Pointed Words

## Content Information

A small gym full of strangers sits by and watches as two masked figures exchange blows in the center; one taller and thinner, the other shorter and more thickly built.  A referee stands between them, watching the action like a hawk, waiting for one of them to gain the advantage.  Back and forth their sabres clash as the two combatants try to hold their positions, neither wanting to give the other an inch.  Finally the shorter of the two lands a glancing blow to the shoulder, and the referee raises a hand, “Point Roni, Match Roni!”

The two figures unmask, both dripping with sweat, and shake hands in the middle of the gym to a round of scattered applause.  The taller of the two, now revealed as Xander, begins to address the crowd.  “So that is just a little taste of what we call fencing!  There are quite a few other forms, the one we just demonstrated is called sabre, and it’s the most aggressive form we have in competition!”  Xander lifts a larger hardened plastic sword, “Though we do practice other forms beyond what we have in competition, like this here broadsword,” Xander swings the sword in a wide arc for the crowd.  “Anyways, that’s our demonstration, if you’d like to try out for the fencing team please meet us here this time next week.  However, if you’re here for the free lessons, stick around and we’ll get started in a bit!”

For sitting out in the open in a row of bleachers, Tamzen was doing a remarkably good job of blending into the background. She didn’t applaud the demonstration, but had watched with an intensity that it was honestly a bit unnerving to observe from the outside.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she was here - initially, she had thought to come because she didn’t have anywhere that she really wanted to be, not after her recent admission to Arsling about her crush on Didi that is. Well, that wasn’t entirely true - she wanted to be back at her radio booth, but this afternoon the station manager had not-so-gently evicted her from the booth and told her to go do something else for a few hours (or days!) before they had to change the locks to the station. Tamzen was...pretty sure that the threat wasn’t serious, but probably best not to risk it.

The rest of the spectators stood up, and moved either to the exit, or closer to Xander and his fencing partner. Fewer spectators than she expected stayed for the lessons, perhaps only half of the original crowd - Tamzen hovered at the back of the crowd, waiting to hear more about the lessons.

Xander watches as the crowd moves, and sees some excited faces standing in front of him.  He begins to give a short spiel about safety and starts asking everyone about clothing sizes to get them some fitting lamés.  As he lets Roni handle the actual fittings, he looks around to make sure he hasn’t missed anyone, and spots Tamzen hanging in the back.  “Hey,” he waves in Tamzen’s direction, “Are you here for the lessons?  If you are, are you interested in getting in on the action or would you prefer just to watch?”

She nods sharply in response, then seems to realize that his question required more than a yes or no answer. “I mean, yes, I’d like to try.”

Xander gives a friendly smile and waves her forward, “Alright well come on down and give Roni your size, they’ll get you fitted with a lamé and we can get you set up with a partner.  Have you fenced before, or will this be your first time?”

Tamzen stepped forward at Xander’s invitation, and forced a weak smile onto her face. “First time, I’m afraid. It seems so interesting, though!” She crossed to where Roni was handing out equipment, and consulted briefly with the other fencer until she retreated with a stack of protective gear.

Xander, seeing her hesitance, looks to Roni and nods to Tamzen.  “She seems a bit nervous, at least more so than the rest of the goons here who think they’ll just be swinging a sword around as hard as they can.  Let’s try to make sure she gets a partner who’s not going to try and take her head off or anything.”

Returning his gaze to the group Xander starts walking in a straight line in front of the assembled group.  “So the first rule about fencing is that this line I’m walking right now,” he points to a line of tape slapped in the middle of the gym, “is the only place you can be when fencing.  One person starts on one side, the other starts on the opposite side.  You only move forwards and backwards on this particular line.”  Xander moves his feet in a particular fashion to point one foot forward and the other to the side behind it… Xander keeps going over the basics, and ends his spiel by looking up and saying, “Now let’s partner up and practice what I’ve just told and shown you all!”

Xander looks to the crowd with a polite nod, “So since we’ve got an odd number of folks here, someone will have to partner up with an instructor, so…” Xander holds his sabre out and points it directly at Tamzen, “How about you be my partner!”

For a moment, it seemed like Tamzen was going to do a fine impression of a mouse being cornered by a snake, but then she took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped forward to meet him at the line, her feet sliding into the opening stance he had demonstrated a few minutes earlier.

As the other pairs partner up, and Roni does their best to help the other groups, Xander circles Tamzen looking over her stance.  “You’ve got the foot placement right, but you’re going to need to straighten out your back.  If you’re slouching, your opponent will easily get past your defenses,” Xander demonstrates by slouching himself, “and your reflexes, no matter how fast they are, won’t be enough to stop them.”

She glanced at him briefly, nodded again, and shifted her posture. It was surprising how tall she really was, when she wasn’t trying to avoid attention - maybe only an inch or two shy of Xander’s own height. “Better?”

“Much,” Xander gets into his stance, “Now let’s start slow with a thrust, parry, thrust.  We’ll go back and forth, and get a little faster as we go, sound good?”

Tamzen nods back and they begin going back and forth, offense to defense, again and again.  Xander notices that, as they get faster, Tamzen’s attacks get faster and harder.  As she gets closer to Xander he starts having to put actual effort into his parries, putting strain on his sword and arm.  Before she can land any sort of damaging blow, Xander catches her blade in his gloved hand.  “Maybe you’ve got something on your mind other than the lesson?  You’re not exactly going for practice blows there, and since I haven’t really met you before I doubt you’ve got any reason to hate me enough to try and hurt me.”  Xander says this in a hushed tone to not attract attention.

Tamzen found herself immensely grateful that the fencing mask hid most of her features, because if the warmth she was feeling on her face was anything to go by, her face probably resembled a heavily freckled tomato by this point. She straightened up and lowered her sword. “Sorry...not sure what came over me there…” she said, by way of an apology.

Xander slowly lowers her sword and pulls off his helmet to give her a reassuring smile.  “All good, no harm no foul, but this probably isn’t the right arena to work anything out.  Can’t see your face, but I’m guessing you’ve got something on your mind, came across real well in your form.  Aggressive, far more into your offense, you’ve got something you need to work out.”  Xander drops his sabre off with Roni, and quickly whispers something to them.  “Here, Roni has this situation covered, wanna grab a coffee or something?  Talk out whatever’s going on?”

She removes her helmet, revealing a sheepish expression that was louder than any words. *Guilty as charged.* “Um...yes. I’d like that, actually.” Her smile this time was not nearly as forced as her earlier attempt.

Twenty minutes and a short walk later, Tamzen and Xander were settled at a small table tucked in one of the corners at The Good Bean, drinks steaming in front of them. Tamzen lifted her cup and tested her drink - far more hot milk and hazelnut syrup, and only the barest hint of coffee. She sighed, and set her cup down again, glancing over at Xander, but not quite comfortable making eye contact.

Xander notices her discomfort, and takes a sip from his own drink, a hot chocolate with whip cream on top.  He purposefully doesn't meet her eyes, instead looking just past her.  “Don’t worry, I’m not all that great at this either to be honest.  But how about we start with whatever’s bothering you?”

She laughed, a little bit too harshly. “I...ha! Well, let’s just say I’ve had a hell of a week, and it’s only been a few days.” She absent-mindedly swirled her stir stick around in her drink, as she tried to sort out the mess. “Um… so, I apparently went to one of the parties that frat threw this weekend. I say apparently, because I have no idea why I would have gone, but that didn’t stop me from waking up, half dressed and having slept face down draped across the lap of this girl from one of my engineering classes. And I’m not sure which is worse, the fact that she’s my roommate's friend, or the fact that she... uh...she wasn’t...*exactly...*wearing any clothing at the time.” Tamzen blushed again, just from the memory. “And then when I tried to get out of there, some chick stomped up and demanded that I give her the shirt I was wearing. And then the girl from my class came up and stopped her, and might have pushed her or something - I don’t remember, it was kinda chaotic, and I just wanted to get out of there…”

Xander starts by giving an understanding nod, and then breaks in to say, “So I may or may not have also woken up at a frat party this week, despite having no reason or desire to be there in the first place, so I can tell you at least you’re not alone on that boat.”  Xander gives a little chuckle, “least you didn’t wake up on a roof in a Hawaiian shirt, cause that sure was an adventure… Anyways, amid the chaos and confusion, with everything happening, that must have been tough to deal with.  How do you feel now?  What’s going on inside your noggin’?”

“I actually haven’t gotten to the worst of it, Xander! We manage to get out of there, and when I’m walking back to the sta...back to *work*…” she manages to catch herself - Tamzen doesn’t like to share that she’s one of the hosts at the radio station - no one ever seems to believe her anyways. “Well, I always found this girl very intimidating...but after that morning...well...I kinda thought that maybe I might have a bit of a crush on her.” She hesitates, and takes another drink of her ‘coffee’.

“Oh, understood Tamzen, understood.  Things like this happen when you go through stressful situations, and being able to see others in a new light.  I’m guessing there are some complications involved with this girl and the crush you’ve got on her?”  Xander purposefully sidesteps the work thing and takes a sip of his cocoa.

“You could say that, yes. She’s friends with my roommate, Arsling. So I thought I should probably talk to her about it.” A deep sigh. “Which is all well and good...except she apparently had just...*you know*...with this same girl the same day I said something to her.”

She smiled, weakly. “So needless to say, I’m about to start watching *telenovelas* for a break from the over the top trainwreck that this week has been. They’ll practically be a snooze fest in comparison…” she muttered into her drink.

Xander’s friendly and jovial demeanor drops a bit, “Wow… just… Tamzen that sucks pretty bad, I’m really sorry to hear that you’re going through this.”  Xander looks down into his drink, then returns his gaze upwards to Tamzen sporting a newly formed half grin.  “Well… understandable as to why you tried to take it out in fencing.  But, well how about this, I always find this line of thinking does me good.  Hopefully it can for you too.  If you could have this go any way it possibly could, how would you want this situation to turn out, both for you and the others involved?”

She thought about it for a minute, then two, her brows furrowed and a look of such intense concentration on her face as she stared down into her drink that Xander could almost see the gears turning in her head. Then she sighed, and looked up at him (well, at least, at a spot somewhere over his left shoulder. “I...I don’t really know?” she started to say, before nervously chewing on her lower lip. “I mean… I don’t even know if I’m interested in...*you know*…” she gave him a meaningful look, eyebrows raised. “And I don’t want to mess things up with my roommate - she actually is nice to me.” Then, in a quieter voice. “And so is Didi, I guess. She did stand up to that girl at the party who was trying to steal my clothes.”

Xander let loose a soft sigh, “Firstly I wouldn’t worry about the you know,” he returned her look with one of his own, “I don’t have a clue what I’d like in that department either, so on that front you’re not alone.”  Xander fidgets with his drink a bit in thought.  “You’re in a tough situation Tamzen, I’ve gotta admit.  I guess the first thing to figure out would be how your roommate feels about her, if you haven’t already.  If she’s serious about pursuing Didi, or if Didi already has something serious of her own going on, then I’d give your feelings some time to settle.  This infatuation could simply be something that spawned from the rush of emotions her defending you brought, and maybe given time they’ll settle out into something more akin to good friendship.  If your roommate isn’t interested in something more serious, and Didi’s available, then I’d encourage you to explore the possibility of something serious.  If you’re feelings are true, then it could be a good and healthy thing, if not then at least you gave it the good ol’ college try.”  Xander swipes his arm across his chest with faux enthusiasm.  “However, I am just one perspective on this, and an outside one at that.  If you’re really unsure of how to move forward, seek out other people as well to get a large array of opinions on it.”

Tamzen stared at him for a moment. “That’s…” she broke into a wry chuckle - the first real sign of humor Xander had seen in the girl since she arrived at practice. “...that’s actually pretty good advice. I didn’t think college boys were allowed to be that smart.” She grinned at him.

Xander let out a hearty laugh, “Now hang on there, I never said anything about being smart!  Even a broken clock is right twice a day y’know, and college boys are about the most busted clocks you can find!”  Xander lets his laughter die down a bit before people can start staring.  “Anyways, honestly it comes from watching these things happen again and again to people around me who don’t know any better, but you,” Xander raises his eyebrows and gives a sly smirk, “you seem like someone who knows better than to let this get you down.  Times like these are what separate those with heads firmly planted on their shoulders, and those who’d lose ‘em if they weren’t firmly attached.  You can tell me I’m being a bit presumptuous, but I doubt you’d completely lose yours Tamzen.”

She blushed, just a little, and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks…” she glanced over at him, meeting his glance for a moment. “So… if I promise not to try to skewer you, will you still teach me how to fence?”

Xander rubs the back of his head sheepishly, “Of course, after all I already owe you an extra lesson for pulling you out of today’s.  But yeah, you’ll always be welcome in the gym to learn.  Also here,” Xander slides Tamzen a business card, “I wrote my contact info on the back, if you need anything, even if it’s just to vent, let me know.  And before you worry that you’d be being a bother, trust me I’m rarely doing anything better.”

She smiled and took the offered card and tucked it into an inside pocket of her jacket, before pulling out a battered card of her own. She drew a line through the information on the front of the card, then flipped it over and scribbled her own contact information on the back.

She slid the card across the table to him. “Same.” She gave him a shy smile, then said: “We might have to do something about that sometime…” before she picked up the remains of her drink and hurried away before Xander could watch her nerves get the better of her.

Xander watches her leave and quietly announces, “I look forward to it.”  He looks down at the card and a surprised expression crosses his face.  “Wow, well what do you know.  Never would’ve guessed…” He takes a final sip of his drink and pays the tab, leaving the shop with a wide goofy grin on his face.