goodweather | IC INBOX ( SAIL )

Individual points? Seconds. But team relays are first to forty-five points. Technically each bout is on a three minute timer but it pauses in between points, it takes as long as it takes. Sometimes an hour with the resets and pauses and breaks. But... at the level we fight at?

[ Fought, probably, but she's too happy to be talking about it to remember that it's all past-tense. ]

It looks like... you basically have time in each bout to do one thing, right? Sort of like chess at a really high speed. You commit to a gambit and you go for it. Me, I bank on being faster than my opponent. You can't really defend or counter-attack if I'm hitting you before you can react. But Farah- Farah would bait out hits so they'd attack her in a way she was prepared to defend. Luna was amazing at feints, pretending to go for a hit in such a way she could strike somewhere else they weren't expecting. And Sabine- you're not... really meant to play defense in sabre. It rewards you for being aggressive. But Sabine was like... fearless. Like a praying mantis or something. Amazing reflexes. Really good at picking when someone was feinting or trying to fuck with her.

[ Her ears have not gradually gotten more pink shut up. ]

[ Perceiving you perceiving you perceiving you. ]

Huh! Maybe I'll start watching fencing on the Olympics more often. [ He absolutely will, given the chance. ] You know, I don't think I ever asked how you got into it. You or your team. I played soccer in high school for a while, but... didn't really stick.

It's pretty cool to watch, even if you don't know the rules. I'm not quite at the level of some of those guys, but I'm getting there.

[ Was getting there, anyway, before her training started focusing on practical swordplay and incorporating the wisdom of a pirate swordplay master. ]

Me- when I was younger I was... hang on- [ She flicks through the pictures to find one of the ones of her on the farm. She's chasing some older kids with a stick in hand. ]

I was super into like, knights and shit. So my parents told me if I was good and stopped hitting people with sticks, they'd get me lessons so I could really learn to use a sword. It was kind of the first thing I really felt good at.

[ Then flicks back to one of the other tournament pictures. ]

Sabine was from one of the really big Italian fencing families. They're kind of nuts about it over there. Something like... three or four generations of fencers from her family? Both her parents- her brother was on the boys team- her grandparents. There'd be like, fifty people at our tournaments cheering for her specifically, she fucking hated it. Luna got into it to help with strength and balance for ballet, but I think she stopped actually dancing a couple of years ago. Ballet is fucking hard, and super demanding. And Farah... I don't think I ever found out, actually. She also did HEMA- she was the one who gifted me my first not-sabre sword, I'd just started training in it back home. But I don't know, we used to talk about a lot of shit, just... not that.

[ Darcy hitting people with sticks as a child and having that turn into fencing tracks. ]

I get that. It's not something that comes up too often, is it? I only know that sort of thing about all my coworkers because I'd made a point of asking. After... Punx, anyway. I didn't know them at all before that. I didn't really care.

[ :/ ]

Me, I pretty much only did meteorology because I was good at it, and it was the one thing I could see myself doing without offing myself after ten years. I barely made it through college; the only thing that got me my degree was spite. I was gonna be able to hold my own or die trying.

Really? I- it's just surprising. You're smart as shit, I would've thought University would be easy for you.

[ Everyone knows Smart People(tm) never have issues with academia. And Phil is a nerd, so. ]

It's weird how much you can like... deal with people every day and still not really know them.

You gotta remember that I was an issue back then. It doesn't matter how smart you are, if you don't care enough or if you can't make the system work for you, it's not happening. I skipped a ton of classes and assignments and got into more trouble than any of it was worth. I slept around and got into fights and took drugs. [ Turns to her and points. ] If you start doing that, I'm kicking your ass.

[ Said with the tone of someone who knows for a fact that she won't, but just so you know. ]

There were definitely kids that deserved that degree more than I did, but... Uni just wasn't good for them. I wonder where they went.

What- doing drugs and sleeping around? Jesus Christ- do you also want to give me a curfew while you're at it, dad?

[ Because he's right, she's not going to, but Darcy's filled with the spirit of teenage rebellion at all times. Don't tell her what to do. ]

Being smart helps though, right? Like- I thought that was kind of the whole point of university or whatever.

[ He's going to skip right over that "dad" comment and not process it ever. All dunks and jokes out here, guys! ]

University's basically an institution to get specialized training for stuff, yeah, and being smart definitely helps. There's a baseline of self responsibility and comprehension and problem-solving skills that you need. But besides that, if you know how to game the academic system, it's going to reward that.

Besides, how "smart" someone is depends on what you're talking about. I know some folks who couldn't cut it in university, but you wouldn't be able to find a better engineer or welder or something in the next five states, running their shops all by themselves.

Huh.

[ <-- has never had 'academics does not equal intelligence' laid out like that before. After all- Darcy's all-but fluent in three languages, one of which she all-but taught herself from the internet- and she still thinks she's dumb because she didn't mesh with schoolwork. ]

That's cool. I guess some people are like... more practical smart than book smart or whatever.

[ He figured, which is exactly why he said what he did. ]

Oh, definitely. There's this guy I knew--a Columbia grad, knowledgeable as hell, but couldn't problem-solve his way out of a paper bag to save his life, probably because he never really got his hands dirty. If his usual way of doing something was blocked off, then he usually counted himself shit out of luck instead of trying to find another way around. I liked to call him the dumbest genius I ever knew.

[ It coaxes a small half-smile out of her, the emphasis on problem-solving especially is heartening. She might not be able to list the Kings of England or quote the fights historical, but she's surprisingly inventive in scrapes. The way he talks about that random dude not being able to do it makes it sound like a skill Phil really values. Which is nice. ]

I guess there's no point being smart if you can't make it work for you. What's that thing- 'the mind is a good servant and a terrible master'? I might be misquoting.

Yeah. Something like that.

[ With a question like that, he'd gotten a sense that Darcy hadn't had anyone properly divide up someone's intelligence, self worth, and the grades they got on a paper before. It'd taken him an embarrassingly long time to get to that point, so he's just happy to expedite the process a little for her.

... Oh, back to the point, though.

Phil swipes on his phone screen. ] Hey, you never told me you used to have a bowl cut.

You tell anyone and I'll kill you. Honest to god. I can debone a chicken, I'm sure deboning a person isn't that much harder.

[ WOW WAY TO KILL THE MOMENT, PHIL. ]

Making me the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving dinner, eh? I'm flattered.

We don't even celebrate Thanksgiving.

[ Huffs!!! ]

I mean it, [ As she stands to leave, ] not with anyone.

I won’t, [ he says, the smugness giving way, ] I promise.

[ He mimes sealing his lips and throwing away the key. ]

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