The Salle, Wednesday Late Afternoon

[weetuskenraider]

Look, this time Tahiri had made it back to the school grounds perfectly conscious of where she was and why she was going there, thanks. Someone had a belated birthday present to receive. She'd handwavily called Dinah to meet her up here, then stopped by the weapons locker to retrieve the two gaderffii she'd spent the past couple of weeks' spare time building (and wondering if it was cheating that the junkyard had plenty of scrap metal for such a project when it was much harder to scrounge up the right kind of metal back on Tatooine). One of them was a traditional style Tusken gaderffii, and the other, the one she'd made for Dinah, had been much more heavily modified with blunted fins and a rounded tip where the blades and spearhead should be, and no sharp spike protruding from the cudgel end (which had been shaped into more of a hook).

She propped that one up against the wall and went through a few basic moves with her own, re-acquainting herself with the heft and balance of the weapon. She'd learned to fight with one when she was five, but it had been years since she'd had to use one and it took some remembering.

Still, Tahiri couldn't help grinning. This was familiar, and reassuring.

[OOC: For Dinah, but open like a salle.]

Comments

[weetuskenraider]

"I didn't think so." Tahiri stood back -- well back, just in case -- and watched for a moment or two. "You can still do a pretty good bit of damage with that one, though. No, you want to hold it a little more like this," she added, demonstrating.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah readjusted her grip, hands farther apart, then nodded thoughtfully as the swing got easier to complete. "More stabby and sticky, less whappy?" she asked, smile teasing.

[weetuskenraider]

"Yeah." Tahiri, who was taking this a little more seriously, went through a couple of moves at quarter speed to illustrate what she meant. "Even with the way I made that one, it's the ends that do the real damage. And don't be afraid to shift your grip down toward one end if you need the extra leverage. They're not just weapons for the Sand People -- they're used to dig, or climb, or whatever you need to use them for, really."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Walking stick as well as stalking stick," Dinah said, examining it again, and thinking of at least two or three ways it could be useful out in the Preserve. "Awesome." She imitated the moves, putting aside glee in favor of learning the weapon, and then frowned at it, thinking. "Does it work well when thrown, or is it the wrong balance for that?"

[weetuskenraider]

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Tahiri said, "but if you really had to I guess you could do that. Well, you could TK it at somebody if you had to. The Tuskens don't part easily with their gaderfii, though. It's hard to scrounge up enough metal for them in the Jundland Wastes."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"How did you learn how to make one?" Dinah asked, curious. Tahiri usually never talked about Tatooine except to say some variation of 'hate sand, hate shoes, never going back, can't make me.' "Did everyone learn how?"

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri nodded. "The first rule of life in the desert is survival. And the Tuskens take their traditions seriously, and this is one of them. Sliven made me my first one, and taught me how to use it . . . like he taught my father," she added almost as an afterthought.

She cracked a grin. "Plus I did some extra research."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Dinah grinned back, and started experimenting with her gaderffii again, swinging it like a bat, then using it in a way that might block a sword or knife. "And who's Sliven?"

[weetuskenraider]

"My adoptive father. He's the one who took me into the tribe after my parents died." Tahiri almost felt like she should amend that with 'the first one,' but decided not to complicate matters, no matter how much Han and Leia seemed to fill that role these days. She watched critically as Dinah experimented, then nodded. "Yeah, that's more like it. Just remember you can't use it exactly like a staff."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Got it," Dinah said, nodding. It was a simpler weapon than a sword, but a lot easier to carry around than a full-sized staff. She could probably even get some decent use out of it in New Gotham, or use it like she would an eskrima stick if she had to, even though it was a little heavy for that. "Is this steel and aluminum?" She stopped experimenting to look at the seams of the thing. "Did you weld this? It's really cool."

[weetuskenraider]

"Uh huh. Not quite durasteel plating, but it's sturdy enough," Tahiri grinned. "It took me a while, so it's really late for a birthday present."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Are you kidding? Seriously, this is totally worth the wait, Tahiri." Dinah beamed at her, and shook her head. "No way can I make something like this when it's your birthday. I wish I could, kinda." She tested it again, and said, "Barbara makes boomerangs, and explosives, and all that, but she's pretty much a genius." She frowned. "Most of the time."

[weetuskenraider]

"My birthday was last month anyway. You have time," Tahiri teased. "Besides, it was something to keep myself occupied."

A beat, and she reversed her grip on her gaderffii to make a chopping attack. "Only most of the time? What happened when you went home, anyway?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good, give me a year-long project, why don't you? Just hand over the manual," Dinah joked, then imitated Tahiri's actions, face going more grim. "She was dumb. She didn't call me for back-up for Helena when she lost contact on a job. She went in herself." She paused, realizing why that wouldn't immediately sound dumb. "She's paralyzed from the waist down. Has been for eight years."

[weetuskenraider]

"And she went in anyway?" Tahiri didn't even really blink at the mention of paralysis, and couldn't help it when a bit of an admiring tone crept into her voice. Of course, Tahiri wasn't really smart about calling for backup herself sometimes. "She got out okay in the end, though, right?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"No, that's why I had a nightmare about what was happening to her." Dinah sighed. "She used experimental technology on her spine to get mobile, and it misfired, and she collapsed. They had to put her into an induced coma to give her spine and brain time to get over the shock." Dinah's hands were shaking again, and she tightened her grip on the gaderffii. "Gah. Sorry. I just... I had to do her job, coordinating the communications and intel, while she was down. And Helena was freaking out, and ..." Dinah shook her head, feeling the mad she hadn't had time to express in New Gotham.

[weetuskenraider]

There was only the very slightest hint of a twitch, just for a nanosecond, at the mention of technology, but Tahiri got it under control almost before it was evident. "But you guys got the job done." She projected mild reassurance toward Dinah in the Force.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Yeah, we did." Dinah took a huge breath, and relaxed, remembering the satisfaction of that. "Illegal gambling ring busted. Bad guys in jail." She smiled a little. "Barbara's okay now. Just on bed rest for a few days." She looked down at the gaderffii. "I'll have to show her this, the next time I go back. She'll love it."

[weetuskenraider]

"I'm not going into business, unfortunately, no matter how much she likes it," Tahiri informed her, grinning. "I don't think I'm allowed to do that. And wow, way to go."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah grinned. "She may decide to re-work the whole design and paint it black and emboss little hawks on it. Maybe that'll keep her out of trouble." Dinah bounced, looking more cheerful again. "We did good, didn't we? Usually not so many guys at once, that's a big haul. But still! With an assist from," her voice dropped dramatically, knowing Tahiri wouldn't have any idea who he was, "Nightwing. Dun-huh!"

[weetuskenraider]

"Is that his real name?" Tahiri asked, and no, of course she had no idea who he was. But she had to know about the name. "I'm guessing from the sound effects it's kind of a big deal."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"He's a really really really hot crimefighter from Bludhaven, and I think he still has a thing for Barbara from ages ago," Dinah confided, grinning brilliantly. "And she so, so needs to get out. So I'm hoping he'll stick around a while."

[weetuskenraider]

"Are you matchmaking now?" Tahiri asked, laughing. "I didn't think that was one of your hobbies."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I like when people are happy!" Dinah said, hugging the gaderffii like a teddy bear. A scary, scary teddy bear. "I helped Merlin ask out Francine. And I just like knowing it works, sometimes." Her smiled widened. "Sooo, you and Ben, were evidently kissy-facing in public?"

[weetuskenraider]

That was new; Tahiri had never seen anyone hug a gaderffii before, but then again given the design of most of them (and the sandbat venom a lot of the Tusken Raiders tended to put on the spear points) that wasn't exactly a surprise.

Oh, and then came the turning bright red. Because really, which time was Dinah referring to? There had been a lot of those lately.

"Um . . ."