Luck of the Draw [Cloud and Ink]

“The idea of facing a Darknut is a bit much for little old me right now!” yelped Yuku. “I doubt I’d last a minute! I’m not intending to lurk anywhere that’s truly monster domain without a good reason, mister Surgate. There’s a difference between hunting plain monsters for my own growth and going up against the elite with no training. That’d be insane, and I’d like to think I’ve kept my sanity thus far!”

She ran a hand along the handle, looking to Julius for permission to take it. “Do you have a cover for the head of this halberd, or is it safe from the elements without one?” A click of a sharp fingernail against the blade produced a growling, metal-ish ringing sound - perhaps a side effect of its combination with the other materials. It sang as though a guitar with iron strings, a powerful and rather hard-sounding effect. Very different from the sort of gentle tone of a lovingly-played piano, but she supposed that it was a weapon even as an instrument - it was meant to be played with aggression and passion, rather than the soft touch of a sonata.

“Training against you?!” The Hylian Smith was built like a house! And weathered to boot. Hylians lived such short lives compared to Zora, but this one was clearly bearing the knowledge of his life like the pauldroms of a conquerer. “I wouldn’t be averse to learning, although I’m certain someone who is a Captain of the Guard is far more experienced than I could hope to keep up with. As long as you’re fine with dealing with a novice such as myself, I’d greatly appreciate the chance!”

Yuku lifted Lonomeru gently before letting her fingers properly wrap around the handle. It let out a whisper-quiet, almost inaudible hum as each finger touched it, and Yuku felt a slight thrill at a weapon that sang. It had a strange voice, but it seemed befitting of a weapon to sound so. She tapped her finger once, and the throaty sound of a crystalline piano key chimed at a perfect C minor.
“It’s so perfect,” she shook her head in admiration. She tapped her fingers, trying to replicate one of her old songs; the opening notes of Midnight’s Not So Dark If I Set Your House On Fire sounded glassy, pure and ever so new on the handle of a deadly weapon.

“I’m finished playing now,” she laughed sheepishly, sweeping a tentacle back over her shoulder as she followed Julius out. Firstly she raised the halberd defensively, hands far apart on the haft, and she abruptly wondered if it was possible she might accidentally injure the smith. She doubted she would be able to do so with any finesse, but clumsy use of a sharp halberd was just as likely to cut someone as slashing with intent to harm.

Deciding Julius must have thought of it, Yuku moved from her defensive position into a quick slashing attack diagonally-downwards, turning to use the flat of the blade. Except by doing so she moved too close to Julius, and his prepared trap. A lesson learned indeed.

Yuku let out a short shriek of surprise as she found herself flung backwards, and the one thought she had in mind was don’t drop Lonomeru! She kept her grip on the halberd even as she hit the ground, her dress tangled around her legs. She sat up quickly, expecting Julius to have kept coming, but instead he was there to help her up. Aw, how considerate!

She accepted the hand. “Lesson learned,” she said fervently. “Caution before haste, most definitely. I wasn’t expecting that! You even broke your wooden sword!”
She knelt and picked up the blade end of the broken practice weapon, looking at where the wood has splintered with the force of his attack. “When I’m better with this, I’d love for you to teach me that trick, if you could. N-no pressure of course!” she added, feeling abruptly cowed as she realised she was trying to make friends with a m-a-n. And a hugely strong one at that. Charity was amazing but... dammit men were scary!

Shh. This one is a Captain of the Royal Guard. The Queen wouldn’t have sketchy men as her Captains. You’re okay, she soothed herself. “Tripping you with the back end would have been good, you’re right! I’ll have to practice that one.”
She was... very flattered that he offered advice alongside his chastisement. Made her feel less of an idiot.

She… might have squeaked at his comment about destroying small towns.
“Okay, now you’re just having me on,” she accused, raising an eyebrow even though her lips were twitching upwards. “Nobody says that. You’re hazing me,”

Granted, Yuku was no stranger to hazing people too. It was pretty funny. She’d probably have played up the doom and danger for the fun of it too - heck, she used to do it all the time. For a pianist only really popular to the Zora, she sure did love pretending she was basically the greatest musician of all time sometimes. She didn’t do it anymore, of course, but it had been fun.

“I think you’ve done more than enough for me, mister, um, Captain Surgate. If there’s anything I can do to repay you for this… let me know, okay? I might not be the best just yet, but… I can help. You know? You’ve probably seen hundreds of wide-eyed idealists in your time… and so I suppose you know exactly how much help I can and can’t be. If you decide you can use that? Well, me and my halberd will be back here in an instant.”