Who: Sky Min & Storm Kapur What: An unexpected visit. Where: Storm's room, monastery When: Earlier this week Rating: G Status: Complete
It had been a long day at training, and Storm desired little more than to put an end to it at last. Stumbling into his quarters, he reached blindly for the magicite switch. The lamps flickered on. A shower was in order before bed, and so the boy made his way to the closet. He had retrieved a towel and bedclothes by the time he thought to survey the rest of his room.
And promptly dropped his belongings.
“Pyr?” Storm exhaled incredulously, rushing to slam his door shut. “Or is it Sky?” He narrowed his eyes, trying to discern which of the twins it was. The squire had been speaking to the Mins long enough that he could tell them apart on a good day, although the endeavour remained a difficult one.
“It is definitely you, Sky,” he amended at length, leaning against the door. “Is everything all right?”
Sky had settled himself on the squire’s bed, happily tossing in the chocolate bites he’d bought (with stolen gil, of course) from Hadisham’s just before coming here. Originally he was going to go straight home and eat them all down for dessert, but on his way he caught the glimpse of someone who he thought looked like Audrey and, without thinking, he’d immediately fled to the Cathedral, as was his habit these days.
It’d been so long that Audrey couldn’t be mad anymore, and it was like the Countess Albrecht said, it wouldn’t be ladylike (though Sky couldn’t help but to laugh at the mental image of Audrey acting ladylike) for her to kill him, but better safe than sorry, anyway. Storm had taken a while to get here, so he had been able to alleviate his fears through his quickly vanishing bag of chocolate, and now he was just happy to see the squire.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he said, not moving from his lounged position. “Saw someone who might’ve been Audrey--” Or was it Alys now? “--so came here to hide. What’s up?”
Storm sighed—if Sky was going to be hiding out here for the evening, the squire might as well enjoy his company. It was Sky’s sort of company that Storm liked best, after all. It was difficult, in fact, not to see some resemblance between Conan and the bard. And so Storm scrambled onto his bed, settling himself beside Sky.
“I am just returned from training,” Storm said. “I have had to apply myself more so than usual. There is a class I would like to attend that requires a letter of recommendation from my mentor. The korporal has promised this to me only if I can knock him down.” The squire winced. “Even now, I feel that I must return to the training yard.”
Thoughts of his training made Storm, ever curious, ponder the nature of Sky’s. “Is your own training,” Storm ventured, “similar to ours?”
Sky winced, knowing that the nature of this question was one that both Audrey and Ari had warned him against answering too truthfully. Bending it, or keeping to vague, generic answers, however, was not out of the question -- and, really, Sky couldn’t think of a creative enough lie otherwise.
“Well, I never have to do anything that needs my mentor’s approval, which is a damn--” Oops. He was in a church. He couldn’t say things like that here. “--darn good thing because she’d never give it to me.” After a moment’s thought, he retracted the statement. “Actually, she just might give me the same conditions yours did, in a way. I’d have to best her. But she’d cheat anyway.” Never mind that it was in the nature of their guild to do it, of course; the side of the Bard’s Guild he was on, cheating was pretty much standard. “You sure yours won’t? What kind of class are you trying to get into?”
The squire was not astute enough to catch onto the deflection, blindly following the direction Sky had taken the conversation. “Are you happy with your mentor?” Storm asked, concerned. “Your relationship does not seem to be very… positive.”
It was as delicate an understatement as the squire could manage, considering the other boy had taken to hiding out in this room, of all places.
“And the korporal is too honourable to cheat,” was continued firmly. “I am not yet certain about my first class—” Storm was as yet struggling to choose between the dragoon and knight classes. “—but I am certain that I would like to be a holy knight someday.”
Sky whistled, impressed, at Storm’s ambitions. “A holy knight? Da-- wow. So you get to learn about holy magic and stuff like that too?”
“She’s better than Arwel,” he answered to Storm’s first question, which was true. “Doubt I’d be able to get anyone better.” Which was also true. Coming into an apprenticeship under Audrey had been something of pure chance, after all. Otherwise, he’d be stuck with Arwel forever. And at least when Audrey wanted to see him, and when Sky was sure that she wasn’t going to kill him, she had him actually doing thing. Stupid things, but things that wasn’t paperwork.
“Well, no holy magic as yet,” the squire supplied. It was likely to remain that way for a very long while, and Storm found he rather liked it that way. Given how difficult Cure was turning out to be, he did not think he was quite yet equipped for something like Hallowed Ruination.
“I do hope, at least, she can help you with the class you would like to get into,” Storm went on to offer. “You desire to be a ninja, correct? What sort of work does a ninja do for the Bards Guild?”
Sky shrugged. “You know… ninja-y things.”
To be honest, Sky hadn’t given the matter much thought. Bards were supposed to sing and dance and tell stories, and while Sky knew how a ninja fit into everything it was also exactly what he wasn’t supposed to tell others not in the guild. And even then, not tell people in the guild who were asking, because there were, apparently, some guild members who really did think that the Bards Guild was just that.
“I guess… maybe stage acrobatics or… pffft.” Another shrug. “Secret security? I never really asked. It just sounded cool. Because, well, ninja.” He jumped to his feet on the bed and posed to demonstrate. “Hiyah!”
“It does sound cool,” Storm agreed, not in the least bit suspicious of the ambiguity. His family had never looked kindly upon the Bards Guild, and so the squire had never had the occasion to learn more about it. Certainly, there were many things he was not equipped to understand about Sky’s guild. It was not within him to question whatever information the other boy offered.
The face of his clock catching his eye, Storm wondered if Sky had had the chance to eat dinner yet. His own stomach was beginning to rumble in protest. “The monastery’s kitchens ought to be serving dinner for another half hour,” he said. “Should you like to join me, I believe I will be venturing down shortly.”
“Ooh! Yes! Food!” Sky jumped off the bed and followed Storm out the door, happy to be fed something other than Arwel’s crappy cooking. “Is the food good here?”
After a moment of hesitation (he was used to far finer cuisine), Storm nodded in agreement. And so, without further ado, the ragtag pair made their way to the kitchens.