PM to join [Antinous Training Grounds] Proper Technique. (Alex) pt.3

[Garland]

Garland paused behind Alex. What he said was something he really didn't think about much. The first time was out of necessity, and it was quite sudden.

Though the next few times he had to take a life, he kept the thoughts out of his head for the most part. He placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, ready to give some sort of comforting advice, or some words of wisdom.

Though none came to him in the few ticks he held Alex's shoulder. Honestly it was quite awkward. Though after a bit of thinking the words finally came to him. "You know there are plenty of things people fight for Alex. Money, power, protecting someone, but asking yourself that question will mean you'll never get the answer, you'll always be in a state of uncertainty."

He paused and looked up. "Animals kill because of food, or to protect their young." Somehow, life seemed to orchestrate around this moment, despite the cold and the snow, two birds flew right over head and disappeared off towards the docks. "Humans and other creatures aren't so different, in fact, you could say we've somewhat devolved in that aspect."

"Humans or some other 'intelligent' creature kill for more than just food or safety, they kill for power, despite putting them in more danger. Tell me, what would more likely be an assassin's target? A high-ranking political character or a merchant? This is why I try to make this simple. 'Will killing this person keep what I hold dear safe?' That is what goes through my mind, I might regret it at a later date maybe, but at that moment, I was protecting my own."

Maybe it was Garland's simple mindset, but it certainly helped him go to sleep at night. "Simply put, think about what you're protecting, not what you're taking away."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex felt a hand on his shoulder. The plate creaking and a clank sounding as the two pieces of steel collided. The words which followed were…less than comforting. Plenty of things people fought for…He knew that. He knew that people were willing to kill over the smallest of things. If he asked himself he’d never find an answer? Alex listened to his words, the slow contemplation of one who had something to defend. Something to protect as his reason. His reasons to kill were valid but still not justified. Alex exhaled slowly staring out over the expanse he paused. Held a moment.

“I can see where you’re coming from Garland.” He rolled the thought inside his head. “But I can’t follow that line of thinking.” He stepped forwards from garland leaning on the railing of the docks. Looking out into the crystal blue. “I’ve seen people killed for money. Slaughtered for no reason.” A stark point replayed in his mind. “I’ve seen a baby no older than your twins tossed from a roof.” He stared off into the distance lost in a swirling mass of indecision and inaction. “I’ve seen people die because I couldn’t act because I wouldn’t break what I believe in. As much as I want too. I can’t bring myself to do it. I don’t have the will to rob another of the only thing they truly have any control over.”

He turned back now the green orbs of his eyes staring at Garland. “I’m not and I will not become a murderer. Be it for a cause or selfish gain, or a god.” He held a long glance at Garland and something exchanged between the two of them, where this kind-hearted kid had once stood before him stood someone else. Someone who’d seen the darkest parts of the world and walked away. Muddied and bloodied but still pure of purpose. “It’s not my choice. And I don’t want it to ever be an option that I have to take.” A steely resolution followed an even more steeled voice. Animals and monsters were different in his mind, but with people there was always a choice.

[Garland]

Garland just stared at Alex, this seemed like his slick silver tongue couldn't fix. Though it sounded to him that Alex didn't want or couldn't take a life.

"I understand, some people can't take a life. There are alternatives though Alex. Sometimes talking it through might be a good way to avoid conflict, and then there are times where knocking your opponent unconscious is a better strategy." He paused, now that he thought about it, was there another way for him to have resolved the conflicts he had before? Without killing that is.

Maybe, maybe not. It didn't matter. What's done is done.

It was time to divert this serious conversation back into a casual chat between friends. He sighed and gave a soft smile towards Alex. "Well, if you can't kill them, put them to sleep I say. Maybe one of these days I can show you how to knock someone out with your bare hands. You'd be surprise how easy that is!"

Though the tension seemed to linger a little longer, Garland didn't know what he could do to help Alex, but he did know that he would be there for him. "Well, we'll never finish our patrol if we just stand here and think. Come on, you should see the docks! The water looks amazing when the sun sets, hopefully you'll see it later."

"You know, fighting isn't the only way to protect your loved ones. Just a reminder, there's usually another option if you can afford it."

As the two squires walked into the docks, it seemed the docks were as busy as ever, despite or maybe perhaps of the cold winter. They seem to he hauling in a large amount of fish, though maybe this is normal for them, Garland had never really paid any attention to the regular work-day on the docks.

As the two of them walked down the docks, it seemed that two sailors had started a brawl near the tavern. Maybe this would help clear Alex's head, something to get the blood flowing.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex found himself absentmindedly chuckling as Garland tried to sift through his words, and find an answer. Alex just looked back over at him as he said about what Alex had tried to do. “Y’know it’s amusing watching someone try and convey the best course of action. When they themselves are ok with something.” A small smile on his face as he stepped back from the railing and hung his head slightly. Stepping forwards he followed up behind Garland as he started to walk off.

“The only people who can afford to do something like that are the ones who’ve nothing to lose.” Alex watched the docks filter past him slowly tracing arches by him as he walked through. “I’m as averse to killing as someone can be. I spent time in Sunberth…I’ve seen people killed and even had a hand in some of it. Admittedly I didn’t kill just injured but still. It never gets any easier.” He spoke as the faces of those who’d died with his help haunted him. Lingering behind him like spectres. Gosts of a past and a life he wanted to leave as far behind him as he could.

Alex glanced out over the sea as the base of Syna touched the water’s edge, a huge orange disc settled across the water. And flickered with the rippling of the currents. Briefly clearing his mind and steeling his thoughts. When out of his sight he heard two sailors starting to argue. Apparently Garland had seen the same as he started to march over a head of him. Alex however had longer strides and right now looked like a walking armoury. Alex over took him and coughed to clear his throat and get their attention. “So. Care to tell me what this is about or are you two going to continue?” Alex’s soft voice seemed to get lost within the malaise of volume. Both of the sailors stood only an inch or two shorter than Alex himself. And as much as he tried to stop it He couldn’t.

And then the first punch flew. One of the sailors clocked the other in the jaw. A firm right socking him square in the face. Alex stepped in to intervene at this point. Garland he hoped would be backing him up as he wasn’t quite skilled enough to deal with the two by himself. Still as the one who’d been hit tried to strike the first sailor back Alex brought his right arm up Pushed the strike to his right and curled around the arm gripping the sailors wrist and twisting it up behind his back. Instantly nullifying one of the two sailors. Despite being big men and thick they weren’t too skilled and Alex had some training in this particular fighting style. Little known to him was the fact it was a variant on the ebonstryfe’s style that his mother had taught him. “Garland grab the other. Both are going to the tank to cool off.”

[Garland]

Garland had sprang into action along with Alex. Garland's head was still a bit muddled from their discussion earlier, he was distracted simply put.

His body acted on his own and stepped in between the two sailors. He has had this problem plenty of times, being lost in thought, though his thoughts are shallow, he spends quite a lot of time in them.

As a punch collided with his face, it would have knocked Garland back a step or two, but he had his feet planted firmly on the ground, along with the training he had with Sera Catherine, he managed to stay up without even flinching.

Though it was safe to say it knocked Garland out of his thoughts and brought him back to the world. Garland had a grim look on his face, as he stared at the sailor that hit him.

Without warning Garland threw his forehead forward, hitting the man right on the nose, and sending him sprawling back. As the man was falling, Garland grabbed his arm with one hand and pulled him close for a strong elbow to the face.

With that, Garland let the man fall to the ground and he planted his boot on his chest, pinning him on the ground. "Huh? Alex, did you say something? I was lost in thought. Ow... Why does my jaw hurt?"

"Right, the Tank. Yeah..." Garland grabbed the man by the shirt and hoisted him up. "You'll be alright, I didn't hit you that hard I think." He said to the man, who seemed to be near unconscious. "Come on, I don't want to drag you to the Tank, it's uphill for Sylir's sake!"

Garland sighed when the man fell back to the ground. It seemed it wasn't just Garland's punches that knocked him down, but judging by the smell, he was also piss drunk. "Right, we should head back, you seem pretty good with apprehending people, mind teaching me that? I usually end up with a few bruises and scrapes and then having to haul someone to the Tank is just too tiring."

He picked up the man and carried him on his back, which looked quite comical, considering Garland's smaller frame.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex wrestled with the sailor who was still very conscious but eventually he died down in his anger realizing he’d just tried to assault a squire. His friend however had actually struck garland who proceeded to repay the strike with an excessive debt. "Whoa Garland that’s a little much.” Almost as if snapped from a dream Garland spoke, asking why his jaw hurt and what he said. A strange turn of events had he done all that without even thinking? Alex got lucky with his one of the two sailors he’d been watching for a strike and had just turned a not aimed at him strike into his method of disarming him. Garland however had mercilessly just flattened the poor sod.

Eventually Garland came back to the realm of the thinking. Though as he tried to lift him to get him on his own two feet, the guy fell like a sack of potatoes. That’s what happened when you just unloaded on people. Alex sighed and shook his head lightly watching as Garland hoisted the unconscious fool onto his back. And then asked if Alex could teach him what he’d just done. “Yeah sure. Its part of the style my mother taught me when she was still alive. I’d be more than happy to show you but first these two need to cool off.” Alex began to push the guy in front of him forwards, half urging him on and half helping him stand.

“You can really take a punch huh? I’m guessing you know how to throw a punch too…Seeing the sprawled out sack of spuds on your back.” A small chuckle emanated from Alex and his subdued sailor. It was less of a jibe and more of an inquiry, he was curious about how much punishment Garland had actually muscled through in his time. If Alex was as big a green horn as it was assumed of him. Then it would behove him to listen and learn from his seniors. After all that was what propelled him to learn at a breakneck pace.

[Garland]

Garland groaned and looked at Alex. "I sometimes get carried away." He sighed and walked along side Alex. "It's a curse honestly."

The man on Garland's back groaned and gurgled. "He's bleeding and drooling on my shoulder. That's just great." Garland groaned and hurried up. "If he pukes on me, I'm dropping his arse on the ground and I'm gonna drag him to the Tank." Garland said with a tinge of annoyance, though he hid it with a smile.

"I've had a talent for cracking skulls. Even when I was a kid, told myself I wouldn't fight anymore one day, ended up with bullies running amok and just because I didn't fight back, almost killed a kid for being different. The knights try to keep the peace most of the time, but this is a big city, hiding things are easy enough if they're small." Garland thought about the state of the city.

Crime in the city is low, and those that happen are quickly dealt with by the large number of knights and squires patrolling the streets. Though a few places and a few careful criminals tend to get away with bigger crimes.

"The knights do a great job at bringing the law, but I heard that a slaver docked here a few years back, had runes on the slaves' tongue and if they say anything to anyone, they would die before the words left their mouths. The slaves were allowed to walk around the dock area, so it didn't seem suspicious. It took a smart slave and gestured to the knights about the slave ship. Raided the ship and found exactly what the slave gestured. I don't know the details but something happened and the ship rushed out of port, leaving a few slaves behind. Quite a nasty bit of work that, that was one of the few times the knights failed a raid within their own walls."

Garland shook his head at the thought of the knights failing something. "It was just a fluke I think, somehow the slaver knew that the knights were planning a raid, he had set traps. I don't know how he knew, but he did, it was quite destructive. The slaver was a skilled mage or at least had a mage on board."

Soon enough the two of them made it outside the Tank. "I've rambled all the to the Tank, I think I talk too much. You said something about your mother right? Must have been quite a fighter, I wasn't paying attention but you subdued that man quite easily."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The walk to the tank like usual wasn’t something that was foreign to him but it was odd to split the trip with someone else. Still Garland went on to talk about how his skill at both giving and taking a beating was a curse. Still Garland caught a chuckle from Alex at the comment about his less than sober charge. “I wouldn’t blame you if that was the case.” He pushed the drunken sailor in front of him lightly even he was laughing slightly at the comment. But only Alex caught the twinge of annoyance at the edge of Garland’s voice. Something about that simply told Alex that it’d happened before.

The conversation continued as usual very one sided but still it was nice to be distracted from his own thoughts once in a while. A tale about the knight’s failures and a mage on a slaver ship. Clever people weren’t always on the side of peace and justice. But then again not everyone could say they served evil or good. Most were simply in it for themselves. Slavers and mercs, even the bakers and the smiths. Most people didn’t serve a higher calling simply serving themselves and their own pockets. The tank drew close as the two squires came up to it Alex responded to the comment about the slavers knowing. “It’s highly possible that the knights which had been informed let something slip. Even the smallest tell when viewed by someone who’s used to watching out for things like that. It can be fatal.” Alex’s voice had a small air of solemnity to it like he was speaking from more than just conjecture.

Though the question about his mother came out and about how she taught him. Alex just chuckled a little. “She wasn’t much of a violent person I never really saw her fight to be honest. She just chose to teach me. And what I did back there was simple, if he’d of been aiming at me…Needless to say that may have knocked me on my rear. I’m not too skilled really. The only real thing I’ve going for me is the fact that I learn things fast, and don’t forget easily." Alex finished with a small look of “it was a fluke”. Dropping off the pair of the miscreants in tank took all of two chimes. Stepping back into the air Alex broached the conversation again.

“My mother wasn’t that much of a fighter. Least not around me. My father however before he died…He hurled a sword around near thrice the thickness and width of mine around his head, like it was made of paper, for an exceedingly long time. He was a strong man…Not necessarily a good one but a strong one.” Alex’s voice was lined the same as it had been back in the training grounds. There was respect but a line of anger which ringed his words. Almost like as much as he respected his father he was ashamed of him in equal measure.

[Garland]

There it was again, that hidden anger, Garland couldn't quite place where it comes from, or how someone that was usually so level-headed get so angry.

Garland had been angry before, plenty of times, but usually he would openly show it, and his anger never really lasts. He simply ignored it for now, it didn't seem like a good time to bring up his father, which seemed to be the source of the anger.

"Your mother seems like a good person, and a smart one. You should practice fighting without weapons, I mean, we would never be short on weapons here in Syliras, but being disarmed in a fight can be dangerous, unless the only way to disarm you is to actually disarm you!" He said and did a slicing motion with his right hand to his left hand.

"Then again, you know the saying 'a cornered wolf is more dangerous than other wolves' or something along those lines. I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but never get cocky in a fight, not until you're sure everything around you is dead." He then remembered that Alex would rather avoid killing in general. "Or at least unable to fight."

As the two of them returned to the docks, it seemed that it returned to it's usually busy state, the lights were being lit and the sun was gone. "I envy the poor squire that has to patrol the docks at night, sailors will be sailors, and most of the time these sailors are also drunks."

It seemed a few ships are coming in to dock. Garland never actually rode a ship before, well, not a moving one. The rocking of a stationary ship never really affected him, but he wasn't sure about it when it's moving.

"I wonder, you're relatively new to the city right? Where did you live before? I'm not very worldly, so I might not know of the place, though it might be interesting to learn about it."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex stood a moment in silence out in the cool air. The frigid winds helping settle his nerves. A simple truth pushed through him. He’d seen a lot of bad things. And he’d been asked or rather forced to participate in a few of them. He took the moments whilst Garland finished processing his detainee to calm himself down. And then Garland spoke again, kind words about his other and a push to practice fighting without a blade. That would help significantly he just needed a partner to help him out. Even the small motion of his hand against his other, attempting to cut it off with just the hand. He gave a small smirk.

“Perhaps that’d be good I’m currently teaching another squire how to fight like I do without weapons. Mostly because how I fight doesn’t require force. Rather it uses your opponents force against them. Like I did back there.” Giving a small shrug he listened to what garland had to say about a cornered wolf. He’d butchered the phrase somewhat but he knew what he meant. “A cornered wolf, is always more dangerous. Mostly as they’ve nothing to lose.” Though he was right about disabling people. “I’m an archer for a reason. It’s hard for people to fight you when they’ve an arrow through their shoulder or knee.” He gave a rather sly grin as he walked with garland back to the docks. Back onto patrol, and back out to the sea.

Garland took the lead in the conversation again, almost like he had no filter between his brain and his mouth but it was something…Foolishly endearing. “Sailors are sailors, it’s even worse in Zeltiva.” He gave a small sigh and looked out over the ocean. The crest of Syna’s light just resting on the edge of the waves. Sunset. Again garlands voice cut through the silence but not in a self-referential comment, rather a question. Where did he live before? Alex couldn’t give anyone in Syliras the full truth lest he be suspected as a spy and be scorned simply for his place of birth. Pausing a moment as if lost in thought Alex finally spoke. “Before here? Nyka, Sunbeth and some time in Zeltiva. Over the last five years I’ve done a bit of travelling.” He paused a moment. Turning to look out over the sea. “I’ll save you a lot of the issues. Sunberth is pretty much the worst pit of filth and villainy that I’ve ever set eyes on. Zeltiva is a glorious place. As beautiful to look at as the libraries within its walls are vast. And Nyka is run by monks who are as much criminals as they are police.” A very brief and very clear message was sent with those words.

“As far as things go…It could be worse, the city here is actually my first bit of true peace I’ve had in a long time. If there’s anything you’d like to know about those other three cities just ask. I’m not averse to talking about them…Barring Sunberth better left forgotten that place.” Ales looked out over the horizon again to see Syna starting to shift and lower into the horizon as night began to fall.