Atlas Gym, Thursday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam could have gone for a run in the morning, but it was cold and he hadn't particularly felt the need to torture himself like that.

Exercise of some sort did need to happen today, though, so eventually he made his way to the gym. Digging through the equipment locker, he eventually found what he was looking for: fencing gear.

Of course, fencing wasn't much of a workout without an opponent, which was why he'd brought the holographic training program with him. He set the projector on the floor, activated his usual practice program, and let the match begin.

[ooc: post open, interruptions welcome!]

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[notallbluemonks]

"COME ON, LIAM, PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!”

Yes, that was Beau, standing a few feet away and bellowing into her cupped hands.

[firstofitskind]

Liam took a step forward, parrying his holographic opponent's attack.

"I can't tell if you're heckling or cheering me on," he informed Beau.

[notallbluemonks]

"Pick one," Beau told him as she headed over to get a front row seat, as it were. "Could go either way, really."

[firstofitskind]

"Why am I not surprised?" Liam said dryly, grimacing slightly as his opponent scored a hit.

[notallbluemonks]

"Well, I haven't decided which of you would be the better bet yet, that's all. Jury's still out on that."

She was watching the match with a touch more keen interest in her eyes than she typically displayed.

[firstofitskind]

The answer, in this case at least, would be Liam: the hologram was programmed with more formal styles in mind, and Liam's was unorthodox and erratic- but effective.

"Hmm, the fact that you might bet on a simulation rather than a live person? Definitely a tick in the 'heckling' column right there," Liam informed her.

[notallbluemonks]

"Maybe I'm trying to motivate you," Beau retorted, but yes, she had to admit Liam had an edge . . . and she approved of the unorthodox style.

[firstofitskind]

If she was, her style of motivation was also somewhat unorthodox.

"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to figure out," Liam said, parrying another of his opponent's thrusts not dirty.

[notallbluemonks]

Well, yeah. She kind of made a point of pride of being unorthodox.

"Don't think too hard and strain something," Beau told him.

Yeah, right back to heckling.

[firstofitskind]

"Wouldn't want to leave you struggling to pick up the slack," Liam shot back.

[notallbluemonks]

"It would cut into all the time I need to do other things," Beau told him.

Then, eyeing the whole fencing setup, she asked, "Dude. How many different styles do you know?"

[firstofitskind]

"Of fencing? Or fighting in general?"

[notallbluemonks]

"In general." Beau shrugged. "Or both. Let's say both."

[firstofitskind]

"Just the one style of fencing," Liam admitted. Although calling what he did a 'style' was certainly using the term rather loosely. "My parents were military. So learning how to fight kind of came naturally." In a manner of speaking, anyway. There wasn't much Liam knew how to do that he'd actually learned.

And that's not even touching on the fact that Ha'gel had just gone around meddling in studying other races. Technically, Liam knew the mechanics of several fighting styles- and other activities- that involved limbs he didn't even possess.

[notallbluemonks]

"That's kinda cool," Beau said, nodding. "I, uh. Always wanted to learn how to do that when I was a kid but my parents weren't into the idea so that never happened. Big oversight on their part if you ask me."

[firstofitskind]

An awkward expression flickered across Liam's face for a moment; even with a couple of strange Fandom weekends under his belt, childhood was still largely a foreign experience.

"Seems like you've done pretty well on correcting that oversight," he pointed out. Yeah, he'd won their last sparring match, but Beau had put up a pretty good fight.

[notallbluemonks]

"I mean . . ." Beau shrugged, held up a hand and waggled it back and forth. "I like to think I made it work for me. Like I wanted to learn to fence, specifically, but that wasn't ladylike enough for them, or some bullshit. Not what I know how to do now but I'm okay with using my fists."

A moment passed.

"Then again, my parents weren't military so I guess they didn't see it the way yours did."

[firstofitskind]

Liam couldn't help the short, bitter bark of laughter at the implication that his parents- any of them- had actually done right by him, in some way.

Well, Beckett might have, maybe, had Liam's very existence not ended up causing her death.

"If you want to learn," he offered. "I wouldn't mind having a partner who wasn't a hologram."

[notallbluemonks]

"Dude, really?" Beau looked, at least for a moment, absolutely stunned at the idea that someone would even offer. "That would be awesome. I mean, if you're sure you really wanna do that. I kinda have a history of making teachers cry."

[firstofitskind]

"Sure, why not?" Liam shrugged. "... Fair warning, I am not actually a teacher by trade, or anything."

Neither were, like, any of the teachers at the school, Liam. With the arguable exception of those who'd been in Fandom long enough that they'd settled here.

[notallbluemonks]

"That's probably better for you, all things considered," Beau remarked. "You could escape my track record on a technicality. Or not, who knows?"

She was so good at reassurance.

[firstofitskind]

Liam also wasn't much of a crier to begin with, so he was probably safe in that respect.

"I'm willing to take the risk."

[notallbluemonks]

"Am I going to need to get that in writing?" Beau was already stepping onto the mat, though, bouncing on her toes a little bit. "Just to cover my ass later?"

[firstofitskind]

"What, you don't think you can take me at my word?" Liam asked, grabbing another saber from the equipment locker and holding it out for Beau.

[notallbluemonks]

"I could." Beau took the saber and gave it an experimental spin; she was nimble enough to make it look decent, but anyone observant enough would be able to tell she didn't have the proper technique. "Doesn't mean I think I should."

Sorry, Liam.

[firstofitskind]

That was fine; Liam was used to people who were both a) guarded and b) prone to using snark as a cover.

Of course, he almost always ended up winning them over in the end.

"Not bad," he said, "But try this," he suggested, moving his own saber in a clean arc, slower than he would in an actual match.

[notallbluemonks]

Yeah, Beau kept getting the strong urge that she could trust him; unfortunately, that had the side effect of making her slightly more distrusting of her own instinct.

Honestly it was mostly just a bit confusing.

She tried to mirror the movement and didn’t quite get it right on the first try, although the second was pretty close . . . and some tiny part of her that was still the kid she’d been once was absolutely elated at just getting to do that.

“Kinda feels weird,” she admitted. “Not used to this. It’s cool though.”

[firstofitskind]

"It'll come with time," Liam advised. "You're used to your staff, so the sword'll feel awkward for a bit until you get a feel for the differences."

[okteiviakom]

It appeared the best, and possibly only way to get away from the Valentine's Day orders that kept pouring in was to take an extended lunch break away from the shop. They would still be there in the afternoon, Octavia was sure. In the meantime, she needed to hit something.

Of course, that plan was derailed about as soon as she came in, and found Liam sparring with a hologram. Because obviously she had to stop and watch. At least for a little bit.

[firstofitskind]

Valentine's Day could be insidious like that, yeah.

The match went on for another couple of minutes, until Liam managed to place the final scoring hit.

"Match over," the computerized voice declared as the holographic opponent disappeared, replaced by an analysis of the match. "Decision: Kincaid."

Noting that he apparently had picked up an audience (that wasn't heckling him, at least not yet), he gave Octavia a nod in greeting. "How's it going?" he asked her.

[okteiviakom]

"Everyone is already ordering all the flowers they can get for Valentine's Day."

Octavia had no use for pleasant answers to that question. Not when she could dryly drawl the actual problem she was having. She shrugged, and added, "So I'm taking a break."

Here, where things were physical and easier. Even if she found herself nodding at the match stats and the thing providing them.

"What was that?"

[firstofitskind]

He knew Octavia wasn't much for pleasantries, and was in fact expecting the literal answer. It was a nice change of pace from things like "Fine" or "Okay", anyway.

He wasn't sure if the question referred to what he'd been doing, or his opponent, so he figured he ought to answer both. "Fencing. With a holographic training program, since there was no one actually here to spar with."

[okteiviakom]

She'd been asking about both. Or whichever he'd choose to answer about. "Is fencing just fighting with swords?" she asked, head tilting just enough to betray her curiosity. "It never looked like that where I came from."

Let's face it, even her sword was more of a machete.

[firstofitskind]

"It's a specific kind of fighting with swords," Liam explained. "More of a competition sport than actual combat."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded. "Explains why the sword looks very inneffective."

... Again, hers was a machete.

[firstofitskind]

"Apply enough force and it can cut," Liam pointed out. "But I'm not about to take it out on the streets with me the next time we get invaded by something, no."

[okteiviakom]

"Good." She even nodded. "Because when we do, again --" Because there was no question of that. Invasions just happened around here. "-- poking at them with that would just be inefficient."

And she was all about being efficient in battle.

[firstofitskind]

"I've got my gun for that," Liam said. "It's far more efficient. Most of the time."

There were, of course, exceptions: like if one had to sneak a weapon past sensors, and a deconstructed sword was easier than a deconstructed gun. And Fandom being Fandom, there would probably eventually be some invasion or other where a saber would come in handy.

[okteiviakom]

"Ugh, guns." Sure, Octavia, be a Grounder snob, like that was even a thing to be. Still, she wrinkled her nose, rolled her eyes. She didn't really mean anything by it, she just wasn't that into guns.

Guess that part of her wasn't very Skaikru.

"My sword's efficient enough."

[firstofitskind]

At least Liam wasn't the kind of 'into guns' that would ramble for hours about the difference between an automatic and a semi-automatic? His was just a tool that he used.

"Bit more of a blade to it than a saber, I'm guessing?"

[okteiviakom]

"You could say that," Octavia replied, holding her hand up with her thumb and forefinger apart to approximate the width of the blade and yes, yes indeed it was a lot more than saber.

She dropped her hand and shrugged. "Good for slashing, stabbing, and throwing."

[firstofitskind]

Liam gave a low whistle. "Sounds like it would be, yeah," he said with an approving nod.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia eyed the sabre again. "We didn't really have time for using swords for sport, where I came from," she offered, after a beat. "Felt like there was always actual combat to train for."