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 Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:59 pm
Talfrid had embarrassed himself enough recently in his pursuit of just meeting a woman that had captured his attention. He had not even managed to properly introduce himself, save as a stalker. He should have listened to the advice Bran had given him, against stalking.
Silently following someone in order to learn more about them sounded harmless in his head, and was a great tactic for a mission, but he decided he should probably just keep it for his targets and enemies. Not people he actually wanted to talk to and get to know. There had to be other methods for that, that didn't make him look like a creep.
He had sent her a note, asking her to meet him in the garden, when he'd met her before. He had to use his stalking knowledge for that one, to leave the note where she would find it, but hopefully that was the last time. And she did not think he was going to slice her throat open.
He was waiting for her with a book in his hand. It was something he thought was pretty and the story might be interesting for those who liked to read for pleasure, as he thought she did. He wasn't sure it was much of an apology present but he was doing his best. He had some flowers, as well, and they weren't even picked from the garden. Rather, they were wild flowers he had collected.
But most importantly, he was standing there in plain view, and waiting to say hello to her directly, and give her his name.
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Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:33 pm
Fiona wasn't even sure she wanted to come when she got the note. It had been a while since she told him to leave her alone and talked to Bran about what happened. He hadn't even signed the note, either, but it wasn't like she couldn't easily figure it out. Who else knew her and would do something like that? In the end it was Bran's insistence that he was a good guy that made her decide to give him once last chance so long as it didn't get weird...
She saw him, out in the open, with no discernible weapons at hand. She approached cautiously anyway because he was, at least until now, the king of creepers.
"I'm here."
She was still a few feet from him, surrounded by flowers and the beauty of a spring day. It would usually make her smile and want to waste time sitting by a stream or reading beneath the sun. The fact that classes were out and she had the rest of the afternoon off meant she was free to do just that if she chose to. After this, of course.
"Bran said you were a decent guy and he's why I'm here. I don't know anything about you, not even your name."
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Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 5:41 pm
Talfrid saw her as she approached and thought she looked pretty. It made his mouth dry and he shifted uncomfortably. He was never awkward, always in control of himself and never letting his emotions escape, let alone get the better of him. He tried to master himself, taking a breath.
"My name is Talfrid."
He watched her, bowing his head and offering her the book and flowers with his eyes downcast and his head ducked forward and down. He was very submissive and looked terribly guilty. He had never meant to scare her, and everything spiraled out of his control too quickly.
He'd never experienced anything that had caught him so off guard.
"I am sorry, my lady, that I have scared and upset you. It was never my intention, I promise you that. I... I understand how my actions have been incorrigible. I... I should have introduced myself." Like Bran had told him to do.
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Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:44 am
"Don't call me that. I'm just a person, not a lady. I don't bite or have cooties or whatever it is that makes you think I need to be stalked more than talked to."
Fiona certainly didn't mean to scold him, especially not after he looked so contrite about it and was already apologizing. He knew his crime and was trying to be more open. It was a good step toward making amends and she sighed softly at her own tone and wording. As she moved closer to him and further into the garden she softened her voice and look.
"Look, I'm not trying to be hard on you. Just drop the my lady thing. I'm Fiona, pure and simple."
She finally took the offered book and sat down on the white arbor bench to flip through it a little. It was a thoughtful gift and though she wasn't surprised by it, or that he knew she would like it, she was enchanted that he'd thought of something like this to do for her. Seeing the small lines of words threaded together to weave a story made her happy. No matter where she was or how invisible she knew from books that she was not alone. Other people before her had dreamt of adventure too.
"I really don't understand why you couldn't have just said hello. I'm not scary or anything."
At least she didn't think she was. But then again she also thought she'd been invisible and he was proving decidedly otherwise so maybe she didn't know everything.
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Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:03 am
Talfrid looked a little baffled.
"As a person, you deserve respect and I should be polite, and I did not think you... I did not mean to stalk you..." He glanced down at the floor again, bright green eyes downcast and laden with guilt. He bowed his head forward, remaining like that.
"If that is what you wish, my... ah... Fiona."
He shook his head slowly.
"Perhaps you are not aware of it... and I did not know I could be scared of anything... least of all something as simple... I... I did not think myself the kind of man that someone would wish to speak to. I thought I might... scare you. It seems I succeeded in that, in my effort to avoid it."
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Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:40 pm
"I believe you. Bran said you were...sheltered."
Probably as sheltered as she was introverted. In their own ways they were both not really adept at social interaction. She could fake it when she had to, show an ease she didn't always feel in order to fit in with everyone else. Why she'd ever thought to come here, be a knight, was baffling. It was by far the most bizarre decision she'd made.
She understood him a bit better, watching those expressive eyes even as they were concentrating on the ground. He really was handsome. How had he noticed her in a school of people that didn't seem to want to see her? With good reason, of course, she hadn't wanted to be seen but still. The idea baffled her. That alone was worth making the effort to extinguish his guilt. He'd made a mistake; she could accept that and move on.
"Look, let's just start over." She extended her hand. "I'm Fiona. It's nice to meet you."
Book in hand she gestured to the arbor she usually perched on when she came here covered with beautiful flowers. She took a seat at it, motioning him to join her though it would actually bring him closer to her than he'd ever been previous. Maybe that was a good thing. And possibly a bad thing considering her how her heart seemed to be thumping so erratically around him again in the way of an off time clock.
"Where do you come from Talfrid?"
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 9:58 am
Talfrid nodded his head slowly. He was certainly sheltered in one manner of speaking, in that he had very little experience with people. He had not been taken care of and protected and taught that the world was nice and fluffy like some people who get called the same thing might have been, though. He had been training all his life.
He glanced up at her and nodded his head slightly, liking the idea of starting over though immediately wondering if he would just try to do the same thing all over again. No, he would not be creepy or attempt to stalk her this time.
A proper start over.
"It is nice to meet you, too... Fiona," he was still having trouble not calling her a lady, since he felt she deserved the respect he could afford her. He watched her quietly for a moment, as if her question was strange for him.
"I come from a forest, not too far from here," he said at length. He did not know where he was born, or who his parents were. He had been given to the assassin's guild for training when he was just a baby. Generally their members and the few people who knew about them as a group, rather than for hire as individuals, were warriors and even heroes, but there was no way of tracing them. They kept no records.
"And you?" He lifted his eyes again to glance at her, letting them settle this time instead of darting right back down to the floor.
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:53 am
"I come from an island far from here. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."
Fiona missed her home terribly. Before now it was the only place she'd ever been, sheltered in its shores with little of the outside world affecting their day to day lives. Wars came and went and plagues happened around them but their island was isolated and never touched. She missed her family and the crystalline waters. She looked wistful for a moment before catching herself and smiling.
"Why did you come here?"
Other than to be a knight, of course, as that was the goal of everyone around them. Her reasons for being here were...complicated. If he asked she'd attempt to explain - give and take and all that. It felt better to be having a proper conversation with him, one that involved being face to face and knowing his name.
"You can sit with me you know. I don't bite."
She thought she'd given him enough room but just in case she scooted over a little more.
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:14 pm
"I do not fear you biting me," he said, though he bowed his head and moved to sit beside her. He stared ahead of him, tense but trying very hard to appear comfortable. Why did he lose all of his ability to pretend when he was around her? It was a large part of his duties, his true job, yet she had an effect on him that dumb his every will to lie.
He was stripped down to his most basic and, in its way, honest self.
He wasn't sure how to deal with that.
"I am here to become a knight," he said, the answer obvious but that was the only one he could give. Telling her his real occupation would be ridiculously dangerous for her, and would ruin every moment he had spent training over every year of his life. He wanted to start over, to be honest, but in that he could not completely lose himself.
He had to keep his secrets.
"I suppose it was the only thing I was made to do. I am learning more than I anticipated, though," he tried to elaborate, and he looked at her, his expression soft. "Are you here to become a knight? I mean... it seems..." Not like an occupation for her.
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:31 pm
She knew he was there to become a knight. That was the obvious answer, the one she hadn't wanted. They were all there to become knights as that was the sole purpose for the school itself. Fiona was about to look annoyed by his evasiveness when he turned the tables and she was stunned into momentary silence. She'd expected it but hadn't expected it at the same time.
"Oh!" Nevermind the insinuation that it didn't seem like something she would do. It really wasn't. She frowned. "It's complicated."
Now she felt a little put on the spot. She could be evasive like he was, it was on the tip of her tongue to be so, but she stopped herself. She wanted honesty. Really, he was the only friend she had here, potential or otherwise. If they started in lies and half truths that was what she would fall back to every time she was presented with a choice because Fiona wanted to stay hidden here, unnoticed. She'd worked toward it, until he spotted her.
"I'm here to...to...to escape." That was the best way she could describe it. "A lot of things were happening in my life that I couldn't control and rather than give into them I left."
She'd run away and came to the remotest place she knew, in the last place anyone would ever look for her. Even by description she was very easy to recognize by her crop of long emerald hair and large violet eyes but who would inquire after her here when she was raised in a life of privilege? If anyone in her former life heard of this it would be laughable to them, she was sure.
"I wanted a will of my own, I guess, so I came here."
He might be able to relate.
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 2:48 pm
He couldn't relate.
His life was dictated to him by shadowy figures that new more about the world around him, that he was immersed in, than he did. They told him what to do, who to kill, who to follow, where to go. He did not know what his future held, because he did not look to it. If he had one at all. His past was likewise just a space in his life that he had experienced and nothing more.
He looked at her, wondering about her. Superfluous life details he did not need to know, if she was a target, but she wasn't. He didn't need information from her and she certainly wasn't on his hit list. So he was left with a desire to just hear her story because she was telling him, and that was strange.
"How do you find it here? Is it what you wanted?"
He wasn't used to conversation, though at least talking with Bran had helped him come out of his shell a bit. Still, his abilities were limited and he kept things as shallow as he could, not wanting to prod too far and cross another line.
He really needed to be careful with those lines.
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Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 12:15 pm
Fiona had to think long and hard about her answer. She hadn't been at the academy very long and, well, hadn't had any expectations before she joined other than to disappear. She wasn't used to manual labor and building muscle. She didn't care for combat and thought it was best left to those that could enjoy having such skills but, really, now she had no choice. It was either that or go home and get married and that she absolutely was not ready to do.
"It's a place. I mean, I don't have many friends here and I do my best to stay invisible. The only pleasure I have is when I find myself alone to read."
To her, the mind was better cultivated than strength. Smarts could trump muscle any day but she didn't dare express that opinion here to anyone, even if she normally had someone to talk to.
The emerald haired girl leaned back against the arbor and watched the sun filter through the flowering vines that covered the trellis. It was a pretty sight: green, purple, and white flickering through her eyesight. She had simple pleasures to cling to here but she found her violet eyes shifting sideways to look at him with that soft and sweet expression on his face. He...he was unexpected.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Whether she meant the apology, the academy, or life in general was up in the air.
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Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:50 am
Talfrid looked uncomfortable for a moment, though the expression passed as he mastered it and hid it away quickly. He was not the best with letting his thoughts appear on his face, as it was a danger to let ones opponent know what one was thinking. He did have to remind himself that she was not an enemy, nor a target, and he did not have to apply the same rules to her.
He just didn't know what rules he was supposed to use, then.
So he nodded his head at her answer and watched her quietly. She seemed to be at odds about being here, and he was a little nervous when she said that she would rather be alone. He was intruding in that, and had been since he started following her. Did she hold that against him? Maybe he would stop trying to force himself into these quiet moments.
"I never wanted anything," he said honestly enough at her answer. "I came here to train, and to become stronger. I am doing that, so I cannot complain about that. But I suppose I cannot... compliment it, either." He was not sure what the direct word he was looking for was: it was difficult to hold conversations sometimes, when he was not hiding behind a character.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:38 pm
"That sounds lonely."
Fiona knew her existence was lonely by choice. She was hiding and the right word placed in the right ear would have her found out and on her way home in no time. She missed her home and her family. She missed the beauty of the water reflecting off the lake and the rainbow of colors in the vast gardens surrounding the palace. Here very little about her was the same as the girl that lived on that island.
She didn't want to be seen, let alone known and yet here he was. Though he looked a little awkward for a moment she realized she didn't want him to leave. Having a conversation with him at long last was nice. She didn't know why he felt he needed to stay hidden but he did, just like her.
"What do you need to be stronger for? Why do you do it if you don't seem to like it? There's more to life than training."
Advice she could use for herself.
"If you think I'm prying you don't have to answer."
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:02 pm
Talfrid looked at her, wondering about her first comment. Lonely? He supposed it was, but he had been trained not to notice it. He had been trained not to feel anything, in fact. So being sent out here to learn how to be human, on top of becoming a knight for his cover, was even more complicated than he had imagined it might be.
But his friends made it easier, and he wondered if she might teach him things, as well. He had few contacts yet, personal or otherwise, and he would need to start building those eventually.
For now, though, he would focus on this one.
"Why do I... well. I suppose I do it for myself, and because, when I was young, I was told it was my destiny. And I believe in that thought, though it seems a silly reason to keep dedicated to something so fleeting. Strength comes and goes... but when you are told from youth that you are to walk down a certain path... you walk it."
For him, that was an easy truth, and one he could tell her without giving anything about himself away. He felt like he wanted to be truthful if he could swing it, though he had no reason to risk himself that way. Beyond... feeling guilty? Because she would never know the real him.
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