The Salle, Wednesday Morning

[crimson_sister]

Lucille had slept badly for the last few nights, torn between her body's needs and her emotional state. Frustrated, she went to the salle in the morning before class, because stabbing dummies, even with practice blades, was the best thing she could come up with. To be honest, she had thought of other options, but her intellect favoured this one.

Perhaps Jalian had been right to suggest that dresses wasn't the best choice of clothing for this kind of activity, as the skirts did hinder her movement, but the stabbing did offer some relief. Sadly, as Lucille would discover, it was only temporary.

[Open salle]

Comments

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin had begun work on a second suit of armor and tenth tiara whilst dealing with this insufferable week. So his resting murder face was ever so slightly more pronounced than usual.

"You will break your wrist if you continue that." Men were fragile, after all.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille spun around when Thorin addressed her. She had not noticed that he had entered the room, and it had surprised her.

"Oh? Why is that?" She replied sarcastically, her expression not particularly friendly either.

[dwarvenswagger]

He was a surprising guy.

"You wield the knife like a drunken butcher." Oh, he was in a cheerful mood. Totally.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille was well aware that she was a beginner, and that her attacks were currently more fueled by frustration than the result of technique, but she was sure Cassandra's teachings were there still.

"I assume you're going to explain how I should do this?"

She might not be familiar with the term mansplaining, but she had definitely experienced it.

[dwarvenswagger]

Excuse you. It would be dwarfsplaining. Speciesist.

"If you wish to learn," he shot back. "Your people do seem content with leaving their women defenseless."

Outside of this land, that was.

[crimson_sister]

"Do you think I am defenseless?" Lucille snapped, taking a step away from the dummy. She had defended her brother from their parents often enough, in the end with violence.

Which didn't mean she wasn't a beginner when it came to using weapons, but at least she had found two girls willing to teach her.

Also, he was clearly prejudiced against her race.

[dwarvenswagger]

Well, Men did kinda suck. Short lives, constantly falling under the sway of The Enemy...

"I think you lack the skill to do it properly." But she had plenty of drive. Or it could have been this terrible week. Who knew?

[crimson_sister]

She had two women to teach her. She didn't need a dwarf. And the drive was her, only strengthened considerably by distracting feelings.

But look, someone had just showed up to be the target of her anger. Thank you, Thorin. She approached him, the training knife still in her hand.

"And I think you should mind your own business. Or is that a skill you lack?," she snapped.

[dwarvenswagger]

"By all means," he said with a mocking bow. "Do continue your exercise."

While he judged you.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille easily picked up on the mocking and judging, as that was something she was good at herself. Normally she would just respond with a comment along the same line, but his behaviour made her angry and holding on to that anger just made everything easier right now. So she pointed the knife (and it was probably lucky it wasn't a sharp one) against his throat and replied:

"Yes? Or are you brave enough to spar?"

No, Lucille, this is a bad idea.

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin tilted his head, more than a little annoyed by the cavalier behavior with a blade. Dull as it may be.

"A spar implies equal skill."

[crimson_sister]

"So you're not brave enough." She let her arm fall to her side, annoyed that she didn't get much of a response from him. It would have been so much more rewarding to try and stab a person than a dummy, even if she would have lost. Also, Cassandra had suggested kicking male opponents where they were most vulnerable.

[dwarvenswagger]

THAT WOULD BE RUDE. But Thorin could not deny it's effectiveness.

"Brave to fight against someone who can hardly hold the blade?" He had his pride. His stubborn, stubborn pride.

[soniaroadsqueen]

It had been a tense week for Ringo. Yeah, that was the word. Tense.

It wasn't as if some of the emotions and feelings were utterly unfamiliar. She was a teenager, after all, but usually it was pretty easy to sublimate all of that into AirTrek. A couple of hard runs a day tended to burn off enough energy to leave her happily tired.

That hadn't been working this week, and after this morning's run she was still tense enough that she actually decided to swing by the salle. She was aware of it, and its purpose, but had never felt like she had a reason to step inside. Sometimes, though, you really did want to just hit things until you'd burned off some energy.

So she stepped through the door, a light sheen of sweat still clinging to her skin from the exercise she'd already done, but she hadn't expected the place to be occupied.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille looked rather disheveled after her fight with Thorin a thread which should not be tossed. She sighed when she saw Ringo. The girl probably wouldn't leave her alone, and she felt that if she couldn't stab or make out with people now, she'd rather be alone.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked, clearly surprised. "Oh, um, hi Lucille."

A couple more blinks. "Didn't think I'd run into anyone in here."

[crimson_sister]

"No?" Lucille stabbed one of the dummies. "Do you think you're the only one to come here?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I hadn't really thought about it," Ringo admitted sheepishly. "I mean, I've never been in here before."

[crimson_sister]

Lucille had only been here before when training with Cassandra but she saw no reason to tell Ringo that. She aimed another stab. "So why are you here?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Um. I wanted some exercise?" Said the girl whose hair and clothes strongly suggested she'd been doing a lot of that already.

[crimson_sister]

Yes, that was rather obvious. Lucille snorted. "You exercise a lot, don't you?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, it's fun?"

Then, mumbled, as if she didn't mean to add it on. "And apparently I could use the distraction."

[crimson_sister]

There was another snort from Lucille, who stabbed the dummy again a couple of times. "I've gathered that." Which could be a response to either comment.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I won't be in your way if I do some stuff over here?" Ringo asked, moving a little ways away to one of the other dummies.

"Oh, and I didn't know you were a fighter." Not that Ringo knew enough about knives to have any idea if Lucille was any good or not.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille wasn't that good, but she was angry and determined. "I haven't told you everything," she snapped back at Ringo.

Note that she didn't say she was a fighter.