11755/Parry and Stab!

Parry and Stab!
Date of Scene:	25 June 2022
Location:	Gramercy Park
Synopsis:	Alexander is teaching Kate to use a sword. Only she sucks at it. At least by his standards.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Kate Cha

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Access to Gramercy Park is a privilege.
    It's a small park, barely two acres, yet it was private. An island of green in the brown and grey jungle of Manhattan that only people who lived in the area around it and who paid a yearly fee could access. Though that mainly meant they had a key. And keys can change hands, especially when one's father isn't looking.
    Which might explain why on the brilliant Summer day there are two twenty-somethings standing around in sweats and playing with swords while the sun shines high and beautiful above. The place, however, is mostly empty. A maid for one of the homes nearby is walking the dog while pushing along a stroller. She does give those two youthful souls a glance, but quickly looks away. Especially when they start talking.
    "You keep lowering your guard on the backswing." Alexander stands side on toward Kate, shaking his head as he lowers his own wooden kendo sword off to the side. "You come in and try for the point, but when you retreat you forget all defense. Slacker."

Kate Cha has posed:
There is a sound very like a growl by the slight woman as she moves back out of range again. She rotates the wooden sword a bit in her right hand but frowns as she listens to his critique.

Alexander was learning something about Kate Cha. She didn't like making mistakes. She was a perfectionist. Be it by birth or by upbringing, it didn't matter. When she made an error, she took it very personally.

She wasn't doing horribly. She had the concept of using a weapon from her martial arts training but she'd never gone for swords so had only touched on the pure basics. While she knew that Alexander was better, thus the perfect teacher, the fact that she was making errors on something he already covered was making her grumpy.

"I know that! At least I should know that. You've only told me ten times." She ran a hand through her hair, brushing it back from her forehead then glancing to him again. "How long have you been doing this?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I know, I know, but I gotta tell you. You gotta built that muscle memory." Alexander brings his blade back up with a soft whisper of the air sliding over it, so fast in execution. He readies and stands in front of her and hasn't been hitting her back, just defending. Giving her a practice dummy that...
    Unfortunately hasn't taken a hit yet.
    But still, she is definitely learning. Though perhaps the largest part of it is that she needs a lot more time and practice.
    "Just think of it like follow through. You know in Karate you are trying to punch /through/ your opponent, right? Imagine this is similar. You are trying to complete the movement and it doesn't end until you are in guard again." Yet he brings the blade back up, though his eyes drift over her for a moment as he then suggests.
    "You wanna take a break?" And as he says that he gestures toward where his backpack rests at the nearby bench. Even as the maid who had been watching them hurries off.

Kate Cha has posed:
"No. I want to..."

And Kate realized she was just being stubborn. She pushed out her bottom lip a bit and let out a puff of air upwards, causing her bangs to shift a bit with the airflow. "Yes. Let me get some water and we'll start again."

She moved to her own backpack which was sitting by his on the bench. She pulled out her reusable water bottle, flipping open the top and pouring a liberal amount into her mouth. She swallowed then dug in the bag with her free hand, finding the towel she had within. She pulled it out to wipe at her brow.

"I'm used to going through but not going back to guard all the time, depending on the form being used. And you can move so quickly. The worst part of that being I can tell you aren't moving at full speed though. You're forcing yourself to move slow to teach."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I am moving at Zorro speed," Alexander tells her directly, though he smiles a little as he finishes walking toward the backpacks with her. He pulls open his own, undoing one of the buckles and reaches in for his own water bottle. Though his is a disposable one. He twists off the cap and takes a few swallows then tucks it back in.
    "Which is not too bad, if I was going slow I'd go at Henry Cavill in the Witcher speed." Which is followed by a solemn nod as he then clambors on up the back of the park bench and thumps down to take a seat on the back of it, his sneakers settling on the seat of the bench.

Kate Cha has posed:
"Henry Cavill as the Witcher was hot. Show sucked but he looked good in it. Course, he always looks good," Kate finally admits with a sage nod for good measure. In case Alexander wasn't in the know on the hotness scale that Cavill was up there.

She took another pull off her bottle then looked at him curiously, though she hadn't sat down. She didn't want cool down too much and end up all achy later. "So is that the official way you rate speed in swordplay? By movies? I mean Zorro speed sounds impressive. Way above Pirates of the Caribbean. What's the highest level? Like something animated?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Hawtness doesn't win swordplay." Alexander replies with a solemn nod that turns into a half-smirk as he leans to the side a little. "Though if it did..." He starts to say... but he doesn't finish it, maybe about to offer her a compliment.
    Though really probably more one to himself.
    "Zorro speed I'm thinking of back in the 50s when he was in movies and serials and things. Guy Williams, he actually trained some in fencing and was quick. Not accurate, but quick." He bites his lower lip, still smiling at her as he then adds, "Like super speed? I dunno." Alexander says as he lifts his eyes upwards, clearly pulling these ratings out of his butt and creating them on the fly. Though he has really wandered the depths of pop culture to find good swordsmen.
    "Daffy Duck in the Robin Hood episode?"

Kate Cha has posed:
"Wabbit season." It was an automatic thought when thinking of Daffy Duck, though it wasn't fitting in that particular skit. "Yeah, he had some definite skills there, far beyond human." Kate giggled a little as she remembered the part with the quarterstaff. "Guard, Turn, Parry, Dodge...Spin."

She went through the motions, using the kendo sword as though it was a staff. "Wait. What was the next one?"

She went through it again, mouth moving but not saying the words. Then there was the A-HA moment.

"Thrust! And sproing goes the beak!"

She may have spent a bit too much time in front of a tv in her youth. Or at least one of her did.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A snort comes from him as he gives a nod, "Purty much," Though to be fair it was just the first thing that came to his mind when he thought about cartoon people swordfighting. Perhaps a lil Freudy if you think about it. But he reaches out with the toe of his sneaker and nudges her with it.
    "Just take it easier, best to approach these things with a more zen outlook. Especially since this is for fun. You don't want to go down that hard core path. Since really I dunno if I have it in me right now." Since he knows what it's like to have a /very/ demanding teacher.
    "How are things going for you anyways? Summer and all, you're probably still taking classes. Anything else or for fun?"

Kate Cha has posed:
"Nothing fun really. I am still doing the martial arts classes in the afternoons at the gym though there are only a handful of us still on campus," Kate admitted. Since most people had gone home for the summer. Or off to a vacation. It would be nice to take one of those. In truth, she could send off one of her duplicates to do just that. She just didn't.

"Taking three credits this summer. So that's keeping me--well some of me--busy. I did apply for the internship at Four Freedom Plaza with Professor Richards. Still trying to decide if I should put in for the Stark opportunity though."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "You should," Alexander says, and she likely can hear the silent 'duh' he'd likely add to the end of it. But his smile might steal away any imagined sting even though he's got a punchable smirk for sure.
    But he then pushes on one other avenue of the conversation, "Professor Richards seemed pretty into the idea of you taking up a position or at least helping you some." Which has his eyes drifting away since from Gramercy Park one can see the Baxter building pretty easily with that gigantic '4' on the side of the building. Then back to her he smiles a little.
    "Who knows, he might be shpyink on us even now!"

Kate Cha has posed:
"I'm sure that he has far more important things to do than spy on some silly fangirl he met on campus." Although she couldn't help remembering that he knew about her from one of her professors. But Kate still doubted that meant he would be looking to monitor her when she was just hanging out in a park. Or any other time for that matter.

"I did make a bit of a fool of myself. Although at least I didn't ask about Mr. Grimm's poop!" She looked at him as though he was to blame, though honestly that had been brought up by Reed.

"What about you though? Doing anything fun this summer? Or are you taking classes too?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "It was totally worth it just for the anecdote." Alexander says utterly without shame. He then shakes his head at her and tsks, "But yah. He definitely knew a bit about you, so you're getting a rep. That's kinda good. For a nerd, I mean."
    As he says that he /hops/ off the back of the bench onto the sidewalk and /streeeeetches/ his arms out and to the sides. Then he leans over his backpack and starts to connect the kendo sword by the strap to the side of the backpack.
    "As for me, no I'm not doing anything but enjoying the time off. Like you should sometimes. Though I know every minute spent with me is a treasure." He offers that as he slings his backpack onto his shoulders, "C'mon, I'll buy you a snocone."

Kate Cha has posed:
For a moment, Kate hesitates. She looks at the sword she's still holding and considers if she wants to try to harangue him into continuing the training. But then she shook her head at herself. The sword was offered back to Alexander since it was his and she'd just borrowed it for the lesson.

"Make it an ice cream cone instead and you've got a deal."