[Squire Dormitory] Dinner for Squires (Squires Only)

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Season of Spring, Day 52, 511 AV

It was the end of another long day of hard work and training, and as such most of the Squires were back in the dormitory for the night. Despite the effort and time they had put in a great many of the Squires were still plenty energetic, and the suites and dinning halls were filled with loud and lively conversation. Over it all presided the Chaperons, who acted as the major source of parental figures for the group that mostly consisted of teenagers.

In one of those dinning halls Jaelyn was just sitting down with the forty-odd Squires that she was sharing tonight's meal with. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the one of the other group of squires joining the ones she lived with happened to include Dimitri tonight. Giving her fellow Squire a small smile and a wave of her hand she took her seat on the bench in front of the table and waited for the others to be seated so the meal could begin.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri left his dorm to head to dinner with his other roommates. He made sure to knock on the doors in the rest of his suite as well. As his group left, he saw how all of them simply enjoyed the life of a squire. But... They lacked a certain passion for it, it seemed. Some of the older ones like himself still acted childishly more often than not. He knew he himself used to be carefree and completely enjoyed every breath he took as a squire. But, now, it seemed as if... As if the child inside of him was no more. He was nearing Knighthood, but had no clue as to what kind of Knight he wished to be. Honorable, of course. Chivalrous, definitely. Orderly and righteous, a given. But what did he want to do with his life as a Knight? He would do whatever duty he was assigned, but he had no desire to be a gate guard or a town patrolman. He wanted to get out of the walls and see the world, while growing as a Knight, and somehow helping his city out.

He pondered on the things he loved about the world he barely knew. He loved revelry in combat, and as a Knight there would be plenty a fair share of that. He loved women, though, he hated himself for being attracted to more than a single woman. He needed to find that one woman who could reign him in and live with him being a Knight. He loved his city but he also loved escaping it's massive walls. He knew of many other towns out there, and wanted to visit them all. He loved the camaraderie of his fellow squires and even the Knights.

He then turned to the things he wanted to change. While Dimitri wasn't too familiar with the Black Sun or with Ravok, he despised them as slave keepers. Humans needed to have a choice to be free, then choose to follow the light, the dark, or the line in-between. He hoped his skills could be put to use not only in Ravok but among all of Mizahar to end slavery. He also hated the idea of people starving. The world had many methods of food making, but places like Zeltiva still had food shortages. But there was his one hate as well. Could he be hatefilled knight? He needed to find away to purge these feelings.

Dimitri saw Jaelyn seated at the dining table. He smiled at her and hoped he looked presentable. His sandy blonde hair was swept behind his ears. He was at least somewhat clean today. He wore his white shirt, the upper buttons opened some showing off hints of his toned chest. It was tucked in tightly into his loose leather breeches. His shirt allowed one to see th musculature on his young adult frame. His booted were always an interesting point for him. He preferred the soft floppy learnfare boots when not in training. The tonge of the boots were flopped forward. He smiled at Jaelyn and walked over and sat on her right. "Hey there Jae, another fine time to bump into each other eh?" He knew that being in separate suite they rarely had th opportunity to dine together.

[Gareth Brock]

A coif clinked to the ground beside the bed, and a chain hauberk then plopped down on top of it. Gareth gave a relieved sigh and then began to struggle with getting the quilted gambeson over his head. The sweaty jacket soon smothered the other pieces of chainmail. For the most part, Squire Gareth's side of the dorm was uniformly tidy. It wasn't that he liked keeping things neat, but it was just how he was raised. Knightly parent figures tended to instill these sorts of things in children as a matter of course. But, for now, that armor could clutter up the place a bit.

Several fresh welts showed on the squire's bare chest and left arm. Blunt swords may not draw blood, but they could still hurt plenty. Tomorrow would likely see him with a similar collection of wounds. They were lessons, and ones that the young man did not hate his teacher for imparting. It was just part of the job. As a farmer had to deal with dirt or a barkeep had to deal with drunks, so did a squire have to deal with bruises. It was difficult to complain about it after every day for years of the same thing. And after all, one day he would be a knight and some villain would try to give him more than a few bruises.

Gareth rooted about a chest at the foot of his bed and pulled out a fresh shirt and some pants to slip into. After he was dressed, he went to a peg on the wall and retrieved the fur cloak that hung there. The white fur sat on his shoulders and seemed to make them broader than they actually were. The quality fabric, embroidered expertly with galloping red stallions, complimented his blonde hair. The clean grey shirt and dark pants suddenly seemed to match. He looked pretty.

His suite's dining hall was reached quickly, one could have just followed the noise if they ever got lost. The bustle of moving people, varying in age and race, had long ago ceased to amaze or give him pause. After collecting his own meal, he picked a table that seemed to best match his own age and sat his dining tray down at an empty spot.

"Hello everyone." He said, sweeping his cloak out behind him as he sat on the bench. Jaelyn and Dimitri were not immediately recognized, though he had likely seen them before in passing since they shared a dinner time. Sating his hunger was his main concern that moment, anyhow.

[Markus Andres]

Markus unbuckled his belt and put his grandfather's sword on its special place in his dorm. Markus removed his armor piece by piece, he finally removed his shirt. He looked down at his left arm. Looked at the many colored bruises going up and down his arm. Thinking that his arm could be mistaken for an Akalak's if the colors had been a bit more consistent. Markus splashed some water in his face and continued to clean his face from the days ordeals. Several chimes later, when he was clean and dry, he began dressing for the evening's dinner. Finding some simple dark blue clothes. Making sure that his sleeves didn't cover the bruises completely. Showing just enough to peek their curiosity, giving him the opportunity to show the rest of his arm. Markus smiled and left his dorm room. Headed down for the dining suite and picked up his meal. Stopping to look around for somewhere he could sit down. He saw an empty place next to a blond squire and sat down on the squire's right side. "Hey guys" Markus said with a smile to the people at the table before his gaze fell on the blond guy next to the female squire. There was something familiar about the boy. Something with a tower shield. "You shouldn't happen to use a tower shield?" Markus asked Dimitri.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Jaelyn quirked an eyebrow slightly at Dimitri's shortening of her name, but she still smiled politely at him as he sat next to her, "Yes, it is nice to see you again Dimitri. How was your training today?"

As other Squires sat and gave their greetings Jaelyn gave a soft smile and polite nod to each of them. She did not personally know any of them, but they were all Squires like her and Dimitri, and so that was reason enough for her to be friendly and polite to them.

Seeing that the table was now occupied, and so there would be no further need for polite acknowledgements, Jaelyn took a moment to bow her head and offer a silent prayer of thanks to Bala, for her part in helping to provide them all with food.

After her moment of silence she began eating her own food, but listened with half an ear as another Squire asked if Dimitri used a tower shield. She was certainly well aware of the shield Dimitri used, and so she was a bit curious to see if the other Squire had faced in a spar unknowingly.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri glanced at the man who asked. His voice sounding rather familiar. He thought back to his many sparring matches seeking a memory. Dimitri attempted to judge the size and strength of the man by physical appearance, but that voice was the key. As he scrutinized, it hit him like lightning. "Yes, and you use the heater shield correct?"

He turned to Jaelyn, smiling softly at her, "Well Ser Adamal had some... Unique training ideas for me today. He had me switch sword and shield arms then spar against him out in the sands on the beach, in full armor. I was constantly sinking in the sand, using the wrong arm instinctively. He left quite a few bruises on me today. How about yourself?"

He looked up at the white fur cloaked man. He didn't know his name but knew he had sparred with him before. During a thunderstorm, a very strange setting for a very well played sparring. He had learned alot about fighting in the elements then. Would probably save his life one day. He took a bit of his gruel and bread and munched on it, not enjoying the taste but knew he needed it.

[Lucas Arias]

Just like most of his fellow squires, Lucas‘ day had been full of hard work. Now that his knighthood was only another year away, his knight made him work ten times as hard in a desperate attempt to make up for the years of neglect. The redhead’s behind was sore because he’d spent half the day in the saddle, his lip was bleeding and swollen, and he had been sweating so much that he was surprised that his fellow squires didn’t just run away. He stank – worse than a slave in Sunberth (and those probably never washed). Because he couldn’t stand his own smell and generally felt awful, he’d washed himself very quickly and changed into a fresh set of clothes before he joined the other squires for dinner. Normally he would have ventured into the city after dinner, looking to cause a bit of mischief, but today he was just too tired and wanted nothing more than a warm meal and a pleasant conversation. He also wanted the chaperones to be gone – even in his exhausted state they were getting on his nerves – but that probably wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. He’d spent the last bit of the sleeping potion he’d bought from a travelling merchant half a month ago and he wouldn’t be able to afford a new dose anytime soon. Since he was in the mood for company tonight, he chose a seat close to Jaelyn, Dimitri and the others. „Good evening“, he greeted them. He took his glass and emptied it in one go because he was so thirsty, pretending that it was strong liquor rather than juice, and then he began to poke his food with his fork. „Do you ever wonder where our food comes form?“ he wanted to know. He sometimes suspected the chaperones (or whoever else was reponsible for the food) of serving the squires poison or dead rats or human body parts when they were in a bad mood.

[Markus Andres]

"Yes, I use a heater shield, not so uncommon around here. But we had an interesting spar a while ago." He said with a grin and a wink to the blonde squire before shifting his attention to his food. Listening to the conversation with half an ear. The food wasn't perfect, but it was food and the young squire was quite hungry. He was about to down another mouthful of food, when another squire joined them. Had Markus interrupted a bunch of friends? If so, he should just keep his mouth shut, but the squire's question was a well known fact. Markus swallowed the food and turned his face to the squire. "The fields to the south, I'd imagine." Markus replied. "That is where the city gets most of its food from." He said and took another spoonful of food. "Rough day?" Markus asked the newcomer. The blonde boy had talked about training on the beach. Something with alternating hands. Must have been very strange for him to fight with a tower shield on the right arm.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Listening to the brief exchange between Dimitri and the other Squire Jaelyn guessed that the two had sparred at some point. Judging by their words it had been a decent spar, and if this other Squire could spar equally with Dimitri then it would be interesting to possibly spar against him some time.

"It is no wonder you are so versatile Dimitri," Jaelyn said with a soft smile to her fellow Squire, "It sound like it would be very difficult, but I bet you learned a lot. I spent most of the day riding. Not as exciting as your training, but something I need to work on to become ready for my Quest."

She heard the other Squires talking, the one that had sparred with Dimitri answering the question of another Squire who was most likely new. Honestly her attention was mostly on Dimitri however. She had been wondering lately if perhaps he had feelings... greater than friendship about her. He had been so very kind the last time they had trained together. She felt she should talk to him about it, but here at dinner was not the best place.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri noticed the newest squire arrive. He'd seen him before but couldn't recall if they'd spoken or not. He gave him a polite nod and greeting before turning back to the others. "Also squires and even Knights can sell spoils of their hunts ms fishing expeditions to the kitchens. I brought a tasty looking rainbow scaled fish I caught from a small pond for a few coin. I didn't even get to be one of the ones to eat it, but they showed me how to scale and dress it too." He turned to Jaelyn and his eyes danced over the feminine features of her face, his mouth twisting into a slight smile. Her eyes were always kind and bright, her mouth often in a shining smile. He didn't know why but he was beginning to think less of her as a sister within the order and more like the beautiful, capable woman he saw now. "It was and I did. You'd be surprised at how quickly you wear out when on sand. And riding is... Tricky, I believe I've got a decent grasp on it now but there's always room for improvement. I could ride with you sometime, for the sake of just riding, if you'd like?" His smile continued to grow, perhaps Jaelyn would let her guard down, that around the emotional, womanly side, that Knights are trained to suppress. He would love to get to know her better, for her to get to know him better. He looked to Markus, "Have you tried any other weapons training apart from sword and shield?"