Reflections

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Diamond left the city after getting just a few things and went back out the wilderness. He had heard of some crystalline like springs that were far out. After some time traveling out there. Diamond found these springs and felt the heat from the springs. Smiling slightly as they were hot springs. None the less he placed his bag along with a few other things such as his three blades. He started to do martial art katas while thinking things over. As what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. The mercenary work was his bread and butter. But yet something was edging into his mind though. Why did he end up in the god forsaken place where the Crystalis found him. He did wonder what happened to his parents. An odd thing to think about as most orphans like himself never got to search or find out what happened to there parents or family. As most were either taken by sickness, war, or some kind of other thing.

Plus it was winter time and Diamond was unsure to stick around for a few months until spring. Or just stay for a few weeks build up his coffers again. That was a thought in his mind or stay more then a few months. As of right now Diamond would not be paying attention on whats around him. Since he is rather focused on his exercises.

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It was bath day. Unlike the Cycladeans of the south, who thought bathing was utterly barbaric, Séanait's own people and those of Werraland thought bathing was an important part of healthy living. Baths, as a result, were had once a week, whether needed or not, and soap was applied. Séanait had had some soap on coming to Nova, but she had found that there were many, much better quality, soaps here for quite reasonable prices.

Now, having bought some nice, surprisingly gentle soap, Séanait had made the trek out to the Crystal Springs for a bath. She'd brought her spear and langseax and was, as usual, armoured and helmeted, but she had left her shield, how and marching kit behind in the city, deciding that she didn't need to be armed for war just for a bath.

As it turned out, Séanait wasn't the first person to reach the springs. The white haired mercenary with whom she'd danced at the Hall was there, practicing some kind of training moves. He looked engrossed in his movements, so she let him be a quickly stripped down. Those springs looked really nice, and she wasn't about to let the presence of a man stop her from having a bath.

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Diamond had still his focus as he continued his exercises until he had heard something. As it pulled him out of his training. Since his ears had heard something that went into the water. His hand went to a pouch he had on him and was ready to use one of the crystals to attack a threat that was there. The white haired male turns around to see who it was and saw the woman that he had danced with at the party. He then sees her entering the water to bathe. Which was not something that he was not uncommon with during his travels to the far east. Plus his eyes spotted her gear and saw that she was a highly trained soldier. "Well this is a...odd surprise......I'm going to get a fire at least so you don't freeze when you get out" said Diamond as he picked up one of his blades and went about getting some stones. Then some fire wood that he could possibly use although slightly cursed that he did not have any red colored crystals to use.

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"Well this is a...odd surprise......I'm going to get a fire at least so you don't freeze when you get out"

Séanait couldn't help herself and burst out laughing. That had to have been the oddest response she'd ever got from bathing in front of a man. Leers, crude jokes, invitations to sex and the occasional dumbfounded look from inexperienced were what she had come to expect. An excuse to get away from her and concern for her wellbeing was not all what she'd expected from a mercenary. Diamond, Séanait decided, must prefer men.

While the white haired mercenary went about gathering stones and firewood, Séanait lathered herself all over with the sweet smelling soap and had just finished washing her hair when Diamond got the fire started. Not one to miss a bit of comfort, Séanait decided to take advantage of the offered fire and rose from the hot springs.

Although Séanait dressed quickly, putting on first her pants, then binding her breasts with practiced ease, and finally pulling on her undershirt and quilted armour, Diamond would have had enough time to see her collection of scars. She had several scars from cuts on her arms and legs, a knife wound in her belly, an arrow wound in her right shoulder, one alone her left cheekbone and, finally, a long cut from her left clavicle to beneath her right breast. All in all, it was quite an impressive collection of scars.

Dressed, Séanait sat down on the pebbles surrounding the pool and warmed her hands by the fire. She looked up and grinned wickedly at Diamond.

"You know, I'm still not going to sleep with you."

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Diamond sets the fire up and was able to do so after a bit as he was able to get some dry kindeling. He also had a good amount of firewood to throw on there and he did get a few glances at Séanait and saw her cornucopia of scars and old battle wounds. While sitting by the fire he hears her comment on him getting some with her. He had a good hearted laughed loudly like she did earlier. "Even if I could,you would have ripped of my balls an ate them for a snack. Although the wild sex would have been fun" he said and gave a small smirk. Going into his bag and pulls his kit out to maintain his katana blade. He starts to sharpen the deadly weapon while at the fire. "I just have too much respect as a fellow warrior to do that. Kind of funny to meet a mercenary with honor. Anyway what are you doing out here" he asked while looking at the red head pausing after sharpening the blade a bit.

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"Even if I could,you would have ripped of my balls an ate them for a snack. Although the wild sex would have been fun"

Ah, so Diamond thought she was some kind of...militant lesbian? Séanait knew the phrase in the language of Nova, but the languages of her world that she knew had no direct equivalent. Hamazankaren, maybe? There enough stories of those women killing men and having lifelong partners of the same sex for an equivalence to be drawn.

Diamond's later statement that he respected her too much to even try and have sex with her pretty much confirmed her suspicions. He thought she was only really into women. Well, that wasn't so bad, Séanait thought. There were worse things he could think about her, some of them probably even true.

It was the other half of Diamond's comment that got most of Séanait's attention, though. Was a mercenary with honour really so rare in this world, or did the general population just perceive them as such? She could feel a bout of pseudo-intellectualism coming on and didn't bother to internalise it.

"Honour's a funny think. What one person considers considers honourable might differ from another's, and the concept of honour is almost always different between cultures. Here in Nova, for instance, insults that would start a blood feud back home are taken lightly here, and insults that here cause great offence would be laughed off at home."

She shrugged.

"As to what I'm doing, I think it's pretty obvious. I was having a bath."

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"Well, I mean some do see us as scumbags and other forms of villianry. Or where I traveled to in this world. Since well we are not well deciplained or well ordered. Like a traditional army or knights, or the fact that me are money grubbing loons. Driven by profit then doing it for the good of other people. But here at Nova its different, I can agree with you on that" said Diamond as then did a few more things to the blade to make it really battle ready. But as he did though something slightly tugged inside his mind. Was he coming off as odd to the woman next to him and just giving odd signals. "Well damn, did I come off as gay? That always happens with 50 percent of the women I meet especially warrior women. Do I come off as too respectful or something? The mercenary company I was in was a straight 50/50 of men and women. Plus the woman that raised me beat that into me. So if I tried to get too far they would have kicked my ass Don't get me wrong, I've had several wild flings with several women at a time. That lasted a few days.....I did remember one time that I had one that lasted for a week. I'm just more in control then most guys" he said and wondered what Shy would say after all of that.

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Séanait laughed at that. The idea of soldiers not being money grubbing loons in the main was foreign to her.

"Heh. Where I'm from, our equivalents to a knight might be in it for honour, but they sure as tell aren't going to miss a chance to make money. They all rape and pillage with the rest of us, and we're only in it for the killing or the looting. I doubt Nova's army would be that much different when it comes down to it, given the opportunity. They'd just be more apologetic about it."

Diamond's next comment caused Séanait to think deeply about her answer, since she didn't want to offend the man. It could be difficult, dealing with someone's honour, and telling someone that they looked like a woman was rarely a good thing. So, she chose to obfuscate.

" 'Gay' and 'straight' aren't really terms I'm used to thinking in. Rather, we tend to think in terms of manliness and responsibility. I know several men who prefer the boy whores owned by the Thusends, but they've started families with some of the camp followers. They thus maintain their manliness, by doing the buggering, and also their duties as a man, by starting a family. The boy whores, on the other hand, are considered earg, or unmanly, because of the role they fill.

"It's not just behaviour that affects things, either. Where I come from, any man with hair much longer than mine would be mocked mercilessly and probably used as a woman if he didn't cut it or kill a few people. Couple that with your face and lack of beard and, well," Séanait shrugged, "You look to me like what most men in my world would imagine one who was earg to look."

Séanait watched Diamond carefully now, trying to anticipate any rage.

"Personally, I think any opinion I give to you about how you come off is probably invalid, since I'm barely normal by my world's standards and don't seem to be particularly normal in this world either."

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"Heh, that's true no one is a white knight on there white horse" Diamond said with a chuckle and then things became rather serious again. Even something more thought provoking. As it turned into what men and women are and what made them up. Even speaking about her world a bit more as he knew Shy was a Fated that came from a different but similar world in some sense. The white haired male let her speak her mind and think over what Shy said before speaking. He was not angry or going to be raging like a lunatic. He was a bit calm but his face was slightly inquisitive then anything else. "Well I'm not sure what to say after that. But we are who we are I guess. I've kept an open view due to all of the things I have seen. So to be plain with you, I don't care if you go for either side or even both. People have accepted me as who I am rather then what I am" he said and then looked over at Shy seeing that she was expecting him to explode at her below the belt at his manliness.

"Besides...trying to do it with another guy just disturbs me personally. But perhaps we should move on to another topic. How are you faring in this world? Since your a Fated" he asked since Diamond did want to move the conversation a bit. As the subject seemed to be a touchy subject for the both of them.

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Well, that went better than expected. No cries of rage, no oathes of vengeance, no rage fuelled attack. Diamond even offered a way to avoid any further touchy subjects. Either this was another example of cultural differences, or he was one of the scary, quiet ones who would quietly plot her demise. He was certainly polite enough, but she just didn't get that vibe off him. With a mental shrug she dismissed the problem for now. If he was a quiet one, he wouldn't attack just yet.

"I seem to be going pretty well. Mysteria, the, the king's adviser, apparently meets all of us Fated personally, and she gave me enough to get by for a time. I've been picking up odd jobs here and there as well, although they've not always turned out how I expected. Overall, though, it's been pretty boring, and not the kind of boring I'm used to. And, I'll be honest, I'm missing Breasal, my best friend."

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Diamond nods his head slightly at some of Shy's thoughts "I can fully for a warrior to be bored during times of peace. But take it like this though, if your in a different world. Take the time for things, I'm on a journey to try and find myself. And maybe my family" he said and then heard Shy missing her friend. From the tone he could hear that it seemed that he was a bit more then a friend. But did not want to push it at the moment. "So aside from the culture shock. What other things have you not expected? Also tell me a bit about the place you come from. I am just curious to be honest" he said and takes out his small pouch that held his crystals and took them out to look at them. Maybe as a conversation piece a bit later into the day. Or in all honesty, he could make a small camp for the day. It was peaceful out here and far from the city.

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Séanait laughed, with only slight bitterness.

"Time is exactly the problem! I have too much of it. No training exercises, no construction projects, no bullshitting with my men. I don't know what to do with it!"

She kicked angrily at a pebble and watched it skitter off the other pebbles around the pool. Sighing and calming down a bit, Séanait abruptly sat back down in the slow as she answered Diamond's question.

"Well, I was born up in the north of the Silver Isle. It's a huge island off the north western edge of the mainland. Bras and I left for Werraland when we were about fourteen. We'd both been conscripted by King Caoimhín, but he lost his war. Neither of us made much keeping us on the Silver Isle, so we left.

"We soon found there wasn't much in the way of work for us, so when we heard that Earl Wulfbeorht was recruiting an army to aid King Caoimhín we joined up with him. The Earl spent all his money and borrowed heavily to raise, equip and train two thousand of us. When we fought, though, we proved to be a good investment. Two thousand of us defeated eight thousand of Iarfhlaith's men."

Séanait shrugged.

"We've spent the last four years expanding on that success and conquering the island. Just before I was brought here, we were being recalled to the mainland to deal with aggression from Cagogoschiland."

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Diamond blinks a few times when he hears the bitter laugh and heard Shy's difficulty trying to deal with the time she had on her hands. He watches as she kicked a stone into the water to cause a reaction into the pool of water. But had settled down as she answered his question. It seemed that this woman only knew of military life it seemed. Although he should not speak though with his line of work. But he was adventuring out on his own to find himself. But it seemed that she was constantly moving and either fighting or doing military drills. "Perhaps I can help with the problem of your boredom. I came out here to train on my own you see. But I can only do so much, would you care to join me. As you can tell I use some unorthodox swords. Plus I know some unarmed skills that are just as devastating as a meer weapon. If you ever go back to your world you might have an edge over some people" he said offering something for Shy as she was rather lost. Plus it would give him something to do while he was in Nova.

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The offer of a training bout was a welcome one. Séanait had been wondering about those swords of Diamond's, and it would be interesting to see what his fighting style was like. The Black Man had talked about styles that used kicks, but she only had experience with wrestling and boxing. It would be interesting to see if Diamond's style was one that used kicks, or if it was just like what she was used to.

Before committing to a training session, though, Séanait wanted to have a look at Diamond's swords, just to familiarize herself with them a bit. She didn't want to be at too much of a disadvantage, after all.

Holding out a hand and glancing at the swords she asked, "Can I have a look?"

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Diamond gives a nod of his head and hands her one of his katanas. There would be one that was larger but it had an ill omen about it. They were curved blades and a single edged weapon. Perfect for cutting through someone or lopping off an arm, leg or several heads at once. "From what I understand about these blades is that the steel has been folded several times to give it massive amount of cutting power. There known to fell a man or two in half. I've even seen these break through some shields and even break a long sword. The only downside to these things though at times are some chain mails. But the shear impact of these hitting you will still deal damage" he said explaining a bit on the blades as he had the other one in his left hand. "The company that I belonged to had traveled very far to the east of these lands. We saw things that were very different then here. One of these are the weapons I am holding" he said and stands up from where he was sitting.