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Post by demikara on Nov 17, 2019 19:17:10 GMT -6
"No. I just want this over with." She wasn't feeling up to fighting the losing battle today. It was bad enough that she was made to do this everyday. And Tyrus knew if she hadn't done the readings he assigned too, and his stupid pop quizzes meant she had to do more than just skim the pages. She was never going to get done with this at this rate. She also had no clue if she was improving or not so she could be let out of this version of hell. And it was hell.
This was stupid. She hated every second of it. But at least it wasn't being stuck in her rooms with nothing to do but read those stupid books. The guards hadn't been interested in so much as bringing her a deck of cards to play with. So she could study and hope to end this sooner, or she could sleep, or have a meal brought to her and even that was restricted. Everything was restricted and as far as any one else was concerned, she hadn't earned anything at all yet, not even a chance for some sort of entertainment in the cell that was her richly appointed room.
Everything was a privilege and she had earned nothing.
Tyrus was waiting, leaning on one of the four wheelers. He stood up as he saw them. "Welcome back. I'm looking into finding a sparring partner for you soon Scotty. I just need to get one okayed by the king." And that was going to be fun. He had three or four possibilities. "And you to actually behave well enough and use your manners when they arrive." She was also likely to be incredibly insulted. Not one of her partners was over the age of 16. But they were much closer to her skill level at least, and they would already be warned about Scotty's sour disposition.
They had also been warned that she'd try and convince them to help her sneak out. Like that was happening. He had explained it as she was on house arrest with the dragon court, so may try something with them. It had ended up with a handful of kids tangentially connected to the court that wouldn't mind private lessons with him even if it meant time spent with Scotty.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 12:04:50 GMT -6
It was a smart enough choice on Scotty's part, but had taken them some time to get there. Catherine had suspected that the whole thing would be a slog, but she hadn't known how bad it actually would be. It wasn't exactly easy working with family, and especially not a sibling like Scotty. The girl had spent most of her life spoiled and given her way, likely due to her mother having a difficult pregnancy and birth.
Catherine was silent as she turned and deactivated the mirror. Tonight wasn't as cold as the previous nights had been, a result of the strange sometimes subtropic weather of the state. Due to this, neither was as bundled up as they had been previously and instead wore light jackets; although Scotty's would likely be exchanged for the uniform Tyrus demanded for his lessons.
"He'll likely approve whatever you decide on Tyrus, he wants her semi competent after all." And getting her there was going to be a nightmare.
Soon the three fell into the nightly routine of crossing the dark property and arriving at the house to allow for a quick change of gear before heading out to train.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 12:42:34 GMT -6
"I figured as much, but I still err on the side of caution." Though it was nice to be trusted with making decisions. His 'grandfather' didn't treat him like he was a child and he was glad for it. Though he was still young as far as vampires went. Tyrus got changed into his gear as well. 'Working out' with Scotty was hardly a work out at all. It really was more of a warm up. But he did like to make sure he was ready to show her the different moves and combinations he was trying to force into her head.
Scotty started her warm up and Tyrus watched, making certain she wasn't slacking off, but joined Catherine to the side. "Do you think we're getting through to the kid at all?" He was beginning to doubt it, and it was annoying training her when he could be doing anything else at all. At least when he'd had an apprentice, said student wanted to be there. This one was reluctant and a pain in the ass. If Catherine hadn't asked him to, he wouldn't have touched her with a ten foot pole as a student, for anything. He didn't like working with reluctant students. They were hardheaded and idiots who never actually put in the required work. He had found that to be entirely true for Scotty.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 13:52:56 GMT -6
"Always a wise choice." Catherine agreed. Like any vampire of the old nobility, Grigoire was given to whims about certain things; the training of his youngest daughter being one of them. Not only was she expected to defend herself, but she was also expected to know court protocol inside and out. The only reason Catherine's adjustment had been easier was she had been raised in the fae courts as a knight's daughter.
"I'm not sure? To be honest I haven't had much time to check up on her this week." She shrugged. The workouts and warm ups were something that Catherine wasn't terribly enthusiastic about, but did so for the sake of solidarity and in hopes it might provide some encouragement or support for Scotty.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 15:06:55 GMT -6
"I'm hoping so. If I thought she'd practice on her own, I'd cut this down to three times a week." But he doubted she would. "For everyone's sanity. But I don't think she would, so. Every night." Without fail. And it was beginning to wear on him. What Grigore wanted he got though and Tyrus was not about to argue with the head of his line. He was too old and too powerful for him to want to touch.
"I have heard rumors about you by the way. Is it true you've returned to MCU?" That had been a trick and a half. He had been certain she'd stay away. Luckily, the council pages were gossips, or at least one or two were and they were excellent sources of information on what was going on with the council. It was very much how he kept tabs on what the council was up to.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 15:46:12 GMT -6
"She's spoiled, and in the worst possible way." Catherine grumbled as she followed the pair through the next set of exercises. "She has no sibilings from her mother's side, which is to be expected, but also hasn't had to ever work for anything it seems." She added. Her younger sibiling was a pain in the rear and a liability, something she would sooner wash her hands of if Grigoire hadn't put her in such a precarious position. It seemed that she was the only one who Scotty would actually remotely listen to or pay attention to.
"Don't believe everything you hear Tyrus," Catherine quickly admonished the other. The rumor mill was in full swing it appeared, and she suspected that Tyrus was fully pluged into whatever generated half the gossip in the unseen. "The Council sumoned me a week ago to discuss why I had broken probation and why they shouldn't put me back in the insitute." Agathon had been especially nasty about it too, and when she wouldn't rise to taking his invitation to the fight had gotten even nastier. Catherine felt that the man had absolutely no business representing the humans on the Council, but that was a decision that she wasn't privy to when it came to the final say.
"But this time it's on my terms. Eusthious was not pleased from what I can tell." She could have eavesdropped on their decision, but for now was going to play by the rules if they would. She had even agreed to their inane probationary terms, which had turned out to be a formality when all was said and done. They had taken her teaching Tyrus and Scotty the ropes as the remainder of the required community service, given that the later had landed herself in Broadmoore much the same as Catherine had. But the thing that set the two apart was that Catherine was willing to learn to control herself and do what it took to regain the Council's trust. It appeared that she had regained the trust of most of the Councilors, but there were always ones who were eager to look for problems that weren't there.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 15:55:04 GMT -6
"I'm not certain the institute could hold you if you didn't want to be there anyway." That was the problem with powerhouses. They did what they wanted to do. He could make a go of it, but he'd need some time to prepare ahead fo schedule and even then, he wouldn't be comfortable with guaranteeing it. "And nothing pleases Eusthious." Nothing ever pleased the man and they all knew it. He was an absolute menace of a person and Tyrus hated dealing with him. That was a man drunk on his own power.
"I hope it goes a bit better this time. Dallas is a hot mess." And they all knew it. "But it couldn't ask for a better warden." And that was the simple truth. Catherine was well connected, intelligent, and powerful. Frankly, he wouldn't be surprised to see her on the council one day, though he supposed she had been raised for the position. That did make a difference. They were warmed up now though or at least, Scotty was warmed up. The entire night would count as a warm up for Catherine and him.
Scotty kept going, but they finished after a bit longer. She dropped to the ground tired already and lay there like a star fish. "Do we seriously have to do this again?" She whined. She didn't want to be there and they didn't want to be there with her. She could hear them talking, she knew it was true.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 16:18:30 GMT -6
Catherine fell silent after Tyrus mentioned that the institute wouldn't hold her if she didn't allow it. The policies when she had been incarcerated had been much different from those that had been instated by Tyrus after taking over it's day to day operations. "I know you've seen the records Tyrus, they drugged me out of my mind and bound me so tight I was lucky to even be able to function." She finally said, clearly unhappy. Talking about her time in the institute was something that she still didn't take as lightly or casually as the other did. It was still a daily struggle to put what had happened behind her and even attempt to heal from the trauma she had endured at the hands of the guards and staff there.
"I hope it's better this time too. I didn't request Bronson to be moved, when you can get her head out of the clouds she's actually decent at her job." And that was high praise coming from Catherine, someone who had been in the position or worked with MCU in one form or another likely long before the other had even been born. The trouble was getting Molly to calm down and focus, and stop taking offense to everything that she saw as a slight to her age or height.
"Yes Scotty... keep moving." Catherine said pointedly to the young woman. "Speed and agility drills are next, then we'll work with Tyrus on the psionics." And the mage seemed to take great delight at tossing anything he could at Scotty and Catherine. It was two distinct levels of skill, an absolute beginner to someone who was much more advanced.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 16:29:04 GMT -6
"We no longer do that." He was firm on that one. "I don't allow it to occur. There are kinder ways." And his spells could contain most very well. It was Catherine and her abilities he wasn't sure of containing. "And I'm impressed you didn't ask for Bronson to be moved. She's a bit of a trouble maker isn't she?" She was a fae child and all the baggage that came with that. Including a taste for mischief that Tyrus did not appreciate. At least he was no longer a contractor. That would help a great deal with avoiding her pranks.
They moved into speed and agility drills and Tyrus actually put himself through a workout on this one. He was so used to being the human in the room that this was something he tended to focus on. The fact that he could do it significantly faster than he used to continued to delight him, but he knew there was a need for control here as well. The change had meant re-learning all his baselines and pushing himself to regain control of his body once more.
Scotty groaned and got up, then began the drills. They were her least favorite part of all. At least when she practiced fighting she got to hit something. With the drills it was more like she had no choice but to be breathless the entire time. And the second she caught her breath, Tyrus or Catherine would call her out on it. The drills moved by quickly at least, which meant psionics.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 16:41:19 GMT -6
"Bronson is a ward breaker, that isn't something I know how to do." Catherine explained simply. Her education outside of the laws and a few specialized skills was limited. Most of what she knew was based on soft skills that didn't require the use of magic or at least limited magic, she had struggled so long with the binding that eventually things were forgotten. "To be honest, I don't know much outside of psionics except a few charms and tricks." She admitted. They weren't exactly useful things outside of a fight either, and MCU didn't exactly go looking for a fight. They considered themselves a modernized police force to deal with a moderized magical world where the old quite frequently met the new. That meant having a diverse team of individuals who had the backgrounds and abilities to deal with whatever they might encounter, it didn't always mean that they had to have a lot of power, just smarts.
As they moved onto psionics, Catherine found herself worrying that she wasn't pushing either hard enough or too hard. It was near impossible to tell, because every other word out of Scotty seemed to be a whine and Tyrus was over eager to learn a new form of magic. If anything she never deviated from the routine with her two 'students', which was usually ideal when learning the foundations of a new skill.
"We'll start with the meditation exercise before moving on to fine control drills." She decided.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 16:47:47 GMT -6
Scotty groaned and took her seat in front of Catherine. Every inch of her was clearly not a fan of meditating, but she knew better than to actually complain about it. The more she complained, the longer Tyrus was apt to keep her when it came to drilling protocol. He showed her no mercy in that either. She had yet to figure out that he counted her groaning to be a complaint as well and already had more exercises lined up for her to do. It wasn't fair to Catherine, but he was hoping it would eventually get through to Scotty. Still, she settled into meditatin, though she wasn't thrilled about it.
In comparison, Tyrus managed to calm down for meditation much faster. He had done a similar thing growing up, though focusing on something entirely else, and his tended to be moving. He preferred the moving meditations truth told. Carefully, he let each thought pass by, acknowledging it and doing nothing more than that. He needed to learn to focus on the feel of his psionic abilities, not on his other magic. He was more prone to leaning on the other magic though and he knew it. But he had to get used to the feel of his psionic magic or he'd never get control over it.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 16:54:14 GMT -6
"Whenever either of you are ready, I want you to try directing a thought either at eachother or me." Catherine instructed. She could sense Scotty's displeasure, from the way she flopped into her seat to the way she treated the meditation exercise. The girl practically radiated anger, which given her resistence to everything was to be expected. She was a ball of anger and frustration, and resistant to any help offered. But they should have known this exercise by now, they had been at it for at least two weeks and while Tyrus showed improvement, Scotty only showed that she had been slacking in everything.
Shoving these thoughts aside, Catherine followed her own meditation instructions and allowed her mind to empty and relax.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 17:01:35 GMT -6
Tyrus was the first to succeed. Gently he reached out to Catherine. 'You seem to be the safer option.' He spoke to her mentally, careful that he wasn't 'yelling'. He much preferred reaching out to Catherine, who wasn't an actively hostile presence, then to Scotty who radiated annoyance at even being here. So most of the time, he reached out to her instead, preferring her to speak with and practice with. It was probably alienating for the younger of the two women, but Tyrus was fed up with dealing with her nightly and couldn't be expected to have the patience of a saint. So he didn't.
Scotty tried to meditate, though not hard, and when she was ready, she reached out, not quite hitting the mark. 'Am I getting through yet?' The sooner she got this over with the sooner she could be free of the lessons. And the sad part was that the lessons were essentially the highest part of her day. At least she was doing something then. The solitude was beginning to get to her.
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Post by Circe on Nov 18, 2019 17:09:02 GMT -6
Catherine sighed with exasperation, this was getting old and quick. What was Scotty going to do when she didn't have the time to sit and teach her or the patience to. Sure, Brandon had had his moments when he was younger and living with her, but Scotty was taking the award for most difficult. Catherine briefly wondered if she could send the girl to some sort of therapy to work through whatever these issues happened to be, but getting a certified counselor in the unseen was hard, and getting one to make house calls was impossible. 'That's sad Tyrus... the goal is not for you to isolate her.' Catherine scolded. Her fledgling was doing better than his 'aunt' and that alone discouraged her.
'Good job Scotty. Three more times.' She said to the other.
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Post by demikara on Nov 18, 2019 17:15:35 GMT -6
Ah, Catherine was right. Gingerly, Tyrus reached out to Scotty and carefully brushed across her mind. 'Can you hear me Scotty?' He should be kinder to her, no matter how hard it was. She'd eventually bend with time, though he knew what they were doing to her was cruel. Isolating a person like they were her wasn't healthy. He didn't know their other options. Perhaps some guard could be arranged, but Scotty was so clearly not remotely ready for court. She was learning, however grudgingly, but right now he wasn't certain he'd trust her even for a brief visit.
Scotty jumped when Tyrus reached out to her and nodded, before hesitating and reaching back. 'I hear you.' She just hadn't expected it. Mostly, he left her alone during this part of lessons. Carefully, she reached out to Catherine again. 'Do you think Mr. Hammerstein could visit and bring me something to do?' He had an entire shop of art things. She could draw or paint or something other than sit in that room and just think. The opportunity to see another face, to have something at all to to was a much longed for one.
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