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 Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:27 pm
Another day, another training session.
Talfrid had not spoken to Bran about the progress he had made with Fiona, but he was eager to do so. He was learning what it was to have friends, how it was nice to be able to talk to them, to confide in them, and to share things like this with them. Things they were proud of, or wanted to revel in.
He knew Bran would be supportive.
That did not mean, however, that Talfrid was going to go easy on him. Though he had called him to this part of the woods, he had not said where, exactly, he would be hiding and it was up to Bran to come and find him. The brush was thick and the trees were heavy, easy to hide in but not to move through, since they would make loud rustling noises. Still, Talfrid took to hiding in the branches, erasing most of his tracks behind him, though it was always possible to follow someone.
There was a river flowing nearby, and the earth at its banks was wet and slick, and Talfrid avoided walking in it lest he left far too obvious footprints. He thought about leaving a false trail, but the idea came too late and he did not have the time to pull it off. So he waited in the tree to see if Bran had at least learned, from their previous encounters, to look up.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 2:30 am
Bran, for his part was going through a mental checklist with every step he took towards the general area of the agreed meeting point. Check for tracks, or signs of passage, look up, and listen for sounds was a good summary of it, and every step had him repeating the thoughts. There was news, that was potentially exciting, nothing in Talfrid’s choice of words gave him pause, so he was making a hopeful assumption that it was good news. He paused a moment hearing the river, rather close by and he shifted his path slightly to avoid it and then grimaced because if he wanted to find his friend, he likely couldn’t. He listened, scanning the branches for a hint of his friend, tense and prepared, or as prepared as he was able to be.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:11 am
Talfrid could be hard to read sometimes. He kept his emotions to himself, if he did manage to feel any at all. He was a quiet and withdrawn sort, but he was opening up more and more. Especially to his friends, so he actually was looking forward to telling him what was going on.
He held himself still as he watched Bran approach, not even breathing for a moment as he saw the other come into view. He seemed to have an aversion to the water's edge, though Talfrid thought that was possibly because of the mud.
Most people did not like to walk through mud if they could avoid it, it was just a fact of the world.
But at least Bran was looking up: that was a good thing.
The man leaped from the trees once Bran was close, at a good angle enough for Talfrid to be able to drop down on him without crushing his bones or breaking anything important. And that was usually the goal. He actually landed just in front of him, maybe to test his reaction time.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:01 pm
He’d definitely gotten better at reacting during their practices, his move carried him away from Talfrid, just out of reach, and for a moment he had a foothold on a slippery bit of rock and mud. He realized where he was, expression shifting from surprised to something more like fear as he reached out, leaning forward to try and snag at Talfrid’s sleeve but caught little more than a fingertip against the coarse cloth before the rock he stood on shifted, sending Bran toppling into the water. It was not a graceful tumble, but it was a less graceful landing to be sure. There was more than enough current to carry a young man, who couldn’t swim, rather quickly out of his depth.
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Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:27 pm
Talfrid was surprised to see Bran move out of the way, but felt he could counter the move easily and a bit of pride bubbled in his chest for the other's reactions. But it was short lived as he realized that the panic on Bran's face was not really directed at Talfrid himself.
It wasn't the practice fight that had him on edge.
Talfrid moved to catch his hand as he reached, but missed and watched as Bran tumbled into the water. It was not the biggest water flow, but he saw the way Bran struggled in the current and fail to fight his way back to shore before he was taken into the thick of it. It settled that Bran did not know how to swim, though Talfrid shoved that thought out of his head.
"Hold on!" He moved to jump into the water without much hesitation, following the stream and moving as quickly as he could to try and catch up to Bran. It was difficult to keep sight of him, though.
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Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:50 pm
Bran almost reached your sleeve, some direction at least in his panicky efforts, between grasping at the slippery rocks and at anything even remotely looking like a handhold. But rivers can seem to have a mind of their own when you’re being swept away by them. Moments like this he didn’t understand how others he had known swam so well, some of them rather like fish through the water, like they should have been born a mermaid, where as he…flopped about like a fish rather out of water with panic rising to clutch at his chest. One moment there was water, and stone, battering at him as he struggled against it, everything he could do not to crack his head off a stone, and the next moment, he was under water, trashing as the water picked up more speed, before –launching him over some unseen edge in a world of blue. The pair of them, Bran and Talfrid, had a fortunately short, if unpleasant drop into a basin under a small waterfall. He’d probably have screamed, if he’d not been sucking air in desperation.
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Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 10:35 am
Talfrid, at least, was a strong swimmer, but there were many factors contributing to this difficult situation. The fact that Bran was panicking did not help make things easier by any means. Not that Talfrid could really blame him for it: it was a bad place for someone who could not swim to be in.
The river current itself was another issue. It had seemed docile at first, but the further down they went the stronger it became. He could feel it pulling, and he knew that meant nothing good would come from letting them get washed away in it.
Talfrid was a few feet from grabbing on to Bran's arm, but the shift in the water caught him by surprise again. The water was a tougher opponent than he anticipated. It picked up speed quickly, and without warning they were falling over a cliff, a waterfall of some kind, though it was not a very large one. He hit the water hard, but he moved to grab on to Bran at last, hauling him up and swimming away from the water of the fall and toward the bank.
He was done with water for today.
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Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:59 pm
He rolled onto his stomach, coughing and sputtering, trying to get air back into his lungs and shivering despite the warmth of the day. “No more…streams…” He wheezed as soon as he could speak, “No more…water, no more -lakes.” He curled his fingers into the muddy ground and groaned quietly. He was drawing the line at training to swim again; there was still that panic clutching in his chest, the memory of the water closing over his head and the absolute surety that he couldn’t do anything to prevent himself from drowning. It was a few more moments breathing before he realized he’d forgotten something rather important. “….thank you.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:00 pm
Talfrid was sitting on the bank, his feet still in the water, his hands on his knees. He was catching his breath, though it was difficult and he kept coughing. He had taken in a bit too much water for his taste, and though he was trained to master himself it had been a surprising and difficult situation for a moment there.
But he was glad Bran was alright, and he watched the other as he spoke. He nodded his head in agreement, looking back over the water. They were both soaked through and covered in mud and the plant life of the water.
It was not his proudest moment.
"I did what I had to do, you would not let me drown, either, would you?" He was not asking a real question, he knew that Bran would jump in after him, whether he knew how to swim or not. He was more surprised at himself: it was not something he, Talfrid, was trained or experienced in. Saving others. That was why many of them were here, maybe, but he had his own agenda. To find himself becoming more like a proper Knight himself was... strange.
He needed to keep his focus.
"Anyway, you only ended up in the water because of our training."
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