[center][h1][color=ff5000]Renar Hagen[/color] and [color=#008b8b]Fionn MacKerracher[/color][/h1][/center]

Renar strode through the city, clad in little more than a simple tunic, trousers, and cloak, along with his sword. Today was supposed to be a day of rest, so he'd endeavoured to spend it at least somewhat productively, meeting some contacts of his within the city and keeping abreast of the latest occurences of import. 

He cut through an alleyway, glancing aside to a random building as he emerged from it. An orphanage, if the sign out front and the children playing in the courtyard were any indication. A rare moment of reflection had him thinking that had his life taken a different turn, his childhood could have been like theirs. Better? Worse? Who knew. It didn't matter, regardless. He was set on his path, and-

Renar did a double take as he recognized the build and beard of the man out front tending to the children. He stepped closer to check, only to find his suspicion confirmed.

[color=ff5000][b]"Fionn?"[/b][/color] His tone bordered on incredulous. [color=ff5000][b]"I should be less surprised to see you here. This is what you spend your free days doing, then?"[/b][/color]

Fionn glanced up from the bundle of short staffs he'd been carrying, blinking in silence as he looked at Renar for a moment. Where the taller man sounded somewhat incredulous, he seemed almost dumbfounded at the sight.

[color=#008b8b]"Aye, sometimes,"[/color] he replied, giving a small shrug. Had it been Serenity, he likely wouldn't have been nearly as surprised, given she'd already expressed some interest at coming by to see him teaching the children. Renar, though, he'd gotten more used to imagining at his office when not out in the courtyard—so seeing him out by the orphanage [i]and[/i] interrupting his prior thoughts all at once was a small shock.

[color=#008b8b]"Was just getting ready for a lesson. What's got you wandering around out here? Others got you restless like?"[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Something like that. I had some people to see within the city today."[/b][/color] Renar shrugged, observing Fionn and the various children out in the yard. Worn clothing, of course. But nothing particularly ratty or full of holes. No signs of malnourishment, either. A reputable orphanage, then. 

His gaze shifted over towards the staves in Fionn's arms. 

[color=ff5000][b]"Starting them on the basics of arms training, are you?"[/b][/color]

[color=#008b8b]"Keeps them out of trouble for an hour or two a week. Helps them get each other out of trouble, too, sometimes."[/color] He set the staffs down, waving at Renar to come inside the gate if he wanted to keep talking. He didn't much feel like calling out over the yard and its fence for an entire conversation, especially not when the orphanage's charges were already starting to gather and get ready for the week's lesson. [color=#008b8b]"Who were you out to see? Seems like you're more inclined to send letters than actually go out, normally."[/color]

Despite his misgivings at dealing with children, Renar entered the yard as he was bid, closing the gate behind him and casually leaning on the fence as they continued to converse. 

[color=ff5000][b]"Trying to establish contacts among less...reputable individuals. Just in case, for future use. We ought to just leave the matter there."[/b][/color] 

He glanced past Fionn to the youths starting to gather, his expression not betraying any particular approval or the opposite. Just apathy, really. 

[color=ff5000][b]"Are you going to coerce me into helping if I stay for the lesson? Dealing with children has never quite been a skill of mine."[/b][/color] Apart from Elias, but Fionn didn't need to know that. Hopefully Serenity hadn't mentioned him just yet.

With a noncommittal grunt, Fionn shrugged his shoulders—before grabbing two of the staffs, tossing one over to his highborn companion without any warning.

[color=#008b8b]"Might be you were never going about it the right way, or in the right circumstance,"[/color] he replied. [color=#008b8b]"But you're more agreeable than you like to let on. How's about you and I give a demonstration, instead? I won't make you stay to teach if you don't wish."[/color]

Of course, where Renar might have had misgivings about the possibility, that didn't match up with Fionn's own understanding of just how much Renar [i]didn't[/i] have the bearing of a teacher. It might prove entertaining, but while Renar really didn't often take the effort to coerce that he made it sound like, Fionn didn't intend to do the coercing. [color=#008b8b]"Should be fun. I'll even make sure not to give you too many bad bruises, eh?"[/color]

Renar caught the staff on instinct, quirking a brow at his friend. Well, he should have figured he wasn't going to get out of this without doing [i]something[/i]. At least he wouldn't have to actually deal with the grubby little urchins. That little twinge of reflection he'd had hadn't lasted long. Of course, it hadn't applied to anyone but himself in the first place. 

[color=ff5000][b]"Oh, fine. If you insist."[/b][/color] He twirled the staff around in his hand once, testing its heft and weight before walking to the side and settling into his starting stance. 

[color=ff5000][b]"And don't flatter yourself."[/b][/color] A brief smirk crossed his face. [color=ff5000][b]"I'll let you have the first move, even."[/b][/color]

[color=#008b8b]"Do I ever?"[/color] He stepped away from the rest of the pile, tossing his staff in the air, spinning end over end, before snatching it back into his grasp as it came back down. His second hand grabbed it wide, each nearly end to end, as he spun on one foot to face Renar.

Before—without missing a step—the energy of his short turn carried into a lunging step onwards, the staff cracking forward as his hands slid back together in a rapid uppercut aimed to catch Renar in the armpit.

[color=ff5000][b]"Cheeky!"[/b][/color] Renar didn't let up his smirk as he barely managed to intersperse his staff between his armpit and Fionn's weapon in time. [color=ff5000][b]"Showing off for the children? You'll teach them bad habits."[/b][/color] 

He didn't hold his weapon in position for long, weaving around Fionn's staff and whirling it around to build momentum before bringing it down towards the former mercenary's head. 

Small wonder Fionn was teaching them baton combat. Renar didn't much care for it himself, considering it highly impractical for anything other than combat against unarmored civilians. Still, one couldn't expect these orphans to ever have to deal with anything further than the aforementioned while only having barely adequate weaponry.

As Renar wound around into his own strike, Fionn drew back his staff through his right hand; then he swung it around again, left sliding to the middle, knocking the overhead strike wide with the opposite side of his weapon as the staffs smacked together a second time. [color=#008b8b]"Seems like it did what I wanted,"[/color] he replied with a wink. [color=#008b8b]"Your parry was slow."[/color]

Not that he was going much faster for the moment, just holding the staff, reversed, pointing at Renar's throat like a spear. Were this a real fight, or even a tournament bout, then he might have played more true to form—close the distance, turn the energy of Renar's parry into a follow-up strike, move in to grapple. Any number of other responses to other knight's strike, too, rather than what he'd taken.

But this was a bloody exhibition, not a duel. Showing off for the children was part of the game.

[color=#008b8b]"Should I let you go first from now on, lad? It might help you strike a little more confident-like."[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Your little tykes wouldn't learn anything if they couldn't follow us going full tilt, now could they?"[/b][/color] Renar riposted verbally with a smirk, before bringing his staff up to knock Fionn's weapon aside and build momentum with a quick whirl, riposting physically with an upward enleve smash aimed at the man's jaw.

Fionn let the momentum of Renar's strike translate to a quick moulinet of his own; just before the strike landed he shifted his right hand around, releasing the staff with his left as it swung behind him and back up, and returning to his original grip as he knocked the incoming strike aside. Rather than stop, this time his staff carried up and around, coming in for a horizontal strike at Renar's left shoulder—which was itself quickly knocked away.

[color=ff5000][b]"How long have you been at this, anyway?"[/b][/color]

[color=#008b8b]"Since that dream. I'd been visiting here a few times to help keep the place up, and the nuns running it thought it a good idea for me to come up with something to occupy the kids a bit more."[/color] He stepped back, returning to a basic [i]en garde[/i] position. [color=#008b8b]"It's been useful for them. I'm sure you can tell this isn't the best part of Aimlenn."[/color]

The pair both fell back into their starting stances, and Renar inclined his head towards Fionn.

[color=ff5000][b]"I meant with the orphanage in general, but you answered that anyway. Knives would be more practical, but I can understand why you wouldn't want to unleash a little horde of stabbers onto the streets."[/b][/color] He relaxed his stance, raising his staff to rest on his shoulder. 

[color=ff5000][b]"Think we should call it here, then? No sense dragging this on too long for an expedition. I think we've given a good enough demonstration at this point."[/b][/color]

Fionn mulled the thought over in his head, not looking directly at Renar. After a few moments, he lowered his staff with a small nod. [color=#008b8b]"Oh, aye, might be a good spot to finish with that, although I think you've forgotten the most important rule."[/color]

As Fionn finished the sentence, a very light [i]smack[/i] of a staff against Renar's calves issued forth, the former mercenary grinning broadly—not at, but [i]past[/i] Renar, at the young girl that had snuck up behind the taller man. [color=#008b8b]"Never let your guard down when behind enemy lines."[/color]

The moment he felt the tap against his calf, Renar whirled around with staff raised. Fortunate that the girl was, well, child-sized enough for him to recognize that this wasn't some sort of ambush. He was damned close to accidentally savaging a child as it was. With a sigh, he lowered his staff, his body language still tense. What was he doing, letting a bloody child of all things surprise him? 

[color=ff5000][b]"Point made."[/b][/color] He said neutrally, trying as best he could to suppress his displeasure at his own self for the moment. [color=ff5000][b]"This one has some promise, then, if she's able to pull this off."[/b][/color] Renar glanced down towards her with a brief nod. [color=ff5000][b]"Run along, now."[/b][/color]

[color=#008b8b]"And, for the record, I've already started the oldest on knife and dagger work. Entirely defensive, obviously—the nuns weren't happy with me, but even they couldn't truthfully argue that it was unnecessary."[/color] He waved the girl back to the rest of the group, away from himself and Renar. [color=#008b8b]"Sure we ought to leave the matter of who you were talking to alone, though? You normally aren't [i]that[/i] jumpy, even in a part of town like this."[/color]

Not that he'd have let it happen, of course; for all that he trusted in Renar's ability to control himself, Fionn trusted in his own speed and strength even more. [color=#008b8b]"You know, as my friend, I'm even less likely to let you go get yourself hurt messing with things you shouldn't than I am these kids. It's bad enough that we've already got some of the others refusing to do what's good for them without taking the same tack, aye?"[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Goddesses above, you aren't going to let this go, are you?"[/b][/color] Renar gave Fionn an exasperated look as he raised a hand to wipe off the light sheen of sweat that had accumulated on his brow. 

Fionn raised an eyebrow, entirely innocently.

Renar stood there, letting Fionn wait for several seconds longer than was entirely necessary. Purely out of spite, of course. It wasn't as if he was mentally parsing through what he was about to say just to make sure he didn't reveal something that would get Fionn agitated enough to dig into his business even more. That would be absurd. 

[color=ff5000][b]"I'm advancing some favors for interested parties for future reciprocation. Certain members of the aristocracy understand the value of having a mutual acquaintance connected to them while also being willing to mingle with the riff-raff, as it were. Their words, not mine. Need I elaborate? In front of the children, of course."[/b][/color] 

One could give him grief for using children as a verbal shield, but that sort of thing was a currency used far too often by certain others to have much value to him anymore.

[color=#008b8b]"No, lad, I just want you to make sure you're taking care of yourself,"[/color] came the quiet reply, though the disapproval in Fionn's tone was still obvious. [color=#008b8b]"What we do is dangerous enough as it is without inviting more on our heads."[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Everything I do is in my own interest, Fionn."[/b][/color] Renar shot back easily, unfazed by Fionn's evident disapproval. [color=ff5000][b]"You wouldn't believe it otherwise, either. Besides, do I look like Gerard to you?"[/b][/color]

Fionn stared hard into Renar's eyes for a moment, letting the silence last as long as the taller man had before. [color=#008b8b]"No, but that doesn't mean you don't give me reason to worry, either,"[/color] he said at last. [color=#008b8b]"I don't think you're quite as self-interested as you always claim, either, but that's a matter for a different conversation. Have you eaten yet?"[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"I haven't, no."[/b][/color] Renar deliberately didn't acknowledge Fionn's first point. Let his friend think what he wanted. Renar knew what he was. [color=ff5000][b]"Is this what having a bloody mother is like? Sun and Moon know I hardly remember mine, outside of her disappointment that I wasn't going to be her meal ticket into leeching off the nobility."[/b][/color]

He looked flatly on at Renar. [color=#008b8b]"Go get yourself something to eat, then, [i]amadán.[/i] Or I really [i]will[/i] make you help me give this lesson!"[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Fine, fine. As you say."[/b][/color] Renar raised his hands in mock surrender as he wrapped his chosen cloak of the day around himself. An ordinary brown number, with which to better blend in with the masses. [color=ff5000][b]"I'm off back to the keep's kitchens, then. No point spending coin when I don't have to. Good luck with your little biters, aye?"[/b][/color]

[color=#008b8b]"Aye. Make sure they've got a good selection for dinner tonight—if it's supposed to be a fast day, we might want to duck out early so that we [i]can[/i] get a proper meal."[/color]

[color=ff5000][b]"Weren't you a man of the church? I'm fairly certain that's sacrilege."[/b][/color] Renar mocked as he walked off, one hand lazily raised to wave goodbye as he did so.