Work Text:
“Okay let’s try that a couple more times to check you really got it, okay?”
“Right. So, sabre grip,” Carolina squeezed her fingers around the hilt of the knife, reaffirming the starting grip, “then wrap my index finger around, use my thumb to rotate it—”
Girlie watched as Carolina ran through the steps for a basic grip change, following each step to the letter. Slowly, on the first switch, analysing her own technique as she flipped the training knife into a reverse grip. On the second she moved faster, rotating it smoothly and catching it firmly.
“—like that?” Carolina said, repeating the motion twice over as she glanced to Girlie for approval. Girlie grinned, mimicking the motion with her own knife.
“Like that. You got it babe,” she said, leaning over and kissing her. Carolina’s lips pulled back into a smile against hers and she pressed into the touch, hooked her hand loosely around the back of her head. Pulling away she ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing it out. “Okay, so, that switch is a good base for learning some other tricks. Both practical and showy. I’m gonna teach you the showy stuff first, because, well, that’s more fun.”
“But you will teach me practical stuff eventually, right?” Carolina said, eyebrow cocked and smirking. “I asked you to teach me for combat reasons, you know.”
“Eventually,” Girlie teased. Stealing a quick peck she stepped back, twirling her knife between her fingers. “Why do you need to learn knives anyway? You already use the greatest variety of weapons I’ve seen like, ever. Seriously. You came at me with a stun baton in the field.”
“It never hurts to have another skill, Arianna.”
“Fair enough.” Tossing her knife and catching it, Girlie grinned. “Okay, let’s try out some tricks then. A simple twirl’s a good place to start. Like this.”
Carolina observed intently as she twirled the knife smoothly between her fingers. Several quick rotations, spinning on its pivot point until she caught it firm in her grip. It was a simple little trick that looked flashier than it really was, which was exactly the point. There was no real combat application, not unless you were the kind of person who took time to show off mid-knife fight.
Admittedly, Girlie could be that kind of person. Sometimes there was just too good of an opportunity to miss.
“Now what you’re gonna wanna do here, is— ok, start with your fingers in the same position as for the switch,” Girlie said, walking around behind Carolina. Carolina’s gaze followed her until she couldn’t turn her head any further, by which point Girlie had already pressed up against her back. “Go on, I’m watching babe. It’s just easier to look at it from your perspective like this.”
“That’s the only reason, huh?” Carolina tilted her head back so that it rested against Girlie’s shoulder and let her see her face. Girlie grinned, looping an arm around her waist as she kissed her temple.
“Totally.”
Carolina shook her head, but kissed her cheek. Pinching the knife between her index finger and thumb she mimicked the starting position of the previous technique, then waited for Girlie’s instruction.
“Now, keeping your other three fingers under the knife, rock the knife down. Catch it between your middle and ring finger. Then rock it back up using your ring finger, catch and push it down with your index… that’s it. Finally, roll it down over your index and catch it.”
The hilt landed firm in Carolina’s palm. “Like that?”
“Yep, just like that.” Girlie kissed her cheek. “Try it a few more times step by step, then try and do it faster. It kind of relies on momentum which comes better with speed, but get the hang of the actual motions first.”
“Okay…”
Slowly she ran through the steps again, knife rocking over her fingers and into her palm over and over. Occasionally she slipped up on the positioning and the training knife threatened to fall, but she caught it. Once she started moving faster it got a little easier, but then came the new problem that her fingers seemed to move up the blade. Girlie, still pressed flush up against her back, corrected her finger positions for her when they drifted and tilted her head back to kiss her every time she completed a twirl.
“As motivation,” she teased.
Progress was slow. Picking up the technique proved harder than Carolina would have liked, the finger-work required not coming naturally to her.
After the fifth time in a row that she either nearly dropped the blade or found her fingers drifting up it, she groaned and dropped her hand. “This isn’t working.”
“Hey, yeah it is,” Girlie said. Quickly coming around to her front, she squeezed the hand that held the training knife. “You’ll get the hang of it. You haven’t done this a lot, it’s not going to come immediately.”
Carolina sighed. “I know. It’s just frustrating.”
“And the more frustrated you get the more you fuck up and the more you fuck up, the more frustrated you get. Believe me I know the cycle.” Taking and then tapping her on the nose with the training knife, she stole a quick kiss. “C’mon, let’s take a break.”
“Alright,” Carolina said, cupping her hand around her head to pull her back for a longer kiss. “Want to join me on my evening run?”
“You say that like I can keep up with you.” Girlie slipped both her knife and the training knife into individual sheaths and started walking backwards, as Carolina stood to follow.
“Maybe not,” Carolina said, smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, “but if you can’t, you do get a nice view.”
“Oh you flirty little— not that you’re wrong, but…”
With a chuckle, Carolina overtook her. Girlie spun around and jogged to catch up.
Girlie stepped out of the shower and started drying herself down. After a long evening run and a good dinner to follow it she was more than ready to collapse into bed. Combing through her hair and twisting it up into a bun; slipping on some comfortable pyjamas; brushing her teeth and putting on a tiny hint of flavoured lip balm, just because she could, she ducked back out to the bedroom.
Outside, she was greeted by Carolina attempting the twirl from earlier. Over and over, much smoother than where they’d left off but still travelling slightly up the blade. Frowning, Girlie let the door slide shut behind her.
Carolina dropped the knife in her attempt to hide it.
“…uh,” Girlie raised a brow, “you dropped that babe.”
“Right,” Carolina said, glancing down at the knife on the floor. A real one, Girlie realised; not the training knife. Luckily Carolina had been using her prosthetic arm for the trick, but it made her add a head cock to her look of confusion nonetheless. “I was practicing. Guess I wasn’t quite over my frustration.”
“Okay…” Wandering over, Girlie picked up the knife and started idly twirling it. Carolina’s eyes flickered to it, observing the way her fingers moved. “You don’t have to be perfect at it right away, Carolina. This isn’t a competition, it’s not even for combat yet, it’s just a fun little trick that’s cool to show off sometimes. There’s no time limit. I’m flattered that you want to impress me—” (“Oh really, huh?”) “—but there’s really no pressure.”
Carolina sighed, ran her fingers back through her hair and tapped her metal finger quietly against the frame of the bed. “I know. It’s… it’s less about perfection, more about progress. I suppose I’m used to making more steady improvement than this.”
“Babe, it’s only been half a day.”
“I know, I know. Old habits… die hard, I suppose.” With another sigh, she beckoned Girlie closer to kiss her. Chuckled, softly, at the faint taste of her lip balm—strawberry. Pulling away, she rested her head against hers. “I’m working on it.”
“Mm, I know you are. It’s a process,” Girlie said, the simple phrase more than familiar to the two of them. Their lives were filled with little and big processes, things they knew they had to work on. “Look, hey, I know you’re plenty dexterous with those fingers of yours so you’ll get there eventually. Promise.”
“Now who’s being flirty?” Carolina said, laughing quietly.
“You think that’s flirty?”
In an instant, Girlie pulled Carolina from the bed and had her flipped onto her back, pinning her to the floor with the knife pressed ever so carefully against her throat. Carolina’s breath hitched and Girlie could see the flash of adrenaline in her eyes, in the grin that spread across her face.
“Sparring, in the bedroom? You really do know a way to a girl’s heart.”
Girlie grinned in return. “Damn right I do. C’mon, I expect you to beat my ass ten times over, you’ve always been better at this hand-to-hand stuff than me.”
“You asked for it.”
Carolina turned the tables in an instant and Girlie laughed, the knife clattering to the floor.