milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Here's a guy who's not around much.

Or... yes, actually he is. But mostly he's outside, being depressingly healthy, upstairs being depressingly intellectual, or lurking creepily about in the shadows.

Today he's sitting at the bar with a notepad, a pencil, and a calculating expression.

It's probably not worth asking him what he's up to.

But it can't hurt to ask?

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"No thank you," Havelock says seriously, folding up his notes.

"You go ahead, though. We should go over a few things before your first lesson, I think."

"Oh. Okay."

She smiles, but he's awfully serious all of a sudden. She hopes he's not going to be like Nynaeve. That would be a lot less fun, even though she learned a great deal of important things from Nynaeve (and learned them well).

"I'll be right back."

She asks Bar for her milkshake and returns momentarily.

It's okay, Ingress! Havelock gets that way sometimes.

He's smiling underneath.

All the notes have vanished by the time she comes back, possibly concealed in various pockets. He nods to her, and tugs out a stool for her to sit on.

In her experience, adults always have notes and books and papers and parchments and boring things to keep busy with. She doesn't even think about their absence when she returns.

"I've always liked the ice cream here best," she says, sitting down on the stool. "It's even better than Florean's on Diagon Alley."

Edited 2010-03-20 23:13 (UTC)

"Diagonally?" Havelock asks, frowning.

She laughs. Wizards are funny.

"Diagon-" she pauses slightly and continues. "Alley. It's a street in Tom's old world. We go there sometimes for shopping and ice cream. Knockturn Alley is another street there, but he says it's not a place we need to go."

Havelock thinks the word nocturnally to himself, testing the sound of it, then shakes his head ruefully.

It looks like people have amazing aim for puns, wherever the are.

(Wizards are weird where he comes from too.)

"Ah. That makes more sense."

"Does it? I don't know why he avoids that street like he does. We have lots of night places in the Underside, and he goes to them all the time. He even got away from the Night on the Bridge, and that hardly ever happens."

"Perhaps he has to go to those places," says Havelock, someone who knows all about necessity.

"And if he does not need to go there, why go?"

She thinks about that.

"That makes sense. Maybe it's a dreadfully dull place."

She'll ask Tom about it again one day. One day they'll have a long, difficult conversation about many things. But not until she's much older.

With a name like 'Knockturn Alley,' Havelock somehow thinks not, but he'll let Tom explain that one.

"Maybe it is," he says. "This Diagon Alley sounds interesting enough to occupy you, in any case."

"It's fun. It's different from the Underside. We don't have shops where you pay money. We have markets where you trade things."

"A barter economy?" Havelock asks, interested.

"Do you have any currency at all, or none?"

"Currency? Like galleons?"

Wizarding money is the only currency she knows. She shakes her head.

"Oh, well, I guess favors count. You don't promise anyone anything unless you're prepared to owe them."

Havelock nods thoughtfully.

That makes sense to him.

"That sounds effective," he says. "I suppose there are ways to enforce obligation, once offered?"

"If you don't honor your debts, you usually get killed. But not at the market. Or at the May Fair. There's a truce for both places."

"Fair enough," Havelock says.

It is a language most people seem to understand.

"What did you want to go over before our first lesson?"

She is eager, and, like many children, she focuses in, and comes back to, the things she's most enthusiastic about.

Maybe she needs certain kinds of knives!

"Just a few things," Havelock says, and turns to face her, leaning sideways against the bar.

"Firstly, I will teach you with real knives, not blunted ones. Because of this, I ask you not to practise unsupervised until I say you are ready. That should not take long, but will hopefully limit the damage to bystanders, and also yourself."

He pauses to see how this goes down.

Real knives? COOL!

"That makes sense. I don't want to get hurt or hurt anyone else."

She's a terribly sensible child when it comes to weaponry.

Havelock nods to her.

"Good. I understand you have had several other teachers in specialised areas, so I assume you know to use common sense, and follow instruction accurately."

"I do. My other teachers expect me to be serious, too."

Lan and Laura are not what you'd call jovial when it comes to drills and lessons. Spike, while easygoing, doesn't ease up either. Ingress works hard.

"About lessons, that's probably a good idea," Havelock says.

"Very well. Outdoor practise is best, I think, and in daylight. When would you like your first lesson?"

"As soon as I can have it," she says. "I have school in the mornings most days, but I can come in the afternoons as long as it doesn't conflict with my other lessons."

Havelock nods.

"Afternoons are generally a good time for me," he says. "Do you know which day next week would be best to begin? Or if you like, we can make a start today, and see what capability you already have."