eyes
Fandom: BTVS/AtS
Character: Eric Gray(OC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Challenge: Eyes
He'd learned from his older sister not to watch only an enemy's eyes in a fight, no matter what the instructors at the Watchers' school had suggested.
Anne had passed on what she could of her training with unarmed self-defense, fencing, knifefighting. She enjoyed teaching, and unlike most siblings, she and Eric were friends, with none of the jealousy or other problems they might have had.
"Yes, watch his face, but not just that. Body language is sometime more subtle. It can be as simple as a change in their breathing or posture. A really good fighter learns not to telegraph their moves," Anne told him one dusty afternoon. She was only nineteen by then, but held herself with grace and poise a much older woman might've envied.
He listened. He learned, though there were times he was
tempted to point out that only one of them would ever be a Watcher. Her parents--He couldn't think of them as his, not deep down--already had made it clear where their approval and support lay.
But Anne herself was another story. He didn't bring up the subject of their favoritism to her; what sense would it have made?
She knew.
While she wouldn't move against their parents, neither would she agree with them. She shared what she could; time, skills, knowledge, caring.
No, it wasn't enough for him, inevitably.
He still remembers that she tried, though, years later, and wishes he could remember if he ever told her "thank you."
Character: Eric Gray(OC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Challenge: Eyes
He'd learned from his older sister not to watch only an enemy's eyes in a fight, no matter what the instructors at the Watchers' school had suggested.
Anne had passed on what she could of her training with unarmed self-defense, fencing, knifefighting. She enjoyed teaching, and unlike most siblings, she and Eric were friends, with none of the jealousy or other problems they might have had.
"Yes, watch his face, but not just that. Body language is sometime more subtle. It can be as simple as a change in their breathing or posture. A really good fighter learns not to telegraph their moves," Anne told him one dusty afternoon. She was only nineteen by then, but held herself with grace and poise a much older woman might've envied.
He listened. He learned, though there were times he was
tempted to point out that only one of them would ever be a Watcher. Her parents--He couldn't think of them as his, not deep down--already had made it clear where their approval and support lay.
But Anne herself was another story. He didn't bring up the subject of their favoritism to her; what sense would it have made?
She knew.
While she wouldn't move against their parents, neither would she agree with them. She shared what she could; time, skills, knowledge, caring.
No, it wasn't enough for him, inevitably.
He still remembers that she tried, though, years later, and wishes he could remember if he ever told her "thank you."