Talking About Fight Club

[carduinal-cyn]

(Olivia del Rio continued from This Is Where I Died.)

"I know Vas better than anyone. He'll be— he's good. Swear on it, 'k? I'll even prove it to ya! Watch!"

The last words Lucia spoke before dashing off to God knows where still echoed in Olivia's head. She'd given chase, of course. (How could she not? They'd been a team for three days. Abandoning that team would be tantamount to suicide, even outside SOTF.)

Liv flew past ships she didn't recognize, over twisting, turning docks, until she finally caught up to the taller girl. Her legs sizzled in appreciation. She hadn't run like that since her last day at school. They'd run themselves into a corner of the marina situated between an ominous-looking schooner and the great cruise ship that overlooked the entire competition.

"There you are," she huffed, half concerned, half indignant. "Seriously, come on! If you were gonna try to find Vas, you should've brought me along with you!"

[ciphermitarai]

All Lucia could do was laugh. As half-hearted as the circumstances made it, and even though she was panting, there was something funny and… pedestrian enough about it, considering everything around them.

“Well, Liv, if you get tired that fast, maybe you need a little more trainin’, eh?” she joked. But something about the quick remark that’d usually slip away into the air stuck.

“If nobody’s around, that is…” she tacked on, but didn’t give the statement much further thought. The place was devoid of voices enough.

“… You’re gonna run outta bolts sometime.”

[carduinal-cyn]

"Oh, shut up!" Olivia giggled back. "Even if I do need a little fighting experience, I don't get tired that easy!" The thrill of the chase seemed to have energized her back to her old, peppy self. She was even grinning again, even though her expression still looked slightly sheepish. Her comrade's half-joking barb still managed to sting despite that, so she gave Lucia a light-hearted punch in the arm. Her fist met solid muscle, as if to say 'touche'.

Lucia spoke again, and 'touche' soured into panic. Liv held Little Joe aloft, scrutinized him from every angle, and her heart sank. "Fuck!" she spat. The crossbow clattered onto the dock with one violent toss. It bounced twice, like a skipping stone, before it stopped at Lucia's feet. "What's that you were saying about the bolts? Uggh. This is just peachy," she grumbled.

"Gotta be the freakin' damsel in distress 'til I can figure out a way to get another weapon, or I'm dead..."

[ciphermitarai]

“… this is a joke, right?” Lucia laughed again, but there was nothing—no, more than nothing, a sharp hollow-ness to it. “Like, you’re kidding?”

She picked up the crossbow and gave it a once-over, only to conclude the same thing Olivia had moments before.

“… sheesh. A cleaver’s good enough for two, ain’t it?” Her voice fell back into a grumble, before a simple idea popped into her mind.

“Ya know, maybe I can actually try and teach you how to disarm somebody. Just in case you find something you need? You know I know a thing or two.” She dropped Little Joe again, leaving it to clatter, near forgotten.

“You don’t gotta be the damsel in distress. I know you’re not that type of gal!” She assumed a stance. This was Lucia’s element, or as close to it as she could get.

“… well, if you wanna back up that not-bein’-a-damsel-in-distress thing. Your choice.”

[carduinal-cyn]

"Disarm, huh?" Olivia eyed the crossbow for a brief moment as the metal clanked against the dock. Then, she looked up at her would-be trainer with a sly little grin.

"...I'm listening," she smirked. She figured she sounded like a cool, cunning badass to everyone watching at home. The effect was more like a mischievous little kid wheedling her parents for junk food, even as she positioned herself like the defender's stick was still in her hands. The flames of friendly battle blazed in her eyes; she knew she couldn't have chosen a better 'teammate'.

Could she use Little Joe for a bit of psychological warfare later on? Possibly. Did her chrome-plated weapon matter to her, now that she was about to learn how to fight for real? Not in the least.

[ciphermitarai]

"Sweet! Aight." Lucia cleared her throat, as though she was about to give some sort of presentation.

"There are some basic building blocks, but since we're short on time, I'll just show ya a couple things." She made a fist slowly, and then punched straight ahead, throwing her pointer and middle knuckles ahead.

"Did'ja catch that?" She folded her hand into a fist, closer to Olivia this time. "You gotta put your thumb outside, or it'll get crushed. What you wanna do is hit them with the knuckle part." She made the punching motion again, just narrowly missing her. "That's the strongest part! That's why brass knuckles are a thing!"

"... You followin'?" A little color had returned to her eyes.

[carduinal-cyn]

Olivia listened in expectant silence. For a moment, she thought back to her classes at Mangrove Garden. Lucia's rushed, almost businesslike explanation called to mind a procrastinated book report, even as the taller girl nearly punched her (an action which she reflexively dodged). With a slight nod, Liv donned a sly little grin and jokingly raised her hand.

"Hey, teach?" She leaned her weight onto one foot, a position somewhat resembling a defensive stance. "Punching's good and all, but my legs are way stronger than my arms, y'know? Might be a little rougher if I gave 'em a little less of this..." She took a few little jabs at an invisible enemy, knuckles extended. "...and a little more of this."

In spite of her confidence, Liv kicked at the air with truly abysmal technique. She recognized this; no sooner did her right foot return to the ground than she slapped her knee and guffawed at herself. "Okay, maybe a little less of that, too!"

[ciphermitarai]

Lucia laughed, watching her try.

“Alright, alright, you really wanna jump into it then?” She demonstrated a basic kick, its motion swift and strong.
“You can have a snapping front kick, or a straight-forward thrust one. Every kick has these four stages, though.”

Lucia moved into her fighting stance, then picked up her leg to a ninety-degree angle so her thigh was perpendicular to the floor. Her leg thrust forward in a kick, and then she brought it back down.

“That stage where my leg’s off the ground—that’s chamber. You don’t want to push your whole body forward, so you gotta have it there n’ keep your balance. Else you’ll fall forward!”

[carduinal-cyn]

"Hell yeah, I'll jump into it!" Olivia crowed with a little fist pump.
(She was, perhaps, a bit too enthusiastic to learn how to beat the snot out of someone.)

Despite her visible antsiness, however, not another word was spoken until Lucia finished her kick. Her eyes were pencils, furiously flying as they noted every last detail. Stance. Lift — no, "chamber". Thrust. Release. Not too daunting. Not like the squat-jumps. Not even like the hamstring bridges. As she stared ahead, her sunny smile evaporated into something solemn. Her breaths were calmer now, controlled. This was just another practice, and Lucia was her coach. No whistle to screech, but when did that ever matter to Olivia?

Every line of the lacrosse player's body was poised. Then, pencil-eyes flew to paper, and she leapt into action.

Her kick was graceful— fluid, even. Black and white Converse shot through the air, a second crossbow bolt no less unexpected than the first. Her foot stayed suspended at the end of its flight for three silent seconds, and then, with a sigh, she lowered it back down to earth.

"...Felt a little better about that one."

[ciphermitarai]

“Hey, you’ve got it pretty good already!” Lucia cheered. “Just remember those four stages, and you’ll do fine every time. The biggest thing about kicks is making sure you don’t lose your balance, so just keep that in mind, alright?”

She looked over Olivia once more, like she was assessing the girl’s potential.

“… anythin’ they do in lacrosse I should know before we practice some more?” She asked—she seemed serious about the question. (The one basic part of a good conversation, Lucia knew, was trying not to be one-sided. There was something she could always learn yet.)

[carduinal-cyn]

Olivia blinked for a moment, processing the request as it came. Lucia Cuevas Valdez, the ever-unflappable martial artist who could kick her ass in a fight without a thought, needed her expertise? The shorter girl's jaw just about fell open. Just as well, as she soon covered her mouth with her hand, finger outstretched, brain-gears a-turnin'.

"...It's a pretty intense game," she admitted. "It'll take me a while to run through everything in my head, but that's alright! You don't really have a stick, either, but that's alright too! I'm just gonna... uh... pretend that scary-lookin' cleaver is like your stick, OK?"

Eighteen-odd years' worth of neural pathways crackled to life. Synapses fired. Gold and lightning whizzed through the myelin. Every jump rope, every climb of the stairs, every wall-ball session built up to this moment. At last, her first coherent thought took form.

Where the hell am I supposed to begin!?

No, that wouldn't help.

I'm not gonna be able to teach her checking with that thing, she reasoned. Nothin' with balls, either, really. Not when they probably gave some jackass a gun, at least. That just leaves her body... Might as well put her in my mindset, too!

"One of the biggest issues a defensive player like me went through in the beginning was fuckin' up my footwork! That's, like, life and death when people are trying to push past you and shoot into the goal. You gotta make sure you're not too busy watching the other guy to pay attention to yourself, 'cause if you step the wrong way, you're gonna end up crossing your feet over each other. And you can't do what I did two days ago and get too close to anyone, either! I might've been a total girlboss back there," she boasted, "but that's 'cause I was looking at that guy's stance the whole time... if that was a game, he'd have checked me into dropping that hunk of junk before I could open my mouth to complain!"

Liv squinted down the endless expanse of dock, too narrow and treacherous for most of the team-drills Coach ordered at every practice.

All but one.

"So, I'm gonna warm your legs up first, 'k? I want you to do somethin' called the Zigzag Drill... basically, you're gonna side-step your way over to the end of that dock over there and back again! In a zigzag, of course. That's where the name comes from. And, uh, while you do that, I'm gonna practice your kicks some more!"

After a momentary glance down the marina, Olivia turned back to face her comrade, now bearing the same audacious grin she'd flashed at Anthony before giving him the nut shot of his life. It was coaching time now. The energy was certainly there; all she needed was a whistle and some cones, and she'd fit right in.

[ciphermitarai]

“Like this?” Lucia quickly demonstrated the motion. Then she did it another time, and another, until her pace ramped up enough so that she was speeding along the dock. Her eyes remained steady, focused on her footwork so as not to fall over. She didn’t want to consider the consequences that might have.

She grinned back at Olivia once she skidded to a halt at the end, trying to match her energy—though it was a bit more calm coming from her, a small competitive flame had reignited. Her movements were fluid—tripping would be far from the mind of anyone who watched her as she advanced towards Olivia and her free arm flew out.

“Tag, you’re it!” she joked, giving Olivia’s shoulder a light push to let her know she’d completed the first round.

“But for real, how’d I do?” Her grin said it all—she knew she’d done well.

[carduinal-cyn]

"That was solid," Olivia encouraged, giving Lucia her best and dorkiest chest-voiced coach impression. She flashed a thumbs-up and a winking grin. When she spoke again, she'd returned to her usual chirping register. "Seriously, though! If we make it out of here alive, you've gotta do me a solid and play some lacrosse in college. You look like you'd make a good attacker... or maybe a middie, if that's more your speed. I dunno! You've never played... but the point is, I think you should!"

"Also, before the next drill..." she trailed off, before slugging her partner in crime jokingly in the arm. "Now we're even." Liv smirked, just a little less evilly than last time.

"Now, c'mon! If we're ever gonna get out of this thing alive, we've gotta train, train, train!" Olivia cheered. She missed this: the energy flowing through her muscles, the spirit of camaraderie and rivalry in equal parts. The girls' exercises continued long into the night — drills, sparring matches, flashes of metal — until the pair were drenched in sweat and tears of laughter. For a little while, the looming presence of Death vanished from their minds.

Then, the fifth announcement played, and with the death of Vasily Ivanov came the stark reminder that no one was safe.

(Olivia del Rio continued in Interlude 2: Electric Boogaloo.)