Skipping Stones

Log Info

• Title: Skipping Stones
• Emitter: Warrick
• Characters: Warrick, Schara
• Place: Northern Tornmawr Banks
• Time: March 22, 2023
• Summary: Warrick and Schara have a nice chat by the banks while skipping stones. Ironically, Schara has a mean throwing arm.

Northern Tornmawr Banks, Midday

A grey overcast day. The threat of rain has passed, it's evidence scattered against the ground and splashed through by passerbys. The river has settled to a smooth move, though not many wish to stay in the muggy place.

Except for a human man in a grey overcoat with a small bucket in hand. He sets it down with a light thud, a rattling within. Warrick leans down to scoop up a palm sized, flat, smooth rock. A sigh leaves him, slate eyes looking around idly.

Even if it was an overcast day, Schara wasn't going to not make good on an arranged meeting. And in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really that bad. A friend invited them out to go out? That didn't happen often, and it simply wouldn't do to put a bad foot forward.

Which led to the bronze covered figure half jogging, half sprinting down the bride and through the stairs until she was at the riverbank. They slowed down finally upon spying Warrick, where Schara waved to them. "Warrick, good day to you, I really hope I didn't keep you too long, and if I did, I'm sorry." They greet, taking a moment to catch their breath.

Someone was running? Warrick was lightly tossing one of the rocks up and down as he did, but he looks over his shoulder. Surprise crosses his features, and he's holding up a hand. "Hey hey. Slow down, it's okay. I haven't been here long. You... didn't need to run here."

"I'm already slowing down, so you don't need to worry about that." Schara responds with a quick shake of her head. "And I had to run here since I was already behind on schedule and I needed to get here on time after all since I wasted too much time figuring out if I should wear my armor or not."

The artificer tilts their head slightly. "But I'm here now and if you haven't been waiting too long then that's good. What's the bucket for, Warrick?"

Warrick's face scrunches up in confusion before he sighs and shakes his head. "I see. It wasn't anything serious, so a bit of tardiness is fine." He looks down at the bucket. Then tries to smile. "Ah! Yes. Something my friends and I used to do after shift."

He holds up the flat stone. Turns to the river and cocks it back. And gives it an underhanded toss. The rock skips a few times before going >ker-plunk!< into the waters beyond.

The man reaches down, picking up a smooth stone to offer to Schara. "Give it a tr-" his voice trails off. Glances to her arms. Then he resolves himself and continues past the faux pas, "-we'll figure it out. Give it a try."

GAME: Schara rolls ranged -4: (17)+7+-4: 20

"Well, I am happy to at least be here now. And if you didn't wait long, that means that I did not waste too much time here, I guess? And that's a good thing." The artificer nods along to Warrick as they step back and watch the demonstration. "Ah, I remember this! It's something we used to do back home sometimes." Schara notes with a hint of recognition, and a small sigh. "I'm more than a bit out of practice, but I'll give it a try."

The artificer takes the stone in their right and only hand, and wind it back to toss out onto the river, sending it skimming over the water several times before it failed to jump and sank to the bottom.

"That went well! I'm glad I decided on taking the armor with me, Warrick." They note, sounding happy from behind the helmet.

GAME: Warrick rolls ranged-4: (19)+5+-4: 20

Warrick can't help but smile at that. It further settling at seeing Schara having no qualms at the dexterous task. "Okay, good," he sighs in relief, watching the stone skip across the waters. He grabs another one, tossing it to his other hand and giving it another underhanded toss. It skips similarly to Schara's before it plunks into the waters.

There's a moment of silence. "... sorry. I'm not the best at conversations. It's hard for me," he admits. "Been a while since I just... did things for myself."

"It was pretty good, thank you." The artificer nods as she watched Warrick take another go. "And that was good! You must have practice from doing this after work though."

Though Schara stops, and tilts their head again. "You're not good at conversations? You've seemed to do just fine to me, but I understand that doing something easily and doing something and struggling can look the same if the end result is the same sometimes." They note. "Why don't you do things for yourself, Warrick?"

GAME: Warrick rolls ranged-4: (5)+5+-4: 6

Warrick chuckles quietly. "Thanks. I think I'm a pretty decent a shot." He shakes his head, dipping down to scoop up another stone. The man idly inspects the features of it, all the nooks and crannies.

He softly sighs. "I just..." He trails off. Another toss, but it slips early and just plops into the waters. Warrick stares at it. "I'm used to doing things for others," he admits. "After Persephone passed, it was... hard to do things. It took a very long time, but I had found more purpose. With my friends, comrades, and Cinny. Then the wights came."

He shakes his head, rubbing his left arm. "Just hard."

"You are, isn't that why you carry that big crossbow around?" The artificer points out, at least for a moment before falling silent. Event they knew when it was time to be quiet and listen, sometimes.

"If miss Persephone was a nice person, and I can at least assume she probably was given how you talk about her, then, well, she probably wouldn't want you to be unhappy? But I don't want to put words into someone's mouth, that's just something that makes sense to me." They offer while stooped down to take a look at the various stones. "And it does seem like your sister wants you to do things too, so you're still doing things for others going out like this, and for me since it's nice to have a friend to do things with, but I'd want you to be happy with yourself regardless of if I was here or not."

"It is," Warrick answers with a faint chuckle in regards to the crossbow.

But his eyes downturn. "Persephone was the... best person one could ever ask for," he answers quietly, eyes closing. "She was much like her daughter: lively, energetic, curious as ever."

A steeled breath, and he looks over to Schara. "Yes, Nes is like that. Though for... various other reasons."

Something Schara says makes him bite his lip, jaw tensing. "... it is... hard to do that," he speaks as if through granite, fist clutching the stone. "To be... happy with myself. But I can... enjoy at least spending time with a friend."

"Well, I'm sorry, Warrick." The artificer begins as she pauses her search. "I know it's not a nice subject, but, this seems to be bothering you, and I wanted to at least do something to help if I could, but I'm not good at talking or explaining things, either. But at least you can be happy for now, at least, but I'll help you be happier with yourself. That's a start, isn't it?" The elf sighs. "Do you like reading? Whenever I was feeling bad about myself, or lonely or like I couldn't do anything, I could always find comfort in that. It wasn't perfect, but it helped."

GAME: Warrick rolls ranged-4: (18)+5+-4: 19

Warrick watches Schara's mouth piece flicker and flare as they speak. "I... it's... I'm not..." he fumbles for words, turning the stone over in his hands. Slate eyes look down to his boots. Hefts the stone in his hand slowly. ".. right. That is a start. For both of us."

He looks up, cocks the stone back, and throws it harder, it skipping just about as far as the first throw, but with more force and a bigger splash. "... it is good to talk about. I just... am not good at talking about it. As those that I trust to talk about it are no longer with us. Except, well... Slatesteel."

He perks slightly. "I enjoy reading greatly. Not many in the Watch enjoy it, but I do quite a bit. What do you like to read, Schara?"

"Things do not need to move quickly at least, there's plenty of time, isn't there?" The elf notes, finding another stone and offering it to Warrick. "Maybe you can trust me at some point and it will be easier to talk about if you need more people to talk to?"

"And that's good! I like reading to take my mind off of things, and to learn new things at the same time!" The elf enthuses. "I like reading artifice journals and old tomes to learn new things, but when I just want to relax, I like reading novels about adventurers, and other fiction. It's nice to read stories about all the interesting places people go and things that happen. What books do you like reading Warrick, if you like it a lot?"

GAME: Warrick rolls ranged-4: (4)+5+-4: 5

Warrick bobs his head along, him looking to the offered stone, then up to the bronze helmet. "Y... Yes that is true. There is plenty of time." He carefully takes the rock. "Enough to trust you to talk about it," the man echoes. "I... yes. Perhaps that point will come eventually. But mutual trust is a thing too. There is much that troubles you was well," the once-guard mentions, wagging the stone at her.

"Adventure novels are good," he hums, taking the rock and throwing it underhand once more. Bad toss, as it just kerplunks into the waters. A small chuckle escapes him as he scoops down to pick up a rock. "I'll read just about anything when I was on the job. Very boring waiting around. But, if I had to pick some, history and the adventure ones. But nothing too... what's the word... fake? Some of the adventure ones just don't do it for me if it's not a bity real feeling."

He offers the rock to Schara.

GAME: Schara rolls ranged -4: (16)+7+-4: 19

"Well um, yeah, I guess there is." The elf sighs, unable to refute the point. "There's a lot, but I don't want to talk about all it today and make things uncomfortable, but I do trust you to talk to you, Warrick. I did tell you about my debt problems, and you said you didn't need to know more at the time."

"I like them when they're fake though!" The artificer quietly laughs. "Well, I didn't think they were fake at the time. I guess what I mean is that real adventuring is less glamorous? They always made it sound so exciting in those books, and it is, but there's a lot more to it, too."

The artificer takes the stone and winds their right arm back, sending the rock skimming a good distance over the river. "What do you like about the history books? Those two genres are pretty far apart, after all."

"That was more for our safety," Warrick mentions, "As it was an unknown entity at the time, I wanted to expose as little as possible for both our sakes. But now... I'm not sure what's going on. Adventurers are all over the place." He shakes his head, dismissing the topic. Warrick glances to Schara. "... so you have. Hrm..."

He chuckles, putting his hand sin his pockets. "I guess it's part in the fact that I've sort of seen the adventuring side of things already? Or, mostly just dealt with their after effects. It's not glamorous, no." He looks to Schara, him gesticulating a bit. "But empahtizing with the characters going through similar troubles makes it feel like you aren't alone in some troubles, yes?"

He reaches up to tug at the knot at the back of his hair, letting the usually taut hair tumble to one of the shaved sides of his head. "Context," he answers. "Gives a lot of context as to why people act the way they act. From the disappearance of Alexandria, to the Ooze disease, to the cold war with Charn. I enjoy it. Helped a lot in my reports so I can keep them in focus."

"I guess that would make sense? You've been in the city for a long time, and worked with the guard so you're used to them." Schara nods in agreement. "And I guess that's another view, but I guess I was reading them as something to distance from things, and see a new perspective and story."

"You are pretty meticulous about taking your notes, it's true." They note. "This city has had a lot going on in it, has it not? Keeping track of all that is important. I guess I've always treated what I read about the past as a means to go forward, I'm not focused enough on what happened, sometimes."

GAME: Warrick rolls ranged-4: (13)+5+-4: 14

Warrick bobs his head, picking up the last two rocks in the bucket and offering one to Schara. "Ah. Yes, a new perspective. That makes sense. I can see that. I wouldn't know what its like to use magic, so that can supplement reading a story about that."

He hums. "It is a means to go forward, but its also a means to not repeat the past." A hand runs through his hair, and his gaze turns upwards to the city streets above. "... it does have a lot going on in it. But you know what? I enjoy it. There's so much here. A lot to keep safe."

One final underhand chuck garners a few skips, only to plunk softly into the river.

GAME: Schara rolls ranged -4: (20)+7+-4: 23 (THREAT)
GAME: Schara rolls ranged -4: (11)+7+-4: 14

"I guess you wouldn't? Like I wouldn't know what it's like being a guard. But I get what you mean, at least I think you do. Sometimes it's nice reading stories about farmhands going off on adventures and seeing the world, that's probably why those books are common, since they make sense to a lot of people." Schara notes. "But I like reading and learning about new things, too. And that's what I mean, sometimes I focus too much on what something does and not on everything surrounding it, which is dangerous with Kulthos, so I need to be aware of it."

The artificer stops to pick up a particularly smooth looking rock, and the elf considers it for a moment, before whipping it hard across the river, sending it skipping merrily across the majority of the river.

"That went well, I think I got the angle right on that one!" They note happily. "But I think you win, since you're using normal arms, and I don't actually have any. It's not fair to you, I don't think."

"I do care about a lot of people here, it's weird, compared to mostly being around my family." They sigh afterwards. "But I like it here, and I want to see everyone doing well, which may be impossible, but I can do my best to help."

Warrick gives a biiiig nod at that one. "Yes. Must be very careful. But I was young once, replace farmhand with shopkeep, and I can understand completely. New perspectives can help a lot."

Schara's throw makes Warrick's eyes grow wide from the force. "... huh. Solid throw..." he compliments, looking quite impressed. "No no, those arms are hard to use, I think you won this one," he laughs, genuinely.

A sigh escapes him as he puts his hands into his pockets. "It is weird. But that sort of comradery is what gets people through, yes?" He stoops down to scoop up the empty bucket. "This was... fun. We should do this again sometime."

"They're not hard to use, really." The elf shrugs. "Plenty of other issues, but ease of use isn't one of them, thankfully. Not that I would mind if that was the case, anyways. But I guess it didn't change the fact that I did throw better in a way."

"It does mean a lot, you're right, Warrick. So you should make some more friends, not that I'm in a place to be talking about that."

The artificer takes a look around, but they sigh, and shake their head. "I was hoping to find something to remind me to do this again maybe, but I think we tossed most of the good rocks in here. But you're right, It was fun, and I'll just have to remember then." Schara laughs. "That shouldn't be an issue, I don't think. Tell Vanessa this was a good idea when you see her next." They offer, before giving Warrick a wave, and heading off for the bridge.

Warrick shrugs. "We'll just have to do it again then," he chuckles before blinking at the thought of telling Vanessa thanks. "... er.. okay. She might- eh, it'll be fine."

He turns to the waters. "Anyways, do you want to walk back to the Trades?"

...

"Schara?" he turns around to find them not there. Scans around. A sigh escapes him, and the bucket thunks against his forehead before jogging to catch up with them.

-End Scene-