milliways_bar | (no subject)

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rae "sunshine" seddon

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A baker's internal clock being what it is, the lengthening nights and shortening days have seen Sunshine out and about well before sunrise lately.

She might be found long before daybreak in the bright kitchen, its windows casting light out into the darkness of the old night, as Sunshine gets cinnamon rolls formed for their final proofing before baking.

While the dough proofs, she might be found in the last chilly minutes of dim greyness, sipping fragrantly-steaming tea on the little porch outside and waiting for the sunrise.

Later, the gigantic cinnamon rolls in the oven, Sunshine might be encountered during her dawn run around the edge of the lake, a swift spot of color in the growing brightness of morning.

Later still, breakfast-time, Sunshine might be encountered in the bar room as she looks for customers, a tray of still-warm and freshly iced Cinnamon Rolls As Big As Your Head balanced on her hip.

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"I bet they are," she chuckles, thinking of earnest little Lan Sizhui, all of eight years old when she last saw him. "What's the saying - anything worth doing is worth doing badly? That's how one learns."

She is fully prepared to be bad at swords.

"My friend who is a wardskeeper, she told me how she was lucky her master decided she was worth the effort to train, even after she accidentally exploded part of her master's lab."

"Well, we won't be causing any explosions, at least! Not unless we've done something very wrong." Wei Ying laughs, pouring himself more tea. "Don't worry if you are bad at it for quite a while - it takes years to approach true competency, never mind to become a master of the art."

"I won't worry," she smiles slightly into her tea. "I am coming to it far later than most, and I imagine much of it is building muscle-memory and technical know-how. But I am used to being patient with myself."

Determined, but also patient.

"If it helps keep me alive, and keep others alive, the effort will have been worth it."

"Ah, starting off well already." Wei Ying beams. Beginner classes were always a mixed bag, but there'd always be a solid subsection that was mostly interested in eventually getting their swords to fly.

There was usually much disappointment in store for those particular children.

"That was one of the bits in the story of Lady Aerin Firehair that particularly struck me when I was little," Sunshine remarks, wry, "her begging her cousin to teach her to wield a sword, and having to ingrain the knowledge by relentless rote, all muscle-memory, because of all the royal family Aerin had no magical Gift to help her easily excel at what she set out to do."

"Oh, I have bad news, Mistress Sunshine... magic users have to learn by endless routine as well." Wei Ying snickers. His days were so full, as a child - while he knows he also spent plenty of time swimming amongst the lotus and stealing lotus seeds and running through the market, looking back, he's not entirely sure how he accomplished any free time at all.

"Oh well, yeah," she replies, amused. She knows that from her own experience. Her hands have learned and done a lot since childhood. "But in Aerin's case the royals had their Kelar, their Gift, which make everything easier for those who've got it - persuasion, stealth, charm, grace, music, good fortune in battle... and Aerin's Gift was terribly late. Stunted to the point they thought she didn't have one, in fact, due to a childhood prank war that went too far."

It's a good story, and Sunshine's got a good voice for stories, but she's holding back.

It's getting towards autumn. Maybe there should be a bonfire for storytelling sometime soon.

"Aiya, aiya, storytelling goes better with wine than with tea." Wei Ying laughs, knocking back the last of his tea. "And you won't have breath for storytelling during drills."

"And is a better way to spend an evening outdoors than a morning," Sunshine agrees with good cheer, still wondering about a bonfire as she finishes her own tea.

"I'm ready when you are. I will have to ask the bar for that kind of tea sometime, though," she adds, in that lovely moment of lingering warmth after the last sip.

Wei Ying grins, nodding firmly.

"Right! What could be better, spending time strengthening one's skills amongst the falling leaves?" He asks cheerily, as he stands and gestures towards the bar. "Let's get you a sword, young mistress."

Sunshine sets aside her empty teacup, getting to her feet with a grin and following him to the bar. "I can say don't worry about Lesson Number Zero-Point-One; I at least know which end to hold."

So sue her if the idea of having a sword - even a practice sword - lightens her step and brightens her smile a bit. It's exciting! It'll be hard work, she's sure, but it's still something new and different.

"Will Bar be able to supply us with practice swords?"

"Mmm, she has in the past - these aren't truly weapons, any more than a stick would be. It might hurt if I whack you with one, but it wouldn't stand up against a true sword." Wei Ying explains. When he approaches Bar with his request, he's presented with two carved wooden swords - light enough to not cause undue strain, heavy enough to make sure you feel it by the end of the day.

"Perfect," she says, entirely enthused at the sight of the swords. Rae tests the weight of one of them in her hand, fully aware that she really has no context to judge its balance or quality but also not doubting Bar.

After a moment of thought, she adds, "Since you're doing the teaching, I can take care of any bruises or scrapes we accrue, afterwards."

"Today we will be working on footwork, and basic positions - there's a lot of muscle memory that goes into swordplay, and it's usually good to be sure you won't trip over your own feet when holding something sharp and pointy." He teases. He gives Bar a short bow in thanks, and then heads for the back door. The sun is calling, and his core has a lot of work needed.

"Not tripping is always best," she agrees, chuckling and thinking of Axel and his lessons in not falling, and how to fall properly and quickly regain your footing if you can't not fall. Wei Wuxian can probably hear how her breath deepens as they move out into the morning sunlight, a moment before she stretches. Sunshine will always be more at her best under the open sky.

"I imagine when fighting with a sword, it's not just moving your own weight and balance that has to be taken into account." Swordwork kind of carries the assumption that other folks will have swords, as well. And there's that whole business with wounding one's opponents, which is... regrettably not part of her experience.

"Aiya aiya, don't worry about anyone else for a while. You'll have plenty to worry about already!" He promises, without a hint of remorse. "Come on, the dojo doesn't have a steady floor yet, but the practice circles have good footing."

It's not the training fields of Lotus Pier, but that can hardly be helped.

"I'm sure I warned you that I'm a bad student," she replies back, cheerfully following Wei Wuxian to the practice circles. "If I liked the subject, I always had the bad habit of reading ahead."

If she didn't like the subject, she was just as likely not in class.

"But in this case, I hardly even speak the language," she chuckles, shaking out her feet and hands like she would before her usual training, running her fingers back through her hair to keep it out of her eyes. "so I am happy to be led."

"You'll have plenty of time to learn all the details you wish." Wei Ying assures her - sure, she'll never be a master, a non-cultivator starting well after childhood, but enough to not make a complete mess of it. "But we start with the basics - without a good foundation, how can you expect to build any skills?"

Edited 2021-10-25 02:39 (UTC)

"Or build anything at all?" she chuckles. Rae will happily learn, and get all the good she can from the lessons. "However far one gets, everyone starts at the beginning."

"Right!" Wei Ying grins, offering the lighter of the two practice swords to Rae. "As they say, the best time to begin training is when you are a child. The second best time is now, yes?"

Some ideas are multiversal.

"'No time like the present,'" she agrees with a grin, accepting the practice sword and testing its heft and balance. It doesn't seem very heavy, but the baker is sure that with many repetitions of unfamiliar motions her arm will be sore later.

Just a little pressure on one's understood boundaries.

"How do we start?"

"If you'll follow me..." Wei Ying launches into a slow explanation and demonstration of the most basic of Yunmeng Jiang's patterns, the one he once taught to children, forever and a lifetime ago.

Step-step-parry-thrust, it's as bare-bones as it gets, but it's the cornerstone of everything that comes after. Wei Ying is patient and methodical in how he goes over it, accepting that mistakes will be made, but not accepting that they will be allowed to continue.

Sunshine nods, and readies herself.

Going through the steps under his direction, she mimics his stance and motions as closely as she can. She is mindful that corrections have a purpose, and whenever some adjustment is made she echoes the individual motion once or twice with the adjustment in mind so she can feel the difference.

Wei Ying keeps pace, his movements fluid. He's been working hard since he's taken over management of this body, and while there's still a ways to go, at least he's regained some of his old grace.

Power will come with time. He hopes.

If Sunshine was one of his shimeis from years ago, this session would be likely to go on for hours. Thankfully, he's not looking to hold all and sundry to that sort of standard.

Sunshine is light on her feet and moves well. She has fighting experience of her own, if not any experience with a sword or how to wield it. She came into this expecting to dedicate a block of time to it, so she will keep up as long as Wei Wuxian wants to teach. Though, occasionally she will ask questions or for clarification where she is unsure (or wants to give her arm a few moments' rest).

Eventually, though, the fact that she had already been up and physically active for a good long while before beginning new and unfamiliar physical training starts to catch up with her. The golden net set into her skin and hair begins to glimmer faintly as her energy starts to ebb, picking up the slack.

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