soraspace | catchall post: hubert oswell

Oh. So that was it, with ropes? I don't think I've learnt that. Was it fun? Maybe I could try and learn that sometime....

I wouldn't exactly call it "fun," but I do agree that it would be a useful skill for you to learn, and not very difficult. [A moment of thought.] I could teach you various knots, as well.

Knots? Oh, like tying shoes or ribbons. It could be useful. If you don't mind teaching me sometime. [Sitting patiently as he does her hair, genuinely interested and listening to Hubert talk about his time in the military.] I guess you learnt a lot of things there, like Asbel when he went to the knight academy.

It was certainly an experience.

[Sorry, Sophie, Hubert still doesn't like to talk much about his time in Strahta, even about the more beneficial parts. If you want more info you're gonna have to poke the lineface.]

What kind of experience? Was it hard? You must have missed your family back at Lhant. At least for a while. I'd miss Asbel if we were separated for that long. What else did they teach you?

[He ties off the braid he'd been working on before answering.]

Many things. How to defend oneself both armed and unarmed, how to survive away from the typical comforts of home, the history of the Strahtan military and the history of Strahta in general, and more. It was an extremely rigorous program.

[Hubert's not going to address the issue of how much he did or didn't miss his biological family during those seven years in Strahta. He's come to terms with it a little more by this point, but it still tends to leave something of a bad taste in his mouth.]

Wow, they taught you a lot! But I guess you had to learn a bit about Strahta since you moved there from Lhant. It all sounds pretty useful! What does rigorous mean?

[She figures it means 'hard' or something along those lines with the context, but she isn't sure she's heard the word before. And Sophie notes he doesn't mention missing his family. But he probably didn't want to talk about it, so she won't push.]

It means that something is harsh and demanding. While I was in the academy, there was very little free time left to me, particularly when I first started out. There was simply a lot to do.

That can't have been very fun. When did you have time to play and see your friends then if you didn't have much free time? That sounds...lonely.

[At this, Hubert's hands freeze mid-braiding for a few moments as he attempts to come up with an acceptable (for him) answer.]

It wasn't so bad. It simply meant I had less to distract me.

[Ouch. That's cold, Oswell.]

It still sounds lonely. Keeping busy is good but you need to relax too! That's what Cheria and Asbel say. Like with gardening, it's something I can do with Asbel but it's also fun and relaxing. It's not his work as the lord of Lhant, so it gives him a break from it. It doesn't sound like you had something like that back at Strahta, Hubert.

I didn't, no. Mr. Oswell did not approve of much in the way of recreation; there was quite a bit for me to learn in order to be on the same footing as my Strahtan peers.

[And if all of that distracted him from his loneliness, or transformed his sadness and grief into bitterness and anger...well.]

He didn't approve? Why? I don't think there's anything wrong having fun with friends. [Because. How can there be anything wrong with spending time with those you love, friends or family? As important as Sophie gathers that studying is, surely that was also important as well, to relax sometimes?]

Mr. Oswell was -- is -- an extremely serious man who expected nothing short of excellence from me as his heir. He himself is a rather solitary man in general, aside from the socialization that's required of his work.

[Though that's probably as much Garrett being a loner by nature as it is Garrett being an unpleasant jerk.]

So he didn't have any friends? Outside of work? [That is almost hard for Sophie to imagine, given her instantly having been taken in by Asbel when she had woken up in the meadow. And how close they all were after all that time.]

Very few that I knew of.

[And while Hubert was granted access to many Oswell secrets that was denied to even someone like Raymond, such secrets didn't include Garrett's personal life. Hubert had never imagined those details would never be of anything more than perfunctory interest to him, yet recent revelations made him wonder...

But no point in dwelling on that now. He continues working on this second braid; he's almost done. After a few more moments, he ties it off and moves it over to the side.]

catchall post: hubert oswell

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