn't have to run around the whole thing, just the section he's currently working on. But it's probably the equivalent of doing three laps around a football field.

Kay pauses mid bounce, taken aback. "Wait. Really?"

She kind of hadn't expected him to say yes to that? But that is the only reason she hesitates, because half a beat later she says, "Alright then. Five laps, coming right up!"

And then she vaults herself over the gate and takes off running, because Kay Faraday is no thief of idle threats. If Estinien is going to take her up on her offer then by golly, she is going to follow through.

Besides, she's pretty sure she's done longer runs than this for physical fitness testing at school; this probably doesn't even amount to a full mile. It takes her less than five minutes to do as he asks, and when she's done, she's only a reasonable degree of winded from the effort.

"Wooh! How was that!?" she asks between paced breaths, grinning fiercely.

It was a modest test, to be sure, but his primary goal was to see that she was physically active. Also, to get her out of his hair for a few minutes - it's easier to think when she's not grinning at him like a fool.

She doesn't already have to be a warrior, he reasons, she merely has to be unafraid of toil. He's already gotten that impression from her in the past - she's practically volunteered to join them on the mining trip, after all, despite having an easy out. If anything, she seems to find herself restless when inactive, the same way he and Himeka do. If she really is prepared to commit, then surely, she would be the sort of ideal spirit required for this sort of thing?

More frivolous than he is, of course, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Generally, he doesn't consider himself to be a role model in the first place. Even just improving her strength and endurance would be a boon, for her own survival, even if she doesn't take to the dragoon's particular style.

He barely pays attention to her actual running, only casting her a glance often enough to note that she isn't taking any shortcuts. He does note her measured breathing as she returns, though, and is glad to see she already has that sort of thing in mind. Maybe this is all part of 'P.E.'.

He sticks his shovel into the dirt, leaning on it to look her over. Alright, he decides. Alright, fine.

"'Twas the bare minimum," he says, the sentiment lingering just long enough to settle. "But that's all one needs to try."

Kay scoffs lightly, shaking her head. "Feh! 'Bare minimum', huh? Remind me to challenge you to a foot-race some time when I'm fresh, then we'll see about what's 'bare minimum'. But... Wait... Does this mean..."

She's back to grinning again.

"Does this mean you'll do it?"

Edited 2021-09-16 02:19 (UTC)

Estinien shrugs his shoulders because he will race her if she insists, not that he thinks it would be a particularly meaningful victory. Though he would be very surprised if she won, so at least there's that possibility for intrigue.

His lip quirks slightly as she starts grinning again, trying to stay stern but amused despite himself. He's been easing back into his training regiment anyway, rebuilding lost muscle, so he was going to be doing it anyway.

"Aye," he says. "But 'twill be no easy commitment. We'll start with-" How many days is reasonable to get her to train? Seven? Six? Five? "-three days of the week, and build from there. And I'll expect you to be on time, barring any emergencies."

"YES!" Kay cheers, doing a jubilant little hop and pumping both fists in the air. "Thank you! I'll be there for sure, you can count on me!"

That hop, on the heels of all the running, gives her a bit of a head rush, so she leaves it at one, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her wrist. She's still full of a vibrant energy though, and that lighthearted grin of hers never falters.

"Heh, I guess I'll just have to start calling you 'sensei' once we start, huh?"

Estinien is actually familiar with that term, though it isn't the one he'd use here. No, if she is going to be training as a dragoon, it would make more sense to abide by Ishgardian culture.

"More traditionally, a knight of Ishgard would refer to their teacher as 'master'," he says, shrugging his shoulders. He isn't going to enforce that, but it's worth pointing out.

"Oh. Huh!" She considers that for a moment. "Well, I guess if that's the correct term of respect, then that's what I'll use! It is kind of a shame, though... I think 'Esti-Sensei' has a good ring to it! Heh-heh..."

There's something about her mixing that cutesy nickname with a teacherly term of respect that strikes him as bizarre. His eyebrows raise and he exhales, as if to say 'if you insist...'

"At any rate," he says, pulling his shovel from the dirt. "I have work to attend to, but you may join me for my evening training session. In the meantime, you'll need to find a pole that can stand in for a spear."

He doesn't honestly know what Kay does with her days, but it's something to keep her busy, at least.

"A pole, huh? Hmmm..." She tilts her head back a moment, musing to herself. "I can think of a few possibilities.... Alright then! I'll find myself a weapon and meet you back here in the evening!"

Once they work out a specific time and place she takes off, keen on fulfilling that particular task. Her first thought is to check the docks and see if there are perhaps any spear fishers who might be willing to part with one of the tools of their trade, but the third settlement isn't exactly immediately close to hand.

In the end, she shows up at the required time and place with her neighbor's laundry pole in hand, a knotted but sturdy length of wood, which happens to be taller than Kay is by a good two feet or so.

"Master Esti-Sensei!" she calls out to him as she trots up, holding the big stick aloft. "How's this?"

Though Estinien would have his doubts about her method of acquisition if he had any idea it was stolen from a neighbour, but as it is, he's blissfully ignorant. As she arrives, he is mid-technique, lifting the entire weight of his body onto the end of his own pole staff, spinning around for an impressively long time. He only stops when he hears her call out. Dismounting gracefully, he pulls the end of the pole from the earth, spinning it around to a resting position with an instinctive sort of precision.

The time he named was about an hour after the standard supper time, in a section of empty farmland near where he lives. While the grass here is scraggly and rough anyway, it looks as if sections of it have been scorched by something, burning it down to the blackened dirt.

He raises an eyebrow, looking over her 'weapon.' It might be a bit tall... but it's honestly not that out of proportion compared to the lances he's used to working with. More incredulous is that title she just called him by.

"...'Twill suffice," he says.

Edited 2021-09-17 15:29 (UTC)

Grinning goofily, Kay fidgets and scratches behind one ear. "Heh. It was kind of the best I could do on short notice, y'know? Maybe we can tie a knife to the end of it or something to make it more... Spear-like?"

More to the point...

"Forget about that though, what the heck was all that crazy spinning and stuff just now? That was totally kick-ass! Does that move have a name? Is that what you're gonna teach me to do first?"

The fact that she DEFINITELY doesn't have the upper body strength to pull something like that off yet doesn't cross her mind for a second.

The pole is fine, really - about the right height to represent a polearm, and strong enough to hold her weight. The rest, though... it's certainly ambitious.

"First? Unlikely," he says, coming over to her as if to inspect her more closely. He raises his eyebrow. Suddenly, he reaches over to squish her bicep, as if checking to see how swole it is. "You'll need strength training before that. Airborne techniques require mastery over your body - more so than standard physical fitness would allow."

He puts his hand on his hipe, huffing out evening air as his heart rate gradually slows.

"...'Tis called the Ring of Thorns. If you train diligently, it will someday be within your capabilities."

To be fair, there's not nothing there. Kay at least possesses enough arm strength to help support her own body weight during her numerous clambering escapades, so she's got more than just twigs for limbs. But it's true: swole, she is not.

"Awwww, phooey," she pouts, poking her own arm in turn. "And here I thought I was rocking a total gun-show." With a sigh, she rests one hand on her hip, and shrugs with the other. "Nothing else for it then I guess... Except to train super hard and get absolutely RIPPED. Then I can learn sick moves with kick-ass names like that one!"

Only time will tell how truly dedicated she is, but Estinien has decided that he can give her the benefit of the doubt for now. If she does actually stick with it long enough to get 'ripped', he suspects she may have what it takes to do this after all.

Their first session is probably fairly boring by her standards - more or less just bringing her along with his workout routine. After stretching, there is general cardio, and then strength excercises. He's set up what is basically a pull up bar with some spare materials, and his major focus with that is to test her current ability to lift her own body weight. He'll explain that in order for her to support herself while airborne, she'll first need to be able to support herself while stable.

Towards the end, he will actually lead her through some basic spear strikes - to give her something 'cool' to take home, if nothing else. He'll also tell her they are something that should be practiced and repeated in between sessions, along with continuing her own strength training.

At the end, he'll lead her through a cool down period, until eventually they are finished and able to simply chill out next to some nearby trees. Overall, the session lasts about an hour and a half.

As he sits with her, he'll pass her over another one of the multiple glass bottles he's brought, filled with water from the house. They presumably already went through a few while training. Estinien hydrates and refuels about as often as religiously as one would expect. His muscles have shrunk somewhat through his captivity, but with the shorter sleeves his wearing now, the definition is obviously something that has been developed over a lifetime.

"Have you learned any new magic since arriving?" he asks as they drink. "I'm curious to learn if you're capable of manipulating your aether in the same way Himeka and I are."

Fortunately, Kay actually likes exercising, and she's eager to show off. So she's far from bored by the proceedings. If anything, her issue lies mainly in how prone she is to goofing around. There's no serious visage of a warrior in training to be found here, and she does this the same way she does most things: sporting a big goofy grin and an unassailable sense of humor.

Giving her something cool to take home is an excellent decision all the same. Gaining some neat new tricks to practice on in her spare time is a great carrot to motivate Kay for their next meetup, so... Estinien might just be better at this whole teaching thing than he was previously giving himself credit for. She's going to be practicing those spear moves constantly until their next lesson, probably using poor Phoenix as a target.

...Hopefully Estinien doesn't wind up getting sued.

Now that they're cooling down, Kay has propped herself against one of the trees to make herself more comfortable. She looks exhausted but happy, kicking back and taking a big sip from one of the bottles.

"Mmmm-- Yeah, of course!" she wheezes in response to his question, once she finishes swallowing. "Soon as I got out of prison back in Thorne, I went and learned a wind spell and a fire spell right away. The mages told me they were super basic techniques, but. I think I mentioned we don't have ANY magic at all where I come from, so..."

So it was a HUGE deal to her.

She trails off momentarily, looking up at the sky past the shroud of leaves above. "That's one of the few good things about being stuck here... Something I'm really grateful for. I promised my dad a long time ago, that I'd always do my best to learn about things that I didn't understand. This world is FULL of things I don't understand, and would probably have never got the chance to learn about back home."

Estinien watches her, his lip curling into a subtle smile as he sees her enthusiasm. She did seem to like what he had to offer, after all - maybe all of this will go somewhere. Maybe she actually will be as dedicated as she suggested she would be.

Though his world has plenty of magic to it, he can still understand the wonder of finally learning some part of it yourself. He can only imagine how strange it must be, coming from a place where aether could only be manipulated in certain, rare circumstances. This entire world must be so strange to her, and yet here she is, embracing what parts of it she can.

"You have an adventurous spirit," he comments, feeling purely contented in his own rare way. Just for a moment, among everything else. "Mayhap you will master the dragoon's leap after all."

Maybe it will happen faster here, with the benefit of their contention to the Singularity. More and more he wonders what lofty heights it may actually be capable of.

Coming from Estinien, that feels like especially high praise? Kay's going to take it as such anyway, and she positively beams in response.

"Thief's honor, I'm gonna give it my all! Heh, I'm also hoping Miss Himeka can teach me a thing or two about healing... I'll be a real spell-slinger in no time!"

With a contented smile on her lips she tilts her head back, turning her attention skyward, towards clouds stained pink by the late evening sun. "Heheh. I've got a whole bunch of friends here who have mad skills worth stealing, and it doesn't even stop at magic stuff! Did I tell you about how Mister Geralt has been teaching me some real vital stuff about tracking and navigating in the wilderness?"

She frowns, the slightest furrow creasing her brow for just a moment. "...Although... I guess those lessons are on hold, now that he's all the way off somewhere in the Free Cities..."

That or they'll have to arrange some kind of meeting within the Horizon.

Estinien scarcely gives out praise he doesn't absolutely mean, so it really does mean something that he's making a point of saying something encouraging. If she really can learn all this and more, he'll be fascinated.

Unfortunately, the contented look on his face is melted away when Geralt's name gets mentioned. He turns his head from her, his expression becoming distant, his brow furrowed as anger once again turns in his gut. It's typical, that they'd all have positive impressions of the man. Estinien guesses he did as well, for a time.

"No. You didn't."

He can't keep the grimness from his tone as he says it, clearly unpleased to be thinking about the man. He pauses, though, momentarily holding in his spite. Is this really something he needs to drag her into? He's not sure.

Whether or not he drags her into their feud is one thing, but keeping knowledge of it from her entirely was off the table the moment he started making that suspiciously grim face. She frowns, leaning forward a bit to stare at him from the side and trying to catch his eye again.

"Hey, what's wrong? You got all weird and quiet all of a sudden," she asks, frowning with concern. "Was it something I said?"

Estinien is lingeringly quiet for a short while longer, knowing that brushing it off isn't exactly reasonable, but also hating having to address the thing. He sighs.

"Nay. 'Twas only that... I have gotten the impression that Geralt de Rivia is a waste of the air he breathes."

He falls silent again. Okay, maybe that is coming on a bit strong.

"He would rather ignore all that does not concern him, and even some that does, if 'twould spare him lifting a hand."

[SEMI-OPEN] and all you see

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)