houseofcards_rp | [ota] aggressive normalcy

There's still a lot to learn.

But that's okay. He's starting to feel properly that it's okay. It's okay that he's still getting used to walking with a knife in his boot. It's okay that he's adjusting to which Fives to call by their name and which will all but slap him if he doesn't say 'sir.' It's okay that his greatest visible skill is an incredibly efficient knack for getting paperwork filed and delivered, and that the skill he's been progressing best at is classical piano.

Yes, the man he came here to find is an overwhelming force of nature. Yes, watching his father Challenge to Ten had absolutely sent him, briefly, through half a crisis. But that's okay too.

Because he's here. He's here, and here is the right place to be.

It's the right place to be while he works at filing cabinets. It's the right place to be while he steals mouthfuls in the kitchen and whispers in more comfortable languages than English with other former Outsiders. It's the right place to be while he gets his ass handed to him in the training fields and forces himself back up onto his feet.

And it's the right place to be while he steals out on an afternoon off to just skip rocks over the newly thawed lake. Because it's really nice to know that skipping rocks and throwing knives are both starting to feel equally normal.

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It's different, somehow, than the prickling emotions which could be rationalized away while training or bringing the Ten files. It's purely recreational. It's sharing something in the other direction.

It's got a smile briefly on his lips before he nods and ducks his head.

"It-- You start with finding the right stones. Flat ones."

He'd gathered that part, but it's unnecessary to point out. This is probably a lesson he's learned from talking with Eileen. He just leans down and chooses one.

"Very well. Then?"

He's interested in how the boy holds it, how he makes the throw so it skips over the water instead of sinking beneath it.

And people said Julien wasn't well socialized. Ridiculous.

He does scramble a moment with words before simply twisting his palm up for display. "--fingers."

Index finger on the edge, flat sides held with thumb and middle finger, loose and relaxed.

"You stand with it-- farther away."

Non-dominant foot forward. Modeling is better than explaining, clearly.

It's quite alright, Julien is not always so verbal in teaching either. Better to show, when discussing things that require physical movement. So he just mirrors Aleksei's stance, his thumb circling over the stone a moment, "and then?"

A flick? A toss?

"You sort of--" There's an obvious lag as he can't quite come up with the word in English. His fingers clamp tighter around the stone as he demonstrates a flicking motion. "You want to-- fast? But the spin is more important. Look."

He's got the slightest bit of a wind up, like a baseball pitcher pulling back before stepping into a throw. The stone leaves his hand for three, four skips before dropping below the surface of the water.

Julien watches closely, then follows suit. The stone only skips once before losing its momentum. He frowns slightly. It's been a long time since something that requires hand-eye coordination didn't just come naturally. But this is a different sort of coordination than he's used to.

"Why do you do it?"

And there's that, too.

He shouldn't smile. He shouldn't smile, but he can't stop the expression from flicking just briefly over his lips as he ducks down to pick up another stone to offer over.

"Because it's hard." Apparently 'fun' hadn't been reason enough. "It's something you-- work on a long time, and that... makes it satisfying to improve."

Well, he can at least make approving faces about that as he accepts the stone from Aleksei. "It must feel good to have something you can come back to when you've got everything else to learn about."

That sounds like the voice of experience, even it it's long-past.

Even light approval feels good in the shoulders. It keeps his lips curled up slightly as he ducks down to the stones again.

It also leaves him just a little bold. "What-- did you do?"

"When I first came here?"

He shrugs slightly, skips the stone a little better this time. "I came here knowing how to fight. I spent a lot of time in the practice rooms."

When getting English words right became too difficult. When he couldn't stand the sight of books anymore. When his thighs ached from learning to ride. When he wanted to make sure all those people who looked at him out the corners of their eyes for the way he'd taken his rank in the Deck knew that he was no one to be trifled with.

It's a small sort of sharing. It's something he could have guessed.

It still feels nice somewhere in his chest as he throws another stone along the surface of the water.

"Probably-- more useful than rocks."

Julien shrugs slightly, picks up a stone and tosses it up and down a bit in his palm. "There's a use for everything, just about."

Probably now isn't the time to mention throwing them at people or anything of that sort.

"And everyone?"

Which is an important question. Which is necessary, really, if he has any hope in being here.

"Everyone," he agrees. "Though sometimes it can be difficult convincing them of that."

Or that their use is something they don't care for. But no one ever said it would be easy.

It might be a rough journey. It might take more effort than initially anticipated to find his place here.

But at least acceptance is something that can be earned. At least it isn't a mad dream to be chasing.

"I'm glad."

It's a slightly unexpected response. Certainly most people aren't glad about anything around him.

"You are?"

"Of course."

It feels like such a given. How could a person be here and not want a purpose?

Julien really doesn't have a very good answer for that. It's easier to just pick up another stone.

"Show me again."

It's a natural moment. A quiet sort of moment he knew other people had with their fathers. Switching back to the language he's been trying to escape is almost unconscious.

"Maty." A stone is caught up and the grip demonstrated again, just for a moment, before he shifts back to release the stone in a fluid motion. "Verhaty."

[*Grip; *Throw]

Perhaps he ought to have corrected Aleksei, considering their conversation about accents.

But he doesn't, he just returns to rock-skipping in peace.

No one would ever believe it of him.

Slipping will only really happen here. Because really, this is a moment apparently removed from time and space and the reality he knows they'll have to go back to soon.

Here, now, there can be the slight sensation of home. Can be enjoyment.

Can be skipping rocks with his father.

[ota] aggressive normalcy

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