#iaxe

@dotmander Rad teaches Iaxe how to scourge eat.. sand.. ?

scene: caomh has called up rata sum's orphanage after she bullied her way into his presence and demanded he teach her. he has, so far, turned her down. except -

["I met one of your charges," Caomh said. "I believe she...got lost."

"Description?" the receptionist said, bored.

"Ah." Did they make a habit of misplacing progeny? "Her name is Iaxe. She's... probably about 70 centimeters tall, very pale hair and skin, freckled?"

"Oh, that one," she said. "Yes. She's...difficult. I hope she didn't give you any trouble, Commander."

"Definitely not," he said, putting on his most charming smile. His bark itched. "Out of curiosity. What do you mean by 'difficult'?"]

caomh's alarm bells start ringing bc. 1. being commander means you get Really Good at reading people, i think, and 2. He Was A Difficult [sapling]. he's biased as hell, and he knows it, but he's also...curious. anyway.

the receptionist goes on to tell him about how iaxe is a poor student (caomh has seen the amount of necromancy she has Taught Herself and knows that can't be true) and doesn't follow direction (true, but also she just wants to have things Explained To Her, which he gets) and blah blah blah. anyway none of what she says is wrong BUT.

caomh cuts her off with "actually. :) i was calling to say i agreed to teach her. i was impressed with how much she's excelled with so little direction and how insightful her questions were." (also not a lie.) "i'm sure you're very honored by her - i've never taken an apprentice before. :)."

HMM. this one was hard, but fun!

1. caomh, diarmaid: tied for first place! they're both very detail-oriented. they have to be, what with engineering flesh minions/bighuge iron wrought figures/etc.

2. zenais: she would do them for fun in her free time, but 1. she has no free time and 2. they bug the shit out of her. she has a collection of them anyway JDJSJFJS

3. tarasios: i think they're good at it but i don't have an explanation why </3

4. jack: like zenais, she probably does them for fun in her free time, but she actually enjoys them

5. august: she's normal. it probably took a little bit of learning, but as marshal she had to learn how to quickly spot mistakes, so she would be pretty good at it

6. saraid, taliesin: i think they'd both be okay at it, they just don't do them often because. better things to do

7. iaxe, lyda: both pretty solidly bad at them. they both fidget too much and can't focus on them </3 gets distracted halfway through and goes to do something else

JACK: she's the only normal person here god bless. she has bedtime rituals like drinking tea, meditating, etc. if phones existed in tyria she would practice good sleep hygiene (not using your phone an hour before bed, etc). sleeps soundly and deeply. love this for her

CAOMH: falls asleep quickly but is an incredibly light sleeper - for his whole life he's had to be able to Get Up And Go to fight the next battle. i don't think he's figured this out because, uh, (points at his general being) but compressing him under someone's full body weight is the only way to get him to sleep for longer than 4 hours at a time. someone get this bitch a cuddle pile and a weighted blanket

LYDA: similar to caomh in that she sleeps lightly BUT she takes more catnaps (teehee). also if you touch her while she's sleeping you might get clawed at. just say her name from a safe distance away and you're fine, she might even let you nap with her.

IAXE: forgets that sleeping is something she like...needs to do...so she ends up falling asleep in the weirdest positions. sometines you can find her with her whole little head shoved into the couch like an ostrich in sand. caomh originally tried to pick her up and put her in bed, but she also has weirdly strong grip strength and he got tired of trying to pry chairs out of her hands, so now he usually just leaves her there. she does not appear to be worse for wear.

TALIESIN: takes her a while to get there, but she sleeps the sleep of the dead. the whole grove could come down around her and she Would Not notice. she's usually awake from like.....midday-6am, because night bloom + warden on the night shift.

SARAID: sleeps heavily enough that you can roll them into a blanket and they won't wake up. this is good, because if you plan on napping with saraid you MUST have some form of protection from their Knife Joints. they sleep like a rotisserie octopus. they will latch on and also stab you, somehow. they are the least polite sleeper on the planet. tali straight up banned them from sleeping in her bed; if they want to cuddle they have to be awake and in control of their weapons-grade limbs.

🖋 she's an orphan! she isn't...quite bright enough enough to have people fighting for the honor of teaching her, but luckily for her that just means she doesn't have anyone watching over her shoulder while she teaches herself alchemy and necromancy. she's not brilliant but she is VERY persistent. when she seeks out caomh (my necromancer commander) she says "you must be doing SOMETHING no one else has figured out - you throws yourself headfirst into danger all the time and you only died the one time!! :D" (caomh: .........🧍‍♂️)