ic Life Less Sedentary, Life Evolutionary

[alderwitch]

"Movies are inaccurate. A real fight is a lot more messy, usually its desperate scrabbling to survive." Talya explained after making a mental note about the shoe size, her glance was still directed down at Raina's feet as she added, "With anything at hand. It's smart to know that you won't always have all your tools at your disposal. Also to know that the goal is to get away and survive."

Talya glanced up then, raising her hand matter of factly, as she ticked things off of her fingers, "So, we'll teach you how to deal with getting grabbed, we'll teach you how to exploit an opening to maximize your window to escape, and we'll make sure you can run in whatever you might happen to be wearing and that's going to be how we start - if that sounds good to himself, of course," Talya gestured towards Erik with a small, fond smile, "If you can jab an assailant in the throat, they'll generally be far more concerned with trying to breathe than trying to chase anyone. How does that sound?"

[Electra]

"Yeah okay, that sounds good," Raina agreed after a slight hesitation, hooking one too-large foot around the back of her other ankle. "I, um, it would be good too if I could learn how to move more silently. I can make myself invisible, but it doesn't help much if people can hear me, you know? How long do you think it'll take to learn all this stuff?" 

Merlin studied Jack for a moment, his fuzzy little face surprisingly perspicacious. Apparently finding whatever he was looking for, he gave one quick nod, then sat down comfortably on the desk to watch Raina's training session. He let Erik know that no force in the world would keep Raina out of trouble, but being able to get out of it would be a nice start. 

 

[Gizmo]

With a light laugh at the monkey's serious faced nod of approval, Erik turned his attention back to the two women and raised his hands in front of himself. "Hey, we agreed this one was your rodeo. You just let me know what you need." The public self-defense classes Talya was teaching were already going excellently but this was the first time he'd asked her to help with one of Claremont's more specialized cases. It was looking like a particularly good fit and he didn't even attempt to hide his pleased grin. "We can definitely do some stealth work, too, sure. As for how long, really comes down to how much you end up wanting to learn. You'd be surprised how often 'just the basics' turns out to be the gateway drug, ha!" He lased his fingers behind his head and mused. "We can work in a little gymnastics if you're up for it, good for flexibility, good for mobility. And I take one look at that broom and see 'bludgeoning implement'. Maybe that says more about me, though...?"

[alderwitch]

"Turning invisible is handy but sometimes people can see through the best of tricks. Learning how to hide actually is always a useful skill and goes hand in hand with learning to walk lightly. We'll work on some creative exercises." Talya said and her smile was pure trouble, "I have a few ideas how we can start on that at your next lesson. You'll have fun - we both will. Just because its learning doesn't mean it'll be boring. Life is too short for boring."

She turned towards Erik then, nodding her head a little at him before her smile turned bemused, "Everything is a bludgeoning instrument to you. If you can't use it to stab, you can use it to 'thwack'. It could be a precision magical instrument, you know," Talya teased, "Some things require finesse."

Edited October 9, 2015 by alderwitch

[Electra]

Raina looked scandalized at the idea of hitting somebody with her broom. "I can't use my broom as a bludgeoning instrument!" she insisted. "If I break it, how will I be able to fly?" Merlin laughed at her expression, but for once he didn't contradict her. "If I need a bludgeoning weapon, I'll just use one of my textbooks or something. They weigh ten pounds apiece and it wouldn't exactly break my heart to lose one. But I guess I just figured that if there's time to be thinking about weapons and stuff, there's probably time to do magic?" She paused a moment, thinking. "So I was kind of wondering, do you have any, like, tricks that let you deflect a crossbow bolt, or get out of the way of one?" 

[Gizmo]

Erik scoffed a bit at Raina's concern for her implement, waving a hand airily. "Sounds like you just need a better reinforced broom," he opined, sauntering over to one of the racks of practice weapons and retrieving a padded staff only a little longer than the broom in question. "And I object to to the idea that thwacking doesn't require finesse! Thwacking is a proud and nuanced art form and I'll thank you both to treat it with the gravity and respect it deserves!" His tone said that he was joking but the way he idly flipped the staff from hand to hand, twirling it behind his back then overhead without stopping the conversation actually lent a bit of credence to his words. "Anyway, if you have to think about your weapon you've probably already lost, sure. Skipping that comes with practice. Ask Talya, she'll tell you I barely even think at all!" With a grin he planted the staff on the floor and used it to lean against. "Crossbow bolt, huh? That's a suspiciously specific question there, Dora."

[alderwitch]

"It's true. He's developed an entire lifestyle around act first, maybe think later but that's not entirely without peripheral benefits sometimes, so I can't entirely complain," Talya mused in response, pausing to watch Erik spin the staff with appreciative glance that spanned the gamut from watching artistry to a more personal sort of appreciation. "But the mystic arts work rather differently from what little I gather. Thinking is a bit more critical. Autonomic response, less so. As to dodging crossbow bolts. Its really the same as any projectile that's not a bullet. You can't catch a bullet. Well. You can. But I wouldn't recommend it; hurts and stings."

She turned towards Erik slightly, "Maybe someone would be willing to demonstrate. Erik, shall I toss knives at you for the amusement of a student? Well, and education, naturally." She added before telling Raina in a perfectly audible undertone. "But mostly amusement."

[Electra]

"It's a specific question for a specific problem," Raina told Erik, her eyes busy following the staff he was flipping around so cavalierly. It looked really dangerous, but also fun. "Anyway, even if I had a cast iron broom, I wouldn't be able to flippy it around like that. The sweeping end is too heavy." Talya's suggestion was met with a flash of interest and Raina cocking her head thoughtfully at Erik. "That could be very educational," she agreed. "Um... that's not the way you'd teach me how to do it, right?" 

[Gizmo]

"Beats the way I learned!" Erik laughed, indicating a few thin lines that showed up lighter against his sienna toned arms. There wasn't anything particular puckered or jarring - one of the two women in the room knew that worst of the scattered scarring was confined to the fencer's torso - but it was clear that he'd seen more than a few scrapes that didn't involve padded practice weapons. "You don't have to twist my arm too hard to get me to show off, though, sure. Gotta get my pride back after letting you knock me down earlier somehow. Here, let me stand in front of this wall; I've plastered over holes there a bunch of times already and that way we don't ruin any of the mats or blunt the knives too badly."

[alderwitch]

"You didn't 'let me' anything. You were distracted and I exploited it. Though, do endeavor not to get stabbed. I'd rather not have Min cross at me come dinner time," Talya said with amusement as she crossed over to open up the case that held the blades in question. Testing the weight as she flipped them up in the air one at a time, Talya picked the ones that she thought would fly the truest and then crossed over opposite to where Erik was standing and beckoned Raina to join her. "Come stand over here, my dear. I have decent aim and Erik's more practiced than any sane person ought to be at dodging sharp objects but even the best can make mistakes. Waiver or no, I'd rather not send you back to your headmistress with a new perforation."

Figuring that she out to make this at least marginally educational and not just entertaining, Talya lifted one blade to show Raina, "For throwing, not for stabbing - the hilt is thin and flat. These are called balanced knives as the point of balance is in the dead center." To demonstrate she balanced it between the blade and the hilt along one fingertip, "To throw a knife accurately, you need to know its balance point. Unbalanced blades are easier to learn on. In short, you want to throw the heavy side and hold the lighter side so it flips end over end towards the target. It takes a bit of practice to learn to gauge it but its not that difficult a skill to learn. It's possible and more powerful to throw the blade straight but harder to learn the knack."

Talya shifted her hand, flipping the blade back into the palm of her hand, "Simple, right?" She said and then turned towards Erik to make certain he was ready before shifting her grip on the knife and throwing it smooth and straight, towards the center mass of his body. 

Edited October 10, 2015 by alderwitch

[Gizmo]

The most dramatic thing about the way Erik dodged the whirling length of deadly steel was that there was very little dramatic about it. He didn't cartwheel to the side or fall backward in slow motion, he simply pivoted half a step backward on one heel so that the knife sailed past him and collided solidly with the wall, sinking a good inch or so into the drywall and quivering in place. "You're not really dodging the knife or the bolt or whatever," he explained to Raina, calmly pivoting back into his original position. "You're dodging the throw. When someone throws a punch at you, you're not trying to block where their fist is, you're blocking where the rest of their body says they're fist is going to be. Same idea."

[Electra]

Raina flinched reflexively when the knife went flying past, even though it was immediately obvious that Erik had never been in any real danger. "How do you do that?" she asked. "I mean, how do you figure out from their eyes where the knife or the punch is going to be? I mostly look at faces to figure out whether somebody's mad enough to punch me, not where they're going to aim. And with the crossbow, what if he's like a hundred yards away and sniping at you or something like that? You can't even look at his eyes!" She picked up the padded staff Erik had been using and gave it a little experimental twirl, nearly beaning herself in the head. 

[alderwitch]

"Well, certainly. If I was going to actually try to stab Erik, I'd do it from where he wasn't watching me," Talya agreed, the bulk of her attention on Erik as she lifted another knife into her hand and twirled it back into a throwing position again. Her blue gaze flicked to the side at the awkward staff twirl before her attention shifted to her target, "Most people will aim at the center of your body - its the largest target and its where most people are trained to aim unless they've perfected head shots. Those are much less reliable if more fatal. I'm a close-in fighter in general which, while Erik knows from having fought me before, he could tell from my stance and the way I hold myself. Before I throw, my eyes drop to follow my target and it gives him the forewarning of where I'm striking."

She extended her arm, releasing another smooth throw that sailed end over end from the point Talya's hand released it towards the swordsman. She was better at close combat but she was no slouch at range - it just wasn't her speciality. "My body confirms it, to throw straight - my arm is going to end pointing at the target. Crossbows - archery in general - its still true. The projectile follows a predictable path, it's just a matter of learning how to read it."

[Gizmo]

Erik waited an extra fraction of a second before launching himself into motion this time, dropping down halfway to one knee then smoothly straightening back up as the knife sailed past to join the first in the wall. While he made it look easy it was pretty clear that a moment too slow or an inch too far in the wrong direction and Talya's throw would have landed in the grinning swordsman. "It's like anything, though. You want to get to a point where you don't have to actually think about it. Like, you don't actually sound out words when you're reading like you had to when you were just learning, yeah?" He plucked the pair of knives out of the wall behind him to set aside. "It just takes a lot of practice. Ideally with something that weren't hurt quite so much as these would if you screw it up!" He thought he deserved special credit for stay professional and not making any jokes about carefully observing Talya's body and shot her a grinning look that communicated that sentiment clearly.

[Electra]

Raina clearly caught the look for all it wasn't directed at her, to judge by her sudden blushing. "Um, right. Yeah, so you throw ping pong balls at me or something until I can get out of the way of them? I guess that works. Except again with the sniping thing. Guess there's no way to avoid that unless you have super-speed? Or a forcefield, maybe..." She trailed off, thinking hard about that. "Neither of you would happen to know where I could maybe find some magic books, would you?" she asked innocently. Neither Talya nor Erik had seemed to know about her less-than-savory past, so maybe they wouldn't freak out about her asking. 

[alderwitch]

Talya tensed minutely as Erik waited until the last possible moment to move, only to let out a small, subdued breath when the knife punched into the wall rather than his ribcage. "Show off," she commented, the words more endearment than scolding. Her tone turned amused as she added, "One of these days that might get you into trouble."

There was an understatement if ever there was one. She, too, caught the grin and her gaze warmed, her lips twitching with bemusement as she winked. Talya turned then to Raina to answer her questions, her voice gentling at the pink cheeks.

"I'm afraid all we can offer you is the more physical end of things - magic and I have never gotten on well together," Talya's words were dry, "But you can do quite a bit without super powers and learning how to get out of things without always turning to your strength will be helpful because, dollars to dimes, there will come a time where you can't use it when you need to. Besides, never underestimate the value of misdirection. If all someone thinks they need to do to neutralize you is take away your magic and that's not true; you retain the advantage."

[Gizmo]

"Oh hey, ping pong balls sounds way safer than what I was thinking, sure," Erik agreed enthusiastically and it took a good beat or two for Raina to work out that he was pulling her leg a bit. Looking a little more serious he checked the tips of the throwing knives on his way back over to Talya's side, making sure they were undamaged before putting them away in their proper place. "She's absolutely right about not relying too heavily on your powers. Most of us make out pretty well without fireballs, after all." Considering for a moment he sighed and added, "That said, I do have a friend who runs a shop that might have the sort of thing you're talking about. Silberman's Books. I'd write the address down for you but I'm sure somebody would rather look it up online." He shot Merlin a meaningful look, arms folded across his chest. He wasn't sure how responsible it was to give a disenfranchised teen a potential source for explosive arcane might but he figured Lynn would be able to tell if Raina was planning anything genuinely bad. At least this way she'd have at least a few adults willing to give her a chance.

[Electra]

"Oh thanks, I'll check it out." Raina glanced over to Merlin to make sure he'd noted the name, while simultaneously making sure not to get any hopes up. A bookshop owned by someone actually in the mystical know would be fraught with problems, not least of which that the second they heard her name, they'd refuse to sell her anything. And the magical community was small, incestuous and nosy above all things. Maybe she could give it a try, but the odds of success were small. Better than nothing, though! 

She looked to Talya. "So, like how often do you want me coming here for training? And could you maybe give me a note so I can get out of PE for already having exercised?" she added hopefully. 

[alderwitch]

"You know, exercise isn't so very terrible once you get used to it," Talya said, her tone amused but she turned away to jot a quick note down on a piece of paper for Raina, explaining that she'd done an hour's worth of work at the school and to excuse her from the commensurate time in mandated physical education. The handwriting was the sort of immaculate cursive of one who'd grown up well before type-face became common for casual correspondence. The signature at the bottom had a distinctive flourish but did include Talya's full name as well as her cell phone number.

"Once a week. Twice if the school will allow it. We'll use the second time period to work on other things, stealth, escape artistry. Maybe theft," Talya replied, the last casual, after mentally juggling her schedule as she offered Raina the paper. She offered a sly grin as she added, "Although, if I did have access to fireballs, I would entirely take advantage of it. The trouble I could cause with that." 

[Gizmo]

"Maybe leave the part about theft out when you're selling it to the headmistress," Erik suggested with a shake of his head that said that he wasn't even going to bother trying to talk Talya out of that questionable curriculum. Realistically he knew he'd gotten a fair bit of mileage out of breaking and entering skills - although his technique tended to involve a lot more breaking than the finesse of the Englishwoman - but that wasn't something Raina needed to know. "Somehow giving you access to fireballs seems redundant," he added affectionately, walking over to retrieve the padded staff from their student before she managed to bean herself on the head with it. "We are supposed to be setting a relatively good example, yeah? Eat your vegetables, look both ways before crossing the street, so on and so forth."

[Electra]

"I think I can just sort of slide over some parts of training when I report to the headmaster about what I'm doing," Raina said breezily. "She's got a lot of her plate without worrying about every piddly little detail of my training regimen. Too much detail would just be overkill, right?" Merlin chattered agreement. "And I could maybe teach you to use fireballs, if you've got magic potential inside you," she added to Talya, "but you kinda have to resign yourself to the fact that you're gonna burn off your hair and eyebrows at least once while you're learning how to do it. So it's maybe not worth it if you like your hairstyle a lot. Can I bring a friend next time I come train?" 

[alderwitch]

"I promise to include all the ethics of proper burglary and how one locates acceptable targets. Nazis, then the government, then rude rich people. It's a firm hierarchy that goes hand in hand with the craft," Talya replied, returning Erik's affectionate grin with one of her own. She turned her attention back to Raina, including her in the conversation as she added, "And she seems like the sort of girl who already knows how to cross the street and eat her vegetables. No sense in teaching things people already know."

Relaxing her posture, hip canted to the side and arms folded, Talya added, "But I am rather fond of my hair so perhaps we'll skip that. I know, vanity is such a vice, but it's my burden to carry," Her voice remained light as she deflected the subject of magic. Honestly, most active magic interacted poorly with whatever magic had infused in her body so it would very likely be far worse than a little hair loss. Talya, however, preferred facts like those not end up common knowledge. As to the question of additional students, she left that for the actual proprietor of the Espadas School to answer.  

[Gizmo]

"That's the business model, Dora," Erik agreed, waggling his eyebrows conspiratorially. "If you've got any friends you think would get something out of it, bring them on by, for sure. We're not necessarily set up for every, y'know, 'special circumstance' but as far as hand-to-hand or weapons training goes I guarantee we run circles around whoever your PE teacher is." That was a pretty bold statement considering he knew enough about Claremont to know they had some top talent on staff and little enough to have no idea who might be teaching the gym class Raina was so eager to get out of attending but he'd never lacked for confidence. Besides, no point in talking up the competition. "Just don't burn off Talya's hair, that's all I'm asking."

[Electra]

"That wouldn't be too hard," Raina told Erik, "the P.E. teacher is a sociopath who reads our private files and creates training scenarios to exploit our fears and traumas. Everybody hates him" She paused, cocked her head. "Honestly, if. Ms. Summers is all right with that, I'm guessing she wouldn't even care about me learning to steal. Anway." She shrugged. "I'll do my best to avoid setting anybody on fire unless it's really necessary. And your place, too." 

Turning aside, she waved a hand at Merlin. "Come on, you know the drill. Get in the bag." Merlin heaved an obvious sigh before putting down Erik's paperwork and jumping down from the table. He gave Erik and Talya a wave, then climbed back into the backpack and disappeared in its depths. Raina scooped it up, then scooped up her broom. "Um, nice to meet you," she offered, then turned and headed out the door. 

[alderwitch]

One blond brow arched up at Raina's commentary about her PE Teacher. Oh, it could certainly be the usual teenage complaints about gym class but the word choice certainly rang alarm bells in Talya's head. She was, however, a generally suspicious sort of person. It was a side effect of certain life style choices, unfortunately, so she slanted a questioning look to Erik about whether someone ought to look into that. Of the two of them, he was generally burdened with an overactive sense of responsibility in general. "D'you think I know the sociopath? It sounds like my circle," the words were glib and light, meaning layered under the surface. 

Talya stepped forward then, "You did well today, you know," she offered before adding, "It isn't easy to learn new things. If you end up having questions before your next class, you know where we'll be." 

Teenage pride was a tetchy thing sometimes and Talya offered the easy excuse for a reason to call if it was needed. Only when Raina turned to go did she let the slight frown disturb her expression.