#i say as a foilist

[thelaundryghost]

local 15 year old absolutely destroys competition in high school fencing tourney, more at 11

[oneknightstand-if]

The First Bug Fix Update

Before anyone gets too excited, this update is primarily for bug fixes. Hopefully if I push this out early enough, people’s browsers will be more likely to show the bug fixes before the next update to Chapter 2. (Don't hold your breath there)

The new version of the game is Version 0.13-B so if you’re not seeing that on the start page, please reload the page or clear your cache until it appears. 🫠

Current State of the next Chapter 2 Update: Not even started yet. Google Drive stopped syncing with Windows 7 during this whole mess, so I'm currently fighting with that instead right now.

The new update includes…

Fixed bug where choosing to be an épéeist redirects to the foilist choice if the MC prefers to use long swords (also fixed the a épéeist typo in the same choice).

Fixed the trailer attack being mentioned during the fight against the hellhound and during Merlin’s lore dump conversation

Added long sword response for certain MC’s in the weapons talk with Merlin

Fixed adrian_arthur/adrian_arthurian disambiguation bug that made it seem that MC always had Arthurian talk with Adrian

Fixed Shrek/Sword in the Stone/Camelot Musical references

Fixed(hopefully?) bug with current weapon on hand not triggering

Fixed the bugs with the MC’s fencing lamé

Removed Maelgwyn/Maelgyn typos

Clarified "Modron"s background in Merlin’s Guide

Fixed bug where game assumes a friendly MC has already seen Adrian’s text message in the fencing route

Fixed Flip1/Flip2 showing up for lucky MC’s when using the Magic 8-Ball

Fixed various bugs concerning the current status of the MC’s fencing gloves

Fixed Stratchclyde/Strathclyde typos

Fixed bug where people were getting +2 Silent instead of +1

Added wiki to Adrian Garf 2 during the Mist talk with Adrian

Tactics & Photographic Memory now gray out some less than optimal choices during the fencing club route

A bit more clarification given on why those choices ended up being less than optimal

If you post the link to the game, now it will automatically say "One Knight Stand" instead of "Multiple Choice Example Game | My First ChoiceScript Game" (An update of dire importance, as you can see)

[thirteenmyspacegirl]

thanks for the tag love<3

1- Were you named after anyone?

yeah a fucking airplane. lol. Don't take it the wrong way lol I'm not mad, actually a little sad cause it's a nice plane, but i never felt like my deadname fit me so yeah (i also don't feel comfortable sharing but honestly if you wanna guess go ahead lmao /lh)

2- When was the last time you cried?

Friday- watching Jedi Night jfjfjkaj 😭 the last time I cried about something not fictional i actually can't remember-

3- Do you use sarcasm?

a lot yeah haha xD i take after my dad in a lot of ways and one is his sarcastic nature- i try not to be annoying but I've never been good at reading conversational boundaries lol

4- What's the first thing you notice about people?

i wish i could say their eyes but i never make eye contact with people haha- either their voice or their clothes, idk it's just interesting to see how other people dress comfortably/for the weather/at a fancy event/etc :)

5- What's your eye color?

um. like a greenish blue but closer to greenstone blue?? it varies haha, and depending on what i wear it brings out different tones in my eyes (so I've been told all my life anyway akdkfkkf)

6- Scary movie or happy ending?

I'm never not gonna love a happy ending, but on occasion I like to watch something scary. I'm much more of a scary things reader than watcher though haha

7- Any special talents?

first of all bearin shush you're super amazing and talented and that's awesome anywhere >:(

Idk how 'special' this is, but i can raise/drop my voice a pretty large number of octaves when singing! i also ride horses and am learning to fly:)

8- Where where you born?

in a hospital. /lh Fr though i was born in new jersey usa, where i do not live anymore lol

9-Any pets?

Yes<33333 I have a chocolate labrador called Holly and she doesn't pay me any mind other than when i feed her (why i really want another dog:(), and ofc i have my boy Shammy!! He's a dark bay OTTB and likes to get attention by shoving you with his face very hard lmaoooo

10- What sports do you play/have played?

I've been riding all my life, no plans of stopping, i still run on occasion (cross country), i fence (👋foilist cause they're short here!), and i used to swim competitively while i lived in the UAE, did an international meet and everything! when i moved back to the US tho i didn't find a place i really liked tho so i don't anymore sadly:/

11- How tall are you?

around 5"3, about 160cm:) haven't actually checked this is an approximation 💀

12- What was your favorite subject in school?

For a while it was math, and then it was English. I think it was a combination between actually enjoying what we were learning and having good teachers that made it somewhat enjoyable

13- Dream Job?

god- i have crisis after crisis about this haha- I know i want to do voice acting, and hopefully make it into a big game someday. and since that isn't exactly a stable income, I'd like to become a vtuber and stream on occasion, and also work as an exercise rider at a barn:)

thanks again for the tag!! sorry for my huge paragraphs on all of these 💀 tagging with no pressure @theydoctor @sopphic27 @kanerallels and @accidental-spice :)

Tagged by @a-swarm-of-crabs hi dude long time no see :)

1. Were you named after anyone?

I think my dad picked my old name from dr jivago or some shit but then again nobody ever elaborated on this info or showed me the movie. Not gonna lie I got Mikhail from a doctor who novel (but I already liked the name vibes for Michael and stuff)

2. When was the last time you cried?

No idea. My eyes don't exactly translate my emotions with tears, so it's been a long time

3. Do you use sarcasm?

A lot, but I try to not be annoying

4. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Hmmm, I think their voice? I don't make eye contact with new people and I don't notice the clothes if they're not remarkable so probably the voice, or something they say! I remember in my school there was this science teacher who I talked to a lot of times, but I couldn't for the life of me recognise her, the only thing I was sure about was that she liked snakes so in my brain she was just the snake lady and I recognised her when she talked about snakes

5. What's your eye colour?

Brown. I like brown but I wish they were darker

6. Scary movie or happy ending?

Happy ending mostly :) just not when it's some sessão da tarde bullshit (thought I do like scary movies sometimes)

7. Any special talents?

If you asked anyone who knows me irl you'd hear I'm great at arts and drawing and stuff but honestly I don't exactly think that's a special talent on tumblr lol

8. Where were you born?

In the hospital of my city :) from where I never left ever :))

9. Do you have any pets?

Yes! Orange cat Wisp and newly-acquired white cat Jeremy (they're mostly ignoring each other for now, but I know they'll give in for their strangers-to-friends pipeline eventually)

10. What sports do you play/have played?

I was shit at every sport ever as a kid!! I liked swimming but I didn't have a pool anywhere near so I could practice. I like a bit of football, but I never played as a kid because I was the weird fat girl and well- times were cruel

11. How tall are you?

I have no idea. The only height measurements I have is that I'm just a little bit taller than my friends >:)

12. What was your favourite subject in school?

Art!! Art art art art art art art art art ! ! ! !

13. Dream job?

Realistically and stupidly something around a tattoo artist, a teacher and a vagabond who lives in a van and sells art at the beach. Dream like what I'd really like would probably be illustrating books (and being just a little bit famous lol)

Tagging @thirteenmyspacegirl @spoonietimelordy @rearranging-deck-chairs @raindropsonwhiskers and @rowanthestrange (??) (I usually don't tag people on those games so I don't really know who likes being tagged on stuff) (no pressure to any of you of course)

[youssefguedira]

thinking about her (italian grip steam foil) again

[honeyblockm]

Fencing au time? Fencing au time. (aka the au i think about when I'm zoning out of fencing practice /j)

Starting with Technoblade, because people making him a fencer in their fics is what made me start thinking about this

Also disclaimer the competition systems and everything I mention are US ones because you see. I have never fenced outside of the US except once in Shanghai.

Disclaimer 2: I'm a foil fencer and don't know quite as much about the other disciplines

Techno's a sabreist! Really fucking good, A rated, fences internationally. Fences smart, not necessarily super aggressive. (by like, sabre standards.) Improved really fast once he hit like, 14 and never stopped. I'm putting him on like, his last few years of junior? Definitely can't fence cadet anymore, like 18-19.

Wilbur's his brother, local foilist, I'd say like B rated, could be an A but he's consistently unlucky. He and Techno are both licensed referees but Techno doesn't really do it as much as Wilbur does. He only steals snacks from the refs section for other people on occasion.

Tommy, sabreist, 15-16, Good but not super great but he's getting there! Wildly out of line and unpredictable fencer, just a real delight to face every time. Teams up with Techno to rag on Wilbur for being a foilist.

Ranboo, epeeist. Tall, and a leftie. Good God Why Are His Arms So Long. Afraid to talk to his refs.

Tubbo, epeeist! He does the fleche. He does the counterattack. Short and resents it. Can still beat Ranboo 2/3 times though. He and Ranboo are in the same age range as Tommy.

Niki's a sabreist, terrifying on the strip, gives hugs after crushing her opponents 15 to 5. My notes on this from a previous draft: she takes command of the flow of the bout really quickly so if you don't get your wits about you quick you are kind of just reacting to everything she does.

Phil's like 30-something, fresh from his last Olympics and subsequent retirement. Sabreist, but god help him he picks up epee and foil too because he's like the only coach at his club. Came back to his hometown to kick the fencing club there back to life.

Speaking of, Phil's a great coach but their fencing club still counts as very small, due to being in an area where not a lot of people fence.

There's definitely more characters in this au that I just don't feel like typing out rn including another club with BBH

do feel free to ask me about this au or just olympic fencing in general i'm so down to talk about olympic fencing in general

[outofbinaryspace]

Just some thoughts about my fencing experience and TAZ Balance

(Long post by the way and I’m on mobile which means I can’t do a under the cut thing so keep reading if you want)

I started listening to TAZ (the adventure zone) in the summer of 2019

That summer was, not perfect by any means, but I had a lot of fun

I got a grant from my school to research shit

I did well enough at the divisional qualifier (after not having officially competed in a year or two) that I got to fence in Div 2 and 3 at nationals

(I literally spent 2017/18 just doing footwork and being a punching bag at the academy but when I studied abroad, I started fencing again and literally the weekend I got back was the qualifier)

Nationals that year were in Columbus, Ohio

I drove there from my parents place in VA

It was about 6 or 8 hours each way

I had already started TAZ Balance and I think I was a little after the middle of it

So I finished it while on that trip

And I honestly think that the finale, the bard narrating and inspiring everyone to fight, that hope is not lost and that they are indeed legends

That Magnus isn’t dead and him bursting through the door and Lucretia just absolutely overwhelmed that he’s alive and well and here even if he’s angry and hurt by what she’s done

He’s alive and that’s what matters, that’s what’s important

All of that, the boys fighting with Lucretia to help her in her mission to protect not only her dearest friends but the entire world-at one point entirely alone after losing her family

That the final fight she isn’t alone, she’s finally got her family back and she has her friends from the bureau

All these people willing to put their life in her hands knowing this fight could end their lives and deciding it’s worth it

It means so much to me

Even now in the year 2021

I’m tearing up writing this because these guys, the party they were just normal people

They were normal people given an impossible task and out of sheer determination and insistence they did it

Merles refusal to give up on John, to get to know him and the fact that John, at his lowest point, he gives in

He gives in to Merles kindness and gives him the key to defeating the hunger as his final moment before he is destroyed

In his final moment that is what John does, he chooses his friendship with Merle, he realizes his mistakes and he does the only thing he can to destroy himself and the hunger to give Merle and the bureau a chance

Pan acknowledging that Merle’s original Pan isn’t him but saying that Merle is his Merle

Magnus, the fighter extraordinar who had to learn what real strength is and that his life is valuable, that he doesn’t need to throw himself head first into every fight

And Taako, Taako finally finding Lup

Taako finally being reunited with her, the one constant in his life, his twin, his best friend

Because Taako is his own person

But he’s been so alone

Of course that feeling gets pushed away with his friendship with the other two

But it’s still there, still present in the background

And Barry

Barry who has been looking for so long

Barry who knows who they are, what Lucretia has done

Barry who has spent so much time trying to find lup, his friends, to convince them he isn’t the enemy

Who must’ve driven himself insane trying to get his family and his partner back

The boys were constantly overwhelmed but they did it, they made it through to the other side and found their happy endings

And that helped me deal with nationals

I was starstruck at just the vast amount of people, vendors, even all of the strips

I had to get a new lame and mask (I got there the day before my first event) and was passive aggressively insulted by the two ladies at the vendor (I’m on the heavier side, not at all what the stereotypical fencer looks like)

I was hurt by that but I let it go and moved on to get my stuff checked

The epee coach/owner of the academy coached me and the other foilists because our coach couldn’t make it

My nationals before this

I broke down after I didn’t make the cut and he took me on a walk (to get me away from my family who dont know how to shut up) and he just talked me through it

I told him that I felt like I was in a million pieces, shattered to hell because I thought that would be my defining moment that I’d get a medal that I would prove that he and my coach hadn’t wasted their time and resources teaching and training me and I felt that I had screwed up so badly that they were going to be so disappointed in me

And he listened and he basically said there will be more tournaments, more chances, more opportunities

He said the only way to disappoint him or my coach was if I gave up

If I stopped trying

If I stopped caring

This time I didn’t make the cut

But I was able to smile and joke and laugh it off

Because I knew I probably wouldn’t make it

And it reminded me of all the times the boys messed up

All the times they had to keep pushing forward in the aftermath

When their consequences caught up with them

But they never failed

Because

They never gave up

And that is why they’re legends

[lobster-tales]

College AU - Rangshi

This is for the first day of the Winter ATLA Femslash Week! This work is available here on AO3. 

Prompt: Kiss/First Kiss or College AU 

Yun invited Kyoshi to join the university's fencing club. He forgot to mention that the sabre coach's daughter was hot.

When Kyoshi entered the practice gym for the first time, she didn’t expect the noise. Voices of students and referees mingled with sneakers scraping on the floor. The most unique sound, however, was the clash of the fencing weapons. She had thought the swords would clang together harshly, like in the movies. Instead, they met with hollow clunks.

A small group of students sat on the bleachers, taking a water break. Many of them were looking her way, curious but not wanting to approach. Kyoshi inhaled deeply, forcing herself to walk towards them. As she got closer, more of the students looked up. She heard the whispers; “Holy shit she’s tall,” “Do you think she’s a professional?” “I hope she’s not a foilist.”

Kyoshi was used to being gawked at. She had a naturally intimidating presence, and most people used it as an excuse to avoid her. For Kyoshi, loneliness was like a knife in her side: less trouble to leave it be rather than let everything spill out. 

“Foilists! Back on strip!” The students evacuated the bleachers, passing by a figure that barely surpassed her in height. The man’s face held lines that betrayed his age and good humor, chin blanketed by a long beard. He shot Kyoshi a grin, and relief flooded her system. “Hello there; you must be Kyoshi.”

“Yes,” she hesitated, unsure how to address him. “...Sir.”

The man let out a boisterous laugh. “You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ unless you’re in trouble. The rest of the time, you can call me Kelsang. I’m the foil coach.” He stuck out a large hand, and Kyoshi took it. “Yun was adamant that you’d be here, though I should tell you that practice started an hour and a half ago.”

Kyoshi felt warmth in her cheeks, and averted her eyes. “They… needed me to stay an extra hour in the kitchen.”

“Oh, so you’re a chef then?”

“... Dishwasher.”

He nodded respectfully. “Honest work.”

Kyoshi wanted to drop the subject. “Where is Yun?”

“He’s on strip now,” Kelsang said, indicating a duel that was taking place. “You want to watch?”

She followed Kelsang, surveying the gym as they stepped towards the center. She picked out three distinct practice groups. At the center, a team wore all white and held large weapons. The group behind her had smaller weapons, and silver vests over their white gear. The third team was still warming up at the back of the gym.

Kelsang noticed her evaluation. “How much did Yun tell you about fencing?”

“A little. I know he fences epee.” They joined a handful of students watching a duel. Two masked fencers stood directly across from each other. For each fencer, an electric cord plugged in beneath the large bell of the weapon, disappearing into the sleeve of their white jacket. The cord reappeared behind their bodies, pulled taut from a metallic box at the edge of the strip. 

One of the fencers was stiff, awkwardly swiping the weapon up and down. His opponent was completely at ease, stance low to the ground as he casually knocked the other fencer’s attacks aside. Yep. There’s Yun.

Kelsang leaned over, explaining the basics. “There’s three weapons: foil, epee, and sabre. To put it simply, epee and foil are the swords that you stab with, while sabre hits from the side of the blade. Of the three, epee is the largest and heaviest.”

Yun’s opponent lunged, nearly losing their balance as Yun gracefully moved out of the way. The tip of his blade landed on the other fencer’s arm. 

“Halt!” The voice belonged to a referee. He seemed to be similar in age to Kelsang, though his features were far more serious than the foil coach. 

“That’s Jianzhu,” Kelsang said. “He’s our epee coach.”

Jianzhu called, “Counterattack arrives. 4-0.” The fencers readied themselves again. “En garde, prêt, allez!”

Kyoshi frowned. “Wait, what just happened?”

“Yun got the point, so they return to en garde and another round begins.” Kelsang smirked. “Usually, we just say ‘en garde, ready, fence’, but Jianzhu likes being pretentious.”

The statement earned Kelsang a glare from the referee, who quickly turned his attention back to the match. 

Kelsang continued. “In epee, you score points from the tip of the weapon. You can hit your opponent anywhere on their body, as long as you hit them first.”

The other fencer went for Yun’s toes. Yun gracefully lifted his foot, stretching his leg and bringing his heel down in a lunge. His blade landed on the opponent’s arm. 

“Halt!” Jianzhu called. “Attack no, counterattack arrives. 5-0, bout.”

The opponents removed their masks, reaching out with their left hands to shake. Yun looked towards Kyoshi, his eyes wide as he shot her a breathy smile. “You made it!” He unplugged his blade, passing the cord to another fencer. His messy bun flopped as he trotted towards her, eyes twinkling as he pulled her into an embrace. Despite the sweat, he smelled like warm spice. 

“I’m here,” Kyoshi said stiffly, enveloping him in her tall form. She felt the eyes of the other students. No doubt several if not all of them had crushes on Yun, and here she was in his arms. Not that she blamed them; Yun was easy to fall in love with. 

“Jianzhu,” Yun said, pulling back. He threw his hands wide, displaying Kyoshi in front of the coach. “This is Kyoshi! She’s the one I told you about.”

Jianzhu considered her, nodding courteously. “Kyoshi, welcome. We’ve been needing another epeeist, especially someone with a lot of…” He tried to put the words delicately. “... Reach.”

“Hey, I saw her first!” Kelsang chuckled. “I already claimed her for foil.”

“She can decide on her own!” Yun said indignantly, but leaned toward her to loudly whisper, “But epee is the best.”

Kyoshi smiled shyly. “If it’s alright, I would like to look at the other weapons.”

“Sure!” Yun pulled her away, calling back to Jianzhu, “I’ll be back!”

Foil was next. Yun showed her the lithe blade, explaining the basic rules. They watched several bouts before she asked, “What about the third one? I didn’t see another set of strips for them.”

Yun rolled his eyes, indicating the far end of the gym. ���They’re just setting up now. Hei-ran keeps them doing warmups for most of the drill time.”

“Can we watch?”

“Of course!” Yun practically dragged her to the sabre area. “You’ve gotta watch one of Rangi’s bouts.”

“Rangi?”

“Yeah, she’s insane on strip.” He shrugged. “I mean, she’s the coach’s daughter, so it’s no surprise.”

An older woman with black hair eyed them as they approached. Yun introduced her as the coach, Hei-ran, before asking when Rangi would be fencing.

Hei-ran cocked an eyebrow. “She wasn’t planning on fencing today. She’s doing private lessons.”

Yun smirked. “Not if I can help it.” He briefly took Kyoshi’s hand. “Wait here.” Before she could respond, he was already jogging across the floor to two fencers, both in full gear. 

Kyoshi stood beside Hei-ran, aware of the coach’s perfect posture. As a habit, Kyoshi slouched in an unsuccessful attempt to make herself smaller. Now, she mimicked the coach and straightened her back.

The two of them watched the sabrists set up the strip and change into their gear. Hei-ran glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “So, Kyoshi, have you ever fenced before?”

“No.” She hesitated, not wanting to relinquish more information than necessary, but she sensed Hei-ran would not be satisfied with the simple answer. “... Yun actually asked me to come.”

“And how do you two know each other?”

“We went to high school together. After graduation, he came to the university while I did my associate’s degree at community college.”

Hei-ran considered her. “A very responsible decision. Your parents must be proud.”

“Yeah…” Kyoshi pressed her lips together. “I uh… I actually don’t… have those…”

“Oh.” Hei-ran looked like she was uncertain whether to emote sympathy or not, and settled for, “All the more impressive.”

“Thanks.” Kyoshi shifted her weight. She hated feeling like a statistic. “And what about you?”

“My father was a fencer. I learned at a young age, much like my daughter. An injury prevented me from getting my A rating.” She noted Kyoshi’s confusion. “The US Fencing Association rates fencers from the lowest level, U which stands for unrated, to the highest level A.” Hei-ran nodded towards the strip, where a masked opponent stood across from Yun. “For context, Rangi is a C-rated fencer.”

“Ah.” Kyoshi watched as Yun donned a silver jacket over his white gear. Rangi was already sitting in a low stance, the cords plugged in to her gear. Yun finished hooking up his own weapon. He flashed Kyoshi a grin and placed the mask over his head. 

Hei-ran cleared her throat. “Excuse me.” She moved to the strip, hands out to either side like a conductor. “Fencers, en garde. Ready. Fence.”

Kyoshi could have blinked and missed the attack. Her jaw dropped as Rangi immediately stood from her long lunge, turning her back to Yun as she returned to her starting position. Yun laughed, taking the point against him in good stride. 

“Attack arrives, 1-0. En garde. Ready. Fence.” 

This time, Kyoshi’s eyes kept up. Yun and Rangi lunged concurrently, clashing together. 

“Halt! Simultaneous. No point. En garde, ready, fence.”

As the bout went on, Kyoshi made mental notes of the style of fencing. Unlike in epee and foil, there was very little back and forth, no hesitation. The three minute timer on the clock usually only ticked down a few seconds before the round was over. 

“Halt! 1-4.”

Yun whooped and called, “See that, Kyoshi? I got her!”

Truthfully, she hadn’t seen the point, but gave him a thumbs up anyway.

“En garde, ready, fence.”

Both fencers took one step forward, but to Kyoshi’s surprise, Rangi moved back. Yun advanced cautiously, before he took a quick step and lunged, swiping at her arm. Rangi held out her weapon to block the attack with a parry, and Yun immediately retreated. Rangi advanced towards him slowly, flicking her blade up and down. Yun jolted a few times, anticipating an attack. Rangi kept pushing him towards the end of the strip, toying with him. 

When Yun was at the edge of the strip, he lunged. Rangi was faster. She rushed him, her blade clicking against the top of his mask as she drove past him. 

“Halt! Attack no, attack arrives. 5-1, bout.”

Kyoshi stared at the lights on the scoreboard. Green and red were both lit up, and she furrowed her eyebrows in thought. If both of them attacked at the same time, then why did Rangi get the point?

She looked up just as Rangi removed her mask, her cluttered mind blanking instantly.

Rangi’s black hair was cropped just above her shoulder, half of it pulled into a messy topknot. Her angular features were clean, and Kyoshi realized she hadn’t even broken a sweat during the entire match. As Rangi exhaled, her lips parted slightly. Kyoshi’s own breath caught in her throat at the sight. Rangi’s dark bronze eyes landed on her, and for a moment, Kyoshi thought she might fall to her knees. 

Rangi reached out to shake Yun’s hand. He took her fingers in his, tilted her hand, and kissed her knuckles. Kyoshi stiffened as he did so. Part of her had always been envious of Yun’s good looks, his ease with people, but those feelings were nothing compared to the jealousy that ripped through her now. 

As the fencers unhooked from the strip, Hei-ran noticed Kyoshi’s pallor. “Are you alright, Kyoshi? You look ill.”

“I- I’m fine.” Kyoshi regained her composure. “I was just… impressed by the... fencing.”

“I see.” Hei-ran’s voice held a fleeting compassion. “It can be daunting at first, but we’ll provide any training you need.”

Yun and Rangi both approached them. This would be the fourth time Yun had introduced her tonight. Kyoshi usually limited him to three at any given social event, but for some reason, she didn’t mind. “This is her, Rangi.”

The sabre fencer stuck out her hand. “Yun’s told me a lot about you.”

Kyoshi slowly took her hand. She wished she could mimic the way Yun had tilted her knuckles. She wanted to lay her own mark there.

Rangi gave her a strange look and she realized she’d been holding her hand too long. Kyoshi let go quickly. “Hi. Same.” She was telling the truth; Yun had told Kyoshi about a sabre fencer. He’d left out the part where she was drop dead gorgeous. 

Yun threw his arms around both of their shoulders, reaching high to grab Kyoshi’s. “Practice is almost over, and Tuesdays are milkshake nights. The diner’s just across campus.”

The hour was getting late, and Kyoshi was exhausted from work. She felt, though, that there was no excuse strong enough to keep her from getting to know Rangi.

Huffing playfully, Rangi grumbled, “Fine, but I need to be in bed by midnight.”

***

At 2:00 AM, the three stumbled out of the diner doors. Yun dangled between Kyoshi and Rangi, clutching at his stomach. “Okay, maybe three milkshakes was too much.”

“You think?” Rangi growled. “Come on, where’s your dorm?”

They supported him for three blocks, finally resting outside the massive hall. Yun managed a weak salute before staggering inside the building. Once he was gone, the two dissolved into giggles. 

Rangi shook her head fondly. “He is something else, huh?”

The same jealous feeling pricked Kyoshi, and her laughter was cut short. “Yeah… sure is.”

Stretching, Rangi asked, “You live on campus?”

“Yep. C Hall.”

“Perfect. I live in B. We’ll walk together.”

The streets of campus were well lit. Buildings towered around them, their purposes mysterious in the dark. Save for the occasional studious night owl, Kyoshi and Rangi were alone. 

Rangi broke the silence first. “I know you didn’t get any practice time, but how did you feel about fencing?”

“It was cool.”

“... Would you be interested in coming back?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Rangi eyed her. Like her mother, she was never satisfied with the easy answer. “So how do you know Yun?” 

Hei-ran had asked her the exact same question only hours before. Part of Kyoshi wanted to repeat her answer, but she fell prey to a stronger urge. She had already given away too much of herself tonight. “From high school.”

Though Kyoshi was nearly a head taller than her, Rangi had set a rapid walking pace. Kyoshi had finally adjusted to her speed, but when she glanced to her left, she saw Rangi was no longer beside her. 

Rangi’s voice came from behind. “Do you have a problem with me?”

Kyoshi whipped around. Rangi glared at her intently, arms straight at her side. Kyoshi’s mind raced as she wondered what she had done to deserve such an aggressive response. “What?”

“You haven’t said more than three-word sentences to me all night.”

“Y-yes I have,” Kyoshi said feebly. She knew Rangi was right.

“You had no problem talking to Kelsang or my mom. So what is it about me? Did I do something?”

Dread clutched Kyoshi. The only way Rangi would have known about her conversations was if she had been watching her. Everyone was watching you, she told herself harshly. You’re impossible to miss. “No, you didn’t do anything at all, I just…”

“Just what?”

“I just…” Her mouth tried to sculpt her feelings into words. “I… think you’re cool.”

Rangi’s eyes widened slightly. She must have been prepared for something worse. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” The statement had been painfully simple, but Kyoshi felt more vulnerable now than she had all night. 

“Well… I think you’re cool too.” Rangi spoke carefully, almost like she was afraid of spooking her. “Actually, I was really looking forward to meeting you. Yun talks about you all the time.”

“Right…” Kyoshi trusted Yun’s word, but this entire exchange would have been easier if she was a complete stranger. 

“All good things,” Rangi said quickly. “Just that you’re… hardworking. And strong.”

Kyoshi wasn’t sure how to respond other than, “Cool.”

After a pause, Rangi cleared her throat. “We should get back to the dorms. It’s late.”

“Yeah.”

The rest of the walk passed in silence. Kyoshi almost preferred the lack of conversation. She wanted nothing more than to be near Rangi, close enough to feel the energy that radiated off of her. 

Rangi halted once more, facing a stone building. “Here’s B Hall.” She glanced back at Kyoshi and offered a curt, “Goodnight.”

“Wait.” Rangi’s eyes pierced her, and Kyoshi realized she had said the word out loud. “Um… That last point… during your duel with Yun?”

“Bout. We don’t say duel.”

“Right, bout.” Kyoshi pressed her lips together, thinking. “Why did you get the point? You both hit at the same time, so wouldn’t it have been...” She struggled to recall the word Hei-ran had used. “Simultaneous?”

Rangi considered her wordlessly, and for a moment, Kyoshi was afraid she wouldn’t answer. At last, Rangi said, “In sabre, we have something called priority, or right of way. Essentially, it means offense and defense. It’s like… soccer. You know how in soccer, one team has the ball and the other has to defend?”

“Yes.”

“It’s like that. Right of way is like the invisible ball. So even if both fencers attack at the same time, whoever was on offense gets the point.”

They stood a few feet apart, directly in front of each other. Kyoshi took the last few seconds to memorize the lines of Rangi’s face. She wondered briefly if either of them had the right of way at this moment. The obvious answer was Rangi. Even though she’d only known her a few hours, Kyoshi recognized that Rangi always acted first. 

“Well, goodnight, Kyoshi.” Rangi was about to retreat. 

A heady mixture of exhaustion and night air spurred Kyoshi. She decided to take the moment, seize the offense back. She reached for Rangi’s hand. Before she could stop herself, Kyoshi lifted Rangi’s knuckles to her lips. “Goodnight… Rangi.”

Kyoshi saw her bronze eyes widen, but turned away before the rest of her face could react. She made for her own dormitory, walking with purpose but not with urgency. There was no sound but the wind in the black trees, the unfaltering steps of her own feet. 

[mcmissileproof]

I fenced 24 bouts yesterday and I'm so incredibly dead I can't even communicate it to you this is great I'm great

[clevelandstate]

A Green and White Winning Winter

CSU’s winter sports post-season wrapped up early in April and we could not be more proud of our athletes! In true pandemic style, each team pushed themselves – and each other – to outperform, keep focused and finish strong despite the challenges.

Basketball

“I think a good way to describe our past season is the quote ‘tough times don’t last, tough people do.’ Through the whole season we had to overcome so much adversity but even with all of that we continued to lean on each other and find the positives through it all!” – Isabella Geraci, Junior Marketing Major, Shooting Guard & Small Forward

After a 17-7 regular season, taking the HLMBB Tournament, the men’s basketball team fought their way into the NCAA March Madness Tournament for the first time since 2009. Though they had a tough loss to Houston in the opening round, they ended the season as a great success – from being featured on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, to Coach Gates earning Horizon League Coach of the Year and other accolades. It was a wild ride and one we hope we get to see again, in the years to come!

Ending their season 14-9, the women’s basketball team competed in the Horizon League championship run and made it to the semifinals before losing to Wright State – finishing at #2 in the league. Their journey didn’t end there. Just days after the semifinal game, the Vikings competed in the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) where they defeated Portland and brought home the championship – for the first time in Viking history.

Wrestling

The wrestling team started out their season with six unbeaten matches, including a two-time winning quartet during their opening round robin with Kent State. The team went into the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships as the highest ranked team in MAC sports, then placing 5th and 6th in the tournament. Going into the NCAA Championship, the team had three qualifiers, the most since 2007 as the team finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.

Not only did these wrestlers give it their all on the mat, they took the top position in academics. Nine members of the team were named to the MAC All-Academic Team – the highest number of CSU honorees in program history!

Swimming and Diving

“We, as a team, did a great job on motivating each other and most of all we stayed patient and gained acceptance of our circumstances. Many people swam best times, records were broken, and there [was] just a whole lot of fun. The swim team truly broke through all the difficult times and that was proven at our conference meet.” – Sule van der Merwe, Senior Operations and Supply Chain Management Major, 200 Backstroke & 200/400 Individual Medley

The S&D team were 1-2 going into the Horizon League Championship where they dominated the competition, in what Head Coach Hannah Burandt called an amazing meet where CSU athletes swam better than they ever have. Within the first day, Matt Akers took home first place in the one-meter dive, the first to win this dive for the Vikings since 2014.

The women placed fifth overall while the men placed second, as the teams continued to place in the top five in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard medley, and 200-yard freestyle relay. Freshman Bob Fick won the freshman of the year award after winning the 200-yard butterfly – the first to win since 2011 and only one of seven Vikings to ever win the award.

Indoor Track and Field

The women’s team opened the season at the YSU Invitational with seven wins from the top 20, including two in the top five. Moving on to the Mastodon Invitational, the team continued to place in the top 20 as 10 individual performances were topped as well.

During the YSU Mid-Major Invitational, the team recorded six top 10 finishes which was then followed with a first-place win by Dynesty Ervin in the 60-meter dash during the second Mastodon Invitational. The team placed 11th in the Horizon League Indoor Championship.

Fencing

“This year has been very challenging for a lot of us, but the fact we got to compete and that we did so well as a team is amazing. The fencing team really put in the work this year, and we did so well. I’m so proud of everyone.” – Paul DiVenti, Sophomore Mathematics Major, Foilist

Even with a quick season, the fencing team was ready for battle. In their first two matches, the women’s team went 2-0 as the men’s team went 1-1. After three matches, the teams advanced to the NCAA Championships where multiple members of the men’s team placed in the top 25 in the epee, foil, and saber competitions.

The women’s team picked up the second half of the championship where three members of their team placed in the top 25 in the epee, foil, and saber competitions. With their placements in the competition, Cleveland State finished 17th overall, their best finish since 1995, in addition to the six qualifiers who had the best individual performance since the 90s.

                                              ***

With limited fans in attendance for meets and matches, social media picked up the slack, with friends, family and the CSU community supporting our Vikings all the way. We hope you heard us. We’ll say it again, “Well done, Vikings! You Earned It!”

CSU spring sports are in full swing – Lacrosse, Soccer, Tennis, Softball, Outdoor Track & Field, Golf – check out https://csuvikings.com/landing/index for schedules, rosters, news and more. Support our Vikes!

[zenthisoror]

Are you writing a fencer but don’t have the time or energy to actually look up the sport for your Olympics AU? Well, here’s a potted guide to writing your non-HEMA, non-kendo, dressed in whites fencer:

Our Kit: 

We do not wear armour: We have, at best, a breastplate/chestplate made of plastic under our underplastron, or plastic cups strategically placed pockets inside our plastron. 

The layering of our kit goes chestplate -> underplastron -> plastron. The plastron and underplastron are made of cloth that is specially designed to absorb the energy from blade hits and impact. They are not padded.

Our trousers are breeches and made of the same reinforced cloth. Everything has to be white, for safety purposes, apparently, but this does not apply to the kneesocks, which can be any colour, so long as they provide sufficient for the epeeists (the blade with the full body target).

For electric fencing (i.e. competition), foilists and sabreurs will also wear a lame jacket (this is pronounced LAH-MAY, it needs an accent hat, but my computer has decided it’s not going to let me find one), which looks like a silver plastron. Very dashing. All that sleek shiny silver. 

Top off with a helmet, which has a full silver bib for sabreurs and a half-silver bib for foil. Epeeists can wear anything. If your character chucks their helmet onto the piste in a fit of rage it is very likely that the referee will give them a yellow card. Red if they’re in a bad mood. I have seen a BLACK card given for this, but this was after the fencer involved really wound up the ref by being a sassy, snarky little so-and-so in between points.

Instructors are the only ones who wear black. 

Our Blades: 

Foil: Stabbing only. Slashing will not get you points. 

Target area: Torso only. Not the head, not the arms.

Sabre: Stabbing and slashing.

Target area: The entire top half of the body is game. I’ve seen a horrible helmet in the kit cupboard with its forehead dented in. Aiming for the extended wrist is smart, even if you’re tempted by the big flashy head-cut.

Epee: Heavy stabbing. Your point-scoring button tip is bigger, so you’re more likely to maybe be able to fudge a flat i.e. slashed hit, but you won’t score with the edge of the blade like sabre.

Target area: Everywhere. Nowhere is safe. Toes too.

Our Fighting Stage: Is called the ‘piste’ Scoreboxes light up green for one fencer, red for the other. Amber for both when the hit is an ‘off-target’ (i.e. you hit, but not where you were supposed to. This can include the floor if you’re practising in your home gym and you don’t have the luxury of a metal piste). Fencers return to their starting positions between every legitimate point. The coloured lights are accompanied by obnoxious beeping noises.

The referee calls, ‘En garde, ready, fence’, but depending on the ref, some may say ‘allez’ instead of ‘fence’ . 

There. Now no more characters fencing in armour or ripping off layers of padding. 

There’s no ripping off plastrons, by the way. There are straps between your legs that make that impossible. Also, so many zips, and the sweat makes that reinforced cloth stick to you like a glove after you’ve stuck your arm up the rear end of a pregnant cow. Foilists and sabreurs will also be trailing various loops of wires that you do not want to rip because those things are expensive for the surprisingly flimsy things they are.: 

 Goodnight, sleep tight, fence write. (08/04/2018) 

[melancholic-cloud]

Witness Testimony | Suu | Re: Matsuo, François, Michi, Nao

Solving the case is, of course, more important than Suu's personal distaste for a certain foilist. So they push aside the impulse to ignore him, and instead look over in his direction to speak.

"That's a weird place for it. It sounds like you learned something useful, though. If there really was a struggle in the Translator's room, what does that mean? That Reina-san was accosted there first? Did the killer attack her there and bring her to the Psychologist's office to kill her? Or does the alleged struggle mean something else?" Suu taps their lip ring thoughtfully for a moment, "Oh, and I have the key to the handcuffs. I found it inside the iron maiden, though I'm not sure how related to the case it is."

They dig the key ring out of their pocket and hold it up for a moment to demonstrate, then put it away again. Truthfully they aren't sure why they bothered to hold onto it, but it had seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Suu glances at François, but Michi catches his attention before he can answer the tailor.

"Yeah, I can confirm what she said. Hoshimi-san and I were conducting room searches, though unfortunately we weren't able to check everyone's. And a certain Informant flat out refused to let us search their room. But in Ebony-chan's there were the missing tea things, and the hook, just like she says."

Is he just going to ignore her comment about the shipping chart? Yes, yes he is. Did she say something about shipping people? Nope. Ignoring that completely.

"If you have a theory as to why someone would mutilate Reina-san's body, please do share it. I don't know what about being in Virtual Reality would make doing that useful to anyone." Suu's voice has lowered, he doesn't seem angry at Michi, but he's definitely pissed about what happened to Reina.

"Those are some good points, Morita-san... I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility the killer bypassed the lock somehow, but I've yet to determine any way they could. I tested the lock on the room, there's no timer or schedule on it, no way to turn it on or off from the outside, it's pretty straightforward. I spoke to Shirokuma about it as well, and she confirmed that the lock on the room is behind a heavy firewall. It's not something just anyone would be able to get past. You're also neglecting the possibility that the killer could have left the room to clean up, and then returned to lock it. Reina-san died at one in the morning, her body wasn't discovered for over six hours... that's plenty of time to have left the room and come back, especially given that many of us would have been logged out, in our rooms, or asleep during that period."

Suu taps their fingers restlessly across the top of their podium, looking around the room again.

"I asked Shirokuma if she'd seen anything, she said that she had, although she wasn't able to explain what due to the filter placed on her. I also asked her about my theory of the killer still being in the room, and Kurokuma appeared to interrupt the answer. He said himself that anyone not with the group when summoned would have been 'punished', which I would assume means injured in some way. Given the new rule that states injuries won't reset until after trial, I think checking everyone- or at least anyone we determine to be a suspect- for injuries may be productive. Even if my theory is wrong, there's always a possibility the killer was injured when attacking Reina-san, so it may still be helpful."

[rumdaydreams]

——|⚔ en garde

starter for @pelagaios​

It’s comp season again and Killian isn’t looking forward to the endless travel with a group he merely tolerates. But he pushes aside his own distaste for the whole culture of the sport and gets on with it anyway. As an Olympic men’s foil prospect, Killian “Hook” Jones has little time in his life for anything but  fencing. 

——|⚔ Killian pulls his mask off and runs a hand through his sweaty hair. He’ll take the loss--if only because the American is clearly the better foilist. He doesn’t even bother to look at his coach. He knows he can’t afford another loss if he hopes to even touch Olympic qualifiers, but in that moment--as he stands opposite the lanky American on the piste--he can’t bring himself to care. It was a damn good bout and he can’t begrudge a loss to a worthy opponent even if he wanted to.

Hastily shoving his mask into the crook of his right arm, Killian salutes then approaches the American for a handshake.—

❝ Good bout, mate. ❞  He says, extending his left, slightly limp hand.  ❝ I’m not even sorry I lost that one. If you’ll still be in town later tonight, some of the lads on Great Britain and I are getting drinks at the hotel bar. Join us--I want to pick your brain about disengages. ❞

[rgujuri]

so i haven’t been posting much on here, partly because i just forget, but mostly because things have not been going well for me lately.

in addition to my general mental illness stuff, we’ve gotten a lot of foilists this semester. everyone around me is improving rapidly (yes, that’s just what happens when you’re brand new, but it still really, really hurts) and i’m kind of stuck. i’m losing almost every bout. i spend most of warmups dissociating. i feel worthless to the team. every practice is a struggle. every time i bout, i hope for a quick end so that the embarrassment won’t be prolonged.

so when the epee squad said they needed more people for the tournament this saturday, i volunteered. i felt pathetic and worthless about my abilities as a foilist, and i figured i’d be doing more good this way.

so i fenced epee at practice last night.

and i really liked it.

i tend to fence pretty aggressively, but while that often causes me to rush in and make foolish mistakes as a foilist, it’s something that catches epeeists off guard and works to my advantage.

i was getting more touches than i can remember getting in months.

i feel like i fit in better with the people on the epee squad. (the foilists tend to be reserved to the point that they seem like they hate you at first, and i’m not like that at all.)

but for christmas, my parents bought me foil gear.

my team jacket says “foil” on it.

the first time i picked up an epee, i hated it so much that one of my inside jokes with one of my best friends on the team is “epee: not even once.” 

i’m having a literal identity crisis here. my sense of self is so fragile that choosing a pokemon go team was an ordeal for me. i constantly cling to anything that might give me any kind of identity, no matter how small, and become panicked at the prospect that it might be wrong.

i’m devastated by the fact that foil might not have been the right weapon for me, but last night was the first practice in a while that i was happy at.

i guess i’ll just wait and see what happens on saturday.

[youssefguedira]

more fencing au for you all bc i thought about it too long

Joe returns to fencing six months after his injury.

Andy asks him if he's sure, but doesn't push when he says he is; Nile is delighted, updating him on everything that's happened while he's been gone; Booker and Lykon welcome him back without mentioning the competition he'd gotten injured during; Quynh smiles at him as he enters; Nicky, who Joe hasn't seen in six months, because they don't really know each other outside of fencing, seems happy, if a little surprised, to see him. When they're all getting ready, Nicky reaches for a sabre instead of his foil, and Joe smiles to himself. So that's how it's going to be.

Andy acts as referee. They claim one of the scoring boxes the second they're both ready, without really talking about it. The first point goes to Nicky, the next two to Joe once he's gotten used to it again after so long away. By the fifth, he's grinning under his mask, breathless with both the exertion and the joy of getting to fence again.

On the sixth point, after a particularly forceful lunge, his ankle twinges. He grits his teeth against the ache and keeps going.

By the eighth, his legs are beginning to ache with the strain of staying in guard position so long, something he hasn't had an issue with in years. On the ninth, when he lunges again, his ankle lands wrong - almost similarly to how he'd injured it in the first place - and he can't hide his wince at the pain that lances up his right leg. It takes him too long to recover from that lunge after Andy calls halt, and when he stands up properly, he has to lean heavily on his left leg.

"Joe?" Andy asks. "Everything okay?"

Joe wants to tell her yes, he just needs a moment, but then he takes a step forward and it's agonising. He hisses in pain. Andy and Nicky exchange a look.

"Maybe you should take a moment, Joe," Nicky suggests. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to say. It only serves to make Joe even more frustrated with himself.

He takes off his mask and disconnects himself from the scoring box without another word. The white light goes off and beeps repeatedly, but he ignores it, taking off his glove and unplugging his sword as he walks over to the corner where he'd left his bag. He leaves his sword, glove and helmet in a small pile and walks out of the gym, aware he's limping as he does. Someone turns off the scoring box.

The night air is cool against his skin. He unzips his jacket halfway and closes his eyes, fighting frustrated tears.

This shouldn't be so difficult. And he shouldn't be reacting this way. He'd known there was a risk of aggravating his ankle before it had fully healed, had known that six months was a little too early, but he had largely ignored it, because he'd missed fencing like a lost limb. And now, even after fencing for as long as he has, he can't even hold guard position for a full bout anymore. His ankle twinges. He shifts his weight to lean more heavily on his left.

The door swings open with a metallic squeal. Joe doesn't turn to look, worried that if he says anything he'll break down completely, and he doesn't need any of the others seeing him like this.

"Joe. Are you okay?" Nicky asks, and that's almost worse, because Joe has known Nicky for a while and likes him just fine but they're not really friends, not outside of fencing at least. Joe knows he's a foilist, that he trained in Italy for a long time before moving to the UK, and that he doesn't like talking about Italy for reasons he's never explained and Joe has never asked about. He doesn't even know what Nicky's job is. They just don't really talk about that kind of thing, and yet now here he is.

Joe rubs his eyes. "Yeah," he says, sounding entirely unconvincing.

"You know," Nicky says carefully. "It's not the end of the world, Joe. It just takes time."

"It's been six months, Nicky. I can't even hold guard position anymore."

"You have to work up to it," Nicky says.

"I know," Joe snaps. "I just - I don't know what I was thinking, okay? I just wanted to be able to fence again." I hadn't realised how much I missed it until I couldn't do it anymore, he doesn't say. He turns to look at Nicky instead, who's still in all his kit, collar half open, his hair tied back loosely. He's grown it out since Joe's been gone. He's looking at Joe like he's going to break down at any minute.

"What do you want to do?" Nicky asks, instead of trying to offer any more advice. Which. Joe hadn't really expected that.

"I don't know." Joe looks up at the sky and blinks a few times. All he knows is that he doesn't really want to go back inside. "Home, maybe, but I usually get a lift with Book, and…" He trails off.

"I can drive you," Nicky says. "If that's what you want."

Joe stares at him, surprised. "You - really? We've barely even gotten started, you'd be leaving so early."

Nicky shrugs. "Don't worry about me. Do you want to go home?"

Joe doesn't reply for a moment, but then sighs. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Okay," Nicky says. "Wait out here, I'll get your stuff. If that's okay."

It is, so Joe nods, and Nicky disappears back inside the gym. A few moments later, he reappears with Joe's bag slung over one shoulder and his car keys in hand. "Let's go," he says.

The drive back to Joe's apartment is largely silent, apart from Joe's occasional directions. When Nicky pulls up outside Joe's building, Joe doesn't get out of the car straight away. Doesn't even really realise that they've stopped until Nicky says, gently, "Joe. We're here."

"Hm?" Joe says, turning to look at him. "Oh. Right." He doesn't move.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nicky asks.

Joe thinks if he talks about it he'll break down. "No."

"Are you going to be okay, then? On your own? Because it's okay if not-"

"I'll be okay, Nicky," Joe says, even if he's not entirely sure about that. "You can go back to the others if you want." He reaches to undo his seatbelt. "Thank you for the lift, though. I mean it."

"Joe, wait," Nicky says. When Joe does, he pulls a scrap of paper and a pen from the glovebox and scribbles something down, leaning against the dashboard. He holds it out to Joe, who takes it. "If you do want to. Talk about it, that is."

Joe looks down at the paper in his hand. It's a phone number - Nicky's. He tucks it into the back pocket of his breeches. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, again." He closes the door and walks towards his building door, looking back over his shoulder only once to see Nicky, still parked on the sidewalk, looking back at him. He smiles softly when Joe meets his eyes.

Joe looks away, his head down, and walks inside.

[forteandfoible]

Chapter 3: Family Feuds

After a week of chasing Katie up and down frat row and athlete housing, Elle was reconsidering her life choices. She had Google alerts for Katie now, which she felt supremely uncomfortable setting up and even now made her cringe a little every time she got a notification. The same went for her Twitter and she was overall far too involved in social media for her taste. She just wanted to be the stereotypical art student, carrying her camera around for the perfect shot and occasionally smoking a blunt on the roof of the design building. This was completely out of her wheelhouse and to be honest, she didn’t think she wanted to do it anymore. She put her head in her hands as she heard her phone ping yet again, wondering if it was still the fallout of Katie’s decision to go mingle with the football team last week or if she’d gotten herself into a fresh pile of trouble this time.

Instead, it’s a text from Katie.

Keystone: hey. Team’s throwing a little thing tonight, thought you might be interested. You can meet the rest of them, could be cool.

Elle: where/when? Should I bring something?

Keystone: I’ll send the address, it’s the captain’s house off-campus. 10pm. Bring yourself and whatever ur drinking.

Elle smiled and tucked her phone away. She should pack her things up and head to the library if she was going to go to this – her paper on Ansel Adams’ technique wouldn’t finish itself and she’d never forgive herself if she let down her 20th century Photography professor yet again. As she descended the staircase, she caught a glance of Marie on the sofa. Normally she would have just kept walking, but the way that the sunlight glinted off of Marie’s bottle-blonde hair, making it shine like spun gold, caught her attention. Quietly, so as not to alarm her, she reached for the camera around her neck and focused in. The photograph was fuzzy around the edges, the morning sun creeping its way into the otherwise dimly-lit room. Marie had her face turned away, a thick tome spread across her lap as she was reading Ayn Rand or Plato or Socrates or whatever literature was deemed essential by the philosophy department. Her pencil dangled from between her fingers, precarious in its fight against gravity. Elle smiled at the screen of her camera for a moment, then clattered down the rest of the stairs, causing Marie to jump and startle.

She slid her feet into combat boots and gave a little wave to her housemate.

“I’m going to the library, need anything from campus?”

“Nah I’m all set. Studious streak, huh?”

“Oh, I’ve been called on to be social tonight. Gotta get some stuff done before then.”

One of Marie’s eyebrows jumped precariously close to her bangs.

“A party? Who’s hosting a party that’s exciting enough for your introverted ass to show up?”

Elle laughed, one hand on the door.

“Hey, I’m not that antisocial! I go out sometimes. And it’s the fencing team, Katie thought I should meet some of her teammates, so I stop hanging around her as much, I think. It’ll be pretty cool.”

With that, Elle turned away and headed out the door. Marie’s face flew through a wild array of emotions, before finally settling on something that seemed like a mixture of disgust and mild interest.

“Katie, huh?”

---

The windows of the house that Elle’s phone led her to seemed to be shaking when she approached the door. This had to be it, the eclectic mixture of pop and rock and folk blasting from inside matched what she heard at practices while simultaneously making her wary of the team getting a noise complaint. She texted Katie as she stood on the porch, unsure of the protocol for this scenario. What do you do when your coworker? Liability? Frenemy? Friend? Invites you to a party where you definitely will stand out like a sore thumb as the only person that doesn’t seem to be gargantuan and very interested in weaponry? Before she had time to ponder that quandary further, the door flew open and Katie was standing before her, grinning with a red solo cup in her hand and waving her in.

Katie was dressed up much nicer than Elle usually saw her, she realized. Instead of her baggy sweatshirts and old competition t-shirts, she was wearing a skintight pair of jeans and a halter top that was cropped just above her diaphragm, leaving her abs on full display. Horrifying. Elle quickly tore her eyes away from Katie’s midriff, blushing furiously and hoping that the younger hadn’t noticed.

If she did, she certainly didn’t say anything as Elle came inside. In the house, the floor seemed to shake with every bass note and many more people than she had expected milled about in various stages of intoxication. She accepted a can pushed into her hand without comment and let Katie lead her around by the elbow, clearly intent on introducing her to everyone in the house. She was much more tolerable, cute even, when she was drunk. Elle had to tamp down that thought too, this was not the path she wanted her thoughts to wander down. Instead, she focused on trying to match faces to names.

Some of the people she was introduced to were more familiar than others. Nightingale she remembered from her first practice. The freshman seemed as quiet and contemplative as before, sitting on the couch arm and watching with a muted smile the intense beer pong match going on across the living room. Next to her was a very tall guy who introduced himself as Jonas? Yonas? through a thick German accent and seemed intent on smiling at everyone that passed, complimenting them on their style or something that they’d done recently or just telling them that he appreciated them. He grinned at Elle and complimented her pink combat boots and she could tell she liked him already. Katie ruffled his hair as she passed on to the pong table, where a very serious woman that Elle vaguely recognized from a practice was squaring off against a much shorter man with some serious baby face. She glared at her opponent, then blew off the ball and sunk it cleanly into one of the four cups left.

“SUCK IT! RERACK, BITCH!” she crowed, as the man sighed and rearranged the three remaining cups.

Katie whispered to her that she was Svetlana, or Sveta, the women’s saber captain and undefeated pong champion. Also, she was apparently the kind of Russian fencer that made other fencers cry when they saw her at a tournament, whatever that meant. Watching her play was hilarious, as she made another three clean throws to decimate her opponent, a foilist named Bentley. He wiped his beer-damp hands on his pants, which Elle realized a second later were made out of velvet and sauntered over to Katie to introduce himself. A smug grin had situated itself on his face like that was its resting state and he stood on his tiptoes to pull a strand of Katie’s hair.

“Sup, I’m Bentley. Are you Katie’s new arm candy?”

From the way Katie’s hand twitched it looked like she was about to slap him. Instead, she just bopped him on the back of the head.

“Team publicist, Bentley. Don’t be weird.”

“That’s a pity, being weird is my best attribute,” he laughed as he disappeared back into the pulsating throng of people.

From there, the people seemed to blur together. Elle noted that most of them seemed to be upperclassmen, with the exception of Nightingale and Katie. When she asked, Katie said that they were the only two recruits that decided to join the team her year, but that there were a few sophomores out there… somewhere.

The can in Elle’s hand had warmed and she cracked it, slowly sipping as she fell into conversation with some of the other juniors who were standing by the kitchen. She lost track of Katie’s pink hair out on the dancefloor, instead commiserating with her two new friends (Emily? Mary?) about the sudden graduation requirements and how quickly college seemed to fly. Emily was just telling her about how she had planned to go abroad after her sophomore year and get rid of a bunch of requirements for her Spanish major when all of a sudden, she had qualified for a major tournament in July and had to completely rearrange her class schedule. Elle and Mary’s sympathetic coos were interrupted by a loud cheer as someone burst through the door, holding a bottle of tequila aloft.

“TEAM SHOTS!” he called and suddenly Mary was grabbing Elle’s wrist, pulling her flat to the wall to avoid the sudden thrum of motion as the entire team seemed to rearrange itself to fit in the kitchen.

The newcomer, whose name Elle had completely missed, was motioning to Sveta at the kitchen cabinet as she pulled out anything that someone could remotely drink out of. A red solo cup with a splash of tequila was pressed into Elle’s hands by someone she didn’t recognize and then the team was cheering, screaming, throwing back a shot.

Elle was observing what was going on, wishing that she had her camera on hand, when Katie came up to her. She grinned and plucked the untouched cup out of Elle’s hands, throwing it back with practiced ease before patting her on the back and leaving. At some point she had gotten glitter smeared across her cheekbones and she looked almost fey in the dim fairy lights, her hair wild and untamed around her shoulders and her green eyes glinting as she spun away. Emily followed Elle’s line of sight and then raised an eyebrow.

“Say, how do you know Katie?”

“Well, it’s kind of a weird story. Coach gave me an internship if I could… clean up her act? It’s honestly one of the stranger jobs I’ve worked but I get to hang out with all of you so it’s not that bad.”

Emily and Mary chuckled, and Elle took another long sip of her now thoroughly warmed beer.

“That’s funny. I had figured Katie would be pretty staunchly against whoever they got to babysit her, but she seems to like you pretty well. Most of the time she’s not nearly that friendly – hell, it took almost the entire summer training month before she’d even talk to me,” Mary noted, almost to herself.

Elle almost choked on the mouthful of beer. To her, she still felt sometimes that Katie was only friendly to her when she was well on her way to being blacked out. That either boded poorly for the amount of alcohol in her system or said something truly horrifying about Katie’s true feelings about her. She took another swig of beer, hoping to hide the blush that had quickly crossed her face. The girls either didn’t notice or pretended not to and Mary quickly launched into a story about how she had once tried to bring her boyfriend to one of these parties, only for him to get so weirded out by the team’s culture that it took him months before he would even show up to a stereotype. Something about seeing Kyle half-naked, she said. When Elle inquired, Mary pointed out the tequila-wielding man that had barged into the party fashionably late. He, apparently, was the captain of the Epee team. She made a mental note that she might be seeing a lot more of him if this internship kept working out the way it was.

Before long, Elle found herself lost in the cycling of the music. She hummed along to some songs, mostly listening to the chatter of the people around her. The hours seemed to slide past in a tipsy haze, until the jovial atmosphere was shattered by a sharp rap on the door. Quickly sobering eyes darted to each other, before another gargantuan woman who Elle remembered as Jenna, one of Katie’s squad mates, hushed everybody and stepped forward. She opened the door and slid through the crack outside, while the upperclassmen quickly found Katie and Nightingale and pushed them into the kitchen.

Katie noticed Elle’s quirked eyebrow and put a finger to her lips as Kyle pushed her out of direct sight of the door. He then went to stand with the juniors, smirking at the door.

“Figured it was about time for a visit from the fun police. How dare we enjoy ourselves.”

When he noticed Elle’s wild panic, he laughed openly.

“Don’t worry. Worst comes to worst they’ll just tell us all to leave. Not that I don’t trust Jenna or anything, but I don’t think she can sell the forty of us as being under fire code for this dump.”

Just as he spoke, Jenna came back in. She raised her voice to be heard over the panicked murmuring.

“Party’s over kids! Pick up your shit, clean up your act, and SCOOT!” She yelled into the living room, and immediately the assembled fencers devolved again into madness, piling trash into the overflowing trashcan and filling the sink and counters with abandoned cups and shot glasses.

Mary and Emily gave Elle a sympathetic smile as they started getting ready to leave.

“You might want to go take care of your charge,” Emily said, nodding towards the kitchen as she walked away.

Elle glanced quickly to see Katie leaning heavily against the kitchen counter. Well, that was new. Nightingale was next to her, patting her back and looking around. When she locked eyes with Elle, she frantically gestured until Elle put down her bag and came into the kitchen.

“She’s definitely too gone to walk back into Wilson Hall. I don’t want someone to spot her and blow her spot up, right?” Nightingale explains, still trying to get Katie to stand up. “Could you, maybe, take her instead? She can sleep it off till tomorrow and then she’ll go back. I’m sorry about this.”

Elle gently lifts Katie’s arm over her shoulder and wraps a steadying arm around her middle until she shifts her weight and is standing. How this had happened without her noticing was beyond her, they needed to have a chat about taking it a little easier.

With a cautious smile, she started walking towards the door.

“Sure thing, Nightingale. You go get some rest and I’ll make sure she’s all set.”

Getting Katie’s shoes and jacket was the easy part. Putting her in an Uber, still relatively fine. Once they were standing on the porch of Elle’s house, she started to realize that she might have bitten off more than she could chew. She didn’t want to leave Katie on the downstairs couch, but there was also no way she wanted Katie to wake up in her bed and not know what was going on.

As they carefully scaled the stairs, Elle made up her mind. She unlocked her bedroom door and shushed Katie as she helped her onto the bed.

“You sleep here tonight, I’ll go grab the spare bedroom. See you in the morning. And hey, text if you need anything, ok?”

Katie nods and smiles at Elle before turning over once and falling asleep, still fully clothed on top of the sheets. All of Elle is screaming to wake her up, make her more comfortable, stay there so she wouldn’t wake up with no memory of how she got into Elle’s bed. Instead, she indulges herself just enough to tuck a blanket over Katie’s fast-asleep form before retreating downstairs to the couch.

She just wouldn’t tell Katie that there was no guest room, if she remembered their conversation at all.

---

Elle barely slept. She woke every few hours on the couch, every truck and car passing by the house jolting her out of an uneasy sleep. All she could think about was the easy way that Katie had touched her when she was drunk, her weight on Elle’s shoulders as she sung along to the party soundtrack on their way out the door. Mary’s words kept cycling through her head.

“She’s not nearly that friendly.” Surely, she meant something else, because Katie was anything but friendly to her most of the time. Outside of this one interlude, most of their meetings were still focused solely on business, on Katie’s image and her classes and making sure Elle was doing enough that when she met with Coach he’d smile and praise her. Still, she couldn’t shake the fact that her brain, her stupid photography brain had catalogued every smile Katie had aimed at her and was now set on playing them one after the other, like a nightmare sequence haunting her with what could have been if things were different.

Eventually, as the dawn broke across the campus, Elle’s anxious thoughts were drowned out by sweet sleep and she manages a few more hours of rest.

Soon enough, she felt her phone buzz and realizes she has a text from Katie.

Keystone: hey just woke up.

Keystone: thanks for this

Elle jumped off the couch, then immediately chided herself for being overeager. Her body creaked angrily at the movement and she falls back against the couch before standing more slowly. She needed to get better sleep, because her bones didn’t like this one bit. Just as she stepped into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee, she heard the creaking of the stairs. Katie appeared in the door, still dressed in her going-out clothing and rubbing sleep from the corners of her eyes. When Elle smiled, she gratefully and gracelessly collapsed into one of the kitchen stools and rested her chin on one hand.

“So, I think I browned out a little last night. Woke up to quite a few texts from Night and the gang, wondering if I’d been spotted or something. So, thanks for taking me in yesterday, I guess.”

Elle stays with her back turned to Katie, focusing all her energy on filling the coffee maker with water and pouring in the grinds. She doesn’t want to think of the implications of taking Katie in, she’d much rather just think about this next step in her morning.

“It’s nothing. What do you take your coffee with?”

They both knew that’s a futile question – the two of them had enough business meetings that Katie had started ordering for the both of them. She took her coffee with cream and sugar, so light it was almost dessert. Elle drank her coffee with a splash of almond milk or completely black. Like my soul, she joked the first time to Katie’s blank stare.

Still Elle was soothed when Katie didn’t mention it and instead answered the same as she always had. She wrapped her hands gratefully around the proffered caffeine a few minutes later, as Elle poured her own brew into a chipped and well-stained novelty mug reading “I went to Vegas and all I got was this ceremony.” Ezi had thought it was hilarious when he and Joshua had gotten engaged and it now lived in their cabinet forever.

They were quietly talking at the kitchen island when Elle felt the rest of the house start to wake up. At this point it felt instinctual, the little beeping of alarms up the three stories and the creaking of floorboards as its residents got out of bed. Marie was the first down the stairs, still blinking as she stepped into the kitchen and immediately startled.

“Oh, hi?” she intoned, shooting a puzzled look at Elle.

Elle only shrugged and introduced Katie, who waved and then kept sipping her sugary concoction. Marie stared for several seconds longer, her gaze oscillating between Elle and Katie. Elle didn’t want to know what fantastical tale she was spinning in her head, so she spoke up before Marie could say anything else.

“Katie decided to stay here instead of going back to her dorm last night. It was easier for me to let her sober up here than to have her deal with the freshman dorm security.”

Marie nodded, still taking in Katie’s clothing and demeanor as she seems to fold under the scrutiny, focusing even more intently on stirring the cream into her coffee and turning the whole cup into a barely-tan affair.

With a shrug, Elle’s housemate pushed past her to the fridge and pulled out a yogurt. She gave Elle a small, soft smile and then fled the kitchen. Katie glanced at her form before raising one eyebrow at Elle.

“Now, I know I just met her. But is she always like that? Because that felt weird. That was a weird amount of silence.”

Elle just laughed a little as the silence and the tension broke and she relaxed against her kitchen counter. She would deal with whatever had happened between her and Marie later. First, caffeine. Then, bringing Katie back to Wilson. After that, she was going to go fall asleep in her bed for the rest of the day.

[blvpjeans]

I don’t get why people say that Epee or Sabre are the scariest weapons bc like I’m watching Miles Chamley-Watson bouts right now and I am fucking in awe and also terrified??? Foilists are something else oh my god