14110/Live By the Sword

Live By the Sword
Date of Scene:	11 February 2023
Location:	Wayne Estate - Bristol Township
Synopsis:	Talia has her first Bruce-initiated talk with Phoebe over sword training. The girl's trauma runs deep and Talia accomplishes little more than touching the parts of it that flare to life in agony. Warning - Scene has triggering elements of pain, death, abuse. Consider before reading.
Cast of Characters:	Talia al Ghul, Phoebe Beacon

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Talia al Ghul has posed:
She's set aside some time to talk to Phoebe and tutor her. A variety of swords from the Wayne estate have been setup and are on a table. There are notably no fencing swords, nor is there eqiupment and gear. Talia believes in doing things the traditional way. Sos he waits for her pupil to come.

She's upt out a variety of weapons to see what Phoebe might prefer when it comes to mass. They'er somewhat lighter given the girl's size while Talia has taken herself out some heavier ones. All the blades are sharpened.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    And Phoebe was coming out of the building, earbuds in and the beautiful red and white sighthound Idu at her side, walking without a leash on his collar. The dog stops first, eyeballing Talia, red nose wiggling.

    Phoebe pauses a moment as she regards Talia, and she rubs the back of her head as she gives an awkward smile.

    "Ah, hey Talia -- nice swords." she states, looking over the collection of weapons.

    "Lesson day?" she questions, urning back to the Demon's Daughter.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "Yes. We're going to be starting with some of the basics. How much experience do you have over with a staff or with a blade?" She would gesture over to the array laid out. "Do any of these look good? Feel free to pick them up and take a few swings to get a feel for them and what feels good."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Some practice with boken, but mostly my weapon preferences have been... well. Staff work." Phoebe admits. The fact that she and Tim happened to have the same preferences not withstanding.

    She picks up a katana, sweeping it over the back of her hand like she has a boken a couple of times.

    "I don't suppose this has to do witht he argument Bruce and I had huh?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "Very well. It's good to be flexible. A staff gives you better reach, but if someone can get to close range then you're in trouble. A good swordsman can deflect the staff, even if they do not disarm you they can get within your guard and you cannot defelct thier attack."

Talia would gesture over in making a demonstration of an 'inside out' move.

"Among other things, yes. It's helping to give you some variety."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I thought what I was supposed to have was 'stability'." Phoebe offers as a joke. She stretches her shoulders slightly as she looks over to Talia.

    "... I am pretty thrilled to bits to be getting sword training. Kinda want Damian to underestimate me in a spar, though I don't think he underestimates anyone."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "He's rather advanced. He's had much of his life spent that way. You can surprise him with a move, but he can react quickly even if caught by surprise. I would presume the same way with Cassandra." Talia knows what the other girl can do.

"Try a few and swing them around. I think you'll do better with something lighter given your size but don't presume so."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I don't think anything surprises Cass." Phoebe states of the girl, though her face gives a twinge. "... she's had it the worst of all of us, I think." she adds on. She sets the katana down, and goes for a smaller, lighter sword that is straight, one-sided blade. A ninja-to.

    This she seems more satisfied with, and she gives it a few, controlled swings.

    "... what's it like, growing up in that kind of environment? Lonely?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul goes to pick up a longer, curved blade and moves to hold it in front of her. "For Cassandra?" She would purse her lips sadly. "Her life has always been focused upon survival and her mission. You've heared about the.. Extent of her training?"
    By that Talia means the Red Room, not necessarily that of David Cain.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Passingly familiar, but I meant more Damian." Phoebe stes, and she rolls the ninja-to over her hand, then holds it, relaxed, to the ready.

T"And you. After all, everything I know about you is either hearsay or almost too fantastic to be true." she gives a wry smile. "Which just makes me curious."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would muse softly, "I cannot speak for Damian. I do not believe that it is my place either. That is a question for him. It is not my place to suppose or answer. But yes.. I believe you would be right there."

Talia would twirl her sword. "I was always surrounded by others. I was raised for a purpose. Dedicated. I have always had a cause, family, and faith. Trained hard but always comfortable. Never alone. By the standards of almost all here I was raised very well."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Then what's it like being on the outside of that now?" Phoebe questions. There's almost an edge to her voice, drawing her dark eyes to Talia as she studies her. A young woman with a heavily guarded heart who didn't just let anyone in. "Separated from your purpose, your place? Do you expect Ra's to just take you back in after a time after a life outside of it all?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would move to hold her sword up and over. "That is the decision of my father. Whatever his purposes are." Talia might not notice or be aware of anything, but for Phoebe there is a casual expression of faith in her father, and trust in him. Whenever his purposes fit, she will be called back. There is no awareness or concern that that is problematic in her eyes.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeah, I had that kind of faith in someone after six months. Turned out he was an actual demon. Took me a year and a half to even begin to sort out what my own thoughts were." Phoebe shares as she brings her own weapon up to bare, eyes narrowing a little bit.

    "You left with a reason, didn't you?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance over at Phoebe, "Is that something you wish to speak of?" Talia goes through a very, very slow series of motions with her blade. "Are you passably familiar with fencing? Very little of it applies to actual combat, but it gives some good start pieces." She would muse.
    "Left? My father was the one that had me for now dispatched." Or does Phoebe mean other?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I have the feeling if Ra's wanted you actually dead, nothing was going to stop him." Phoebe comments, and she breathes out, hops a few times, and takes a few testing slashes at Talia.

    "And it's not hidden knowledge. I got adopted by this guy named John. Turns out he was wearing another John's face. Then he went poof, and his co-parent Chas murdered people under the guidance of an Angel, and then there was a rather big to-do." Phoebe states, as detatchedly as she can.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "Exactly. If my father wished for me to be permanently dealt with, I would be." She still no doubt serves a greater purpose for him. Though she does not know it. And ultimately if her father needs her 'recovered' a quick stab, dip in the Lazarus Pit, and good as new.
    She would nod over at Phoebe, going through a routine. "Copy me." She would go on. "Inner guard. Tight and close to your body. Within punching range." Holding her blade at a distance of her elbow.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe imitates Talia's movements; it's clear she knows her way around basic weaponry. But hey, it was never too useless to have a sword around when dealing with All The things.

    "I thought mine would have called me int he last year. Total silence. Think I should convince Alfred to start charging him boarding fees like I'm some kinda pet at this point."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would ah over and frown, "Then did you not take care to ensure that it was permanently dispatched?" Her tone of voice neutral. If Phoebe was sincere, then the girl could take it that way. If Phoebe was snarking, then she could have played the 'straight' to it.
    "Middle range." Out to the wrist. "This will normally be where an engagement will be."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I didn't have a choice in the matter. They're talking about creating a hunting party now though. Constant abandonment really messes up your willingness to be open with others, by the way. I imagine fanatic dedication might do the same."

    Phoebe moves her arm out, again mirroring Talia's motions.

    "I was an abandoned seventeen year old with demonic piecemeal education and they just got The Real One back. They don't need some half0cocked kid messing everything up."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The point sent her way is dutifully parried by non response. "Something better left to specialists. You have a personal involvement in it,w hich means that you can be manipulated or predicted and readied for." A raw emotional wound does not lend itself to pursuit where one needs to be rational.
    "And whether or not they did, you were left abandoned on an emotional level and torn away from your setting and not given a replacement."
    She holds the blade out to the full extent. "Long range. NOrmally at this range you will be on the attack or full retreat. This level of extension often gives you the most striking power but requires full commitment of power and momentum. It often leaves you off balance and your strikes are easier to evade and redirect>"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Which is why I was considering declining the hunting party. Except I still have questions that I want answers to. I can only get them from the source." Phoebe explains.

    "That and the real Constntine has a bad habit of party members getting killed." she adds cooly.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod lightly, "Very well." Sometimes personal pain requires pursuing and closure for yourself. Phoebe knows that. "As a fight starts, most of the engageemntw ill be at middle range." She goes up to hold her hand out between forearm and elbow length. "Here you have primary control of your weapon, and can respond quickest."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe again imitates Talia's form, dark eyes set on the other woman as she lets a breath out.

    "... Bruce is trying to manipulate this so that we get closer." she states, "Act as each other's good influences. Stability and non-magical combat and fighting The Good Fight in recovery from manipulation."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would weave the sword along then, letting Phoebe get in the pattern, "He is." She would readily admit. "It's also for my own sake in the matter." She reveals it ever so casually then. "A way for me to try and find a way to make amends."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Amends for what? I thought you were *relatively* unrepentant for the whole life as an assassin thing?" Phoebe questions as she follows along with the pattern of the sword work, leaning nto her own background int he martial arts -- though the far less deadly sort.

    "Or to Damian?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The way that Talia's lips pursed and she would glare was answer enough to that. But there's mo press on the attack. "Close range will be for defense. And desperation. At this point, your opponent will have an easier time punching you or using a knife."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Touched a nerve, huh?" Phoebe comments.

    "I won't ever understand it. My only biological family? Killed each other. Last one was my cousin, who I was instrumental in killing. Well. Seeing her dragged to Hell by an unsatisfied demon, anyway, but pretty sure she's still dead for all intents and purposes. I got nobody who's like me. No living bloodline or ancestors. Closest thing I have to that is Dams with the whole 'impressive bloodline, meant to do great things ' -- lot of pressure on a person, you know. Can't imagine what it was like for you to have that on *your* shoulders."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to let Phoebe talk through over and then hse would muse softly. "Perhaps. And yet here you are, filled with those that if they are not like you then can understand you. That can understand your hurt, that can understand your isolation, that can understand your abandonment. THey have different circumstances, but they all know what it is like to be alone, lost, hurt, and abandoned." She goes through another example.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Except you, since you've got all that purpose and patience." Phoebe points out, "Faith that someone's gonna come back for you. Me? No one comes back for me. I get left behind -- I stay behind." Phoebe gives something that's almost a smile there, as if it's just an understanding, like saying the sky is blue.

    "Which is fine. I know my place as well as you know yours."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would mm lightly, "You have faith in yourself, and in no one else. And the understanding that in the end you will have to operate on your own, and that there is no one on the other end. A harsh lesson for one so young." She holds her weapon in a casual, yet ready position.
    "So then why do you do it?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I don't have faith in myself. I broke myself. Was mutilated by demons. Ripped apart angels for someone who doesn't love me and, in the end, abandoned me. AS they all do. Even Bruce and Alfred will, one day, determine I am not worth the trouble." Phoebe states, and she breathes out, steps forward, and moves to strike, taking another swing for Talia's mid-section, testing her defenses.

    "I suppose everyone whose altruism drives them to vigilante work must be pretty messed up in the head."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would click her tongue, "That is where I will beg to differ. If you truly had no faith in yourself, you would stop yourself from doing anything. Or you would charge along in something and cast off all restraint and restriction. YOu would lash out in isolation knowing that you would go down inevitably and seek to hasten it. Yet you do not."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I tried. So many times. And survived it. Thought maybe there was a plan for me. Thought that just maybe there was something bigger out there."

    She pauses a moment.

    "There is, but not some grand Purpose. Not something of Faith... and I know in time it'll be burnt away too. Maybe this one will be The One."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "Well, then if you think that's particularly it.. I don't particularly think I'm quite compatible with you when it comes to romantic material." That would be a quip.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeeaaaaaah you're not my type." Phoebe scrunches her nose a minute.

    "At the moment, kinda in a somethin' with a nice guy from the West Coast."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would dip her head, "Good then." She would hold her weapon in an 'en garde' position. "It's hard to break a cycle of abandonment and loss of faith."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Invitation to attack. Phoebe tries a couple of swings at Talia, trying to poke at the defenses.

    "Breaking it? Nah. That's THe Price. I don't get Happiness. I don't get the Happy Ending. It's not gonna be like that no matter how much you wish for it. That's just not realistic!"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to parry back and forth slowly, letting PHoebe tracks how she blocks it. "So, how have you been abandoned here? Since you came into the care of those here?" That's the question. She leaves it to Phoebe to answer it or not as she retreats backwards.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Give it time. I've got a lot of it. Eventually they'll figure out I'm not worth the effort put in to maintain the stability of my mental state, just like Jon and Chas did, and boom. Suddenly I'm cast-offs. I mean, every 'grown up' in my life eventually goes poof. Either dead or on to bigger and better things than supporting a teenager with some pretty severe issues and the weird tendency to get people killed." she states, watching the parrying before she changes her tactic.

    She steps forward, trying to put the ball of her foot to Talia's instep in order to force her to switch her weight, and giving a swing of the ninja-to to her supposedly-unguarded side.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And Phoebe goes to swing in at Talia. Talia waits for her to go on in and commit to the blow. She lightly spins on her own foot, moving to use the flat of her sword hilt to parry the strike to the side along Phoebe's wrist, spinning like a ballet dancer and reaching a hand up to brace her on th ewrist and the shoulder.
    the motion is slowly arrested, but if Talia had fully committed to it she would have flung her across the room even with Phoebe's quick move.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoeb's blow is halted smoothly, and she gives a breath out in appreciation. She goes to get her feet back under her and get her balance back, and she straightens up.

    "Can you show me that again?" she asks.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "That's what an inner guard is for. When you had fully committed to the strike, I just had to maneuver inside your zone." She moves to demonstrate the placement of Phoebe's attack, how her hand had gone in and out to grip. She does it in slow motion a few times.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a nod, stepping up and stretching her hands a moment, she imitates the movement as Talia demonstrates.

    "I think I get it." she announces after a few tries on her own, and then gives her ninja-to a spin.

    "How long does it take to become a member of the Assassin's League? Must take years of training to get anywhere with it."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "Full training can take years. There are various levels of membership. Often there are those whom are scouted adn evaluated from outside the structure which may have different skills or already be trained. If they are considered suitable they will be approached."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I see. Well, I'm in no danger of recruitment then." Phoebe gives a laugh "No one wants me on their team. It's fine, though." she states, and she turns the ninja-to in her hand again.

    "... feels different. Having a weapon that has a blade on it, I mean."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "It is. It has a different weight and center of balance than a staff. The weight is distributed differently for each weapon. A staff will primarily be uniform. Now.." Talia goes to an attack position, ready to give Phoebe the chance to try the maneuver.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a small nod, and she breathes out, sinking into position. And when she moves, it's quick and fluid, setting herself up in a similar position Talia was in in order to execute the same move against her.

    "What is it you want to know about me, anyway?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia goes through the motion of her attack slowly, to let Phoebe get a sense of how it went about. Then she would go to strike in, moving similarly to how Phoebe had done, with enough power. "how you have come here, and why you feel like you are not safe."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Because I'm not safe, and because I'm *not* safe. Did you miss the part--" Phoebe manages to execute the turn easily, and her hand comes to Talia's shoulder in a similar fashion to hold her from falling.

    "... where I said I get other people killed, Talia?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "I would think that is not as high a risk here." Talia's concept of death is somewhat more nuanced. Being arounda Lazarus Pit and around some of the most dangerous combatants on the planet will do that.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Not everyone's like you Talia. Not everyone has the same resources. I sure as hell can't bring people back from Death. Once she has them? They're *gone*." Phoebe replies.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would quirk a brow, "Oh? And yet those you are with do not fear it. They plunge into it ever more. And I might say.. That death is more afraid of those who prowl these halls than you are capable of sending them to her embrace."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Death isn't afraid of anyone, is my understanding, because she'll get us all in the end. No one lives forever." Phoebe's nose wrinkles. "I reckon it would be boring anyway." she breathes out.

    "Already sent some people there."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would mm, "That's the thing. Your ability to kill here is not on par of the ability of those here to live. Do not give yourself that much credit." Talia gently reproaches while teasing.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... I don't kill like that." Phoebe states, and she decides she's done with practice today.

    "I became Batman's ward because I was killing myself to save the leaders of the Justice League Dark. I almost got Red Robin killed for his trust in me to *fix things*. And like I said -- no one lives forever. And they're only human."

    She sheathes the weapon, and SLAMS the ninja-to back on the table.

    "Thank you for your lesson, Talia. Good talk."