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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"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."

"Generally, yeah," Zack agreed, smiling lopsidedly. "I mean, I'm not really a professional, either. I've been working with a sword for a few years. But I can at least get through the basics, and then we can go from there, right?"

That was the hope.

"Yeah," Jennifer said. "So, just more thrusting for today?"

"More thrusting for today," Zack agreed, demonstrating with a thrust of his own rapier at the dummy.

Right through. Even with a blunted weapon. Oops. Uh.

"Once you get it down," he said, after re-claiming the sword, "we'll move on. Okay?"

Jennifer stared. "That's some arm strength."

She couldn't help but add 'hubba-hubba' in her head.

"Sorry," Zack lowered the rapier and leaned forward to inspect the damage done. The dummy would live, it was all good. "Sometimes, I kinda lose track. It's easy to do, you know?"

He had a feeling that she kind of did.

"Yeah, that's kinda why I'm a fugitive, now," Jennifer said.

Zack grimaced a little. Ouch. He hadn't known that.

"I'm sorry, Jen." A beat. "Maybe this will help with discipline some? I mean, I have better control when I'm holding the weapon I'm more comfortable with. I haven't accidentally skewered anyone with my broadsword, I promise."

"Well, that's good to know," Jennifer said. "Though I'm not sure my discipline is helping when I'm big and green."

"That's why we're going to work with you that way, too, once you have the basics down. I mean, whenever you're up for it."

And not a second before!

"Well, it's not quite an on-off switch, Zack," Jennifer said.

"Well, then whenever it happens." Shrug. Casual. Whatever. "I'm fine with it however it happens, Jen. I just mean, if you're not comfortable when you're like this with the thought of holding a weapon when you're like that..."

He was kind of hoping that he was making sense, right about now.

Jennifer stared, totally confused. "Huh?"

Well, he'd tried.

"I mean, if you're comfortable with the thought of having yourself but green handle a potentially lethal weapon, that's when we'll start training you with it when you're like that, too?"

"Oh, right, yes," Jennifer said. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable with the idea. It's just... hard to schedule."

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