The Right Tools, Tuesday Period Four

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"Kerrigan couldn't be here," River said, not quite managing to hide the worry she felt. "So today I will be your teacher." At least she felt she had a grasp of the subject.

The Danger Room was set up like bar, complete with holographic guests that kept talking in the background. "The subject of today's class is hand-to-hand combat," she continued, taking a few slow steps forward. "Useful in many situations. You might be threatened. Someone" - here she shot a glare at Lee - "might whine until your head hurts. A multitude of reasons, yet you have to chose the timing well. Know your own skills and your limits, as in all dangerous situations. Sometimes it's better to run." She smiled and stretched her arms out, spinning around. "Sometimes better to dance. In fact, it's like a dance. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. That's not the important part. Just need to know which role you play in every moment. I lead. She grabbed one of the illusory guests and flung him across the floor. He stumbled to his feet, shouted something and launched himself at her. River moved close, then spun around and kicked his legs, making him lose his balance and once again sending him sprawling on the floor, gasping for air. "I follow. Elaborating the steps, impressing my partner."

She looked at the class. "I will demonstrate further." Turning around, she dropped her coat on the floor, and advanced towards the remaining bar guests.

When the last holographic victim lay on the floor, River turned again, raising an eyebrow. "You understand?"

[wait for OCD is up!]

Comments

Practise

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"Now you need to practise. Team up with a partner. Difference in skill does not matter. Remember: lead, follow. Just don't hurt each other." She had a feeling Kerrigan would be upset should anyone need medical attention.

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

Gwen looked around for a partner.

She could dance and she could punch things, so she should be able to do this. She hoped.

Re: Practise

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir turned to the closest person around.

"Would you like to work with me? And, um... do you know if we're supposed to dance or to attack?"

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Gwen said with a shrug. "Fighting, I think. You don't usually need to warn people not to hurt dance partners." This wasn't counting Morris dancers.

Re: Practise

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Unless they're exceptionally bad at it," he said with a grin.

He settled into one of the first stances he'd learned.

"Whenever you're ready."

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

"Right then," Gwen said, aiming a jab at Liir's jaw.

Re: Practise

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He dodged the blow with a quick turn of his head and a sidestep, ducking down into a lower stance thoughtfully.

He'd never actually done this with anyone but Ino.

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

Gwen ducked back a bit, trying to keep out of his reach. Stupid shortness.

Re: Practise

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He didn't attack. Instead, he watched her carefully, taking in her stance, thinking over how she'd tried to punch him. Physical work like this took a while for him to settle into before he was comfortable. Too thinky for his own good.

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

As far as Gwen was concerned, anything that kept him from trying to hit her was good, especially if it gave her the opportunity to see if there was anything handy in the environment to use.

Re: Practise

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir was curious, since this wasn't Ino who knew him like a written page, and so decided to try something.

He move forward, quickly, and to the side.

Maybe he could herd her, control her movements to some extent. Or at least see what the result would be. It was worth a shot.

Re: Practise

[ihaveniceteeth.livejournal.com]

For now, Gwen let herself be herded, moving to keep the same amount of distance between them.

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle was looking around to partner up with someone she knew wasn't either really bigger or really stronger than her, someone with some nice, supple shins to pair up with. You know, just in case things get a little hairy.

Re: Practise

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice smiled, nodding to the other girl. "Shall we play good Alice and bad Alice?"

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle grinned a little back. Alice, at least, was a comparable size to Turtle, so, even if she doubted she could do well at this, she figured she'd at least stand a bit of a chance without having to quickly resort to shin kicking. "Oh, I think we shall. It's been a while."

Re: Practise

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Lead and follow," Alice said, lifting her hands somewhat defensively. "Are we to dance, to fight, or something inbetween?"

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Something in between, I think," Turtle said, mirroring Alice's move and watching her carefully. Unlike in the courtroom, Turtle's approach to fighting tended to be as defensive as possible. "Although I have to admit, I'm not particular good at either."

Re: Practise

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I don't know that I've any skill in dance," Alice said, "but fighting ... is something one improves rather quickly at when one does it repeatedly."

Such as, perhaps, when one discovers one's entire world has gone to Hell, and one must fight one's way out again.

She flashed a high roundhouse kick towards the outside of Turtle's leg, and aimed it wide -- wide enough that it wouldn't hit unless Turtle took it upon herself to run into Alice's leg. She wasn't trying to hit the other girl, only feint, parry, change the tenor of the dance.

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle blinked, and realized that, while it was clear that Alice was giving her a good bit of leeway here, it was also clear that Alice probably knew what she was doing. Her heart leaped, her mouth going a little dry, but she moved, taking the wide gap that Alice was giving her, quickly hopping back with her mind racing, trying to remember all those practices that Mister Deadpool used to hold. She tried to remember what few fights she'd witnessed or been involved with, for ideas on how she should move next, but she faltered. She hopped back and extra measure, still settling on watching Alice closely...very closely...urging her with her low gaze to go ahead. It was like chess. With a few exceptions, it was hard to start planning your own moves until you knew what the other player's moves were likely to be.

Her heart was already pounding. He wasn't even here, and wouldn't likely even know about this, but she really didn't want to mess this up. She wanted to put out a performance that might still make Mister Deadpool proud.

Re: Practise

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Turtle's hesitation reminded Alice to move carefully, leaving plenty of room for error. This was for fun, and for class, and accidentally smashing her fist into the other girl's side would be bad for both. And do a serious discredit to the Alice name.

Her hands were still up. "I do better with a knife myself," she admitted, turning one hand to mimic its reassuring weight in her palm. "Easier to sneak in and --"

She hopped forward, slightly, moving the invisible knife for an upward jab towards Turtle's torso.

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

The word sneak sent Turtle's awareness up sharply, and when Alice moved in to cover some of the distance Turtle had put between them, she quickly stepped wide to the side. While she didn't know what sort of move Alice planned on doing, she wasn't surprised that it was a stabbing sort, and was just glad that it wasn't a sidesweep.

"Well," Turtle said, "my signature moves has always been--" She stepped in at her new angle, lifting her foot back slowly. She doubted Alice would need the warning, but she figured that fair was fair, and if Alice was taking care to keep in mind Turtle's inexperience, she could offered up the same sort of handicap, needed or not.

"--a kick." And in it went, a strong kick, but nothing like her usual crippling strikes.

Re: Practise

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice braced, but didn't dodge; she didn't mind a few bumps and bruises, as part of class, and it seemed almost rude to move herself out of the way when her fellow Alice was rousing herself nicely.

The sharp sting shot up her leg, and she hopped back, arms still up.

"Very nice," she said. And it was, at that. "Always the shin?"

Re: Practise

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle staggered a little after the contact of the kick, blinking a little in surprise. She knew Alice was humoring her a little by keeping her own moves light, but she didn't think she would humor her to the point where she'd let herself be hit. She...wasn't really sure what she thought about that and she frowned, settling back with a defensive stance again. She nodded. "It's kind of my MO. When in doubt, go for the shin."

Re: Practise

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen looked around for someone to practice with.

Re: Practise

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack looked around for a partner. This would be easy.

[SP until after 1am EST.]