fandomhigh | Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

“Honor,” Max began without preamble. “Honor’s a tricky thing. And it can make people do things that seem odd, or stupid, or outright crazy.” Often did, in fact. “Honor isn’t about being rational, really, it’s about holding to a set of beliefs about how people should behave, even when behaving another way might be easier. And the same thing is true in fighting.”

“There are plenty of examples of honorable behavior from the history of warfare, where opponents were allowed to leave the battlefield rather than being slaughtered, for instance. And as there are plenty of examples of things which are considered dishonorable: ambushes, taking hostages, fighting in civilian areas. Different people consider different actions honorable and dishonorable, of course,” which they’d discussed last week, so Max was going to skip that particular philosophical discussion. “But while the details are different, most people have some concept of honor, and those concepts pretty much always end up applied to fighting.”

Max grinned slightly. “And those concepts are very rarely more obvious than they are in the case of dueling. Many cultures have some take on the concept, and the rules of dueling are rigid, artificial, and often very different from the chaos of a battlefield.”

“This is because honor is more important than victory in a duel. It’s better to lose with honor than to win in dishonor, at least in most cultures. So today I’ve set up a little exercise for everyone.” And Max’s smile was far too amused to be reassuring. “You’re all going to be dueling. With each other. Under a specific code of conduct,” that he was about to make up on the spot.

There was a pile of foam weapons that Max waved at. “You may choose one weapon from the pile. You may only duel one opponent at a time, so one against one only. The winner is the first person to knock their opponent down.”

“Oh, and you have to stand on one foot the whole time. If, at any point after a match begins, you have two feet on the ground, you forfeit your honor and the duel.”

Max was going to enjoy the show... Maybe he should have brought popcorn.

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Sam blocked it, wobbling slightly. "That's too bad, mine's a fine ass." She sent a whapping blow toward Kenzi's hip.

"And mine's not? Whoa!" Kenzi wobbled, tilted and almost fell over, but managed to catch herself with the bat as a second support at the last second. "Touche, touchy!"

"You call that touchy?" Sam took advantage of Kenzi's use of her weapon as support to send another blow her way. "Funny, I usually call it 'winning'."

Kenzi took a wild swing at Sam, still off-balance, one leg just kind of flailing out. "Not yet! My honor and my ass are intact!"

"It's only a matter of time!" Sam hopped onto her other foot -- Max had never said they had to stay on the same singe foot the whole time -- and aimed for Kenzi's supporting knee.

Tap dancing could do wonders for one's balance.

"Suck!" Kenzi landed on her butt, then whapped the floor a few times to vent her frustration before getting up. "Counter duel! I double-challenge you!"

Also, this was too fun to stop yet, even if her honor was on the floor.

Sam hopped back, switching feet again. "Fiiiiine," she said. "I guess I have to allow it to be all honorable."

Look! She was learning things!

Education ruled!

Kenzi was already bouncing on one foot, then aiming a swing at Sam's Q-tip that Kate would *almost* be proud of. "Arrrr!"

Sam pouted, letting go of the q-tip with one hand as it was knocked sideways. "Hey! That's my q-tip!" She spun it with her other hand, not quite coordinated enough to get the leverage for a decent hit.

Who knew baton twirling could be a useful skill?

Kenzi switched feet, because Sam had, and grinned, aiming again at the weapons, since leg hits were apparently totally useless. "Avast! Or. Aye! It is your Q-tip! For the honor of Nerf!"

Her weapon in danger, Sam resorted to a new tactic and charged at Kenzi.

While hopping.

"Aaaaaah!" Kenzi's eyes widened as she tried valiantly to hop out of the way, Nerf weapon flailing.

"Aaaaaah!" Sam yelled back, continuing her hopping charge after Kenzi. Because vocal intimidation was totally a valid tactic.

Kenzi started to fall, arms wind-milling, and tried a last-ditch attempt of grabbing at Sam to take her with her. Nothing in the rules against that, either!

And Sam was grabbed. Crap!

At least Kenzi would probably hit the ground first? Then Sam still won, right?

Probably!

"Ow. OOooof." Kenzi was gasping for breath and laughing. "Heavy!"

"Am not!" Sam protested, flopping over to no longer be on top of her. "I win again!"

"Damnit," Kenzi grumbled, sitting up, and rubbing her hip. "How are you so freakishly well-balanced?"

"Dance classes. It's not easy to tap on top of a stack of suitcases."

Kenzi paused. "I have the weirdest image of you now. I would never have guessed tap, ever."

Sam shrugged. "I used to be a pageant girl."

"Get. Out. Seriously?" Kenzi got to her feet, but wasn't hopping yet. "Like Petra? And tap was your talent thing?"

"Petra went way further than I did, but yeah. I was awesome."

Kenzi grinned. "Kewl." Then got on one foot and aimed her Nerf at Sam's head. "Princess Sam, engage!"

Sam sighed. "How many times do I have to beat you?"

Kenzi pouted. Then threw the Nerf at Sam and tackled her. That worked, right?

"Ack!" Sam went down.

This was possibly not the best thing to try on a very instinctual fighter.

"OW." Yeah.

"Now we can quit." The bruises were worth it.

"I still totally won," Sam said.

Just to be clear.

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

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