The Salle, Friday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

After a morning of shopping with Emma and then the Support Reserves meeting, Karla was ready for her weekly lesson with Leto. She entered the salle in her workout clothes, hand shielded and knife ready, and began stretching. She didn't want to be stiff and sore for the workout.


[Karla's here for her lesson, but the salle's open]

Comments

[future_sandworm]

Shortly after, Leto arrived. "Hello Karla," he greeted. "I hope you managed to get some sleep last night."

He wore his own shield strapped to his body, and not yet activated. Crossing the floor, he approached Karla.

[glacial_queen]

Karla finished her last stretch, standing back up to greet Leto. "Fine thanks," she said. "Slept like a baby, both before and after the drill. You?"

Karla was good at snatching sleep when she had to.

[future_sandworm]

"Well enough," he said, picking up a few of the training knives available. "So, anything you've been thinking about since last week?" In terms of knife fighting, Leto meant.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was tempted to play smart-ass and talk about a few other things, but decided against it. Teasing was one thing when they were outside the salle, but once they were here, it was time for business.

"I've been practicing the drills that you set me," Karla said immediately. "I think this week, since I'm a bit more relaxed, I'll probably do a lot better. Shall I show you?"

[future_sandworm]

"Please, do." He leaned against the wall, watching her move. It was a relief that his mind could focus this week. It would make teaching her anything a lot easier.

[glacial_queen]

Karla moved into the first drill, keeping her movements graceful and economical. As she'd mentioned to Dinah the other day, the footwork reminded her of dancing, which made it easier to memorize, keeping her attention free to focus on the blade. If she kept a kind of rhythm in her head, it made it easier still. She fluidly moved from one drill to the next and back again, slowly gaining speed.

When she'd run through them all several times, she stopped and looked at Leto, breath fast and eyes bright. "Was that good?" she asked.

[future_sandworm]

He nodded, pleased. "You've practised," he observed. "Now, try doing them again and using an irregular rhythm. In a fight, patterns make you predictable to an opponent, so you always have to be able to break them."

[glacial_queen]

"I did!" she said, proud of herself. And to reward herself, she'd spent a few minutes harassing Arthur. Ahh, good times.

"Irregular rhythm? I'll try." She started again, this time changing up the rhythm everytime she noticed herself slipping into one. The first few drills were clumsy again, ash she paid more attention to the rhythm than what she was doing. However, once she figured it out, she was able to go right back up to full speed, as her movements smoothed out. No summing sandworms for this girl

[future_sandworm]

Leto would perhaps advice her not to harass his roommate, even if he did it himself occasionally.

"Good," he said. "Now, are you ready to try something new?"

[bedtime for me!]

[glacial_queen]

Karla wouldn't listen anyway. She's hard-headed like that.

"Of course!" she said, almost bouncing. "That's why we're here!"


[G'night!]

[future_sandworm]

He shot her a smile, then picked a knife for each hand and went through a series of moves; slowly first and then at a normal pace.

"Did you get that?"

[glacial_queen]

"Two knives, huh? Should they be balanced? Because I have more knives, but they all have different weights and are different sizes." Karla called one in, and mirrored Leto's pose. "Can I see it again? Slowly so I can follow along?"

[future_sandworm]

"They shouldn't be too different, but there is no need for identical knives." He nodded towards Karla. "Try and move at the same time as me."

[glacial_queen]

She nodded, concentrating, and followed along. It followed a logical progession from the last drill, which helped.

[future_sandworm]

"Good," he said. "Now, try on your own." Leto took a few steps back, watching Karla.

[glacial_queen]

The first time through, she was slow, her movements hesitant, though not awkward. She went through them twice more, gaining speed and confidence with each run-through. She was moving in a pattern again, though. "Is it okay if I keep using the rhythm until I have it down a little more?" she asked. "And practice moving irregularly later? "

[future_sandworm]

"Yes," he said. "And then, if you want to practise on your own, try to come up with variations," he suggested.

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded. "I can see how these two drills fit together. And there were a couple of places where I could intersperse one with the other. That might be neat. Thank you, Leto."

[future_sandworm]

He smiled at her. "You seem to learn quickly."

[glacial_queen]

"Willingness to learn plus a history of paying close attention to things while I'm learning," Karla shrugged, "but thanks. You deserve a fair share of credit too, for making the lessons easy without being boring."

[future_sandworm]

He laughed a little. "So, I can expect you to practise until next Friday when the mun unfortunately will not be around?"

[glacial_queen]

"Promise," Karla said instantly. "This is something I really wish to learn. Maybe I'll even handwavily impress you."

[future_sandworm]

I'll probably be an animal, I'm afraid.

"Then I look forward to seeing you next week."

[glacial_queen]

"Next week, then, Leto."