Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"We've talked about fight or flight responses, and I mentioned that one of the things we'll want to do is begin to adjust your instinctive reactions so that those automatic responses don't get you into trouble if you need to defend yourself. Today we'll be taking the first step with that."

Max grinned and looked around the room at his students. "Today's lesson is that sometimes the 'fight or flight' response is actually the wrong approach. In fact, in a lot of cases, you actually want some combination of the two. Stomp someone's foot, and then run; or running until you find a better position to fight from. After all, there are plenty of situations where just running, or just fighting, are not optimal. I mean, chances are you couldn't outrun a tiger chasing you, and you certainly don't want to fight one in the open."

"Today's exercise is pretty simple. Everyone's going to get some distance from each other, and then the Danger Shop is going to begin cycling through localized scenarios. They'll all be still scenes, so you have as much time to think about your responses as you need. You can even get a bit of practice in with your proposed solution, though since everything will be frozen it won't be all that realistic. Still, I'm hoping it'll help you think about some of this stuff in advance."

"Well, that's it. Let's get to it." He paused. "Oh, and Surreal, I'd like to speak to you after class, if you have a moment."

Comments

Sign in

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

As you do

Re: Sign in

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi

Re: Sign in

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy

Re: Sign in

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Surreal

Re: Sign in

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn Fabray

Listen to the lecture

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max hopes everyone's paying attention

The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

The scenarios are moddable. You can set one up yourself if you want, or you can just ping in and I'll come up with something. Whichever you prefer.

Re: The activity

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy waited to see what would happen, reflexes ready to do whatever was necessary.

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

And suddenly, Mercy was in the middle of a forest. Well, in a clearing in a forest. With a tiger in front of her.

What? Sometimes Max liked to actually give his students a heads-up. If they were clever enough to notice that's what it was.

Re: The activity

[walkswithcoyote]

Oh lovely.

Mercy stayed very still, watching the tiger intently, but with downcast eyes, so she didn't look challenging.

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

That would probably work pretty well against an actual tiger. But this tiger was programmed by Max, who was nothing even approaching a tiger expert, so it just growled and stalked slowly forward.

Re: The activity

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi waited to see what the Danger Shop would come up with, then belatedly whispered, "Don't be rats, don't be rats, c'mon, don't be rats..."

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

And it was rats!

Not really.

But it was suddenly a darkened city alleyway that was comletely empty. Except for that big guy who basically looked like every stereotype of "big, stupid thug" every rolled into one who was standing a few feet away and looking big, stupid, and menacing.

Re: The activity

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi beamed at him. And started babbling Russian.

"//Hello, friend! Please don't stab or shoot me! I have no money!//"

Some things are spinal reflex.

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

The thug did not seem to care. Or, perhaps, speak Russian.

But he she did have his attention, now. So... yay?

Re: The activity

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie had no idea what he was in for. In fact, he was pretty much preparing to cower in fear.

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Cower in fear? But there were suddenly puppies in front of him. Three of them!

Why would anyone cower from puppies (if they weren't in Max's class)?

Re: The activity

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie flinched, then just let out a big "Awwwwwwww," and crouched down to pet the puppies. He may have been completely suckered in, if this was a trap...

Re: The activity

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

IT WAS A TRAP!

Because these puppies had giant, giant pointy teeth! And now they were grinning hungrily at Freddie.

Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

If you need to

Re: Talk to Max

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Surreal leaned up against a wall to wait, after class. Her default stance of 'I didn't do it,' implied in her posture as she waited for Max to notice it.

Re: Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max smiled slightly as he approached. "You're 'I'm so innocent' look could use some work." Not that he really cared that much, but banter was a habit by now.

Re: Talk to Max

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"You are about four years too late to for me to care enough to manage 'innocent,'" Surreal offered helpfully. "But whatever it was, it wasn't my fault."

Totally different.

Re: Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Well, since I'm not planning on accusing you of anything, I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it."

He stepped back, settling his weight against a desk. "I was actually wondering what you were hoping to get out of this class." He shrugged. "If I don't miss my guess, you could be teaching it yourself."

OOC

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Sorry this is so incredibly late. Woke up sick, took some drugs, and then woke up ten minutes ago. Apologies!