FSE

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Where we last dropped off me and Esther were on our way to her place in her electric golf. Her parents' house isn't far from church, so we were arriving soon. We would just take a road that would eventually lead a bit into the woods. As we approached the house, I saw that the place was huge. The house had a classic wooden architecture look. Two floors high and two framed windows on all sides. There is probably a basement and a large loft as well. The main body of the house was white and there was also a garage that was kept separate from the main building. It was probably built later to accommodate. Esther drove up to the garage and opened up the doors with a little controller that she had placed in the centre cup holder. There was space enough for two cars there, and inside was already a slick black Mercedes Benz. Esther reared the car into the garage. She parked the car and we went out approaching the entrance if the house while the garage would close.

It was freezing outside. Still below 0 degrees Celsius. Esther lead the way and opened up the door to the house. It was actually a double door. Looks fancy. Even has a knocker on. As we entered, I could feel the cozy warmth of the house. Someone has been keeping the fire lit.

"Hi!" Esther shouted to greet her parents. "Dan's here!". I observed the hall while she took off our jackets. I can see that much of the room has dark brown and red colours. Looks like a really expensive house. To be honest I was sort of expecting that the house would be a very nice one since Esther's parents are wealthy. Her father is a lawyer. He's the biggest reason she is now studying law.

We exited to the right into what looked like a kitchen.

"Hello, dear." Said Esther's mother. She was standing by the stove preparing dinner. Her hair was rounded and black and she had bangs hanging over her forehead. "And good to see you again, Daniel!" she greeted me. "Likewise, Mrs. Volskaya." I responded and gave her a short hug. Esther continued into the kitchen and sat herself down by the round kitchen table and I followed. Esther smelled, "Mmm. Smells like you're cooking beef Stroganov!" I noticed what Laika was cooking as well, and said that Stroganov is one of my favourite dishes. Laika said that she was pleased to hear that, and that dinner would be ready in half an hour. Afterwards we went into the living room, which was the next room adjacent to the kitchen. There sat Mr. Volskaya reading a book and keeping the fireplace alive. He sat on a little red armchair beside several bookcases and somewhat near the fire to keep him warm. Esther said hello while I greeted him properly, before we would head upstairs to her room. We just needed to wait until dinner was ready, so we would find something to kill the time until then. Her room had a decent size. She had a single bed with burgundy sheets and a cupboard where she kept many things on top. One of them a Rubik's cube. She lied herself down on her bed and started scrambling it. I sat down on the opposite end of the bed with her feet pointing towards me. She would then start solving her little puzzle. I felt a little sneaky and started to creep my hand closer to her paws. She was paying most of her attention on the cube before I started touching the fur between her paw pads. Immediately after contact she squealed and pulled back her feet. "No! Don't do that! It tickles" she laughed. I conceded and let her be for now.

"As much as I like seeing you concentrated, I would also like something to do." Esther looked at me then looked at the cube in her hand. She then threw it to me saying "Here, you can have this." I caught the cube and started solving it, while Esther looked for her drawing supplies and sketchbook. "I suppose we'll wait like this until dinner, eh? How about you show me some fencing after that? I think it sounds so cool." Esther looked at me for a second before raising an eyebrow and smirking. She agreed. She says that we can go down to the basement, which is where she keeps her fencing equipment. The floor there is also covered with training matts. It is almost like a little gym down there. I started solving the Rubik's cube for a minute until I tried to surprise her by going for her feet again. She pulled back her legs as quick as lightning and playfully scratched my hand. "Nuuh!" she giggled.

I asked her what she was drawing while I was fiddling with the Rubik's cube. "Oh, I'm not drawing anything in particular. Just "The Cube"" I looked at her drawing and it looked like she was drawing an ordinary Rubik's cube. "That just looks like a normal 3x3 to me." Esther widened her eyes. "You fool! This is no ordinary cube. This is THE cube. The death trap with no escape. The endless maze!" I was utterly confused, then I started to chuckle. "Ok, it's just a normal Rubik's cube." she admitted. "But I was referring to a movie called Cube and got a little inspired. In fact, I have that movie here, we should watch it after we've been downstairs. Sounds good?" I was already intrigued, so I agreed to watch together with her. Plus, I know that the Volskayas have a pretty neat home cinema. A dark room with two sofas and a wide screen TV. Seems like an awesome opportunity to watch a movie.

Dinner was then served. We went down to the living room where they had a long dining table. Mr and Mrs Volskaya sat beside each other while me and Esther sat together at the opposite side. The meal itself was delicious! It was the best tasting Stroganov I had ever eaten. During dinner we all had some friendly conversation, talking about school and recent events. I was also asked about some of my hobbies, to which I answered that I like to sing, and occasionally box. I like to use that combination of interests because of the wide variety. Sometimes it is funny to see other people's reactions.

I managed to eat two plates of Mrs Volskaya's wonderful beef Stroganov. I thanked for the food and collected my plate and cutlery to then clean up after myself in the kitchen. I was then shortly followed by Esther.

We went down to the basement. When she turned on the lights, I could see a well-lit room with a few training apparatuses. Esther went into a closet room where she would find a fencing helmet for each of us. She explained that we wouldn't be doing much, and that she will only show me some basic stuff. Even doing simple stuff she couldn't allow ourselves to risk being hit on the head with pointy sticks. Esther brought out three types of swords. First, she showed me a small thin sword, and explained that it was called a Foil. This is the smallest sword that is used only for thrusting. She then brought out a larger sword. This one looked more like a rapier. An Épée, which is the heaviest of the swords. It had a round cup for a guard around the handle. And then the last sword she showed me was a sabre. This one was as long as the épée but lighter, and also had a curved guard, covering only the front part of the sword.

"There are three disciplines in fencing, each belonging to their sword type." She explained "Each discipline has their own rules. They are similar but have subtle differences. The foil for instance can only be used to score by attacking the torso of the opponent. The épée, which is what I use the most, can be used to score everywhere on the body, so, as a result, the matches are slower and more cautious. Now the sabre is the fastest of them all. You can score by just slashing with the blade instead of only using the tip like the two others. Matches are so fast, you wouldn't even know what happened when someone scores." Esther then gave me the Épée. "We can start with this since it's slower."

First Esther picked up her own sword and proceeded to show me the basics, which are three things. She showed me what an advance is, which is simply how to move forward. In fencing you put your leading foot in front of the other, with your toes pointing toward your opponent and the back foot sideways to support. In an advance you move your front foot first and let the back-foot follow. Then she showed me a retreat, which is basically the opposite. First you move with the back foot and let the front foot follow. Simple, really. Then the last thing is a lunge. This is the primary method of attacking, where you jump forward with your leading foot and extend your arm. With this technique you can stab very far. I then tried all the things she showed me. The movement was simple enough, but it took me 2 tries before I did the lunge somewhat correctly. "Great! You do learn fast! Now put on that helmet, and I'll show you a few more things." We both put on our helmets. Esther then showed me how to stand when we are en garde. We bend our knees slightly over our feet with the sword pointing forwards and our left hands staying back out of the way. "Try lunging against me" she suggested. My front foot jumped far forward and my sword thrusted towards her torso, but she was able to deflect my blade to the right and did her own successful attack on my torso.

"That is called a parry followed by a riposte. There are several ways one can deflect an attacker's sword. Try doing the same to me." Alright, then, I thought. Let's do the best we can. Esther did a simple lunge to which I was able to push the tip of her sword away to the side, but no counterattack come from me. We went on practicing lunges and parries against each other. I started getting the hang of it, but that would be the extent of our session today. I told Esther that it was extremely fun to try out fencing after hearing so much about it from her. Maybe we can practise some more in the future down here in the basement.

We packed all the equipment and stored it in the closet again. We then proceeded to shut off the lights and head up to the second floor where the home cinema was. This room had no windows and two leather sofas beside each other. I headed in to sit on one of the couches, but Esther decided to go down to make some popcorn. To that there was nothing else to do but browse my phone while I waited. I felt very comfortable sitting on these couches. Each one had a blanket to use while watching, so I grabbed one and covered myself with it. There I sat until Esther returned.

When she came back, Esther let me hold on to a bowl of popcorn she popped for us two while she looked for the movie in their shelves. Cube was the movie we agreed upon. I had never seen it, so I was excited. A cozy night was then had, with delicious snacks, a thrilling movie and wonderful tiger gal.

We ended up cuddling a while after the movie ended. I had to eventually get myself home since it was getting pretty late, but I had no car. I live half an hour away from the Volskaya's house, but it wouldn't really be a problem. Esther offered to drive me home, but I said that I could take the bus instead no problem. No need to drive back and forth like that, even though I would really appreciate the company. I grabbed my jacket and put on my beanie, opened up the door to leave. Esther waited under the door expecting something. I held her hand and leaned in to give her a kiss goodbye. Such wonderful black lips. She fluttered her eyes and smiled. "Bye pancake!" I shouted as I walked out. Esther cringed and shouted "You really have to stop that!"

I was off home again, back to my bed, back to sleep.