“This is impossible!” she finally said aloud, yelling it mostly to the sky as she quickly took a seat and laid herself out in her favorite hidden clearing in a nearby park. Setting her shield aside, Ekstrom took a long moment to catch her breath and try to wrap her mind around it again. It seemed more effective to try and practice in real time, but she didn’t exactly know anyone who also had training in hand to hand combat and experience in real-time fights.
That seemed like a tall ask, now that she thought about it.
--------
Being in the park at night….This is something he was used to doing now apparently since he couldn't be bothered to go anywhere else. For now, he was content to wander, tossing his skull up and down while he walked. He could sense the signature of another knight nearby and decided to investigate. Eventually he happened across a….His eyes narrowed, Mercury knight? Ah, they were cool with all their techy s**t right? Better than his old goth vibes on Saturn. Speaking of, he would have to make the trip back to his wonder to do some more renovations.
The catacombs were almost full and the massive amounts of marked and unmarked graves that were in the giant front yard of the mansion was down to….one row now? It was tough doing everything on his own but he managed. Eventually he was going to ask Shang for help and maybe Hali as well as Palmyra, but he figured they wouldn't be comfortable moving cadavers from one place to another. Seeing the squire layed out was kind of funny, and she looked frustrated. Aaru squatted down to look at her, “Need help with something?”
------
She had sensed the other Knight coming toward her, so when he spoke suddenly just nearby she actually didn’t start for once. Which was nice; she’d been getting better about her awareness of signatures and their proximity to her, so she felt a flicker of accomplishment and pride inside as she glanced over at him.
Saturn knight, by the looks of it. Ekstrom offered him a little smile in gratitude, because he offered without really knowing what the issue was.
“Maybe?” she replied, slowly sitting up and turning so she was facing him and actually better positioned for a proper conversation. “I was just thinking that it was hard to implement kickboxing into a fighting style I can use effectively while in my Knight uniform and wielding my shield, and that the overlapping section of a Venn diagram of ‘Order’ and ‘trained in hand to hand combat’ and ‘has real fighting experience’ is really, really, really small. So the chances of me meeting someone who meets all that criteria, and would be willing to give me a few pointers, or even train me, are just as slim.”
The Squire took a deep breath then, as she’d said all of that in more or less a single breath, before extending a hand. “I’m Ekstrom, by the way,” she followed up, her expression turning to a friendly smile.
-----
Oh a fellow kickboxer?
Nice!
Aaru remained squatting, shaking her hand. “Aaru. Nice to meet you.” He gave her a friendly smile, standing up. “I do Muay Thai so maybe I could help?” It wasn't hard to figure out how to implement his skull into his style, but he could imagine trying to implement a shield into the mix. That would be pretty hard.
------
“Well how ‘bout that?” she laughed. “I wonder if I’ve used up the rest of my luck for the year running into you.” The Squire considered for a moment, before nodding. “I’ll take you up on that, if you’re offering,” she said, and soon enough was on her feet and stretching a little bit to re-warm her body. She’d already started cooling down, and felt the stiffness and soreness of a good workout already coming on.
“Ready whenever you are!”
-------
“Bet, I'll come at you like you're an enemy kid, better prepare yourself.”
Aaru summoned his skull, then cranked his arm back, throwing it towards her at full speed. He wasn't going to actually hit her, but he could at least act like it.
------
She wasn’t sure what his magic did but she reflexively raised her shield to block it from hitting her directly. “That probably works in my favor,” she grinned as she dashed toward him, summoning her shield in the process, if only to trigger those unpleasant tingles as a distraction.
As soon as she felt whatever it was bounce off of her weapon, and when she was within range, Ekstrom lowered her shield and did her best to time a roundhouse kick to his side.
-------
Aaru was quite impressed when he saw his skull bounce off of the girl’s shield, summoning it back into his hand and nearly dropping it as he felt some sort of tingles when she opened her shield. Huh…Felt like his whole body went to sleep. Nice. He would make sure to be aware of that whenever he decided to spar with her next time.
The roundhouse kick was unexpected, but he decided to tank it, his chuckle having a wheezing sound to it. “N-Nice one kid, seems like you're doing just fine, why do you think you need help?” He returned her kick with a frontal, just like in 300. He wasn't trying to hit her with it (since he didn't hit females…That don't deserve it. He was an equal opportunity fighter after all), so he didn't put all of his strength behind it either.
------
There was a small sense of satisfaction when her kick hit, and rather than wonder if he was going easy on her she chose to focus on the successes. Whether he wanted to ease up or go hard was up to him, and she was grateful for his help no matter how he chose to approach it.
“Because it feels awkward, but if you think I’m doing decently,” she paused to raise her shield again, this time just to block the front kick–which did shake her a bit, so it brought to mind the question of whether he was just just that strong or she was just that weak–before continuing, “I’ll take your word for it and keep up with the training.”
The spar went on for a bit, until they had exchanged a good amount of blows and were winded by the end, and she happily took whatever tips and tricks he offered along the way with plenty of thanks.
“Seriously, thank you,” she beamed, breathing hard but smiling just as wide as though she wasn’t totally exhausted. “Would you mind if I reached out in the future for another spar? I feel like sparring with you’ll help keep me on my toes.”
------
The whole affair felt nice if he was being honest, it's been a good minute since he's had a good spar, and Ekstrom seemed like she would be an amazing partner to contact whenever he needed to just get some practice in. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, chuckling, “Yeah no problem. You were pretty good there kiddo~” He nodded to her question, rubbing his shoulder. He might only be thirty years old but damn, either he was going soft, or Ekstrom was better than she thought she was.
“I would not mind that at all. Give me a call anytime you need a partner and I'll be there.” He gave her the two finger salute and stepped back before using his aspect to disappear into the trees.
-------
The Squire mentally pumped her fist into the air, because that felt like a solid win. Finding a good sparring partner was a step in the right direction, as far as she was concerned. If there was anything about her past life that she didn’t want to perpetuate, it was lack in fighting experience.
Granted, it wasn’t for lack of trying that she wound up that way, but still.
“Awesome! And hey, if you feel up for a spar, feel free to reach out, too! Head’s up–there’s an umlaut over the ‘o’ in my name.”
She waved as he disappeared into the shadows, wondering if that was an aspect or something else (and planning to ask when they next met) as she turned to hear home.
its_pao
