Fighting Side By Side

[Vega]

5th Trial of Ashan during Arc 720

"Oh, Qylios' quiffy hair, do I have to?"

Vega looked at Jack and he smiled at her. Somehow, somewhere along the lines, Vega and Jack had become almost like friends, she thought. Sort of. Almost. But not really. Jack nodded, and explained. "You're new, but you're skilled. I want to see how you do and, if there's one thing that is going to show your ability to work in groups, to be part of a team, it's leading a training session." He patted her arm, causing Vega to scowl at him darkly. "I get all my new recruits to do it, if it helps."

Shaking her head, Vega left Jack in no doubt. "It don't help, no. What you do with the regulation numb-nuts is of zero interest to me. An' I really don't want to be a teacher." Jack nodded. "Good. I'm not trying to make things easy for you, Vega. This will help you, it will develop your skills. It will also build up a sense of comradeship and team spirit. So come on. Oh. And one last thing?"

Vega raised an exasperated eyebrow at him and Jack gave her a smirk, "You're my recruit. My regulation numb-nut. You're skilled, and you're brave, no doubting it. But you need to learn to work in a team, and the only way you're doing that is if you're out of your comfort zone."

Should anyone ever wish to catalogue them, Vega had a wide variety of expressions which expressed her annoyance. The one she turned on Jack at that moment was fierce, but he simply smiled and let her. The thing that annoyed Vega more than anything of course was that he was right. She knew that he was. Still she didn't have to like it or agree outwardly. Except, of course, for the fact that she was who she was, and she worked the way she did.

"I hate the fact that yer probably right about that, you know," Vega said and Jack grinned. "I know," he replied. Vega sighed, dramatically. "Alrigh' so I'm tryin' to help them in sword work?" She had more or less started planning it but her pre-existing frown deepened as she saw Jack shake his head. "What then?" Vega's eyes swirled in a cacophony of irritation hues as he answered and she looked at him incredulously.

"Are you havin' a giraffe?" Vega knew, even as she asked, that he very much wasn't.

"You are going to be fighting, side by side. If you rise through the ranks, as I suspect you might well, then you are going to have to learn how to work as a team, Vega," Jack was insistent. Vega groused to herself as she answered, "Right enough, an' that's ok - but this? Really?"

"Really," Jack insisted and he motioned for her. "Go bond with your people, Vega, and get out of my office." Vega looked down at the earth and around at the outdoor courtyard they were standing in and she let out what could only be described as a "harumph" noise. Then, she turned and walked away, ready to face the challenge Jack had set her.

[Vega]

5th Trial of Ashan during Arc 720

"Team buildin' an' trust buildin' games," she said, looking at where Jack had been with an expression which told of her deep, deep displeasure here. "I mean, it's jus' stupid that is. What even are they?" She was Not One Bit Happy and it showed. But equally, she had walked over to where the small group of ten people were. Volunteers, new recruits, a mixture of the above. Vega was deeply irritated by this turn of events, but mostly what she was irritated by was the fact that she agreed with Jack's methods. It was damned unreasonable of him, that was what it was. He was making her get to know people, to like them, to be around them.

Curses on him and his puppy.

"Alrigh' then, lets look lively an' be havin' you!" Vega said and she paid attention to the people there. A few of the volunteers looked at her grumpily and all of the knights did. Great. Just what she needed, she thought. "We're goin' to be doin' some work on teamwork to-trial, accordin' to the Lieutenant. Anyone got any questions before we start?" She saw that three of them raised hands or motioned they did, so Vega gestured to one. A woman, blond hair and scar across her face.

"Is it true that you're a Warden and a Knight?"

"Yeah," Vega replied with a nod. "I'm also blessed by Xiur an' Qylios an' cursed by Faldrun. I'm double jointed in my knuckles an' I prefer my bacon crispy," Immortals save her from stupid, irrelevant questions. On to the next one, and this was one of the grumpy-looking volunteers.

"Is this just a waste of time? With everything going on, we should be practicing fighting." Vega gazed back at him and her eyes swirled a range of colours. "You know, that were my instinct too, but thinkin' about it, I reckon he's right, the Lieutenant. That workin' together in a team can only help." The volunteer fella looked at her and his face contorted derisively. Vega glared at him. "I mean, like, think about it. If him gettin' us to do this makes us grouchy, then it's one of two things, innit?" To her the point she was raising made absolute sense. "Either he's stupid and naff at his job, which don't seem likely to me, or we don't appreciate the value of it." That, to her, was the bottom line and she had no qualms about saying so. Vega never minded admitting when she was wrong, after all. It was a good job, she considered, with a smirk.

Then, with a sour expression, came the third question. "How come you're his favourite and get to do this?" Vega looked at the knight who asked that, and she let out a short bark of a laugh. "I were born lucky, an' my day keeps gettin' better," she said, sharply. Then she shrugged. "I guess he appreciates the fact that I say it to his face. Though, I grumble about him here, to, but nothin' I haven't expressed to him. An' I don't think I'm his favourite, but I honestly don't care if I am," and that was the utter truth, of course. "I'm here to fight for Rharne. To make sure that as few people as possible die an' to try an' make sure that as many as possible make it out of here in one piece. If I am his favourite, maybe that's why. It's not my winnin' personality, that's for sure."

That all done, Vega looked at them and asked, "So, are we done messin' around now? Can we jus' get on?" And then, she decided how they were going to do this. She didn't decide it until that moment, but her mind had been working on it. "So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take turns to chose the trust-buildin' or team buildin' exercise. We vote at the end, for whose was the best an' whoever came up with it, the rest of us take their night shifts - jus' one each, so whoever wins gets nine night-shifts off, an' the rest of us only have to give up one. Sound fair? If you don't want in on the consequence of not winning, jus' pass when it's your turn."

It put them all, of course, on the spot. If they said no then they'd look like bad team players to begin with. Surly - unable or unwilling to sacrifice something small for the team. So, each one of them came up with an exercise.

Which meant that, as Jack watched from the wall, he saw an unfolding situation. From crossed arms and short sentences, soon the group down there were hooting with laughter. As he observed them, he smiled. A three-legged egg-and-spoon race was unfolding on the cold ground below and the ten of them were tied into five pairs, each pair had their arms wrapped around each other's backs and they were shouting encouragement and insults to the others. Eggs fell on the ground and broke, splattering all over the place and at the hastily-constructed finish-line, there was eventually a pile of people who had stumbled their way over there. They were all sitting on the floor laughing, arguing over who had won and who hadn't.

Jack smiled to himself and nodded. He was pleased, all things considered and he welcomed the chance to observe his "numb-nuts newbies" without anyone knowing. So it was that he frowned darkly when Vega lifted her head and looked right at him. "Did you see who won, boss?" Her gaze met his and he glared as he realised that she'd known he was there all along.

Of course she had. Curse her, he thought darkly, and her puppy.

[Doran]

Vega:

Knowledge:
Tactics x 2
Psychology x 4

Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: 10
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I’ve already said that numerous times before, but Vega is a very entertaining PC!

I like all those expressions she uses, such as “Are you having a giraffe?” and the interesting names that she gives people.

It’s very obvious that she’s not excited about having to do that team building thing. It was amusing to read though, and she did quite a good job, everything considered.

Enjoy your rewards!