Small Landen Village in Glacia, Late Summer (Thursday Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

A little more than a week ago, Karla had sent the vast majority of her Court away from Haven. One could hardly have a proper processional through one's home Territory without people smoothing the way. There were perspective soldiers to assemble, food to purchase, lodgings to prepare, Province Queens to quietly contact...And so Karla had sent her Court to prepare her way, possibly cackling, "Fly, my pretties, fly!" to herself because a girl has to make her own fun sometimes.

A few days later, a 'gift' from Khary and Morghann had come in the shape of a dozen beautiful Scelt-bred horses, led by four kindred Warlord horses. Those four stopped before Karla, Warren, Raven, and Dinah and bowed, giving each a respectful greeting from Lord Khardeen--though from Warren's rueful burst of laughter, it was likely that Khary had included a special message just for him.

The next morning at long-enough-after-dawn-for-coffee-because-we're-not-barbarians-Mother-Night-though-it's-still-a-ridiculous-time-to-leave o'clock, they headed out of Haven and made for Glacia. Though mountain traveling was never comfortable or easy, they made good time; they were too late for shockingly-fast summer storms and too early for the ferocious autumn ones. Though it snowed several times during their crossing, the snow itself was light and did not impede them much. With kindred horses leading the way, they didn't even need to worry about the horses finding proper footing or running the risk of broken ankles.

For a trip through mountains heading to war, it was surprisingly good natured. There was singing and story-telling, conversation and contemplation, bickering and bonding. They made good time and Karla was almost sorry to leave the mountains behind. Because the easy part of the summer was over. Now it was time to get down to work.

The first village they rode into had a surprise for them. There was Julian greeting them on the outskirts of the village wearing an insouciant grin. "My lady," he said with an exaggerated bow. "May I have the honor of giving you a present to celebrate the formation of your Court?"

Karla raised an eyebrow. "I do like presents," she agreed, confused but willing to play along. "Is it my uncle's head on a platter?"

Smirking, Julian shook his head. "No, but possibly better." He led her horse through the village to the open green at the center of it. Though very little of the green could be seen through the mass of men and women standing at strict attention, lined up in orderly, if somewhat ragged lines. "Lady," Julian said, with a bow, "may I present the beginnings of your army."

[For the Glacian contingent! NFB]

Comments

[heromaniac]

Jono had better never let Momoko know any of that or she would probably cry on him.

"Do you have any actual weapons?" She tilted her head, curious. "I can also use a sword. Both long and short. And I know the totally basic of basics in archery?" She'd had to learn it at the Academy... She preferred Kendo.

[furnaceface]

"I have any weapon I want, right here," Jono replied, tapping his collar and giving a bit of a rueful smile. "I'm stuck taking it easy with this, though. I'm the only one here who has to physically leave the whole bloody reality behind in order to get this thing working again if I run out of power."

Damn it, Kaeleer. Invent electricity already.

"I... haven't really needed much in the way of actual weapons before, though. I've used a sword on occasion, mostly when it was put into my hand. And I can usually find something that'll cause a bit of blunt-force trauma in a bind. I've had training with several types of weapon, but not many of them have seen practical use in the field."

[heromaniac]

Momoko nodded, wobbling slightly as a breeze kicked up. "I'm totally going to be teaching you Kendo, then. It's a centuries old style of sword-fighting. We'll do it in the morning as exercise so no one will know. I'm totally going to be teaching Dinah, too."

Hmmm. "I'll try and pick up some good swords from home. If I make sure only Fandom people have them, it will be okay, do you think?"

[furnaceface]

Jonothon smiled a little at that. He had to appreciate the care she was taking to respect the boundaries that Karla had set.

"I'm pretty sure blades aren't unheard of here," he replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "If you've ever seen Warren or Lucivar waving around those Eyrien sticks of his, I don't imagine a handful of katana could be much different. Less reach on one of those, in fact."

Jono was confident that swords would be pretty okay. Unless they somehow fired bullets or something.

[heromaniac]

Well, if Momoko ordered from the right people, they totally could shoot bullets...

"Then I'm adding a stop to my Reno trip," she nodded. "And of course I've seen the sticks. Ugh. I sparred a little with Mr Lucivar once. ONCE. I totally need to learn those, but they're not really my style."

[furnaceface]

She could have asked Reno to stock her up with gunblades, true...

"I'd be interested in learning them, too, if I had time," Jono mused. "Might have to ask Worthington if he can make a few minutes edgewise now and again to let me try to follow."

Because that would go well, sure.

"If not, of course I'll make do. Learning kendo sounds fantastic, Momoko. One more thing I didn't have before. Is there anything I can do, in turn?"

[heromaniac]

Help her move a big heavy aquarium across town in the hot El Paso sun in a few months?

"I don't know? Teach me stuff? Sometime, let me spar with you with powers? My goal is to be the best hero I can, you know." Momoko stretched, smiling up at him. "It's why I learned all this stuff. So I can be at least a little prepared in any situation I get into. Including times like this, when my friends need me."

"Thank you for not setting me off to the side. For not thinking I'm weak."

[furnaceface]

He could do that single-handed, provided he had enough power packs to keep his collar charged! ... How big?

"I've been set off to the side before," Jono replied, a little more softly than the conversation to that point. "It's a horrible feeling, especially when you know there are things you can do to help. I try to avoid doing it to other people when I can."

He shrugged. "I'll spar you with powers the moment I have power to spare. Might have to run it by Karla as training. Neither of us can afford to get rusty, whether I'm on rations or no. Having the power right there and not being any good with it is just as dangerous as running out of it in the middle of a fight. I can improvise my way out of a dead battery situation. I have no easy fix for accidentally deafening everyone on my team, though."

It had taken him a lot of work to get past that point in his training.

[heromaniac]

Big enough for two horseshoe crabs to swim and burrow freely...

She couldn't imagine setting him off to the side. Powers aside, he looked powerful and scary! But, it was awesome to have someone who understood. "Mmm. That's something Dinah worries about too. Although you both sort of do have an easy fix, while we're here? With the healers here, I mean. And we can always do limited fights here and then real sparring somewhere else, like Fandom or something."

"Especially since we'll also need to spar with Karla and the other Blood. Magic is totally different from weapons or powers. We'll each of us need to know what we can and shouldn't use."

[furnaceface]

... Yup. Jono would definitely be using powers for that one.

"I wouldn't want to wear the Healers down for the sake of an accident that could've been prevented," Jono replied, nodding a little. "But I do feel better knowing that there are Healers here, who can handle a much broader scope than basic field first-aid might be able to manage. And you are right about sparring the Blood here, too... I know I, for one, don't want to go up against a Blood opponent without knowing what sort of chance I stand against someone with a darker Jewel. Or how much is overkill when fighting someone with a lighter one."

[heromaniac]

"AH!" She slammed a fist into her palm. "That reminds me! I totally need to ask Karla for a cheat sheet of what colours are what."

She sighed. "At least it's not the kind of magic that, like, shoots lightening at you or can change you into a frog or something. That's not really something you can fight or prepare against."

[furnaceface]

"No lightning," Jono agreed. "But they can fire raw power, and there's fire."

He frowned a little as he tried to think of other things they could do.

"It's my understanding that the Blood can reduce a landen's brain to ash by invading their minds psychically. That'll be... problematic." To say the least. "Black Widows are outlawed here, but I wouldn't put it past Hobart to try to use the handful that he bullied into servitude to try to control people that would otherwise be on our side, as well."

He frowned a little more deeply, looking a little like he regretted ever thinking that thought at all. He'd had... unpleasant experiences with mind control, after all.

"Though I'll be the first to admit that I don't actually know how a Black Widow's powers work. I'll have to ask Karla just what I'll have to keep an eye out for, if Hobart does resort to something so low."

[heromaniac]

"Hey! No making me feel even worse about how unprepared we really are for this." Momoko gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

"Let me know when you talk to her, so I can learn too? I don't want to be any more of a weak link than I am."

"We're fast learners, Jono; Fandom totally set us up for that. And if we really believed we had no chance, neither of us would be here." They'd be moving silently through the night on their way to confront Hobart, powers on full, like what had happened in Leda's war.

[furnaceface]

True enough. Jono wasn't a hit man anymore. But that was the key word, there. 'Anymore.'

"If there was no chance at all, I'd probably be here anyhow," Jono replied, and then he gave her a weak sort of smile as he idly rubbed at his shoulder. "I don't believe in the 'no chance' scenario. If I don't see a solution to the worst, it's because I'm not looking hard enough."

He... didn't entirely believe that, no. But if he said it enough, maybe eventually he would. It beat freaking out over the worst that was yet to come.

[heromaniac]

Momoko snorted at that. "I will totally let you think I believe you. But trust me, I have a whole bunch of experience dealing with guys who think like you. When you need a real someone to be cheerful and optimistic and point out that there has to be a way? Come get me. I'll totally show you how it's done!"

[furnaceface]

"We'll add that to my list of reasons for wanting you along, then," Jono replied, his smile coming a little more easily. "You're officially on optimism duty from here on, luv. It's a very important task. Daunting, true, but somebody has to do it."

And Jono kind of sucked at it. Look at him, delegating already!

[heromaniac]

"And I'm awesome at it! Just remember that it's not all I am good at."

...

"Or I'll totally tell everyone you lipsync songs." Or something.

[furnaceface]

"I was especially guilty of that in my high school years," Jono snarked, rolling his eyes, though he was still smiling a little. "And I know better than to think that's all you're good at, luv. If I thought all you were here for was a sunshiny disposition, I would've just recruited a clown or something."

[heromaniac]

"I have better taste in shoes," Momoko chuckled. "Though I can't make a balloon animal to save my life."

[furnaceface]

"And that's the real shame," Jono replied, giving a nod that would have looked solemn, if not for the faint smirk. "Everybody knows the Blood are powerless against balloon poodles, after all."

[heromaniac]

Momoko gasped playfully, slapping her hands against her cheeks. "Balloon allergy! I totally should have thought of that! It makes total sense now! That's why Julian is so strict; he can't have balloons!"

[furnaceface]

"It is his burden to bear," Jono replied, hanging his head and sounding about as woeful as he could manage, considering the topic of the conversation. "It is his curse."

Poor Julian. Maybe he'd be less of a stick in the mud if only he could survive being smacked in the face with a balloon.

[heromaniac]

Or had his hair rubbed with a balloon and get all staticky!

"It's so sad. Parties must be so depressing that he probably doesn't even have them anymore." She shook her own head. "What a horrible life. How can he stand it? Do you think he cries at night?"

[furnaceface]

"Oh, he sobs for hours, no doubt," Jono decided. "I mean, really, who wouldn't? A life devoid of balloons is clearly no life at all."

Jono wasn't going to mention that he couldn't remember the last time he'd held a balloon. Hell, he'd gone nearly a decade being unable to blow one up at all.

Saddest life. No wonder Jono was such a stick in the mud so often.