Self-Defence 300: Lesson 1

[Tania Yates]

Tania opened the door to a classroom and surveyed the arrangements. No, she corrected herself, it wasn't just a classroom - it was her classroom. That thought would take some getting used to.

The classroom itself was certainly adequate for her self-defence class. Chairs had been arranged along three of the walls in a U-shape, leaving most of the room empty; the only table stood near the door, with no chair behind it. Aside from that, the only features of the classroom were two large shelves filled with training equipment and a whiteboard facing the chairs waiting for students.

After placing a clipboard and a pen on the desk Tania hopped onto the table and let her legs dangle. Almost without her noticing it her hand wandered to her chest and brushed over the badge she had pinned to her short-sleeved white tee. Clad in black espadrilles, grey sweatpants, and that white tee, the badge was the only thing that marked her as someone not a student, aside perhaps from being a few years older than most people at the Academy.

Was it true what Cole had said to her not long ago, that her mother would be proud of her, now that she had taken up teaching? Tania could only hope so, but idle speculation would get her nowhere. She drew a deep breath and forced her breathing to a slow, calm rhythm. Only trying her best would get her somewhere, and dwelling on the past never helped much, anyway.

---

By the time the first students entered the room fifteen minutes later the moment of introspection had passed, and Tania welcomed everyone filtering into the room with a smile and an inviting gesture at the waiting chairs. "Good morning. Please, have a seat."

Five minutes past ten she jumped down from the table and closed the door to the classroom. She pushed her glasses a little up her nose as she turned towards the students.

"Again, good morning. My name is Tania Yates, and I will be your self-defence teacher. Now..." She strode towards the whiteboard and wrote Self Defence on it, before facing the people around her.

"Before we get started on the real sweat-breaking part of this course, let's take a moment to talk about what self-defence means. A broad definition I offer you for now is..." Again she turned to the whiteboard and drew an arrow down from 'self defence', before adding:

Ways not to get hurt

She capped her marker and ran her eyes over the faces around her. "What I would like to hear from you is what ways you can think of to prevent yourself from getting hurt in a threatening situation."

Tania offered everyone a wide, dimpled smile. "Just let me know what you think, but also why you think so. Let's toss this ball back and forth a bit for now."

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OOC: Now that the course announcement is up I thought it would be a good idea to start the class too, but take your time. I'll let this topic simmer until there are a few replies.

[Jarek]

Jarek wasn't at all certain if he really had a place in the self defense class. His basic training in the army had covered not much, but he thought he knew how to throw a punch. Being a kid moving from the city to the countryside had taught him that a long time before he did his conscript service in the army. A city boy moving to the countryside, all the other boys had assumed he was a sissy, someone who couldn't hold his own. He had swiftly taught them how wrong they had been, but he had never enjoyed it.

But self defense was a prerequisite for magical combat - and magical combat class worked hand-in-hand with elemental magic. Jarek wanted to study elemental magic, and magical defense seemed like the perfect complement to it. So mundane self-defense it had to be for now, before he could move into more advanced classes.

He looked around the room after the teacher's question. No one seemed willing to volunteer an answer, so he slowly raised his hand. "Umm... not getting into a fight is best way to avoid harm, isn't it? If you don't get into danger, you run no risk of getting hurt."

[Tania Yates]

Tania nodded at the reply. "Yes, not getting into danger is always a good start. It might not always be possible, but it is something one should always strive for. Let's call this part of keeping out of harm's way avoidance of dangerous situations."

She turned to the whiteboard and wrote down

1. Avoidance

then added

2.
3.
4.

before turning back towards her class. "I propose to you that there are three more steps towards keeping yourself from being hurt. Now, let's suppose you can't avoid a potentially dangerous situation in the first place, what would the next step be? Suppose you just round a corner in the town and run into some idiot who tries to pick a fight, what would you do?"

ooc: yeah, posting with two of my characters ain't all that much fun, but i wanted to move this along and give an example of a possible reply at the same time.

[Hayzie]

Hayzie had spent far too long talking to the staff at Okeanos that day. Popping in for her usual Vanilla Latte between classes, conversation about some occurances around the school had left the Council Member distracted until she picked the coffee up off the notebook again. Oh hell.... was it time for Combat and Defense already?!

The blonde had pretty much promised Tania she would go, and yet there she was nattering about the comings and goings of the school. Hardly a surprise on a normal day... but on that day, it couldn't be happening. "I've... gotta go," Hayz chirped, breaking off the conversation by nodding down at the notebook with the class title on it, and downing her coffee at the same time. At least Professor Yates couldn't accuse her of not being energised...

Running through the corridors of the school, it didn't take the slight girl all that long to reach the classroom. Whether or not it was conveniently located for Okeanos, Hayz would never know, nor was it the most important thing on her list. Walking into the class at least semi-composed on the other hand, was. Tucking some now stray hair behind her ear and taking a few deep breaths, Hayzie slipped in through the door. Tania had already started the class... damn.

'Sorry,' Hayz mouthed to the Professor at the front of the class as she quietly slipped into a seat at the back, taking a biro out of her bag and opening the notebook. Mentally, she crossed her fingers, hoping the class wasn't too far in.

[Tania Yates]

Tania raised an eyebrow at Hayzie's late entrance, but she wasn't all that surprised. Being late for class seemed not entirely unusual for the blonde. And Tania couldn't blame her all that much, even if she wanted to. Hayzie seemed to spend half her time at Okeanos, and the coffee there was good enough to distract almost anyone who had even the smallest taste for coffee. Making a stop on her way to the classroom had been tempting for her too, and it had taken some effort to resist.

But several eyes in the classroom were already on Hayz after her late arrival, and Tania felt that she shouldn't ignore the student's late entrance, lest she sat a bad example for the rest of her class.

She took a few steps forward until she stood in the midst of her class, before she tilted her head at Hayzie. "Well, Miss Roberts, what would it be you would do if you suddenly ran into a dangerous situation you couldn't avoid from the outset?"

Tania smiled slightly, and not unkindly. At the end of the course she hoped her students would be able to react instinctively to a dangerous situation, but -for now - she presented no danger to her students, and she wanted to lead them on slowly and methodically.

[Hayzie]

It appeared the biro wouldn't be needed just yet. Shifting in her seat as she noticed several pairs of eyes on her, audible whispers about being late for a new Professor's first class, and said Professor walking forwards toward the centre of the class.

A sheepish smile crossed Hayzie's face as Tania's footsteps stopped. At least they were still in pre-assignment discussion... if there was indeed an assignment with this class. Though, what would she do if there was a situation she couldn't avoid? Oh, there had been plenty of those.

Raising blonde brows a little, green eyes swept to the board, and then back to Tania. "I guess I'd... evaluate the situation, and decide the best course of action?" Hayz suggested, her heartrate rising. If she was going to be late, and look like she was suggesting something stupid... well... it wouldn't make a brilliant impression.

[Tania Yates]

Tania crossed the distance to Hayzie's desk with a few swift paces and put her hands down on the desk with an audible slap.

"No. You can't. You round a corner in the street late at night and find yourself in danger. Time is running short." She leaned forward and brought her face just close enough to Hayzie's to avoid scaring the living daylights out of her - or so she hoped.

"What will you do when you are faced with someone who wonders why you were late for class? You are already sitting in your chair, and the door suddenly seems miles away. There is no escape."

Tania pushed herself away from the table as suddenly as she had approached it and turned around to face the rest of her class. "And don't you boys and girls think this doesn't involve you, unless you think you will never ever be late for class." A few heads here and there turned to avoid her gaze, and some other students bit their lips or squirmed and tried to wiggle deeper into their chairs.

Completing her turn, Tania smiled at Hayzie and nodded gently, the sudden outburst gone as fast as a thunderstorm on a clear summer day.

"What would you do if you don't want to enter a fight, but can't completely avoid a confrontation either?" she asked slowly and softly, giving Hayzie all the time to think, time she had a few seconds ago declared the student wouldn't have in a real confrontation outside the classroom.

[Hayzie]

Hayzie jumped as Tania's hands hit the table. Okay, evaluating the situation she would not be doing. "I-I..." she stuttered. Saying she'd been chatting over coffee could hardly be the best excuse in the book. The truth, yes, but not the best thing to get her out of this situation.

A sigh of relief escaped Hayz's tense form, which relaxed slightly as Tania headed back towards the front of the class. Green eyes widened as the Professor turned around, her face no longer as it was a few seconds before.... but rather appearing more cheerful.

Heart still racing, the blonde was one of many who slipped back in her chair, wanting the ground to swallow the back part of the classroom whole as Tania repeated her question. Analysing the situation was no good... what else would she do. Thinking back to the instances she had been in those types of situation, Hayzie bit her lip and began to think, her eyes not daring to meet Tania's. "Uhm..." the blonde whispered. It was so much easier to react when the situation was there in front of you, as opposed to being asked in a classroom situation.

"Make a cup of tea and see if there's a compromise that can be reached?" sheepishly, Hayz blinked a few times, trying to remember anything from her one-to-one with the Professor a few days before. It wasn't long before her eyes widenend, and she whispered: "Catch the knife..."

[Tania Yates]

Tania chuckled a bit at Hayzie's answer, but nodded nevertheless. "Tea may not always be an option, but in principle you are correct. In some situations talking your way out of a situation can work. Reaching a compromise is one way of calling it."

She headed for the whiteboard and wrote down De-escalation as her second point. "If you can't avoid a dangerous situation, try to defuse it," she explained while she wrote.

Tania turned back to her class and gestured over her shoulder with the marker. "De-escalation can mean many different things. Talking, trying not to present an inviting target, giving someone who points a gun at your head your money. It depends on the situation. But if it works you should not linger. Get out of danger as soon as you can. If talking provides that option, then take that option, but avoiding harm should be your primary goal."

She picked up a red marker and drew an arrow from De-escalation to Avoidance.



"Now, there are two more points on this list. Who would like to provide me an option for situations where you can't avoid danger, and can't talk your way out of it?" She tossed the pen into the air and snatched it in her fist on its way down.

"Let's suppose you round a corner in the town and run into a guy who's just itching for a fight. Perhaps he's drunk, perhaps he's on drugs, perhaps he's just in a really bad mood. He doesn't want to talk, he just wants to fight and swings his fists at you."

She was tempted to add a remark about having forgotten to pack your teabags, but swallowed that remark. She was happy enough to have Hayz in her class, and antagonizing her wouldn't do the blonde any good. Tania liked her, Hayzie was easy enough to like to begin with and they shared a love of coffee to boot, but the girl also needed a bit more of a backbone. That didn't grow overnight, and the school year was still young. She wouldn't be able to do much to help the blonde if she pushed her away with snide remarks.

[Hayzie]

What would she do?

Sure, there had been plenty of drunk men wanting fights in the bar where she worked, but Hayz had never personally had to deal with any of them. There was security to do that. This new question posed something different for the blonde - a situation she'd never been in. There had never been a situation that hadn't enabled some sort of compromise to begin with. Oh, wait. Cara at the beach.

Flinching a little at the memory, green eyes closed. This class would be tougher than she had first thought - and this time not for academic reasons. That evening with Cara had started off well, meeting in the Red Lady, and then going to the beach. Things had seemed okay... until Cara went weird, and then caught her arm, her hair.... Hayz swallowed nervously, staring down at her notepad.

No, she'd not got out of that one. Not avoided trouble. Fiddling with her pen, thoughts moved towards the temple. Hayzie had got out of that one relatively unscathed by trial and error, and then in the end... being protected. Lyn had taken the battering from that, and battered she had been. The blonde had simply helped through some of the booby traps, and got Atty out of the centre room. Did that even count? Would that class as getting away?

Though Michaela was another story altogether. Hayzie still wasn't away from the Vampiress. Their encounter on the beach a few days before wasn't something she'd shared with anyone... That one was still an ongoing battle, and it took the blonde everything to admit it, even to herself. In that incident, though, she'd been the one going in guns blazing. Or magic blazing, depending on how you looked at it.

Fiddling with her pen, green eyes looked back up at the board. The comment with the tea had gone down well before, but this time, Hayzie couldn't think of any comical answer, the only words being: "I guess you can only defend yourself as best you can."

[Tania Yates]

Tania took her time turning to Hayzie. There was a sombre undertone to her voice, if Tania was not mistaken, and that surprised her just a little. She had heard rumours and whispers about Hayz being in a fight or two and getting into trouble, and she had her suspicions about the blonde and vampires, but she knew nothing conclusive. But that it broke through the chirpy mood of the student was something Tania hadn't expected in the safety of a classroom.

But whatever the reason, Hayzie had hit the nail on the head. "Yes." Tania nodded approvingly at the student. "Once a fight starts, defence should be one of your priorities."

She wrote Defence on the whiteboard as the third point and circled it in red.

"Defending yourself is one of the main points I will teach you," Tania explained to her class. "I can not teach you how to avoid every dangerous situation, and I can not teach you how to talk your way out of every trouble spot. Life is too unpredictable for that, so you will have to use common sense."

She drew another arrow from Defence to Avoidance. "Defending yourself is always a good thing, but it is no end in itself. It is only a means to an end, and that end is - again - to get out of harm's way."



Tania leaned against the wall next to the whiteboard and paused to draw a deep breath.

"One problem with defending yourself is that you can't defend yourself forever. Even the best-trained fighter can't dodge or block forever. Sometimes a lucky blow will get through, or you opponent might just have more endurance than you and you will tire before he does.

"So..." Tania asked her class, but looked at Hayzie from the corner of her eyes while she spoke, "what is the best way to defend yourself and get yourself out of harm's way?"

[Jarek]

Jarek looked from the teacher to the blonde student, then back. Those two seemed to know each other, but he wasn't surprised. Most people at the Academy probably knew each other. As big as the place was, it wasn't so big that you wouldn't run into everyone at some point.

He looked at the teacher and raised his hand. He had never enjoyed the fights in the schoolyard, but he knew why he had been able to walk away from them unharmed every time.

"Hit them hard, and hit them fast," he offered in his thick Polish accent. "Knock them down and you can get away easy."

[Hayzie]

Shaking her head lightly to get out of her own thoughts, Hayz listened to the comments another student in the class offered. Hit them hard and hit them fast. It seemed to work. But... a wry smile took on her face. Things at the school certainly didn't seem that easy. The creatures surrounding the school rarely took a hit quite so easily. You couldn't even get close to them most of the time.

Sitting back in her seat, the blonde tapped her pen against the notebook a few more times, Hayz wrote down the notes off the board. It saved her sitting there staring off into the clouds, anyway.

[Tania Yates]

"Exactly." Tania smiled and wrote Offence on the board, then followed it by drawing an arrow back to Avoidance and circling Offence in red.

She could hear a few surprised whispers behind her back while her eyes were turned on the whiteboard. That was to be expected. That self-defence involved offence was something most people didn't realize at first.

"Many of you may have heard that offence is the best defence, and while that is not always true, it can turn out to be your only option in a dangerous situation."

She looked over her shoulder at her class and the smile vanished from her face. "Self Defence starts with self. You are the most important part of this. Self defence means keeping yourself out of harm's way. And sometimes the fastest way to get out of danger is to hit danger right into the face with a good, solid punch."

She added a few more words to the whiteboard and intoned them while she wrote: "Do whatever is necessary to get out. Your safety is paramount."



"And that," Tania gravely stated, "is what I will teach you. Offence and defence. I can't turn you into the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, but if you stick with me I can teach you a few things most of you never thought you were capable of. It will be hard work, but it can be done."

She turned to look at every face in the room, and a hint of a smile returned to Tania's features. "Any questions?"

[Hayzie]

Hayzie's brows shot up at the final word to go on the list. Offemse. She guessed it made some sense... after all, if you took control of the situation instead of allowing you opponent that control, then you'd have the upper hand - or rather you could walk away. Maybe run, if the situation called for it.

Writing down the final words, and circling where appropriate, Hayz bit the lid of her pen, green eyes reviewing the list on the board whilst Ta--Professor Yates (she'd really have to remember that) continued to explain how offense worked in a self-defense class. At the invitation for questions, the blonde bit her lip. Avoiding the situation in the first place was the best thing to do, but then... putting her hand up in the air, Hayz started: "Professor... which is the best approach to take if you're unsure as to what could happen next? I mean, when you come across situations like that, they're hard to read... so how do you approach it?"