The Mark of Coco

[Coco]

In a quaint neighborhood, before the steps of a spanish mission style building, a Wasp sat in the sun, patiently awaiting for the arrival of her friend, the Fish. The Wasp did not buzz, however, nor did she threaten to sting anyone. Instead she sat with her ipod in and Coach sunglasses shielding her faceted eyes from the sun. Antennae bobbed absently to the beat of her music, and occasionally she checked her phone, though her friend the Fish wasn't yet due to arrive for a few minutes. Still, the Wasp was inpatient and couldn't wait to present her friend with her uniform and epee which sat packaged and tucked away in the Wasp's gym bag.

[Coco]

A pleased grin appeared upon the Wasp's lips when she saw Ava's adorably frumpy form appear down the sidewalk and she leisurely popped her earbeads out when she saw the Fish raise a hand to hail her. The sunglasses, however, stayed on. It was sunny, after all, but the Wasp found another reason to be glad she'd worn them when Ava began to talk. The light that spilled from the Archivist's mouth was far less distracted when it was muted through tinted glass. Not to mention that it was much harder to be caught staring.

So, smile spreading wider, the Wasp popped up to her feet and stepped towards Ava, arms wide and open for a quick hug.

"It's my pleasure," Coco offered as she stepped back (hug accepted, or declined). "This is, after all, exactly what I do. In fact, this building is actually where I spend my Thursday evenings to train in classical Italian fencing with a historical martial arts group. They're not as good as I am, of course, but they do know more, I would say. Still! I'm glad that I can share this with you. It'll be a challenge, I won't lie," the Wasp promised with a devilish grin, "but I think you'll enjoy it, too. How can you not love learning how to master your body, after all?"

The Wasp clearly thought the question to be rhetorical, or perhaps just expected Ava to answer on the move, as the Wasp hefted her own gym bag onto her shoulder and then lead Ava into the building. It was clearly one that had been remodeled several times, for the front was designed like a theater, but as they strode further back the rooms became more varied until they arrive at what looked like a classroom, but minus any desks.

"This is it! Room 11! Oh! But you might want to change into your uniform now, I suppose. There's a bathroom nearby if you're feeling bashful," she teased, dropping her bad onto the ground and quickly digging through it to remove two packaged, white pieces of clothing, pants and a jacket, and handed them over.

[Coco]

The Wasp didn't mind that Ava had gone off to seek privacy. It was, after all, an answer to the question the Wasp had not actually asked, but had wanted answered. That was what the teasing remark had truthfully been for. A way to test boundaries, and mark them out. Because knowledge of where their relationship stood, and what it consisted of, was crucially important, not just for the future, but for this training process as well. If she were to prod Ava in the wrong direction while they exercised she could destroy the entire learning process for Ava, and potentially more. For, though the Wasp was no great expert with relationships, she did realize that this was a gesture of trust of Ava, and for that gesture to be rebuked, even if only in Ava's mind, would undo far more than it could possibly gain.

Thus, as the Fish sought privacy and put on her uniform, the Wasp also changed, though she had no compunctions about hiding herself. Her mind was too occupied with the training regime she was planning.

Fortunately, she'd spent many hours drawing up ideas already, otherwise she would have been woefully under-prepared as Ava stepped back into the room not long after. The Wasp looked her over with a critical eye, checking for any strange protrusions or folds in the cloth outfit. Finding none, Coco simply nodded, reached down to pull two practice swords from her bag, and walked over to hand one to Ava.

"Jogging is good," she encourage, presenting the sword's grip to the Nix. "It builds endurance, and helps one get in touch with the body's rhythm. Which is important. So, that all seems well and good, though I can promise you that this will be quite different from a knife fighting class in an alleyway. As for what you'll get out of it," the Wasp gave an elegant shrug, one that suggested, perhaps, she didn't have quite the same skeleton as everyone else.

"That depends on you. So, tell me, what inspired you to decide to learn how to wield a blade? Was it the Sandman? Do you wish to know how to dispatch someone, lest run into another like him?" Coco asked, her faceted eyes fixing themselves gravely upon the Nix's own.

[Coco]

"Well, if you are looking to avoid being stabbed or mauled," Coco replied after a few moments, "then the first thing that we have to work on is your grip. Which will be quite different then what you'd want to use with a knife, or a longsword, dream or no. Here, watch how I hold it," she continued, turning so that Ava could see the demonstration.

"See, instead of holding it like you would a hammer, or something else you'd swing with, so we must adjust our grip so that the point of the blade becomes an extension of our arm. It must be in line with the forearm, to be more precise, so we use our thumb and forefinger to grip the ricasso, here," she explained, placing her own thumb and forefinger along the 'unsharpened' part of the blade still behind the handguard. "Then, we rest the handle against the bottom part of our hand and use the ring finger and pinky to stabilize it. Try."

Coco stepped back, gesturing at Ava encouragingly with her off hand.

"This is a thrusting weapon, primarily, and the defense it gives us is due to its length, which is why it's important to maximize our control of the blade with the grip...And, once again, I really am not sure just how much this might help you in dreams, so just remember that any advice I give is based off of my experiences in the waking world...which reminds me. It's rather difficult to carry around a sword in public. Would you like me to try and teach you about blades besides the rapier and its ilk?"

[Coco]

"Then I'll make sure to work knife skills into our training," Coco replied, stepping close once again so that she could give a few manual corrections to the Nix's grip. Not that there was much to correct, but fencing was an art that required accuracy, and millimeters could make a profound difference, and in a most important way, for when truly had to rely upon their ability to fence, it was life itself that hung in the balance.

"There. That should be more comfortable for you," Coco finally said, satisfied, stepping around so that she stood in front of Ava. "Now, you're going to try to mirror what I do. We're going to take a stance," she explained, taking one step back and then dropping into an impeccable, basic fencing posture. "Keep your weight centered, about shoulder width. Now, raise your blade so it meets mine, about halfway. I'm going to move, you're going to follow me. Try to keep our blades matched, so they don't slide."

And, with that said, the wasp slid backwards slowly. Then again. Then pressed forward. Then back. And on the drill went, Coco testing Ava's sensitivity and watching how she moved. After about five minutes of this, she began to speak, curious how the Nix would do with a bit of distraction.

"What drew you to oneiromancy, by the way? What inspired you to become an expert in it?"