I dunno. [It comes out in a mumbly boyish beats-me way. Teenage universality.] I reckon I must have matched up against one when I was small and come out on that bad end of it, or something. But ages ago, much longer'n I remember back. Instead what I've got is, ever since I can remember, dogs put me on edge.
There's a warden here and she's got this mabari that's all right. And Gwenaëlle Baudin-- [He puts on a stuff posh voice for that name, exaggerated.] --she's got this massive dog that she keeps about. I met it once. Didn't like it, but it didn't eat my face, so now that's two dogs against all the rest that I can't sodding stand. Maybe when I'm ancient I'll have come around to liking them.
[He sucks his teeth, thoughtful and judgement, and delivers a death knell to that hope:] Doubt it.
Don't tell me you've got some dog secreted away in your room? Hey, where's it you're staying, anyways? I wanted to look for you before. Didn't know where.
[That...she does not understand it, admittedly. But she has seen people shrink back from house spiders from what are likely similar reasons. She can recognize that sense of unreasonable get it away from me, if from a distance.]
No.
[The only secret thing in her room is the box she is putting her wages into.]
The Templar tower. [It still smells faintly of lyrium to her--or she imagines it does--and that, Laura finds strangely comforting. Better than the thought of spells echoing around her, at least.] Climb six flights of stairs.
[She hesitates before speaking again, wanting to ask a question and doubting the wisdom of doing so. But curiosity--and something more selfish, less certain in its purpose--wins out.]
[And here Matthias hesitates, too, derailed from his easy track. He's unsure if he should bring up the dance now, if he should leave it unsaid, if it should be something that passes by without comment or scrutiny or definition.]
'Cause I wanted to see you.
[There. That's true, and he feels a little braced by that. Nothing weird or uncertain about that one.]
To thank you. And 'cause I hadn't seen you. It's amazing, sort of, that the Gallows is as big as it is. Like all of the people that live here, and I can still go a day without seeing someone. So--it's good to know where I could go to find you. If I wanted to. [He touches his fingertips to his forehead, a man committing something to memory.] Templar tower, six flights of stairs.
[--wait, that was stupid. Embarrassed, he drops his hand, and grins self-consciously.]
[It doesn't occur to her to find any of that stupid. Instead, it is...she should be concerned at the thought of anyone knowing where she sleeps, but Matthias is not anyone. He will not do something to compromise her safety--and she could take him, anyway, if he tried.
She is quiet for a moment or two, longing to say something and deciding it is a bad idea and wanting to anyway. In the end, the desire to speak wins out, but only just. Her voice is quiet, hesitant.]
Matthias looks around at her and grins, huge and goonish. Then he makes himself look away again, lest he embarrass himself any more than he already has, or is.]
Brilliant. good. I mean, yeah. Er-- hang on, here--
[He jogs ahead of her a few paces, hurrying to get to the door to the hall first so he can hold it open for her. It gives him a moment to collect himself, swallowing hard to dissipate the ringing in his ears, and the buzzing in his fingertips. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Maybe he still ought to bring up what happened, but for now, surely it's all right to just-- enjoy this.]
[He holds the door open for her, which is...nice. It is new. And the way he lit up like a bonfire when she spoke, like the word brilliant was a description of him--
If there is a word that captures the tendrils of warmth that seem to be curling around the bones of her ribcage, she does not know it. She glances up at his face as she walks past him, at the way his smile's overtaken every visible speck of him, and tentatively, she smiles back.
[He's clumsy in the way he lets the door bang closed behind them, but his fingers still feel all tingly. Walking away hadn't helped. Maybe it's not meant to be helped. Maybe it's all right.
Truthfully, Matthias is no stranger to this. It's no mystery: he likes Laura. And he's gotten to like her fast, and it won't be going away anytime soon, if at all, no matter what. It will linger, it will get worse, and he's not upset about it. It's good, liking people. Even if it comes at a rush, even if he feels like someone's turned him inside out and then back again, charged up all the parts of him and then put him back together. Even when that little smile sucks all the wind out of him, diverts it to fan the flames all eating at him.
And he still has to walk with her, follow her, go to fetch food off of the lengthy sideboard where it's laid. Simple stuff, at this hour: rolls and butter, boiled eggs, skinny sausages still on their strings, cheeses. Nothing that needs to be kept particularly warm or cold, for a few hours. The sausages are the same that Matthias had taken for the griffons, still in his bag. He grabs some for himself anyways--plus three rolls, two eggs, and--after some deliberation--a great big hunk of cheese that he hacks off with a knife.]
Hungry. [--He offers as a defense, with a rueful little grin.]
[At least one of them enjoys this sensation. Or one and a half, perhaps--Laura doesn't dislike the way it feels to walk next to him and consider the plates of food laid out. But the uncertainty that comes with...that, she could gladly live without.]
Yes.
[She is not--or, at least, not by comparison--but if she does not eat, her presence will have no purpose. One roll, torn open so she can spread a thin layer of butter along its innards, is all she needs.
For a moment, she just looks at him, his rumpled hair and self-conscious smile and the long line of his neck. It feels like something is supposed to happen, something beyond taking in the angle of his jaw. And then she remembers that if she has nothing else to say--if she does, she isn't sure what--then standing there in silence will be an ineffective use of their time. He still must visit the griffons.
Which all means abruptly turning away in search of a table. You know, like normal people do.]
[Certainly it's abrupt. But Matthias can deal with abrupt. People often are, with him, and anyhow, it's not as if he left her anything to say, not really. Right? So--his arms full of his snacks, really more of his small meal--he drifts after her into the hall proper.
There's not that many people here at this time of day. They have their pick of spots, whole tables that can just be the two of them. Matthias, walking slow to balance all of his food, nods toward a table that is situated in a shaft of sunlight.]
There? Hey, I was thinking. [Of course he was thinking; of course he's something to say about it.] If I threw an apple in the air, could you claw it apart before it hit the ground?
There. [An easy agreement, easier than thinking of something else to say. Sitting in the sun suits her anyway: it is warm and pleasant and makes Matthias look warmer and pleasanter, too. (It is growing a little distracting, nearly a little painful, to observe him and be so aware of the shape of his face, not just his scent and stride. But there is something about it she does not mind. The fact that he looks back at her, too, maybe.)
Fortunately, he comes up with a topic of conversation that feels mercifully straightforward. It requires no real consideration before she replies.]
If you threw it at me. [If it were outside her reach, the possibility would still be there, but she would have a greater risk of failure to consider.] I can cut anything.
[Maybe that's a bit much to say in advance of having seen her actually at it--but what are the chances that it won't be brilliant? How could someone clawing apart a bloody apple in midair be anything but brilliant?
Matthias tears a bite off of one of his rolls as he lets the rest of his bounty tumble onto the tabletop. He has manners enough to chew a little, but then he's too excited to wait it out entirely--]
We ought to test it. S'not that I don't believe you, right. But I want to see it for myself, just 'cause it'd be a good show. If you're all right with showing off, I mean.
[He is impressed enough at the idea that she decides it requires proof more immediate than someday. Laura's too aware of the glow of satisfaction at his answer, flickering somewhere in her chest; she needs for it to be justified, so it does not feel like something she's stolen.
Reaching across the table, she takes one of his rolls--she already split hers--and tosses it in the air. One claw appears, swiping sideways as the roll comes back down, and now there are two (somewhat) even pieces lying on the tabletop.
Laura meets his gaze again, steady. This is a trick she can be secure in.]
[Matthias, raising his now very round eyes from the bisected halves of his roll, meets her eyes with a kind of awe plain on his face. Then he laughs, and it's somehow triumphant, as he leans forward to snatch the rolls off of the tabletop so he can hold them in either hand and stare at them.]
Maker's balls-- That was brilliant!
[Carefully, he fits the halves back together, then lets them fall apart in his hands once more.]
And you did it like it was nothing. Just chucked it up, and then, swosh-- [The roll halves thunk down onto the table again as Matthias drops them in his reenactment.] Brilliant. Seriously. I've never seen anything like it. I'd bet no one has.
[It is strange, how little it bothers her that he seems so impressed by her claws, but she is slowly coming to see why. He does not want them for anything, and he does not look at them like they are more relevant than her face. Matthias simply likes them--in the same way, she suspects, that she likes the little waves in his hair.
She struggles not to smile too much, made both pleased and vulnerable aby his praise. The claw disappears again, and she picks up her own roll, taking a small bite.]
Yeah, probably. I'd believe it. But that's brilliant as well, isn't it. Means you're the only one. Unique and all. And there's nothing that could change that about you.
[He shoves one half of the roll in his mouth and chews, quickly, to get most of it down. With his mouth half-full--]
Reminds me of the griffons, kind of. Your, er, [He makes two fists, gives them a little shake for emphasis.] claws, I mean. They've got talons, but they're quickest with their beaks. Throw something in the air and they're on it as well. We ought to time 'em, and you, see who's faster. Then we can tell everyone you've bested a griffon.
[She hopes she is the only one, at least. If someone else had to feel lyrium poured onto their bones...
But that does not matter. She is unique, just as Matthias said. And navigating the rest of this conversation is more important than wondering about others out there.
The idea of racing a griffon unsettles her for reasons she struggles to put into words. Laura takes another tiny nibble of her roll to buy herself time, trying to understand the reason her neck goes hot at the thought. Because griffons are animals, she decides. She does not want to race an animal.
[Oh, yeah. Matthias nods as he finishes his roll. And right away, he goes for the next one, tearing it open and stuffing a bit of cheese into the center of it, but he goes on--]
S'ppose they are really skittish, yeah. If we do 'em one at a time, though, and just keep track of the time. That'd do it as well.
[Straightforward and sensible, that. And it makes perfect sense. He bites in, hugely, to his new invention, cheeseroll.]
She does not like it. And she does not want Matthias to know.
For a few moments too long, she's quiet, looking down at the bread she's got in one hand. Part of her thinks that if perhaps she waits, he will start talking about something else. Then she wonders if remaining silent will actually result in him talking more about this. Sometimes, all it takes is a word or two, and Matthias starts talking about something completely new. She could use that to her advantage.]
[Unfortunately for Laura, Matthias is engaged in eating, which also happens to be the activity he holds second only to talking and doing magic, which are tied for number one in his heart. All the chewing of bread and cheese means he can't pick up on a new topic just yet, either using something from her short response as a springboard--for someone else, maybe would be a challenge, but not for Matthias--or by his own volition.
As it is, he works quickly through his cheeseroll and it isn't until he's nearly through that he thinks to look over at her, and sees her looking down at her bread.]
D'you want-- [With his mouth full; Matthias shoves the back of his hand over his mouth with a sheepish grin, oops, what a clod. He holds the cheese block out to her.] For the bread. You haven't got to race, if you don't want to. I'll not make you. Just thought it'd be fun. We used to do loads of races, but if you don't like to, I dunno. You can still show off.
[Laura shakes her head. Matthias' enjoyment of the cheese is too great to take it away from him, especially when she is mostly eating so she can watch him eat.
She considers the possibility of racing being fun. When he says it, she can nearly understand it--it would prove speed, be a point of pride, perhaps. But that was Matthias and other men, she assumes. Matthias and mages. She does not think doing anything with mages should be amusement, but perhaps Matthias' presence makes everything else feel less...less like magic.]
I will race someone else. [The difficulty, of course, is in knowing who. No one else has claws.]
[No cheese? Okay, more for him, and after having confirmed this, Matthias pops another wedge into his mouth and chews it, cheerfully.
Her condition gives him something to think about. Luckily he's still chewing--not that that's ever stopped him before--which, when suddenly a thought comes to him, he practically chokes on what he's eating. Points, wildly, at her.]
Everyone! [Brilliant.] Everyone, you can race everyone. We'll put out word-- [He swallows, hastily, so he stops spitting crumbs on the table--wipes the back of his hand over his mouth again.] --say like, oi, d'you fancy yourself fast--and then you can beat them all. You can beat me first, if you like. Or, well.
[Here's pride. He grins at her. There's probably crumbs on his upper lip. Certainly there's a small bit of cheese.]
[Even with cheese and crumbs in the way, Matthias' smile is one of the most reassuring things Laura can think of. The fact that he doesn't require more explanation than a refusal from her--for anything--even more so.]
I will beat you first. [Not quite smug, but clearly satisfied with the idea, her gaze level with his once more.] What will you use?
[Since he does not have claws and, even if he could acquire them, she would be opposed to his having them.]
[But she probably will. Matthias isn't stupid. If and when she does, he won't be sore about it. What would the point be in that? He's got pride, but he's all right with being beaten if it happens fairly and preferably at the hands of someone he likes, someone who won't be a tit about it. Certainly Laura won't.]
And I'll use magic, obviously. I'm quick with fire. Won't be nearly as clean as what you'll do, right, but the point'll be there.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2019-09-13 05:18 pm (UTC)I dunno. [It comes out in a mumbly boyish beats-me way. Teenage universality.] I reckon I must have matched up against one when I was small and come out on that bad end of it, or something. But ages ago, much longer'n I remember back. Instead what I've got is, ever since I can remember, dogs put me on edge.
There's a warden here and she's got this mabari that's all right. And Gwenaëlle Baudin-- [He puts on a stuff posh voice for that name, exaggerated.] --she's got this massive dog that she keeps about. I met it once. Didn't like it, but it didn't eat my face, so now that's two dogs against all the rest that I can't sodding stand. Maybe when I'm ancient I'll have come around to liking them.
[He sucks his teeth, thoughtful and judgement, and delivers a death knell to that hope:] Doubt it.
Don't tell me you've got some dog secreted away in your room? Hey, where's it you're staying, anyways? I wanted to look for you before. Didn't know where.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-13 05:37 pm (UTC)No.
[The only secret thing in her room is the box she is putting her wages into.]
The Templar tower. [It still smells faintly of lyrium to her--or she imagines it does--and that, Laura finds strangely comforting. Better than the thought of spells echoing around her, at least.] Climb six flights of stairs.
[She hesitates before speaking again, wanting to ask a question and doubting the wisdom of doing so. But curiosity--and something more selfish, less certain in its purpose--wins out.]
Why were you looking for me?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:37 am (UTC)[And here Matthias hesitates, too, derailed from his easy track. He's unsure if he should bring up the dance now, if he should leave it unsaid, if it should be something that passes by without comment or scrutiny or definition.]
'Cause I wanted to see you.
[There. That's true, and he feels a little braced by that. Nothing weird or uncertain about that one.]
To thank you. And 'cause I hadn't seen you. It's amazing, sort of, that the Gallows is as big as it is. Like all of the people that live here, and I can still go a day without seeing someone. So--it's good to know where I could go to find you. If I wanted to. [He touches his fingertips to his forehead, a man committing something to memory.] Templar tower, six flights of stairs.
[--wait, that was stupid. Embarrassed, he drops his hand, and grins self-consciously.]
Anyway. That's all.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-16 02:13 am (UTC)She is quiet for a moment or two, longing to say something and deciding it is a bad idea and wanting to anyway. In the end, the desire to speak wins out, but only just. Her voice is quiet, hesitant.]
I wanted to see you, too.
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Date: 2019-09-19 05:05 am (UTC)Matthias looks around at her and grins, huge and goonish. Then he makes himself look away again, lest he embarrass himself any more than he already has, or is.]
Brilliant. good. I mean, yeah. Er-- hang on, here--
[He jogs ahead of her a few paces, hurrying to get to the door to the hall first so he can hold it open for her. It gives him a moment to collect himself, swallowing hard to dissipate the ringing in his ears, and the buzzing in his fingertips. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Maybe he still ought to bring up what happened, but for now, surely it's all right to just-- enjoy this.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-19 05:41 pm (UTC)If there is a word that captures the tendrils of warmth that seem to be curling around the bones of her ribcage, she does not know it. She glances up at his face as she walks past him, at the way his smile's overtaken every visible speck of him, and tentatively, she smiles back.
It feels strange.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-19 09:41 pm (UTC)Truthfully, Matthias is no stranger to this. It's no mystery: he likes Laura. And he's gotten to like her fast, and it won't be going away anytime soon, if at all, no matter what. It will linger, it will get worse, and he's not upset about it. It's good, liking people. Even if it comes at a rush, even if he feels like someone's turned him inside out and then back again, charged up all the parts of him and then put him back together. Even when that little smile sucks all the wind out of him, diverts it to fan the flames all eating at him.
And he still has to walk with her, follow her, go to fetch food off of the lengthy sideboard where it's laid. Simple stuff, at this hour: rolls and butter, boiled eggs, skinny sausages still on their strings, cheeses. Nothing that needs to be kept particularly warm or cold, for a few hours. The sausages are the same that Matthias had taken for the griffons, still in his bag. He grabs some for himself anyways--plus three rolls, two eggs, and--after some deliberation--a great big hunk of cheese that he hacks off with a knife.]
Hungry. [--He offers as a defense, with a rueful little grin.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-20 12:16 am (UTC)Yes.
[She is not--or, at least, not by comparison--but if she does not eat, her presence will have no purpose. One roll, torn open so she can spread a thin layer of butter along its innards, is all she needs.
For a moment, she just looks at him, his rumpled hair and self-conscious smile and the long line of his neck. It feels like something is supposed to happen, something beyond taking in the angle of his jaw. And then she remembers that if she has nothing else to say--if she does, she isn't sure what--then standing there in silence will be an ineffective use of their time. He still must visit the griffons.
Which all means abruptly turning away in search of a table. You know, like normal people do.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-22 09:50 pm (UTC)There's not that many people here at this time of day. They have their pick of spots, whole tables that can just be the two of them. Matthias, walking slow to balance all of his food, nods toward a table that is situated in a shaft of sunlight.]
There? Hey, I was thinking. [Of course he was thinking; of course he's something to say about it.] If I threw an apple in the air, could you claw it apart before it hit the ground?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-22 11:39 pm (UTC)Fortunately, he comes up with a topic of conversation that feels mercifully straightforward. It requires no real consideration before she replies.]
If you threw it at me. [If it were outside her reach, the possibility would still be there, but she would have a greater risk of failure to consider.] I can cut anything.
[Perhaps not anything. But enough things.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-24 09:26 pm (UTC)[Maybe that's a bit much to say in advance of having seen her actually at it--but what are the chances that it won't be brilliant? How could someone clawing apart a bloody apple in midair be anything but brilliant?
Matthias tears a bite off of one of his rolls as he lets the rest of his bounty tumble onto the tabletop. He has manners enough to chew a little, but then he's too excited to wait it out entirely--]
We ought to test it. S'not that I don't believe you, right. But I want to see it for myself, just 'cause it'd be a good show. If you're all right with showing off, I mean.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 01:36 am (UTC)Reaching across the table, she takes one of his rolls--she already split hers--and tosses it in the air. One claw appears, swiping sideways as the roll comes back down, and now there are two (somewhat) even pieces lying on the tabletop.
Laura meets his gaze again, steady. This is a trick she can be secure in.]
I am all right with showing off.
[With him, anyway.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-26 05:10 am (UTC)Maker's balls-- That was brilliant!
[Carefully, he fits the halves back together, then lets them fall apart in his hands once more.]
And you did it like it was nothing. Just chucked it up, and then, swosh-- [The roll halves thunk down onto the table again as Matthias drops them in his reenactment.] Brilliant. Seriously. I've never seen anything like it. I'd bet no one has.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-26 05:29 pm (UTC)She struggles not to smile too much, made both pleased and vulnerable aby his praise. The claw disappears again, and she picks up her own roll, taking a small bite.]
I don't think there is anything like it. Just me.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-27 05:02 am (UTC)[He shoves one half of the roll in his mouth and chews, quickly, to get most of it down. With his mouth half-full--]
Reminds me of the griffons, kind of. Your, er, [He makes two fists, gives them a little shake for emphasis.] claws, I mean. They've got talons, but they're quickest with their beaks. Throw something in the air and they're on it as well. We ought to time 'em, and you, see who's faster. Then we can tell everyone you've bested a griffon.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-27 04:11 pm (UTC)But that does not matter. She is unique, just as Matthias said. And navigating the rest of this conversation is more important than wondering about others out there.
The idea of racing a griffon unsettles her for reasons she struggles to put into words. Laura takes another tiny nibble of her roll to buy herself time, trying to understand the reason her neck goes hot at the thought. Because griffons are animals, she decides. She does not want to race an animal.
But she does not want to say that.]
The griffons dislike my claws.
[Ergo there can be no race. #nailedit]
no subject
Date: 2019-10-01 02:44 am (UTC)S'ppose they are really skittish, yeah. If we do 'em one at a time, though, and just keep track of the time. That'd do it as well.
[Straightforward and sensible, that. And it makes perfect sense. He bites in, hugely, to his new invention, cheeseroll.]
no subject
Date: 2019-10-01 02:53 am (UTC)She does not like it. And she does not want Matthias to know.
For a few moments too long, she's quiet, looking down at the bread she's got in one hand. Part of her thinks that if perhaps she waits, he will start talking about something else. Then she wonders if remaining silent will actually result in him talking more about this. Sometimes, all it takes is a word or two, and Matthias starts talking about something completely new. She could use that to her advantage.]
Maybe.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-01 05:22 am (UTC)As it is, he works quickly through his cheeseroll and it isn't until he's nearly through that he thinks to look over at her, and sees her looking down at her bread.]
D'you want-- [With his mouth full; Matthias shoves the back of his hand over his mouth with a sheepish grin, oops, what a clod. He holds the cheese block out to her.] For the bread. You haven't got to race, if you don't want to. I'll not make you. Just thought it'd be fun. We used to do loads of races, but if you don't like to, I dunno. You can still show off.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-04 04:50 pm (UTC)She considers the possibility of racing being fun. When he says it, she can nearly understand it--it would prove speed, be a point of pride, perhaps. But that was Matthias and other men, she assumes. Matthias and mages. She does not think doing anything with mages should be amusement, but perhaps Matthias' presence makes everything else feel less...less like magic.]
I will race someone else. [The difficulty, of course, is in knowing who. No one else has claws.]
no subject
Date: 2019-10-05 01:38 am (UTC)Her condition gives him something to think about. Luckily he's still chewing--not that that's ever stopped him before--which, when suddenly a thought comes to him, he practically chokes on what he's eating. Points, wildly, at her.]
Everyone! [Brilliant.] Everyone, you can race everyone. We'll put out word-- [He swallows, hastily, so he stops spitting crumbs on the table--wipes the back of his hand over his mouth again.] --say like, oi, d'you fancy yourself fast--and then you can beat them all. You can beat me first, if you like. Or, well.
[Here's pride. He grins at her. There's probably crumbs on his upper lip. Certainly there's a small bit of cheese.]
You can try.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-06 03:53 am (UTC)I will beat you first. [Not quite smug, but clearly satisfied with the idea, her gaze level with his once more.] What will you use?
[Since he does not have claws and, even if he could acquire them, she would be opposed to his having them.]
no subject
Date: 2019-10-06 09:39 pm (UTC)[But she probably will. Matthias isn't stupid. If and when she does, he won't be sore about it. What would the point be in that? He's got pride, but he's all right with being beaten if it happens fairly and preferably at the hands of someone he likes, someone who won't be a tit about it. Certainly Laura won't.]
And I'll use magic, obviously. I'm quick with fire. Won't be nearly as clean as what you'll do, right, but the point'll be there.