fandomhigh | Let's Play Some Sports!; Thursday, First Period [03/27].

"When it comes to sports around this place that involve my area of expertise," Gladio said, once everyone was gathered and ready to go in the danger shop, which was set up a bit like a dojo, "there are two that really stand out over the others, and we'll be covering one this week and the other one next week, and if you haven't figured out what this week's is by all the mats and everything yet, well...." He shrugged, as if it couldn't be helped, nor did it matter, because he was about to tell them, anyway, "it's martial arts. Specifically, karate, because there's a lot of different variations and versions of martial arts, but karate seems to be the most sort of broad, general, streamlined and most popular, so that felt like a good place to at least start for the purposes of this class, you know? Karate mostly involves learning a series of kicks and punches and other moves like throwing and joint locking. It's a type of hand-to-hand combat that developed in Japan in response to influence from Chinese martial artists and a ban against carrying swords."

There was a faint grunt, there, and a shake of his head. Sure, he knew that he couldn't just normally bring his sword everywhere here, either, it was still just a concept he didn't even want to think about.

"So, today, we're going to learn a few of the basics of karate, some of the techniques, and a little bit on the philosophy, and then we'll hit the mats and give it a try."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Who is fairly confident that no one in this class, at least, could throw him, so he'd be ultra-impressed if anyone did.

Well, unless someone caught him completely off guard and he went along with it.

Nell was cheerful and grinning at the end of class. "Something I was good at!"

If he let you throw him, that didn't count.

"You're good at a lot of things," Gladio pointed out, meeting Nell's bright grin with a crooked one of his own and a nudge of his arm on her shoulder. "And better at some than you think you are. But, yeah," the grin grew a little more, "I kinda figured you'd be pretty stoked around this one."

Pfft. He went down and more importantly, she'd surprised him, so... totally counts. Ish.

"I like learning new things, but it's fun to do something I really like and that I feel good at," she said easily. "And I can see how very far I've come from when I first started."

Look, don't get him wrong. Gladio had been impressed,but that wasn't for just the throw itself.

"Which is probably a pretty long distance by now," he noted, his grin balancing out into something softer and warm.

"Further than you know," Nell said with a half-smile, which moved on to a grin. "Though even just since you've known me it's been a lot."

"I like to think I've at least got some idea," Gladio countered, although lightly, just as his grin softened even more around it's edges with that little half-smile of hers. It had him slipping an arm around her, too, to pull her in for a good, firm half-hug.

"So," he said, "what would the class karate champ want to do now that class is dond?"

It would never stop amazing her. That wonderful safe and loved feeling whenever he snugged her in close like that.

She wrapped an arm around him and smiled up at him. "You just might at that."

Nell considered for a moment, then shook her head. "Nothing special I can think of. What would you like to do?"

Gladio shrugged a little. "Good question," he said, because, yes, of course it was, he'd asked it first! "Maybe go put some of that energy you got to good use?"

A beat later, he added, "With a nice hike through the preserve?"

What else could he have possibly have meant, right?

Nell grinned up at him. "That sounds wonderful. And afterwards we can go home and put our energy to work in other interesting ways."

Let's Play Some Sports!; Thursday, First Period [03/27].

Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - LPSS!, 03/27.