Ava and Shae thought they were just playing dress-up. Turns out they were actually getting a crash course in how not to die in close combat.

"Bend your knees a little lower. That's it!" Hoseok's bright voice and smiling eyes were coaxing Shae through some basic stances before beginning any sparring.

He could sense her lack of confidence: the avoidant eyes, the fidgeting with her arm bracers, the way she kept pushing her blonde hair behind her ears. So, he thought to himself, today was his lucky day to bring a little light to this lovely young lady, and bring out some more of her natural confidence.

"Now, mirror this motion. Watch me first, then you. M'kay?"

"Ok."

It was simple enough: he stepped forward, grabbed the top of his right hand with his left, and did a yank-and-pull motion in one step.

"It probably looks kinda funny with me just waving in the air, huh?" He giggled.

Shae couldn't help but give a small smile. "A little."

"Let's see you."

Shoulders and motion a bit stiff, Shae mimicked the movement. She felt awkward--and Hoseok thought she looked it, too. He also thought it was kind of endearing.

"Here, maybe let's try this properly. So that you can get the feel for it."

Hoseok stepped toward's Shae and took her left wrist firmly in his hand. In a knee-jerk reaction, she yanked and skidded away from him, her arms tucking into her chest and eyes wide with fear. He was nice enough to let her wrist fall easily from his grasp.

"It's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you." Hoseok's tone of voice and eyes were soft. Serious. "I'm just here to help, but there's no pressure." He held his hands up in surrender. "I'll tell you what I'll do, then I'll do it, and you let me know if something is uncomfortable, alright? How about we do things that way?"

"Alright."

He smiled. "Great. Ok, so I'm gonna put my hand on your wrist like this--"

As they continued their practice Shae wasn't much, even under Hoseok's guidance, at this whole 'combat thing.'

She was, however, finding her anxiety being steadily melted off of her in his presence as he patiently walked her through some simple self-defense moves. He threw in more than a handful of bubbly jokes to lighten the mood and coax some giggles out of her. That certainly helped her go from fear and trembling to at least mildly entertained.

____

Things progressed a little differently between Ava and Yoongi.

"So is this the part where I get to kick your ass?" Ava asked with a smirk.

Yoongi couldn't help but return her self-satisfied look. "If you get lucky, maybe."

"I don't 'get lucky,' I get what I want."

Same. Yoongi couldn't stop himself from grinning just a little bit.

Ava couldn't help but notice that Yoongi had a single silver earring in his left earlobe. Kinky. She was trying to interpret him, but she was coming up mostly blank. He had a blunt, harsh way of speaking--but his brief smile was so warm. His shoulders were slumped forward a bit as if bored, but there was nothing meek and unsure in his persona. No, not in the least.

Yoongi started to square up. "Can you mimic this stance?"

She observed and responded.

"Perfect. Now--"

Ava cut him off, "Are you a teacher or something?" She was a little nervous to actually start sparring with this intense, not to mention hot, young man. Sparring with words was more her thing on the daily, so....

"No."

"...So do you do this often, or...?"

His half-smile grew. "Getting scared?"

Ava's hands found her hips. "As if."

"Alright then, less chatter Ivy. Mirror me." His voice was a direct, fierce rasp.

It took her a second to remember she was going by a fake name. "Right."

"Adjust your heels. Like this."

Ava followed his direction.

"No, further apart."

Ava obliged.

"Now, I'm going to try something on you. Do your best."

Ava thought to herself, honey, you can try something on me any time.

She said out loud, "Ok."

Ava wasn't sure what she expected, but it wasn't for this sexy, pale, all-in black, fit male with sharp eyes to take her by the wrist, pivot behind her foot, unbalance her, and send her reeling backwards onto the mat.

She had enough sense to keep her back curled and firm, to roll back into her shoulders and then roll forward again--landing upright on her butt.

Yoongi was enjoying how her reddish hair had just gotten a bit frazzled around her face. He stuck out a hand and she took it, then he pulled her back onto her feet.

"Here's what I just did."

After a clear explanation and a walkthrough of countermoves, Yoongi said, "Now it's your turn to take me down."

Ava felt her cheeks flush a smidgen. Oh God, this is the day of days for double entedres, isn't it? Shut up, brain, I gotta focus on taking this gorgeous man down. UGH. THERE GOES MY BRAIN AGAIN. Goodbye cruel world, this is the end of the line for me.

"Ivy?"

"Huh?"

"You ready?"

"Yeah, of course."

____

"Mind if we take a break?" Shae asked. She wiped a line of sweat from her brow, surprised at how much of a workout she was getting from practicing these self-defense moves.

"What does the boss say?" Hoseok asked playfully.

Lilith interjected as she doodled something into her clipboard, "Yeah, take a break. But don't take too long. I'm trying to figure out what it is about your breastplate that's not right, Shae. The more you guys keep going, it'll come to me."

"I'll snag some waters. Be back in a sec." Hoseok strode his way out of the domed room, his bare feet smacking against the black sparring mats as he went.

Shae walked over and took a seat next to Lilith, her breathing heavy. She leaned forward into her knees.

Lilith said in a quiet voice, "He's really not so bad."

Shae hesitated. "He seems so...kind."

"Not the version you got at the gala."

"No. It really isn't."

Lilith let the pen in her hand fall limp a moment. She turned her eyelinered dark eyes to Shae. "Did Namjoon ever tell you about what happened? To Dai Yu and Kiara?"

Shae shook her head. "Though you can be sure that it's at the top of my list of questions he needs to answer before...."

"Before?"

She's lips rolled together inside of her teeth. She wasn't sure how appropriate it was to smile at the moment.

"Be careful, my friend. Maybe you haven't noticed yet but...no one's better than Kim Namjoon at playing the game."

Shae's face screwed up in confusion. "Game?"

"Of win or die. That's how these diplomats do things, even the noble ones. Just...be careful." Lilith's eyes found Hoseok, who was jogging across the mats with water bottles in tow.

Shae's eyes followed her gaze.

"Here yah go!" Hoseok handed a water bottle down to Shae. Then he took a moment to enjoy guzzling down his own. He let some of the water drip into his sweaty red hair, and he gave a refreshed sigh.

The three of them observed Yoongi and Ava in action a moment.

"You tricked me." Ava scowled up from the mat.

"No, I won. Now get up, let's try again. This time—" When Ava stood up again, the gruff, pale man with the crimped black hair began to walk her through the steps of what he had done to her, how it had worked, and how she then should respond to avoid falling again.

"Alright. Ready?"

"You're going down this time, sir."

Shae was so absorbed in watching the lesson between Ava and the black haired stranger. They were both...really good. Shae noticed how sharp Ava's reflexes were, and how her competitive confidence mixed with Yoongi's mild antagonism brought out the best in Ava as the two trained. It made Shae smile.

"Look at Yoong making friends," Hoseok beamed.

Shae giggled. "What a triumph."

"You don't understand. Min Yoongi is the epitome of an antisocial asshole--pardon the French. Ahhh, his posture has gotten so much better, look." He pointed, looking at Lilith as he did so. Then he explained down to Shae, "He used to always fall at that point in the sequence, but his footing is spot on now."

"Yes, I can see that," Lilith answered. "Sparring with you certainly helped." Lilith leaned into Shae and said, "Hobi used to be Noon Mool's combat specialist. That means he's top notch in close combat. Along with battle tactics and that sort of thing."

"Hey, I can handle myself up in the air, too!"

"Yeah, but in close combat...this guy can't be stopped."

A different version of Hoseok, one with a sadistic grin cast in eerie green light, flashed into Shae's mind. Joon had seemed to hold his own well enough next to Hoseok, but perhaps more damage had been caused than she realized.... She shuddered.

"You alright?" Hoseok asked brightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He shrugged. Then he shouted, "Hey, you guys need a drink break! C'mon, I brought you some waters!"

This time, Ava had floored Yoongi. Her self-satisfied grin must have irked him, because when she reached out a hand to help him up...he gave a solid yank and pulled her down onto the mat.

She fell right onto his chest, stunned.

Yoongi gave a raspy bark of a laugh.

The sound shook Ava awake. She smacked his chest with her palm in frustration and pulled herself up off of him. She didn't bother to lend him a hand to his feet again.

Yoongi couldn't get rid of the smirk on his face as he watched Ava in her maroon shorts and strappy fishnets walk towards Hoseok for that water bottle. Damn.

Lilith sat watchfully, observing these four humans interact--not just how they wore their armor. Her outward expression was calm and pleasant, while her inward thoughts swirled with a messy turmoil of grief and hope.

"Alright, ready for another go?" Hoseok asked to Shae.

She gave an unshielded grin back to him. "Ready, coach!"