Anna might be (elatedorgassy) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-10-07 11:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anna of arendelle, hans westergaard |
Who: Hans and Anna
When: Oct 7, night time
Where: Fencing School
What: Fencing Class slash date
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
So, there had been strange-ness for a week or so. Anna was getting used to her new school schedule, and was working nights three days a week. She’d been spending a lot of time with her school friends, and hadn’t spent that much time at work. Hadn’t seen Hans much. Though she’d texted him. And she missed him.
Tonight she was hanging around after her shift ended, waiting for Hans to be ready for their fencing lesson. She sat in her swivel chair behind the front desk, turning around in circles and getting herself dizzy.
A date that was a fencing lesson. Alright then. Anna had said she wanted to learn, which kind of surprised Hans, but not in a bad way - she must have decided it would be good for her after spending a couple of months working at a center for the sport. In his opinion, it really was beneficial to learn, and an excellent workout. She would enjoy herself too, that he would ensure.
He had his practice gear on, and was tugging one glove over his hand when he approached. “Ready?” he asked, smirking out of sheer amusement as he observed the princess about to spin herself off into space. “Or are you busy attempting to destroy your equilibrium?”
For this lesson, he decided to start with the foil. Hans taught with all three depending on the class or lesson, but the épée was too heavy for a beginner and for sabre duels, the rules were a bit more intense. Thus, starting with the foil was easy enough to learn and wouldn’t be too complex.
Not only was it time for her to learn because she'd been teaching there for a while, but she wanted to do something he loved to do. Besides horseback riding, anyway.
Anna grabbed the edge of the desk at the sound of his voice, and ground her spinning to a halt. The world kept moving though she'd stopped, and for a moment she leaned so far to one side she was in danger of falling off the swirly chair. "I'm not sure there was much to destroy to begin with..." Her grip on the desk tightened and she righted herself. "I'm going to be the worst at fencing."
“Well, maybe not the worst,” Hans allowed, although the office equivalent of the Disneyland teacups ride probably wasn’t helping matters. He led Anna toward one of the gyms, retrieving the foils he’d set aside - he’d make her wear the gloves, and the jacket, but that was it. Putting her in full-out serious business gear would take forever and besides, this was just meant to be a really simple, fun lesson. “Would you care for a chest protector?” he inquired, eying her...assets. He was teasing, but she’d likely already seen the breast protectors women wore while fencing. Really, he just liked watching the reactions. They were priceless.
Alright, enough of that though. “Put these on,” he handed her the gloves. “We’ll start simple. By getting a feel for the weapon. Hold it in a way that is comfortable to you.” Like by not cutting herself open.
"I... oh, what?" Anna asked, then turned her own eyes down to her own... attributes. Suddenly, she felt squeamish and uncomfortable and exposed and... she went very, very red. Thankfully, he changed the subject.
"Okay." Whatever garb he wanted her to wear, she put on. Then she accepted the foil and held it gingerly in her hand. Hopefully she wouldn't stab herself. Or him. Or irreparably damage something nearby. That would be her luck, wouldn't it? "Like this?" She asked, holding up the weapon.
Well, shit. He didn’t want Anna to pass out so he would...curb the attempts at flirting. On a date. A tough thing to do, but for her, Hans would make an effort. “Sort of,” he chuckled, circling her, checking her stance. “You have to relax though.” He batted at a piece of strawberry blonde hair, pushing it over her shoulder. Not professional but then again, he was allowed a little unprofessional behavior after hours. “If you’re not relaxed you can’t be quick, and if you can’t be quick then you’ll lose the match.” Or die, if it was a real duel, but that went without saying.
“Remain balanced,” he continued, standing behind her, hands lightly on her waist. “Feet shoulder-width apart. Don’t keep them too close to each other. Ideally, you’re going to slide them rather than lift. The more the sole of your foot touches the ground, the stronger your attacks will be.”
She wouldn’t be terrible at this. It was simply a matter of relaxing and easing into it, which he attempted to help her do, nudging her hip while she held the weapon.
Poor Anna. If only she was a bit better at flirting. He'd just have to teach her. She chuckled softly and shook her head a little. "It's easier said than done,"--the thing about relaxing, that is. Anna felt heat radiating from every point he touched; her waist, her hip. Her breathing was elevated a bit, her heart fluttering. Just being near him like this made her go a little crazy.
"Balanced," she repeated after him. "...Slide." She moved the way he nudged her, trying to keep her joints fluid, trying not to go tense. “I can do this.”
“Chest and torso forward - " And perhaps he took a little too much time ensuring that Anna had her chest forward enough, staring with keen eyes in case he needed to correct her, but he had to make certain that her balance was correct or else she'd fall over and impale herself on the sword! So it was a little lecherous of him, but he couldn’t exactly help himself. There went his resolve from before; she had that effect on him. "Remember to slide, not lift.”
Now, to begin the actual moves. Hans readied his foil, twirling it once - but he wouldn't recommended that for her. Only for a more seasoned professional. "Start with an advance," he said. "Lift the front foot, toe first, then heel, and put it down one step forward. Your upper body should remain still. Next, you should pick up your back foot and place it so that you are again in on guard position."
Anna didn't really notice him staring. She was too busy trying to calm her heart and lungs, keep her chest forward, her feet shoulder-width apart, relax her knees, not tense up. There were so many things to remember! This was hard work. No wonder so many people had been coming to the school for lessons for so long. It was going to take her forever to learn all this stuff.
Hans would still like her if she was no good at it, right?
The foil twirling was impressive. Anna thought she could watch him play with his foil all day. His foil. Oh, Jesus, that sounded wrong. She went red. Not his foil. His sword. That might be worse. She cleared her throat, gave her head a little shake, and tried to re-focus. "Right. Front foot forward." Anna said, and lifted her foot. Of course, she had no idea what she was doing. She put it down and slid the back one forward again to meet it.
“Like that...it has to be that way, with the sole of the foot on the ground, or else you’ll be overpowered,” he said, stepping back to watch her do it a few times until she got the feel for the maneuver. "If you can do that, you can easily do the reverse too. It is just like the advance, only in the opposite direction."
Then Hans advanced with his sword, knocking the blade lightly against hers. "You have to be very aware of the distance between you and your opponent. You should try to be out of distance when they try to attack you, but close enough when you want to attack them. Try this a few times, and then I'll show you the lunge attack."
He gave Anna another go at advancing once more, while he spoke. Multitasking came easily enough because, needless to say, he had been wielding a sword since his hand was big enough to grasp the handle - and even then, tiny swords for a tiny person; he'd gotten bigger ones as he’d grown. And if Anna wanted to watch him play with his foil, well, he’d be happy to oblige there too. As long as she returned the favor.
There would be playing with foils. Oh yes. On both sides. Eventually.
Anna did her best. She wasn't that sure on her feet, her balance wasn't great, and she was fairly weak in her arms. But she did her best to follow his instructions. First foot forward, rear foot forward, remember to slide, chest up, keep balance, try not to think about Hans and his foil, or the way his eyes look, or the strength in his arms, or...
The tink of his sword against hers snapped her out of those thoughts. She cleared her throat. "Okay. Distance." Another thing to remember. "It's not as easy as you make it look, Hans."
"I make it look easy?" Hans smirked. "It's really all about how you attack. The standard way to do that is by lunging; it's the quickest way to get close to your opponent and allows you to move into a defensive position quickly if your attack does not go as you intend."
He showed Anna how to do it, and the proper way to move the arm holding the weapon, telling her, "Throw your non-weapon arm out behind you to help channel the momentum into the lunge," he said, demonstrating. "Then move back to the guard position." Of course, he did it slower than he normally would since he didn't want to overwhelm her - mostly, he was just going for the basics. There wouldn't be a quiz at the end or anything.
"You're doing fine," he winked, throwing her a bone of encouragement. "Sweating yet? Muscles burning?"
"Well, it's easy to look at you," Anna said, then realized what she'd just said. "Wait, I mean... You make it... yes." She cleared her throat, having forgotten what she was doing. Forward? With the foil? Something? Bah. No use.
She turned to watch him do the lunge, throwing his arm back behind him. Her eyes couldn't help but wander. Shoulders. Chest. Arms. Stomach. Legs. Wait, what was she supposed to be doing?
"Sweating. Muscles burning." Anna agreed with a sheepish grin and a nod.
Perhaps he wouldn’t get all the way through the first part today. Anna seemed...distracted. He tipped his head to the side, a smirk stretching across his features, considering. Really, Hans didn’t mind working with her - he wanted to get her to a point where she could effectively manage the foil in a duel and not just slash blindly with no technique or thought behind it. That seemed such a shame in a way.
"Good, feel the burn, because now you have to learn what to do when someone attacks you. It's called a parry." Maybe she had heard of the term before; most people had at some point even if they weren't certified experts. "It's a movement of the blade that prevents the opponent's blade from hitting the target - in most cases, some body part," he grinned sardonically, olive eyes distinctly amused. "Like your head."
Then, so as to demonstrate the proper way to block, he went through each type of parry slowly so she could see how to move the weapon and where to put her arms. "There, like that," he said, blade striking against hers with a light clank. "I didn't chop your hand off, because you blocked me."
After letting her get a hang of that, a few more times, he withdrew before her muscles became a quivering mess of Jello and then did the foil twirl again, because she seemed to like that - just idly in one hand, catching it after a leisurely spin, a single one. “Now that you’re all sweaty, we can get ice cream?” He knew chocolate peanut butter was a favorite of hers.
Anna would likely be less distracted for her next lesson. This was just all new and strange and she had all these feelings... hopefully now she'd been through it once before, she would be able to focus a bit better later. Hopefully. Anna found she kinda liked staring at him. Even when he caught her eyes wandering. He didn't seem to mind, so...
With a laugh, she responded, "I don't think anyone's going to be attacking me." There wasn't anyone in this world who wanted to do her harm, that she knew of? But in the Dreams... it was Hans. And Marshmallow. "But anyway, the parry."
Anna and Hans practiced the different kinds of parries, and Anna was starting to feel like she was getting the hang of things. A little bit. When she wasn't distracted. And finally he withdrew, and Anna was able to relax a bit. Her eyes followed the sword as he twirled it, and a bright grin broke out across her lips. "Yes! Ice cream! We can always get ice cream."
For her first lesson, Anna hadn’t done terribly. She’d learned to parry, at least? Now it became a matter of remembering, but Hans would keep teaching her if she wanted. “You even smell fresh as a daisy,” he teased her, but it was like after horseback riding - princesses managed to glow, not perspire or sweat profusely. “I’m going to change out of the practice gear and then I’ll meet you at the front desk?”
“Okay.” Anna beamed. She didn’t really need to change, but maybe she should freshen up? Hans always got sweaty and disgusting after his lessons. Probably because he gave it his all--Anna was impressed by how passionate he was about the sport, and about helping people learn it. She gave him a smile, and turned to head to the women’s restroom. It would only take her a couple of minutes to wash her face and hands, and pull her hair up into a ponytail. (That would mostly hide the sweat glow.)
Five minutes later she was back in her swivel chair at the front desk making herself dizzy.
Well, yes, Hans tended to get sweaty during fencing but it wasn’t exactly a stand-still sort of sport. Your mind and your body were working overtime to keep up; the mind especially, as it had to be as sharp as the blade you wielded. He freshened up too though, taking a quick shower and changing clothes, a bit of cologne, and the whole nine yards. Then he was back to find Anna about to send herself to Mars by way of office chair once more. It made him smirk lightly.
“Come on, princess,” he said, holding his hand out. “I’ll drive. We’ve got ice cream to find for you.” And for him, of course. The second part of the date, which was going well. He hoped she was having a decent time too.
The date was definitely going well. Anna loved spending time with Hans, pretty much no matter what they were doing. Whether it was meeting some strange dude in a park for pot, or having a long lunch thanks to Matilda's Pina Colada Fridays, Anna was pretty much all Hans'. Though, she was a teenage girl with a crush, so she definitely liked the romantic horseback ride with the romantic picnic best. So, the extra effort would definitely be appreciated. When she got close enough to smell him, anyway.
Anna reached out and grabbed the edge of the desk, but the chair kept spinning under her. She leaned, served, and then toppled off the side of the chair. A yelp escaped her as she landed hard on the ground on her hip.
Hans’s eyes widened in surprise, but really, could he be that shocked about Anna being clumsy? He shouldn’t laugh, but...alright, a quiet chuckle escaped him as he went to go help her up, right away, slipping an arm around her so he could steady her - and perhaps mold her to her his side so she didn’t fly off again, and crack her skull.
“Alright?” he asked, a grin on his face. “Don’t break anything, if you can help it.” But at least they were going for ice cream. That fixed most ailments, even wounded pride after faceplanting onto the floor.
"Yes," Anna was bright red as she let him mold her to his side. She held onto his arm to steady herself. It only took a moment, but she let herself be cuddled for a little longer than was necessary. "...I'm pretty much made of rubber," she added, softly. "Never broke a bone."
She finally pulled herself out from against his side and dusted off her jeans. "...now... what's this I hear about ice cream? Chocolate and Peanut butter?"
“Of course,” he laughed, and he’d have thought Anna’s brain had been taken over by pod people if she didn’t want chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. It was still her favorite, wasn’t it? But Hans slid an arm around her again anyway, even though she was upright and in no danger of falling and cracking a bone (or so he assumed). Really, the only reason he could come up with was just because this time. “I wouldn’t back out of my promises for ice cream.” He was many things, but a chocolate and peanut butter Indian giver was not one of them, thank you very much.-