One who fences with a
foil. Like me!
The standard stereotype of a foilist (mostly true):
Foilists tend towards bright colors and flashy outfits. White sports
jackets with pink shirts, gold chains and floppy white hats are common
foilist attire. Foilists are usually smaller and slighter than their
colleagues in the other weapons. This has bred in them a furious temperament
and a tendency to pick fights with anybody at any time for any reason.
It is said of foilists that if the chips on their shoulders were any bigger
they could fly to tournaments on the next stiff breeze. Certainly it
is true that after a night on the town any given 5' 6" foilist considers
himself a match for any two members of the local police department. Additionally,
foilists have a thing for knives - not surprising, given the nature of
their sport. Most foil fencers carry at least one secreted about their
persons, which they are prone to pull on people who upset them. Bar staff
take note: junior and cadet-age foilists invariably become upset at persons
asking them to provide proof of age at licensed drinking establishments.
Unlike epeeists and sabreurs, few foilists will stoop to common
looting or shoplifting to support their lifestyle. Extortion, protection
rackets, and credit card fraud are their thing. And while a sabre
fencer might bodily throw a blind person in front of a bus, the more subtle
foilist will merely suggest to one that it is now safe to cross. It is
this delicacy of disposition, combined with a propensity towards sudden,
directed violence, which makes the average group of foilists walking down
the street as cunning and as dangerous as a bag full of mutant wolverines.