fandomhigh | Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You, Week VI [Monday, Period 4]

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keeping your advantage

Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You, Week VI [Monday, Period 4]

When students arrived in the Danger Shop today, they'd see an obstacle course, modeled after rooftops and walls, about six-to-ten feet off the ground, foam mats all over the floor.

"Good afternoon," Ghanima said cheerily. "Today we're looking at remaining mobile in an unfamiliar urban environment. To this end, we are studying parkour, or l'art du déplacement."

"When lost or being pursued in an unfamiliar city, sticking to the streets is the equivalent of painting a target on your back," she continued. "A stranger will stick out like nothing else, and sometimes an alternative view of your surroundings can be unbelievably helpful."

"Parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment—from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls—and can be practiced in both rural and urban areas. Parkour practitioners are referred to as traceurs, or traceuses for females."

"Now, parkour is a physical activity that is often categorized as a sport or an extreme sport; however, parkour has no set of rules. Most experienced traceurs think of parkour as a discipline closer to martial arts. It is often said that 'the physical aspect of parkour is getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency. You want to move in such a way, with any movement, as to help you gain the most ground on someone or something, whether escaping from it or chasing toward it.'"

"The primary characteristic of parkour is efficiency. Practitioners move not only as rapidly as they can, but also in the most direct and efficient way possible. This characteristic distinguishes it from the similar practice of freerunning, which places more emphasis on freedom of movement and creativity. Efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term, part of why parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer - to be and to last. Those who are skilled at this activity normally have an extremely keen spatial awareness."

"So, today, you'll be trying it out on a smaller scale," she said, going over some of the basic moments with the students. "For those of you that manage this course, I'll switch the Danger Shop over to an actual urban environment, and you can feel free to take a run at a slightly more realistic scenario."

[OCD up!]

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"Woo!" Dinah punched the air, and headed for the wall, looking for hand-holds and then grinned when she saw a stand of trees. "There!" She headed for the trees, and bounced up to a branch, swung, and then hit the top, scrambling over to land in a flower bed and roll into a somersault.

Rolling green grass, a winding path heading across a small creek, stands of trees, and moms and kids wandering around. Plus a few hot dog carts, some musicians, and a flock of geese.

Triela just jumped straight up, planting her hand on the top of the wall to lever herself over and land right beside Dinah. "Follow the path?" she asked, grinning since she was pretty sure the answer was 'no'. And the not-a-path option involved hopping a few small fences with prominently placed 'keep off the grass' signs.

"~Boring!~" Dinah sang out, and grinned, getting to her feet. "Northeast, and leaping the creek, avoiding the moms and past the playground!"

And she suited the action to the word, leaping the fenced area they'd dropped into, and rushing down a small rise to avoid the geese. "Geese are mean!"

"You're willing to run through traffic and beat up transit cops and you're scared of geese?" Triela laughed as she pounded through the grass at Dinah's side. Every so often she had to dodge to avoid a park-goer who was too busy staring at the two of them to actually get out of the way.

"They bite, they can fly, and if one starts after you the rest join in!" Don't ask how she knows that. It's one of her more ridiculous memories of her first year in New Gotham. "C'mon!" She hopscotched across the creek, on a series of small stones set up as a little barrier to form a low waterfall, then took a breath to head up the hill and over toward the playground. "Fifteen minutes!"

"There's the wall," Triela called as end of the park came into view. She looked around for any trees near it, but couldn't spot any. "Want me to give you a boost over?"

"Please!" Dinah called. She wasn't at the end of her strength yet, but why not conserve it a bit? She hit the wall and clung to the top, getting fingerhold, and waited for Triela to boost her.

Triela laced her fingers together and grabbed Dinah's foot to throw her upward. She followed with another of her enhanced leaps before dropping to the sidewalk on the other side. "Where to now, oh fearless leader?"

Dinah flipped over by her arms, and landed hard on her feet, then looked around, grimacing at traffic. Then grinned. "Hitch a ride!"

A flatbed truck piled high with furniture was stopped down the block. Dinah ran down the street as hard as she could and jumped on the back as it started to move.

Triela was right behind her, matching Dinah's jump and landing a few feet from her next to a couch. She grinned as she glanced over at it. "Take a break?" she asked her partner.

Dinah snickered, and crawled up to ensconce herself in a recliner. She waved to some pedestrians gawking at them, then grinned as a bicyclist waved as he zoomed by. "Usually this wouldn't be safe, but... Danger Shop." She grinned. "If it gets us another couple miles, then we should be good for that last rush to the end of the city. How're you enjoying it?"

"It's quite different from anything I'd do back home. Our missions tend to be much more contained than this." She'd done a few street chases, but they'd been pretty straight-forward.

"I love it. You feel like you own the city, once you figure out where everything is, and know where to go to cut people off, or trap them," Dinah said in satisfaction, as the truck moved down the street. "Definitely doing this again, around the school."

The truck ground to a halt a few more blocks down, and Dinah craned her neck to see what was going on. "Bah. Detour." She looked around, back the way they came, then up. And grinned.

"Up?" Triela asked, following the other girl's gaze with a grin of her own when she spotted the ladder for the fire escape hanging above a dresser tied down to the truck's bed.

Dinah got up and jumped on top of the dresser, then took a deep breath, and swung for the fire escape, her weight pulling it down as she landed on it. "Yes!" She swarmed up it onto the landing, then kept going, climbing three more flights. From there, it was obvious that the streets were a mess. "Ready to leap tall buildings in a couple bounds?"

Triela didn't bother with the intermediate step of getting on top of the dresser. "Rooftop running is something I've actually done," she grinned.

"That bridge looks like it's the outer edge of town. Let's go!"

Over rooftops, past clothelines, through a barbeque party; jumping and rolling and leaping. Using a clothesline as a swing once, then bouncing on to hop through sunbathers sitting next to an air-conditioning unit.

"'Scuse us! Coming through!" Dinah sang. Bounce, bounce, leap, bounce!

"You are crazy," Triela laughed as she followed on Dinah's heels. Her own progress was less spectacular, consisting mostly of impossible leaps and smooth landings. Her boots clattered loudly as she pounded along.

"Heads up," she called as she dodged around a group of guys installing a satellite dish.

"Whoops!" Dinah stopped, and danced around the cables, having to slow down enough not to trip over them or the equipment laid out. "Sorry!" Then went diving off the rooftop again. "Almost there!" she called to Triela, laughing breathlessly. She could see the bridge over the edge of the last roof, only a couple blocks away. "And does that make you crazier for following me?"

"I can't be crazy," Triela tossed back with a smirk. "Not allowed to."

"Good thing you know me, then!" Dinah got to the edge of the last rooftop, and looked down; no fire escape. Swing off a streetlight?

Or, you know, take the stairs.

She pounded down the staircase and out the fire-door, and then turned right, heading for the bridge, dodging a group of bicyclists. She checked her watch. "ONE MINUTE!"

Triela followed down the staircase, leaping directly from landing to landing. "You're the one slowing us down," she teased as she barely avoiding colliding with some coed out jogging.

Dinah didn't even bother with a "Pbttttt!" but put on speed, bouncing up and over a park bench, around a bus shelter, and swinging off a streetlight to land on the bridge.

"...done."

And flop down to the ground, panting.

Their final steps hit the ground at the same time. Triela glanced over with a grin. "Worn out?" she asked, breathing only slightly heavier than usual. "You're out of shape, Dinah."

This time the "Pbbttttt" was audible, even as Dinah grinned up at her. "Not! That one was a rush!" She snickered and sat up, wishing for water, rubbed the back of her neck. "Rest while I can, is all." She sighed and climbed to her feet, face still flushed and happy. "That last run, I forgot how rough those can be. Although the satellite guys were funny."

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