fandomhighdorms | The Garden, Sunday Afternoon

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The Garden, Sunday Afternoon

Karla was feeling moody. Maybe it was knowing that shes was moving out of that cabins and back to the dorms with a roommate she didn't know. Maybe it was homesickness, stirred by her booth at the Multi-Cultural Fair. Maybe it was knowing this next week was going to be filled with a lot of anxiety that few people could actually know about. Whatever it was, she was a mess of different emotions, most of them unpleasant.

And so, she did what any Kaeleeran Queen would do: she found a garden and started working on it. Queens needed a connection with the land; it soothed them, help them think, and, in return, they made the land healthier and stronger. It was a nice trade-off.

Today, however, Karla wasn't concerned about making the land better. She just wanted somewhere peaceful to work while she sorted through her odd jumble of emotions. So she spent the afternoon weeding, thinning, watering, and just basically getting good and mucky.

[Establishy but open]

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"And this is the same drug that your mother took in such quantities?" Karla asked, gently. Her people skills were lacking, but even she could sense that this was a delicate topic.

"It is," he replied. "And the same that makes my eyes blue."

It wasn't really Spice, or the fact that his mother had taken too much, but how Pre-Born were seen as Abomination my many.

True, but Leto hadn't really gotten to the Abomination bit yet.

"Your eyes are blue?" Karla teased lightly. "Hadn't noticed. I should be careful, then. In Glacia, blue eyes are a sign of sneaky troublemakers."

It should be noted that Karla's eyes were also a very bright blue. Though certainly not as bright or as blue as Leto's

He chuckled. "And people remind you of this often?"

She gave him her most innocent look. "Of course not!" she said, wide-eyed. "Why ever would they? I'm generally considered an exception to that rule."

He laughed. "You look adorable when you lie!" As soon as he had said it, he realised he might be overstepping a boundary, but he hoped Karla would see it as a joke, as it had been meant that way.

Normally, being called adorable would have ruffled a few feathers. However, she took it in the teasing spirit of their current conversation. "Lying? Me? Leto, you break my heart," she said, looking up aty him with wibble-eyes. "How could you think such a thing about sweet, li'l innocent me?"

"I am sorry to cause you such pain, but I do have to put your innocence in question," he replied cheerfully.

"Well of course you would say that. You're a sneaky, troublemaking blue-eyed male. You're just trying to ruin my reputation. Fortunately my kindly nature will see me through" she retorted. "You're just so lacking in innocence, it's hard for you to recognize it when you see it."

Yeah, that was totally it.

"That's a harsh accusation," Leto grinned. "What reasons have you to say that?"

"It's the only reason I can come up with for you to be able to doubt my innocence with a straight face," Karla replied. Her own straight face was in serious danger of bursting into laughter. "I mean, anyone who doubts my commitment to sweetness and light..." she trailed off, unable to finish without snickering.

Leto watched her, the smile on his face growing until he burst out laughing. It was a warm laugh, though. He found he enjoyed Karla's company.

~~He doesn't have to seem so surprised about that.~~

With Leto laughing, Karla found she couldn't stay serious any longer, either. It felt good to laugh. She had been laughing more often and more freely since she'd come to Fandom than she'd had in a long time. Even with Morton, they'd had fun, but they hadn't really laughed much together. Glacia was too oppressive for honest laughter. She realized with a start that the last time she'd really, truly laughed in Kaeleer was the last time she'd been with Jaenelle. And she hadn't seen Jaenelle in years.

Her laughter faded. In a way, it felt odd to be silly, teasing Karla. She'd been careful, watchful Karla for too long. "Leto? Being head of the Reserves means you can fight well, right?"

~~Of course he isn't surprised!~~

He gave her a surprised look. "Yes, I can. Why?" He wasn't boasting, but he saw no need for false modesty.

Karla had no patience for false modesty. "Can you teach me?" she asked. "I know Dinah gets lessons from Arthur, but I like you better." Or at all, really. "And I'm okay with a knife, but that's it. And I need to learn."

Edited 2009-06-01 19:51 (UTC)

"You can do a lot with a knife," Leto said, his hand moving instinctively to the crysknife strapped to his leg. "I can teach you. What exactly do you want to learn?"

"How to kill, quickly and efficiently," Karla said bluntly. "But if you're uncomfortable teaching me that, then how to keep myself alive long enough for me to be able to get away, or for someone else to arive and take care of whatever it is I'm holding off. But the idea of having to depend on another makes my skin crawl, and there's not always the opportunity to get away."

She called in her own hunting knife to show Leto. "It is a good weapon, but it is a close weapon. And I am not as proficient with it as I could wish. I would like to change that, and to learn a weapon that I do not have to get so close to use."

In a few days, fighting off alligators, Karla would remember this comment and curse. Creatively.

"I am not at all uncomfortable," he assured her. "I just needed to know your purpose. In my time, due to the invention of energy shields, we rely mostly on hand-to-hand combat. If you want to get further away from your enemy than that, there are guns. I can use a lasgun, but there are many here who are a lot more skilled with that than I am."

"I know how to fight with knives and swords, as well as unarmed. And with or without shield." He smiled. "The basics is requires only hard physical training, but combined with what we call The Weirding Way, it is most effective. That takes some time to learn though, and is more a training of the mind..." And suddenly he was standing in front of her, the move almost too fast to see.

[and bedtime!]

"I don't really know what guns are," Karla admitted, "But I may do just that. I see no reason to limit myself. But swords and knives are what my people's primary weapons. Other people use different ones, of course," she said, thinking of the bows of the centaurs and the bladed war-sticks of the Eyeriens.

"I would like to learn the sword, the knife, and unarmed combat. As well as the shields, if you can teach me, though I know how to shield myself. And--" Karla didn't jump backwards when Leto moved, but there was a flash of Sapphire energy as her shield flew up, and her knife came up defensively. There was fear in her eyes as she waited, barely breathing, for Leto to make the next move.

[Night!]

"Karla, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, and I mean you no harm." Moving slowly again, he took a step back. "I wanted to demonstrate to make you understand. But I can teach you what you ask for,and as for shields," he nodded towards her," perhaps yours is even more effective than mine. You might want to integrate that."

Edited 2009-06-02 08:45 (UTC)

Karla breathed slowly, forcing her heart rate back to normal. It was stupid, her reaction. She should have known Leto wasn't going to hurt her. He was the head of the Reserves--an organization dedicated to protecting people! "No, it's okay Leto. If I'd thought you were a threat, I wouldn't have asked you to train me. I was just startled." She vanished the knife. "Sometimes I get a little...jumpy," she said, avoiding his eyes. "Just jumpy."

"But I thank you for agreeing to teach me, and I promise that you will find me a willing and enthusiastic pupil."

Jumpy? Well, he shouldn't judge her for that. "Then we should meet in the salle some day and I will show you where to start."

There was a special place in Hell for people who kindly chose not to discuss topics other people wished to avoid. It was comfortable and elegantly-appointed, with unicorns and honey-pears and good books. "Sounds good," she affirmed. "Could we start the week after next? Next week is going to be a little bit...hectic for me."

She was NOT sparring with Leto during the first three days of her moon time. It was a RULE.

"Oh, certainly," Leto replied, getting to his feet. "Just let me know when, and I'll meet you there."

"Excellent," Karla agreed, rising with him. "We'll set a time Thursday, during class. I should have a better idea of my schedule then, okay?"

Oh, the ironies!

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