Garrison and Laurie log

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Garrison and Laurie meet up for her first lesson.



Laurie pulled at the shirt of her gym clothes nervously as she waited for Garrison to arrive. She'd agreed to do this, and she wanted to do this but she was still terrified of it all the same. She just wasn't used to the idea of deliberately hitting anyone, not even in self defence.

She wondered what they'd be doing for their first lesson, what sort of style it was Garrison used. She knew there were different ones, although mostly just by name, rather then by sight. She started pacing to work off a bit of the nervous energy, walking along the outside line on the gym floor like it was a balance beam.

It was somewhat a matter of pride to her that her balance had always been fairly good, and she only wobbled slightly as she moved.

Garrison wandered in a few minutes later, wearing his normal t-shirt and sweats combination for the gym. They'd seen it dozens of times when he'd subbed in for Angelo on Self Defence classes. There he'd been mostly funny, putting the various moves and situations into real world analogies that they could easily relate to, and drilling in the basic rules over and over; get free, get away. This was not going to be the same thing.

To her surprise, he went to the middle of the mat and sat down cross-legged. He patted the mat in front of him, indicating for her to do the same. "Come on, Laurie. We've got a lot to cover here."

Laurie walked over and sat down, crossing her own legs and letting her hands rest lightly on her knees. "Shoot." she said, unable to suppress a grin, despite the seriousness of the moment.

"Before we do anything, you're going to have to realise that this is different from the self defence you already have taken, eh?" Garrison said. "In that class, the focus is on protecting yourself and creating openings to escape. This is a little bit different. What I'm going to take you through is the next level, which involves neutralizing attacks and subduing an opponent. The important thing to realise is that this is not hand to hand combat training."

Garrison pointed over to the corner, where the heavy bags hung and the other equipment used in the X-Men's martial arts training was arranged. "We're not going to get into any of that for a very long time. Hand to hand training is about how to effectively do violence to another person. What I'm going to be teaching you is how to take control of a situation and maintain it. So any cracks about learning kung-fu is going to earn you a clout around the ear."

"I promise not to call you Grasshopper." Laurie replied with a grin and then held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry. Had to get it out. I'm good now."

"Grasshopper was the student, genius." Kane said. Kids today... didn't they pay attention to the good reruns? "First rules, and they are very basic. The three keys to self defence are discipline, dedication and repetition. Everything we're going to go over, you're going to have to practice every day. That means getting down to the gym and working on it over and over until it becomes instinct. If you're not ready to do that, you're just pissing around."

He rested his hands on the mats behind him and leaned back comfortably. "It also applies to what you're learning as well. The natural reaction for a person is to avoid a fight. We flinch and draw back when faced with possible violence. You'll need to learn how to commit to an action completely, and follow it through."

"I can do that." Laurie said, quickly reorganising her schedule in her head. She'd need to cut short her normal daily run, or stay up a little later each night. Either way, she should be good to practice every day. "Does everyone go through the 'I don't want to hurt anyone' reaction at first then?"

"Pretty much. You have to be taught how to physically attack someone in a rational state of mind. However, what I'm going to be teaching you is how to end a fight as quickly as possible, which isn't as much about hurting someone as putting them in the position of no longer being able to fight back." Garrison said. "And that's almost more difficult. Follow through is everything."

"So what's first?" Laurie asked, thinking about what Garrison had said. If she could stop someone fast, with only as much violence as was needed to do the job, that would be so much better then having to simply beat them down. Short, sharp and quick she could do.

"The most basic thing that we can take from the self defence classes you've already been taking; how to settle yourself." Garrison said, getting to his feet. "There is a connection between your body type, your reflexes, your centre of gravity and your physical shape that determines the best types of self defence options to build on. You're skinny, tall for a girl, with long legs and a high centre of gravity. You're in, well, decent enough shape, and your reflexes are about average. Put all that together, what would you consider your advantages in a fight, especially against someone taller, bigger built, and almost certainly stronger than you?"

"Someone bigger doesn't mean slower...but if they were slower then me being smaller would come in handy, I'd be able to go for a low blow. I could kick them in the balls really easily?" Laurie replied tentatively. She pushed herself to her feet as well, trying hard not to fidget.

"No. If you don't land the kick right, or hard enough, all you've done is make them more mad. Because you're smaller, you present less of a target. So when they hit you, they're going to hurt you more, but there's more of them to hit on your side. Even if they aren't slower, they aren't going to be able to move as nimbly in contrast to you." Garrison pointed out. "Those are your first two advantages, and we're going to work on that first. If you've got the ability to out position someone, you can take away the advantage that their strength gives them. Hold out your arm, eh?"

She gave him an alarmed look but held out her arm anyway. She hoped he knew what he was doing, she didn't much go in for casual contact these days, even if her control was a lot better now then it had been when she first got to the school.

With only two fingers, Kane gripped her wrist and twisted, immediately putting her down to her knees and clutching to pull her arm free. Garrison released the lock. "See. Less effort than it takes to open a beer bottle to put someone on the ground. That's what I said when all the martial arts 'kick you in the ear' crap comes later. This is about how to put you in the position of control against someone else."

Laurie cradled her hand against her chest for a second, flexing her fingers before climbing back to her feet. She hadn't been expecting him to be quite so fast. She wondered..."Mr Garrison, you know my power, right? Do you think, well, would there be a way to combine this, what you're going to teach me, with what I can do?"

"Absolutely. Skin to skin contact combined with the ability to wreck someone's system? It's a very potent combination. But," Kane tapped her on the collarbone. "First you need to learn how to do it without your powers, before you start adding on. You never know when they're not going to be available, or someone happens to be totally immune to them."

"Gotcha, show me how you did that?"

It was said with an air of eagerness, and she had to stop herself from bouncing on her toes as she might have in dance class. She had always had a thirst to learn, an overwhelming need to succeed at everything she did and this would be no exception. She just hoped that Mr Garrison knew what he was letting himself in for.