"I feel like that was you simply by bringing it up, but very well," he
chuckles.
He weighs the first pebble in his hand, testing the feel of it, then
watches the waves for a few moments and throws. It manages four skips
before catching the crest of a wave and going under.
She's a fast learner, and not starting from scratch on this skill at least. Her next throw does two and a half skips, eaten up right before it would have landed and spun off the third time.
She's still skeptical, but she doesn't think he's lying to her. It lets her smirk and add, "I'd hate to have to toss you in the water, so that's good."
She's off her rhythm, though, so her next rock sinks, too, and she mutters a casual swear under her breath.
"I'd hate to be tossed," he agrees. "I can...only sort of swim. I'd say Johann taught me, but it was more the case that he watched and laughed while I worked it out for myself."
"Not how I generally rate my teaching ability," she huffs, but she accepts the stone, and hesitates, looking over at him.
"Look, I know - it's been rough for you. Lately." And she's well aware he won't want to talk to her about it. "You're not doing anything ill advised to try to work it out, are you?"
"...I don't think there's anything I can 'work out'," he says. "I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought I knew what would keep me safe. I was wrong, and I have some grotesque memories to show for it. Can that be worked out?"
"Partly because I wouldn't want to explain them to you or Jacob," he
admits, dryly.
"But mostly because it feels...I...
"He forced himself on someone he told himself he loved." His voice is quiet
and distant. "He did that because I'm capable of it. That's not
something I should work out, or - cope with."
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-14 06:48 pm (UTC)"I feel like that was you simply by bringing it up, but very well," he chuckles.
He weighs the first pebble in his hand, testing the feel of it, then watches the waves for a few moments and throws. It manages four skips before catching the crest of a wave and going under.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-14 06:50 pm (UTC)"You're the one who asked about being competitive." Dammit. She's good on a flat lake, but that's not this.
She does almost the same, shamelessly taking the cue from him, but her rock only skips once in the trough between one wave and the next.
"Pinche pendejo."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-14 06:55 pm (UTC)"Now, now, no need to pick on yourself." He doesn't know what the words mean, but he knows the intonation.
His next throw only manages two skips, and he clicks his tongue in irritation.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-15 12:07 am (UTC)She's a fast learner, and not starting from scratch on this skill at least. Her next throw does two and a half skips, eaten up right before it would have landed and spun off the third time.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-15 12:11 am (UTC)Astarion nods, impressed, and proceeds to utterly fluff the next toss. One skip and then a wave he didn't anticipate.
"That was the ocean's fault," he grouses. "Umberlee has cursed me."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-19 11:28 pm (UTC)"Are you letting me win?" she asks, tossing her next stone in her hand.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-19 11:30 pm (UTC)Astarion gasps and looks back at her, a hand on his chest.
"Darling, I swear on all that I hold dear that that was a completely authentic moment of ineptitude."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-19 11:32 pm (UTC)"And I'm sure you were barely trying."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 11:03 am (UTC)"I'm a little more practiced with a bow and a static target than I am with...all this," he points out. "I promise I'm not doing anything so untoward."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 12:59 pm (UTC)She's still skeptical, but she doesn't think he's lying to her. It lets her smirk and add, "I'd hate to have to toss you in the water, so that's good."
She's off her rhythm, though, so her next rock sinks, too, and she mutters a casual swear under her breath.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 01:07 pm (UTC)Astarion chuckles under his.
"I'd hate to be tossed," he agrees. "I can...only sort of swim. I'd say Johann taught me, but it was more the case that he watched and laughed while I worked it out for myself."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:24 pm (UTC)Only first of all so she can get it out of the way, because: "Second of all, that's bullshit. Is this the Johann that's here?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:34 pm (UTC)"That was here," Astarion corrects gently. He left with surprisingly little fanfare, really. "But yes, it was he."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:40 pm (UTC)"I could actually teach you sometime," she says instead. "I'm decent."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:43 pm (UTC)"I'd like that. And it's rather easy to teach someone who can't drown, I imagine."
He picks up a stone near his foot and offers it to her.
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:55 pm (UTC)"Look, I know - it's been rough for you. Lately." And she's well aware he won't want to talk to her about it. "You're not doing anything ill advised to try to work it out, are you?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 02:56 pm (UTC)Astarion tucks his hands in his pockets and looks out across the water.
"'Ill-advised' like what, darling?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 03:02 pm (UTC)"Anything you wouldn't want to try to explain to Jacob."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-20 03:21 pm (UTC)"Then no. I'm not doing anything Ill-advised."
He is, in fact, not doing....anything, really. Not unless he's invited to. All his ideas are pretty terrible!
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 11:50 am (UTC)Then tries, "Or to me?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 11:57 am (UTC)Astarion sighs and looks away.
"...I don't think there's anything I can 'work out'," he says. "I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought I knew what would keep me safe. I was wrong, and I have some grotesque memories to show for it. Can that be worked out?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 12:20 pm (UTC)She doesn't know yet herself, not for the things she struggles under the weight of, not whatever Astarion hasn't told her.
But: "Sometimes people do things that won't work it out, though, because they're angry or guilty or tired and it feels good. Or they hope it will."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 12:36 pm (UTC)"I know. I've explored my fair share of...what do you call them? 'Coping mechanisms'."
He's not using finger quotes, but it's very clear this is a term he's learned on the Barge.
"Just...not this time."
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 12:38 pm (UTC)"Why not?"
Re: Spam
Date: 2025-02-22 12:47 pm (UTC)"Partly because I wouldn't want to explain them to you or Jacob," he admits, dryly.
"But mostly because it feels...I...
"He forced himself on someone he told himself he loved." His voice is quiet and distant. "He did that because I'm capable of it. That's not something I should work out, or - cope with."
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