Flashback Spilled Ink

[Noric Sidhe]

12th Day of Spring, 493 AV The Sidhe Family Apartment "No, Noric, not like that. You're pressing too hard with your quill. You'll end up breaking it if you keep going." Fallin hovered behind the two Sidhe twins' chairs, an ever present stern wall of flesh. Noric relieved some of the pressure on his paper. Both he and his brother had their tongues stuck out in concentration. They were writing with the exact same technique with the same angle to their papers and quills, and yet their handwriting was as different as night and day. Noric's was deliberate and straight, with a little flourish to the letters. His brother's penmanship was scratchy and sharp. Their speeds were also different. It took Noric twice as long to write the same sentence as Allinol, but the results looked finer. "When you're finished with your paragraph stop and I'll check your work." Allinol of course finished first and dropped his quill into its ink vial. Noric leaned closer to his paper and carefully looped an l before hurriedly finishing the last few words. "Done!" Fallin leaned down between the boys to examine their papers. An ominous "Hmmm" rumbled in his throat as he picked the sheets up and walked away to sit in his chair by the hearth. The brothers glanced at either, white faced and expectant. "What did you write?" Noric asked. Allinol made a quick face. "I wrote the same thing as you, stupid!" Noric scowled and punched his brother in the arm. The receiving punch he got back was much harder. He hissed through his teeth and covered his arm. It was likely to bruise. "I never hit you that hard!" His brother grinned like a wolf. "Cuz' you can't." Noric huffed and looked back at their uncle, deep in thought. "Yeah I can. I just don't want to break you in half," he grumbled to himself. Apparently Allinol heard anyway. He gave another punch, right in the same spot. Noric bit down on the shout that nearly burst out of his mouth. "Be nice, you two. I don't want to have to separate you," Fallin said absently from his place by the fire. Both boys jumped and looked at each other guiltily, shrugging at one another. A silent apology and all was again normal. Another ominous "Hmmm" pulled their attention back to their uncle. They peered over the backs of their chairs like hounds sighting a rabbit, waiting expectantly. Finally he spoke again. "I guess there has been some improvement." He stood and returned the papers to their respective owners. Both boys smiled up at him with the brilliance of miniature suns. He couldn't help but smile back. The fine wrinkles on his face deepened as his mouth split, and yet it made him look years younger. "Allinol, you're writing is still like chicken scratch." The mood was ruined. "You need to be more careful and not just slop the words down." Allinol nodded and turned back to practice further. "Yes'ir," he grumbled. "And Noric. You're liable to pierce your paper with that quill if you keep stabbing so hard. You'll go right through the desk and into the floor." He smiled sheepishly and turned to join his brother in practice. "Yes'ir," he mirrored his twins words. Fallin smiled at their backs and left them to their studies, going to sit once more by the fire with a thick book.

[Noric Sidhe]

Noric glanced over at his brother's paper. This time they were writing something different. He was curious of what it was, but his brother's arm was in the way. He looked back at his paper to try and gather some inspiration. His first paragraph read as so. My name is Noric Sidhe. I live in Ravok with my uncle Fallin and twin brother Allinol. We are practicing our writing so that we will be smart men one day. He and his brother were only 9, so anything more complex than that would be a challenge. They weren't working on their grammar and sentence structures, only their letters and penmanship. In depth lessons would come in a few short years, where Fallin would expand their skills to make sure they had a good foundation and broader future when it came time to find work. He was steadily turning pages in his book as they worked, creating a familiar and pleasant atmosphere. Allinol was already at work; his quill scratching ink along the paper with mechanical and quick strikes. Noric held his feather above the blank area underneath their first few sentences. He stared at the parchment, hoping for words to pop out at him. His brother would think he was taking too much time to care about what was written instead of just practicing what they'd sat down to do. Which was true, but Noric was picky and wanted everything he did to be perfect almost to the extent of it being an obsession. A drop of ink fell onto the page with a wet 'Plop'. He gasped and placed the quill into its vial before he tried to wipe the wet spot away. It smeared across the previous work, blurring the carefully sculpted lines of a child's hard labor. He sat and stared at the imperfection, his cheeks flaming with upset. Allinol chuckled and leaned over to look at the disaster. "You try to make everything perfect and then something like that happens!" he whispered loudly. Fallin looked up from his readings and inquired across the room, "Something like what happens?" Noric pushed his brother's face away, leaving inky fingerprints. He smothered a smile and looked back at his page. "Nothing! I just got a little drop of ink on the page. You can barely see it." The fact that his brother had no idea of the ink on his face wiped away the disappoint from his mishap. "Alright then, just be more careful." The soft sound of pages being turned started up again. Noric grabbed his quill once more and carefully started writing, finally knowing what he wanted to put on the page. His smile was ear to ear as his fingers guided the nib over the paper, creating careful letters and eventually sentences. Both he and his brother's quills scratched pleasantly on their surfaces in harmony. With the background noise of fine paper turning, it sounded like what Noric imagined a library to be like. He'd never been to one yet, but he wanted to one day. His uncle had a fine collection of writing equipment and books, most of which he and his brother weren't allowed to handle. A few times of careful scrawling and his paragraph was done. His brother leaned over to try and peer at the work but he quickly shielded the page with his body and slid it further away down the desk. "No peeking!" Allinol made a face but turned back to his own paper, which had been done of course before Noric's. The new paragraph was a little different from the first. He'd tried to add a little flourish to the letters with loops like he was his uncle's writing did. It was a sad attempt. I wiped ink on Allinol's face and he doesn't know it. I might get in trouble because it will be hard to wash off. I don't care because it was worth it. Fallin can't stay mad about it for very long. It all was a grammar expert's nightmare, but good work and practice to a 9 year old.

[Noric Sidhe]

"Shyke!" Noric almost jumped clear out of his chair as his brother shouted the violent curse. His mouth dropped open and he stared in horror at his red faced twin, down to the paper that now had ink spilled all over it, and back to the face again. "What happe-," he tried to ask before Falling was there in the blink of an eye, interrupting them. "What did you just say young man?" His voice was like freezing water dripping into the boys' veins. They both shrunk a little deeper in their chairs, staring up at their uncle with wide eyes. Finally, Allinol was able to find his tongue. "I-I-I-I..." Maybe he hadn't quite found it, but it was a good effort nonetheless. "He didn't mean to!" Noric wished he hadn't said anything the moment the words left his mouth. Fallin looked down at him with eyes like storm clouds. Lighting danced in his pupils and thunder rolled in his voice. "You're not part of this, Noric. Be quiet unless you feel the need to share in your brother's punishment." Allinol glanced at his brother then back to their uncle, as white as a sheep's fleece. Noric interrupted just as Fallin was about to speak again. "It's just a word!" Their irate uncle's voice boomed and he threw his hands up in exasperation. "It's a word that you two are too young to be using yet! Where did you even hear that?" Allinol raised a hand that seemed ten times smaller than normal. "You say it all the time when you go through that book next to your bed." Their uncle blinked and opened his mouth, then closed it again. All the anger was suddenly gone from his face and posture. He frowned and crossed his arms, uncrossed them, and scratched nearly bald head. Premature hair loss was the bane of their uncle's existence. And he couldn't rightly be mad at one of them for using a word they'd only heard him say time and time again. The two of them noticed this change in their uncle and perked up a little, sitting straighter in their chairs. Fallin sighed gustily and threw his hands up again. "Well, I can't punish you now. I'd have to punish myself first." Noric and Allinol smiled at each other with relief, letting out their own sighs. But their uncle held up a finger to get their attention. "Even though I say that word, and probably others as well, that doesn't mean you can. When you're adults you can say whatever you want, but while you live under this roof as children, you will be clean tongues. Understand?" In unison they let him know that they did. Noric was curious now, though. "But why do you curse at that book?" Allinol nodded hopefully and Fallin blushed a little in embarrassment. "It's my ledger. I've always been terrible at math, and I make mistakes in that cursed thing every time I sit down with it." Neither of them understood what that meant, since they didn't really have much of a concept of money yet, but it seemed like an important matter so they acted like they understood. Fallin smiled and plucked up Allinol's paper that was soaked with black ink. "I'll get you a fresh page and you can go back to practicing." Allinol nodded with a toothy smile, and just as their uncle was about to turn away, he had a double take at the boy's face. "How did you get ink all over yourself like that?" Noric covered his mouth to smother a laugh as his brother touched his face. The ink was dry now; the damage already done. Both his brother and uncle looked at Noric at the same time, understanding in their eyes. Their eyebrows were drawn down into deep Vs and they shouted almost at the same time, "What did you do?!" Noric burst into hysterical laughter.

[Verilian]

. . Thread Award . . Name +3 Writing +2 Calligraphy You Question My Logic? : I didn't see any copying there, but if you have any concerns, feel free to PM me. Lores: Proper Writing Techniques, Inking a Brother's Face... Totally Worth It Notes: Cute thread. Keep up the good work! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.