*Early/mid sunday morning*

[soldier_blade]

 Some women studied dance, Sonya..studied combat, and decades of working alongside a collective group of men (soldiers and civilians) meant she had a fair number of basic skills under her belt. In her opinion, one of the best ways to know a person was one-on-one sparing.

One such style was from her good friend and ally, Kenshi. His preferred weapon wasn't any firearm, but the japanese Katana, and in the rare downtime they had together, once and awhile she agreed to spend a few rounds against him as a sparing partner. Doing so always meant going up against him in sword fighting. While she doubted she'd ever have his level of skill, by now she liked to think she could hold her own due to his teachings. The katana still wasn't her preferred weapon, but as a form of meditation and movement, she could appreciate the various forms to move with it.

That morning saw her somewhere between the lake and the forest, wooden training sword in hand, and going through the motions of a kata. Swinging and parrying against invisible opponents, she forced herself not to focus on home, on wondering what was going on-there was little point to that, little in worrying about what she couldn't control. She could, however, control and go through the motions of her form.

If there was anyone watching her, she didn't notice as she went through the kata, her focus and mind clear of all except where her sword moved and how her feet were placed. A kata wasn't a dance, but the way she moved, one would be hard pressed to see the difference.

Finally, she stopped, the wooden sword set infront of her, before she was even aware she was being watched.

Comments

[works_in_space]

Jim watched quietly. He knew a few small things about martial arts, but practice with a sword was something he left to Sulu. And Sulu seemed to consider his fencing as a game and not something either serious or an art. So this...this is nothing like Sulu ever did.

And she would disarm Sulu in about two seconds.

"Good morning, General."

[soldier_blade]

She set the sword at her side. "Captain, morning."

That he was watching her shouldn't have come as a surprise. The woods were public grounds after all. "Out for a stroll?"

[works_in_space]

"Yes. It seems too nice a day to sit inside. Or even to sit on a horse." Maybe tomorrow. "Hope you don't mind that I watching your workout."

[soldier_blade]

"The kata's done for the day and it's a public area." If she wanted privacy, she could likely move to other areas. "Not my place to stop anyone."

She moved to stand in the shade.

[works_in_space]

"Fair enough. It was quite impressive. I think. Not really my area of expertise." He shifts a little to see her in the shade, but is soaking in the sun.

[soldier_blade]

"Not entirely my level either." She considered herself skilled enough, but just enough for form. "Just..more thinking of a friend of mine. He handled the katana like it was an extension of him."

Which, considering Kenshi's ties to Sento, that wasn't so far from the actual truth.

[works_in_space]

"I have a friend who's a master dueler, but his preference is the rapier. Sometimes I think he thinks he's D'Artagnan." Jim hears that Sulu is still at it, occasionally entering Starfleet fencing tournaments. "Did you friend teach you?"

[soldier_blade]

"Three Musketeer's fan, or just into that sort of romance." She had read some of the novels after all: there was a melodrama to them that she supposed some might enjoy.

She gave a slight smile. "More or less, never any formal instruction, but rather learning while he's kicking my ass in sparing."

[works_in_space]

"Three Musketeers fan. Sulu was a fellow history enthusiast." Their antiques collections even overlapped on occasion.

"I took fencing in the academy for a semester. Strangely, it came in handy once."

[soldier_blade]

"Strictly speaking, kendo is just japanese fencing." Any sort of study of sword fighting was, least in art form. "I took some fencing at the academy, but mostly it was stick fighting." Which also came in handy.

She quirked something of a grin. "This Sulu and I might get along. History and chemistry were some of my favorite subjects back in the day."

[works_in_space]

"He was my helmsman for years. And an amateur botanist. And could fly anything." It took Sulu five minutes to learn how to fly a 20th century helicopter. How is that even possible. "He's now a captain in his own right."

[soldier_blade]

"He's a regular renisance man." She said nothing of him being a captain in his own right: that admiration could go without saying.

"My friend-his name's Kenshi Takashi-he's actually not part of the military, but a sort of consultant and freelance agent." His national status prevented him from being eligible for military status, and even when Sonya offered to pull strings, he still refused.

She never pressed the matter. That he was as loyal and helpful without military obligation only made him all the more valuable to her and a stronger ally.

[works_in_space]

"Sounds appealing. A way to serve without actually coping with the bureaucracy."

[equal_of_any_man]

Olivier is amongst the trees, keeping an eye on a fair-haired toddler who's chasing butterflies in the long grass.

The little girl spots Sonya and stops to observe the kata.

hee

[soldier_blade]

Sonya spotted the toddler from the corner of her eye, just as she was finishing off the kata.

For a moment, she couldn't move, her mind flashing back to when Cassie was that age. She quickly composed herself, setting the sword at her side. Even taking the timelines within this place, the child wasn't cassie: her eyes were wrong and at that age, Cassie's hair was bright yellow, this girl's hair was a darker shade of blonde.

Carefully, she knelt down and set the sword aside. "Hey, kiddo," She offered her a small smile. "You with your mom or dad?"

She looked around, trying to find the parent who the little girl belonged to. A child that young wouldn't just walk out on her own.

Re: hee

[equal_of_any_man]

"Daddy." Mary points to the tall man stepping out of the shadows of the trees. It's unmistakable where the little girl gets her hawk yellow eyes.

"Hello Sonya." Olivier smiles, holding the posy he's been weaving out to his daughter.

Re: hee

[soldier_blade]

She looked up to where the girl pointed, standing to meet the girl's father. He was close enough that she could see his form through the trees, but it helped to know that the girl was aware, incase she got lost.

Sonya's eyes widened when he came closer and she could see him in more detail, the feeling of deja vu hitting her so hard it nearly brought her to tears. She knew this man, she never met him in her timeline, but she knew him in the other timeline.

"Olivier.." Only force of will kept her voice from shaking.

He would recognize the woman before him of course, but it was clear she wasn't entirely the same as the one who attended his daughter's baptism: her face showed clear signs of age and marked her between 40-50 years old, her hair had grown paler and she'd let it grow longer to the small of her back (still held by a single braid). Yet there was no doubt that this was the same soldier he knew, the same woman hardened by combat and experience.

She closed her eyes. His wasn't the first one she'd met who must've known her in another timeline, but this was the first time she felt such a reaction. She almost felt ashamed in that regard, to only know the man through 'flashbacks' and feelings, not proper memories-how the hell would she explain that to him?

[equal_of_any_man]

Olivier crosses to her in a few strides, a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"Aunty Sonya?" Mary asks, her eyes wide.

Olivier doesn't answer her at once, studying the lines of Sonya's face.

[soldier_blade]

She doesn't pull away, the feeling she got from the man..it was like being near Jax or even Kenshi. When she met Athelstan, she thought the feelings were strong-but this was like being hit by a mac truck in comparison.

The little girl brought her back to reality, and she looked down with a slight smile. "Yeah, I guess." She looked back up at the man, wordless asking forgiveness for not knowing the child infront of her. "I have another niece too, but she's much older than you."

Deep down, no matter how hold or how long she was away, Sonya would always be a soldier-if there was one safe topic between soldiers, it was family. "I even have pictures, see?"

She pulled out her wallet. While most pictures she had stored in her phone, the more precious ones she actually had printed out. The one she showed the child-and by extension her father-was one of those; in it were two young ladies, both dressed in dirt and sweat covered PT gear and wearing tired, but proud expressions on their faces. "This is my niece, Jacqui, the girl next to her is my daughter, Cassie."

Sonya pointed to the slim built girl with dark skin, her black hair braided in tight corn-rolls that were pulled into a ponytail. There could've been no mistaking the other girl, who seemed almost a carbon copy of Sonya at a much younger age, and the same whom Oliver met in the Bar some months ago.

[equal_of_any_man]

Mary hesitates, aware of the tension in her father's body language. But the offer of pictured makes her forget her concern and come running closer.

She cranes to look at it, looking up at Sonya. "Pretty!" Somehow she seems to take the the future tech in her stride.

[soldier_blade]

Sonya would've not been surprised. Oliveir may've been from the past (his clothing marked him as that even if she wasn't told earlier), but children in her experience are quick to adapt and grow accustomned to things-for the most part.

Something else came to mind, a knitted doll she saw in her room. While she did knit on occasion (and in secret) she never recalled making it earlier and figured it was made by her other self-seeing the girl here, she know understood why it was around in the first place.

"She is pretty. Would you like to have your hair braided that way? I've a lot of practice." Of course, it wouldn't be the same as Jacqui's and given the length it'd end in frizz, but she did the same with Cassie's hair when she was that age and she didn't seem to mind.

She looked at the girl, her mind still reeling, before turning back to her father to address him. "We'd have to go back to the bar first, if it's alright with you."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Would you like that, princess? To have your hair braided?"

"Yes!" Mary leaps gleefully, and then remembers her manners, adding a meek. "Please?"

Olivier returns his gaze to Sonya and smiles, his eyes thoughtful and deep. "Then we would appreciate that very much." He holds his hand out to Mary who clambering up him like a tree to be carried.

[soldier_blade]

She smiled, but hearing the endearment-it was just a name, but it was one Johnny called Cassie when she was younger.

Sonya nodded. "Let's go then." She walked alongside him, trying to not tear up seeing the girl climb up, trying not to think of how easy Johnny was with Cassie. Her daughter was just a few years older than this one when she was first called to deployment, the first of what was just many times of being away weeks..months at a time and missing chunks of Cassie's childhood.

"What should we call you, besides 'princess?" She didn't bother lowering her voice just to ask her father. She definitely recalled kids that age picking up all sorts of words-and why she and Johnny gave up on the idea of a 'swear jar' after only a week. "Or Tree Climber, we could call you that."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Mary de Bretagne." Mary bows from her father's shoulders, a proper lady, if a little one.

"For my mother, Mariam." Olivier adds softly.

[soldier_blade]

A proper lady, and one who was clearly well spoken for her age, but even Sonya could hear that she tripped over the last part of her name. Still, for that age she was clearly advanced.

"Well spoken." She said, glad she didn't have to pretend to know her name-she felt bad enough for the rest as it was.

She turned to her father, hoping to speak more directly even as the walked. "I need to apologize..I..prior to Cassie mentioning Milliways..I've never met you before. The Sonya you knew...she's from a different timeline."

There was a connection, the way she felt and reacted around him was clear enough, but it wasn't the same as a memory. "When I saw you, it was less like seeing someone in life, and more..well, like deja vu, or seeing someone in real life when you may've only seen them in a dream."

The emotions were there if not the physical memory.