winscenario: (seventy nine.)
Captain James T. Kirk ([personal profile] winscenario) wrote in [community profile] asgardchrysalis2019-09-24 06:39 pm

( open ) practice makes perfect

Who: Jim Kirk & YOU!
What: Jim wants to learn how to wield a sword (and some other weapons)
When: Now-ish
Where: Temjask arena
Rating: PG-13 for possible mild violence, fighting and minor injuries


While not unfamiliar with using weapons, it's fair to say that Jim's well out of his depth here. Barring the use of magic, there's nothing even remotely resembling energy weapons, and even projectile weapons are nonexistent. He's checked out what's on offer but some of them he doesn't even recognize, and those that he does...

Well, he can't really remember ever holding a sword in his life, for instance. But he's definitely curious. He goes to the arena to train, keep his body in shape and possibly look for someone willing to spar with him, and after he's worked up some sweat, he heads out to where all those weapons are on display, looking over the selection with interest.

He picks up a sword at one point, a smaller and lighter-looking one, but not knowing what to do with it, he'll put it back down unless someone approaches or cuts in. He also walks around the training grounds, watching others use those same weapons, admiring from a safe distance at how skilled they are.

A more elaborate or showy move will no doubt get an impressed sound from him, and he tips his head at them. "That was brilliant. You're really good."

Not that he'd know the first thing, it just looked impressive.
demonicbeauty: (Amused)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
There was something of a perfectionist in him. Ariadne could appreciate that. "Better," she said, giving him an encouraging nod. "But make sure everything is loose. Not just the shoulders. The best way to think of it is throwing."

She took half a step back and mimed throwing a ball. "The movement needs to be fluid all the way. Shoulder to elbow to wrist."

Ariadne could make it look like a dance. What she lacked in raw power, she had to make up for in form, in grace, in every other advantage she could squeeze out of her slender, delicate, bird-like body. And it was bird-like, no matter what color her skin happened to be.

"Do this," she said, repeating the movement over and over again, like a ballerina doing drills.
demonicbeauty: (Confused)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
She certainly hoped everything about him wasn't loose. After all, his bones needed to support the structure of his muscles and tendons. And she was about to point out as much when he surprised her with that wink.

...was there something in his eye? Was he trying to send some kind of message?

What a peculiarly confusing Human.

"What's baseball?" she asked, reaching into her satchel to pull out a handkerchief, which she offered him.
demonicbeauty: (Playful)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Apparently his eye was fine. But no matter. The wonderful thing about handkerchiefs was that they could be used to cure all sorts of ails. One of the many clever Human inventions that Ariadne admired greatly.

Although her favorite was bread. She loved bread.

"I wonder if there's any way to find out how it's played," she said, taking the handkerchief back and tucking it into her satchel. "It might be fun to have some games. Everyone here is always so serious all of the time."

Of course, she couldn't blame them. It went with a little kidnapping. But it wasn't doing them much good now, was it?
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Surprised)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"That might be fun," she said, with a little laugh in her voice. "Inventing our own sport. We could call it 'Asgard Ball.'" She'd noticed that most team sports seemed to always involve some kind of a ball. "Teams of eight each. That seems like a good number. But nothing involving the horses or the chickens."

Chasing chickens was a lot of fun, but it wasn't fair to the birds, really.

The idea was truly captivating. Strange and alien. But maybe that's where the excitement came from. Ariadne was always up for trying something new.

Unfortunately, the distraction managed to draw her attention away from the very real fact that she'd been in her Human form for nearly ten minutes. Her hold on her new powers was weak to begin with. And without even thinking about it, or meaning to, her body decided to revert back.

Skin the green of the underside of a maple leaf. Hair blue as candy floss. Lips the color of violets. And eyes widening in a suck panic as she realized what she'd done.
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Brave)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"No," Ariadne hissed to herself. She curled her hands into fists and pressed them against her chin, squeezing her eyes shut. "No, no, no..." She tried to change back, but she couldn't feel the power any more. It had gone out of her completely, like someone had opened her up and emptied her.

She took half a step back.

Ready to flee, ready to run.

But Jim was...swinging the sling again?

Ariadne opened one eye, then the other. It made no sense at all. He wasn't shouting or afraid. Or worse, turning a weapon on her. Well, all he had was an empty sling. But still. Maybe he was going to strangle her? She took another half step back, the muscles of her legs tense, ready to spring. "I..."
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Disgusted)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"I..."

What did she say? Ariadne had absolutely no precedent for this situation before. Back home, it was easy to stay hidden, for hours, days, weeks at a time, even. And here she was, on her first jaunt, and she'd failed.

Miserably.

Somewhere, in the back of her head, she could hear every warning her mother had ever given her, every threat, every bloody detail of what a Human could do to an exposed Alastrian. Ariadne's childhood had scared her into hiding. But now she had no place to hide.

"...I'm sorry."
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Annoyed)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
The thing of it was, for all of her mother's warnings, Jim wasn't following the script. And Ariadne didn't quite know what to make of that. Certainly, Princess Amanda had never been offended by her appearance. And she'd gotten on well enough with Josie and Peter. But this was different. This was her own deception unmasked.

And he was acting like he didn't care.

Well, maybe he didn't. But it was going against quite a few Human stereotypes, that was for sure.

"Do you...not care?" she asked, gesturing vaguely to herself.
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Sad)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
In her experience, green never equated to 'pretty,' but she allowed herself to finally relax, at least a little bit. He wasn't going to throw the sling at her or try to throttle her or anything like that. Once again, her mother had been wrong about Humans.

More than wrong, really.

She'd always been warned that reverting like that, in front of someone, was a death sentence. Now she knew for sure that was also an exaggeration.

"I always wanted to be a Human," she admitted, her shoulders slumping slightly. "Back home, you would never have known that I'm...not. It's harder here."

The real question she had to wrestle with was how necessary it was.
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Mischief)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-04 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
He was more observant than she would have guessed. Ariadne felt the hint of a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth. "Well," she said, "for what it's worth, every species hates mine. Including Humans. It's not the same here. I guess. But it's hard to unlearn a lifetime of lessons."

She gathered her long, rope-like braid in her hands, pulling it over her shoulder, protectively against her chest.

"I don't like lying to people," she said. She was good, of course. The best. Under normal circumstances, anyway. But that wasn't the same as liking it. "Everyone here is just so...nice." She paused. "Except for Lucifer. He seems a little grumpy."
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Cheerful)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-05 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
"The one trying to charge people money for vodka," she said. It didn't seem like the best business model. Especially when they got pretty much everything their hearts desired, with just a polite request to the gods. "He's kind of cranky."

She gave a dismissive shrug. Lucifer was a puzzle to be solved another day. At the moment, she was enjoying what she was uncovering with Jim.

"I can't begin to explain how much of a relief it is...that people don't look at me like some filthy thing." Or worse, a potential profit. But just because people weren't hunting her down for her hair didn't mean she was ready to reveal that part of her heritage.

Lucifer might go after it next.
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Interested)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-05 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Orion," she repeated, careful to pronounce it correctly. "You know, you're the second person to tell me he's met a green race before. Peter Quill has too. He calls them 'Zen-Whoberis,' I think." Actually, he'd mentioned being in a courtship with one, which seemed like a wild notion to Ariadne. Wild, but not unheard of. She'd known Elves and Humans and Darucs to occasionally intermingle with each other. Never with her kind, of course. But with each other, anyway.

But while she'd mistakenly hoped that Zen-Whoberis was just another name for Alastrian, she knew better about these Orions. No Alastrian had black hair. It was utterly unthinkable, actually.

She touched her fingertips to her chest, leaning in slightly. "My people are Alastrians," she said. "We all have green skin but...many different hair colors."

The subject of hair was tricky. So Ariadne abandoned it quickly.

"Some of us are born with the ability to appear Human. I was. Until I came here. And I only just got it back...I thought I was stronger..."
demonicbeauty: (Demon - Cheerful)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-05 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"I would never have thought I could live that way," she said. "Out in the open."

But she liked the idea. She loved it, in fact. Whether or not she was ready for it would require some time. But Jim had definitely encouraged the seed growing in her mind. And there was no way to express--in any language--how grateful she was.

So she went for the next best thing. She surged forward suddenly and gave him a giant hug.

Well, as giant a hug as a five foot two waif was capable of giving.
demonicbeauty: (Confused)

[personal profile] demonicbeauty 2019-10-06 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately, Ariadne was a little tone deaf when it came to teasing. Humans were wonderful creatures, but their use of language was completely confounding. She stepped out of the hug and looked up at him, puzzled. "Well, I try to be."

It was much easier to be friendly than to be scowly. In her opinion, anyway.

She only hoped she hadn't broken some taboo.

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