Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ambrose was feeling much better for once after a morning of soul-searching. He had a plan of approach. He could deal with what was happening to him and around him. For today at the very least. He could put off the burden of thinking about the possible repercussions, and tell himself that there was still hope.

He had eaten a filling meal of ham, bacon and eggs, and a crossant, and had returned to his room briefly to get his fencing gear. After all, if he had hope and might someday return - he wanted to keep himself in practice.

And, then, he headed towards what had become his favorite spot - the beach, overlooking the ocean - the warm sand under his toes, just close enough to the jungle to give shade - but the breeze coming off the ocean still hitting him as well. And that didn't even touch on the gorgeous scenery. This was the kind of thing people paid to see, quite literally.

Appraching his normal spot, he saw a familiar figure out tanning - young Amaya. He smiled. He liked the girl - she was grounded despite her age, and friendly all the same. He felt protective of her, and really was starting to see her as a little sibling he never had.

"Amaya!" He called out with a smile and a wave. He usually didn't see her outside of her long skirt and turtleneck despite the heat on the island, and he was glad to see her enjoying the beach.

Ambrose paused, immediately looking awkard. What was wrong? She was acting as if he had seen her nude.

He turned around out of politeness, but was primarily confused - especially in retrospect to Colche parading about blithely wearing nothing more than her own skin.

"Uhm... I... I'm sorry? IS... something wrong?" Maybe there was a tear on her clothes in an embarrasing spot?

"I didn't mean to bother you - I, ah, had just come out to work on some footwork."

Ambrose slowly glanced back towards here, starting just with the periphery vision out of the corner of his eye.

"Ohh." He said softly. "You have nothing to be embarrased about, Amaya.... and you're wearing a lot more than many girls would to the beach." He smiled softly, glancing quickly at her short and cutoff t-shirt. Hell, he had seen girls in school wear less than that. Not to even get into cheerleaders.

He shrugged, smiling supportively. "I'm sorry about that... at least you do... understand ... it's irrational, right? There isn't anything you should be ashamed of. Though I am sorry that I startled you."

He looked over to where she gestured and his face brightened. "That?" He smiled widely. "That's my fencing gear. Do... you know anything about fencing?"

His grin widened. "Well, you're on the right track at least" He said, walking over and picking up the equipment to bring over to her - showing her the mask and the epee.

"I do Olympic-style epee fencing." He emphasized in his mind the "do" instead of "did."

"It's a wonderful sport. Focuses on agility and precision instead of brute strength. Quick mind and quick movements. Have you ever done anything like martial arts.. or something like that?"

He smiled and dismissed the claim to laziness. "Well, I'd say it's similar in mindset. IT's great - really helps your self-confidence to be able to stand up to someone - even in verbal situations. And of course it's great physically, and a wonderful stress relief."

He picked up the extra epee, handing it to her handle first and exalted in the possible chance to teach someone! To have someone new to practice with.

"Would you like to learn? I'd love to teach people. I miss having more people to spar with, and it's a fantastic sport."

He beamed.

"Awesome! I'd be happy to show you!" He gestured to the epee. "Feel free to take a look at it. You probably won't hurt it. And you can see, it's got a blunt tip so it won't do any serious damage. You might pick up a few bruises if your opponent gets a bit overenthusiastic, but... nothing serious. You wear the mask to protect your eyes, and just in case the blade breaks - the same reason you wear the vest."

"It's pretty safe, but like any sport, there are always extenuating situations you could get hurt - like the blade breaking at a bad time - it can be sharp then... or tripping and hurting yourself and the like. Sound like something you'd be up for?"
He wanted to make any possible risk obvious up front - it was pretty safe, but he had come home with bruises plenty of times - and serious competitions almost always resulted in bruising. Contendors didn't go easy on opponents. But this wasn't like that.... Damn he missed competitions.

((And class just finished smile - I'll respond again when I get home))