Some might not realize it at this point, after almost a year of Bo being firmly entrenched in the depths of the world of darkness, or more appropriately Kali’s world of darkness. But the young woman still went to school, still took her classes, she’d cut back of course, now a part time student but it mean’t she still had access to all of the clubs, all of the facilities and benefits of a student and she still made use of them given the opportunity.
This is one such opportunity, a chance for Bo to practice her skills, to keep them honed or at least undulled. It was also a chance to have a little Bo time, away from those who were equally steeped in the darker side of life and just enjoy being a young woman. [albeit with a big pointy sword].
The universities fencing club is a bit more then just a regular school club however, it has opened its doors to the masses allowing anyone who either fit their criteria to join or to simply pay to play. Bo of course fit one of their many criteria, that of an enrolled student and so she enjoyed the benefits of rubbing shoulders with those who might otherwise never rub shoulders with the likes of her.
She was already on the matt, epee in hand against a man opposite herself, it is obvious they are both trained, that they both have skill and talent. But the man is larger, slower, and though he has greater reach with his longer limbs Bo has speed, dexterity and a natural flare which found the point of her epee striking his chest, shoulders and abdomen again and again. The eternal youth and vigour might be seen as cheat, but Bo doesn’t even bother, it is that ever present vitality that drives her here. With a final twist of her wrist and a quick drop to a near split Bo lands her final point, the buzzer sounding and the man shaking his head as he pulled of his mask. Bo did likewise as she stood up, smiling up at the larger man as she stepped over to him and patted him on the arm.
“Almost had me chuck, just a little bit faster and you woulda knocked me flat on my ass that time. I can tell you’ve been leaning out, next time you just might get me.” She was smiling wide, her features energetic and bright and it seemed to dissuade any foul mood the man had been in at being so quickly defeated.
Bo"But aren't you sporting?"
Bo knows that voice. Look! Lux. Unexpected but here she is. Lux in the asymmetrical fencer's jacket, how snowy its breast, how carelessly (jauntily) unfastened its collar. Her gloom-loved hair has been woven or braided back from her face. Lux is not carrying the heavy epée blade, but rather a sabre. Does she have a bag? No. Does she have gloves? Sure. Does she have a helmet? Probably, somewhere along the room's side discarded for now.
"I didn't realize fencing instructor numbered among your accomplishments, Bo."
BoThis was the one place that Bo had never anticipated encountering the world of darkness, in the heart of a university gymnasium, surrounded by the pulse and beat of humanity, the sweat, blood and desires of a mortal race. Unlike the roguish creature who now stood before her, she had evolved beyond the human condition and Bo looks surprised, even perhaps embarassed as she looked from Chuck to Lux before stepping forward, smiling...but it just wasn't her usual radiance.
"Lady L! You have gotta be the most rakish fencer I've seen since Madonna ended up with Bond in that one flick." She chuckles as she pops up next to the woman, pushing life into herself as she held the blade behind her back, leaning forward slightly to accomodate it.
"Do you actually truly seriously fence?" She asks curious, wide eyed as she looked at that sabre she held.
LuxChuck lingers just long enough to realize he's become superfluous, before with a chagrined look between the two young women (assumptions [perfection]) and some earnest yet jokey farewell he leaves to get a drink. Perhaps to stare. But fencing's thirsty work and water's ready to be put to the job.
There's a gleam of amusement in her eyes; light, sluicing from a knife's edge, radiance that catches out the dark -- see it? Sublimated, but animate. And Lux cocks a delicate eyebrow. A cad's gesture.
"Well if I say no, I actually truly only come to pick up dates, then I'll just sound awfully silly, don't you think? Although you'd have to admire my dedication to blending in." A beat. "I do fence," confirming what Bo already knows. But she avers, mild - "I am not very good."
"You, however. How long have you been swinging the ol' stick around? Is it the secret of your swagger?"
BoBo still seems off center, off balance, like Lux had landed a particularly nasty feint which has her reeling, trying to find herself again. It might be visible to Lux, or it might not be, its certainly as if she had not expected someone like her to show up.
"Ahh this?" She asks as she shfits to the side briefly to reveal the sword before letting it hide behind her once more like some shy child hiding behind its mother. "Ohhh not that long...ummm." She tilts her head back, her eyes going upward as she thought before offering. "You know...since I was eleven?" She chuckles but it is a nervous thing. She seems to hear that, and she stops, almost stops dead for a moment as if to center herself taking a deep breath and then saying.
"I'm sorry Lux, you have stumbled upon a secret to dark to let you leave here alive, I'm afraid I may have to kill you now." She says it in her best evil villainess voice before bringing the sword around and tapping her on the shoulder with that dull edge.
"Unless of course, you swear your allegiance to me and my army of V from vendetta buddies...oh, and you might have to shave your head."
Lux[Hmm? Perception + Empathy, something up, Mz. Bo?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Bo[Cha+Subt]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Bo[Manip+Subt]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Bo[Bo is...well flustered, she is uncomfortable. The reason is simple in the fact that she tends to hide her skill from people. Its her 'secret' weapon. Something she never brags about, something she never shows off...because she might need the surprise someday. Lux having seen it in full force...has put her off balance.]
LuxThe creature cuts a languid salute through the air, and isn't she poised; isn't she a thing of balance, knows just how loved she is by gravity and the air and how to work that ardency to her advantage? This quicksilver something at the heart of who she has become since her death so many years ago.
Observant, too. But if she notices anything unusual in the undercurrents of Bo's vibrant energetic startlement and discomfort, she makes no mention of it.
"I swear allegiance to no one and no body, but I may be dared to shave my head, though I have done so before and know exactly what measure of punishment it will be."
"Do you want to bout?"
Bo"Bald ladies be the bitchin queens of the universe." Bo said with a warmer grin, some of that true vitality spreading into that smile as if some fear had been allayed, at least for the moment. She let the edge of her epee tap against her own shoulder a few times as she considered Lux's offer before nodding.
"Yeah that would be the bee's knee's." She chuckled as she looked at Lux's own gear and suggested. "You might wanna find the rest of your gear though. I mean..unless you wanna give this a go like in the days of old?" She raised a brow as if Lux might actually want that.
Lux
"Which sport? Epée or sabre?"
Here, the suggestion of a smile: "And which days of old?"
Bo"A damn good question, ooohh we could totally go all pirates of the Caribbean, or maybe three musketeer's...but we'd need some big ass tabards for that." Bo muses at the idea before shaking her head. "My mental wanderings asside, i mean with or without gear Lady L, you feelin brave?" Bo gives her an impish smile at that, a daring challenge for a ghoul to offer a vampire.
"Well they say diversity is the key to happy life." She said as she looked at Lux's sabre. "And it has been a looong time since I played with one of those." She lets the epee come up to tap her chin briefly before smiling. "Sabre's or bust then, lemme just go borrow one." She chuckled as she turned and hustled away.
It only took her a few moments to cross the gym and borrow a sabre, acquired from Chuck no less, the man looking curiously between Bo and the woman that was Lux, perhaps trying to figure out how Bo knew her, or more curious about Lux in general.
She returns then, carrying her newly acquired Sabre, the thing just a tiiiny bit over sized for her, but she seems ready and more then able to swing it around. "Chuck is totally free by the way." She grins briefly before looking back over her shoulder and waggling her fingers at the man, who stands there...utterly uncertain what to do.
Lux"We'll use masks. I'd just hate to lose an eye."
So goes the challenge. The suggestion of a smile only stays a suggestion, but Lux is a cool poised thing, energy beneath the surface a will to liveliness a compelling collection of fine long bones and fine pale skin and fine bruising shadows and animation animation animation.
Bo goes to acquire a weapon and Lux goes to acquire a mask, the dense wire cage dark and close and isn't it neat how astronautical the helmet is - as if when man was figuring out how to breathe underwater to explore the seas and how to breathe in space to explore the moon all they could think was beekeeping and clashing blades against blades.
Chuck is totally free by the way. The kissing curl of a grin. Then the mask is on. "Are you seeing anyone lately, darling Bo? How is Kali?"
They'll find a place on the mat. Take their positions, just so. Readied and readying.
BoBo has her mask of course, it had been hanging from her hip on a tie after she'd pulled it off, so it was slipped on and the Sabre tested briefly for weight and balance as they strode to the spot on the mat, claiming it for the time being.
Bo seemed to go through a number of things getting ready, she tilted her head from side to side, ensuring the mask was well fitted, and she stretched her legs, ensuring everything was in its place. Then she had her blade up letting it dip a little as she said. "Nah, last guy I considered letting in never showed up to our last get together, figure he ain't interested." She said with a shrug. "Not a huge thing, when I'm helping Kali run her legitimate business enterprise, there is not a bit time for anyone but her."
Of course, that last bit is not said with any disappointment or unhappiness, Bo would of course work herself to death for Kali, quite literally at this point. The bond to her master for all intensive purposes, eternal.
"On guard Lady L, for the honor!" Its said like some kind of joke rather then a declaration, and she prepares to strike.
Bo[Init+ 5]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
Lux[Inits. +10.]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
Bo[Bo will strike!]
LuxBo strikes.
The vampire wants to parry; flashes that saber of hers, just so - and behind her mask, the eyes are inquisitive, focused -
How good are you, little Ravnos ghoul?
[1. Parry! Dex + C + Melee.]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 4 )
Bo[Strike]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )
BoHow good was the little Ravnos? Flood had age, and with it came experience and time to hones one craft. She also had the power of her blood, the unnatural speed which came to vampires of her line, and others besides.
But it seemed that Bo had a few things up her sleeve as well, the parry comes before the blow, and almost like water Bo bends herself out of its way, and her borrowed sabre slashes Lux across the chest before the surprisingly nimble little Bo danced back, readying for another strike.
Behind that mask Bo's face is filled with both elation, and a hint of fear. She was afterall...pitting her skills against a vampire for the very, first, time.
[New Init!]
Bo[Init+5]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
Lux[+10]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )
LuxThe creature Bo is fighting as far as Bo can tell seems to be intent on holding herself ready, instead of striking, a defensive play -- that's all.
Is that the ghost of a smile?
1. Float like a godamned butterfly, man. Lux is just going to defend.
BoLux is standing guard, preparing herself against whatever it was Bo might try to bring against her. It was the ancient dragon against the fledgling knight, not that Bo would ever call Lux such a thing to her face.
So she prepared, and she drove forward once more.
1. Sting like a bee!
[Dex+melee]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
LuxBo is a contest. Bo is a quick dart-in dart-out study, and a thing Lux is certainly studying; perhaps so close that she is not quite prepared to wait out the reaction in truth, but driven to oh! this now? react like so:
another flash, parry again, stop cutting at me little Ravnos chevalier.
[Let's Parry again. Parry, Parry!]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
LuxThere's a clink and a hiss as saber touches saber but Bo's slips past and slash cut across the ribs, just so -- disengage.
Look at them go. Fencing is a quick sport; difficult to show, to make last long, on television -- it would be more popular if it were more theatrical, but this isn't a theatrical bout.
This is a game. In and out. Needle thread. Boom! Now what?
Bo[Init +5]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Lux[Init. +10]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
BoTwo strikes, two strikes against someone who is supposed to be apart of one of the fastest, most graceful clans out there. It would be a horrible lie if Bo didn't feel an intense level of elation at this fact, bordering on euphoria with the adrenaline pouring into her system, a heady cocktail for anyone.
Of course she tries to keep her wits about her, tries to keep her cool...but she can't help herself, she strikes in again, looking to win a quick bout with Lux.
1. Final Strike! [oh such hubris]
LuxThe heart-break lovely thing that Bo is playing swordfight with is so in control of herself, here and tonight. Her adrenaline is not spiking; there is no quickening tempo of her heart. Her blood does not pound and she is not wearying, does not feel a burn in her muscles, does not feel this thing they're doing the way Bo does. The contest's result is not the thing.
But it would be dishonest to say she isn't having fun; isn't diverted; isn't focused. Here comes an elated Bo, in for the quick kill, and Lux wants to see what happens if Bo's given an offense.
Does the ghoul turn defensive; does she fling herself forward regardless?
1a. Strike!
1b. Strike!
Lux1a. Let's go with four dice for this strike.
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Lux1b. Five dice for this one.
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
BoBo is already committed, already set on the strike as she lunges forward when she realizes, all to late that Lux is maneuvering to strike as well. She watches that lithe, swift being come in, she watched as the blade she held took two quick strikes, smacking into Bo's chest like a pair of bullets.
Thankfully Lux is not trying to hurt Bo, nor is she equipped with potence or any other such discipline. Or even those strikes might have destroyed Bo's trajectory. She slashes in...hoping for that final point.
[Dex+Melee]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
LuxThat's three for Bo. Lux doesn't drive forward relentlessly, laughing because she's changing the rules and wants to drive the ghoul back.
The young woman (creature [monster]) instantly draws back. Draws herself up, all clean and sharp. She is not breathing, but she puts on a show of it; lets her shoulders rise and fall, as if she felt it.
Puts up her blade. Salutes. Then puts two fingers to her mask (she'd never fastened her collar, so it was still an accident waiting to happen, still a reckless dangle) to pull it off.
"Fun!" she declares.
BoBo stops when the three strikes are made, pulling back as if she might be preparing incase Lux became unhappy with her defeat, but the woman pulls off her mask and declares that it was indeed a fun match and Bo...Bo stands up, laughing as she pulled her own mask free, an act which pulls the elastic out of her hair.
"Ow! damn scrunchy." She declares before laughing and nodding to Lux. "That was some fancy foot work Luxurious Lux." She said as she pulled the scrunchy the rest of the way out and took three quick steps towards her, a bounce in her step as she came up to the woman.
"Not that good with the sword hun?" She asks, one hand on her hip as she looked up into Lux's features. "My ass in a sling over a firey gorge." She says at the tail end of that laugh. She herself is obviously alive, sweat dappling her features, her skin flush from the exertion and warm to the touch should Lux do so.
She offered a hand then. "You oughta compete...you know...somehow."
LuxThe kissing curl of a grin. How not to fall for it? Magnetic. There's no rubber and glue here; trumps all school yard poetry.
She does take Bo's hand with her off-hand (right) and her skin is cool. Air-conditioning does a number on people these days, doesn't it. Cold. Not unpleasant after kindling such heat.
"You are flattering me," Lux states. "But I'll allow you to this time, though with argument: I'm just no darned good, Bo. You inspired me to quickness there at the end. With your avid enthusiasm."
"Have you never considered going further with your art?"
BoBo feels that coolness, and it might have bothered her, once. But now she is used to the cool feel of a vampire's form and so she flinches nary an inch. She smiles back, her own energy radiating back at that magnetic grin, as if Lux were drawing such energy out of her, and looping it back.
"I...well I actually have been a champion, a few times. State and one national waaay back." She chuckles and shook her head. "But I got bigger things to worry about now then my dragon slaying skillz." She shrugged at that fact, as if it were nothing, she'd moved on, found other area's to master, or at least dabble in.
She hooked her mask upon that loop at her side and pulled off a glove, running it through her hair quickly to try and air it slightly before wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
"Haven't pushed like that in a while." She admitted as she pulled open the buckle on her coat and let it hang open, letting in the air.
Lux
"For shame," she says. "There is nothing more pressing than the slaying of dragons, not to one who has been gifted! Doesn't interest you very much since you've already gone so far, I suppose?"
Inquiry in the cant of her head, the lift of her chin. Lux unzips her jacket too (the buckles having been, as we have said, free-flopping), peels it off and lets it open steps on out of it. Beneath, she is wearing a tank top only, something a deep and relentless red - like opening up a pomegranate and seeing what colour is at its most secret heart.
"Why don't you walk me to the locker room? I was just on my way out when you caught my eye."
BoLux escaped her jacket like a butterfly escaping its cocoon, she stepped free and seemed all the more beautiful for it. Bo couldn't help but watch, but she shook her head to clear it and then chuckled as she shrugged. "Hey if it didn't interest me, I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't mind picking it up again? But like I said, I've got a whooole different bunch of dragons to slay, each and everyone of them more dangerous then the last."
She turned to walk in step with Lux, heading for the locker room, her eye looking briefly towards Chuck. "Chuck's gonna be disappointed you know, I think he thought he was in for a hot date, with a hot lady...not that temperature has anything to do with it." She grinned impishly as she walked along.
She unzipped her own coat then, but didn't let it fall away. instead she let it hang there like some pirate's coat, as if she were an old world bandit, or vagabond queen. "Sides, if I started back into that now...I'd start to incur some rather undesirable interest when you know..."
She leaned in. "I didn't start to show laugh lines."
Lux"Oh, sure!" Lux says, because the Masquerade is a pain in the ass for those who are drawn to or who draw the limelight. "Of course, you're young enough you could still skip a month here and there and get your laugh-lines all at once. Wouldn't recommend the thing, of course. Seems strange to me. Doesn't it seem strange to you, all this?"
Poor Chuck. When Bo mentions him, Lux follows the trajectory of her glance over to the large fencer. Of course the creature gives him a sluice of a look; let's call it inscrutable.
She laughs. "And do you know, I think I prefer the 'taken' ones," Lux says, wistfully. "They don't get so bent out of shape when I don't keep them."
"How often do you come here? What are you doing to test yourself lately, darling Bo? What's your biggest adventure?"
Bo"Yeaaah i think I'd rather keep all the benefits, I went for a little while a little back...that was no fun whatsoever, like someone had taken a tazer and bolted it to the back of my head and set it to 'fun times'." Bo grimaced as she shook her head. Being off the blood wasn't an option at this point, she was so thoroughly addicted that it was likely either going to be death, or the false death of the embrace before she was off the blood.
"I could still try though I guess, I've got a few years and then I could become a crazy cat lady recluse somewhere, never showing my face...but that might make things tough for Kali...i dunno. I'll figure something out. As to how often I come? Maybe once a week? I used to train daily though, sometimes several times a day."
She watches Lux gives that look to poor unwanted Chuck and though she felt bad for the big guy, as in her mind he REALLY needed to get laid, one way or another. "Really? You?" She asks looking at Lux, the Toreador homewrecker it would seem. "Never woulda figured you for it Lux, figured you'd you know...go after the ones that excite you."
They drew close to the locker room now, and Bo blinked those lashes several times as Lux got into the meat of a rather deep subject and her first reaction was to purse her lips.
"I hate to say it...but I really haven't gone on any epic quests, or done some serious raids on life lately...its all been the little things you know? Running Rapture, running the network...i guess thats..kinda an adventure?"
LuxThe wistfulness stays: isn't she lovely? The wistfulness is something that lives just under her skin, as fine as the shape of her bones, as fine as a drink of water is to thirst, shadow of a smile. "Don't mistake me. I do. But sometimes it's just easier if they have something to leave me for."
"All I really require is fun," here, a hip-check hip-bump; the smile gone mischief touched, theatricality in the sashay -- insouciance, too. What wistfulness? Vampires aren't wistful.
"And I can hardly believe you're making a strip club and seedy underground network sound dull. 'Kinda an adventure.'"
They're at the locker door. Lux leans her shoulder against it, touching the edge of her saber to the other side, click. "If I knew what else Kali might like of you, I'd suggest a project. Alas."
Bo"I'm sure your not lacking for taker's regardless of wether they have an easy time giving you up or not." She grinned impishly, a chuckle escaping her lips in a slow manner as if she might be envisioning it. Almost enjoying the idea.
Bo gets that hip bump and bumps back, her own mischievous grin spreading on her lips before hanging the sabre on a peg next to the locker. "Well dont get me wrong, theres plenty of little adventures in the running of those things. No fuckin doubt in any ones brain. But they are little adventures. I'm the sort who likes to go big or go home, Kali's started me on the biggest adventure ill likely ever have...but were in the kinda dull chapters right now you know?"
Bo shrugs her shoulders as she sticks a hip out and watches as Lux leans against the door, almost as if she might expect the door to open from the inside while she did so.
"See you round then huh?"
Lux"Sure. Tell your 'Chuck' and, much more importantly, your Kali that I say hello. And be careful of geese," Lux says, by way of farewell.
Then the Toreador disappears into the locker room. Place of echoes, sweat, showers, water hissing against tiles and ambient noise caught and amplified, and soon she disappears from that, too.
The night is young.
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