fandomhigh | Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

"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."

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Mercy slid easily down the tree and went back to her seat.

Max was perched lazily on the desk next to Mercy's. "Not bad," he decided with a grin. "The shoe thing was particularly clever."

She smiled up at him, mostly relaxed, but still a little wary of him. "It was the only thing I could think of that might work as a weapon."

"Good thinking," Max complimented her again. "And the screaming wasn't bad either."

"Their ears are pretty sensitive," Mercy said. "Especially to high-pitched sounds. Plus in the real world it might have gotten me help. Though I might have yelled fire instead since that attracts more attention."

Max laughed. "Good point. You're pretty cool-headed, I've got to say."

"Oh trust me, I panic enough inside," Mercy said ruefully. "But I... well, growing up I spent a lot of time in... I guess you could say kind of a rough neighborhood."

Well, what else would you call a place that was home to a bunch of werewolves?

"It's not the first time I've had someone - er, thing - trying to kill me."

"I'd kind of suspected that, yeah." She had the instincts of a survivor, after all.

She shrugged, looking down. "Some places you just grow up fast. My foster parents were really great, though."

Leah wouldn't have dared try anything when they were still alive.

"I know the feeling," Max chuckled. "But, again, well done."

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

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