Painted Smile

Thalia walked over the deck, feeling a cool breeze start to stir. A smile spread across her face, and she pulled the long braid behind her over her right shoulder, pulling the ribbon off that held it together. As she walked, she ran her fingers through the three cords of hair, slowly undoing the braid and leaving long golden curls in it's wake. As she reached the final cross-over, she shook her hair once to loosen it and tossed it back over her shoulder, letting the wind blow it out like a fan behind her. Even though she was headed to a training session, it wasn't going to be instructed, so it was her preference as to how she wore her hair, and her preferred style was long and free. It made her feel like she was flying some days if the wind picked up enough. However, today was not one of those days, and soon her hair was once again pressing on her back as she exited the open-air deck and entered the corridors beneath.

Her goal today was to do a bit of multitasking training. The last lesson she had had that was her biggest problem, so that's what she would start with. Besides, her bow enjoyed it's breaks. Most people looked at her funny when she told them that, but it's the same as letting a steak rest before you cut it; they like time to settle down. A wooden bow is no different. She'd rubbed it with a bit of wood polish before she'd left, and now it hung comfortably beside her bed in her room right next to her full quiver.

As Thalia walked down hall after hall, she noticed that many of the training rooms were being used, and by more than one person. At one point, she saw a room with a group of five. She loved company, but sometimes the company didn't always love her, so she'd decided that she wouldn't go into a room that had more than one or two other people in it already. Finally she ended up in a far-back corridor that only had a few doors on it. One of them she knew as the janitor's closet, but the other one turned out to be a training room as she opened the door. It also turned out to be occupied by another Tiro practicing knife throwing.

"Oh, hello. Would you mind if I shared this room?" She looked over at the boy, a genuine smile lighting up her face as she saw his hair. "And I hope you don't mind me saying, but your hair is incredible! I didn't know there was dye like that!"

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: So much for the peace and quiet hehe

The way that the boy acted as she entered the room cued her onto the fact that he didn't really want her to stay. His words confirmed it, as his tone was far from pleased. Thalia debated leaving for a moment, but she decided that she'd rather be here with buzz-kill than in a room with sword fighters and people attempting to use their magic unobserved. She let her smile fade, and once she saw him return to his knife throwing, she shrugged her shoulders a small bit and headed to the opposite end of the room. As she did, she couldn't help observing him for a moment. She caught sight of his missing limb, but her eyes hardly stopped there. If she was an amputee, she wouldn't want people staring at her. However, she did wonder what nay have happened. Instead, she moved to his throwing. Some of his hits were very accurate, but others were quite far off, leading her to believe that this wasn't his first training skill. It probably involved his other arm, and now he was trying to adjust to a new method of fighting. She couldn't tell if the good shots were lucky ones or if the bad shots were just unlucky ones, but either way he was hitting the target, and in her eyes, he was doing pretty well.

She caught his reply to her comment on his hair, which only sounded less pleased that the first time he'd opened his mouth. Thalia decided to not reply, and instead continued moving towards the far wall. She heard rhythmic thumping behind her, but after one she heard the boy sigh. At that point, her curiosity took hold, and she couldn't help chancing a glance at what made him so upset. The moment she looked it was obvious; a quite far off throw. If she'd known him better, she'd say it happens. But she doubted he wanted to hear that, so instead she shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out a spherical wooden ball covered in runes.

Thalia had debated trying to charm things herself, but the minute she sat down to try it, she stopped herself. Magic scared her, honestly, so she decided to stick with something that was pre-done. Eventually she would have to try and branch out, but who said she couldn't use a little help until then? She knew that the ball had a Serpent rune on it, so that would be the one she'd try to activate. Thalia aligned herself between the two closer walls in the room so the ball couldn't travel that far, and set up padded targets where the rune would his - so not to disturb the boy behind her as much. Rather that a hard hit on wood, it would make a dulled thud against the softer targets. Shaking the ball, she felt it come to life, and soon it was shooting back and forth in front of her, missing her body by a few inches.

The distraction was set. It wasn't surprising to her, but she would have to work around it which would be the first step to solving her biggest issue. Now, she smiled. She found that it made it easier for her to concentrate when she was happy; not a hard thing for her to do. For a second she wished that there was music, but she dared not begin to sing, or hum, or anything. Rather, she ran over one of her favorite songs in her head, letting the invisible melody flow through her.

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: -

Thalia kept her eyes on the flying ball, watching it move left and right and left and right. Once she felt confident with it's pace, she slid across it's path, a motion fluid like water, to the other side. There, she found several human dummies to select from. One caught her eye, but it was wooden, and it would hurt her hands when she connected with it. Instead she chose to go with one made of stuffed fabric that would give way a small bit beneath her attacks. She dragged the decoy a few feet from where it had been, so that it lined up a few inches from the line of fire that she'd simulated, and once the flying ball had passed her by, she slid across the line to the other side. Now the ball flew in between her and her opponent, about a foot and a half between them.

The boy's question startled her, which she regretted. The whole point of her exercise was to slowly get used to distractions, and his simple question had caught her off guard. Biting her lip, she turned to him, careful to remember where the ball was as she met his confused look. Thalia offered him a small smile. What was she doing? Well, she was training. But she knew he wanted more, so she just hoped that she wouldn't sound like she was rambling as she explained.

"I'm trying to desensitize myself to distractions. This is a pretty easy start, figuring that I know the distraction is there. All I have to do is work around it. Hopefully as I get better I'll be able to work with more ... surprising things." Yep, that sounded about right. She added a little at the end, but she couldn't really help it. Training was something that she wanted to do, but a little conversation always made things better. And besides, today was hand-to-hand combat; one of her stronger suites. It was second only to her archery, but well above magic.

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: Yes, it is xD But I can work with it!

Thalia knew that her method of training wasn't standard, and she loved it that way. Standard made her want to throw herself off the side of the ship. Rote routines and exercises bored her, so she tried to keep herself on her toes. This was just one of the ways that she was going to do so. Honestly, it was new to her - she'd made it up as she was walking to the training room.

She was slightly impressed when he asked her if hand-to-hand was her specialty. Thalia hadn't told him she was going to be doing that; he was very observant. Granted, she wasn't carrying any visible weapons, but she could have been wielding magic, or had something hidden on her. She found herself studying him while she thought this, wondering what he used to do. With some educated guessing, she narrowed it down to only a few options. Origionally she would've gone with sword fighting, because the loss of a limb would affect that greatly should he have used a great sword or dual swords. But he didn't really have the build or muscles for it. That led her to long-distance. Maybe he had been an archer like her, or perhaps he used firearms. Or maybe he specialized in magic? Whatever he did, she was sure he had been amazing at it judging by the way he adapted to knife throwing.

"No, hand-to-hand isn't my best skill," Thalia replied with a small laugh, looking back over her shoulder at the dummy. "I'm not bad at it, but I much prefer my re-curve bow." She subconsciously curled her right hand into a soft fist, the way she did when she fingered the string of the bow. Thalia wanted to ask him what his specialty was, but she stopped herself. He probably didn't want to talk about it, or be reminded about what he probably lost. Sure, she was incredibly curious, but Thalia always put others feelings before her silly curiosity.

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: blubblub

Thalia reveled in the fact that he smiled back at her; it always made her happy when she could make others smile. She didn't know why, but it pleased her more than anything else, and he didn't seem like he had been smiling a lot lately. No laugh lines graced the corners of his eyes, so she felt that her hypothesis was a safe one. But soon the boy wasn't smiling anymore, and in that moment she knew that she'd hit a soft spot. Her smile faded as well, her lips falling into a soft line. So he had been an archer, like her. She started to feel awful, and wondered if she should leave. Here she stood, having the epitome of what he wanted - what he'd lost. And judging by the tone of his reaction, he'd been a damn good one. Though he tried to steel himself, she could see the pain he felt, not in his facial expression, but in his eyes. His voice had simply confirmed it.

She watched him closely as he turned back to his training, catching the smallest of smiles on his lips. What had caused it, she had no idea. Now he was back to knife throwing, and as he unleashed the knife he had been holding, she nodded slightly. A perfect shot. And yet he frowned. It probably wasn't at the shot, she decided. As he spoke, Thalia soaked his words in. His first words were easy to hear. Hand-to-hand combat was certainly an important skill to have. Even if it wasn't the ideal fighting method, it was something you had to know how to do. As an archer, she was deadly from afar, but should a brute get up close, her bow and archery skills were nothing more than mere knowledge. The next thing he said was low, and the droning of the wooden ball swishing and thudding behind her pretty much drowned it out. It sounded to her like he had said he should know, but not being positive, Thalia dismissed it. Instead, she turned back to her dummy and distraction set up.

"I find it useful, sometimes for more than just fighting ..."

Thalia watched the ball whiz by, and then she began. She sent a basic right hook into the left cheek of the dummy, a small shock of adrenaline flowing up her arm as her fist connected. Quickly, she threw in a basic chest kick before drawing back, just in time for the ball to speed by her face. Again she engaged the "opponent", this time with a roundhouse kick. Her golden hair splayed out behind her like a fan as she twisted in the air, settling back down again as the girl's foot slammed into the mannequin, sending it rocking backwards in a sharp pitch. The ball crossed her line of vision as she watched the target bounce back into it's original upright position, and she tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: A sharp?

Thalia let out a small huff of air that she'd had pent up. With fists still clenched, she rhythmically watched the wooden ball as she replied to his simple question. "Yes. It's good for the stress, but mainly it takes up a lot of my free energy. I've got quite a lot of it, and the deck hands got tired of my antics up on the Main Deck. So I found this." Archery was much better for releasing stress, but it did nothing for her wild spirit. That was a good thing in battle, but for the rest of her time she needed some way to be more ... free. And physical combat really helped her in that department. The movements she used often brought her to heavy breathing and a sense of needing a nap.

At his comment, Thalia smiled, feeling a warmth grow in her cheeks. The compliment felt good, and it meant that she was getting better. Anyone who'd seen her a few months ago would've cringed at her punches and kicks. Practice really was making perfect. But then he made a comment that really shook her, and she submerged her inner joy. Spinning on her heels, she looked at him with almost judging eyes, something that she hated to do. She strode over to him, covering their distance in a few moments and stopping about a foot away from him. "It's true; I am better than you'll ever be," Thalia said, not in a spiteful or mocking way, but rather soft and blunt, like she was telling someone what was being served for lunch. Then she smiled lightly, looking up at him. "Because you make it true. That mindset isn't going to help you, it's going to make things worse. I've known you for less than an hour, and yet I can see the talent you have." She sighed softly, adding, "I know you don't want to hear all of this, but ... I think you need to."

Then she took a few slow steps backwards, deciding to leave him to his training. Only after several feet and moments had passed did she turn around again, heading back to her own training dummy. Thalia hated telling him what she did, and she really hoped that she hadn't hurt him or anything, but she felt like she really needed to tell him that. He'd had an incredibly difficult setback in life - she understood that more than he knew - but she knew that if he could power through, he would still make one of the finest Drakonrhedi she'd know. As she walked closer to the wooden sphere, the sound of thudding filled her ears once again, and she closed her eyes for a moment as she faced the wall.

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: -

After a moment Thalia opened her eyes again, lunging at her target. She hit it with her fists in rapid succession, each landing on the dummy's chest, pulling out when the wooden orb came near. Once it passed, she dived in yet again, ending this combination with a foot blow to the chest. She took this moment to take in a breath, and once her line of sight was clear, she was back at it. One fist to the jawline. One to the nose. One to the throat. But another distraction presented itself to her, and it was one she was far from expecting. Behind her, she heard the boy laugh. Her head turned so she could look at him, curiosity taking over. As it did, it drove her focus away from her task, and karma made sure she paid the price. In a flash, the wooden ball was in her face, slamming against her cheekbone. She jumped forward a little bit to give it somewhere to go before it drilled through her head, and she instinctively reached a hand up to her face to make sure she wasn't bleeding. Luckily she wasn't, but undoubtedly a small bruise of a reminder would be there later.

Thalia watched him as he stopped laughing, gathering himself up to say something. "Thank you."  He had taken her words rather than reflect them, and they had settled with him. She smiled over at him despite the small objection from her cheek, almost proud of him. Though she may have not known the degree of that which she had given him, she got the feeling that she had knocked a little sense into him. She knew pity well - had wallowed in it for nearly a half a decade - and the last thing she wanted was someone else to go through the same thing she did.

"You're more than welcome," Thalia replied, and she truly meant it. If a few words could help him turn around his life, then it was the least that she could do for a fellow Tiro. She felt the small ache of fatigue in her muscles, and let herself slide down onto the floor, legs crossed in Indian-style. From there, she watched as he returned to his knife throwing, the blade landing another perfect blow.

"If you don't mind me asking, I really would like to know your name."

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Tags: Kaelan Avallochson
Notes: boop