Open Post: Welters

[sorrowandsorrow]

It's probably been noted before, but Janet's not actually dumb. The people of this mansion are varied and mercurial. They're not like Fillorians, some of whom are little bitches but who were largely cow-eyed and willing to accept her authority just because she was a pretty girl from another world.

So. She has to win people over. Maybe everyone needs a little fun to take their minds off things. Conveniently, welters is absolutely Janet's idea of fun. There's a bunch of insane rules, violence is encouraged, and you win if you're good at magic and being bossy.

The mansion grounds are also a little tempestuous as to their character, but apparently the master magician toying with all their lives is feeling charitable today. She's found a big, flat stretch of undisturbed grass, and she's sketching out welters squares with a piece of chalk.

Comments

[timebethine]

Immediately, Laertes's gaze--previously fixed on Janet's eyes to avoid her other orbular parts--snaps to Janet's weapons. "What are those?" he asks. Where before his interest had the kind of guileless curiosity one might expect to accompany pure ignorance, at the mention of a weapon, his focus sharpens. He is, Janet may notice, wearing a rapier strapped somewhat incongruously over his well-fitted jeans.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Well, okay. If the puppy-eyed boy insists. Janet smiles thinly and reaches back with both hands, then, to balance one stave in each hand. "They turn into axes," she says, as if that explains it.

[timebethine]

He studies the staves, looking for the mechanism by which they become axes. "More magic?" he guesses, when no spring-loaded blade is readily apparent. "Are they very heavy to wield?" He knows well that, when dual-wielding, every scrap of weight that he can shave off improves his speed and stamina.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Magic, yes. Ice magic." Janet smiles, sharply. "They used to be a spear. I broke it in half. So, no," she says brightly, "not too heavy. But heavy enough." Heavy enough to send a god tumbling to the ground with blood trickling all down his stupid ovine face.

[timebethine]

Laertes eyes each staff up and down, this time with rapt appreciation. "I would dearly love to see you fight," he says, for once forgetting to temper himself. "You must be an avalanche unto your foes."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Well, that's nice. Janet's smile turns into something a bit less about to drink the blood of my enemies in response. "I do okay. You could beat me in a swordfight, easy. But I could beat you in an anything-goes fight, also easy."

[timebethine]

"Is your magic the kind that can be taught, my lady?" he asks. "Or is it a gift native to your soul?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet thinks about this. "It's hard as shit," she says, "but it's teachable. I went to school for it, but there are hedge witches and hedge wizards who taught themselves."

[timebethine]

"How might I begin?" Laertes asks. The difficulty doesn't seem to deter him. "If it's a skill that's teachable, I greatly desire to learn it."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet tries not to make a little grimacing expression and, luckily, does a pretty good job, all told. "There are textbooks in the library," she says. "Some of them are the ones I got when I started at Brakebills. That's -- that's, uh, the college of magical pedagogy I went to."

[timebethine]

Laertes dips his head in acknowledgment, filing that information away for future library runs. "If I should come across others who practice such arts as you do, I'll tell them of your game, my lady," he says. "For although it may be threescore years before I'm fit to join you, I'm afire to witness such sport as magicians play."

Privately, he is excited to imagine what Lan Wangji could do on a flying sword.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"It is amazing," Janet assures him. "You can absolutely spectate if I can't figure out a way for non-magicians to play. And..." Yikes, is she going soft? Maybe a bit. The desert stripped away some parts of her, and maybe it didn't strip away nothing but weakness. "Be careful. Magic can be dangerous. When you start, just... let me look at your form sometime, okay?"

[timebethine]

His smile turns wry. "What, does the queen deign to teach?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Hardly," she says easily enough. "I'm not a good teacher. But I don't want you to blow yourself up, either."

[timebethine]

"Your concern for my well-being touches me," he says, laying a hand over his heart. "Have you further need of me?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

Geez, he's really working the charm offensive. Janet laughs, rolls her eyes, and says, "Dismissed, soldier."

[timebethine]

Laertes doesn't quite laugh at that, but there's a laughing look on his face as he bows. "My queen," he says, and then lopes off to gather up his flowers again.

Somehow, with witchcraft humming in the air like a rising storm, he finds that learning about herbs has lost its savor.