fandomhigh | Hitting Things With Big, Sharp Sticks; Friday, Third Period [08/02].

"Alright, everyone," said Gladio, with the expected nod and a moment to sort of crack his knuckles before really getting into today's lesson, "we've been learning a lot of stuff so far, and it's great, and I've been seeing a lot of you taking some of this training outside the classroom with supplemental workouts, and I can't even tell you how good it is to see that! After all, there's only so much that can be done once a week in a classroom; I try to give you the tools to really excel in swordwork like this, and some of you are taking those tools and using it to build something great, and I love to see it.

"And the thing with building on something is that you add a little bit each time while making sure the foundation's still strong. So, today, we're going to do a small bit of recap to really keep driving in those basics before we move onto something a little more focused. Specifically...well, we called it something else where I'm from, but here, it's been known as a Meyers Square, which you can see I've got a few mock-ups behind me. The goal of this exercise is to teach you to swiftly cut through and along the line of your previous attack, a little one-two move meant to work against your opponent's defense. It might seem a little technical and complex at first, but once you start to recognize the trick of the pattern, it should start to flow much more easily.

"But we'll get to that in due time. For now, we've got warm-ups and review, then we'll learn more about the Square, and then hopefully still have time for some sparring in again this week, too. Anything in particular you want to go over before we get into it?"

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He was pretty proud of himself for not being too showy in swirling around his sword when demonstrating the system, but it helped that he was thinking of sticking around a bit afterwards if he could to do the most absurdly showy version of it possible.

Nell settled herself off to the side and waved at him. "Come on now, show me the real stuff!"

Gladio snorted at that, shaking his head. "So bossy!" he said, and, with a completely excessive spin of his greatsword in his hand, shifted it to settle on his shoulder as he looked at Nell, with a lifted brow. "What if I said that now I don't wanna?"

"First I'd laugh because only a fool would believe that," Nell said with a grin. "And then I'd give you a kiss on the nose, say 'poor misunderstood darling', and take you home to bed."

Of course, this potentially meant Gladio would be less likely to show off his flashy moves, but then Nell continued.

"Which is pretty much exactly what I'd do if you did demonstrate. Except then the kiss would be a bit less chaste and I'd switch out the 'poor darling' for a 'god that was hot'. And take you home to bed. Or the onsen to soak your sore muscles and then home to bed."

"Pretty sure that onsen'd be an unnecessary step at that point," Gladio pointed out. "Take me home, huh? Carry me and everything?"

He would never even think of attempting to get Nell to even try lifting him up, but he was curious about what she might say to that prospect.

Nell tilted her head and squinted at him appraisingly, raising her hands as if to frame his body. "Might have to drag you," she said thoughtfully, after a moment. "Tuck a big blanket under you and pull. Going down the stairs won't be too bad. For me at least. Though I'd try to keep your head from banging on the stairs too much."

She sighed. "Don't think I can get you up to our bedroom, but I suppose I could pile up some blankets in the back room of the shop and have my way with you there." And a twinkle. "Still got the twinkle lights up."

"Awww," said Gladio, although admittedly just as much for Nell's thoughtfulness about not banging his head up too much as for the twinkle lights. And he was swinging his sword back from his shoulder. "You know, if that's the case, we might need to just cut some time and do that, anyway. And I won't even make you drag me, either."

And, sword now off his shoulder, it twirled in his hand until it settled in both with a preparatory stance, clearly ready to show off. But, before he did...

"Any requests?"

"Dazzle me," Nell said - as if he didn't every day in all sorts of amazing ways, but this was his love, his pride, his talent that helped keep them all alive during the darkest of dark days back home. "I'll love whatever you do."

"Dazzle you, huh?" Gladio asked, lifting a brow and thinking about it a moment, shaking his head slightly as something immediately came to mind, but how it would be much easier if he could still just summon his weapons again.

Ignis, you lucky son of a bitch.

But it could still work, he decided, with a little bit of help from Nell, and he grinned, quirking his chin toward the rack of swords available to everyone to use during class. "Do me a favor? Go get one of those long katanas, you know, the ones a lot like my Genji blade? I got something, but I'll need your help with it."

Nell obligingly got up and got one of the long katanas, and brought it over. The blade was more than half her height, but it wasn't as heavy as you might expect. "Okay, now what?"

"Well, first of all," Gladio snorted slightly, with a slight gentle shoo-ing gesture, "set back. Way back, I'm gonna need a lot of room for this. And then? When I say 'Go,' I need you to toss the katana over to me. Think you can do that? I can't summon 'em like I used to, so I'll need a little help if I'm gonna go dual-blades with it."

Which of course he wanted to do, because it was just that much more impressive, especially with the size of the blades he worked with ~~ahem~~.

"Just a light toss," he assured her, "keeping it as perpendicular to the ground as you can, got it? About..." He squinted a little, measured a little in his head, and held out a hand, "this high."

He then put out his hand so she knew what to look for, how his arm was going to stretch out and his hand open, ready to catch it. "That'll be me when I say go. Think you can do that?"

Nell watched him intently, nodding as he told her what he needed from her. She tested the heft of the blade a couple of times and then nodded as she backed up.

"Okay, I can do that." She nodded again, "Ready."

Gladio nodded, grinning faintly as Nell prepared herself, and then, stepping back a little more just to be on the safe side, he settled into his stance once again. Breathed in a moment, pictured an enemy before him, and then executed his Maelstrom technique, which involved lunging into a deep, mighty cyclone of a swing of his greatsword, which then lead into a quick spring up into a flip that wouldn't be out of place in any of those gymnastics competitions taking over the television lately, bringing the sword overhead and swinging it down mightily in front of him. This landed him in a deep crouch with his arms between his knees, which he stepped out of quickly, swinging the broadsword to his left, and calling out, "Go!" as his other hand jutted to the side as he demonstrated, open to catch the second sword.

And once he had it?

It flowed perfectly into a sequence of slices not unlike those they'd just been practicing, but made all the more a deadly flurry with the incorporation of that second sword.

With another forward flip tossed in there somewhere, too, for good measure. And even when he pulled back, there was still one more charge forward with the blades crossing as they slashed out, and then, finally, he pulled back, twirling the broadsword over his shoulder again and letting the katana just settle at rest at his side, and he grinned at Nell.

"Well?"

Nell watched, torn between sheer awe and so much pride she couldn't even begin to express it.

A beat.

"God, that was hot."

And Gladio barked a laugh, grinning back broadly, because, well...she did say she'd say that, didn't she?

"Yup," he agreed, with a wink. "Still got it. So...what were you saying? About dragging me somewhere and twinkle lights?"

Nell looked at him for a moment, then just reached out and grabbed his hamd and started out the door. "Let's go, Tall Man. The twinkle lights are waiting."

Hitting Things With Big, Sharp Sticks; Friday, Third Period [08/02].

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