(no subject)
Soft Serve 24/50 - Vanilla #13. A Day at the Beach
with Hot Fudge and Whipped Cream
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG - there's some Reida being Reida
Word Count : 1818
Just some early Kairn/Sethan/Reida. I'm feeling a bit rusty, so not the best thing I've written, but I am writing again! So, yay! I am determined to keep it up this time.
The tread of boots on the gravel path marked the end of what had been a perfectly peaceful and quiet morning. From his seat at the edge of the pond, Kairn glanced up to find the new girl headed right towards them. Uncertain whether he was more annoyed at the interruption or relieved it wasn’t Kinu, he settled on hoping she might continue on around the bend and leave them be and turned his attention back to the tiny sails he was strapping to the boat in his lap. When the footsteps softened as she left the path and began to pick her way through the trees, he sighed.
“What are you doing here?” Kairn asked.
Reida propped herself against the willow under which they were sitting and eyed them both with a toothy grin. “Interrupting something, I hope.”
Curled up between the protruding roots, Sethan still hadn’t given the girl so much as a look. “You’ll have to be disappointed then,” he said, continuing the sanding of the miniature hull he had balanced against his knee.
Reida wrinkled her nose at him. “What is that?”
“A boat,” said Sethan.
“Of course.”
“What do you want?” Kairn snapped.
“Nothing,” said Reida, hands out as she retreated a step back over one of the willow’s roots. “Go back to what you were doing before I got here. Kissing, making boats, groping each other…” The grin returned as she trailed off. She shook her head as if to clear the thought. “Whatever. Don’t mind me.”
Kairn glowered at her, Sethan kept working, and Reida made no move to leave.
“Oh come on,” she said, after a moment. “The two of you, in this secluded little spot, at the crack of dawn, what do you expect me to think?”
Kairn rolled his eyes. “Right. Because if we were screwing around we’d need to come to the lake to do it. We share a room, you know. I’ve got to put up with more private time with Sethan than any person should have to. Would you quit grinning? It’s not like that. How many times do I have to-”
“You’re awfully touchy.”
“You would be too.” Kairn cocked his head, swept the hair from his face, and gave her a good hard stare, so she couldn’t miss the ring of purple around his eye.
Reida gave a long, low whistle. “Aldo give you that?”
Kairn nodded and turned back to his work.
“So are we racing or what?” said Sethan.
“I’m still fixing my sails.”
“Can I join you?”
“You’d need a boat first,” said Kairn, hastily finishing the last of his knots. “And we’re just about ready to sail, so-”
“I’m sure I can manage.” She fished a paint stick from her pocket and popped the cap.
“Sorry,” said Kairn. “No magic”.
“No magic?”
The baffled look she gave him was far more satisfying than he’d expected, and Kairn did his best not to let it show as he picked his way across the rocks to set his boat in the water. “Sethan’s rule. He says magic is cheating.”
“He does, does he?” Reida wrinkled her nose at Sethan, who shrugged.
“I like some legitimate competition now and then. You can use my spare.” He gave a nod to the grass as he pulled himself to his feet to join Kairn at the bank.
“But-!”
“Thanks.”
“Why are we encouraging her?” Kairn muttered, but Sethan ignored him, turning instead towards Reida as she took her place on the other side of him.
“I saw the forms you were working on yesterday.”
“Oh,” said Kairn. “So you can talk shop. Great.”
“Your master’s specialty is healing, isn’t it?”
Reida was turning her newly acquired toy this way and that, poking her fingers into cracks, tugging at the sails and frowning all the while. It was a sad thing, with a simple, slightly lopsided hull and one broad, square sail. Sethan’s backup. Kairn gave his own boat a nudge and watched it bob and spin in the water, its neat row of sails spread and secured and ready.
“You know,” he said, quite certain he was speaking only to himself now. “The lake is supposed to be a place for no magic and no bullies, and now we’ve talked about both.”
“It is. I haven’t seen much of anyone else around here too interested in healing though.”
Sethan sniffed. “Berwyk’s too busy with the dead to concern himself with the living.”
“And what’s your excuse? Too busy playing with Kairn?”
“I’ve got someone else that gets in the way,” Sethan said, sourly.
Reida cocked a brow. “Golden Boy has a weakness?”
Sethan ignored her in favor of picking a splinter from his boat’s mast.
“You know,” her tone syrupy as she leaned in towards Sethan. “I still haven’t seen any of these amazing feats I’ve heard you’re capable of.”
“And I still don’t see either of your boats in the water,” Kairn grumbled.
“After the race,” said Sethan, reaching past her to gently place his boat in the water.
“Alright.” She looked smug. Then, her own boat in her outstretched hand, she finally looked at the water and her jaw dropped. “What is that?”
“My boat,” said Kairn. “It’s an Arigolian Battleship. Well, er, m-minus the canons, I mean, you, uh, hardly need those for a race after all.” He trailed off, realizing that they were both staring at him and he was blushing horribly.
“You can build that and you can’t draw a halfway legible water sigil?”
Kairn just turned redder.
Shaking her head, Reida dropped her own boat unceremoniously into the water beside Kairn’s. It tipped and swayed but stayed afloat. “So now what?”
Sethan pulled a paint stick from his pocket and brandished it with a grin.
“I thought you said no magic.”
“No magic on the boats,” said Kairn, as Sethan scrawled a row of air sigils across the rocks.
Sethan laid his hands along the rim of the sigil at the center and with a hum and a pop, the whole chain activated. The three of them settled back along the shore to watch as a magically summoned gust of wind carried the boats out across the pond.
Sethan turned to Reida again. “I hear Tarek’s not the only healer Berwyk recruited.”
“Oh?”
“Ephram something.” Reida wrinkled her nose at that. “What?”
“He’s a death mage alright, but he’s no healer.” She frowned at the water that lapped up over the rocks beneath her boots and bunched her skirt up over her knees to keep it dry.
“You’ve met him?”
“I wish,” Reida said with a grin. “Tarek says he’s positively frightening.”
“I really am the only sane one around here, aren’t I?” Kairn grumbled.
Reida adjusted herself one more time before giving up her position among the rocks. Kairn cringed as she sauntered towards his spot. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t love to do a few frightening things to Aldo and his buddies.”
“Th-that’s- I-I- Wishful thinking and actually doing it are two different things!”
Reida rolled her eyes as she sat down beside him. “You know what your problem is?”
“That Kinu’s found an inexhaustible supply of dresses?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” Kairn buried his face against his knees with a groan.
“You’re too nice,” said Reida. “Someone fucks with you, you don’t roll over and take it. You march your ass to the kitchen and fetch their best knife, and you cut their balls off so they can’t do it again.”
Kairn nervously peeked up from his knees to find a grinning Reida beside him. “That, er, sounded rather s-specific. A-are you sure we’re still talking about Aldo and Kinu?”
Sethan interrupted before she could more than open her mouth. “Your boat’s stuck on a rock.”
Reida turned to look at Sethan rather than the pond. “If that’s supposed to be some sort of metaphor, then I don’t-”
“We were racing, if you recall.”
“Right,” said Reida. “Damn.” Her boat had been swept up onto a cluster of rocks at the middle of the pond and now lay useless on its side as the artificial breeze swept more waves up against its bottom. “Not like I stood a chance against that monstrosity anyway.”
“It’s not a monstrosity. I told you, it’s an Arigolian Battleship.” It was also nearing the far shore, with Sethan’s boat a good three or four feet behind it.
“Whatever. You know what your problem really is?”
“You mean it doesn’t involve knives?” said Kairn, though he was sure he didn’t want to hear the alternative either.
“Well, it doesn’t have to, I suppose,” she said with a sigh. “No, what your problem is, is you’re a hell of a lot smarter than you like to think you are.”
Kairn just stared at her a moment, not sure how to respond. “Uh, thanks, I think?”
“Look, if you can figure out that,” she gestured to the boat as it slid up onto the sand across the pond, “then surely you can figure out a form or two. And if you can figure out that, then you don’t need knives. Quit comparing yourself to him.” She nodded at Sethan. “He cheats,” she added, tapping a finger to her temple
Sethan chuckled.
“And speaking of cheating,” Reida said, turning to Sethan. “Where’s this feat of magic you promised me I’d see after the race?”
“Watch your boat.”
Sethan gave his hand a lazy flick in the direction of the rocks. Reida’s boat shuddered. It lurched up from the rock, shook again and settled upright on its hull.Then it hopped into the air and landed neatly back in the water.
“Impressive,” said Reida.
“I’m not done yet.”
The boat wiggled its back end, churning up the water behind it and propelling itself forward across the pond. It cut a path straight for them, tearing across the water, until it stopped just before the rocky bank.
Reida took a step towards it, leaning out over the water to study it apprehensively.
“Pick it up,” said Kairn. “It’s not like it’s going to bite you.”
“Of course it’s not.” Reida reached out a hand towards the boat. She stopped short, shooting Sethan a grin. “It’s not, right?”
He shook his head and Reida snatched the boat out of the water. “So what about the other two?”
“No way,” said Kairn, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll get mine the old fashioned way.”
Reida snorted. “Suit yourself,” she said, eyeing the boat again as she had before the race. Other than a few scratches from its encounter with the rocks, Kairn didn’t expect she would find much to look at.
“You should make your own,” he said, as he headed for the path, though he hadn't a clue what possessed him to do so. “So you can use it next time."
She looked up just as he turned away, but he thought he caught a not-so-toothy smile cross her lips.
with Hot Fudge and Whipped Cream
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG - there's some Reida being Reida
Word Count : 1818
Just some early Kairn/Sethan/Reida. I'm feeling a bit rusty, so not the best thing I've written, but I am writing again! So, yay! I am determined to keep it up this time.
The tread of boots on the gravel path marked the end of what had been a perfectly peaceful and quiet morning. From his seat at the edge of the pond, Kairn glanced up to find the new girl headed right towards them. Uncertain whether he was more annoyed at the interruption or relieved it wasn’t Kinu, he settled on hoping she might continue on around the bend and leave them be and turned his attention back to the tiny sails he was strapping to the boat in his lap. When the footsteps softened as she left the path and began to pick her way through the trees, he sighed.
“What are you doing here?” Kairn asked.
Reida propped herself against the willow under which they were sitting and eyed them both with a toothy grin. “Interrupting something, I hope.”
Curled up between the protruding roots, Sethan still hadn’t given the girl so much as a look. “You’ll have to be disappointed then,” he said, continuing the sanding of the miniature hull he had balanced against his knee.
Reida wrinkled her nose at him. “What is that?”
“A boat,” said Sethan.
“Of course.”
“What do you want?” Kairn snapped.
“Nothing,” said Reida, hands out as she retreated a step back over one of the willow’s roots. “Go back to what you were doing before I got here. Kissing, making boats, groping each other…” The grin returned as she trailed off. She shook her head as if to clear the thought. “Whatever. Don’t mind me.”
Kairn glowered at her, Sethan kept working, and Reida made no move to leave.
“Oh come on,” she said, after a moment. “The two of you, in this secluded little spot, at the crack of dawn, what do you expect me to think?”
Kairn rolled his eyes. “Right. Because if we were screwing around we’d need to come to the lake to do it. We share a room, you know. I’ve got to put up with more private time with Sethan than any person should have to. Would you quit grinning? It’s not like that. How many times do I have to-”
“You’re awfully touchy.”
“You would be too.” Kairn cocked his head, swept the hair from his face, and gave her a good hard stare, so she couldn’t miss the ring of purple around his eye.
Reida gave a long, low whistle. “Aldo give you that?”
Kairn nodded and turned back to his work.
“So are we racing or what?” said Sethan.
“I’m still fixing my sails.”
“Can I join you?”
“You’d need a boat first,” said Kairn, hastily finishing the last of his knots. “And we’re just about ready to sail, so-”
“I’m sure I can manage.” She fished a paint stick from her pocket and popped the cap.
“Sorry,” said Kairn. “No magic”.
“No magic?”
The baffled look she gave him was far more satisfying than he’d expected, and Kairn did his best not to let it show as he picked his way across the rocks to set his boat in the water. “Sethan’s rule. He says magic is cheating.”
“He does, does he?” Reida wrinkled her nose at Sethan, who shrugged.
“I like some legitimate competition now and then. You can use my spare.” He gave a nod to the grass as he pulled himself to his feet to join Kairn at the bank.
“But-!”
“Thanks.”
“Why are we encouraging her?” Kairn muttered, but Sethan ignored him, turning instead towards Reida as she took her place on the other side of him.
“I saw the forms you were working on yesterday.”
“Oh,” said Kairn. “So you can talk shop. Great.”
“Your master’s specialty is healing, isn’t it?”
Reida was turning her newly acquired toy this way and that, poking her fingers into cracks, tugging at the sails and frowning all the while. It was a sad thing, with a simple, slightly lopsided hull and one broad, square sail. Sethan’s backup. Kairn gave his own boat a nudge and watched it bob and spin in the water, its neat row of sails spread and secured and ready.
“You know,” he said, quite certain he was speaking only to himself now. “The lake is supposed to be a place for no magic and no bullies, and now we’ve talked about both.”
“It is. I haven’t seen much of anyone else around here too interested in healing though.”
Sethan sniffed. “Berwyk’s too busy with the dead to concern himself with the living.”
“And what’s your excuse? Too busy playing with Kairn?”
“I’ve got someone else that gets in the way,” Sethan said, sourly.
Reida cocked a brow. “Golden Boy has a weakness?”
Sethan ignored her in favor of picking a splinter from his boat’s mast.
“You know,” her tone syrupy as she leaned in towards Sethan. “I still haven’t seen any of these amazing feats I’ve heard you’re capable of.”
“And I still don’t see either of your boats in the water,” Kairn grumbled.
“After the race,” said Sethan, reaching past her to gently place his boat in the water.
“Alright.” She looked smug. Then, her own boat in her outstretched hand, she finally looked at the water and her jaw dropped. “What is that?”
“My boat,” said Kairn. “It’s an Arigolian Battleship. Well, er, m-minus the canons, I mean, you, uh, hardly need those for a race after all.” He trailed off, realizing that they were both staring at him and he was blushing horribly.
“You can build that and you can’t draw a halfway legible water sigil?”
Kairn just turned redder.
Shaking her head, Reida dropped her own boat unceremoniously into the water beside Kairn’s. It tipped and swayed but stayed afloat. “So now what?”
Sethan pulled a paint stick from his pocket and brandished it with a grin.
“I thought you said no magic.”
“No magic on the boats,” said Kairn, as Sethan scrawled a row of air sigils across the rocks.
Sethan laid his hands along the rim of the sigil at the center and with a hum and a pop, the whole chain activated. The three of them settled back along the shore to watch as a magically summoned gust of wind carried the boats out across the pond.
Sethan turned to Reida again. “I hear Tarek’s not the only healer Berwyk recruited.”
“Oh?”
“Ephram something.” Reida wrinkled her nose at that. “What?”
“He’s a death mage alright, but he’s no healer.” She frowned at the water that lapped up over the rocks beneath her boots and bunched her skirt up over her knees to keep it dry.
“You’ve met him?”
“I wish,” Reida said with a grin. “Tarek says he’s positively frightening.”
“I really am the only sane one around here, aren’t I?” Kairn grumbled.
Reida adjusted herself one more time before giving up her position among the rocks. Kairn cringed as she sauntered towards his spot. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t love to do a few frightening things to Aldo and his buddies.”
“Th-that’s- I-I- Wishful thinking and actually doing it are two different things!”
Reida rolled her eyes as she sat down beside him. “You know what your problem is?”
“That Kinu’s found an inexhaustible supply of dresses?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” Kairn buried his face against his knees with a groan.
“You’re too nice,” said Reida. “Someone fucks with you, you don’t roll over and take it. You march your ass to the kitchen and fetch their best knife, and you cut their balls off so they can’t do it again.”
Kairn nervously peeked up from his knees to find a grinning Reida beside him. “That, er, sounded rather s-specific. A-are you sure we’re still talking about Aldo and Kinu?”
Sethan interrupted before she could more than open her mouth. “Your boat’s stuck on a rock.”
Reida turned to look at Sethan rather than the pond. “If that’s supposed to be some sort of metaphor, then I don’t-”
“We were racing, if you recall.”
“Right,” said Reida. “Damn.” Her boat had been swept up onto a cluster of rocks at the middle of the pond and now lay useless on its side as the artificial breeze swept more waves up against its bottom. “Not like I stood a chance against that monstrosity anyway.”
“It’s not a monstrosity. I told you, it’s an Arigolian Battleship.” It was also nearing the far shore, with Sethan’s boat a good three or four feet behind it.
“Whatever. You know what your problem really is?”
“You mean it doesn’t involve knives?” said Kairn, though he was sure he didn’t want to hear the alternative either.
“Well, it doesn’t have to, I suppose,” she said with a sigh. “No, what your problem is, is you’re a hell of a lot smarter than you like to think you are.”
Kairn just stared at her a moment, not sure how to respond. “Uh, thanks, I think?”
“Look, if you can figure out that,” she gestured to the boat as it slid up onto the sand across the pond, “then surely you can figure out a form or two. And if you can figure out that, then you don’t need knives. Quit comparing yourself to him.” She nodded at Sethan. “He cheats,” she added, tapping a finger to her temple
Sethan chuckled.
“And speaking of cheating,” Reida said, turning to Sethan. “Where’s this feat of magic you promised me I’d see after the race?”
“Watch your boat.”
Sethan gave his hand a lazy flick in the direction of the rocks. Reida’s boat shuddered. It lurched up from the rock, shook again and settled upright on its hull.Then it hopped into the air and landed neatly back in the water.
“Impressive,” said Reida.
“I’m not done yet.”
The boat wiggled its back end, churning up the water behind it and propelling itself forward across the pond. It cut a path straight for them, tearing across the water, until it stopped just before the rocky bank.
Reida took a step towards it, leaning out over the water to study it apprehensively.
“Pick it up,” said Kairn. “It’s not like it’s going to bite you.”
“Of course it’s not.” Reida reached out a hand towards the boat. She stopped short, shooting Sethan a grin. “It’s not, right?”
He shook his head and Reida snatched the boat out of the water. “So what about the other two?”
“No way,” said Kairn, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll get mine the old fashioned way.”
Reida snorted. “Suit yourself,” she said, eyeing the boat again as she had before the race. Other than a few scratches from its encounter with the rocks, Kairn didn’t expect she would find much to look at.
“You should make your own,” he said, as he headed for the path, though he hadn't a clue what possessed him to do so. “So you can use it next time."
She looked up just as he turned away, but he thought he caught a not-so-toothy smile cross her lips.