Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)

[Hopeflower]

He'd missed some of the ongoing discussion, but Andruil was in time to catch Arsenic's somewhat impatient, 'We couldn't move in heavier armor and you know it. I'd have fallen out of trees a lot more often, I can tell you that.'

"Songs would be sung about the elf with the world's worst balance," Rowan agreed solemnly.

"Tragic ones," Vix quipped. "I may shed a tear just imagining them."

"Absolutely heartwrenching."

'And then there would be you two,' Arsenic snarked, getting them both to laugh.

[The Kingpin]

"Perhaps I should have tried drawing you into theatre performance instead," quipped the Knight jokingly.

[Hopeflower]

"I'd have made a bigger fool of myself," Rowan said, snorting. She tipped her chair onto its rear two legs and balanced there, leaning back and studying the ceiling. "Though I suppose that's half of performing, to begin with."

'Just pretend you're with me and planning on taking out the front row,' Arsenic suggested. She arched a brow at him. 'What? It'd probably work.'

[The Kingpin]

"Were you not told? Part of being a skilled assassin is being a skilled performer. Some Assassin's Guild you lot are," added Andruil wryly.

[Hopeflower]

At that, a muscle in Arsenic's jaw twitched and he bit back the first five responses that jumped to the tip of his tongue. The one that he went with was all the drier for it. 'Yes, clearly we're all only capable of party tricks and should, by all logic, have been dead years ago.'

"A miracle that we're not, when you think about it," Rowan said with a nod that was, for all appearances, thoughtful.

Vix held her hands up in a gesture of surrender and protested lightly, "Don't lump me in with these jerks. I don't even know them. They just offered me food."

[The Kingpin]

"If only you knew how many times I used that same excuse," he responded with a laugh. Pealing one of the hard boiled eggs on his plate, he decided to make the most of opportunity. "On the topic of the Guild, I have to ask... What would you say your most memorable jobs are?" he asked, nodding to the two Assassins sharing the table with him as he tore a piece of bread off the half-loaf he'd gotten for himself.

[Hopeflower]

The mute scratched at the scar on his throat and exchanged a glance with Rowan. She eased her chair back onto all four legs. "I assume you're asking about the times we were working solo," she said. "Because we'd be here a while if you wanted to know about memorable jobs we worked together."

'Would you say that rules out initiation or not?' Arsenic asked her.

"Well, I mean, we weren't really helping you..." She shrugged. "And technically, initiation is completing a contract, so it counts."

He hummed his agreement. 'There we go, then. Toss-up between initiation and the day I got this. Your turn.'

Rowan put a finger to her lips in thought and finally said, "Y'know, I've got nothing that beats somehow being dragged into a war and turned into a human piece of toast."

[The Kingpin]

"I am sorry for that," responded the Knight, addressing the Scarred Assassin. "I should probably have gone about things differently, rather than getting you swept up in front line warfare." It was a matter that had revisited him numerous times, and he did consider himself to blame for it. Assassins were excellent warriors, to be fair. But they were specialised in dictating the terms of an engagement, striking where a target was at its weakest, swift, silent and deadly. They were not the kind accustomed to fighting on a battlefield, and they paid the price for his foolishness then.

[Hopeflower]

Rowan ran her thumb along the line of her jaw, mapping the warped skin and contemplating the general lack of sensation. "Ten years ago, I might've said you were right to blame yourself. But now..." She shrugged and knitted her fingers together, resting her elbows on the table. "We all made the call to get involved or not. I could've stayed at home and worried myself half to death, waiting to see how many of my brothers and sisters would come home. The decision was mine, and I'll live with the consequences."

[The Kingpin]

"Even so, of the four of us, I am the trained soldier and commander... I should have intervened... Directed your efforts somewhere more familiar to you. So again, I am sorry," said the Knight, head drooping somewhat. "But for what it is worth...That is very noble of you. I know many people would much sooner place blame wholly on the shoulders of others than recognise any hand they may have had in it themselves. I suppose that says a lot for my choice of company outside of you and those in the village." There was a measure of bitterness as he uttered the word choice, reminded that in truth, it was anything but. The obligations of his station, the personalities he dealt with.

[Hopeflower]

Rowan smiled faintly, sympathetically. "We all handle our mistakes in different ways. Sometimes that's more revealing than making them in the first place." She shrugged again. "In any case, what's done is done. I can't change it. You can't change it. So don't keep beating yourself up over it." The assassin paused, then jabbed a thumb at Arsenic. "Beat Nick up instead. He can take a punch."

'Thanks, Rowan,' the mute elf said dryly.

"Well, I can't tell him to beat Vix up," Rowan said in a tone that suggested the line of logic was perfectly reasonable. Vix made a sound of protest into her tea at being dragged into a discussion over throwing punches at one another. "Or me, for that matter."

[The Kingpin]

"I would, but Nick would probably get irritated after a couple of blows and turn my brain into paste for a day," responded the Knight jokingly as he resumed eating. "And Vix and I need not be any rougher with one another than we already are," he added cryptically, trying despite himself to keep a straight face.

[Hopeflower]

Arsenic's warning growl was nearly drowned out by a combination of Vix choking on her drink and Rowan clearing her throat. "I would certainly hope not. Furniture is expensive to replace." Before Andruil could jump on that opening to cause more chaos, she added, "In any case, Nick's turn to elaborate." She nudged the mute elf. "It is your brain he's trying to pick."

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Initiation or that one time I got my throat cut. Right.'

Having caught her breath, Vix managed to add, "Or both, if you feel like talking that much."

'Well, there's not that much to tell. The day I got into the guild, I was fifteen, bitter as all hell, and I'd almost accomplished the only goal I'd had for five years.' Arsenic smiled, but there was no humor in the expression. 'I was nearly drowned.'

[The Kingpin]

Andruil fixed the Mute with a look, taken somewhat by surprise. "Drowned? Your mark ran for the lake?" he asked, confused by the thought process that would lead to one sentenced to death running for the water.

[Hopeflower]

'He broke his ankle running down the hill,' Arsenic replied, picking at something caught under a fingernail. 'Almost ended up in it. I was checking to see if he'd broken his neck, too, when he saw the chance to grab me.' He glanced up. 'It only takes a few inches of water to cover someone's face. He held onto me until I managed to kick him off.' The mute shrugged. 'Messy kill.'

[The Kingpin]

An understanding Mm was Andruil's response to that. He'd had his fair share of those. Most of them had preceded meeting the Assassins, however. It left him feeling almost regretful, in a way. What he may have learned and experienced, if he had been brought up training under them rather than under the Black Hand. No doubt it would have impacted his techniques quite a bit. Where the Guild tended to favour quick, clean, singular kills, the Black Hand was the covert branch of a politically powered force... their techniques tended to favour extended operations and multiple kills, typically as part of drawing out and destroying networks rather than singular figures. It did leave him wondering how exactly it would have changed him.

"You know, it's funny. I've seen at least a couple of initiations at this point... I somehow find myself forgetting that you did it once, too." He reached for his mug, taking a sip of the thankfully still-warm tea, before looking up at the Mute.

[Hopeflower]

'And the training that came before.' Arsenic's smirk was more genuine this time. 'Much as I would like to be able to claim I didn't have to work as hard as I have.'

[The Kingpin]

"And the embarrassment and humiliation that came up in the process," added Andruil, feeling a momentary shudder as he recalled a particular incident. "Character building, they called it."

[Hopeflower]

'Would you believe we deal with almost no hazing?' Arsenic asked, tilting his head. 'Friendly ribbing and the odd spontaneous tackle, sure, but nothing particularly dangerous or nasty. Akando beats it into our brains early on that the guild is a family. We work together, a lot of us live together, and we look out for each other. Any differences are settled during sparring matches, and anyone who steps out of line gets their *** kicked.'

"As several kids can confirm," Vix added with a shake of her head. "I'd say I feel sorry for them, but, well..."

Rowan waved a hand dismissively. "I don't. Akando's very clear about how things are before you join up. If you push your luck after he's warned you, you're asking for whatever happens next."

[The Kingpin]

"Oh, I wasn't talking about hazing. I was talking about training practices. Things meant to teach agents to let go of their restrictions. We get put through the most embarrassing and uncomfortable situations simply so that we are used to it. 'A Black Hand Agent must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to complete their mission.' They were quite thorough," explained the Knight.

Eating another egg, and another portion of the bread, he continued, "but discipline was always paramount, so I suppose, in a sense, that part of our training was the same."