#also i tried soooo hard to get clear instructions from either of them and neither of them told me Anything

[mwagneto]

the only thing i hate more than ppl who lie is ppl who lie in a way that forces you to go along with it like ohhhmy fucking god do whatever the fuck you want if it's only yourself you're embarrassing but why would you bring ME into this. lord

#just tell the fucking truth!!!!! it's always so fucking obvious too like omg 😭😭 shutthe fuck up #anyway guess who has to make like 5 extra trips across budapest coz their father is insane (me) #no reason!!! no reason whatsoever!!!!! literally could've just told the truth!!!!!! #him and another man both expect me to lie to a bunch of people but they're also #lying to EACH OTHER and i know they're lying and they know i know but they dont know the other's lying #AND FOR FUCKING WHAT!!! YOU COULD JUST BE HONEST. IT'S SO EASY. #i literally dont give a shit if it's just his lies he's a /redacted/ it's literally his job to lie. BUT LEAVE ME OUTTT OMGGG fuck #also they didnt explain to me that I'd have to lie and then got mad at me for not lying. LIKE GIRL . WHAT ♥ #ended up calling other guy's secretary coz i literally had noone else to talk to abt it and i was abt to have like a #full nervous breakdown in a public square. poor woman #she was very nice tho. thankfully coz that would've been the last straw for real #barking #also i tried soooo hard to get clear instructions from either of them and neither of them told me Anything #LIKE BRO IM GONNA BLOW UP. TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT I NEED TO DO. STEP BY STEP

[codynaomiswireart]

A Fencing Lesson

Had the idea, and decided to jot it down.

Inspired by a scene between Alek and Deryn in the book Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld.

“Bring your blade up a bit higher,” Anya instructed, as Varian attempted to mirror her pose with his own. It felt so strange standing like this – his sword arm already beginning to ache from trying to hold the blade at the correct angle, his forward foot pointed towards his opponent, his back foot pointed in the perpendicular direction, and his left fist set to the small of his back so his free arm bent in the shape of a teapot handle behind him. Varian of course had held a sword before now, and Quirin had taught him a thing or two about how to wield one, but he’d never practiced it very extensively. He knew how to exchange a few strokes and how to parry certain moves, but he knew his skills were rudimentary at best (and he’d never had to stand with such an unnatural-feeling posture before). Though after all of the adventures with the Sundrop and the Moonstone, Varian had begun to see the value of knowing more about the art of the blade. And especially now, when one of the warrior girls from Ingvarr was visiting his kingdom, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn a thing or two about their style of combat.

“Stand up straighter, and bring your shoulders back more” Anya said firmly but patiently. Varian’s brow furrowed a little. He couldn’t help but feel silly as he could feel the eyes of his friends watching them from the side of the sparring green. Varian did wish that Eugene and Lance didn’t sit there with a bucket of popcorn in hand, and he tried to ignore the swift strokes of Rapunzel’s paintbrush as she captured this moment in her journal. Cassandra, on the other hand, seemed somewhat disinterested as her attention seemed to be focused more on whetting her own sword. She probably knew this technique herself already, and so the lesson held only a limited appeal for her to watch. A small part of Varian did hope that perhaps he looked at least a little bit competent, or maybe even somewhat regal as he adjusted to a taller, straighter posture - poised for battle. But as he caught Rapunzel’s glances and smiles out of the corner of his eye as she committed his pose to paper, it took a fair amount of Varian’s self-control to not hunch back over a bit in self-consciousness.

“Widen your stance,” Anya commanded, and with a small frown, Varian shuffled his feet further apart.

“A bit more,” Anya commanded again, and Varian scooted his feet a little further apart, nearly losing his balance in the process.

“No, not like that- Here, let me show you,” Anya said as she stepped over to where Varian was starting to resume his former stance.

“No no, I’ve got it,” Varian insisted with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I just gotta-”

“Here,” Anya’s voice sounded at Varian’s shoulder, and it was all Varian could do to not flinch away as the girl gently kicked his left foot back into its proper position, and grasped his right wrist to bring his sword arm to the correct angle. “There, see? This will give you more stability in your stance. Now, just bend your knees a bit more and… Good! That will do.”

Varian found he could only reply with a small nod as Anya walked away again, and the boy had to struggle to not look to see his friends grinning and snickering at his flustered expression. Varian’s jaw tightened, and he tried his best to stay focused as Anya resumed her position in front of him, and the two of them locked eyes as the tips of their blades hovered a couple feet apart from each other. And then…

…Nothing…

After several seconds, Varian’s eyes darted from the tip of Anya’s sword, and then back to her eyes again.

“Um,” Varian began hesitantly. “Soooo…does one of us need to say ‘go’ then, or…?”

Anya looked puzzled by his question for a moment. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Anya replied as the realization dawned on her. “I should’ve explained earlier. We’re not going to do any actual sparring yet. First, you gotta get the posture solidified in your muscle memory.”

“Oh. Um, ok,” Varian said with clear disappointment and confusion. “So, how do we go about doing that?”

“We’ll stand here like this for the next half hour.”

“What!?” Varian exclaimed, again trying to ignore the snickers of the others nearby. “For a half hour!? Oh, come on! My arm’s already getting tired!”

Anya shrugged, and Varian frowned at her smug expression. “Hey, we gotta build your strength up too, right? And you’re lucky. Most of us girls in Ingvarr have to do this for a whole hour when they first train.”

Varian growled to himself. He was almost sure Anya was exaggerating. Either way though, he wasn’t about to back down from a challenge, and so Varian set his brow again as he held his pose.

About three minutes later, the tip of Varian’s sword started to waver as his muscles began to complain. Five minutes later, and Varian began to feel stiff and sore in his legs as well. Varian couldn’t help but shift about a few times in discomfort. It also didn’t help that Anya remained so still in front of him, the only movements from her being her hair moving in the breeze, her eyes blinking, and her shoulders moving up and down slightly with the pace of her breathing.

After another minute, Varian was about ready to give up and call the whole thing a bust. But then an idea crept into his brain. Wasn’t another part of swordsmanship about being ready at any and all times? About being prepared for a surprise attack and all that?

Perhaps it would be fun to test Anya’s skills for once – see how she liked it.

“What’re y-?” was the only sound that escaped Anya’s throat before she was forced to block a stroke from Varian as the boy suddenly thrust his sword towards her. Abandoning the stiff posture from before, Varian gripped his sword tight in both hands as he delivered a series of blows that Quirin had taught him years ago. Varian couldn’t help but smile and let out a few huffs of laughter as Anya parried his strokes, and he began to feel the beginnings of the thrill of a really good sparring match as steel clanged against steel. Of course, Varian knew that neither of them could do much harm with dull blades, save for perhaps a bit of bruising, and he knew that Anya had fair amount of skill herself. So Varian didn’t hold back as he continued on the offensive.

Anya had to admit that the boy had caught her nearly off guard with his surprise attack, and it was all Anya could do to maintain her balance as he came at her with his first few blows. He clearly was using some previous knowledge of the sword that he had gained at one point, but the posture exercise from before had clearly taken some of the strength out of him, much to his disadvantage unfortunately. After recovering from Varian’s unexpected attack, Anya managed to see her opening, and took the opportunity to parry one of Varian’s strokes, and then retaliate with her own technique. Flicking her blade so that the flexible metal wrapped its way partially around Varian’s like a thin, silver snake, Anya got enough torque to pry the sword out of Varian’s grip, and sent it skidding away across the grassy turf.

“Wh-wha-?” Varian huffed between breaths as he panted. “How-how did you-?”

Anya gave Varian a smile and a wink. “A little trick I picked up from Auntie,” Anya explained, and strode across the green to where Varian’s sword lay on the ground. “You have a keen sense of strategy, Varian,” Anya complimented as she handed the blade back to him. “If you can get both strength and skill to go along with that sense, I don’t doubt you could be a formidable opponent on the battlefield.”

Varian hoped that he wasn’t blushing nearly as hard as he felt he was as he tried to muster up a response to the unexpected praise. Varian cleared his throat.

“Ahem, oh, uh, well, th-thank you for, um, for saying so. I-I think.”

Anya gave another good-natured smile, and walked again to the center of the sparring green, with Varian following suit.

“Now, shall we try again?”

#tts #rta #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #varian #anya of ingvarr #fan fiction #oc #and don't worry i will do a scenario at some point where Anya gets to learn from Varian as well #^w^