CLOWN: without rek, yeah

SB: [almost crestfallen] rek’s travelling now, he’s not gonna log on

it’s an obvious byproduct of sealing back up the end behind you; for almost a full month, team apocalypse were the sole inhabitants of the end. but this respite, this sense of safety, is such a change of pace from how lifesteal usually is, especially in regards to apocalypse. in season 7, apocalypse was a team that was hunted from nearly day 1. they had what, under than two days before the hunt for their orbital really kicked into play? and then past that, once they’d succeeded in their plan— in minute’s own words, “we’re gonna have an infinite target on our backs”. and they did! people were constantly mistrustful of apoc no matter what, they were blacklisted from things like the end item events, and, just like minute said, every member of apocalypse became a kill-on-sight target to a lot of people. not even just kill-on-sight; they were being hunted down. and it’s not like apoc didn’t know this would end up happening, didn’t account for it in their lists of pros and cons, and didn’t throw that worry to the wind anyways. but it still makes this sudden freedom to be such a novelty, really, something almost jarring in how peaceful it is. at the same time, though, it’s nice.

general fencing knowledge: there are 3 main weapons. these are:

sabre: if you’ve seen fencing where they swing and whack at each other, it’s sabre. the most aggressive one out of the three (although not always the most hard hitting), sabre is a very fast and athletic weapon where you hit with the side of your blade. Do Not Stab, you will bend the shit out of your sabre. target area is anywhere above your waist (including fencing mask and glove). scoring system uses something called right of way (RoW), which determines who gets a point when both fencers hit at/nearly at the same time based on footwork, parries, missed attacks, etc etc.

foil: it’s not Stab city but it’s definitely closer. there’s a button on the tip of a foil that, when pressed down with enough force (which isn’t a lot on foil, you can literally flick), signals a touch. footwork tends to be lighter, bouncier, and it’s definitely the most technical out of them; for instance a Lot of touches are determined by How exactly you got the touch. your target area is your torso area only, so missed hits are a lot easier (eg a touch on your arm instead). foil also uses RoW.

epee: remember when i said foil wasn’t stab city? well, this is! epees are heavy, and you need a lot of power behind what you’re doing to press the button at the end of the epee. it’s the most strategic in part because of how simple it is; target area is everything. Yes everything. this includes your toes, i’d know. there’s no right of way, and if you both touch at the same time you both get the point. it’s controlled pace-wise because of this, too, but you have to have a lot of stamina or you’re cooked. be prepared for lots of bruises.

characters choices:

clown: him and minute are genuinely the easiest people to choose a weapon for. clown really enjoys the more aggressive and fast-paced style of sabre (he Loves right of way) and isn’t as big of a fan of the point contact system in foil. don’t get him started on epee; i think truly the sheer difference in the general style of how you fence in it throws him off a lot, especially with the footwork aspect of it. and tbh the only reason he considers other weapons is for the colored masks (staring at rek).

rek: i think he’d start out sabre because it’s the common one to get into. he’s not bad at all at it, in fact i’d say he’d be pretty good, but he tries out foil and i think he’d really like how foil has a very large technical aspect, but still keeps a fast pace and requires you to be very nimble and on-your-feet (also having RoW is a bonus, i think he enjoys RoW). he still does do sabre, although not that often… and now that he’s a foil he can have a colored mask, and he has a white LP xchange to match his other gear.

sb: he’s literally the epee of all time. nobody here is more epee than him. epee is a very strategic weapon, because it’s core it’s super simple: hit and don’t get hit. i think he would really excel at coming up with strategies and making use of the many different styles you can employ (he personally likes to go for touches by making the opponent underestimate how far he can reach. he pairs this with a french grip epee for longer reach + more angulation). he also prefers the slightly more paced footwork.

minute: i randomly thought of minutetech and went “he would be a great foil”. he’s the au starter. minute imo would just really prefer the baseline system of touches in foil, with the more controlled flicks and its technical aspects. i also think he’d be the sort of fencer to walk the line with controlled yet kinda loose movements, with almost dance-like footwork instead of, for instance, more bouncy steps. he started in foil and tried sabre and epee but neither of them really spoke to him like foil did before…