fandomhigh | Hand-to-Hand Combat & Self Defense, Tuesday, Period 4

The students should have received a note asking them to meet in the gym, where they would find a tall, scruffy ginger Australian with a military bearing and one arm in a sling. Next to him sat a happy-looking, slightly overweight brown and white bulldog. "Right, listen up," Herc said to his students in a carrying sort of voice. "I'm Hercules Hansen, that's Mister Hansen to you lot, and this is Hand-to-Hand Combat and Self Defense. If you're in the wrong room, that's impressive, because there aren't any other classes on right now by my schedule, but no harm done. I'm just gonna tell you up front, I'm new to this teaching business, but if you think that means you're gonna get one over on me, think again.

"This is Max," he said, indicating the dog at his feet, "Max has run of the classroom, but please do not disrupt class by calling him over or playing with him. I want you paying attention to me, not my s--" he hesitated for a moment, his jaw tightening a little, then said firmly, "Not to my dog. Don't worry, he knows better than to get underfoot while you're working. You may pet Max before or after class, or if he happens to wander over to you during class, as long as you're still paying attention. Anyone caught giving Max treats will be reminded to be sneakier in the future. Any questions?"

He paused for a moment, then bulled right on. "No? Good. I think the name of the class gives you a pretty good idea of what it's about, so let's get started. I want your names, so I know who's who, I want to know what your experience level is, and...one interesting fact about you." Maybe it would help him remember their names. "In the future if you could show up in workout clothes and try to get warmed up before class starts, that would be great, but we're not gonna do much today so you should be fine. I obviously can't demonstrate some things for the next few weeks," he added, glancing down at his injured arm, "so if someone would like to volunteer to demonstrate, I would appreciate that. See me after class. We can make you a teaching assistant. Otherwise I'll pick someone at random at the beginning of class. Right, let's get started."

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Oh, was there a belly to rub? Was there? Zeela was going to use both hands to scritch his belly.

"Some kind of monster that was actually a person once before they failed their gods," she said, skipping right past the question that could be awkward. Because Mr. Hansen absolutely wouldn't notice that, right? "I was visiting a friend's world. If you do well for the gods, they turn you to crystal. If you fail, they make you a monster."

Also, her sister had been attacked by a vampire and her boyfriend had gone berserk, but that was a little much sharing, thanks.

Herc took a moment to digest that before saying, "...right then. I'll take your word for it. But I'm afraid you're still not on my roster, is there some other name the office might have used? Or do we need to add you? I'm not sure what the procedure is for that, but I'm sure we can find out."

"Err..." Quick, Zee! Think of something useful. "There've been a few name mixups with me before," she said, shrugging. "If you have a name that doesn't belong to anyone else here, it's probably supposed to be mine. I think the moose in the office hates me."

...Focus on the moose in the office, Mr. Hansen. Just focus on that.

Because of course there was a moose in the office. Of course there was. Herc consulted his list once more, and said, "Well, I've got a Shira here I haven't heard from yet, and a--oh, do you go by your middle name, then? Why didn't you just say so? Could have saved us both some confusion."

All three girls froze.

"Oooh, that's not me," Zee said quickly, lying through her teeth. "That's some other girl. Uhh, I think she's a redhead and that's clearly not me. So, yeah, uhh, nope. I'm just Zee. Well, Zee Morragen. You sure I'm not there?"

SHE WAS VERY CREDIBLE, MR. HANSEN. SEE?

"Huh. All right," Herc said, eyeing her suspiciously. She'd been awfully quick to ID the other girl given a mention of her middle name, he thought, and there was the general nervous demeanor. "Then you're definitely not on the list. We'll still have to get this sorted out with the office. I'm afraid it's gonna cause a right mess when it's time to input grades or something, trying to rate a student who's not on their list. Tell you what, I'll have office hours on Thursday--here, if I haven't got an office by then. You come by then and we'll go down to the office and get it sorted out, yeah?" He thought that sounded like a reasonable solution.

Edited 2013-09-04 04:10 (UTC)

"Errrr..." Zeela couldn't think of a reason why that wouldn't be okay. Nothing sprang to mind and her sisters were no help, either. "Err...sure? That sounds great."

Enjoy a feigned and sickly smile. "I sure would love to get this mess cleared up, yep."

*What are we going to do?*

=How am I supposed to know?!=

*You just agreed to it!*

=Because how was I supposed to say no?!=

"Great," Herc said, sounding relieved, even if several things about all this were still pinging the 'this teenager is lying to me' suspicious dad centers of his brain. He couldn't come up with why she would lie to him, was the thing. "It's just, this is a self-defense class, Miss Morragen; I can't have someone in here the school doesn't officially know is here. If you got hurt it'd be my ass on the line, if you'll pardon my language." And it wasn't like he couldn't go back to his old job if he got fired, but he really wasn't ready to do that yet.

"Course," Zeela said reluctantly. "That makes sense."

And, dammit, it did. It sounded like something Caius would say, too.
Augh.

"So, then, Thursday, I guess?"

Try not to sound so enthused, Zee.

"I'll see you Thursday," Herc told her with a nod.

Hand-to-Hand Combat & Self Defense, Tuesday, Period 4

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