houseofcards_rp | [ota] practice

The Ace of Spades is playing with knives again. It must be - no, wait, it could be any day of the week, including Sunday.

"Julien."

She calls her Ace by her first name; why would Julien be any different?

Julien doesn't actually expect everyone to call him Lord Ace so he's unlikely to comment. But he will look at her with something like surprise.

Briony didn't exactly make a habit of seeking him out, after all.

"Briony."

It seemed wise to avoid confrontations as a general rule; Julien had never made any secret which Queen of Spades he admired, after all, and Briony had the misfortune of resembling the other one to a startling degree. Still, some things should be brought to the attention to the Face Cards, even if they weren't her Face Cards.

"Dr. Johnson submitted an order for your infirmary," she says evenly. "I thought you should be made aware of some oddities."

Two things had struck her about Eli Johnson the first time they met: the first was that he was a highly controlled addict. There were some things that couldn't be hidden, after all, and she was a medical professional. No matter what he might think, his problem wasn't unique in the Deck even now.

The second thing that had struck her about Dr. Johnson was that her mother would have liked him very much.

He set down the knife he'd been about to throw and turned to give her his full attention.

"What sort of oddities are those?"

Not that he didn't already consider Johnson something of an odd creature already, anyway.

She just keeps watching him blandly when he finally turns to face her.

"A large amount of painkillers. Vicodin, Oxycontin. Addictive and narcotic. It could have been a particularly bloody quarter at Spade Castle, but..." She shrugs. "It isn't the first time his ordering patterns have been erratic, and you would want to know if there was danger of a relapse."

"Thank you for being so proactive, Miss Williams, it is appreciated."

Look how he managed to refrain from any comment referencing her past here. He's such a good boy sometimes.

He must have an entire tin of biscuits waiting for him in his office. She's absolutely sure of it.

"You're quite welcome, Julien, I assure you."

But if Eli Johnson does ever use her pharmacy to feed his habit again, she's going to practice one of the many things Mommy Dearest taught her.

On him.

Only if she put them there. And if she did, surely she'd understand why he'd leave them for someone else.

"I promise I am assured. Indubitably so."

And if Eli Johnson ever used her pharmacy to feed his habit again and make of himself a liability, Julien would sit back and watch her do so.

"Oh, good. I'd hate for it to be otherwise."

It would be quite the show if Eli did, but in all honesty, Briony didn't expect it to be a problem.

"I'll leave you to your practice then, shall I?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

He'll start to turn back to his knives, then pause and say over his shoulder. "Always a pleasure, Miss Williams. Do consider visiting more often, hm?"

"With your personal invitation, how could I even dream of refusing?"

Have fun with the sharp, pointy objects, Julien.

She hasn't seen Julien about for a bit but that's more her fault than anyone else's. After all she's been around but not all at the same time. So when she finds him on the practice field, she just watches. To be honest she can't recall the last time she saw someone that good at what they did. Especially with knives.

It's something he's done for quite a while now. Knives really are a bit like an extension of his body, extra digits on his hands, that sort of thing. He'd been throwing them since well before he came to the Deck, even and he's been here for quite some time now.

Anyway, eventually he will acknowledge Morgan by looking over his shoulder at her, "is there something I can help you with?"

"No, nothing you can help me with."

There's a bit of a smile on her lips and in those words. She's just enjoying the view is what she's doing. The area itself and what the Ace was doing.

"Just admiring your form."

"I suppose I'll say thank you then, Miss...Evett, isn't it?"

Yes, he did manage to remember that conversation from quite a while ago.

"It is, yes. It's a pleasure to see you again, Julian."

After all he'd told her flat out that it wasn't 'Mr. Julian' and that it was Ace when conducting Deck business.

"So how long have you been doing this? You're rather good at it."

He shrugs, "I first picked up a knife when I was...probably a little younger than the Club Ace."

If Morgan isn't aware that Eileen is twelve, well...that isn't his problem.

"Do you have experience with throwing knives, then?"

No, it isn't his problem if she doesn't know. Though to be honest she doesn't know a thing about Eileen. Which may or may not be a bad thing. However, it's her enemies that she keeps close and she hasn't made any of those yet.

"Not with throwing knives, no."

She did have experience with knives just not that specific type.

"Ever care to pick them up?"

Not that he's actually offering, but he's curious, at least.

Of course he's not. It probably isn't his style to teach but there's no telling with the people around there.

"I think I'd like to pick them up. Be taught how to use them properly."

It'd be something to add to what she already knows.

Slight smile as he goes to retrieve the knives. "I think you'll find many teachers in this Suit."

"Yourself included?" It's asked with a slight smile even if she's sure that's not what he'd been talking about. Surely he hadn't been talking about himself. Right?

"I am not in the habit of taking on students," and, of late, he'd only had two at-all-regular ones, Hadyn and Eileen.

"But I could give you some names."

"Too much hassle?"

Oh, she was pretty sure that he didn't take on students. There's just something about Julien and she can't see him teaching students. They'd drive him crazy.

"Like who?"

"I do have duties to attend to that don't include teaching students, yes," he nods.

And it was less that they'd drive him crazy but likely that people suspect they'd have training accidents if they didn't manage to come up to his level of expectations.

"I can write you down a few names if you like."

[ooc: I don't think there's any current player characters that are specifically teachers in the Spades so I didn't want to call anybody out. :) ]

So this Joker is simply going to sit somewhere behind him and stare for a while, making small 'Oh' and 'Ah' sounds now and then.

It's a pretty cool sight, even for her.

"Forgive me," he says, finally. "I find myself unsure whether you are actually impressed or attempting to make a mockery of me."

One can never be too sure, with Jokers.

"I would probably comment on your technique if I wanted to mock you, Julien."

Oh no she didn't.

"By that I mean, of course, that I was amazed." She added that quickly as she stood. "Makes me want to throw a couple, myself. You truly are...inspiring."

Edited 2012-08-14 23:42 (UTC)

He just raises an eyebrow at her in response. Then steps aside and holds out a knife.

Go for it, Joker.

Well then. "Really now? I truly can't read you at all. Hm." Balancing the knife on top of her index finger, Noel turns to watch the targets.

((ooc: and I need to ask; what kind of targets he's using?))

[regular circular sort?]

"I do hope I haven't become entirely predictable in my old age."

You know, because thirty-five was ancient.

[like the archery ones right?]

"Nah, that's sort of your charm after all."

And with a swift motion out goes the knife; Noel doesn't even turn to aim, as she had been staring at the targets for a while.

It hits slightly over the bullseye.

[Yeah?]

If Julien is impressed or surprised, he has the grace not to show it outwardly. But his lips will quirk up into something like a slight smile at her comment. "I should probably tell someone that, sometime."

The next time Amy groaned when he told her to get to work, perhaps.

[ I, for a minute, thought of people-shaped dummies. ]

She could pretend to seek his approval but the Joker decides not to show weakness. Just silliness.

"Highlight your positive traits, handsome. You won't regret it. Your turn?" And she waves a hand at the targets.

[he has used them before. :) But in this case, I was just picturing pretty standard targets.]

"And here I thought I did that merely by doing them," he commented. You know, because his positive traits ought to be self-evident. Or something.

But he'll take his turn at flinging a knife at the bulls-eye.

"No, man, you need to flaunt it."

There's hip and hair waving along those words.

Noel's next knife actually hits his own, steel resonating all the way back to them.

"I prefer to leave the flaunting to Jokers," and he says that with a flash of teeth that might be a smile as he throws the last knife and there is another sound of steel ringing on steel as it hits home.

"Just gonna go and take that as a compliment." The alternative was a bit scary, perhaps.

She really can do this all day, Julien. That center is going to be unusable later.

Cling!

It was, perhaps, impolite to ask if she had any more knives hidden on her since he'd already exhausted the supply of practice knives before. Besides, it was the rare person familiar with knives on the Deck who didn't carry one or more on their person.

"Perhaps we ought to start a musical trend."

The way the knives were hitting each other and making that nice clinging sound, after all.

"At least we would gather quite the crowd. Knife?"

She had produced four more from the folds of that fancy cloak of hers. Those were, apparently the last ones though. Or were they? At any rate, she wasn't going to show it. Besides, all that weight wasn't convenient if you were prone to acrobatics.

"You know what would be cool? If I throw a knife, and you put one over mine, and I put one over yours. Think you're up to that?"

[ota] practice

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