Week 275! (Page 461 Script) (Patreon)

THIS MARKS PAYMENT FOR THE WEEK OF 11/10-11/16.

Unfortunately do need to do three script updates for this month, by the way, due to the fact that this November technically had 5 weeks in it this year. Here's the second one, for page 461.

So, firstly, about the contents of this page as a whole, it's not a terrible point that Fox Kale is making. The last (and only) time Kale has ever actually fought someone was Mask/Fox Kale himself, and he pretty handily lost to him. Kale is simply not a fighter, and you can legitimately make the argument that trying to make him into a fighter is going to take way too much time and/or going to be fruitless effort regardless. However, on the flip side, leaving all the fighting to just Fox Kale, even if trained to full competency, is an equally bad idea, considering the last time Fox Kale fought someone, he lost because they manipulated the other Kale into restraining him for them. Leaving Kale to just be this completely vulnerable thing on the sideline is obviously incredibly dangerous to do, so they at least need to try and make Kale understand how stuff works as well to defend himself a little from that happening again.

I did want to talk about Kale's weapon/style of "combat" here (as well as a bit more about Fox Kale's), as it's something I deliberately picked and had this idea for since way back then over a decade ago. I'll be honest and say that originally I picked Kale to be a fencer because fencing seemed an awful lot like an "upper class" sort of sport. Certainly any class can participate in the sport, but you typically think of wealthy, "sophisticated" sorts of stereotypes when you think of fencing outside of the Olympics. The idea of Kale being a traditional fencer also lined up well with how I perceive Kale would fight anyway. He's obviously not brawny in any sense, so dexterity would instead most likely be his focus. Fox Kale is right in that Kale isn't a fighter, so dodging and finesse would serve him better in a situation where he had to combat somebody. The rapier itself (or rather the sabre) seems a bit wimpy at first, being so thin and bendy, especially compared to Fox Kale's sword, but it's light, nimble, flexible, and, while the sport version of it is blunt in order to prevent actual damage to fellow competitotrs, it pierces deeply when it really needs to. It's a nice compliment and contrast to Fox Kale's weapon, I think, which further puts on display the differences between them and their beliefs and ideals.

Speaking of which, Fox Kale, as previously noted and seen a bunch, uses a huge two-handed sword as a weapon. However, what might not be as apparent (because it only really showed up a little bit during the original Kale/Mask fight) is that Fox Kale uses a specific style of swordsmanship: the German school of fencing. This style uses two-handed swords rather than the more familiar French or Italian schools, and it was picked deliberately so that both Kales use a style of fencing, linking the two still despite how different the styles are.