fandomhigh | Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

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self-defense class

Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

"Welcome back. Hope you all had a relaxing weekend." But it was totally class-time now, and the Danger Shop was configured to look like an incredibly stereotypical high school gym. With mats spread out over most of the floor.

"For those of you who have taken other classes with me in the past, you'll know that I'm a big proponent of learning about both sides of any subject, so that's the goal for today. You can learn a lot about defending yourself by learning something about attacking people. Hopefully you'll get some insight into the thought processes of aggression, and that, in turn, will give you some tools when you're trying to defend yourself from that aggression."

"So today is going to be spent almost entirely on an activity. Everyone's going to find a partner. One of you is going to be the aggressor, and the other is going to be the defender. The aggressor's goal is to somehow knock the defender down, while the defender is going to try to avoid that fate for five minutes. After those five minutes, I'll call time and everyone will find a new partner. Or, if you're really attached to yours, you can have the same partner, but switch roles. By the end of class I want each of you to have tried both sides at least once."

"After a few rotations, when there are about fifteen minutes left in class, I'll stop everything and we'll discuss what, if anything, you learned."

With that Max pulled out a coach's whistle that looked like it sounded really annoying. And then he blew it loudly, proving that it sounded worse than it looked. "Now get to it!"

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"Think I can beat you up?" Quinn asked. "Unless you want to do it the other way around, but you so don't seem like the type who would hit a girl."

Which was, in truth, part of why she approached Freddie. He seemed the soft-underbelly type.

"It's very possible?" Freddie said, being honest. Though he did relax a little. It wasn't that he underestimated Quinn, he was no stranger to how much violence girls were capable of. More that he figured this way it was less likely he'd get hit in the face.

He also had the softest of underbellies. At least outside of his ability to fence.

"And you're probably right about the other way around."

"It's okay if you bump me a little trying to keep me from knocking you down," Quinn said, with supreme confidence. "Just not the face, okay?"

She circled Freddie, trying to see what her opening was.

"Oh, yeah, no touching the face," Freddie said, shaking out his arms. "I'd totally appreciate that, like, same consideration if that's cool."

He paused to stretch his neck with his arms behind his head... pretty much leaving himself completely open.

"No problem," Quinn agreed, with a nod.

She ducked her head and swung a roundhouse kick to Freddie's knees. She wasn't hitting especially hard; she was just trying to get him off-balance.

"Ack!" Freddie said, being knocked off balance. He didn't get knocked off his feet, but he did wobble.

"Whoa, you are really good," he complimented, trying to regain his balance.

She wasn't, but she appreciated the compliment.

"I had" -- kick again -- "an insane cheer coach back in Ohio." And a third kick, again going to knock him down without too much bruising. (Quinn liked Freddie fine, and she didn't have much rage to vent just then.) "We did a bunch of boxing workouts."

It didn't take much to knock Freddie over, and that third kick did it. He flopped down with flailing arms, but he knew how to catch himself so he didn't hit the ground too hard.

"And my only training before this class is fencing," Freddie said, from the ground. He was maybe worried if he got up too soon he'd get knocked down again. "Which has a lot less, you know, contact."

Quinn sat down on the mat next to him, cross-legged. "Yeah, cheer teaches you to be fierce," she said. She wasn't going out of her way to be sympathetic, but her tone wasn't unsympathetic either; she had won, so she could be nice. "You fence? I so didn't take you for the type."

"I come from a fencing family," Freddie said, moving to a sitting position himself. "The fencin' Bensons. I'm nowhere as good as my mom, actually. I had to stop attending the meets because she once, uhhh, ran in and interfered in a match."

It was a little more complicated than that, but that was a good summary.

"But cheerleading sounds cool. I never would have guessed the coaches were so hardcore, though."

"A lot of them are. The squad was good," Quinn said, wistful. It felt like more than 18 months ago. "National champions, my freshman and sophomore years -- which is huge. I didn't get into it here. Seemed ... bound to be a letdown, y'know?"

Edited 2012-02-14 01:44 (UTC)

"Yeah, also... what are they cheerleading?" Freddie mused out loud. "I mean, we don't have any sports teams, right? There's not some, like, secret basketball team that never holds try-outs, right?"

It seemed weird to him to have cheerleaders just... cheering. But this was Freddie, and he liked model trains. He was a special boy.

Quinn shook her head. "No. Drives my boyfriend nuts. I keep meaning to have the council organize something but I can never figure out what."

"Maybe... wrestling?" Freddie said. "That way we could at least have meets against each other. Or two-on-two basketball. Maybe intramurals? Bocce ball. Dodgeball."

He stopped, looking a little embarassed.

"Sorry, I like work-shopping ideas. It's about the one thing I'm good with, creatively."

"No, no, go back," Quinn said. "I like dodgeball. Easy to explain for people from different cultures, and usually people know not to take it too seriously. I'll suggest it for after break."

She gave him a speculative look. "That almost makes me sorry I knocked you over."

"It was part of the activity," Freddie said, waving that off. "Plus, my girlfriend has done way worse."

"But yeah, dodgeball. Fun, simple, and pretty fast paced. And just as fun to watch as it is to play."

He personally was terrible at it.

Edited 2012-02-14 02:50 (UTC)

"Sam's a kicker?" Look, Quinn was always interested in how other people's relationships worked. Plus, she could see it. "And if I bring up the dodgeball thing, i will give you credit."

"If she ever challenges you to a game of Boomba, say no," Freddie said, by way of explanation. "All it is is an excuse for her to throw oranges at you."

There's was a healthy relationship, honest.

"And cool. If you need any help with running it, or you want to broadcast it to the internet, let me know."

"I will, totally," Quinn nodded, giving him a little bit of a weird look and deciding not to ask about the oranges. "... actually, an internet dodgeball championship might be exactly what we need after spring break."

"We could give out trophys," Freddie said. "And we've been looking for another big school thing to put on iCarly. The student council debates were some of our best figures, outside of the Hannah Montana concert and the time we got David Archuleta."

"So I'm famous?" Quinn seemed to like this idea. "I mean, not compared to David Archuleta. But famous."

She was contemplating going to Freddie's world just to see if people would recognize her.

"Kinda internet famous, yeah," Freddie said. "You, Petra, Annie, we get comments on the videos every so often asking when you'll show up again. When they're not doing things like arguing about me and Sam dating or whether or not Gibby is single. They really are way too interested in our dating lives."

He remembered the great shipper fight at Webicon and shuddered for a moment.

"So are you going to tell them you and Sam are dating?" Quinn wondered. "Or just kind of let the shippers fight it out?"

She smiled. "Anyhow, I'm not surprised. We're all pretty hot."

"It really just makes them argue more, really. It's amazing how many people want to argue on the internet about who my true love is supposed to be," Freddie said.

"And yeah, you all are. I definitely can attest to that."

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Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

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