Sophie looks up from her barrier practice. "Yeah, though it takes a bit of focus."

"Huh. Maybe I'm just having visualization problems. Something to work on."

Kaylee shrugs.  "Different people are good at different things, I guess."

She conjures another few knives, gets two more hits, and then tries a throw with her left hand.  It goes wide, but she thinks it's still easier to throw with her off hand than it would have been before she became a magical girl.

Lianne's having some success with changing her sword's size! It's easier to make it shorter than to make it longer, but not by much.

Kaylee shoots her a glance.  (A couple glances, really.)  "That's really cool, Lianne!  I've never gotten a good look at your sword before."

"Thanks! Your daggers are pretty awesome, too. It's cool how many shapes you can already do."

"Thanks!"

Thunk, thunk, thunk; her aim is already getting better, with both hands.  She tries throwing two at once, and - thunkthunk.  She hops triumphantly.

Lianne's gotten to where she can change the length mid-swing. "Congrats on the hit! Do you feel comfortable sparring some now? Or it's getting kinda late, maybe we should just hunt and save the sparring for when we're all more used to each other..."

"I don't mind sparring now!  So, how does it work exactly, if we're using real weapons?  Do we just - mime hitting each other?"

"It'll probably be easiest for Sophie and Lianne to spar directly, since they can focus on blocking each other's attacks. It'd probably be safest for the two of us to work on using bindings and barriers in a support role, or we can try to spar with melee versions of our weapons. We could also instead of using weapons just try to bind the other team."

"How would I make a barrier out of knives, though?  Or conjure bindings, for that matter - or is that just... its own thing, like conjuring knives is?"

"Its own thing. Though most do have a theme for the bindings - let me demonstrate." She conjures shimmery ribbons of energy in front of her. "I can summon these around someone, too." She describes the sensation of summoning and controlling them, "Though it's a bit different for everyone, from what I know. For the barriers, mine is the same energy as the bindings, but others do form barriers from their weapons, or in yet another way."

She nods along, then frowns, concentrates - 

And after a moment, she's able to trace her hand through the air and unroll a blue ribbon, the same color and apparent substance as the bow on her back.  It floats in the air in front of her as though it's under water.

"Cool! Let me try - " It takes her longer than it took Kaylee, but she's able to make a shining gold thread that spools between her hands. "How about you, Sophie?"

She creates a loop of purple ribbon with a flourish. "Though that's already a skill I had - it's useful if you get into a fight with another magical girl."

"So, time to spar?"

"I'd like to decide on rules first. How do we decide who wins? - Managing to bind the others seems to be a good stopping point for that at least, though that'll give Sophie and Mallory an advantage. Or first to pin the other or something."

"I'm not sure my - magical girl instincts - extend to hand-to-hand combat without knives, I don't think I'd be able to pin anybody."

"So binding, then? Or some other rule? If we were going to do binding, I'd almost rather pair by experience... So me against you, Sophie against Mallory, for instance."

"Well, you guys have done this more than me, if you think binding would work I'm up for it.  And yeah, you and I could spar."

"That works for me. Sophie?"

"Yeah, same. Let's separate a bit, so we don't get in each other's way." 

Mallory agrees, and they walk off to the other end of the field.

"So just you and me, huh? Start on the count of three?"

"Sure thing.  I've got combat knives as well as throwing knives, so don't be afraid to get close."  She flicks her wrist and conjures a Bowie knife.  "One - "

Lianne twirls her sword in her grasp, though mentally she's focusing on visualizing the ribbons of light. "Two - "