tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; Tuesday, May 20th
Rating; PG
Characters; Boy Blue

playstheblues and Jack Harkness

handsomejack
Summary; Blue teaches a sword lesson
Log;

Blue couldn't remember learning to use a sword. He knew he had to have learned, of course, but he couldn't remember a time not knowing how; he couldn't remember any time in his life where he was defenseless.

But of course, that didn't mean he didn't know how to teach sword fighting, because he did. He specialized in teaching children; in the camps, in the army, the children's militia needed training and he was always sent to do it. It wasn't that Blue liked teaching, or children (even though he liked both) as much as he was the most accessible, the friendliest of the camp. It was a valuable service, and he had always been happy to provide it.

That said, he was a little bit excited to teach Jack how to use a sword. He needed someone to spar with, someone on his level, and obviously Jack wouldn't be that for a while, but it was good exercise. Besides, it was a good way to focus, and if anyone needed that now, it was the Captain.

He leaned against a tree and waited.

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Jack came walking along, his coat swinging loosely from his shoulders. It had been cleaned since the last time Blue saw it -thank you, Cori!- and Jack seemed at home in it, despite it's grisly reminders.

He had dressed for a workout, keeping to his standard dress slacks but just a t-shirt today, no dressy over shirt. Okay so there might have been a small pony on the t-shirt. Jack could be a bit of a clothes snob at times!

His head was down and he was lost in his thoughts as he picked his way over some branches but he looked up as some instinct told him he was close to the clearing and he smiled when he spied the lounging Blue.

"Hey."

"Hey," he waved back cheerfully.

He examined the other man and raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he began. "Coat off. Did you stretch before you got here?"

He rummaged in his cloak for two training swords; both dull, not fit for combat, and handed one over to Jack. "Here," he said. "I know it doesn't look like much," he admitted with a grin, "but it's just a training sword. I'll move you up once it looks like you're not going to kill yourself with it."

Shrugging out of the greatcoat, Jack hung it over a handy limb and walked over to Blue. He took the sword that was handed over to him and heafted the weight of it in his hand. He had some knife training and knew enough from pistol work to know it was always important that your weapon be balanced and that you know how it was going to react in your grip.

"Well, I walked?" He offered with a small grin. Stretching really wasn't something Jack was used to doing as a rule. Usually his energy levels were such that he just bounced into action!

"Kill myself or my sparring partner," Jack said impishly, reaching out to give a blond curl a light tug!

He watched Jack feel the heft and balance of the weapon with a smile. "How does it feel," he asked, lifting his own. "The balance is decent, not perfect, but good enough for now, but it doesn't matter if you don't like the way it feels. Some people prefer their blades to tug one way or another; I like a good solid balance."

He tugged the curl where Jack had pulled and shook his head. "You couldn't kill me with a sword, even if it were a real one." He took his first stance. "You always want an even footing with this kind of blade; rapiers are different, I'm not very good with those, but when you're handling a double-edged sword you want a good, low center of gravity."

Jack didn't make a comment about his ability or inability to hurt Blue with a sword, after all the bluebird had whipped his ass on numerous occasions and, well ... damn it Jack wanted Blue feeling that self confident and sure going into a war. Sometimes it was attitude that got you through it.

Shutting up, his blue eyes were intense as he studied the other man's stance and carefully adopted a similar position. Jack had a few advantages over a rank novice; he was fit, he was already quite agile, he knew how to use and flow with his body and his movements and he knew how to hold a weapon in his hand.

Not too tight and not too loose. It was a matter of feel and sometimes the hardest thing to teach.

It wasn't a matter of ego - it was just a matter of fact. It took a very good Fable to kill another Fable with a sword - like how Prince Charming had dispatched Bluebeard - and Jack just didn't have that skill...yet. Blue assured him, "But you have all eternity to practice, so maybe soon I'll be eating those words."

He showed Jack an easy beginning exercise. "Knowing how to swing is one of the most important things," he pointed out. "Before you even strike another sword, you have to know how to but the right amount of force behind it, otherwise someone will get under your defense. That's important. Too much and you'll wheel your balance away, and too little...well, we know how that goes. Try?"

Jack's expression was one of concentration as he mentally mapped out what Blue was telling him and then programed the motion into his muscles.

The swing was good, hopefully even showed promise but it was definitely too much force.

Blue watched him and nodded. "Good form, but hold back a little. You're not cutting anything but air right now."

He fixed Jack's grip a bit. "Remember that you're always adjusting strength for whatever medium you're aiming for. Strength isn't always as valuable as control."

He let go and showed him the swing. "Try again?"

"Yep," Jack said and he stepped back and gave the blade another heft without shifting his grip from the way Blue had placed it.

Though he wasn't as proficient with a sword as he was with a gun or his fists, he wasn't a complete virgin and this time he relaxed his wrist and let the swing come more from his whole arm. Power in the shoulder and biceps, aim in the hand and control from the forearm down.

Blue watched for a while and grinned. "There we go. You've got a pretty good form; natural. Now. Every swing is supposed to hit something, right?"

He stood in front of him. "Swing, as fast or as slowly as you'd like. I'll block you."

"You are not healthy for my ego," Jack said with a small smile.

He really was concentrating!

Taking his time, planning out his movement, one he had it he moved quick. He'd never be as fast as Blue, Jack wasn't built that way and ... well, he wasn't a Fable and Blue was Blue but now that he had his mind switching from the idea of 'brute force' to precision, Jack was quick and handy as he attacked.

"Well, I can't lie to you and tell you you're doing a bad job." He laughed.

He knew that Jack wasn't fast, but speed wasn't the key here, it was just precision. "Don't aim for the blade, but realize defense should always come from the center of the blade, for stability." He parried the strikes with deliberate purpose. "When you attack, you don't want to give the other person too many openings."

If Jack was quiet, it was only because he had his mouth shut and his ears open, listening to what Blue was saying and then trying to translate his own understanding into the blade work.

One thing he learned very quick was that striking Blue's blade with force simply seemed to lead to pain reverberating back up along his own arm so half way through, Jack stopped putting power into every single swing.

Instead, he took lighter swings. They were firm enough to mean business but weren't powered by the full forced of his arm. Watching Blue closely it was only when Jack thought he saw an opening that he came in fast -for Jack- and hard.

Blue saw the movement in his chest and quickly turned to block the strike, and grinned. "Good!" he said. "But careful with your chest movements, they give your next swing away." He signaled to stop for a moment.

"A lot of good swordsmen will watch the eyes and the chest instead of the sword, because the sword usually follows the eyes." He signaled for him to set down the sword. "You know how to strike a punch without moving your eyes from someone's face, right?"

He wasn't surprised that Blue easily got around the attack and calmly set the tip of the sword against the thick leather of his boot toe as he listened closely to what the other man was explaining. At the signal, Jack carefully lowered the blade down by his foot, eyes never leaving Blue as they talked.

"Yes," Jack said with a nod. "It's something you learn from the get go. Well that and how to keep track of your opponent's fists so he doesn't sneak a strike up on you while you're sneaking a strike up on him."

"It's the same theory. I don't know when you start doing that; I mean, it's not right away, because the sword is different from your fists, but you have to think of the sword as an extension of you." He lifted his sword back up. "Try again."

Hmmm...

Yes, the wheels in Jack's head were spinning...no smoke jokes please!

Picking up the blade, he gave it a couple of hefts until he had it gripped the way Blue had shown him and then he started to move, circling around the other man. It was easy to consider a fake, after all you saw those in all the movies, right? They certainly looked impressive but Jack knew that a lot of the time you risked throwing yourself off balance and a man who knew his business would be waiting to flatten you anyway.

Instead, Jack applied the age old chess adage. Defense through offense.

Swing his blade low, Jack cut at Blue's ankles. He knew Blue would move to block him but rather than fall back, the Captain continued to turn his wrist, following through the low cut with a circular parry of his own. His aim, not to strike Blue but to catch the other's blade and spin it away.

It was a good tactic. Legs were always a weak spot, unless someone was wearing full armor, and Blue wasn't. If it had been anyone else, they might have caught their swords. Blue instead took a jump, landing just as the circular parry struck at his ankles.

He caught it with the tip of his sword and dragged the blade down, pulling the fight back up. He turned around him and did the first basic exercise he showed to see if he could block it.

It was now instinct and Jack turned and came into a block without consciously thinking about it. He'd always been good at fighting, it had been something that had drawn the Agency to him.

Block and a quick leap back of his own, disengaging rather than letting Blue continue to completely dictate the pace of the fight.

Blue eyes locked on the other man's face.

Blue grinned and pressed back, falling out of the exercise and parrying with increasing speed, letting Jack attack however he wanted.

"Good, move faster, more control and you'll go faster. Speed over power, control over speed."

Despite his devil may care attitude in a fist fight, Jack was being much more deliberate in this, taking his time and thinking out his moves. Of course he couldn't do that in a real fight but this was just the first lesson after all, right?

Instinctively balancing up on the balls of his feet, the taller man pressed forward with a series of swings. Starting low he quickly shifted to high, only to go low once more and back.

It seemed random, easy for Blue to block -which is was- but then Jack tried a high side, downwards slashing motion, attempting to disrupt any possible parries.

Blue grinned and stepped aside and let the slash go. "That's good," he assured Jack. "Keep going."

He held his sword, moving his weight low and sent a relatively slow parry towards Jack's knees.

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