fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Wednesday Morning

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The Salle, Wednesday Morning

To say that Zack was on the antsy side was, if only a little, something of an understatement. With no classes to keep him busy, he was left to his own resources to fill his time. Work. Rehearsal. Practise.

Today was the day he'd set aside for that practise thing. And that was why he'd staked out a corner of the Salle for himself and the girl who... well... who had, in another reality, staked him.

Not that she knew that.

He was running over some practise forms with his sword while he waited for her to arrive. Keeping still for too long, after all, was hard.

[Zack is here for that girl, but the Salle is an open Salle!]

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Jennifer showed up in her work-out clothes, though it was her baggier ones. She still had her swimsuit on underneath. She considered it extra precautions in case of hulking out. Or she was too lazy to change when Zack told her that morning about the move in location.

"Right, so... I've never held a sword before," she said.

"Holding one is the easy part," Zack said, smiling faintly and giving his own sword a twirl before resting it on his back.

Yes, he was totally showing off. So?

"We're going to get you started with one of the practise swords here, before we even think about handing you anything sharp, okay? And I'll try to have a practise sword that we can take out to the beach for you, next time."

"That sounds great," Jennifer said. "I do not want to end up losing a limb or anything."

"We'll make sure that all limbs stay exactly where they're supposed to be," Zack promised, nodding and making his way over to the rack to pick up a pair of swords, and then holding one of them out toward her. "How does that feel? Too heavy?"

It was blunted, yes, but it was still solid steel.

"Yikes," Jennifer said. She definitely felt it was too heavy. "Right now? Yeah, too heavy."

"Oh, that's alright." Zack reached to take it back. "That just means we work with something lighter. I wonder if they have any rapiers, here. Broadswords aren't for everyone..."

He rummaged about for a few more moments, and then grinned and surfaced with one.

"Much lighter. It's not so much for hacking and slashing at things like my sword is, but probably far easier for you to handle, huh?"

Jennifer held it, and nodded. "Definitely. Though the hacking and slashing might suit me better when I'm more chromatic."

Zack pursed his lips for a moment at that, thinking back on something, and then he offered her a faint smile.

"Yeah, maybe. You'll definitely be needing something more solid than a rapier for that, at any rate. Would you rather work with what you're holding for now, and then we can try to find some middle ground? Or maybe work with one like this, and the other when you're bigger, and go from there?"

"Might as well learn both, right?" Jennifer said. "I might not always be able to change. Best to be prepared."

"Better safe than sorry," Zack agreed, nodding. "We'll start with the rapier first, anyhow. Seems to make more sense, you're not big and green right now, after all."

He poked through the rack until he found another rapier for himself.

"Wow. These are light."

It was clearly going to take him a little getting used to.

"...you've used them before, right?" Jennifer said, a little surprised at his surprise.

"... Rapiers, not so much." Sheepish smile. "They can't be too different from my broadsword. A lot lighter. More made for thrusting than cuts and rakes, you know?"

Probably not, no.

"I just wouldn't want to pull out mine," he reached over his shoulder and tapped the pommel of his SOLDIER-issue weapon, "against something like a rapier."

"Okay," Jennifer said. "Just..." she chuckled. "Wondering how much you can teach about it."

"If nothing else, I make for a decent moving target while we muddle on through," Zack decided. See, that was totally good enough! And he totally didn't mind being stabbed at!

Which meant that he was possibly completely insane.

"I'll be a master in no time," Jennifer said, shaking her head. She smiled, though. "What do I do?"

"Well, you have to get a feel for it, first. Swing it around a few times, see how it sits in your hand." Zack shrugged, smiling faintly. "And then you can work on swinging it at me. Let's see what you've got a knack for and what you don't, and go from there."

Jennifer started to emulate some sword work she'd seen in the movies. Mainly broad, wild swings.

"...I feel like I need an eyepatch. Or one of those musketeer hats."

"You'd probably wear the hat well," Zack laughed, and then gave his head a little shake. "Man, oh man."

He watched her swing the sword a few more times, and then, after a moment of biting his lip a little, he spoke again. "Maybe tighten it up some. Rapiers are more for thrusting... Stabbing motions? Than they are for slashing people open. Fencing, you know? Short, quick, controlled. Because they're so small, they let you have that control. I couldn't possibly keep it so tight with the sword I usually use."

The four-foot monstrosity on his back at the moment, yes.

"So... thrusting," Jennifer said. "You gotta..." She tried to pose like the fencers she'd seen on the Olympics. "Pierce in?" She tried to do so, to an imaginary opponent.

Zack considered, and then nodded a little.

"Want to move over to the practise dummies? You can stab them to your heart's content, and it might be more effective than trying to kill the air."

See? He was totally thinking, now.

"Poor dummies, they never saw it coming," Jennifer said.

"If they're not used to it by now, they probably have it coming to them," Zack chuckled, making his way over to one and then waving her over. "Go on, give it a shot. See how it feels when you try a thrust. The best way to learn is by doing, right?"

"That's what they say," Jennifer said. She thrusted at a dummy. "...wow, you really would have to put a little oomph into it to hurt someone."

Zack nodded slightly.

"It would probably help if they weren't blunted," he noted. "But it does still take a little bit of doing to actually do some damage. You can lift it, though, which is a good start. And nobody's a professional the first time they pick up a weapon, either."

... Mostly nobody. Zack wasn't too sure about Fiona, come to think of it.

"Yeah, I wasn't really expecting to be," Jennifer said. "This is the sort of thing people dedicate their lives to."

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