Late for first lesson (Faval)

[Nai'shee]

10th of Summer 512AV Zeltiva was shining on the morning sun. Right on the top of the city, ancient building of University rose, throwing giant shadow on houses. City was still asleep, but students began to wake for classes or early homeworks that they haven't don just yet. Place became noisier and noisier. It was warm, perhaps warmer than one might like. Here and there lone place still remained asleep, reminding them how early it was. Despite that, blond girl, obviously still in her teens, one of those who jumped out of lazy picture of school, was still running trough her room in dormitory, trying to get ready. She didn't have classes that early, but she did arrange a class, with the member of association she recently joined. Nai'shee was soon ready to go, but one glance at the clock in corridor told her she was already late. Back yard she was supposed to meet her teacher at, was close to dormitory. She greeted few acquaintances on her way, clumsily avoiding students who were mostly in rush to somewhere or in groups. She thought weather was nice today. Bright sun didn't bother her much, nor did the cold weather. She was used to everything by now. She didn't even realize how strong she might was, compared to some people who spent all winters in their warm houses dreaming about spring. "Good morning, Professor!", she grated Professor Stonemiller when she met him in the yard. He just nodded, in rush himself. She felt bad for being late to her first class and wondered what type of person was her teacher. She only knew his name was Faval. It was funny to imagine him, but she was sure real person would be none of here images, representing an old man in green suit, Vantha dressed in black, young Knight... Well, she was about to find out.

[Faval]

Faval, probably more so than his to be student, was dreading this educational adventure. Not because whatever the girl wanted to learn how to avoid detection for was probably something he found morally unacceptable or that he had never really taught anyone or even been taught his skills in stealth, so he had absolutely no example to use to try and impart the knowledge, but because he had to go to the university. He had been doing such a good job of avoiding this place too. Being illiterate in the academia capital of the world was insulting and trying enough. The weird looks he got, the pitied eyes, the general lack of appreciation that followed were all things he had grown to detest. Actually going in to the heart of the aforementioned academia capital of the world felt like everything around him was glaring condescendingly at him. Not to mention the place had plenty of books, Faval was terrified of books. They were almost as terrifying as road signs, which thankfully enough the university was riddled with. Faval had no idea how to read the maps or the signs that sent him off to wherever he was supposed to meet the girl he was teaching and had he not gotten there three hours early, as he always had to compensate for ignorance with overbearing dedication and time, he would probably still be wandering around campus. After awhile, waking up at times which most would still consider yesterday night became rather easy.

Faval, who had spent the greater part of the last two hours sitting in what he sincerely hoped was the “back yard” he was supposed to be at, gently picked at the grass beneath him. It was easily the most fascinating thing about this place, it wasn’t often that you felt grass like this. In fact, in a lot of places in Zeltiva, namely where he grew up, there wasn’t grass at all, much less the soft kind like this. Being surrounded by just dirt and stone his whole life had caused him to appreciate the little things like grass and the two hours he spent waiting went by amazingly fast simply because he was having so much fun enjoying something so simple. The young man’s ears perked up slightly as he heard a voice calling from not far away, saying hello to a professor who was on the other side of the yard. He did not know much about the girl he was to be instructing and to be fair, he wasn’t even explicitly told that she was a girl. All the information he was given was that his student’s name was Nai’shee, which cause Faval to assume she was female which tended to be dangerous more often than not, that he would be teaching stealth techniques and that the meeting place was the University’s “Back yard.” Faval, who didn’t look all that much older than the girl who entered the clearing and dressed in a rather plain looking set of clothes, would not be the first person she would assume was her educator. Gently picking himself up and off the grass he had grown to love rather dearly, Faval turned toward the girl and spoke in a rather soft tone.

“Nai’shee?”

[Nai'shee]

As Nai'shee approached back yard she slowed down, looking. The place was full of memories for her. As a kid, and as a thief, she often sought shelter from trouble here. At the other side of the wall, little further from here, behind one of the towers stood high wall and behind it there was slant tree, old but firm. She would climb it and jump over the wall. It sounded silly that University could be so easy to enter for a child, but she was no ordinary child. She always used Flux to jump from the tree to the wall and it wasn't easy to get down from the wall without getting hurt. However, it was kind of reckless from whoever was in charge for security to leave that tree there. She would report it, but it could actually still serve it's purpose to her. Also, this back yard was the place she met her first Ethaefal and one of rare true friends from childhood. He was student here back then. She also used to train unarmed combat right here in this yard. She wasn't a student, but nobody ever kicked her out for some reason. However, now she was supposed to search for her teacher. She made it obvious that she was confused and searching for someone, hoping that that someone would notice her. She seemed even more confused than she actually was. Just then it popped to her head to think about excuse for being late. She couldn't think of anything, since she was obviously living at University and first classes didn't begin just yet. She decided to only share a reason, not excuse too, when she heard soft, unsure voice calling up for her. She turned to it's direction to face a guy, approximately her age, with messy dirty blond hair, dressed in dark gray tone. "Yes", she replied quickly, to end the awkward silence, "Faval, I assume?". She waited for reply to add that it was nice to meet him. She surpassed a smile comparing him to one of her imagination products. He didn't seem like someone who would teach her stealth at all. Still, it was the point of stealth, wasn't it? To seem innocent. He seemed a little anxious around here and Nai'shee wondered what could his worry be.

[Faval]

Faval glared at her for a few moments, sizing up what he could about her as she responded to him and trying rather hard not to notice that she was pretty cute. His staring probably did not help the awkwardness probably worked as a good substitute for any actual punishment for being late, but Faval already felt awkward just by being here, a place he very much so did not belong. A few moments later that felt like an eternity, Faval finally blinked and nodded his head in clarification as the girl asked if he was who she was stuck learning from. With a gentle sigh, Faval sank back down on to the grass that had done such a wonderful job of keeping him calm for the past couple of hours before gently patting his open palm on the ground next to him, motioning for the girl to come sit down and enjoy the grass as he was. Faval’s eyes trailed up toward the top of the expansive university as he took in the grandeur of being this close to it. For the majority of his life, he had always looked the building from a distance, often times a large distance. Being able to appreciate being this close to it was rather special to Faval, even if it seemed completely inconsequential to everyone else around him.

Disregarding whether or not the girl had followed his directions and sat down beside him, Faval proceeded with his plan to start her off. He had very little experience teaching, but there was always something you needed to ask yourself when you were trying to hide from someone or in general, avoid detection. Faval’s bare toes gently played with the soft grass beneath them as he struggled to find the right way to impart this knowledge on to Nai’shee and considering she was a student at a university, a place of learning, Faval felt a lot of pressure to perform well. The girl was surrounded by great teachers; presumably, all the time and Faval had enough inadequacy issues already. After waiting a few moments, the boy turned to Nai’shee, wherever she may be and spoke the words that had taken him so long to formulate in the same soft tone that he had spoken in before.

“You wanted to learn how to avoid getting caught, so we’ll start at the very beginning. If you don’t want someone to catch you, what is the most important thing you must know? “How to be invisible” is not the correct answer, in case you were wondering.”

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee noticed Faval's stun with smile pride. Again, she surpassed a smile. Luckily, he didn't even ask for explanation about her being late. She didn't want to bring topic up, but he was honestly one of the calmest person she knew, being able to wait here for... how much was she late anyways? It was a while. And he didn't say anything. She followed his example and sat on the ground, crossing her legs. She was quiet for first few moments of silence, wondering if he was thinking about lesson or something else. She felt a little anxious, she didn't want to interrupt him if he was thinking how to formulate his lesson, but she was dying to speak. She didn't babble since yesterday. His introduction to topic was a bit annoying, but she had to admit she would say the same. Or at least something like that. What she really wanted were concrete techniques, but she knew she was always sticking to practice and she wanted to hear the theoretical part once in her life. There's no book on stealth and she wanted to know theory this time, so she listened patiently and tried to memorize any advices he would give her.

[Faval]

Faval turned his head slightly to watch the girl after he asked his question and was rather surprised by her response. Did she realize he had asked a question? Were students not allowed to speak during their classes here? Faval waited a few more moments for her to respond and when he got nothing but her apparently driven and silent focus. Faval, suppressing a laugh, couldn’t help but smile warmly at the girl’s reaction. Maybe the teachers here really didn’t let their students answer questions, maybe they just talked forever or just handed out papers and expected their students to read what they were supposed to be teaching. Faval’s warm smile didn’t leave his face as he spoke once more to the girl, clarifying what he meant for her to do.

“You’re allowed to speak, Nai’shee. Stealth isn’t a skill learned simply by listening to others talk. You need to participate and you need to relax. Don’t concentrate so hard, you’ll hurt yourself. Just enjoy a conversation and understand what I’m saying.”

Faval turned his grin away from the girl and back up to the top of the university, returning to enjoying being so close to it as he thought of what next to say to get her to lighten up a bit and not be so serious. If you’re too rigid and focused while you’re sneaking around, you’re more likely to be caught. You need to be light, fluid, and relaxed, like you belong there. Like you’re not out of place at all, that’s how you need to survive.

“The most important part of successfully avoiding notice is to know your surroundings, namely the people and objects around you and what the people who mean to find you are looking for. You need to know guard patterns, staff routines, indigenous wildlife, and most importantly, what all these people want to protect. Information is more important than any technique I will teach you today and no amount of silent movement or stunning acrobatics are ever going to save you more than going in with all the cards. Now, we’ll start off with a simple enough exercise. Pick someone you know and imagine that you’ve wronged them in some way and that they are out for vengeance. You’re not looking for any sort of confrontation, so you want to avoid detection. How would you avoid your pursuer? Think of their patterns, their tendencies, think of what they know and how they would use it to try and catch you, and then think of how you should use that against them.”

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee laughed. It took her few moments to stop, realizing that she couldn't seem more retarded to this guy. First she was hours late, than she acted like a well behaved student and now she couldn't stop laughing. But she couldn't help it, image of her as obeying student listening to her classes quietly was too unimaginable. "Sorry, it's not that. I'm actually not complete novice with stealth, I just happened to need it more recently, and since I'm not the type to study, but just use something practically, I thought lessons on it would help me improve it a lot, since I could pull off new patterns to use. Anyways, I hoped you would just continue from initial speech." She got her babble out, so she got herself in hyperactive mood again. He listened to Faval realizing that she never actually cared about those things. Her strategies were always: do it at night, use Flux to run, hide, trick them, run away. They were pretty useful, but she knew they were kind of sloppy and that they would never pass during the day, let alone if she intended to become a spy. She was able to really trick less intelligent targets or people she knew somehow, observed for a while. But any of her improvisations always held huge risk of being spotted and she wanted to change his mind course and think of strategies with less holes. And Faval seemed like the best person to explain it to her. She never really thought about those things. She'll examine guards' schedules as soon as she gets her chance, that's step one. She had hard time thinking of a person, in the first place. Some choices were unable to harm her in any way and she would get away with anything with them, others she didn't even try to imagine wanting revenge, while some choices knew her better than she knew them. She knew Faval would say to go with that, but she also knew she would give up that case immediately and run away. However, she sought person she barely knew, but still knew enough for exercise. She thought of Trente, but it would just be silly to go with person who basically organized this classes to them. She also didn't want to reveal his and her own weaknesses, especially against each other. Few more other persons gone trough her mind, but she couldn't decide for any. Tock wouldn't be any problem to hide from, she is too careless anyways, Lyam was just caring and kind person and she didn't know much about him, and he didn't know anything about her. Or at least she still thought so. Kaeson wouldn't work either. Why the hell did he kept keeping distances with all those people? "Hm, I found the person, but I must say he isn't the best choice. We know few things about each other, but barely know each other emotionally. He wouldn't assume what would I do, neither the opposite. I don't know, some persons are useless for this, some are impossible and I don't wanna talk about few. I actually wouldn't want to talk about anybody. You see, with this conversation I'm about to tell you every ability, secret and psychical thing I know about some person. I just met you and I'm not sure should I. Can we think of a person or something?" Now she thought it will be really fun to think of fictional character she'll battle with. She already imagined a book about it. But she knew they had to keep it realistic, so she crashed back on ground, waiting for the response. In process, she decided to name the person Tix. She didn't know anybody with that name, it was just first thing that popped into her mind. Or some cool nickname, perhaps? What was she thinking about? Good thing that she didn't say all that out loud.

[Faval]

Faval was caught off guard by the sudden outburst of laughter, but couldn’t help but smile at it. It was infinitely preferable to the silence she had met him with earlier, even if it was pretty hysterical and bordered on lunacy. The girl’s laughter was soon cut off by her explaining herself and Faval, much like she did before, listened very attentively as she explained herself. It was reassuring in a way, it was nice to know that the girl wasn’t so far an opposite of him that he had no way to get through to her. At least they had something in common to build upon. Faval watched her quietly for a few moments before turning his attention back to the grass as the girl thought about the activity set before her while Faval himself continued to play with the grass, holding a childish infatuation with it as he waited for the girl to finishing exploring her own thoughts and mapping out who her would be pursuer would be. Faval’s toes stopped milling the blades beneath them for a moment as the girl spoke up again, causing Faval to turn back to her and this time, failing to suppress the laugh entirely. A small chuckle escaped him after she finished speaking as he turned back to the grass.

“Nai’shee, I don’t remember asking you to tell me about it. I just wanted you to think about it to practice studying important things like this. I don’t want to make you paranoid, but you never know when you might need to escape an unhealthy situation and knowing as much about the people around you as possible is crucial to that. No amount of skill or talent will save you more than solid planning. But you do have a good idea; that will be a fun exercise. First, we’ll do a different one and then we’ll jump in to creating this nefarious imaginary pursuer.”

Faval closed his eyes and played back a mental picture in his head of everything he had to steal food from as a child until he found a suitable stand in the back of his memories. Faval remembered these all in vivid detail, which was impressive considering he couldn’t remember where he set his bow the previous morning, but these were all so frightening to a young boy that it was hard not to remember them in crystal clear detail. With his eyes still closed, Faval began reciting facts about one of his first thefts of food. Not being much of a thief, he had gotten caught in the act, but he had still managed to successfully escape and hide away.

“Corner stand, fruit salesman, owner is in his early forties, has gone to the bathroom eight times in the last two hours. He leaves to relieve himself every thirteen minutes, almost like clockwork and remains in the bathroom for three. The street is busy and there are two guards posted in the middle of either street that meet at the corner stand and one directly at the corner, each are tall and muscular and each looks rather intimidating. What is the best course of action for successfully stealing five apples and avoiding detection from either the shopkeeper or the guards?”

Faval opened his eyes and turned his attention back to Nai’shee, an uneasy smile on his face.”

“Give me a passable answer for that and we’ll create an imaginary adversary for you.”

[Nai'shee]

"Oh! Yeah, you did not. It would be a great exercise for later." She went a bit airy thinking about it again, but determined to leave that for later, she went back to present moment, concentrating on Faval. He might be her teacher, but she reminded herself that the fact he was skilled in stealth might also make him her co-worker. So, while he closed his eyes to think she shortly observed him. She couldn't find traces of weapons, but they were not important anyways. And he wouldn't bring them here. He didn't have any visible traces of bad life, but neither did she. Except for constantly wearing sailor clothes even if it didn't make any sense. "Well, obviously I would have to act while salesman is in the bathroom, which means I have three minutes. It should be timed with guards looking away. If they are-", she remained quiet, moving her fingers among the ground, imagining the map with streets. "I think I would have most chances when they walk from the corner to the middle of the street. I should wait for them not to be in area to hear me take apples or something. But that must happen within two of three minutes or something, just in case." She shrugged. That would be her plan, simple as that. Plan B would be climb a roof and run using Flux as far as you can, but that was always there if she failed at stealth. OOCSorry for the delay, explanation in signature..

[Faval]

Faval couldn’t successfully stifle a chuckle as she detailed her plan. It was the same mistake he first made in his daring theft attempt. She focused so much on the facts that she didn’t see the obvious one. The simple answer was often the correct one and often times, the simple answer was the safest too. While it was certainly possible to perfectly time the salesman’s bladder with the guards looking the other way or being otherwise preoccupied, but that required lots and lots of luck. Luck was not something that was wise to completely rely upon. A little bit of luck was necessary, as nothing is ever perfect, but there were simply too many variables in Nai’shee’s plan that needed to go exactly according to plan for her to get out undetected without causing a large hoopla and given that she was stealing food, she didn’t want to cause a scene. A scene meant they were looking for a thief, what happens when she gets hungry again? Faval smiled warmly at her before “grading” her answer.

“You’re on the right track, Nai’shee, but you are trying to factor in too many variables instead of focusing on one or two and exploiting them. In your plan, you need to move not only while the salesman is emptying his bladder, but also while the guards are all conveniently looking the other way or otherwise occupied and while not impossible, it’s highly unlikely and would require a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of running away. Luck isn’t something we always have so we have to exploit things we can control to the best of our abilities. For instance, you were right; you do obviously have to move while the salesman is away, but the guards noticing you is something you have very limited control over. So instead of trying to force a situation that you have little control over, use something that already exists. For instance, you know the guards are tall, tall enough to be worth noting as tall at the very least. Consequently, their eye line is going to be high. You’re what, about one hundred and seventy centimeters tall round abouts? Apple stands generally aren’t that high and are slanted down to show off all the merchandise, so it’s possible to get low, maybe even crawl if you’re deft enough to not bump anyone, and use the busy street as cover to the point where the guards can’t even see you if they were looking right at you. Then just leave, preferably still low. Your environment is just as important to track as your opponent. Do you understand what I said or did I lose you?”