#FENCING

[waiting-for-my-hogwarts-letter]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN IS LIVE

It’s Time To Begin, Isn’t It?

Cot3 School Fencing Competitions AU

Lucy’s new to this whole ‘Public Schools Fencing Championships’ thing. She’s used to small school competitions against other places in her area, not going up against every other school in the country. She also isn’t used to dealing with cocky guys in the year above thinking they know everything there is to know about fencing… that’s where Lockwood comes in. They never have to fence each other for the competition itself, but George finds himself refereeing the two of them anyway.

(link in reblog)

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Sword (master)post

I own and use swords! I also realised I never posted about all of them in one place, hence this very long post with many pictures. Enjoy.

This is a side-sword made by Kvetun Armoury in 2018. It was my first sword and the only one I used for quite a while, including in tournaments, so it's really beat up - but still a beauty.

It's about 106cm long with a rather wide fullered blade and weighs 1300g, which is quite heavy - but most of it is centred around the wrist in the fabulous (and honestly wonderfully protective) complex hilt.

Here's how you hold it for maximum fine movement control and to avoid killing your wrist - one finger above the crossguard, aka fingering the guard. Trust, all the jokes have already been made.

Essentially, during a lot of the movements I typically do with the sword, most of its weight comes to rest on my index finger. You can also see my gloves are worn down from this in a few specific spots, and the grip itself has completely lost its red colouring in places.

You can see what this sword looked like when it was new in this post.

This is the side-sword I got to take the place of the retired one up there: the Malleus Martialis model called Errant - The Flowing Dancer (gotta have a good, fancy name) from 2023. 104cm long, 1200g in weight - heavy, still with that complex hilt, but more sleek and streamlined now.

And... the same fingering.

Finally, a different kind of sword, though related - a rapier (and a pain to photograph).

This one is a Pappenheimer rapier, made by Bellatore in 2022. The model is called Vieira because of the clam theming, and it comes with a matching dagger for the off-hand. Just to demonstrate, this is a shot I took right after I got it in which you can see the really neat "clam" look:

The sword is 112cm long and weighs about 1100g. But because of the length, point of balance, and the amount of time you spend with your arm extended while using it, it feels much, much heavier than the other two. This is part of the reason why you would finger the guard with two fingers.

All of these swords can be used for both cutting and thrusting - but the rapier is much more thrust-oriented than the other two, and its blade is much more bendy. Obviously, though, the balance of this and techniques in general vary wildly depending on which source you draw from.

All of these swords are right-handed models, which is relevant, because all but the rapier are asymmetrical. They also have rounded/spatulated/rolled tips, for extra safety.

To conclude, I climbed on a chair to take a totally aerial shot of all of them (I am very short).

The only other two swords I own (for now) are significantly smaller - as in, a couple cm each. Both are the strongest blades in the world, however so fragile as to shatter when handled by any force other than the delicate touch of a lesbian.

[leavemeslowly]

The reaction of Polish fencer after winning the first Olympic medal in the history of Polish female fencing (epee), pure emotion:

[cardiffart]

A zillion hours of hammering, skiving, dyeing, and Angelus paint later, finally finished my rapier hanger.

[we-are-knight]

I teach honourable fencing and chivalrous combat.

Yet somehow, I raised a dagger fighting rogue, that can beat swordsmen with her dagger.

[agnesdelmotte]

[freesiahubiga]

i started crying with her like

[rgujuri]

[mactiir]

in HEMA (aka historical european fencing), much of the sport is done with fencing masks on, so identifying your clubmates during sparring or tourneys is just based on gear. you know, what color their jacket and pants are, what patches they have on it, how is their mask painted. If someone borrows someone else's jacket it's legitimately jarring, like having someone with an entirely different body type and way of moving stealing your friend's face.

Once i read about historical fishermen in the north sea and how they each had a specific hat pattern that their buddies would use to identity them while they were bundled up. It was so much part of their identity that they were often buried wearing those hats. The gear is like your name, a visual identifier of YOU when you do not have a face.

anyway, back when I was buying gear i got my pants in ELECTRIC blue. I figured i was gonna get a black or grey jacket. but HEMA gear is kind of expensive because it's all custom- or handmade, so instead of spending $400 on a new jacket I picked up one secondhand for like 20. Except the only jacket that fit me was bright, SCARLET red. And I already had my expensive, new, custom, BLUE pants. I look like a damn rocket pop or like, a mixed Icee. I was like, shit! I should switch my jacket before i become the rocket pop guy!!!

Long story short, not only am I now the rocket pop guy, the color scheme has bled into my entire wardrobe. Every-fucking-thing I own is red and blue. I look like a french revolutionary. I look like a founding father in a school play. I have become a northern fisherman in my stripey hat. Now, even if I DO get a new jacket, I feel like I GOTTA buy it in red, yk? Otherwise they won't recognize me. Maybe I won't recognize me. I'm the rocket pop guy!!!

[alnair-jpg]

Next up for Olympics AU: the indomitable Annabeth Chase

[marshmallow--boy]

People who say it’s unrealistic for heroes to unmask for the emotional finale of a movie have clearly never seen fencers rip off their masks in devastation every time they lose a point

[bethanythebogwitch]

Me: en gar!

Fencing opponent: it's en garde

Me: *holding an elongated fish* no

[sing-you-fools]

I think, in the Olympics, in addition to all the regular serious stuff, each sport should have one Goofy Event.

Divers get an event where they do three dives - a bellyflop, a canonball, and "freestyle" where they just run flailing off the diving board still in their regular clothes (yelling "COWABUNGA" is optional).

Swimmers have a dog paddle race.

Runners, get ready for some elementary school field day shit. One of those relays where you gotta carry an egg in a spoon the whole time. Three. Fucking. Legged. Race.

Fencers are going to reenact the swordfight from The Princess Bride. (Really, the event is to reenact a swordfight from a movie. They just all choose The Princess Bride.)

All of these events are scored as the regular ones are. The medals, however, are made of chocolate.

(feel free to add more in the tags! I don't know enough about sports to imagine what other sports might do)

[momosane]

Some of the Fencing masks from the Paris 2024 Olympics.

(Salim Heroui. Feres Ferjani. Olga Kharlan. Tufaha Uwihoreye. Aleksandra Jarecka. Kang Young Mi. Eleanor Harvey. Marie-Florence Candassamy. Rubén Limardo. Mohamed El-Sayed.)

[slack-wise]

Étienne-Jules Marey

[agnesdelmotte]

fencing. grand palais. paris 2024.