[For Arya]

[flyboy_shepp]

It'd been two years, give or take a few months, since they'd started this thing, and John had had better days. Much better days.

Days where he wasn't collecting an impressive amount of bruises, for all the good Arya's training had done him.

He was kinda distracted, and he knew Arya was using it against him. "Goddamit!" Still, knowing his

Comments

[lonewolflives]

This was like beating up a quintain, he was so distracted. She despaired of him ever learning true focus, like she-

"What? Since when?" she said, forgetting to disengage her lunge until a moment after the fact, which put her a vital beat behind the movement.

[flyboy_shepp]

Although he still felt a little clumsy, John took the chance he'd worked for and gave Arya a bruise she rightfully deserved. "About a month," he replied, watching her carefully.

[lonewolflives]

"And you're only just now mentioning it?" she said, wincing as the blow landed; she'd been watching the wrong place, hadn't flowed with it, and it had stung.

Just like the fact that apparently she'd been looking in the wrong places and missed John seeing someone. For a month, she'd missed that, which was what annoyed her most of all. She brought her feet together, made as if to sweep her blade up and cut the bout short in favour of telling him off...

...and then lunged off the step instead.

[flyboy_shepp]

"It's still just a thing," John replied, unsure what he even meant by it himself, or why he'd brought it up without really thinking. Earning a surprise hit on Arya wasn't worth the millions of questions she was going to asked.

And maybe one day, he'd learn not to let his guard down around her. He brought his sword back up a split second too late, nearly stumbling over his boots as he tried to move a few steps back.