A Story and a Song...

[smallspot]

Who: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (smallspot ) and anyone who wants to run into a cute little kid.
Where:  An open grassy area near Building One.
When:  8-19, in the afternoon
Format: Starting in prose, but please use whatever you want to reply!
Summary:   There are a lot of fun ways to spend a warm afternoon, though, for a bitty knight the best way to spend it is...training!  Oh, and sometimes stopping to sing songs to his 'family.'
Warnings: Cuteness?

For once Diarmuid is using his cloak as something other than a blanket.  Right now, he is carefully spreading it out on the grass so that he can set his new toys on it.  With him are three small stuffed animals he got at the end of the festival--two adult swans and a baby one.

"Here is the father swan," Diarmuid carefully sets the first of the adult swans onto the cloak--the one he has picked to represent his foster father, Aengus.  He then sets the other adult swan next to the first, this one representing his foster mother, Caer, "And here is the mother swan!  And here is the baby swan who isn't lost anymore!"  The boy sets the baby swan in front of the two adults and then jumps up and claps his hands happily.

"Now the whole family is together again!  Watch me, Father!  Watch me, Mother!  I'll show you what everyone has been teaching me while I've been away!"  The boy bows to the toys and then picks his practice sword up off the ground.  He takes a few steps away before starting to practice the new sword moves he's been taught by Suzaku and some of the others who have offered to train him.

He knows that the toys aren't really his family, of course, but over the last few days he's been more homesick than usual and talking to them like they are helps for some reason.  Once he's practiced for a while, Diarmuid will sit down by the toys for a rest and to sing some happy songs to his 'family.'  After a few songs, he will jump up and start practicing again.  Diarmuid isn't really paying attention to anything going on around him, but he will be happy to talk to anyone who approaches him and be even happier should anyone decide they want to train along with him.

Comments

[smallspot]

"Good luck! I am sure you will think of something! Being old isn't all bad. It means you know a lot too," the boy nods before taking a moment to tuck his card safely back into his pouch. Once he is done, he looks back up at Jack. For a moment he seems confused about the princess before remembering they are playing and smiling.

"I will take good care of her!" He bows, looking as serious as a child his age can, "Or at least I will once I am older. I won't be a very good knight if I can't protect a princess!"

[fixated]

Jack nodded solemnly. "Then practice hard and hone your skill. Should you need a sparring partner, I'm sure we could arrange something." He paused. "Once I acquire a sword of course."

[smallspot]

"I will practice hard! I promise!" The boy bows toward Jack for a moment before rising again, "I am in room 2-17. Where are you staying? That way I can come and find you if I need someone to practice with."

[fixated]

"Hmm... that's not too far from my rooms at all. I'm staying in room 3-23 in building #1. If you can't find me, just leave a note under the door. I'm afraid that's all that suffices for mail here." Which is simply a pity. A well penned letter is so much more intimate then those silly touchscreens. Where was the labor? Where was the love?

Sadly lacking, from his meager experience.

[smallspot]

"3-23! Oh good! I know all those numbers," Diarmuid grins at Jack before his expression falls slightly. "I can't write you a note. I don't know how to read or write. They don't really do those things where I am from. Just the druids...sometimes. I am learning my numbers! Whenever someone tells me their room number, I make them write it down so I can look at the number. I have a good memory!"

[fixated]

He looks positively shocked.

"You can't read or write?" Jack can hardly fathom this travesty. Then again, he could. How often had he used that to his own advantage, stealing valuable property right from underneath the noses of the common street urchin? "Surely this place must have a school!"

[smallspot]

Diarmuid shrugs, "I don't know if they have those here. Father and Druid Roc are teaching me at home. I know how to write my name in ogham already! No one uses that here, and I don't recognize the markings they do use. I'm learning. It's just slow, but I won't give up!" He jumps slightly as if to emphasize the point, "I have been told it's important for me to learn, so I am going to learn!"