Roof - Friday Late Afternoon

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose's ass was thoroughly kicked by her second training session in the afternoon.  So much so that she was pretty sure if she sat down on her bed, she'd end up asleep right up until tomorrow morning.  Which would be pathetic. 

The rain seemed to have stopped though so she wandered up to the roof and sat on the wall.  It was totally dorky, but she even had a book with her to study. Something about that new determination plus actually having talked Dimitri into fight training had made her realise there were other parts of being a guardian she hadn't been paying attention to.  So she was fixing it...even if this book was a little too focused on the threat of guns to the protectees. 

The longer she was up there, the less the book was actually getting read.

[Home from work early wheeee]

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[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"The island hasn't repeated anything twice since I've been here," Rose said, eyeing the clouds suspiciously. "We'd be more likely to end up with pudding or something."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat pulled his hat a little lower. "That would certainly be something to write home about if I could write home. Or wanted to." He laughed. "And if I wanted them all to think I was crazy."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Pudding starts coming down, and I'm so stealing that," Rose said, giving the hat an amused glance. "And come on, your world doesn't have syrup rain? Crazy talk."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"We don't even have regular rain these days," Mat said. "It's been bloody ridiculous."

Due to the Dark One getting more and more of a grip on the world as they sped toward the end of an Age. Cheery.

"What are you reading?" he asked, tilting his head to get a look at the cover.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"How do you - you know, have food and stuff if there's no rain?" Rose asked, frowning. She was obviously up on the technical farming terms.

"Studying," she said, showing him the title. "Cause apparently I've turned into a geek."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"That is turning into a problem," Mat admitted with a little frown. "You want to be a bodyguard?"

Changing the subject was much better than getting into a non-fun discussion of his home.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Going to be one, yeah," she agreed, noticing the change of subject and letting it go for now. "Been training since I was a kid, but it's getting really close now."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"What made you go into that?" Mat asked. "I toyed with being a merchant's guard back when I was really desperate to get out of Emond's Field."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Family gig," Rose said with a half-shrug. Well, it explained it as well as most other explanations. "And it's not like I could let anyone else protect my best friend." She glanced over at him. "What changed your mind?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

He'd left in the dead of night being chased by bloody Trollocs and Myrdraal, hoping that he wouldn't die.

He forced a smile. "I found another way out," he said lightly. "Now you couldn't give me gold enough to go back to sheep farming."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry," Rose teased, trying to lighten whatever he was avoiding. "You're too cute to force back to the sheep."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"They don't play cards or dice," Mat replied with another grin. "I'd be bored to tears, and I'm sure you don't want that to happen."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"I don't play cards or dice," she pointed out, smirking. "What are you implying here?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"That you'd be sad to lose my wonderful company, of course," Mat replied, smirking right back. "And I can teach you to dice."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Totally devastated forever," Rose agreed, rolling her eyes but amused. Teaching someone how to dice sounded like teaching 'em how to play pool. "Oh yeah? I'm game. Is it rigged?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Completely, but not entirely Mat's fault.

"Of course not," he said, pulling two dice from his pocket. "We'll start easy--high toss wins. The more pips that are showing, the higher the toss, of course."

He grinned. "What should the stakes be?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Which didn't sound like it should it should be rigged since that was random and stuff - right?

"You're the teacher," she teased, reaching for a die to inspect it. "What are fun stakes?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"I prefer either coin or kisses," he said, giving her his most charming smile.

It was very, very charming.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Charming enough that Rose cracked up. She liked him possibly way too much.

"Well, I'm poor," she said. "And kisses are more fun."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"I certainly think so," he agreed shamelessly, handing her the dice. "Ladies first."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Well - she'd done stupider things on the roof than throw dice in a kissing game she was still pretty sure was rigged.

"Oh yeah?" Rose teased. "So you never dice for money then?"

She shook the dice in her hand and rolled them along the wall. A 4 and a 2. Pretty much exactly average.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Of course I do," he said. "Have you seen some of the ugly men who spend their time in taverns?"

He rolled the dice without really looking. A pair of fives, which was pretty average for Mat. "I win," he said, smiling.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"I've never been anywhere that calls itself a tavern," Rose said dryly. "Unless you count Caritas which - okay, not kissing a zombie."

She shook her head at the roll and grinned up at Mat. "Want to settle the debt now or later?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"That depends on you," he said. "Would you prefer to just accrue debt, play for increasing stakes, or get it out of the way at every round?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Increasing stakes," she said rather quickly. "Which means we can play double or nothing?"

Rose, being reckless all the time really isn't a good idea.