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[lt_blade]

 Sonya's room was something between a dorm room and her usual room set up in the barracks: bed, dresser, desk, but to the side there was also a bookshelf, table, chair, and even a flat screen television and dvd player. Having just gotten used to video cassettes, the use of dvds took some getting used to, but given her lack of a busy schedule, Sonya didn't have much of an issue with it. Otherwise, the room is sparsely furnished and clean. Some people let their place go during their depression: Sonya would go into a cleaning spree just to keep her mind from focusing on things.

Stepping inside, she set the speaker and player  on the table, hooking them up. "Feel free to take the chair," The bed's fine enough for her. Maybe Bar could give her a sofa, but she wasn't about to add what she didn't really need. Right now, the point was just to relax, which meant offering Athelstan a seat.

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

"I wish you didn't have to return there", he says softly. "But I know you must, to see your own world again and perhaps to save it."

[lt_blade]

She shook her head. "There's no perhaps. We need to save it. If Outworld is any indication of what happens if we loose, then we have to defeat them."

Her hands clenched. She was needed there, yet she was stuck here. "If this really was medical leave, I'd be back by now." She laughed. "Fuck it, I'm actually wanting to go back to that hellhole."

She ran a hand through her hair.

[athelstanthescribe]

"The time will come. Perhaps whatever or whoever keeps your door from you, thinks you aren't yet ready."

[lt_blade]

"So you keep saying." But then, maybe it was what she needed-reassurance. She didn't trust herself to ask what he considered ready. "Suppose some more training wouldn't go amiss. You know Olivier offered to train in sword fighting with me? If I was ten years younger, the thought of learning to use a sword with an actual knight would've had me jumping-now, when it's almost a necessity, makes you look at things differently."

There were no firearms in Outworld. Whatever she could do to improve herself in weaponry and hand-to-hand, she would focus on.

[athelstanthescribe]

What he considers ready isn't the issue - nor is what she considers it, really, if the door won't open.

"You're reluctant to learn it? Or would it be that you take it more seriously now?"

[lt_blade]

"Got it right the second time." The thought still excited her, but that it was almost a necessity held a sort of dark reality to it. "It's all fun and games, until you realize that there could be a time when the person you're up against isn't a sparing partner but an actual enemy."

As such there's no throwing punches, no hesitiation. She's killed before, that wasn't a problem, but it did put more gravity in the situation. "One of my..allies..at the tournament is a martial arts actor named Johnny Cage-joker, cocky, and thinks he's god's gift to women, but still a skilled fighter." He would've had to be to survive the tournament. "Yet, when up against a warrior in the tournament who had it in his mind to kill him, could see it in his eyes that he was almost repulsed by what he was forced to do."

Learning to fight was one thing, killing was something else. "Sad to say, I felt sorry for him-and myself for not feeling that same repulsion."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Each person deals with what they must do in their own way", he says gently. "And he was an actor, where you were a soldier."

[lt_blade]

"And the winner of the tournament was a shaolin monk who detested killing and made a point to not do so if he could." In a sense, she felt more bad for Liu then Johnny, but then again the monk didn't keep asking for her to punch his face in. "My roommate at the tournament was professional kick-boxer named Katherine. One of the first things she asked me was how many tournaments I won in the past, then was shocked when I told her I never participated in any."

She lowered her eyes-Katherine was just one of many. She didn't know her well, but she made a point to know what she could of her. "She only made it two days in. I was trying to get some food for my men when, just by chance, I saw them carry out her body."

What was left of it. She may've been a soldier, but it was just by luck and skill that she was one of the few survivors.

[athelstanthescribe]

He looks down and murmurs a few words for Katherine.

"She had been a winner before?"

[lt_blade]

"She had photos on her bedside table of her times as a tournament winner, usually with her teacher or some relative. She also liked talking of the places she got to visit or this match or that one."

Sonya didn't begrudge her that, or leave her the impression that she wasn't listening to her, but until Katherine, Sonya didn't give a damn about any prize. She was only there for her men and catching Kano. "Even in illegal mixed martial arts bouts, it's hardly a fight to the death. I think a lot of those that entered never considered it."

She knew..the threat against her men was clear sign of it.

[athelstanthescribe]

"It was outside their experience", Athelstan says quietly, "until they were told what was really expected."

[lt_blade]

"Little good it did them either way." Sonya added. Not that it should've surprised her: skill level was important, but how often had she seen soldiers equal or better experienced then her get wounded or killed in action.

She took a deep breath. "Something my dad..and other older veterans always told me growing up. The difference between a good soldier and a bad one-a bad one believes in their skill and thinks it'll save them-thinks they're too talented to be killed-a good one knows that they could be killed at any moment, that talent and skill only goes so far."

[athelstanthescribe]

"The Northmen believe in that", he says with a nod. "It seems to me, even, that they look for the day their skill and luck will fail them, so that they can go to Valhalla."

[lt_blade]

She let out a snort. "Some of the greener men I serve with have a similar idea. They watch too many war movies and keep wanting to be a hero. I tell them that it's great to take one for the team, but a dead soldier's still useless."

How many services did she attend, because some of those she worked with tried to be heroes.

"I know we started working on self defense, but..you ever consider learning to fight proper? I mean from what you tell me, your status isn't entirely as a slave." Officially maybe, but all things considered, Ragnar's treatment towards him wasn't demeaning. "You've a good head on your shoulders and you're quick on your feet-qualities most warriors tend to overlook."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I've never learned any of that", he says warily. "Isn't it best to start very young?"

[lt_blade]

She shrugged. Talking about this was easier to deal with.

"Starting young does give somewhat an edge, but the same is said for learning anything. You're only a few years younger then some of the people that join the military and for most of them it's the first time they ever learn how to fight."

Olivier was right: he'd probably never become a trained killer, but in a pinch and incase something bad happens, he should be able to hold his own. Sonya knew about adapting and integrating ones' self, she was just curious as to how far Athelstan would go.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Then I will", he says after a moment. "If Ragnar and Lady Lagertha go away again, it would be my duty to keep the children safe."

[lt_blade]

"And you'd do better in your duty by actively defending them, not merely using yourself as a human shield."

She thought back to his halloween 'costume'. Was it really meant to be a costume, or was Bar pointing out something for his future.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Or by trying to run away with them and hoping nobody struck us in the back. Yes, definitely better to know how to fight."

[lt_blade]

"See what I mean, you think on your feet." That was something she always admired about someone, and tried to work with for herself. Military plans and strategies could work well enough on paper, but add the human element and things could go SNAFU from there. "Running from the late-earl may've worked, but always good to have a back up plan."

Or several.

[athelstanthescribe]

"That only worked, I think, because it was Ragnar he really wanted, and he stayed behind to lead them in a different direction. Other enemies might... come at it another way."

[lt_blade]

He raised a good point. "They might attack his kids to get at him." Her expression turned solemn. "Reason why I never wanted kids myself, even when I was engaged."

Her and Lance's career was too dangerous and unstable. His death only cemented her sacrifice of having a family.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Would the enemies of your country really do something so personal?"

[lt_blade]

"They know who I am and what I'm capable of as a soldier, then yes they might." They might, there was always a risk.

"Everything in the military is on record, be it paper or computer. Information on our family's names, if they're minor or adults, where they live. This is so that if we're relocated, they could find if it's possible for the family to move as well."

Sometimes it wasn't possible, but the paperwork was there. "But in the wrong hands it's leverage."

[athelstanthescribe]

He nods.

"Then I hope your superiors guard it well."