004 - Dwarven Vow number 10: Play hard, play often.

[redcladidealist]

Who: Lloyd Irving and anyone
Where: The park by the pond in District 4
Summary: Lloyd, that's not how you're supposed to play on the playground equipment.
Warnings: None

Training by yourself was boring. Sure, he understood how important it was to stay in practice and keep himself in shape, but a guy could only hack at imaginary foes for so long, practicing the same footwork and sword maneuvers over and over, before it just got so dull it felt like his mind was glazing over. He very nearly called it quits. It was very tempting to tell himself that he could always come back and practice some more later on.

But then his attention happened to settle on a playground nearby. Swings, slides, seesaws, a jungle gym... Lloyd's eyes lit up with an idea. If training was boring...

...then do something different!

Within a few minutes, people passing by might see a teenage boy with twin swords in hand "practicing his footwork" on top of a jungle gym.

Comments

[staystraught]

"Just testing."

And maybe trying to incite a little slip up like that. It's always nice to know that being better than him at something doesn't make a person perfect.

"Who taught you that?"

[redcladidealist]

Confident in his footing again, Lloyd turns his attention to the guy on the ground. Dark hair, sunglasses, maybe a few years younger than Lloyd. It was a little hard to be sure on that last point, though. Something about his bearing makes him seem a little older than that.

Oh well, not like Lloyd's ever pinned a real importance on age. He offers a light shrug, lowering his swords. "Mostly myself," he admits honestly. "I had a teacher for a while, but he only uses one sword. I had to make up my own style. Why do you ask?"

[staystraught]

He shrugged. "Seemed like the natural question. You know, people are always asking where this or that came from."

Said breezily. It's true. The entire field of science is based around that concept, 'Where did that come from? How did that happen?'

"You must be really into it. Studying by yourself like that takes a lot of discipline, especially if you're making it up as you go."

[redcladidealist]

He has a point. It does seem like a pretty normal thing to ask. "I just thought maybe you had another reason to ask. You sounded..." Eager? Excited? Interested? He's not really sure any of those words are what he's looking for, but he's never been that great with vocabulary. "Do you fight with swords, too?" That would offer an easy explanation. Who wouldn't be interested when you find someone who shares an interest with you?

Regardless, he can't help but grin at the perceived compliment. "Swords are pretty cool," he says. "I've always wanted to learn how to use them." The grin turns slightly wry. "Then I guess it became something I had to learn, at least if I wanted to walk to school by myself. Dad wouldn't let me until I could defend myself. Too many wolves and monsters." He loves his Dad, he really does, but teenage boys just shouldn't have to have their Dads walk them to school.

[staystraught]

He raises his hands placatingly. "No, not a swordsman. I like my fingers where they are."

He waves to prove the point. He likes how welcome this person is to talking, and that is what makes him volunteer information.

"More interested in the jungle gym, actually. I'm an acrobat. Most of my knowledge of swords involves swallowing them."

[redcladidealist]

"You eat swords?!" Whatever disappointment had flickered inside Lloyd when the guy denied any sword skills is quickly swallowed up by surprise and alarm. "How do you do that without slicing out your throat?!"

[staystraught]

Whoa. Stepping back, he smiles a little... too nicely. A little too 'have you had your medication today?'

"Fire is tastier." Can't resist that one. "No, it's a... performance skill. Originating in India. I've seen it done but never tried. It's really, really hard. You have to tilt your head back extremely far," as he demonstrates, "and relax all of your throat and neck muscles to ensure the widest passage. I absolutely cannot do it and will never try... but I grew up in a circus."

[redcladidealist]

For that one, brief moment when Dick seems utterly sincere, Lloyd's eyes widen even further, his expression making it clear that in that moment, he isn't sure Dick isn't insane. Then the explanation is given and-

Oh. Oh, right. Just a performance trick. That's nowhere near as worrying, though the idea still makes him boggle a bit. "Seriously? People actually do that?" Dick sounds serious.

But, then, he'd also looked like he'd meant it when he said fire was tastier. That had to be a joke, of course. Just like that brief moment of letting Lloyd think he ate swords. Right? Right.

"You grew up in a circus? I bet that was a lot of fun."

[usedacrobatics]

"Well, it's a little... old-fashioned," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's been a street-performance staple for centuries, but now there's regulations for carrying those kinds of things."

For good reasons. He smiles. While he feels pretty remorseless about jerking people around, he... might have to watch that in the future. This guy feels a little simple.

"I liked it." He shrugs. "It has its ups and downs." For the latter, having the choice to socialize with either animals or adults, mainly-- for the former? Everything else. "But no weaponry involved."

[redcladidealist]

"Regulations for carrying... swords?" Lloyd echoes, not understanding. In the world he'd come from, where weapons were utterly necessary if someone even wanted to venture out of their town, what Dick was hinting at was completely foreign. "So they test you to make sure you know what you're doing? That doesn't sound so bad." Though it would mean that someone like him, who'd had to teach himself as he went, would have a harder time getting strong enough to pass the tests than, say, someone who trained in a school. Still, it could be done.

"Can you use any weapons?" he asked, curious. "I mean, I didn't grow doing anything fun like a circus - just working with my Dad and going to school - but I still learned how to use my swords. And circuses travel, right? You'd need to know how to defend yourself. Or did somebody else protect you?"