Abby doesn't say anything. It's been not a whole week, though it has felt like longer than that, and the feelings haven't subsided — they haven't even made themselves truly known, really. Every day is a bit different. She's upset, often angry, almost spiteful. She's thought some deeply uncharitable shit about Ellie ever since her disappearance and, when she catches a glimpse of Clarisse looking upset or listless, she immediately feels guilty about that. It's hard to know how to feel.
Clearly other people think she should be told 'I'm sorry', like she's suffering an important loss, but that doesn't sit so well with her.
It's good that Vanya doesn't linger on the point. Abby came down here because she's tired of people looking at her with sympathy or trying to be nice to her. She wants to hit things with a fake weapon. It was going to be targets but it can be Vanya, that works too.
"First to five?" Hits, that is. She's got her training armor on and is bouncing her weight from foot to foot, restless.
He nods his acceptance. He's also wearing his protective gear, and while he sometimes changes his weapon up in training, today he's working with his standard practice sword and shield combination.
Her restlessness isn't hard to see, so he doesn't bother with more small talk. (Not that it's something he excels at in normal circumstances.) Instead, he falls into a guard stance, suspecting she'll opt to go on the offensive as they begin. She's sparred him enough to know he's an opponent who likes to observe, especially at first. She has the advantage of her youth and the attendant speed, but he's been doing this a long time. If that experience doesn't exactly even the field, it at least gives him a resource to draw on, especially with an opponent he's sparred with before.
Yes, he was correct. She takes a moment to assess that stance — both familiar in that she sort of remembers a way to get around it, but thinks it's more likely that she could smash through it and surprise him — before she lunges forward, all offence. She's not changed up her weapon either, she's coming at him with the training mace and no shield combination she usually rocks in battle.
And all of the power behind it, too.
She's gonna tuck in and try barrel hard through his shield and sword set-up, leading hard with one shoulder.
She's faster than he is, no question. Age aside, they're the same height, so he doesn't have much of a reach advantage. But he doesn't need to go far if he's correctly gauged that she's committed her momentum.
He moves to the side as late in the charge as he dares, letting the mace glance off the shield instead of hitting it head-on. He has only a moment before she turns, and he tries to use it to get a blow on her arm as she passes him. It's a testing strike as much as anything; how much is she paying attention to defense?
Not at all. She takes that strike, grimacing, the brief chafe of the wood on her arm unpleasant but not enough to stop her from carrying the momentum through. Worth it, to be hit once but return a harder strike. In battle, Abby usually only needs one blow; this is not an actual battle but her reply is not testing, and she slams her mace down hard on Vanya's shield with the intent to knock it out of his hands (or him off-balance).
Out here, she doesn't have to think about anything else; it's safe. Her muscles burn, and Abby feels good.
That one is going to hurt tomorrow; he keeps his shield, absorbing the blow between it and his arm, but the attack pushes him a step back before he can plant his feet. Templars are meant to hold lines. It's still his first instinct, but he shakes it off, moving a step or two farther back deliberately. If Abby isn't concerned with defense, he's in danger of her ending the bout while he's still considering, and distance is his best bet.
While he's moving, though, he's thinking. If she's careless of her defense, she may be easy to draw into a trap, exposing something vulnerable out of the inability to resist an inviting opening. It's just a matter of whether he can guard himself long enough to set up such a move when she's coming fast.
She huffs out her nose when he won't retaliate, when he steps back to draw her forward again, and part of her can see what he's doing in baiting her over and over, but a bigger part of her doesn't care. The faster she strikes him the closer he gets to hitting her back and actually starting a bout, right?
"Come on," she mutters, watching him keep on his toes, waiting.
A few more seconds respite — then she lunges again, the same as before. Mace back, behind her body, starting to swing forward.
Expecting it this time, he takes the opening. Most men his height are used to being taller than their opponents, and he was no exception when he was younger, but he's learned a few more strategies in the meantime. He lunges, shield up to catch the place he expects the mace to be. She's created an opening with the swing where he can hit her lower abdomen; if she's nimble enough to change course, her blow will necessarily lose its power, and if she's not, he's likely to get his hit in, even as she jars his arm. It does, however, mean sacrificing his own mobility for a moment if he's misjudged the arc of her blow.
Nah, Abby doesn't do nimble, no precise moment. Once she's moving forward, with energy and purpose, that's the way she's going. She sees every hit through for better or for worse and so she collides with his shield, feeling the block ring satisfactorily down both her arms. Her hands sting on the handle of the mace. She grins, pressing her teeth together until they hurt.
"Are you gonna do anything? Or block me until I give up?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Clearly other people think she should be told 'I'm sorry', like she's suffering an important loss, but that doesn't sit so well with her.
It's good that Vanya doesn't linger on the point. Abby came down here because she's tired of people looking at her with sympathy or trying to be nice to her. She wants to hit things with a fake weapon. It was going to be targets but it can be Vanya, that works too.
"First to five?" Hits, that is. She's got her training armor on and is bouncing her weight from foot to foot, restless.
no subject
Her restlessness isn't hard to see, so he doesn't bother with more small talk. (Not that it's something he excels at in normal circumstances.) Instead, he falls into a guard stance, suspecting she'll opt to go on the offensive as they begin. She's sparred him enough to know he's an opponent who likes to observe, especially at first. She has the advantage of her youth and the attendant speed, but he's been doing this a long time. If that experience doesn't exactly even the field, it at least gives him a resource to draw on, especially with an opponent he's sparred with before.
no subject
And all of the power behind it, too.
She's gonna tuck in and try barrel hard through his shield and sword set-up, leading hard with one shoulder.
no subject
He moves to the side as late in the charge as he dares, letting the mace glance off the shield instead of hitting it head-on. He has only a moment before she turns, and he tries to use it to get a blow on her arm as she passes him. It's a testing strike as much as anything; how much is she paying attention to defense?
no subject
Out here, she doesn't have to think about anything else; it's safe. Her muscles burn, and Abby feels good.
no subject
While he's moving, though, he's thinking. If she's careless of her defense, she may be easy to draw into a trap, exposing something vulnerable out of the inability to resist an inviting opening. It's just a matter of whether he can guard himself long enough to set up such a move when she's coming fast.
no subject
"Come on," she mutters, watching him keep on his toes, waiting.
A few more seconds respite — then she lunges again, the same as before. Mace back, behind her body, starting to swing forward.
no subject
no subject
"Are you gonna do anything? Or block me until I give up?"