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fandomhigh2010-11-29 11:19 am
furious-maximus.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2010-11-29 11:19 am
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Introduction to Personal Weaponry [Monday, second period]
Today Max had one of those grins that meant that either the class he had planned would be awesome, or that it would be the worst class ever. And once everyone had arrived it was a bit late to start praying for mercy. What that expression had to do with the hundreds of candles burning along one wall of the room was anyone's guess.
"During this class so far we've looked at almost all of the standard personal weapon technologies. But, come on, these are things that people have invented, so there are tons of weird little sub-groups I didn't cover. We obviously don't have time to get to all of them, but I decided that you deserved," HA! "a chance to learn about at least one of them."
"Even the little niche weapon types tend to have a lot of variations. Whether this is because people artificially define their categories broadly enough to make sure there are multiple things in them, or because even in the odd little corners of weapon design people still recognize and build on the same few good ideas is something for people who care about that sort of thing to debate." Max, pretty clearly, did not care about that sort of thing. At all. "All that matters for us is the fact that this is a rather broad, if unusual, category of weapons."
As always, Max had a stack of demonstration weapons.
"Today you're going to learn about articulation," he explained, holding up a set of nunchaku. "Articulated weapons have a hinge, chain, rope, or some similar point around which it can flex freely. They tend to be highly specialized weapons, but they tend to share two features: they provide higher impact force than a similar weapon of their size and weight, and they tend to be harder to control. Articulated weapons are very difficult to use defensively because it's extremely difficult to parry a blow with them. You can block one outright, assuming your point of articulation isn't a rope or something, but it's not exactly a subtle option."
"I mentioned that an articulated weapon delivers more force at a given size than a more traditional one, but that's not actually why I picked them for today." Max grinned. "Today we're looking at articulated weapons because some of them are really fun." He put down the nunchaku and held up a bullwhip. "The reason they're fun is that some designs are almost entirely articulation. Rather than simply bending in one place, the entire weapon is flexible, which lets you do some really cool stuff." Max coiled the whip, then cracked it loudly. Just in case anyone was sleeping. Then he turned slightly. "Check this out." After coiling the whip again, Max snapped it out catching the wick of one of the candles he'd set up with the tip of the whip, causing it to go out with a snap.
"Pretty cool, huh?" He put the whip down and came up with one last weapon. "This is a kusarigama," he explained, holding the short, sharp blade attached to a long weighted chain out for inspection. "Like all articulated weapons you have to be careful with it because the articulation can make it hard to control, and that means it's much, much easier to hit yourself with it. So be careful."
That said... Max swung the weapon over his head a couple of times to build up momentum, then launched the blade at the candles, cutting half a dozen of them in half. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he pulled the weapon back and caught it with his free hand.
He turned his attention back to his students. "Enough talking. You know how this works by now. Two things, though. First, make sure you're extra careful. We have safety protocols here in the danger shop, but I hope by now I've driven it home that that's no excuse for being careless. Second, pairing up is going to be more helpful than usual this week. When trying to learn weapons this odd it's especially nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of."
Now get to it.
"During this class so far we've looked at almost all of the standard personal weapon technologies. But, come on, these are things that people have invented, so there are tons of weird little sub-groups I didn't cover. We obviously don't have time to get to all of them, but I decided that you deserved," HA! "a chance to learn about at least one of them."
"Even the little niche weapon types tend to have a lot of variations. Whether this is because people artificially define their categories broadly enough to make sure there are multiple things in them, or because even in the odd little corners of weapon design people still recognize and build on the same few good ideas is something for people who care about that sort of thing to debate." Max, pretty clearly, did not care about that sort of thing. At all. "All that matters for us is the fact that this is a rather broad, if unusual, category of weapons."
As always, Max had a stack of demonstration weapons.
"Today you're going to learn about articulation," he explained, holding up a set of nunchaku. "Articulated weapons have a hinge, chain, rope, or some similar point around which it can flex freely. They tend to be highly specialized weapons, but they tend to share two features: they provide higher impact force than a similar weapon of their size and weight, and they tend to be harder to control. Articulated weapons are very difficult to use defensively because it's extremely difficult to parry a blow with them. You can block one outright, assuming your point of articulation isn't a rope or something, but it's not exactly a subtle option."
"I mentioned that an articulated weapon delivers more force at a given size than a more traditional one, but that's not actually why I picked them for today." Max grinned. "Today we're looking at articulated weapons because some of them are really fun." He put down the nunchaku and held up a bullwhip. "The reason they're fun is that some designs are almost entirely articulation. Rather than simply bending in one place, the entire weapon is flexible, which lets you do some really cool stuff." Max coiled the whip, then cracked it loudly. Just in case anyone was sleeping. Then he turned slightly. "Check this out." After coiling the whip again, Max snapped it out catching the wick of one of the candles he'd set up with the tip of the whip, causing it to go out with a snap.
"Pretty cool, huh?" He put the whip down and came up with one last weapon. "This is a kusarigama," he explained, holding the short, sharp blade attached to a long weighted chain out for inspection. "Like all articulated weapons you have to be careful with it because the articulation can make it hard to control, and that means it's much, much easier to hit yourself with it. So be careful."
That said... Max swung the weapon over his head a couple of times to build up momentum, then launched the blade at the candles, cutting half a dozen of them in half. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he pulled the weapon back and caught it with his free hand.
He turned his attention back to his students. "Enough talking. You know how this works by now. Two things, though. First, make sure you're extra careful. We have safety protocols here in the danger shop, but I hope by now I've driven it home that that's no excuse for being careless. Second, pairing up is going to be more helpful than usual this week. When trying to learn weapons this odd it's especially nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of."
Now get to it.
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