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warmups - Ronin - 09-01-2025
It's not uncommon to see Ronin Taliesin walking through Haulani with an assortment of things to carry or cart about; the White Knight is renowned for providing the necessary brawn when it comes to hauling stock for merchants or assisting a stall or business in relocating. Today, however, the handcart he rumbles across the cobbles is all for him, and it's got an eclectic array of items within it.
A bundle of hay, a bag of sand, a few lengths of wood, some empty sacking (one of which has been painted with a sad face that has Xs for eyes), one wouldn't be amiss to assume he's making a strange-looking scarecrow. One would be wrong, though.
It's a training dummy. Or it will be soon.
Pausing the handcart in an out of the way part of the street to take a break, Ronin swipes the back of his hand across his brow and sweeps his dark hair back out of his face. It's not the sort of season where he honestly feels up to much, in truth, but he's been putting this off for long enough. And so if nothing else, he's dedicating at least the first part of Deepfrost to productivity.
The rest, though? That's for napping.
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-03-2025
The package of coffee beans pressed against his ribs, paper crackling faintly as he adjusted it under one arm. Damien had bartered for it not half an hour ago, still sharp with the earthy scent that marked Torchline’s markets apart from anything Halo could grow. Aria padded at his side, her nose twitching with every burst of spice or fish that wafted out from the stalls, but her attention snagged on something else first: the painted sack with its clumsy X-eyed face. She froze mid-step, ears pricked, as though this sad-eyed effigy might leap out at them.
Damien’s gaze followed hers, narrowing on the cart and the man standing over it. He recognized the face, though not the circumstance. Theea’s house, the repairs, that was where he’d seen Ronin—bare-armed, competent. He slowed, shifting the coffee against his side as though comparing one odd parcel to the other. Coffee, scarecrow. The coffee was a familiar habit, a necessity. The scarecrow was something else entirely. It was a curiosity, a half-made thing sitting in a cart of mismatched parts. Not a scarecrow, he realized, but a training dummy from the look of it; a strawman built for a beating, not for scaring birds.
Damien stopped a few feet away, close enough that the quiet felt purposeful. His gaze drifted from the half-made dummy to the man standing over the handcart, and he let the name fall from his lips, quiet and uncertain.
[say]"Hey. Ronin, right?"[/say] he said. His voice was low, rough — a throat carved by the cold. He glanced at the cart once more. [say]"Not much fight in that one. But I guess that's the point, isn't it?"[/say] Beside him, Aria crept closer, circling with her belly low, her tufted tail flicking.
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-06-2025
Rolling his shoulders, Ronin is just about to take up the handcart again when his name hits the air. Automatically the Knight turns with a smile on his lips, more than accustomed to being approached and asked to help with something or another. But when it's not a merchant or a worker but a man he half recognises from working on Theea's house, he relaxes a touch. [say]"Hey,"[/say] he rumbles in return, [say]"yeah, that's me. It was Damien, wasn't it?"[/say]
Chuckling, he nods his agreement at the half-constructed training dummy, Ronin scrunching his nose at it. [say]"Yeah, he's a work in progress right now. Hopefully when he's all finished he'll put up a little more of a fight - not too much though,"[/say] he says, patting the hay bale almost affectionately. It's at that moment he notices the little cub creeping closer, belly low to the ground, and Ronin's eyes light up.
[say]"And who is this?"[/say] he asks. Overhead, as if telepathically drawn by his interest, a small shriek echoes across the market from a haughty, draconic throat. Sugar circles over them - a small white dragon with a tail like a ribbon, no larger than a housecat - but doesn't opt to get closer just yet.
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-11-2025
Damien caught the way Ronin’s shoulders shifted, the quick readjustment from guarded to something easier, looser. It made him tilt his head just a fraction, like he was testing the air. So the man remembered him too. That counted for something.
He nodded. [say]“Damien Ulfsen,”[/say] he confirmed, his voice still rough, but quieter now, almost conversational.
At Ronin’s glance toward Aria, Damien shifted the package of beans under his arm and lifted his free hand, palm angled low. [say]“This is Aria. Go ahead—say hello.”[/say] The cub’s ears twitched at the signal, and she chirped, tail flicking high as she padded up to Ronin’s boots, all bright-eyed eagerness.
It was then that Damien noticed the small shadow overhead, a ribbon-tailed shape circling down. His expression softened, the lines of his face easing in recognition. [say]“And that must be… Sugar?”[/say] He looked back to Ronin, as though to confirm what he already knew. [say]“Flora told me about how you saved Spice.”[/say] He said it like that was explanation enough.
His gaze dropped back to the cart then, to the deconstructed scarecrow slumped among the hay and wood. [say]“So what's the deal with this guy? You gonna make yourself an army?”[/say] His tone was dry, curious rather than mocking, though the flicker of a smile touched his mouth. [say]"Or just keeping busy?"[/say]
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-12-2025
[say]"Nice to officially meet you,"[/say] Ronin says, smiling up at Damien from where he's crouched to greet the approaching cub. [say]"And nice to meet you too, Aria,"[/say] he adds, offering his hand for the little feline to rub against and delivering a gentle scritch if acceptable, before straightening back up. Just in time for the dragon circling overhead to finally go about landing - which she does with aplomb, using the Knight's shoulders as her perch.
[say]"Yeah, that's right,"[/say] he says of Sugar as she gets comfortable. [say]"Ah, she did? I wasn't expecting her to bond to Spice like that, but I was glad to see it."[/say] His daughter's companion is a good deal less aloof than his own, too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Following Damien's gaze back to the training dummy, Ronin barks out a laugh and tilts his head as if considering it. [say]"I don't know how many battles they'd win if I did,"[/say] he says. [say]"But no, this is one of the dummies I'm constructing for a training school I'm setting up. It's going to be here in Torchline - a place for people to brush up on their skills, spar, teach each other, that sort of thing."[/say]
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-14-2025
Damien let a fraction of a smile ease onto his face, the corners softening. He glanced toward Sugar briefly as the dragon settled on Ronin’s shoulder. [say]“They’ll choose their own people. I’ve started learning that very quickly.”[/say] There was a faint weight in his tone, an acknowledgment of instinct and respect.
Aria, as if playing the part, accepted Ronin’s offered hand with careful enthusiasm, nudging against it and letting him deliver the scritch, tail flicking like a dappled banner in the breeze. She paused to glance at the items piled in the cart, ears twitching as she investigated the lengths of wood and the bag of sand, batting gently at a stray piece of hay.
His posture eased, weight shifting slightly from one leg to the other. [say]“A training school?”[/say] His tone lifted, curious, though he kept it measured. [say]“You mean like... for anyone? Or are you expecting people with experience already?”[/say] He tilted his head, eyes scanning the half-finished dummy again. [say]“Do you teach techniques yourself, or is it more... self-guided, sparring with oversight?”[/say]
He adjusted the coffee under his arm, considering the street around them for a moment. [say]“Mind if we walk with you a ways? I'd be interested to hear more but, I don't want to hold you up.”[/say]
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-16-2025
[say]"They certainly do,"[/say] Ronin agrees, reaching up to give Sugar a gentle scritch beneath her scaly chin. He has no idea how he ended up matched with a companion the polar opposite of his own personality, but he can't deny that he and the small dragon are very much suited to one another.
Watching with a small grin as Aria continues to investigate the handcart and its contents, as Damien speaks the Knight glances back towards him. [say]"For anyone,"[/say] he clarifies with a smile, nodding at the suggestion of walking together and taking up the handles of the cart once more to rumble across the cobblestones.
[say]"I have a few people who have been interested in helping me to teach - I'd always be available to practice, but they would be as well - or you would be able to train on your own,"[/say] he explains. [say]"I mainly want to make a space in Torchline dedicated to that sort of practice, and to offer any help I can give to those who want to learn."[/say]
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-16-2025
Damien fell into step beside the cart, the steady crunch of wheels over cobblestone syncing with his stride. Aria trotted at his heel at first, as she always did, then darted ahead a pace when Ronin moved, tail flagging high before she looped back toward Damien again. The push and pull of her excitement carried her between them, springing lightly on her paws. It was as though she couldn’t quite decide which one of them she wanted to walk next to.
He watched her for a moment, a quiet ease in his face before his gaze returned to Ronin. [say]“It’s a good thing you’re putting together,”[/say] he said, tone carrying the weight of someone who meant it. [say]“Most people scrape by with whatever they can pick up. That’s how I’ve done it at least. It's enough to survive, I guess, but not what you’d call 'formal training'.”[/say] He was getting a little sharper in that area, since joining the monster hunter's guild, but most of Damien's fighting moves — if they could be called that — were self-taught and instinctive. [say]"I wouldn't mind being taught a lesson or two."[/say] The corner of his mouth rose up in a smirk, then straightened again.
He glanced sidelong at Ronin, brow furrowing slightly. [say]“Why now, though? Is it because of what happened.. with the Family?”[/say] He let the question hang for a beat before adding, quieter but edged with curiosity, [say]“Or is there something else you’re worried about?”[/say]
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-18-2025
As they walk, Sugar opts to settle her chilly body obnoxiously around the Knight's shoulders, pale eyes tracking Aria as she darts between the two men as if considering whether she's worth the energy of further investigation. By the way her scaly head lowers in the end, evidently she ultimately decides that a nap is more to her liking - and that's fine with Ronin, too.
[say]"Thanks,"[/say] he says, voice warm and sincere as he glances across at Damien and they start to take to the side-streets towards the space he's picked out to establish his guild. [say]"I'm always here to spar if you feel like a lesson or two. I use magic more than I fight physically these days, but there was a time when hand-to-hand combat was my preference."[/say]
As for why now, his brow furrows for a moment as he considers, before he lets out a sigh and shrugs his shoulders. [say]"It's what I used to be, a long time ago - captain of training for an army. I carried it across to the dragoons in Stormbreak when I lived and ruled up there, but since..."[/say] He shrugs. [say]"It's less that I'm worried, and more that I feel as though there's a lot of good I could be doing rather than sitting on my laurels."[/say]
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-19-2025
Aria finally chose a side—Ronin’s, for the moment—padding close to the cart as if she were part of his escort. Every so often she leapt to bat at a pebble on the ground or whatever little things caught her ADHD-ass attention. Damien let her go, for the time being, so long as she didn't stray far or get in the way of the cart.
[say]“So you’re circling back to yourself, then,”[/say] he mused. His tone was low, but the words carried that same weight he’d used earlier, when he’d called the school a good thing. [say]“Can think of worse ways to spend your time than making fighters out of people. People should know how to defend themselves, at the very least.”[/say]
The thought sat with him for a beat, then he added, almost wry: [say]“In Halo, fighting was never really optional. You learn, or you get chewed up. But it’s all instinct and bad habits when you teach yourself. Half the time you don’t even know if you’re doing it right—you just know you’re not dead yet.”[/say] The corner of his mouth twitched, something between a smirk and a grimace.
His gaze flicked back to the cart, to the straw-faced dummy, and then to Ronin again. [say]“So if you’re offering, I’ll take you up on that spar one of these days. Might even unlearn a few bad habits.”[/say]
He arched a brow slightly, curiosity still simmering beneath the words. [say]“And if this place of yours is open to anyone, then I guess that means me too.”[/say] He said it plain, without ceremony, but there was no mistaking the intent—Damien had every interest in joining.
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-21-2025
Ronin smirks as Aria seems to opt to walk with him for the time being, the Knight also keeping an eye on the cub to make sure she doesn't get too close to the wheels of the handcart and risk disappearing beneath them. [say]"Mm, that's a good way of putting it."[/say] He nods to Damien. [say]"And if people are going to want to fight, at least this way I can teach them to defend themselves safely."[/say]
Listening quietly as the other man describes life in Halo - it's one of the only places Ronin hasn't lived for a time, he thinks - he nods his agreement. [say]"It's how I learned, before I was enrolled into the army. How I was for a while after that too,"[/say] he adds with a grin; much of his initial time as a soldier had been spent as a crooked layabout, if he was honest. But time and experience were wonderful things.
[say]"Name the time and place and I'm in,"[/say] he says of the sparring, glancing over his shoulder at Damien with a smile. [say]"And if you give it another couple of weeks, you can even try out the arena for yourself."[/say] Once he's made his finishing touches. [say]"Either way, it'd be great to have you join. The place will be open to anyone from anywhere."[/say] It just happens to have its home base in Torchline.
Speaking of the place in question, Ronin starts to roll the hand cart to a halt outside a building that looks derelict, for the most part, the roof half caved in. But he's been working on the inside, and there are already plenty of crates of supplies and materials ready to build.
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-24-2025
Damien smirked faintly at Ronin’s grin, shaking his head. [say]“Safe fighting. That’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear.”[/say] Still, there wasn’t a trace of mockery in his tone. If anything, the words carried a quiet appreciation. He knew too well what it was to fight without nets, without rules. The idea of giving people a place to learn without bleeding [too much] for it made a kind of sense he could respect.
Damien slowed as the cart came to a stop, his dark eyes climbing the sagging lines of the roof, the splintered beams, the gaps where weather and time had chewed through. He shifted the bag of beans against his side, weighing the place like he might a pile of firewood—deciding what was sound, what needed cutting, and what wasn’t worth saving at all. Aria circled the threshold with the boldness of a scout, nose pressed to fallen plaster and broken wood, tail flicking high like she was proud of her discovery.
[say]“Looks like you’ve got your work cut out,”[/say] Damien remarked at last. His tone wasn’t dismissive, only practical, his gaze still moving over the derelict frame. [say]“But it’ll stand again with the right repairs.”[/say] He glanced back to Ronin, expression even, but there was a spark of intent in it still. [say]“I’ve spent near half my life building and fixing cabins. Could lend a hand, if you need it. Roof like that won’t take long with two men instead of one.”[/say]
He adjusted his grip on the coffee again, then nodded toward the broken rafters, a faint curl at the corner of his mouth. [say]“Suppose it’s fitting, though. Tear it down, build it stronger.”[/say] Like training.
RE: warmups - Ronin - 09-26-2025
Ronin gazes up at the admittedly ruined building with something close to pride and fondness, and he nods his agreement with Damien - work cut out indeed. [say]"This used to belong to a friend of mine - it was a boxing ring,"[/say] he explains. [say]"But there was a fire, and..."[/say] He gestures up at it; what the fire hadn't finished, time and nature had done its best to do so.
[say]"Honestly I was considering leaving the roof as is - half open and half covered,"[/say] he says with a tilt of his head. [say]"It's not as if Torchline has much in the way of inclement weather. And it'd get people used to training in different environments."[/say] If not necessarily the extremes of snow and flooding, then heat and storms at least.
Ronin brightens to hear that Damien is well-versed in that sort of work, and he nods to him. [say]"That sounds like a good plan,"[/say] he says. [say]"I'll let you know when I get started."[/say]
RE: warmups - Damien - 09-30-2025
Damien’s gaze lingered on the wreck, on the ribs of timber jutting at the sky. At Ronin’s mention of the fire, his mouth pressed into a thoughtful line. [say]“Then it’s still standing for a reason,”[/say] he said finally. [say]“Places like this… they take the hits, they burn, they fall apart. But they’re still here. Might even be stronger for it, once you build it back up.”[/say]
Aria pawed at a charred splinter near the threshold, nose wrinkling before she bounded back to his heel. Damien watched her settle as though she’d given her verdict on the place already. He glanced back to Ronin, the faintest curl of a smirk lifting one corner of his mouth. [say]“You’ll get plenty of volunteers once the doors open. People like to hit something that can’t hit back.”[/say] He nodded to the dummy in the wheelbarrow.
The words carried an edge of wry humor, but no judgment; if anything, there was a current of understanding beneath it. He gave Ronin a small nod, solid and simple. [say]“Yeah, just let me know. I’ll be here—for the roof, or the ring.”[/say]
With that he shifted his weight, ready to move on, Aria falling into step at his side. [say]“See you soon, Ronin.”[/say]
fin