Whistle while you work

[theresolve]

Who: Thom Rainier and anyone else who wants to keep Grumpybear company
What: Rainier is putting his carpentry to good use and making practice weapons.
Where: His makeshift workshop is by the coliseum, but he can be found forging for materials all over.
When: Any time in early December before the snow sets in.
Warnings: None at the moment.



As he had told the Inquisitor, an armory they could certainly use, but that would mean weapons accessible to hands unfamiliar with them. Too many children around, too many inexperienced in battle or how to defend themselves.

At Skyhold, Rainier's woodcarving had been put to use of wooden toys for the war orphans and the like. Now he turns the skill to a different task - makeshift swords and shields. They'll do little if any when it comes to actual battle, but they won't leave more than bruises should a blow land on tender flesh. He moves his knife along the edge of a sword made for smaller hands than his - once he has practice weapons he can find those who need to learn. He's trained Inquisition soldiers before, as has Cullen. Surely the Knight Commander of the Inquisition's forces would be willing to assist in making sure they had the community ready to defend themselves.

Rainier sets up shop, so to speak, near the arena he first arrived to. He had taken to visiting there daily to ensure there were no new arrivals, so it's an easy thing to work out there and keep an eye on it. Debris is plentiful to be used as crafting materials, especially in the park.

More than once he snorts to himself and thinks how it's rather reminiscent of cleaning up the mess that was Skyhold when they first came upon it.

Whether it's while he's making the long trek to and fro across the battered city to gather his resources from debris (he only ventures into stores to look when he can't make do from the rubble) or while he works in his little setup near the coliseum, Rainier is not going to turn down company. Familiar faces will get a warmer welcome than strangers, but for all the caution involved a welcome is a welcome.

Comments

[isacrowd]

It's the sound of the carving that draws Z into the workshop. She's heard it before, from street artisans looking to make a living by daylight. She'd watched those people carve pretty trinkets and sturdy baseball bats, and that's what she imagines she'll see as she walks inside.

The rhythmic sound resonates in the space. Z makes sure her steps are loud and not in time with the carving, so whoever is working will hear her as she approaches. They'll have more than enough time to react, too, because her pace is slow as she takes in the weapons he's already made, and the recovered debris waiting to be worked on and transformed into something new.

When she comes upon Rainier, she stops, far enough away that he will see she has no weapons of her own. There's a faint smile on her face as she looks at the work in his hands, nodding to it. "Are you making them all the same?" She has no knowledge of his craft, and doesn't know if he places more value on making his work all look the same or giving them each something unique.

[theresolve]

The lack of sneaking is appreciative. Rainier glances up as she comes into view and gives her a nod of acknowledgement before returning to his work.

It is, at least, slightly less embarrassing to be found making practice weapons rather than a child's rocking horse. That gets stares and questions. Everyone needs a hobby, Inquisitor.

"The same in that they're all going to be swords and shields. Some variation on size to account for the person wielding them." He says without looking up from his task. They have wee youths that Rainier would sideeye giving even a practice weapon were situations not so dire as well as young adults who seem to not know which way to hold a sword.

[isacrowd]

Since he hasn't shooed her away, Z walks further into his workshop. "They look great." Which, admittedly, isn't saying much. she doesn't know much about swords and swordplay, after all.

But she does know that he looks comfortable doing this work, and that if he's thinking that different types of people might use them, then he knows what to account for as he carves each one. She pictures kids playing games with plastic weapons, and full grown adults sparring, and actual fighters engaged in battles she's only ever read or heard about. Then, she thinks about the day she got here, about those monsters trying to eat her face. At least she'd had her ability to help her out, but what if she hadn't? Would she have made it out alive?

The idea of fighting back had never seemed farfetched, but now she's starting to see where this man is coming from, what's made him start on these weapons.

"Are you going to offer lessons, too?" She walks to a finished sword, looking more closely at it. "I can fight, but I've never trained with a sword before."

[theresolve]

There is space for another person in the workshop, and Rainier doesn't protest her coming closer to watch as he works. He feels a bit of pride as she says they look good, even if she doesn't know precisely what to judge against.

"I helped train the Inquisition's soldiers, and those of the Orlesian army before that, not to mention the occasional passel of farm boys in between in need of defending their home from bandits." Rainier says, by way of a sort of resume.

"You can look through what I've got done over there-" he nods in the direction of the finished swords and shields of various sizes. He hasn't had any wood finish, so he's just sanded down the hilts as best he can and wrapped them to avoid splinters. "If anything strikes your fancy, I'd be happy to help train you. What weapons are you familiar with?"

[isacrowd]

The only Inquisition Z has ever heard about is the Spanish one, and she doesn't really like to think about it. The mention of one might have made her suspicious of him in another time or place, but here, where people have been snatched from all over, she can't judge him by the history of her world. There are enough signs here to show he's from somewhere completely different, after all. And thank goodness for that, because she's not in the mood to meet someone involved with the Spanish Inquisition.

Besides, someone who believes in training anyone who needs to learn to fight, rich or poor, can't be that bad.

She smiles a little as she goes to look at the swords he indicates, picking up the one closest to her. The wood feels smooth enough under her fingers, and the grip comfortable. "Guns, rifles, blasters, stuff like that. Something like a sword, too, but I never trained enough to be comfortable with it, and it looked kind of... well, not like this." She sets down the one in her hand and grabs another, slightly heavier one. "I mostly trained in fighting unarmed and shooting things." And driving something akin to a tank, but maybe let's not mention that. She's pretty sure she's not going to be able to summon her zord in here.

[theresolve]

About the only similarities between Rainier's Inquisition and the Spanish one is that they both have religious roots to them and exist in a relatively nebulous state of outside standard authority. That's kind of where the similarities end. Rainier's, for example, was formed to find an answer to fixing the giant hole that had been ripped in the sky and started spitting demons all over the land thanks to an ancient mage who thought himself a God and was determined to make everyone else believe it too.

Kinda different, Spain at least didn't have to deal with that.

"I don't recognize the first three things you mentioned." Rainier says. Good job, Z, you might get to be the one to introduce him to the concept of guns. He's not entirely unfamiliar with the idea behind it, there is a culture in his world that does have something similar to gunpowder and powerful cannons strapped to their warships, but they're very secretive and extremely feared. The dwarves also have blasting powder, but that's used to clear cave-ins.

"Knowing how to fight unarmed is good, though. Never know when something will take your weapon, and it's satisfying to prove you're just as capable without one."

[isacrowd]

Yeah, holes in the sky are a more recent occurrence in Z's world. The 90s were kind of a rough time, and the planet kind of just goes through cycles of things like that happening. But at least it doesn't have to do with gods. Just your standard bad guys trying to conquer and destroy. Belief in protecting people, rather than in any specific dogma, is what's behind forming teams to defeat the evil of the year.

Rainier isn't be the first person she's met who doesn't know what guns are. She's been to feudal Japan before (time travel is kind of a mess, if she's honest). She's never had to explain them before, but worse comes to worst, she'll be able to show him. "They're ranged weapons. Guns fire bullets -- bits of metal, shaped like... like little cylinders with one end that's like a rounded point -- and blasters fire lasers. Energy, kind of. Rifles can be one or another, but the ones I know fire energy blasts." That's... a start, right?

At the rest, she nods. "Most of the fighting I do back home is unarmed. We win with our weapons, but we let monsters have it with unarmed fighting first."

There's also her replication ability, but she's not really thinking about that. Replicas are extensions of her, and if she doesn't know how to use this or that weapon, then she can't make them do it, either.

[theresolve]

Don't get Rainier started on time travel. He'll just point Z to Dorian if she brings it up, actually. The less he acknowledges that mess happened the happier he is, and that was only with a year span covered.

He nods thoughtfully at her explanation - blasters are easier for him to wrap his mind around, it sounds like mages and their staves.

"I'll assume there's a reason for that tactic." He can't fathom why you'd give something an unarmed fight before taking it out, especially a monster rather than an opponent in a tourney, but Z's world has all kinds of crazy shit in it, it might make sense there. He has faith.

[isacrowd]

Yeah, time travel is a drag. There are whispers of required mind-wiping of every trip upon returning home -- something about possessinf knowledge you shouldn't have -- but Z wouldn't know, and that's probably the point. In any case, no worries.

"I'm kind of fuzzy on why we battle like that." She kind of just follows the rules, does what she needs to do to get past the higher-ups in order to help people. That's the real goal, and if she hangs back to argue a point, she'll lose time. Bureaucracy is also a drag. "One of my teammates says it's about giving the enemy a chance to surrender and let us bring them in peacefully. Another teammate started telling us once about how there are these three major rules that Rangers everywhere have to follow, but I didn't pay too much attention."

[whichend]

Arya's scavenging takes her past the Coliseum. The place has always made her wary. There could be more bears, or other fearsome monsters. Evil people could pour out of its doors, and she wants to be ready when they do. She keeps Needle out as she moves. Her eyes don't stay in one spot -- they dart all around, twitchy, as if she's waiting for something to jump out of the shadows and attack her.

She doesn't expect to see a large man making wooden swords.

"Those won't slay a monster, or any other kind of enemy besides," she informs the man, from a safe distance. Why is he making wooden swords when he could make steel ones?

[theresolve]

He looks up to see a girl with a real sword, and she's holding it like she knows how to use it.

Well, good, there's a shortage of that, even if he doesn't like the idea that young people might need to defend themselves in that way.

"You're right about that," he says, returning his attention to his work even as he speaks to her. "But if getting an armory is a possibility, some people will need to train with something a little less deadly than live steel."

[whichend]

"We will get an armory." It's not an if. Arya's sure it will come. More weapons, more power, more rage -- the men on her list don't stand a chance if they come here. The bar is stupid, and they've already got a clinic, so obviously, the armory is the best choice. Needle is a good sword, but Arya would like some proper armor and some daggers. Maybe a bow, for ranged combat.

"Who do you plan to train? If you give a man a sword, he may come back to hurt you." Arya doesn't have the same faith in people that this man might have. If she can fight, and her enemy can't, then she has an invaluable advantage. Besides, Cash and Steve can fight, and she can protect Bruce and Adam. She doesn't care about any of the others.

[theresolve]

Rage had Rainier's vote as well, because Rage had the Inquisitor's vote, and he feels very much the same about a bar as Arya so as long as the Inquisitor voted Confusion or Rage he would follow suit.

He nods at her words just the same, like had had come to the same conclusion. This wasn't the Inquisition, or some farm boys in need of defending their home, or his own men in an army he was part of. They were strangers thrown together by chance or fate. Right now there were few enough of them that they had to be relatively overlooking of petty differences, but as more and more arrived there was no guarantee that factions wouldn't be split and Rainier would train a man who came after him later.

"That's just a chance I'll have to take, if my other option is leaving people unable to defend themselves when I could have done something." Rainier says after a moment of considerable silence. "Anyone who wants training will get it if they ask."

He's done nothing when he could have acted before. Never again, even if it comes back on him hard.

[whichend]

That sounds like something Arya Stark's father would have said. This man is all about justice and honor and helping people, it seems like. It makes Arya's stomach twist. She hates having memories that she isn't supposed to have. She was supposed to leave Arya Stark behind, but right now, all she can think about is how that mentality got Ned Stark executed.

There isn't enough real honor in the world. Attempting to have some does more harm than good for the person, in the end. It doesn't mean you can be a bad person -- it just means you should be careful. Arya is very careful.

"You'll get yourself killed," she says, plainly. "And then it will all be for nothing."

[theresolve]

The way Thom sees it, knowing himself as he does -

Thom used to be a bad person. As bad as a person can get, if you asked him now. He'll spend the rest of his life trying to atone for that. For the bad he did, for the good he failed to do.

If he dies by being too honorable, it'd be an ironically fitting end. The Inquisitor talked him away from the hangman's noose, but he never stopped believing he deserved to die.

"If even one person gets helped, it wasn't for nothing."

[whichend]

She shakes her head. He's wrong. He doesn't understand, he doesn't know.

"And have you considered what happens to the people you helped after you're dead? You --"

She swallows.

"People shouldn't let other people trust them, or care for them, if they know what they're doing is going to get themselves killed." Her father's death left her in a vulnerable position, one that she could never really recover from, no matter how much she fought or how hard she tried. It culminated in her having to kill everything about herself except for her body.

Some days, she wishes she'd just let the Lannisters take her. What keeps her going, what helps her cope, is a cocktail of mistrust and revenge.

[theresolve]

Rainier's hands, which had not stopped working at the wood, come to a slow then a stop at her words. He doesn't say anything at first, just taking in the very personal sorrow that come with the girl's words. He wipes his hands free of debris on his trousers, finally looks up at her.

"... No one will miss me." the words are heavy and even though they are untrue (the Inquisitor did how much to get him back? Even Dorian's sniping was never truly personal) he genuinely believes them. Once he's gone, the world will wash his hands of the memory of him and be better off for it. He just has to do everything he can to put some good back into it first to make up for all the hurt. "You don't need to worry about that."

[unknowable]

Adam is out and about regularly, whether he's gathering supplies, exploring the place, or on his way to or from the clinic. Or just out for a walk, when living in a house with three other boys and their volatile emotions gets to be too much for him. It's not so strange for his wandering to take him to the arena, but he isn't quite expecting to see Rainier there.

He hesitates for only a moment, then approaches, drawn by his curiosity.

"Are those - for practicing? Or toys?"

[theresolve]

Adam, being a familiar face and a friendly one, gets a bit of a smile and a nod of welcome from Rainier when he speaks.

"Practicing. If we're to get an armory, I'd rather inexperienced hands don't get a hold of live steel without a chance to practice with something less deadly first. Not that we seem to have much say in that." he replies, tone gruff but not unkind, laced with the disapproval only people in his age group can properly manage.

Sure, they were given a poll of opinions and allowed a vote, but also told expressively that if no one voted then someone would be chosen at random. He also has no doubt that said weapons would be distributed like small sweet cakes, from how this murdercave has been run so far.

[unknowable]

"That makes sense. We don't know what kind of weapons it would have, but better to prepare in advance."

Adam doesn't think Rainier is likely to know what a gun is, much less any other more advanced form of weaponry. But considering everything, it's just as likely that the armory - if they get it - will be full of swords and spears and shields.

He'd rather have a gun, really.

"Have you gotten any students?"

[theresolve]

"A potential one." Rainier says, carefully chipping away at the mostly solid blocks to work them into the right shape.

Adam would be right about the gun thing, Rainier had yet to run into that particular problem. People just say 'shot' often without specifying, and he assumes arrows.

"She's got militia training, but not with a sword, so I doubt she'd be helpless but it's better to be prepared than not."

[unknowable]

"I don't want to learn to fight, but could you show me how to defend myself, maybe? How to get away?"

He could learn, he thinks. It might be different enough to be possible - Adam doesn't think he'd flinch from using the knife Rook gave him if he really needed to. But something about swords seems so warlike, and he thinks he'd look pretty ridiculous with one. It might suit Ronan, maybe, but Adam just can't imagine himself all dressed up like a knight or a warrior. Gansey would probably like it, though.

He wishes he had a gun. He doesn't want one, really, but he wants to be able to protect himself, and that seems like the best way. But learning a little bit - well, it could help.

[theresolve]

Rainier pauses in his carving. He has a feeling there's a story there, some reasoning involved. No one in a potentially life or death situation opts to not learn how to fight unless there's a story.

He's not sure it's one Adam would feel comfortable telling if asked, though, so it's just filed away as something to consider inquiring about later, if there even is a later, here.

"I could do that. Would you like a shield or to just focus on evasion?"

[unknowable]

"Evasion. I'd never be able to carry a shield around with me all the time."

He already keeps his backpack with him everywhere. After being sucked into another world twice already, Adam has no desire for it to happen again without any supplies. He can't really juggle a shield too - or a sword, or any other large weapon, for that matter.

Besides, evasion is useful in plenty of situation, while a shield might not be. As always, Adam is practical.

"If it's not too much trouble."

[theresolve]

"I'm not exactly overwhelmed with work to do here." Rainier says with a sort of tired sarcasm. Maybe if he had a whole army to worry about training like in the early days of the Inquisition, but there's barely any Inquisition here at all.

He needs to keep busy, Rainier doesn't do well with idle thoughts. Having someone to train in anything is a blessing.

"I could give you drills to do on your own for practice when you have the time and we could meet weekly or more or less as you need for one-on-one? Does that sound acceptable?"