Clashing Blades, Clashing Minds (Cecil)

Considering the amount of new students checking out the Fencing Club, Lui was actually considering that the club was starting to gain traction again. For this meeting, Lui would actually leave the doors to the club open for passing students to check it out, setting two dummies in full vesting gear to keep the doors open and get attention. With a rotation of the mats, the doors opened up to a spectacle of a match.

The sandy blond freshman standing by the door would keep watch for curious students checking out the club. In the center of the room, two masked fencers were engaged in a duel, their foils cutting through the air with needle-thin strikes. The student on the left, standing around Cecil's height was being forced to disengage from the taller attacker, their blades swatting at each other in an attempt to tap each other on the chest. While the instructor, a vested woman with long black hair, and a boy a year behind Cecil sporting shining blond hair watched the match, the Captain of the club was watching the match with eager anticipation of the winner. And victory came swiftly in the form of the taller student finally landing his foil at the abdomen of his foe. Both students and stepped back to remove their masks as their captain spoke.

"Nicely played, gentlemen. Erin, you're starting to get the hang of the circular parry nicely. Gus, it's a smart idea to disengage to even the distance, but... oh? Is someone there?"

Lui's attention was now directed at the door, where the newest student to potentially join their club now stood...

"Gah! Ah, yes, yes there is. So, ummm...hello?"
It wasn't hard to see Cecil was nervous. Awkward posture, hand rubbing at the back of his neck, and a smile that didn't so much say he was happy as it did that he had no idea in the slightest what he was supposed to be doing right now.
Honestly, he'd been there for a bit, watching the match play out. It was definitely something. He didn't quite understand the intricacies of all of it, but he held a certain appreciation for the skills put on display. It definitely cemented the feeling that this was something he could take an interest in.
Now, if only he hadn't basically been hiding behind the door the whole time he was here...it was one thing going to check out a club, but it was very much another just trying to walk in and make his presence known. He'd just ended up zoning out as he watched everything go on around him.
That he'd been spotted was both a blessing for him, and an immense source of anguish.
That...definitely not the best starting point. Calm down, calm down...

"I'd...I'd ah, heard about the club, so I thought it might be an idea to check the place out. I got this far, and...ah...kind of forgot to let anyone know I was here." Cecil's eyes go just about anywhere but near the person who'd called out to him, unable to meet his gaze, let alone look at him. The awkward shuffling continues for a bit before he suddenly starts. "I, ah, a, um, a...aaagh." Cecil buries his face in his hand.
Bloody hell, of course I'm doing this again! I'm just trying to say my name, dammit! Why does this have to be so hard?! He takes a deep breath, and removes his hand from his face, finally looking at Lui. "Cecil. My name's Cecil. It's, um...nice to meet you?" The moment he got that out, he found himself suddenly aware of everyone else in the room that was present for his blundering.
...he'd made a mess of this, hadn't he?

While Gus was smirking at the bumbling Cecil spouted in place of confident dialogue, Lui shot Gus a cold glare and walked over to greet Cecil, foil tapping against his leg as he walked. Zaku was the only other person he had ever met who had as mild a temperament as this guy. People like these were vulnerable in a multitude of ways, and it seemed social conversation with others was right up on Cecil's list. In a situation like this, if Lui had a chance to recruit Cecil into their ranks, the best thing to do was act as a club leader should. With one hand resting on his hip and the other extended to Cecil, Lui nodded and brought forward a confident smile.

"No worries there. All are welcome into the Fencing Club. We don't get that many students who were reccomended to attend, so walk-ins are fairly common for passing students like yourself. Ah, I should introduce myself. I'm Lui, and I'm the captain of the club. We have Arthur watching the door over there, Gus is the rather rude one taking a seat over there, Erin's gone to the storage room, and Bosco's just moving the dummies onto the mat. Most of our members aren't frequent visitors, so apologies if the room isn't packed with members.

Do you have any experience with sports involving weapons? Martial arts, kendo, anything? It's fine if you have none; almost everyone in this room had none when they started coming here. I can make you a master of the blade in no time if you're interested."

The nerves rise, and rise as Lui approaches, and then...fade, somewhat. He starts to relax as Lui talks, finding himself rather thankful as his sorry excuse of an entry goes without comment, and actually lets out a little laugh as Lui prods at Gus for his behaviour.
Admittedly, he hadn't actually much registered the particulars of Gus's behaviour in his focus on Lui, but it still amused him nonetheless to hear him be called out on it like that. It was the sort of thing that needed to happen more often.
A little more confident, and feeling more comfortable with Lui after his introduction, he found himself actually smiling a little for real as he shook the offered hand. His grip was a tad weak, but not loose or shaky either. "It's fine. Trust me on this one - I'm more than fine with a room that isn't packed full of people.

As he lets go of Lui's hand, he actually takes a look around the room properly for a moment, taking in sights that hadn't really registered before. It doesn't go on too long though, and Cecil's attention returns to Lui as he talks about prior experience. "Good thing for that, then. I've been interested in things like this before, but I never really actually got to take part in it. This'd be a first for me." He shrugs, and his smile gets a little wider as the discomfort ebbs away. A little smirk appears on his face alongside a raised eyebrow as he continues on, a greater measure of confidence in his voice. "Still...'a master of the blade in no time'? That's definitely a hell of a claim to make. You're pretty good at this, then? Not just fencing, but teaching people as well?"

Another small, soft chuckle comes from Cecil. "I have to wonder how that happened if that's true."

Speaking of Zaku, Cecil's panicking and nervous tension was wavering as Lui's confident speech put him at ease. Gus brushed off the comments on attitude as he normally would as the students partnered up and took their places on the mats, starting to run through their techniques with each other or on the dummies. Lui finished shaking Cecil's hand and escorted him to the changing room as Erin returned with a vest, gloves, mask, and a set of weapons for Cecil.

"Well, "master" is a flexible term. I know I'm plenty experienced, but even I don't consider myself a master at the craft. But everyone here minus Erin started with nothing, and you saw how talented they were under my instruction. Your time will not go to waste, that is for certain.
Here's the uniform. Just need to slip on the vestments and we can go over sword choice once you're ready. Foil's the classic weapon you associate with fencing, epee has a bigger strike zone and is a bit heavier and thicker than a foil, and the saber here's got an edge to strike with on top of the point. Have an idea what you want to start with?"

Cecil takes the equipment, and starts putting it on as best he can, though he doesn't put on the mask quite yet. "Hmm. I think...saber, right now. Saber sounds good." He looks over the weapons, get a good look at each, mumbling to himself. "...which one was...this one? Yeah, this one. Others don't have an edge." He nods, and takes his chosen weapon in hand. He gives it a tap with the back of his finger before slipping on the mask.

"So...assuming everything's on right, I guess it's time to see what's next." There's a pause, his expression obscured by the mask. He...he works fast. It's been a bit, but...this place hasn't been open that long. And yet, he's still managed to these people fairly good. At least...good enough to fool me if they're not, anyway. The only sign of Cecil's thought processes is a sigh. Though...maybe it's to do with who he's teaching as well. Split the work between him and that other person - Erin? I think he said Erin. - get some people with some talent, people who put the work in... Another small laugh is heard, more bitter in nature. ...people who there's no way I'm ever going to be as good as.

It's a moment before he realises he's just zoned out on Lui. "Uhh...gaaah. Sorry. Just...ended up thinking about stuff. Don't worry about it, not planning to go anywhere." Cecil turns to face Lui. "So...everything on right? Anything else I should know before we get started?" His tone is the same as before, but there's a slight frown behind the mask.

Lui took his post outside the room as Cecil slipped into the vestments, choosing to take up the saber as their weapon for training today. Lui had a fondness for the saber as well, as he found it easiest to work with along with his rapier being of similar style to a saber in fencing. With his nightly runs into dungeons, he was able to get some good training with his rapier on targets he was expected to stab. But he had time before he needed to figure out what his plans were for the night. Before then, Cecil was ready for training today. With the top of his mask resting just above his eyebrows, Lui guided Cecil to their strip of mat, grabbing his saber and holding it in his hand as he aligned himself beside Cecil to demonstrate the basic fencing techniques.

"Yup, all good so long as it's not too restrictive on your body. You need all the flexibility you need in fencing. Let's get you started with the basics of fencing. First up is the lunge. No matter what blade you use, lunging is an essential move to understand. As for the grip, grip it like you would a baseball bat pointed forward. The difference here is to take your pointer finger and point it towards the guard of your saber. That'll keep your aim straight.

As for the lunge, you want to keep the weight on your front foot light. Keep most of your weight on the back foot. If you're closing in for a lunge, you push off with your back foot and prepare to touch down with your front foot. Don't overextend yourself; the last thing you want in a lunge is to have trouble getting back up or falling over. Sabers have a touch area of anything above the waist and not including the hands. I'll lunge with you, so just follow me and get the feeling in your body. Any questions?"

Cecil looks over to Lui, doing his best to both do what he had just told him, and to emulate his stance and footing. The results were...eh? Not awful, but definitely not anything great either. He found himself very aware of what he was doing with his finger, and it didn't feel quite right. This was definitely going to take a while. "No, no...not right now."
Probably later, though. I wouldn't be surprised.

As Lui demonstrates, Cecil gives a little nod to acknowledge he was paying attention, before trying it himself. "So...like this?" Cecil goes for a lunge. He's fairly heavy footed, and through his attempts, the balance of his weight is never quite right. Frequently he finds himself having to adjust his weight after the lunge, managing to get his balance off just enough to force him to catch himself on several occasions. And while it probably wasn't anywhere near the point of outright terrible, it certainly didn't feel that way as Cecil constantly readjusted his method to try and compensate for the myriad little ways he felt his performance go off, managing to make the same error in a variety of slightly different ways between imperfectly copying Lui and his own adjustments.
With each attempt his face sets just a little bit more, and occasional quirks and inconsistencies start to appear in his movement, signs of the frustration at his performance that was building just outside his perception. His lips move to form soundless words, silently talking to himself as he persists.

As this goes on, Cecil's mutterings to himself creep to an audible volume, his words becoming just clear enough for Lui to understand. "Come on, just one more..." As he lunges this time, his foot lands awkwardly, twisting to one side and forcing him to catch himself with his hands to avoid hitting the floor. He picks himself back up again, testing his foot before slipping back into stance and nodding to Lui. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
He prepares to go for another lunge, his grip on the saber a little too tight.

While one might expect a look of frustration or impatience with the new fencer, Lui just stood beside him, slowly repeating his lunging motions. Whether it was nerves or just being unfamiliar with the motions, Cecil was a bit heavy on his footing as he tried mimicking Lui's actions. His grip was tight but too set to be considered flexible, and the apparent frustration in his voice only confirmed he wanted to learn it exactly ASAP. After his fall from a mixed up footing stance, Lui motioned for him to stop and listen.

"I can tell you're frustrated. You seem fairly aware of your movements like myself, so let me show you how I fix up my technique. The trick is to get your muscles to adapt to it bit by bit. Repetition can be key. If you realize where your body's having troubles, don't try to fix it right away. Just focus on the technique. As you repeat it, your body starts adapting to the change in the back of your mind without sacrificing your focus on the motions.

Although, it may work better with a real target. Here, I'll stand opposite you. All you need to do is touch my chest over and over. Once you're comfortable, we can move on to the parry."

With that, Lui slipped his mask down over his head and stood in fencing form opposite Cecil, his blade up in his hand but refusing to budge from its raised position. His face didn't display frustration or worry, only the blank slate of the mask beaming with an unseen confidence.

"I'm not-" He pauses. He starts paying attention to himself a little bit more before dismissing Lui's claims. "...uhh...maybe I am. Whoops." His hand comes up, toward his neck...and back down again as he remembers the mask is on again. "Never mind. Alright, I got it. Focus on the technique."

As Lui gets into position in front of him, Cecil adjust once again - this time, just trying to make sure he has his spacing right now that he has a target in front of him. Not too close, not too far... It's a little bit before he's happy with it. His mask fixes on Lui's, and he nods. Time to try this again.
First time...too a little too short. He'd moved back too much. Second time...well, it touched. He just put too much weight on to recover quickly. Still, better. Third time...fourth time...fifth time...
I...I think this is getting easier.
With the change and the advice, Cecil found himself doing better. Slowly but steadily, his form improved, and a mad grin spread behind the mask. A few more lunges, and...
"I think I'm happy with this." You could practically hear him beaming as he spoke. Sure, the way he balanced his weight was still a tad off, but it felt miles better than before. Contact was regular, he was definitely recovering much better from each lunge, and the positioning of his feet felt just a little less awkward than before. He was getting better than the mess he started with, and for once, he didn't fail to notice the improvement. "Alright! So, you said parrying's the next thing on the agenda? How's that go?"

Cecil squares up to Lui in his stance, exuding a newfound confidence of his own.

Cecil wasn't the only one beaming from the realization that their motions were becoming more relaxed and sturdy; Lui found himself smirking cheerfully under his mask as well as Cecil got into a groove with his thrusting touches much like how Gabe and Frog had. Once Cecil found familiarity with the technique and wanted to move on, Lui stood up from his fencing position to talk to him.
"Nice. It'll become second nature as you practice with it. Of course, there's more to the turns of fencing than simple thrusts. For every attack when it comes to sports, there better be a way to counter it. For fencing, the counter to a straight lunge or thrust is a parry. Thrust at me and I'll demonstrate."

Once Cecil went for a thrust, Lui's saber suddenly flicked to the side and clashed with Cecil's blade, knocking the arm away from his body as Lui straightens out and thrusts at Cecil's chest in a flash of motion. He liked surprising the new students with his speed and technique just to show how sudden the course of battle can change. But of course, he had to teach it after a surprise like that.
"When you need to react to a blade coming your way, you need to knock it off course. Considering the riposte, a.k.a the counterattack, you want to knock their blade arm away from their body so that you have the whole strike area open to attack. Just hold the blade in normal position. When you want to flick the blade aside, imagine you're flicking your finger to the side and your blade will follow suit. Once the blade is away, straighten out your blade and go for a thrust. I'll start thrusting at you, so you perform a parry once I try attacking. Any questions?"

While Cecil was definitely impressed by Lui's display, there was no hint of surprise or otherwise shock in his reaction. He had to blink afterwards at how fast it happened, but apart from that invisible reaction, nothing. He just kept grinning. "Well. This is going to be interesting. Ready, Lui. Go for it."
He's good. I really can't deny that. But I can't afford to let that intimidate me right now. No time to be awed by the display right now...time I put the effort in for once.

Technique for the parry went more smoothly than with the lunge. With less to worry about in terms of balance and his current good move, it was far easier for him to get on track with the way he was supposed to do this. The problem this time, however, was harder to correct.
For all he was having less issue with the technique, his reactions weren't up to par. Even without Lui showing how blatantly superior his skills were again, he barely managed to parry in time, if he even pulled it off. The parries were definitely more forceful than necessary, and he definitely felt that as he had to then strain to get his arm back.
The signs were probably there, the lunges were likely far more heavily telegraphed than if he was seriously trying to hit him, and it was definitely slower than before. But short of Lui calling out the lunge every time he just couldn't see the signs that easily.
Honestly, the root issue here was an old problem. This was just a new context for it.

...he wasn't going to manage this on his own. Thankfully, he had help here. He just had to spit it out.
It ended up being a bit before Cecil spoke up. "Say, Lui? How do you tell when a lunge is coming? I mean, it's pretty obvious when it's happening, but..." A pause.  "What do I want to pay attention to catch the leadup? What's the most obvious sign?"
He really didn't want to have to have Lui take it that easy on him yet. If he couldn't catch it as it happened, he'd have to predict it.

Cecil was thankfully getting the hang of the parry rather quickly, but the movements and force behind them certainly burned more energy and time than expected. Lui kept up his thrusting at a constant rate so that the muscle memory could kick in, but as soon as Cecil voiced a concern about identifying when to expect an attack, he stayed his hand but kept in fencing form, talking as he moved to the side and mimicked the actions he described.

"There's no surefire way to identify a real attack from, say, a feint. In general, it's just a matter of keeping your motions quick and minimizing the distance your sword keeps your body. But as you work against certain opponents, you may start to notice certain distinctions in how a fighter moves. When they go for a real thrust, they may shuffle in place to set up the right distance. Maybe they tilt their head down, squeeze their grip on the blade, or, as I've told I do, my hand starts moving further back as I prepare to lunge in. So, there's no all-telling sign for a lunge, but you'll learn when to react.
Now then, would you like a partner to practice with besides me, or shall we move on to the counter-riposte?"

Cecil sighs. Should've known that was wishful thinking. Still...'may start to notice certain distinctions'? Maybe, but definitely not on my own. Guess I just have to try harder and find other ways to handle this. Taking another breath and swallowing, Cecil prepares to get back to parrying again. At which point, Lui's question finally registers in his mind.
The vigorous shaking of his head that occurred in response was pretty much a knee-jerk reaction after that.
As he realises what he's just done, Cecil freezes for a moment, becoming incredibly tense. ...why did I do that? I mean, it's not a misleading response, but...I shouldn't have just done that. Cecil's hand starts moving to run through his hair and onto his next, and it takes his hand colliding with the mask to remind him why that's not possible right now. ...well done, me. It's another breath before he's composed enough to talk.

"Sorry. Just...don't think I could handle dealing with someone else, right now. It's...it's a difficult thing, dealing with people. I don't really get why it will and won't hit most times, but I know well enough to say trying that on my first visit isn't liable to go well." He gets back into stance, shuffling and shifting his weight. "So, counter-riposte. How's that to go?"

Seems Cecil wasn't satisfied with the answer he was given. If it were that easy to identify a move in fencing, Lui would be a professional in no time. When it comes to making your move, hesitating in fencing could spell losing the match just as easily as making a mistake. Whatever Lui decided to do in a match was decisive and certain, even if he ended up making a poor call in the end. Just like his night job as a terrorist in the field, he had to be ready for action whenever he was called to fight.

Even so, Cecil wasn't the only one who had a few problems with how people worked. Interactions could be pretty hit or miss with them considering figuring out their personality and preferences was half the battle of keeping a conversation going. Lui had to grow the confident attitude most of his friends knew him as just to cover up his less appealing side.
"I understand where you're coming from. People are a real puzzle to work with some days. But I know plenty of good folks who are more pleasure than pain to work with. Guess it's a matter of who you surround yourself with and what side of yourself you show to them. But those kinds of tactics are for later discussion, so let's get to the final basic technique.

Just as there's a counter to a straightforward attack, there's also a counter to the counter of said attack. The opponent's goal in a parry and riposte is to knock your blade arm aside to go in for the touch. Naturally, we don't want that. We want our blade arm exactly where it already was. So if you feel your blade being knocked aside, we want to give them the same treatment. Since the riposte is like a normal thrust, we just need to keep our blade close to theirs so that, once they knock yours aside and go for the touch, you can parry their attack like a normal parry and deliver your own riposte. In a sense, you're doing a regular parry but after an opponent is countering your attack with a parry.

I'll start attacking. You parry and riposte my attack, and I'll counter-riposte yours. After you got the feel for it, you get to start attacking. Deal?"