Description: And now comes the rematch between Vince and Alexis. Though Vince doesn't use any flashy, exquisite techniques that really show off Rose Dansant this time, Alexis clearly fights her hardest to a satisfactory degree. And this time without any methods that might seem unsavory! Is all made right by the end of it? Does fighting make everything better? Does that make any sense at all? You decide!
Several days pass, and Alexis spends them resting and healing. Her personal coach won't let her near a balance beam while she's got a bandaged stomach, and /boy/ did he give her a lecture about that! Threatened to call her mother and tell her what the little gymnast has been up to! She had to bribe the man, promising to spend all of her free time once healed to make it up to him. Before that though, she's got a rematch to attend!
Though Vince knows her secret, she keeps up the facade anyhow. Arriving at the athletics field in a new, non-impaled leotard, and matching butterfly mask, she waits for her opponent. She never announced the match to anyone, so as of this particular moment there is no crowd. If he's told people about it, they may start trickling in soon but she kind'a hopes things will just be quiet.
Whichever it ends up being, it's mid-afternoon. Classes have just ended, and there's no sports team currently using the field. It's just one big empty playground for two fighters to have fun in! Near the benches where they were speaking the other day with the shop teacher, Alexis begins to stretch, making sure her stomach will be able to handle this match.
Vince saunters along the field, dressed in his duelist outfit again. Along with him comes a string of other students, mostly male with two females. They all have very serious expressions on their faces, and the tallest male carries a foil in his left hand.
Vince strides up to the nice little spit of field that will be playing ring for them, and he draws his rapier from its sheath. Only he then upturns it and holds it out to the tall student, who takes it and hands him the foil in return. Vince brings the weapon close to his face to inspect the edge, and his free hand nudges at the button to ensure it's secured in place.
Eyes then shift to the girl. "Are you ready?," Vince asks.
Spying the students that come along the field with Vince, Alexis blinks. The serious expressions and the noted foil make her wonder if he hasn't brought the fencing team along with him. It seems unfair for him to have spectators and people cheering him on while she has none, but that's her own fault, and she'll handle it with grace.
Peridot eyes widen in fear as she spies the rapier. He's not /serious/ is he? He's not going to slice her up just because he thought she was being tricksy? A small puff of air escapes from between her lips as he switches it out for the foil, and she dips her head in acknowledgement toward him.
"I... yes. As I'll ever be..." She's not /really/ ready, but he seems in a hurry to get things started. So she backs up into a very silly looking wrestling stance, and motions for him to begin.
COMBATSYS: Alexis has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Alexis 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Vince has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Vince 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alexis
The lack of cane is noted, and it warrants the quirk of a brow. So she's going to try and fight a different way now? Tch. Whatever floats her boat. "Very well."
The foil flashes upright. "En garde." And that's all the warning he gives her. He's suddenly a blur of movement, kicking off one leg and clearing the space between them suddenly. He lands in a deep lunge before her, the buttoned tip of his foil stabbing harshly towards her stomach. Not at all unlike the last match, only faster and more concentrated. And yeah, he figures her stomach is still a bit tender. But so what?
COMBATSYS: Vince successfully hits Alexis with Balestra.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Alexis
Alexis' stomach /is/ still quite tender! The bandage is off, and it looks to be quite healed. When the button of the foil stabs at it though, she doubles over in pain. Peridot eyes bug out a little, watering as she double over with a sharply squeaked yelp. "Aaauugh!"
Inhaling deeply, trying to breathe and not vomit, she uses her doubled-over position to her advantage. Forcing herself to roll forward, she performs a quick series of small somersaults toward him. Reaching him, her leg sweeps out toward his feet in an attempt to knock him off balance.
COMBATSYS: Alexis successfully hits Vince with Tumbling Pass.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Alexis
And the doubled over position moving straight into a somersault is a little odd to him. It catches him off guard, and he falls over with a sound thud against the ground, teeth gritting. But he's quick to get back to his feet, stance assumed once again. And while she's tumbling around, he angles the foil downwards to thrust it sharply at her torso. Nothing fancy - just a would-be skewering. A hard bludgeoning, as it were.
COMBATSYS: Alexis full-parries Vince's Quick Strike!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Continuing to tumble after sweeping his feet out from under him, Alexis is able to use her feet to deflect the bludgeoning thrust that was angling in at her torso. Afterward, she springs up, finding that she's in the perfect position to attempt to catch him off-guard again. Twisting her body toward him in a fluid motion, she swings her leg around attempting to push him back toward one of the benches with a side-thrust kick aimed at his torso.
COMBATSYS: Vince dodges Alexis' Light Kick EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Vince's stab is deflected, knocking his blade a little askew - but nothing he doesn't recover from instantly. He's instantly back in his stance, and he twists over to evade the thrust kick. She's fighting much differently than she did before. Strange. Adaptable, but he doesn't believe it'll make any difference in the long run.
As he's twisted aside from her kick, the foil flashes to 'cut' across her calf, followed by a hard stab for her chest with the button tip of her chest. Neither should actually puncture skin, as the edge is blunt. But it's still a hard bludgeon.
COMBATSYS: Alexis dodges Vince's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Adaptable? Alexis would take great pride in the fact that he thinks her style is adaptable! She strives for that, though she knows she's not really well versed in adapting perfectly yet. One day, but probably not for a while. Catching the movement of the foil, she drops one hand to the ground and kicks her legs up in the air performing a graceful cartwheel. This effectively moves her out of harms way, avoiding the bludgeoning attack, and allows her to grab hold of a green silk ribbon. She whisks it up into the air and attempts to catch the cane in her hand. She makes a miscalculation as she does this and sends both ribbon and cane on a collision course with the fencer.
"Eeep! Sorry!"
COMBATSYS: Vince dodges Alexis' Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Hmph. She's moving much more quickly than she did earlier, too. But it's of no concern to him. She's actually showing what she can do, and this is pleasing. But when she retrieves the ribbon and cane, he quirks an eyebrow. Changing up for that business again? Wait.. no.
The stuff is chucked at him.
Vince easily twists aside to let it whirl past, and he shoots her a strange look afterwards. The look really says it all. 'wth'. But he then twists in the other direction, left foot forward and left hand has suddenly retrieved a rosette. The stiletto is whirled over his hand into an upright position, then flung directly towards her torso.
COMBATSYS: Vince successfully hits Alexis with Medium Fling.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Alexis
"I'm sorry, it slipped. Let me just get i--" Before Alexis is able to reach him, and thereby reach her ribbon that shoots past him, she's set upon again. Normally this wouldn't bother her at all, but she's noticed he's got one of those pretty stiletto's out and...
"Yeeeeep!" Arms spring up to keep the blade from embedding itself in her torso, but she's a smidgeon too late. THUCK. Just like that the rosette is sticking out of her just below her breasts.
This time, Alexis cries out loudly. Tears immediately well up in the girl's eyes beneath the mask. Extracting the blade, she makes a pronounced whimpering noise, and tries to make herself forget that she's bleeding again. She knows it could've been a lot worse! It could've stricken her in the heart and she'd be dead.
The very non-comforting thought doesn't make the wound feel any less painful, it just makes her stomach flip-flop at the notion. "It's a good thing you didn't make that promise," she squeaks out in a pained manner. She doesn't seem upset with him though, just injured.
Twisting away from him to check for herself that the blade didn't actually damage her bosom, she nods. Her body flips up gracefully into a round-off back handspring and she angles her feet toward his neck. Her goal is to attempt to latch them around him and squeeze tightly. A successful attempt sees her trying to twist her body fully and toss him to the ground below.
COMBATSYS: Alexis successfully hits Vince with Yurchenko Toss.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Vince 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Alexis
When the stiletto sticks in her, Vince simply reassumes his stance again. No commentary or anything. But then she's coming at him all strange and from an odd angle again... and she manages to catch him in that odd manner. He attempts to beat her off of him with the pommel of his foil, but alas. She flips him over to the ground, landing heavily with a wince. He twists over and raises back up to his full height, eyes narrowed on the girl a bit.
Alright, so she withstood the Phantom Lacerations. How about an original from Rose Dansant's core? The moment Vince springs back up to his feet, the buttoned tip of the weapon stabs at her forehead. A square, direct, and firm thrust. But just one of many. Immediately following this, he stabs at her chest. Then at her stomach. And then the stabs just keep coming, his arm and foil bluring out of sight akin to the Phantom Laceration technique - only now stabs, and very painfully physical. The tip -would- be gashing and impaling all over her body, but with the button, it's more like a relentless pummeling.
COMBATSYS: Vince successfully hits Alexis with LaRose Thorns.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Eeeeek! He's trying to poke her eyeballs out with the button tip of the foil! Alexis knows she irritated him last time, but surely she's been good this time? No way for him to think she's been fighting all tricksy! Because she loves her eyes, and wants to be able to see for the rest of her life as opposed to getting an eyeball knocked out and needing a glass one, she tries to tumble out of the way of impending pokeage.
The stabs come in too quickly for her to pull off her tumbling though, and so her forehead gets jabbed. This makes her eyes cross and peek up at the foil. A surprisingly bright smile tugs at her lips at that, obviously she's happy she can still see even though the thwock was painful and her injury is still bleeding. The smile wavers and fades with each successful strike thereafter. She'll be a walking bruise from head to toe at this rate! She's got to find a way to stop him!
Her dainty little hand clenches into a fist and she swings it toward the side of his head in a quick, hooked punch. Maybe if she misses, he'll still be forced to stop with the jabbing tip of the foil long enough to get out of the way!
COMBATSYS: Vince blocks Alexis' Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Alexis
STABSTABSTABSTABSTAB.
The driving flurry of stabs doesn't end until one final, punctuated thrust in the center of her stomach. But as she throws a punch back at him, his sword quickly angles back upwards to catch the fist. It still pushes against him with some force, but hardly enough to make a difference. Instead of faultering from the blow or anything, he suddenly thrusts the foil back out at her chest. As the button tip kareens for her collar area, foggy gray ethereal energy wreaths around it and cyclones along the tip to drill forcefully -through- her body.
COMBATSYS: Alexis dodges Vince's Venteuse.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Alexis
Ohthankgod the stabbity pain of doom has stopped! Her fist grazes against the foil, but the little gymnast doesn't care. She can breathe, there's no more button tip poking against her weak spots and leaving horrible bruises everywhere! No chance of it slipping between her ribs and making her gag!
Alexis doesn't appear to be out of the woods yet though. As soon as it looks like he's stopping, he lashes back at her again, trying to catch her near her throat with the tip of the foil. "Aaack!" Alexis drops back into a bridge in order to avoid the energy-filled attempt to drill through her pretty little throat.
Pressing her hands back against the grass, she pushes her body upward and outward in his direction. She's feet first again, only this time she's not attempting to choke him. Using all of her weight, she springs at him with a harsh double-footed kick angled in at his torso.
COMBATSYS: Alexis successfully hits Vince with Heavy Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Alexis
And Vince expected to drill her and finish her off. She.. backbended and evaded it cleanly, apparently. That's rather surprising. But more surprising is the doublekick that hammers into him. This he feels, and pretty hard, getting an 'nnf!' of pain out of him. He staggers back and frowns at the girl.
Alright.
She's given him enough of a workout.
Vince is determined to finish this, and he suddenly is moving towards her again. A sharp, sudden stab is made towards her stomach just above the hip, followed by a sudden, swift 'cut' aimed at the side of her head. A strike that might lobotomize someone with an actual blade, but.. you know. Foil.
COMBATSYS: Alexis blocks Vince's Quick Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Vince 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Alexis
A gymnast is very good at the back-bendy twisty stuff, so it shouldn't be /too/ surprising that she's able to do it. Alexis will concede that the doublekick would be a bit of a surprise! Tumbling away from him as he staggers back, she bends her body back again and walks her legs over top of herself until she's facing him. About to draw herself up to her feet, he makes the stab toward her stomach. Her hand shoots toward the strike quickly, absorbing the majority of the blow though it kind'a forces her to punch herself. The swift cut aimed at her head is harder to block though, and it forces her off balance momentarily.
Adaptable is what he called her, and so she tries to adapt to the situation. Already knocked off course, Alexis continues to pirouette her body about until her foot extends and she whips it toward him with a crack.
COMBATSYS: Vince dodges Alexis' Petite Fouette.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Vince 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Alexis
Vince notes that her spin seems to be more deliberate at this point, so when her kick launches out, Vince.. is simply not present to be struck. He shifts back, allowing her to strike the air. But then he's immediately on her again, lashing with the foil from her left hip to right shoulder. Immediately following, the weapon flashes across the other direction, aiming to slam her with the button tip from right shoulder to left.
COMBATSYS: Alexis parries Vince's Medium Strike!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Vince 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Alexis
Catching his wrist before the foil can lash upward from her hip to shoulder, Alexis takes a deep breath. It's quite obvious that she's finding this match to be a lot more strenuous on her system. Twisting her hand around his wrist to deflect the foil from touching her, she moves her body in such a way that she winds up behind him.
Because she doesn't want him to call her a cheat, or chalk up anything she's doing to dirty tactics, she releases his hand and does a small splits leap in the air in order to situate herself in front of him. Her right hand lashes out toward his shoulder, aiming a quick palmheel strike.
COMBATSYS: Vince blocks Alexis' Quick Punch EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Vince 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Alexis
Vince finds his wrist gripped and.. he's becoming mildly agitated with her. But a mistake of hers wouldn't be letting the arm go. It's by trying to get around behind him. He simply twists around to face her again, lifting his other arm to take the brunt force of the impact. But then his boot lifts, leg chambering.. and he simply thrusts his heel out at stomach to smash her to the ground heavily.
COMBATSYS: Vince successfully hits Alexis with Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Vince 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Alexis
That would indeed have been her mistake, considering the over-all outcome. Alexis is now expecting the foil to flash in at her again, but instead as she anticipates and goes to block it, his heel is thrust out at her stomach. This would normally be a pain, but happens to be doubly so thanks to her injury several days ago. "Aiiiieeeeeow!" Hands clutch at her stomach as she drops to the ground, curling up into a fetal position. Issuing a small whimper after this, she tries to wave a hand up at him to signal that her body isn't going to be able to take any more.
COMBATSYS: Alexis takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vince 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Alexis can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vince 0/-------/---====|
Vince isn't convinced, though. The moment she hits the grass, he steps up to her and goes to place his boot to her shoulder, angling the button-tip towards her throat. "Do you concede defeat? Did you give this everything you had?"
The others hold their breath, leaning in a little to watch the girl closely.
Still trying to curl into a fetal position, Alexis allows her eyes to close behind the mask. "I... ow... do concede defeat... did you bring any gauze?" She might have some in her bag by the benches, but she's in no position to go get it right now. "I did give this... ow... fight everything I had..." She had been trying to get her ribbon, but when it went flying out of her hands, she had no opportunity to retrieve it.
Vince nods once, satisfied. Dammit, but her tumbling around was hard to keep up with. Still though, he's proven the validity of Rose Dansant, he thinks. Not as well as he -could- have, but still. Good enough. He removes his foot from her shoulder and he turns to the crew standing around, and he waves a hand slightly.
Golfclapping ensues. No, seriously, golfclapping.
The tall boy comes to him and takes the foil, returning the rapier. He upturns the blade and slides it back into his sheath, then turns to the girl. "..Are you okay?," he asks, slowly loosening up with her. "Do I need to get the nurse?" But along with the golfclapping, the spectators move in about them, trying to congratulate Vince and all, with some stray comments to Alexis. She's not part of the clique. Alas.
Alexis has her own clique... sort of. If one considers two people to be a clique! It's just a very exclusive one? Sure, that must be it. Once the foot is removed from her shoulder, she finally manages to curl up. Her hand settles to her new wound, the blood having seeped through the leotard, leaving a bright crimson stain.
"N-no... I... nngh ow... have some gauze bandages in my... bag by the... bench." Taking a deep breath, she looks up at him and attempts to settle her peridot eyes to his icy blues. "If you'd be... ow... kind enough to get them... I think I'll be okay..."
Vince gets pats and such from the the clique of friends, and the two girls even hug on'em. It's good to be captain. But his eyes remain on the masked girl, frowning a little still. "..You should really learn to turn from knives. Let them glance off of you instead of sticking in," he advises. Elsewise.. well.. stilettos are long. It's a miracle she doesn't have a vital organ punctured. Anyway, he pulls away from the estrogen part of the fencing team and heads to the bench to find the bag and, indeed, the gauze bandages. And once found, he heads back to the girl and kneels beside her, offering it out. "You did much better than last time," he notes with a smirk.
"I did try to turn away," Alexis protests with a small little pout. She just was unable to twist out of the way quickly enough. "You just toss those things really fast, so that even a gymnast like me has difficulties moving to avoid them. That's really impressive!" Accentuating her words with exclamations causes her to cough a smidge. "Ow."
Once he returns with the gauze bandages, she reaches down for the one stiletto that fell to the ground when she removed it. Using this to slice into the mesh portion of the leotard, she creates a hole big enough to tape a square of gauze on and figures she'll be right as rain provided she gets the nurse to check it out before she retires to her dorm to recuperate.
His smirk gets her to smile brightly. He doesn't sound as though he's being sarcastic and so she takes what he's saying as a compliment. "Thank you! I was trying my very best to outmaneuver you, but that's difficult since you fencers seem to be able to switch up pretty much anything that comes your way."
COMBATSYS: Vince has ended the fight here.
"That's Rose Dansant," Vince replies simply. He just watches her tend to her wound, head tilting a little. "I think you should see the nurse. And..." He pauses and bites his lower lip. "..We'll talk when you're better?," he suggests. The rest of his crew is conversing amongst themselves now. They've had their entertainment.
"Tch. I'm fine for now... I'll go see the nurse before sneaking back to the dorm to clean up and everything." Alexis can't really head back to her dorm looking like Angel Papillion! It's bad enough that three people now know her secret. "Buuuut..." He does that cute guy-thing where he's biting his lower lip. Awww! It's sweet! "... I'd really like that. Maybe then I'll have news from the cheerleading squad about coming out to your meets."
Vince nods slowly at her. "I still insist that you see the nurse. If something internal was damaged, I wouldn't forgive myself. So please make sure you're all right?" He's content enough that she fought him in earnest. And though he... wasn't half as effective as he was earlier - which he blames on her stranger movements and attacks this time - he's content enough with the outcome. "And then get some rest until you're better again."
"I promiiiiise~!" Alexis hates being injured, but not having the injury checked out by the nurse would just be silly. She could wind up with an infection and unable to train for gymnastics for a very long time, and that would hinder her chances at the Olympic trials, if she ever gets a chance to get that far! "You are an amazing fighter, Vince. I never realized you could do so much with fencing techniques. Please promise you'll give me your autograph if I promise to rest?" Beneath the mask, her bright little eyes twinkle with stars.
Vince nods at her, his own eyes ashine, but his expression is a little more subdued with its smile. "I'll have someone help you get there." His head lifts, and he raises an arm into the air to signal one of his teammates. Two come over, and they go to help Alexis to her feet, all but carrying her. Vince raises as well, and his hand settles over the pommel of his sheathed weapon. "I'll see you later, then?"
Squeaking as she's lifted to her feet, Alexis considers protesting. But he's trying really hard to be nice to her, and that's a good way to get a floundering friendship back on track, right? "Thank you," she murmurs to the two that are all but carrying her. Carefully twisting about to look at Vince again, she nods and gives him a warm, friendly smile. "I hope so." Waving her dainty little fingers at him, she waits for her transport to start moving her toward the nurse. Really. She could have walked on her own.
Log created on 23:12:31 01/06/2008 by Vince, and last modified on 18:30:13 01/07/2008.