(2023-04-29) Training the New Scout

Details

Author:	Alli
Summary:	A brief account of the first meeting of Bertrand Aspenwood and Sil Silentstep!
Rating:	T for Teen

Bertrand's leathers for the day are shades of gray, although the gloves are still on the table in front of him. His unit's barracks in Wintergarde has a table positioned such that one can easily see through the open door into the hallway outside. The bunks are off to the right from the entrance, or Bertrand's left, because he's watching the door like he expects to see someone walk through it at any moment.

In fact, someone does. A slim, dark-haired young man in dark leather moves down the hallway with deliberate non-stealth, his footsteps sounding. He pauses when he sees the man waiting. Something like recognition flashes in Sil's eyes, and he lifts a hand in greeting. "Lord Bertrand?"

"Hey!" Bertrand waves with a friendly smile, beckoning him over to the table. "You must be Sil, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Sil says, moving over to take a seat across from Bertrand. "What'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Captain Tyrrell asked if I could mentor you for a bit." Bertrand shrugs. He sounds agreeable enough about this. "You've got field experience, but you haven't been through the 7th Legion training courses, and so there's definitely some things you're missing, mostly codes you'll need to know. You can call me whatever you want, Bertrand, Sgt. Aspenwood, Birdie, sir, buddy, it's all fine."

"Birdie?" Sil asks, with a smile. "I'll call you whatever you want me to. And me, I'm mostly Sil. Or Silvestre, I guess, if you're angry at me. And I'd be happy to run through whatever I need to."

"Birdie's my favorite," Bertrand admits. "Maybe that's just because my fiancé came up with it. Anyway. Do you mind telling me a bit about your field experience thus far?"

Sil's smile warms at that and he nods. "I reckon that's one reason Mizzy likes her nickname, too, that her husband came up with it. But anyway, my field experience, sure. I joined up with Cobalt Company about two years ago, and I was part of the forward teams in Outland. Mostly in Terokkar Forest and Shadowmoon Valley. We handled a lot of stuff against the sin'dorei there, and dealing with the old mausoleum, Auchindoun. And… I was at the Light's Hope battle. And now I'm here!"

Bertrand nods. "I have no clue who Mizzy is," he admits. "Friend of yours?"

"Oh, yeah. Ismene Callis," Sil explains. Then he thinks a moment and adds helpfully, "Of the Callis Orchards, if you ever had the cider?"

"Oh! Oh, I've seen her. Never spoken." Bertrand nods, snapping his fingers. "And she married Lord Bennarin Hazan of House Ference? She was my brother in law's matron of honor at his wedding."

"Yeah! I should've led with that," Sil laughs. "Just one of the kindest people, Ismene. Definitely you should say hello if you see her again."

Bertrand nods. "Cole said you were a knife-thrower?" It is obvious from his tone that this is a Positive.

"Yeah," Sil's smile widens. "I've been practicing that since I was a kid. I'd say I'm pretty good at it. I mean, I can do for real, but also tricks and such."

"Me too. I kinda wanna see." Bertrand grins. "Love a good knife trick. I'd say I'm good, but not fancy, and I'm a much better archer."

"It took a while to learn fancy," Sil shrugs one shoulder. "I got the accuracy first, but it took some time to learn the showmanship. I was in a kind of traveling circus for a while."

"Not gonna lie, that's awesome," Bertrand says.

"It was sort of my first job ever?" Sil grins. "Hell of a good time, to be totally honest. But… archery I started training up a bit, back in Outland. I'd say I'm decent at it."

Bertrand smiles and drums his fingers on the table. "So. I want to run you through the 7th's trail signs and hand signals. Which do you feel like going over first?"

"Hand signals we could probably do here, right? So maybe good to start with?" Sil's gaze drops to Bertrand's hands.

Bertrand nods. "Sure. Alright, first the basics that you might see your captain using…"