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 Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:45 am
Saturdays were among Millicent’s favorite days of the week. She loved going to her fencing Lessons on Thursday nights, but Saturdays is when she got to go and actually practice her fencing, without having to worry about school and going to bed early, or anything. Saturdays were just..fencing days! They should change the name from Saturday to Fenceday!
The redhead giggled as she thought that, putting her mask in place then going out onto the floor in the Recreation center. “I’m ready! Who’s tough enough to take on me? The tiny Jedi terror!”
Well, maybe she should change her name now that she wasn’t going to be a Jedi, should she call herself the tiny senshi terror now? Nah…that didn’t have the same ring to it…besides, everyone here knew her as the Jedi terror, she could tell by the way they smiled at her, they enjoyed her being there. Or they just thought she was amusing. Either way, she was happy to be there, holding her fencing rapier up, rocking back on her heels, waiting for someone to challenge her to a duel to the death!
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:05 am
This was the first Saturday of many to come. At least, if Howl was able to leave school campus due to good behavior (it was honestly almost a given at this point). The only thing that might have conflicted with this new Saturday activity would be if any place he was employed required him to work in the mornings on a Saturday. With the lack of an official school program that would promote his Fencing practice, the lad had to seek other opportunities of fine-tuning his sport.
Of course, the method of getting his practice had come with a cost. He didn't need to take any classes, he assured the Recreation center. He had been in classes all of his life since the young age of 8 years. He had been in the sport a decade. He instead offered that he serve as a volunteer during the classes. That way the facility didn't need to pay him, and he could write this off for any college applications he'd be working on this semester. It wouldn't be the most thorough practice that he'd get, but at least it would be something.
The lad already had his full gear on, including his protective mask when a child proclaimed it was time to go for a bout. Though the reference of Jedis was completely lost on Wickham.
He stepped forward without a word initially, his borrowed weapon outstretched slightly towards the child. However, he then made certain to ask for a bit of clarification.
"Foil, Sabre, or Épée?" It would be important to know which rules to follow.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:31 am
Millicent looked up and then smiled. Someone wanted to battle her! Challenge her! She ran off for a moment, coming back with her own protective mask on. “Épée my good sir!” She tried to sound more grown up as she spoke, puffing out her chest. “Do you tremble in fear before the tiny Jedi Terror? Everyone trembles in fear of me!”
She held her own saber out, unable to stop herself from giggling. She tried to be serious about fencing, she really did, but it always just turned into such a fun game, and she couldn’t help but lose herself to the fun part of it. That is what she was always told during her lessons, she let herself get sloppy when she fenced, let herself enjoy it too much, often leaving herself wide open for hits.
It seemed that the only time the child was serious with fencing, is when she was using one of her lightsabers. Even her father had a tough time beating her then…though…perhaps that was because he was letting her win all the time!
Millie let out one last giggle then moved into a starting stance. “I’m ready when you are!”
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 12:11 pm
"Épée it shall be then, Miss." Moving himself to the practice mat, he soon enough got himself into position, where as the child seemed to dawdle slightly. She had mentioned this whole Jedi thing again, but what the reference was still did not connect for him. Some day, the world of Star Wars would be a part of his life possibly. It just was not today.
In a calm, nearly elegant tone, he replied "I need not fear you, young Miss, for we are merely engaging in practice." It actually made plenty of sense to him why she chose Épée instead of Foil or Sabre Fencing. Épée meant you could hit any region of the body, where as Foil meant you could only receive points for touching the trunk of the body, and the Sabre (his preferred) meant a touch only from the belt-line and up would count. Épée meant less structured training.
Eventually, the child got herself into position and signaled she was ready to begin. To merely test her readiness, he thrust the borrowed weapon towards the child to see how well she'd fend it off.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:43 am
Millicent wrinkled her nose behind the mask. She wasn’t a ‘Miss’…she was a ‘Millie’. She opened her mouth and drew in a breath to say this, when he made a thrust towards her, and her words turned into a squeak of surprise, causing the child to hop backwards, raising her weapon in a half hearted attempt to parry his attack.
Well, Millicent. Pay more attention to what’s going on. Telling the snooty fencing guy her name could wait until after they were finished with their duel to the death. She nodded to herself then giggled. Snooty was such a funny word, but she figured that described this guy…he had a cool accent, but he called her ‘miss’. Who did that?
She drew her weapon away, then moved to make a thrust at him, seeming very excited about this. “Aha! Take that!” Nevermind that she lost her footing mid thrust and ended up quite far to the right of him.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:56 am
The clink of the two weapons colliding did not go unnoticed. "That was a good parry," he complimented. It was merely good though, not great. It seemed as if she had let her mind wander and that the parry was a last second attempt to ward off his offense.
The child then returned with her own offense, though it definitely wasn't the best she could muster. Howl was quite certain when the thrust didn't land her anywhere near him, but towards the side. He actually hadn't even needed to attempt a parry as a result of that mishap.
"Make sure you pay attention to your footwork as much as you pay attention to your handwork, Miss," he reminded her as politely as possible. With that, he stepped sideways slightly so that the pair were once again lined up as two sparring fencers should be. He did not strike, but rather waited, giving the child the invitation to try her offense again.
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:38 am
Millie gave a bigger pout behind her mask. He called her miss again…but said she made a good parry, so that was good at least. Finally she sighed. “Millie. I’m a Millie, not a Miss…it’s strange to be called Miss…call me Millie! You’re too formal I think!”
He was right though, she did have to pay closer attention to her footwork…and it was normally her bad footwork that landed her on the ground during her sparring matches. She looked down, trying to double check that her stance was strong enough, then lunged again, her aim going a bit better, but still off to the side some, stumbling forward.
Stupid feet! They always failed her!
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:50 am
Rather than let the child go off to the side again without any sort of reaction, his borrowed Épée was thrust out to meet the child's in an effort to engage her slightly more than this haphazard missing-streak. Their weapons clanged slightly as he then seemed to guide her weapon into the more central area.
"I apologize for my formalities, Miss Millie. It is how my mother raised me, to always be polite." It seemed even knowing the child's name did not seem to help out, since the term "Miss" was still tacked on in front of the name (which he was certain was a nickname, not a birth name).
"...better work with your lunge, but I want to try something really quickly." He held up his free hand to signal that he wanted her to stop their bout for a moment, then walked up to her.
"If you could humor me for a moment... I would like to see you try this while looking at your own feet. I will go back in place and stand in the same spot. I promise I will not move from the spot I stand, but I want you to watch your feet as you approach me." He wasn't an instructor, so his intuition could have been completely wrong. However, he went back to his spot, then nodded to the child once he was in position.
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 4:48 pm
Miss Millie! Now that was better, it made her feel like a grown up! She liked that. When he said he wanted to try something, she listened, then frowned. Look at her feet? Did he really expect that to work? Well…
“All right, I can try! But if I fall down, I’m going to blame you, okay?” She giggled, to show she was just kidding, then got into her position once more, looking at him, trying to remember where he was, before looking down at her feet and raising her weapon, walking to him and thrusting at him.
For once her aim was mostly true, not off to the side and she blinked, keeping both her footing and her balance. “Like that? Is that what you wanted to see?” She was surprised, normally she tripped up on lunges like that. She knew her feet were her biggest weakness, but, didn’t really care. It was all just a fun game. Even if she did fall down a lot.
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:25 am
True to his word, the volunteer remained in place, observing the child as she followed his instructions. She hadn't quite hit him, but the fact was she didn't veer off in a random direction. "Excellent," he chimed in an encouraging tone. "That is exactly what I wanted to see!" Howl was already mentally taking note that he'd need to chat with the child's instructor to let them know the footwork was something the excitable Miss Millie needed to work on.
Once more he lifted up a hand, to signal to pause while he distanced himself once more. With a satisfactory distance between them, he then asked "Shall we resume, Miss Millie? As normal." It was a hint that the child no longer needed to stare at her own feet. And that they would be continuing on the child's move.
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