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Eva picks her weapon. Cordy comes on down. The training session is abruptly aborted when Angel lets slip that Harmony died several years ago.
1/31/2017 8:00 PM
Hyperion Hotel San Francisco
The Hyperion Hotel[]
The lights are on, illuminating the area.
The California-Spanish building known as the Hyperion Hotel was built in the 20s. Through the cast iron gates from the sidewalk is a small front courtyard with a rectangular fountain and a mythological figure holding a bowl from which water flows. Greenery frames the walls and a large set of glass double doors open into a high ceilinged lobby. Dark red carpet descends the four steps to the lobby floor and climb the two sets of stairways that lead to the second floor. The green marble floors are accented with wavy red inserts, as are the walls have a complimentary red border running their length. A set of doors identical to those of the entrance lead to a small enclosed garden.
Cream-colored pillars line two sides of the room, holding up the second-floor balconies that look out onto the lobby and creating arches. Underneath one of them is a large plate glass window that looks into the hotel office - now used as the office and nerve center of Angel Investigations. Nearby, there's a wraparound counter with dark wood paneling and a top the same color as the floor. Behind it are filing cabinets and a pair of desks pushed together. A navy blue circular couch harkening back to a 50s design sits near the back of the lobby. A large wooden, glass-doored cabinet pushed up against the wall holds a large assortment of weapons.
Outside, it's snowing heavily.
It was time for training...and this time, it was time for Eva to choose a bigger weapon. The entire weapons cabinet was open...with swords from both western and eastern eras. All she had to do was choose the weapon...Angel watched, "There's a warrior inside you. Listen to what she wants, and how she wants to fight."
After a rather disastrous attempt at wielding a sword in her most recent encounter with the supernatural (blasted Deadites and their need to be dismembered), Eva decided it was time to learn to use something a little bigger than a knife. Having watched a movie lately where the heroine (or possibly villain, hard to say with movies nowadays) brandished a katana and sliced and chopped her way through foes... well, who can say no to that kind of fun? As she looks at the cabinet, her eyes skim over each weapon and she gives a faint shake of her head. Finally, her eyes rest on a long and slender blade, Eastern in origin. She tilts her head and regards it. Reaching out, she runs her finger along the edge that is not sharp. "This looks neat."
Angel halfsmiles at the choice of weapon. "Kenjutsu takes more effort then you'd think. There's a specific style to that sort of swordsmanship, and it uses a different circle of the ones downstairs. That sword will slice through deadites...and will slice through them faster once you've earned one that's enchanted...but first, you must know how to treat the weapon, and what it does and doesn't do."
Eva nods at Angel's explanation, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Is it a bad choice? Is it more difficult for a beginner or something? I'm still new to this, remember." She keeps glancing at the weapon, though, it's obvious she's interested in it. "I saw a movie with some lady swiping at people with one of these. It looked, well, cool. I guess that's part of the reason why I wanna use it." She grins at her own admission.
"Any sword style is difficult to master. You've got an edge to start because of the strength and speed you have as a Slayer, but blade technique...well, you'll see. Come downstairs..." Angel heads down to the dojo.
Eva takes the sword carefully and follows Angel downstairs. As she walks, she talks to him "Yeah, I know technique is something I'm seriously lacking. But I think it would be fun to get good with something like this. I mean, I don't think I would use it all the time but who knows. Maybe I'd end up being some super ninja Slayer samurai chick with knives and a sword and the whole shebang." Pausing, she adds "Or I could cut my arm off, who knows."
Angel shakes his head. "You won't be cutting your own arm off. For one, until you get good, there's something called a bokken." It looks like a wooden version of the sword she just picked up. Unlike most bokken, this doesn't have a point on the end. Probably for Angel's protection. Doesn't want to get staked by a training weapon. "When you're training with the actual sword, you'll be moving at a lot less then full speed."
Eva nods as Angel explains. "Oh, okay. Well that makes me feel a lot better. I wasn't looking forward to slipping and stabbing myself through the gut." As she sets the sword down on a nearby table, she looks at the bokken. "So you learn how to swing with this thing, then use the real thing in combat?"
"Yes. A bokken doesn't completely mimic the weight and feel of the sword, so eventually, you'll stop using it. It's a training tool. You will eventually outgrow it. But that's a ways off." In the meantime..."So set the sword down on the table, and we'll start with the bokken. You have to get used to how this particular sword swings, and how it cuts. It's not the same as a western sword."
Eva frowns as Angel talks about the differences between the swords. "Well, it's not like I was very good with that last sword. So I don't see why I can't start off on the right foot with this one." As she takes the bokken from Angel, she hefts it in her hand. "Okay. So. I know that the pointy end points out and the sharp end points away. But... this doesn't have either."
"This part is the handle..." And he gestures, where there's still a wooden tsuba on the base of the sword. "The point would be here, but I had it removed. The bokken is still made of wood, and I don't want a training accident. And this edge is narrower, so pretend that's the sharp part."
Eva nods as he explains. "Yes. A training accident would be very, very bad." She frowns at the thought of what could happen. "Anyways, okay. I get the idea. Hold here, swing this way." As she takes a few practice swings, she looks back at him. "So... I have no idea how to use this thing evne remotely productively. You're gonna have to show me. I assume you know how to use a... katana, is it?"
Of course, what's the most timely thing to happen right then? No, not a violent invasion from monsters! It's the sound of heels clicking down the stairs. Cordelia, as usual, is dressed well, but this time she's not wearing work clothes exactly: it's a diaphanous sort of dress with a button collar and an open circle just below that collar. It moves like some kind of brightly-colored cloud on her, the particular shade of red rich and attention-grabbing.
"Okay, so," Cordy starts, as if she had been in the middle of a conversation with the two that she just picked up, "I think this is a Halston and they just didn't know what they had, but what do you think?" After a little pause, she turns in place once she's reached the bottom of the stairs. "It was crazy cheap and yes, I already had it dry-cleaned."
Angel was about to show Eva to the kenjutsu circle and explain how to follow the lines, when Cordy walks in, looking stunning as usual. "...I can't tell one dress from another, but you look beautiful in it." Angel, the man who wears nothing but the same black outfit all the time, doesn't even bother checking the fashion labels on his black outfit. Probably because they get discarded from demon blood and whatnot so frequently. He looks at Eva, maybe she can tell one dress from another.
Eva looks over as Cordy makes her entrance and smiles. "Cordelia, how do you find the best clothes? I go shopping and all I find is the same stuff in every boutique. You need to tell me your secret." She hands Angel the bokken momentarily and walks over to Cordelia. "If that is a Halston, you pull it off better than any of /their/ models ever could." She giggles briefly having said that, then walks back to Angel. "So, Angel's teaching me to fight with a katana. You're going to have to help me find some really cool Slayer outfits to go with that. Something with those serpentine dragons, definitely."
"Oh, pshaw!" Cordy laughs once and gives a wave to Angel and Eva, then goes deadly serious. "Keep it coming. I could use the ego boost."
But she doesn't dwell on it longer than that, following the Slayer-in-training over to look between the two, then over to the circle and, finally, back to Eva. "Oh, sure! I guess I'm just lucky. I mean, when I was pathetically poor and scraping pennies together, I learned the *good* secondhand and consignment places around here. Style trends come and go, but fashion is forever." She rests a hand on her hip. "Actually though, maybe I should watch and see what I can pick up. I can't always just pick off people with a crossbow."
"The day you actually need a boost in confidence will be a very scary day." But maybe that's for the best. He has multiple training bokken. "This is actually better. Now I can stand back and watch from the side instead of serving as an opponent." Which is why he usually has Faith as a cotrainer where possible. "But I'd recommend changing clothes, Cordy. These maybe wooden bokken, but that dress doesn't like it was made with fighting in mind."
Eva looks at Cordelia and shrugs. "Yeah, right. What Angel said." She's grinning from ear to ear, though, as she walks back to Angel and picks the bokken up. "Hey, do you wanna train with me Cordelia? Can give you a sec to change into something more durable. I would say less cute, but I think even your durable clothes are probably cute." As she takes another practice swing into the air behind her, she adds "I don't know what I'm doing yet, so we'll probably be an even match. Your call."
"Oh no you don't," Cordy quips, stepping back more demonstratively than to actually put any real distance between them. "I'm not going head-to-head with a Slayer. You remember my great memory for moves? I just need to watch. You're the swordmaster, go out there and...swing your...sword, really that sounded a lot better when I thought of it. It's one of those things that should probably stay forever inside my head where it can sound witty and clever. Just pretend I said something hilarious and brilliant that was only *slightly* bitchy."
Her mood is noticeably more positive than it has been for weeks, though: Cordelia's ordeal took its toll on her, and Faith's weighed heavily on her too. She's been much closer to a ray of sunshine than she was in the last couple of months of the previous year. "I'll be the...water girl, or something. Bringing you refreshments. Just don't get my dress wet."
Angel halfsmiles, "I think you'd put up a better fight then you think you would, and I can give better training advice from the side. Every time you stake a normal vampire, you prove what a difference skill makes over force." On the other hand, he'd also be counting on Eva to check her swings, and Cordy doesn't heal so fast. "But it's your call." He has a third training bokken in his own hand, in case he gets declined a second time.
Eva actually pouts when Cordelia begins to decline, but the woman's next words cause her to burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh Cordelia, you are so funny sometimes." She looks to Angel and shrugs before looking back at Cordy. "Well, it's your call. I'm not gonna twist your arm, I just thought it might be fun." She takes another swing much like a person with a baseball bat. "I know I'm stronger, or whatever, but I've gotten much better about holding back since I started, well, training months ago. Promise not to hurt you?" She flashes Cordelia a smile.
Maybe it's that cheer boost, or the time of day, or just the amulet that keeps her couture fancy and intact. And of course she's wearing it. She wouldn't take the chance of *not* wearing it when she's stumbled upon potentially the find of the year, or at least the month. Maybe the next couple of months too. "Okay, okay. You got me. But only for a little while." Cordy holds out her hand to Angel. "I guess you never know when you're gonna need some sword skills. I mean, at the very least, I'll be able to keep it with me and hand it off to Angel when he needs to have a dramatic swordfight while I...I dunno...hack into the mainframe, or something."
"Which is much easier now that we've got Willow here now too. She can probably hack anything in existence even before casting spells to help." Willow is REALLY good with those computers. Once both ladies have a bokken. "Okay. Kenjutsu is usually down with two hands on the hilt...that's why the hilt's easily long enough for even a big guy to grasp with both hands. From there...Kenjutsu battles were often decided with a single strike, two at most. And the Japanese, for the most part, were not wearing armor like western warriors." Except for the Samurai Great Armor, but still. "That suits modern times, since few people are going to wear armor. A katana has a sharper edge than a western sword, but it'll be less sturdy for having one."
Demonstrating, "Katana strikes are often made on diagonals...the idea being to quickly deal a lethal blow and move on to the next opponents. So they're also aimed at softer targets, like the stomach, so there's less chance of the blade getting caught on bone, as it would with a chest strike."
Eva lets out a squeal of delight and drops the bokken to clap her hands together a few times, then picks it back up again. As Cordelia takes her bokken, Eva listens to the instructions. "Okay, that makes sense. Sharp blade, finer cut, less power behind it, don't wanna meet a lot of resistance. Right?" She nods to Cordelia and says "Yeah, it's always handy to be able to defend yourself with whatever is around. I think that's part of why the others are so good at fighting. They specialize in some stuff, but can use just about anything. So it can't hurt to practice with a wooden stick, even if you never get your hands on a real sword."
The discussion draws a sour face from Cordelia. "Figures you'd know all the grossest things to talk about, right off the bat." She tries to take a careful fighting stance, something closer to what she's trained with Angel to do before. Since she became a feature in an action series, she's trained with Angel more than before, and with all that spare time where she couldn't leave the hotel? You bet she was making the most of her time. Not like she could do anything else but idle on the net.
Cordy smiles at Eva's reaction, though. It's a welcome bright spot after the time they've all endured recently. Holidays always seem to be kind of harsh on everyone, but instead of dinner table arguments and awkward relatives, they usually deal in apocalypses and intrigue. "Oh, trust. I know my way around wooden sticks. My high school years were full of sharp pointy sticks and bad teeth." She grimaces at the memory. "Claustrophobic small towns. Questionable interpersonal relationship choices. Micromanagement." Immediately after that, though, she perks up. "I wonder how Harmony's doing."
Angel...frowns for a moment. "She didn't survive the battle with the Mayor. The last I saw of her, a vampire had a teeth in her neck. I couldn't get there in time. So she's probably dead. I think she was sired, but I can't be completely sure." Questionable interpersonal relationship choices? "Are you trying to tell us you miss Xander?" Cause that would be funny. Particularly to Angel.
Meanwhile, he shows more cuts, from a variety of angles. His example strikes are swift, sure, and involve him moving towards his opponent as he cuts...
Eva takes up a stance across from Cordelia, and it's noticeably less correct than Cordy's. After all, her training hasn't included katanas - mostly hand-to-hand, knives and stakes. Most of the conversation between the two goes over her head, but hearing that the 'Harmony' person Cordelia asked about was no more does make her frown. "That's so sad. I'm sorry about your friend, Cordelia." Meanwhile, she tries to imitate Angel in the air in front of her, not quite sparring with Cordelia yet. "I think I've got the hang of it. Ready whenever you are, Cordelia."
Although it seems more like Cordy isn't going to engage Eva. She turns and swats at Angel with the bokken, to punctuate her words. "Work! On! Your! Empathy! I swear, we *just* got through a major ordeal and you're reminding me of major ordeals in *high school*. God." She shakes her head, tossing the bokken down. "Sorry. I'm not really in the mood to swordfight anymore. Because apparently my former BFF is probably dead."
Really, Cordelia knows Angel has his awkward moments, but this? This takes the cake. She walks back towards the stairs, shaking her head. What's that Japanese expression she learned the other day? Oh yeah -- SKY. Super Kuuki Yomenai; Super Can't-Read-The-Room. She guesses angels and sky go pretty well together. As she scales the stairs, she knows she'll get over it, and it probably won't take that long, but she can't help but kind of think...maybe she should try and see for sure if Harmony's okay, or...if maybe she should send flowers.
Angel, in retrospect, could've handled that better. The last time he did this, he just told people Willow's dead...only to turn and see Willow sitting there, alive and well. But he's not mistaken this time. So...he ends up wincing. "...That wasn't the right way to say that." As he broods on that, Cordy actually tags him with the bokken, apparently too busy being sorry to remember to block. "...I deserved that."
"...Sorry." He really didn't think that one through. Come to think of it it's worse if he turns out to be completely right and she's undead...
Eva just stares wide-eyed as Cordelia whacks Angel with the bokken. "Oh my gosh," she says softly. But, she can see Cordelia's point. Biting her lower lip, she takes a step back from the pair for a moment, until Cordelia is dropping the bokken and heading back to the stairs. Turning her gaze on Angel, she is clearly at a loss for words. But that only lasts around fifteen seconds. "Well. That could have gone better. Definitely."