2023-07-04: Sword Talk
- Log: Sword Talk
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Cascade Vermilion
- Where: Jindai High School Gym
- OOC - IC Date: 0097 07 04
- Summary: Alouette and Cascade have a perfectly normal fencing match.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
The promised day is nigh - Alouette has cordially invited Cascade to Jindai for a round of fencing practice.
She... wasn't entirely sure if Cascade would show. It's finals week and it's busy after all. But once she finished today's exam, she made her way to Jindai's gymnasium which is luckily totally empty today! The typical student is probably studying for the next one right now.
When Cascade arrives, she'll see Alouette sitting on a bench in Jindai's gym uniform and a protector - adjusting her practice sword.
Until she notices the other girl, with a little wave. "Welcome to Jindai," she greets with a smile. "I'm glad you could make it." Cascade isn't the type to worry about exams either?
"You know.. I'm really out of practice." She admits, with a nervous smile. Although she has been practicing with Sho a lot -- you can't call yourself experienced if you only know how to counter one person. "But I hope you'll still give me your very best, and nothing less." She adds, sounding a little more serious than she intends.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
It's finals week, but even the most astute student needs some time to relax between exams, or that's what Cascade apparently felt when she agreed to meet Alouette during exams weak.
Truthfully, it wasn't like studying actually helped Gamia - Cascade - all that much. Once she memorized something, it stayed memorized, plus she had access to databases of data - but like her physical skills, that was something she generally kept to herself, and spent time studying (or 'studying') for the sake of appearances. She got more out of practicing skills and learning how to apply her information, but her talents did make high school exams very easy.
But she had an opportunity to read Alouette, who she knew perfectly well was a member of GGG. The information might be worth something, to Gamia; and so Cascade decided to take her up on the match.
Cascade arrives right on time. She has come with equipment of her own; a rigid plastron-style protector that looks like it's custom-fit and made for her tucked under one arm along with a sport fencing sword. Either she's rich (well, she is a Britannian noble's daughter, isn't she...? if only a minor one) or Ashford has really good equipment. Or both.
"After some of the exams I have had, I could use a way to work out some stress," Cascade says, with a faint smile. "At least it should be an interesting match. I'm not really out of practice, though..." She is placed pretty close to the middle of the Ashford team, which Alouette may or may not know - she's not their runaway star nor their barely-hanging-on bottom rung.
"Please, give me one moment to set up." She does have to buckle on her chestguard - apparently she didn't know Alouette beat her here, to not set up ahead of time.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"My thoughts exactly." Alouette smiles back, at the opportunity to burn off some stress. Not from exams, particularly... but worse things, perhaps. "It's been some time since I've had the opportunity to spar with someone new... so I look forward to the opportunity."
She eyes the equipment Cascade brought with her, then. Ashford students always vibed on the rich end of the spectrum, but... "It looks like you brought the good stuff, huh? Now I feel a little underequipped... not enough to make me give up though." She grins - even without Cascade's database access, the way Alouette speaks doesn't exactly hide her membership with GGG. But it is true, her club certainly has a much lower budget than Ashford's, so she's working with the lower quality stuff she's got.
"Please, take your time." Alouette nods, as Cascade takes a moment to set up. "I'll warm up in the meantime." She says, standing up with a long stretch. "Do you have a particular ruleset preference? Or would you like to freestyle it? Anything's fine with me! I'm.. pretty adaptable." She offers, with a few basic practice swings, waiting for Cascade to finish setting up.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade actually looks a little sheepish. "It wasn't meant to come off that way," she says, almost defensive. "If Jindai has one I can use and you would prefer I'd use it, I will. But I brought my own because I'm used to it, mostly..."
Gamia doesn't think at all about money. Cascade has learned to, but she still has a lot of it available, compared to some people. Surely GGG pays well, but Cascade supposes she doesn't spend a lot of it on sports equipment.
"I've been in training, but I haven't placed in any competitions," Cascade says, "so I've had some opportunities, but perhaps not as much as some people have. I entered Ashford partway through the last school year, so I wasn't on the fencing team from the beginning... this is my first full year with them."
She gets everything squared away, setup-wise; all buckled and arranged, sword ready, though she holds it not in a combat position. "Freestyle, perhaps? I don't know which style you trained in - I used epee." Which comes pretty close to freestyle anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"No, no it's okay..." Alouette replies to Cascade. "I was just impressed, honestly." She clarifies, laughing anxiously. "So feel free to use what makes you the most comfortable. I did tell you to bring your best, right?" GGG certainly does pay well, and she's just received a significant hazard pay... perhaps it would be a good idea to put some of it towards funding the fencing club.
"I think I'm just about in the same position as you," Alouette admits. "Our fencing club is really small. The concept hasn't taken off on the same level as it has at Ashford. So... right now, it's just me and my girlfriend." She explains, adjusting her plastron. "That's why it's actually a bit of a big deal to have someone from another school show up."
"I used epee myself... a little bit of kendo too, thanks to Sho. So freestyle it is!" She concludes, readying her stance. "So shall we get started?"
"En garde... pretes?" She calls, ensuring Cascade is ready. And then... "Allez!" Despite admitting she's out of practice and contrary to her demeanour up until now, Alouette's movement speed is lightning fast, even a little aggressive and pretty reckless as she goes for a forward lunge.
But it's with a certain confidence that she can overextend this far without fear. Regardless, if Cascade's instincts are fast enough, she will be able to catch her attack and counter -- Alouette's very much testing her lower limit right off the start here.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"At Ashford, it's a tradition, so it's a little more popular than that. Just you and your girlfriend?" Cascade pauses for a beat, and then guesses, "Sho?" She did bring the name up first, after all, as a fellow fencer. Or kendoka, as the case may be. Cascade has a pretty good idea who it is, having seen the two of them at prom - and Sho is a person of interest to Gamia, too. Though she hadn't registered that they were dating then - perhaps she's not as good at reading people as she should be.
For completely mysterious reasons, kendo is not as popular at Ashford.
When Alouette asks if she's ready, Cascade gives a sketchy salute with her sword and raises it into a defensive position. "Allez!" She's, thus, ready when Alouette goes on the attack -
But Alouette is fast. Faster than Cascade expects. Cass narrowly avoids the lunge to her midsection, half-dancing out of line and half because of an extremely hasty parry. She only barely manages to catch it; Alouette seems to have taken the initiative in such a way as to show to best advantage against Cascade.
Gamia calculates the best counterattack in an instant, even using what amounts to a toy sword compared to her usual array of weapons - her body would be more effective than the sport blade is. She calculates angles, movements, actions and reactions. Cascade accepts this knowledge and then doesn't use most of it.
Her counterattack does come out, and it's pretty quick, but not to Alouette's speed. If Alouette hadn't overextended, it wouldn't have a hope of connection, because it too is a testing maneuver - but because she did, Cascade is seeing if she can score a quick easy pickup of a point.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Good guess," Alouette nods, when Cascade correctly points out her girlfriend. "We actually weren't dating yet at prom... otherwise we might've chosen the dance floor instead. Still, we found we got along surprisingly really well.. so we made it official not long after that." She explains with a smile.
Taking the initiative... seemed to have paid off? It certainly catches Cascade off-guard, but even then... she manages to avoid a point against her. That gets her initial respect.
But she knows she isn't safe yet... massively overextending gives Cascade a decent chance of a hit. And although her Coordinator reflexes give her a marginal advantage, they certainly don't mean she can predict the future. She curves to the left, and realizing the mistake -- quickly corrects to the right, with only her sheer speed being enough to catch the blade with her own. "Not bad... I definitely can't be careless with you," Alouette concedes, and doubles back.
This means she cedes control of the flow of the match now to Cascade this time as she takes a defensive stance. It's completely antethetical in style from her initial aggressive movements. She wasn't lying when she said she's adaptable. From here, she studies Cass's movements, hoping to catch a flaw in them that she can counter.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"Then I don't feel as bad for not noticing," Cascade says, with a little hint of a smile. She's kind of glad that it just wasn't that she was that oblivious only a few months ago... though she knows she's learned a lot in that time, so perhaps it's not quite as unexpected as it could be. "Congratulations?" That's the right word, right? Maybe not - they aren't getting married.
Honestly, Cascade just wanted to let the match roll a little longer. She's here to learn about Alouette, after all.
...But it's more than that, if she's being honest with herself. She's having fun. She'd like to have fun a little longer.
Cascade presses the attack after Alouette manages to deflect it with speed, something that becomes easier when Alouette shifts to a more defensive posture. She favours fast, almost testing attacks that get pulled back, hit or miss, and Alouette can find something out about her style:
Cascade's instincts are offensive. She wants to seize the advantage. But she's very deliberately pulling back, restraining herself and returning to a safer position. It probably stops her from being quite as good a fencer as she could be.
The truth is that Gamia is, of course, primed to attack, and Cass is restraining herself to not give away the game. It doesn't really come through that Cascade is deliberately slowing herself down, striking only at human speeds (though she's reasonably quick for an unmodified human, if that's what she is - she doesn't look that athletic). But the fact that she's playing against her instincts and pulling back does. It feels almost like she's afraid to go all-in, and it gives Alouette the opportunity she needs if she wants to take it - the gap when Cascade hesitates, however fractionally, is there.
Even Cascade doesn't realize this part. She's trying to look average, and she's trying to stay cool-headed. "You, too - you're better than most of our team, you realize? I don't know if I'll be able to keep up for long..."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Thank you," Alouette replies to Cascade's words of congratulations with a smile. Is that the right word? Alouette isn't sure herself. "It's my first relationship, actually... and it feels like a huge step considering I didn't even know I liked girls until about a year ago." She's not sure where Cascade's preferences lie, or if she has any or none at all. But she isn't shy about her own anymore.r
Alouette... gets a very strange vibe from Cascade's movements, though. Initially seeming like she's going to go on a full offensive, Alouette prepares for that... before realizing she totally overdid it when Cascade pulls herself back. It almost throws her own game off a few times before she learns to correct for it.
Is it, perhaps, part of her intentional style, she wonders? She can see the merit of faking an opponent out like this... but Cascade never actually seems to capitalize on the opportunity. Alouette doesn't complain about the match going on for a long time, she's having fun, too... but she realizes that this game only works if she goes back on her own offensive.
Which she does, as soon as Cascade gives her the opportunity with hesitation, just marginally almost reaching her shoulder with the tip, giving her a moment to react... but only a fraction of a second.
"Better than your team?" She asks, raising her eyebrow in question. "I don't know if I could say that unless I had the chance to duel them myself." She adds, subdued... it's only true that she has no idea how to beat them unless given the opportunity to analyze them.
"And I don't even know if I can say I'm better than you, unless..." She trails off, for just a second, switching her train of thought. "I told you there's no need to hold back, you know. Even if you tag me, I'll be just fine. This is really fun, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"Ah. I... don't date. I don't think my parents would approve..." This is half-true (she has absolutely no idea what Ashura's reactions to Cascade declaring that she was going out with someone would be) but also half just because she can't let anyone get that close. Not right now. Plus, is she even capable of love? As a robot, maybe she's only capable of faking it...
Though there are people she's getting close to, so she's not sure that it's the 'romance' that is the dealbreaker at this point.
This time, Alouette strikes -
And Cascade is out of position just enough to miss it. The blade plinks off her shoulder, scraping toward the underarm part of the plastron - a solid point.
Cascade blinks. She hadn't expected to give that one up. Something like ninety percent of the points against her are ones she intentionally chose to let through, as part of her 'disguise'; it's rare that somebody manages to get an authentic point on her and usually means they did something surprising.
"Well, that's a point for you," she says, returning to neutral position. She's frowning just a hair - her emotions are restrained, as Cascade doesn't like expressing herself for various reasons, but behind her eyes Gamia is loud. She feels that moment of almost being split in two, like she doesn't know what mask to wear -
It passes as Cascade settles back into proper neutral position for a new fencing engagement. "I'm not holding back," she says, "or at least not in any way other than trying not to be reckless." Despite this she does attack more decisively this time; not much faster than before, but more aggressive, less restrained. It only feels about half intentional. Maybe something about the conversation stung her.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I never thought I would. A lot's changed, though..." Is Alouette's thoughts on it. "My last crush was unrequited... but I guess there's no point in staying alone forever because of something like that." The nature of the crush was kind of messy anyways, and they're still good friends.
Cascade's own reasoning is her parents, huh? "I suppose you might not be the type to have a rebellious secret love affair behind their back, no." She teases, lightly. "Would you be happier if you could, though?" She asks, in a more serious tone.
Back to the duel, her blade strikes... and it strikes true, as Cascade cedes the point to her. She certainly put up a fight for it, perhaps more than she credits herself, in Alouette's view. "Good bout... you want to keep going?" She asks, going back into her own neutral position.
"...I'll take your word for it." Alouette notes as Cascade argues she wasn't holding back. If she doesn't, then she'd just be insulting her skill. But part of her still feels... Cascade for sure could've gotten a point on her a few times back there.
So she prepares to take Cascade just as she did in the last bout. Bank on her stepping back instead of taking the shot, playing it way too safe. She doesn't -- going for a much more aggressive strike. This time, it catches Alouette off-guard, as her defensiveness is severely punished as Cascade keeps going. "N-no way," She breathes out in shock, losing her regular cool-headedness for just a moment.
But she's able to collect herself just in time to go for a rather weak parry, pushing back Cascade's advance back just a little.
"I'm not holding back either...!" Alouette almost feels like she's in a real battle right now, but she pushes those thoughts aside. It's not like she wants to hurt Cass or is really capable of it with this dinky little practice sword. Still, she matches Cascade's aggressiveness and lack of restraint with a wide cross-step aiming to finish the bout in one fell swoop. This of course, leaves her very open to retaliation if she doesn't pull it off properly. But she knows that she won't be able to get away with playing hard to get this round.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
WOULD Cascade be happier if she could?
"I haven't thought about it," Cascade lies, with slightly less skill than her usual array of lies. There's something there, but she has enough control to not let exactly what out even if she can't hide its existence. "It's just not something I've had to worry about, unrequited or not. I admire you for it, though... for choosing what you want, and going for it."
She doesn't wish she could do that, precisely. That implies she'd thought about it enough to decide she wanted it. But Cascade does feel something, some kind of unease that gets worse as time goes on.
It wasn't, necessarily, that Cascade was holding back her skill (though she is holding back the whole Gamia thing). She just wouldn't let herself attack as much as she probably should have for fear of attacking more than she probably should have - which is a failure of skill but in a completely different way, and one an astute (and fast) opponent can capitalize on.
Cascade also finds out one other thing: In a tournament, or group matches, she doesn't mind arranging things so she sits neatly at the middle of the rankings. That, too, is a skill, and being able to do it accurately - to judge everybody else's skills and abilities and individual strengths and weaknesses, even how they're doing today versus how they usually do - takes a surprising amount of effort and makes her feel pretty good about how accurately she can do it.
But when she's called out by just one person, something that hasn't happened very often in the past, Cascade doesn't like to lose. With one rival, she has to give her best. Even though it's the safer way for her - give up the point, allow herself to be beaten. But something about choosing to lose... it just feels wrong, to both Cascade and Gamia.
So when Alouette steps up, so does Cascade to match her. The wide cross-step comes in, and at the same time, Cascade twists in a very particular way, taking a half-step in retreat before thrusting right back.
Two things happen at once:
Cascade's sword touches in line with Alouette's breastbone, well below the (much more dangerous, and thus protected in fencing) hollow in the throat. It's not too hard - even if it was a real sword it probably wouldn't go very deeply, and with the blunted fencing sword it's a lot like getting jabbed with a finger by someone a little too enthusiastic about it. Not painful, but firm.
But at the same instant, Alouette's aggressive fleche has struck pretty much dead center on Cascade's plastron with enough force to make a distinct 'click'. The two events are so close together that without electronic scoring aids - which they aren't using - it's not possible to tell which one hit first. Even Cascade isn't quite sure.
A few expressions cross Cascade's face, but she seems to settle on that faint smile. She seems pretty good at restraining her emotions... or bottling them up, depending on your point of view. "It looks like we really are evenly matched. Do you want to call that a draw?"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Hmm..." Alouette considers, about Cascade's lie. "Sometimes it takes a frustrating amount of time and thought to know what you want." She finally answers. "Whether you know it yet or not... I do hope you'll find that same type of happiness whether it's with a partner or not."
Cascade's skill to place herself in the middle of rankings is indeed a very effective one - if Alouette saw those rankings after this fight, she'd assume that Ashford's fencing club is to an incredibly high standard.
But as she stands now, she hates losing just as much as Cascade does, and she hates giving up even more. So she tries to make that final fleche count with everything it's got. Does it work? It does hit the plastron. "Poi-" She starts, but then that sensation - it's a burning sensation, not of pain, maybe adrenaline? She knows she's been hit, too.
She meets Cascade with quite an intense gaze -- and then a wide smile. "You're right.. I couldn't say who hit first. Draw it is." Counting the previous bout, that's 2-1... but Alouette would agree that they're evenly matched after all.
She wipes some sweat off her forehead, realizing she worked herself pretty hard in that match. "That was... a lot of fun!" She pants out. "You're incredible, Cascade." She then wordlessly opens up a water cooler, offering Cass one, as she takes a large sip out of a bottle of her own. "Thanks a lot for coming... you really made me fight with everything I have... and I appreciate that." She also learned a thing or two about her opponent... she stands out more than she tries to make herself. Could she be a fellow Coordinator or similar? Who can say.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"..."
Cascade finds it hard to look at her future too far. Eventually she's going to have to stop being Cascade, after all; eventually her job will be complete. And then... well, she's not really sure, yet. She may never be sure.
"Thank you," she says, though it's under pressure - from the match, if nothing else. It's not like Alouette is letting up on her all that much! But it was not precisely how she expected today to go - people have teased her about her lack of boyfriend (or girlfriend) before, but nobody's really asked quite like Alouette once she said her parents wouldn't approve.
So rather than think about it, instead she throws herself wholeheartedly into the battle, and it pays off... sort of. Technically it would be an Alouette victory - Cass hadn't scored a point before that - but she's happy to call it a draw, and so is Cascade. After all, in a real battle, both those blows would have been serious at the least.
Cass sits down next to Alouette. She appreciates the water, and drains part of a bottle very quickly - the cold doesn't seem to bother her too much, but maybe she just really needed a drink. "Thank you," she says. "And - yes. I don't have many solo matches... normally I just practice, and enter the tournaments. I don't normally manage as well as I did today." That may be cover, but...
It did feel good to let loose, just for a moment. Even with Alouette's suspicions. To Gamia, Alouette of GGG is an enemy. She can't - will never be - anything else.
But right now, to Cascade, Alouette - fellow student - doesn't feel like one.