Open Post: The Arms of the Emperor are Never Idle

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon spends her mornings in the practice yard, bright and early, despite the cold. She jogs and stretches to get her blood pumping and her muscles warm before she draws her sword, and then after drills she brings Tally her coffee, and then after that it's back to more sword—unless Tally hauls her off to some other activity, which she pretends to hate but is secretly devastatingly grateful for. The absolute worst part of this place is all the time. Endless stretches of time, with barely any work to be done.

In some ways it's just like the Ninth—except on the Ninth she knew her exits. They were few, sure, and near-impossible, but she knew them: buy her way out, fight her way out, trick her way out, or truly earn it.

None of those apply, here.

She breaks for lunch, and wanders the halls trying to locate various Clues and Mysteries that might end up giving her a way out, and mostly just finds people. More and more people.

She's not antisocial. She likes the people here, more than she's openly liked anyone in her life, individually or as a group. But a gnawing restlessness keeps her on the move rather than letting her time fill up with idle conversation as so many here do. She's always hunting for something to keep her busy, to wear out her body so that when she sleeps her mind is forced to rest rather than serving her a lovely buffet of the worst things she's ever seen and even worse things she hasn't, the things she was yoinked away just in time to miss.

Sometimes it even works.

[This post is open in perpetuity until something happens to make me close it, at which point I will edit it and say so! Feel free to find Gideon in the morning doing sword drills, or tooling around inside, opening and closing drawers and trying peel the wallpaper off in case there's flesh underneath.]

Comments

[ninth_cavalier]

Lan Wangji is fast, and Gideon gets the sense that he's not even particularly trying to be--that if he'd wanted to cut her, he would have cut her, and this is more him taking her measure. She's glad of this little bit of mercy, because it gives her a chance to reacquaint herself with her sword.

It feels the same, when she swings it to block his strikes. It feels like it always has, ever since Aiglemene's advice really clicked and she managed to swing with real purpose, to put herself into the metal and let it connect to her. Just because someone else has a hand on the blade doesn't make it any less hers. In fact, and she might totally be making this up, but it feels more like there's someone standing behind her, resting a hand between her shoulder-blades, than it does anyone wrestling her for the sword.

She shakes herself and concentrates on the fight--not trying, yet, to gain the offensive, but seeing what she can read from Lan Wangji's posture about where he might aim next. He fights with shocking fluidity for someone who, when still, looks like he might be carved of marble, and the fluttering robes obscure a lot--but he still has muscle, under his layers of robes, and muscle is Gideon's native tongue.

[lightbearinglord]

Indeed, if Lan Wangji wanted to win this fight decisively, he is certain that he could. It would not be effortless: Gideon is formidable in her own right, rooted in her physical strength along with the sheer size of her sword. But he could, if that became his purpose.

Since it is not, he continues as he began. Again, Bichen becomes an extension of his arm and of his qi. He does not yet do any flips, as they are not yet necessary, but he whirls easily in place to continue his measured onslaught. Gideon may notice that each time he moves, he places most of his weight on one foot, using that as an anchor for the subsequent swing of his sword.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon does notice. If she weren't aware of Lan Wangji's abilities, this would be a glaring weakness—not only because it choreographs the direction of his strike, but because it makes him extremely trippable. As it is, it only makes him flippable—but given that's what she's here to test out, she goes for it anyway. She blocks a strike to her right side, catches the weight of his sway onto his left snow-white boot, and sweeps a leg out to knock his own out from under him. Normally, if she were going for a kill, she would follow this with an overhand blow on the ground, where he was likely to fall. Instead, she lets her blade drop out of the feint and shoots a free hand skyward if, as she predicts, he tries to sail over her to evade the trip. She's not trying to grab anything in particular, just trying to grab.

[lightbearinglord]

As Gideon predicted, Lan Wangji does not allow himself to be tripped. He uses the momentum of the shifting in his weight and redirects it -- again, as she predicted, that momentum launches him into the air and into a tidy backward flip. He releases Bichen, which sails behind him and, conveniently, leaves his hands free so that when Gideon gets hold of the hem of his outermost robe, he can briskly tug it free before her pull on him disrupts the arc of his movement. He lands with his boots planted on Bichen, hovering above her.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon laughs. "Right, okay," she says. "Note to self: next time, grip better—or at least pull faster." Maybe she could find some, like, grippy gloves, or get Kade to make her some? Still, just getting a hand on him was more than she'd expected to do.

She doesn't give Lan Wangji a lot of time to get his feet under him; taking off running, she ricochets herself off the top of the fence around the practice yard and sails as upward as she can get, swinging her sword in an overhead chop to try and knock Bichen out from under him.

[lightbearinglord]

Gideon's sheer tenacity is commendable. Lan Wangji would have more time to dwell on how admirable it is, in fact, if that same tenacity did not have her soaring toward him with that massive sword aimed toward Bichen. Before he can spare any more thoughts, he jumps again, this time more as Gideon predicted -- directly over her head in a crisp flurry of robes. Bichen, in the meantime, arcs upward and away, releasing a slice of icy sword qi to meet Gideon's sword instead.

[ninth_cavalier]

Something intangible and freezing cold spangs off her sword, even though it should meet open air. It knocks Gideon a little bit sideways, and she lands awkwardly, tucking and rolling so the landing doesn't hurt, but still ending up on all fours rather than popping back to her feet. She's deeply glad Tally's not watching—she'd lose all faith in her as a teacher. She levers herself back to her feet with her sword, wonders if she should apologize to it, and blows out a long breath. "Right," she says. "What was that?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji, who landed easily not too far away from Gideon, calls Bichen back to him. It flies neatly into his hand. "That was Bichen's qi," he says as he strides closer to Gideon.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon frowns, taking defensive posture again in case Lan Wangji prefers to continue to spar while he explains. "Its what?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Qi," Lan Wangji repeats. In the interest of explanation, he merely holds Bichen aloft for Gideon to see its glow. "Life force. It is in everything. As I told you, this sword has its own spirit."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Oh, sure," says Gideon, nodding. "Where I come from we call that thalergy. Or--maybe thanergy, if by spirit you mean ghost?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Thalergy," Lan Wangji repeats, mildly interested. "Bichen was never a living person." With precision, he lifts the blade and looses another burst of sword qi, aimed this time to slice the farthest tips from one branch of a nearby tree, one that is skeletal with the winter.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon whistles. "Now that's a neat trick. Seems like there's not much a regular schmuck like me'd be able to do against something like that."

[lightbearinglord]

"Not much," Lan Wangji agrees, "but not nothing." Gideon is clever and resourceful. He knows that much already. "My apologies if you wanted only the flips."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Nah, I want anything you can do that Luo Binghe can also do," says Gideon. "He kicked my ass last time we sparred, it was embarrassing."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji had already, naturally, been taking this interaction seriously, so it's a subtle enough shift: his grip tightening on Bichen, his eyes narrowing. Gideon is alive, clearly, and apparently unharmed, but Luo Binghe is unpredictable. "Be careful around Luo Binghe," he says, sharp with it.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon raises her eyebrows. "Yeah, I got the impression he's not one to piss off," she acknowledges, though she does like the guy, and half the ways she shows she likes people is by trying to piss them off. "Don't worry—it'll be a friendly match. And I know it'll be an uphill battle. But I do want to make him eat shit eventually. Just to prove I can."

[lightbearinglord]

"Gideon." Lan Wangji stops himself after her name, but it doesn't do any particular good. The words still come out cold and stiff. "He is dangerous."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon is hugely tempted to say so am I, because it's true, but it wouldn't carry much weight right after admitting that Luo Binghe has kicked her ass. "Alright," she says instead. "Sure. I hear you." She spreads her hands in a kind of chill out gesture.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji looks at her for a long moment. What can he do? He cannot force her obedience, nor would he want to. When will he learn how to balance protecting people with allowing them their freedom? "Thank you." He would apologize for the shift in his mood, but he is not sorry for wanting Gideon to be safe.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon shrugs. She's guessing they're calling it quits—for the day, anyway; maybe Lan Wangji will get over himself by the next time they spar. "Thanks anyway," she says, and barely restrains herself from adding, grandpa. Usually Lan Wangji doesn't seem that much older than her, but there's something in his disapproving worry that makes him seem super old and boring. She and Luo Binghe have an understanding—is it so hard to trust her on that?

She is grateful, though, and she relents a little. "For everything with my sword and stuff, too."

[lightbearinglord]

"You're welcome," Lan Wangji says after another, shorter pause. He returns Bichen to its sheath and bows to her. "If you have further questions for that spirit, find me."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Sure," says Gideon, giving him a tiny, not too ironic bow in return.