The Four Of Nevermore: What's Within The Trees

☾ 2.3: point your swords up! ☽

❝ Put your gloves up; boy, you better put 'em high. ❞

Gloves Up ➳ Little Mix

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After they changed into their protective gear, Deirdre and Vivian entered a spacious room with rows of strips on the maple floor, gleaming by the sunlight that had been reflected through the windows throughout the walls.
The girls observed the students that practiced the sport; their weapons clashing against each other as the fencers attack, riposte, lunge and parry. To them, the sounds were music to their ears.

"Fencing is basically just a game of sticks-and-swords," Deirdre turned to Vivian, grinning as she recalls a certain memory from their childhood, "Remember when we used to play that in elementary school?"

"Like hell, i'd forget that game," Vivian chuckles, turning to her friend as she gripped onto her weapon, "Thanks to you, i've had cuts on my shins for days!"

"Oh yeah? You gave me bruises on my sides and you even hit me hard on the ribs! so much so, i thought you'd fracture them!"

"Well thank god, you're okay.."

The two girls tittered, putting on their masks when suddenly a male voice calls, "Hey, you!"

"Well that's one way to grab a girl's attention.." Deirdre mumbled as the two turned towards the voice, "What do you want?"

"Just a simple duel between you and me," The boy replies, "That's all."

"You're on your own, Dee." Vivian gave the brunette a pat of luck before she left to find her duel partner. So with a silent sigh, Deirdre went in front of the boy that called her, standing on his opposite side as she grips her weapon on her right hand. "I thought it's against the rules to have a girl-on-boy fight on the same piste."

"Well this is just practice, that doesn't count." he said, slowly getting up from his position as he questions, almost as if Deirdre could feel him raising his brow, "Quick question though- how old are you?"

"Wha- I'm 17,"  The girl raised a brow at his sudden query, getting up as well, "What's that got to do with the duel?"

"Oh nothing it's just.. you seem rather short for your age-"

A few, low snickers were heard around the room the moment the boy made his comment. Deirdre simply rolled her eyes as she pushed her tongue in her cheek, "Are you implying that i can't fight just because of my height?"

"Well.. Maybe, If not entirely."

"Oh- this fucker is asking for it." 
The brunette thought, getting into her position as she smirks underneath her mask to keep her ego up, "Let me prove you wrong then."

The boy suddenly felt alarmed by the girl's determination, chuckling as he does the same whilst asking, "Want me to go easy on you?"

"No need."

Was all she said before the game starts with the referee uttering "En Garde!"

Her opponent went forward with a straight thrust, to which Deirdre had found a bit predictable; easily parrying the blade away from her chest and taking a right of way before she cuts in with a riposte, thrusting the tip of her weapon onto the left side of the boy's torso, gaining a point from the referee as he gestures towards her.

"Hm," the boy hums, fixing his stance as he sneers, "I suppose our height differences seem to be giving you an advantage?"

"It's either that," the girl simply shrugs as she went back to her position, grinning as she replies, "or your lack of skill."

Second round, Deirdre kept her turn as she lunges forward with the same first attack, a move that got parried by her opponent, beating her blade before he immediately thrusted forward towards the girl's chest, giving her no time to defend herself thus earning a point for himself.

He chuckles, "What's that about my lack of skill?"

"There's one more round, my dear," Deirdre huffs, standing her ground with a stern look on her face, "Let's see who gets the last laugh."

Third round, no more friendly fire;
The room's calm atmosphere had switched into competitive air as the two began to strike their swords back and forth, up and down, parrying and attacking each other as the fight grew more and more intense. Vivian, her partner as well as other students had stopped their own duel, running next to the referee to observe as well express their concerns about the duo, asking whether they should be stopped.
However, the man simply smiled, telling them to let the two be.

Getting a bit worried, Vivian removed her mask and shouted at her friend, "Dee! Remember the moves i taught you back then!"

"Which one?" Deirdre shouts back as she blocked her opponent's weapon and pushing him, causing him to stumble backwards as she lunges forward for another attack.

"DFT! Our code!"

"That's a classic!" The girl smiles as she then carries out the strategy; she starts by Disengaging the boy's blade before pulling a Feint attack, causing him to take the bait before she lunges forward with a straight Thrust. 

However, her opponent had parried the move once more before he lunged at Deirdre, the tip of his blade would've been on her chest had the girl not dodge his attack. Fortunately, she manages to backbend just in time before as the sword pushed forward.

This had only tipped the girl's patience to the edge; causing her to cross her blade against his, pushing him backwards as she straightens her back to clash with his weapon once more. After a few more clashes and clangs of their weapons filling the ambience of the empty room, Deirdre twisted the boy's sword around in a disengaging-esque fashion before forcefully tossing it to the side, sending the blade to skid across the wooden floor.

The girl then lunged foward, shoving the tip of her sword onto her opponent's chest and slowly raised it up to point at his throat as she proudly declares, "I win." 

As the boy simply raised his hands in surrender, the hall erupts in applause. 

"Alright, fair game," He grins as Deirdre drops her sword and he drops his arms. When the cheer finally dies down after a short while, the boy then quipped playfully as he crosses his arms, "I'd like to meet the Master Swordstress underneath your mask,"

"I suggest the loser doing it first," She giggles, "And tell me your name as well."

"Fine." The boy rolled his eyes, chuckling as he then took off his mask. When Deirdre saw his shoulder-length hair and his familiar face, her cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink when she realised who she had been fighting;

"It was the boy that smiled at me this morning.." 

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