Steve Rogers (defrosted) wrote in angellogs, @ 2018-03-25 18:18:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, courfeyrac, noah fon ronsenburg, steve rogers (captain america) |
Who: Noah, Courfeyrac, Steve Rogers
When: Current
Where: Craigcrook Castle, Edinburgh
What:Boys playing with swords! Courfeyrac’s home early from school, so Noah shows off for him and a visiting Steve. Steve and Noah end up talking about Odin’s death, and other such things.
Rating/Warnings: There's some references to death and regret, but nothing explicit, or that grim.
Status: Complete
Noah's feeling a lot better, which is good, and he had a morning shift since some of the day crew was gone due to the cold going around the workplace. That meant he got back in time for Courfeyrac to get a sudden half day of school due to test prep for something or another and a sports thing.
Noah's looking bemused. "I'm pretty sure I haven't studied for a test this way before." But Courfeyrac said it might work. "So, I'll be showing you the full routine. There's a couple of parts to this which is pretty tricky, and you can strain muscles if you're not careful. But, you're sure you're curious? Give me a question, and I'll do a routine and see if I can answer it."
Which worked out well for Courfeyrac, considering he technically had a few things to finish up in study hall. Not a LOT, by any means, he just hadn’t finished every question and needed to look a few things up for the history section they’ve got him in, which, right now, is mostly Courfeyrac, a few other displaced from history kids who speak french and a relatively young and sort of frazzled teacher. Not that anyone can blame the guy for BEING frazzled under these circumstances, but..
They do all kind of make for annoying things to do that Courfeyrac’s pretty happy to leave behind for the moment. He’ll take the chance and wiki some of these things later, too. That’s an aspect that’s definitely improved here.
Steve’s nodding now, at both of them. “Sounds good. I’m definitely curious. Clint was saying that Aedan mentioned that you’re really amazing at this.”
"I doubt amazing is the right word." Noah shrugs slightly as he's picking up his swords. "This is partially a ceremonial style - you know - practical, but also meant to look impressive and threatening. I learned it when I was . . . early twenties? I think that's about right."
Noah does pause mid swoop when he can't remember the difference between stereobate and stylobate (Greek architecture is still horrible,) but he's - satisfied with his form, at least. The dual sword fighting style is very swooshy, and it is honestly peaceful to do. He enjoys the patterns of the moves. Enjoys it even more when you're not supposed to call one of them innocent and another execution.
“Well, close enough for people who haven’t seen it? I’ll probably think you’re amazing too.” Steve offers, grinning. “But anyway, please...go for it?”
Courfeyrac’s leaning a little,on a post, watching and noting the form there. It’s interesting, the differences therein. And there’s a lot of fluidity that’s kind of noteworthy. He’d started working on his footwork, in a separate session with the fencing master every week or so, about a year ago, but this is much more than that.
Noah slows to a stop. "I should catch my breath." He tilts his head at Courfeyrac. "We could head back and see if Isannah's gotten back to us? Have you had lunch yet?" He suspects as well that Steve would like to talk. "And . . . how was that? I could nitpick my form, but that was - close. Close enough."
“I liked that.” Courfeyrac turns to him now. “Your footwork is beyond...even with your room to nitpick that you mention...How is that WORKING? I’ve had lessons for just that for a year now and I’m nowhere close to anything like that. I doubt anyone at my salle or who takes lessons at school is.” He looks thoughtful.
Noah chuckles. "Twice your years using swords, and a culture that used them in war." He's stretching his back as he heads over. "Some of this - there are traditional dances that are basically the same forms without the weapons in hand. The theory was that a small village and spears could at least make a united front." He checks his phone to see if Isannah's gotten a hold of him. Balthier's doing something with Calum and the college (possibly a theater performance,) so she was next on the contact list.
“Good point.” Courfeyrac allows to that, and he nods. “The experience for one but...I suppose the culture DID create a style that’s especially useful. And oh?” he looks quite interested in that. “Spears and united fronts...sounds rather fierce and fearsome...fiercesome?” he tries out, and looks pleased.
“Spears and united fronts. We had a few places at home that were similar still. More traditional ways of at least presenting themselves.” Steve says, nodding a little. “Wakanda has a LOT of things they keep to themselves, or have been, apparently.” He saw with the latest of the movies set in their universe that that may be changing, what with a new king and new ideas and all. ...There’s a part of Steve that wishes he’d MET T’Challa, who seems reasonable and well balanced.
“Bucky might be able to say more, if I asked about that. He was with them for a while after things went down that are kind of messy. But definitely anyone COULD hold off as a group with things that are pretty well coordinated like that. I’d be scared.”
"We could teach you the dances. If you want." Noah puts his swords away. "Let me wash my face, and I could make some coffee? Or is there questions?"
“I’d like that. I think dancing would suit me. Even in that style.” Courfeyrac also has the feeling it’ll be a lot more interesting than being forced into a large room with his parents, their friends, and the other children of everyone here and forced to do pleasantries while sweating through your gloves. “I’m told that I WOULD be a good dancer if I didn’t get so BORED partway through a set of dances.” He rolls his eyes. “This makes me a TERRIBLE partner, apparently. I don’t pretend I understand the etiquette, just that it was THERE and drilled into my skull. I’d like something new.”
Noah chuckles. "Well, there's different styles, but - I don't blame you." He puts the swords away and moves over to wash his face off and his hands. "Tea? I think there's some cookies to have with it. How are you doing, Steve?"
“That sounds like the kind of dance you get dragged to because your parents want you to make friends with their friends’ kids.” Steve rolls his eyes a little. “It was apparently a thing in high school. Not for me. My Mom kind of loved my best friend and he was about all I NEEDED, and that was fine, but some of the other kids...oh man.” he makes a face.
“I kind of feel sorry for people who’re in the forced interaction thing. I mean it wasn’t ever comfortable when I was younger, mostly because I was so...small, and I missed a LOT of first and second grades so by that time no one really KNEW me, but no one made me try to be fake nice at people either.” He shakes his head a long moment, giving Courfeyrac a sympathetic look, and turning to Noah.
“And you had to do security at things like that, right? That also sounds really uncomfortable. And I’m good. I liked the thing you did with the foot sweep when you were demonstrating some of the moves. Looks useful.”
"Things akin to that." Noah leans against the table. "Diplomatic functions, and dinners, and things like that. A lot of the parties would be divided to the point where I might be following a specific person." He's - not sure if Courfeyrac needs to hear the exact rank issues involved with being a Judge and therefore charged with the Imperial family's safety and then the safety of the country. "Since I was a Judge Magister, that meant that I had the job of ensuring the Imperial family was safe, beyond just the military duties. I was in charge of something akin to - Intelligence? So a lot of things to keep an eye on."
“Our...King...has a guard.” Courfeyrac nods. “Similar I think to what you’re describing. Personal ones who work for the palace and less the soldiers or national guard. Or , well, they started as soldiers but eventually wound up there?” It’s close enough to accept security as a explanation.
"We were - a not terribly good situation. A Judge ran the army as a higher rank. The Judge Magister was both the judicial system and the military system, combined with the duty to keep the family in charge of the country. I ended up as one, due to rising up the ranks. I would not say it was a good system." Noah shakes his head. "I was ethical, as much as I could be, and that was not that ethical." He never particularly noticed the odd - judges were a special caste, above the regular army ranks until he got outside. It - was strange, seeing patterns when you weren't living in them.
Courfeyrac nods at that, frowning a little. “That does sound very. Well…” he makes a face. “Putting the power in the hands of a group already seriously loyal to the royal family...that sounds as if it WOULD eventually provoke some sort of difficulties. Especially with ethical things.”
He may be young, but he’s done the reading, and, well, Courfeyrac’s also talked to Enjolras more than once. That may be something of an undoing, but so far, it’s not proved that. Maybe the older, university attending them, or whenever they met again, just had some wires seriously crossed that day.
"Quite. And there's some grim stories I can tell about that, but - I'm rid of the place." Noah shakes his head. "I should get a little water. Come with me?
“Of course.” Courfeyrac nods and Steve is trailing as well. “And that’s a good way to look at it. Less looking back and more to the future?”
"Let us just say there were more heirs to the throne, and when I became the Judge Magister, there was less. And the rest is a grim story." Noah shakes his head. "But - looking forward is good, I think. It's different here, and I have more options. Better to live the life I have, not the one I did?"
“The Princes in the tower?” Steve asks, and then glances at Noah. “Actually never mind, if you’re on the greek architecture, you probably haven’t gotten to Shakespeare, I’m gonna guess. And that’s...I like that. It helps.”
"We had Shakespeare. Or -" Noah frowns. "One theory was that our things got translated a bit. Sort of like how I speak the same language as everyone else, when my grammar doesn't fall apart. The princes was - an unpopular king story? Wasn't that one a weird play that rhymed a lot?" Noah's getting some cups, and he slides two over. "Do you two want tea or something?"
“Something like that.” Courfeyrac nods. “A person everyone hates because he’s kind of a jerk turns into kind of a murdering plotter so he can prove them right. Personally, I don’t know that I would want to be the MURDERING kind. There’s no way to know that the people who tried to hurt you are seeing that you’re doing it because of them. It’s kind of giving them satisfaction.” He shakes his head.
“And tea would be nice.” Steve smiles. “Thanks.”
Noah puts the kettle on. "You see, the version we had was that he said something like being rid of those bothersome heirs, and typically the more radical versions of the play follow that up with a wink wink joke to the audience about some public figure who's unpopular. Or implying it was an honest accident."
He leans on the counter. "That does sound fair, Courfeyrac. Not wanting to continue the circle of being as bad as the people you hate sort of thing. Do you feel happy with Balthier and his siblings? It sounded like it was going all right." Admittedly, with a bit of worried phone calls and Balthier's casual mention that Courfeyrac wasn't thinking of telling them about his birthday. Which seems - like one of those prove you like me dooming people to screw up sort of things.
“I mean I’m pretty sure that would be up there but…” Steve shrugs a little. “That sounds far more direct to the situation you were all living in at the time. And honest accidents. Those usually come off so DIFFERENT to that kind of thing.
“It’s been good.” Courfeyrac nods. He’d honestly, on the birthday thing, sort of figured that it wasn’t likely to be important right now, and at the moment, he’s pretty sure that he could have handled that fact. Of course, his version of handling things when he hasn’t told people about them tends to look like destructively kicking himself. Patterns or something. “Better than a lot of people I’ve met too. School’s weird but not unbearably so. I like it BETTER, it’s just a lot of new STUFF to take in. But that’s why they have summer programs if I need.”
He’s oddly pretty okay with the idea of that. Then again, it’s not like it’s running the ENTIRE summer, and he’s not currently failing anything and would be picking things up to get up to speed. It’s not too awful to have to study when you have some assurance that it’s not your fault and can believe that, and people aren’t complaining about your lack of motivation.
"Is there stuff that they haven't thought to ask you about? I honestly had one point where someone delicately asked if I knew that laundry was a lot easier, so I could get more than three sets of good clothing." To be honest, some of that was that Noah preferred the cheaper prices of used clothing and something felt - very new refugee like to be awkwardly wearing floppy polyester things that were blatantly new. It felt unsafe to be awkward in one of those hooded light jackets. It felt dangerous to be in new shoes.
“Let’s see.” Courfeyrac considers. “The drinking law was a bit of a shock. People get odd about things like that, but the rest hasn’t been TOO awful. I think a few people have been shocked that I haven’t really used calculators, that sort of a thing. But if I can get away without it, might as well.” Granted, it’s not like he’s doing anything DIFFICULT right now in math, just basic things.
"Could probably one down basic calculator things. I've used one in work for calculating increasing recipes." Noah's starting some toast now that he's had some water. "How have things been with you, Steve? I think I saw something - Clint said something about your husband's family happened? Or was this - in the media things?"
“Oh probably. When I need it, it doesn’t seem like it will be TERRIBLE to adapt.” Courfeyrac makes a little face. “Some of the upperlevel stuff and it’ll be helpful. I’m just glad I’m not a math genius, particularly. I’d be frustrated with the changes.” As it is, he can sort of shrug them off. They’re here now and he’s here and has nothing to unload in the way of number baggage. Well, he doesn’t remember any particularly traumatizing math incidents anyway. Brother Jerome had cared more about getting them through a period then running things with an iron fist or trying to be friends so everyone had managed fairly average there.
He doesn’t add the part where teachers trying to be FRIENDLY is a little bit new in most cases, since that’s a nice change from the general sort of way things went. That’s one of those givens that he LIKES, so it’s not really worth bringing up right now.
“It did.” Steve winces. “It...this might take some explaining from someone here longer. Or wait. You’ve got um the Jack the Ripper guy...the one who tried to bring him down and got reamed for it hanging around, right? Or well, Aedan does?” He’s met Aedan on a few occasions and well, Steve also knows a LOT more about the assassins than anyone lets on. He’s pretty sure most of the Avengers do.
“...Jacob, right? HE skipped a couple decades lately? Thor got a...something similar to that and was home for a while, not as long as that. He was with his father when he died. Which makes him king. Of Asgard. It doesn’t matter so much here, the title.”
Steve doesn’t like the idea of being a prince of anywhere, but that’s obviously not the focus right now. “He’s definitely, well, it’s horrible, even if I think I kind of blocked out most of when it was my mom. I do remember that part. So I’m TRYING to figure out things that might help sort of a deal. And...other people have been supportive.” He doesn’t think mentioning Tony by name is a great idea, given the drama that had happened with Aedan and all of THAT.
"Jacob, yeah." Noah makes a cup of tea and slides the teabags to them. "You could try talking to him? See things he'd like you to do? What about yourself? It's important to give yourself some space when you're helping someone else, so you don't get too tired."
“That’s probably true.” Steve says. “The last time I didn’t, things got a little...tense.” He shakes his head. “Apparently I had some kind of stressed out reaction, but I definitely want to avoid a different one.” As far as himself right now? “I think I’M okay though. I mean, mostly. There are little things, well big ones but in the scheme of how he’s doing, they’re little.”
Noah frowns. "That . . . sounds like you're a little not okay. What might help with you? I'm up for helping with little things." He's got the feeling that Steve doesn't know entirely how to - want things? Maybe. So it can't hurt to offer.
“I was a LOT not okay earlier this year.” Steve can be honest now. “It sort of..I didn’t like the person I became? I tuned some stuff out because I just couldn’t deal with more. The therapist said it was some kind of burnout. But it’s getting better. Clint stepping away from the Avengers to get his stuff taken care of helped. Tony’s married now, so there’s someone else who can support HIM, and might have ideas that help more.”
Steve smiles a little at that. “So it frees things up. I mean, I’m pretty sure Clint’s still kind of struggling, but he SEEMS more relaxed these days.”
"Well, it's probably - not fast? I'd guess it's not fast to feel better." Noah's making a little meal of things to have on toast and tea. "One second - I should tell my brother I made a little snack. See if he's hungry. Anything else? It sounds like knowing things are fine makes you feel better."
“It’s not, no.” Steve agrees there. “I mean it all takes time, but it’s in the process so I mean...could be worse?” He nods. “It does feel better. More like I’ve got things under control. It IS kind of my job. And that’s fine.”
Noah nods slowly. "Well, if you feel like you want some downtime, I think I could call in some favors and offer you some options. I'd enjoy it. I don't take a lot of time off myself." Since let's face it, a lot of his time off is divided between checking in on people and sleeping, and Sebastian. He waves his cup. "It's mostly - I think Clint wouldn't mind doing a small thing with you, and it sounds like Thor's having a rough time. Might not be bad for you to get away for a half day and come back refreshed?"
“And you do have a lot of things going on around here, don’t you?” Steve asks, smiling. “It’s good to see. Especially...I’m glad you’re able to have this. From the glimpse of you I got, it seems long overdue. But if you’re the person saying that, knowing how much you have going...maybe that’s not a bad idea. “
"The counsellor was talking about it. We went down to see Father Francis about the upcoming engagement, and he offered to talk to me solo." Noah looks thoughtful. "He said that it might be good to add - what I'd like in my day, versus what I think I should like. It seems a fair criticism." He's messaging Basch about the toast. "I kind of - Sebastian liked it when I included him on the list. I keep being surprised by what makes him happy."
“That is adorable.” Steve says, and he manages to make that sound not like some kind of condescending or patronizing thing. “And do you? It’s funny...I’d known Thor for so long before we even dated, but I feel like I”m still learning things too.”
"Nothing wrong with that, but -" Noah spreads his hands. "Ex-interrogator. I kind of - knowledge is something I love getting, especially when I'll not be hurting someone to have it."
“That makes sense.” Steve nods. “It seems like that would be impossibly difficult as a job, after a while. Or well, the sort that has you giving up parts of yourself and not realizing it impossibly difficult. Anything else you can obtain in any other ways seems like a good thing.”
"Aye. It wasn't an easy job. But - I find myself circling things that worry me, and it's sort of one of those - it's a thing I notice." Noah smiles. "But - I'm glad you and Thor are happy, even with his present sorrow at his loss."
“And I’m glad that in spite of things being awkward with...all of that, that WE can still talk and everything else. It’s...I appreciate it, you know? Being able to run things by people. And you’re a good person to do that with.”
Noah grins. "And that does make me happy. I told Shaun, early on, that - I had enough war in my life. A chance to have peace, and to make it, is a novelty that I like being able to do."