ArchivedLogs:That One With The Cougars

That One With The Cougars
So pretty, yet so scary
Dramatis Personae Ghost, Mariot	2013-12-13 Self-defense practice in the Danger Room!
Location <XS> Danger Room
The room is large and circular, a geodesic hemisphere of hexagonal ceramic panels. It is the Danger Room, and is thus often full of danger, but is presently not in use and is thus remarkably danger-free. Safest room in the school, probably. Entering the Danger Room is Ghost, clad in an XS tanktop and a pair of sweatpants, completely barefoot. The purple skinned girl's hair is pulled back, her yellow eyes glistening, as she jogs in one place, awaiting training coming soon. She speaks loudly, looking up to the ceiling, not sure if the person she is expecting is inside the control room or not. "Alright, Ms. Gall, I'm here. Ready to get this done.". She keeps jogging in place, grinning towards the ceiling. "I love this room, so much.". "I'll be down to join you in a moment," comes the reply - the voice female, the accent educated and British. "We're not likely to be doing anything +too+ thrilling here, but I'm going to try to teach you some basics that might help more than dodging fireballs or fighting giant robots." A heartbeat's pause. "Though we might possibly give you a chance at something along those lines, if you do well. There. I think that's set up properly." It's perhaps a good thing that there's a short delay before Mariot arrives - the Briton proving to be a moderately tall, athletic woman. She's opted for black lycra rather than the X-Man combat suit, her bared arms and firm shoulders displaying a somewhat unladylike degree of muscular toning. "Hi," she says with a wry smile, raising one hand in greeting. "I'm not sure if it passed you by, but I'm the specialist in +non-lethal+ combat, and in self-defence. Not in neck-snapping. So what I'll be teaching you is a lot more about how to survive than how to kill. Trying for the latter all too often winds up in the former happening." "Haha, I know. I don't think the school would teach that, anyways. Except maybe Mr. Logan.". Ghost laughs, stopping her warm ups. "Self defense, alright. Well, I'm ready, ma'am. What type of basics will be learning today?". Ghost says eagerly, ready for it to begin. "Blocks? Dodges? Eh?" "Balance, and dirty fighting, are the two key elements of it," Mariot says with another wry smile. "The odds are, especially in your case, that you are going to be smaller and lighter than just about anyone who might pick a fight with you. That is, after all, one of the things that many bullies look for - victims they /expect/ to provide them with some easy pickings. And most groups with any kind of 'professional' aspirations will naturally tend to put larger and more aggressive types into roles requiring close-quarters combat. So, again, the odds are that anyone you face will be a real heavyweight in comparison." "So... with that in mind: what should your goal in a fight be?" Ghost listens closely, and thinks for a few moments, pacing with her feet again. She finally comes up with a sort of answer, and says it aloud. "Well, to survive? And if they're a bigger person, you should use your agility against them, right? Or, uh, if both of those are incorrect, outsmart them? Maybe all three are correct? Or all three are wrong?". Ghost seems confused, as she's trying to figure out the answer. "Yeah, I'll go with one of those three.". Mariot cracks a swift grin. "Survival's the core thing, yes. You want to keep your head - both literally and figuratively. If you panic, your chances of making good choices go down. But above all else: the goal /isn't/ to 'win'. Do you know what Olympic medalists in Judo say they do if someone picks a fight with them?" "Uh...no, sorry. Don't know much about Judo in general.". Ghost shrugs at the question, confused. "I'm not really one to panic, though. I think I've seen worse than most thugs, so..I think I'm pretty good on that aspect?". She grins, stretching. "So, what do Judo medalists say?" "Run," answers Mariot. "They run. Some of the people in the world whom you'd expect to be best at close-quarters grappling, who'd be able to throw and pin and choke and get suppression holds... they'd rather run, because they know they're fitter than their opponents. Some of the most dangerous people in a fight are those who /don't/ really know what they're doing. Because they'll attempt moves that no one with training would be crazy enough to try. And sure, their crazy stunt might leave them with a broken leg... but it could really hurt their target in the interim." "The most dangerous, of course, are the real experts. But you will almost never know how good anyone is when a fight starts - so why gamble with your life? And, quite possibly, those of other people. Because violence has a real risk of spreading. Your attacker might have friends. Someone else might get barged into. After you throw him through the window he might hit a passing car..." "You should never, ever, have to find reasons to justify why you /didn't/ fight. Fighting should always be the exceptional choice, the thing that you need to have a /really/ good explanation for. There might be times when fighting /is/ the best option - but they're few and far between, especially for someone without training." "So... what I'll provide is focused on trying to get you into a position where you can have the best possible chance to escape. Given what I've read of your particular talents, you should have a lot of additional options there, but I can probably give you some extra ways to keep your choices as open as possible." Ghost nods, taking it all in. "Alright then..escape training...I'm ready.". Ghost does a few more jog-in-place exercises to warm up, stretching again. "I don't really like fighting, anyways. I'm more suited for escape or agility in the first place, so this is perfect for me. Let me have it.". She grins, confident as always. "Let's do this." Mariot chuckles, inclining her head. "A number of the assumptions behind 'conventional' self-defence training for women probably won't be quite so applicable to you, but it's a good place to start." Glancing up towards the ceiling, the teacher says, "Key scenario, please." A moment later, an evening street-scene manifests: a tree-lined road, with a terrace of New York brownstones on each side; each building accessible by its own little flight of steps, with basement flats down beneath. It's night, with a hint of mist dispersing the street lighting into an ambient glow - while the many obstacles of trees, stairs, railings, and street furniture, as well as a few cars and a parked van, all provide their own patches of dark and shadow. "It's quiet. Peaceful," Mariot says softly. "A familiar street. Home literally in sight - it's the fifth door up on the left, just there. It's probably at about this point that you turn your attention to a pocket or bag, and start rummaging around for your keys. Your gaze is down, your thoughts are probably already inside the house. You're one of the classic tempting targets." As if roleplaying, Ghost begins going through her pockets, pulling out a set of keys, materialized by the Danger Room. She flips through the keys, choosing one with a head shaped like a house on it. She approaches the house, slowly, mumbling to herself. "This doesn't seem too difficult...". Ghost juggles the keys in her hands, grinning. "Time to go home, it seems.". In the distance, a horn blares, as a high-point over the faint rumbling of remote traffic. But nothing appears overly inclined to emerge from any of the myriad shadows - at least not quite yet. Perhaps nothing will? Maybe there's an intruder inside the house? Might the Danger Room have generated villains with a fear of purple? As Ghost enters the house, her ears shuffle, nose wrinkling. "Uh..., wow, sensory is pretty accurate..wait..". Confused, Ghost looks around the house, which is just an average old home, like any other. Sniffing in the air, she looks around. "Wait, does anyone else live in this house with me? I don't know the terms of the scenario. Shit...". "Pause", Mariot calls out, a smile in her voice. "And that is how most such situations will go. Step back out again, please, and put your keys away again. Come down to the street.... and let's say that this time, you've been /shopping/." At the emphasised last word, abruptly Ghost finds herself with one well-filled bag hanging from her off-hand, another pulling on one shoulder. Abruptly, getting keys out won't be quite such a simple task - nor will finding the right one for a door, nor even negotiating steps while trying this. As the scene changes, Ghost stumbles back, from the sudden change in scenary. "Okay...". She tries to reach for the keys in her pocket, but drops them as she pulls them out. As she tries to pick the keys up, her bag falls as well. "Wow, virtual me buys a ton of crap..". She begins trying to quickly pick up the stuff and continue, expecting something to go wrong. "Okay, I think everything's in the bag now...". The sound effects shift. There's the sound of a car passing one end of the street. A brief half-heard voice from somewhere up the road, out of sight amidst the blur of mist and light. But nothing goes wrong until Ghost is once again confronted with 'her' front door, and is trying to one-handedly line up the right key with the lock. /That's/ when there's movement behind her, a burly figure bounding up the steps. As Ghost gets up to the steps, looking for the key, she hears footsteps from several feet away. Quickly shifting around, she finally grabs the right key as she backs up towards the door. "Can..I help you?". Whilst she tries to give the fictional man the benefit of the doubt, she obviously thinks something bad is going to happen, and wraps the keys in her hand, pointed ends out. As she continues to back up, she speaks again. "I think you have the wrong house, sir..". "Pause", says Mariot - resulting in everything freezing. "So... you chose a good option. There +is+ a chance that, even in the dark, someone approaching you really does just want directions," the Briton agrees. "Or might have something you lost when you dropped your shopping. But if he has something less friendly in mind, what're your options?" "Well, I doubt there's enough time for me to unlock the door and get into the house, even if I could that'd most likely get him close to me. I could use my keys to try and wound him and distract him, but that could also be risky. Maybe go through the sides, taking a path around the steps and escape? I..uh..am not entirely sure, there seems to be a ton of paths..like a Choose Your Own Adventure game..". Ghost tilts her head around, thinking. "Or throw my bags at him, that works too.". Mariot chuckles. "Quite. I saw you shift your grip on the keys. I can show you a couple of options there. They actually make for very good weapons, /especially/ as an alternative to how almost everyone expects a 'girl' to fight. Don't bother with fingernails, or the obvious - but hard to manage - knee to the groin. You can try for those once an assailant's distracted. And keys are +great+ for that. They'll draw blood from any exposed skin, and they /hurt/ if they're jabbed anywhere else, and the clothing's not too thick." Ghost also laughs, in turn with Mariot. "Well, I guess high school self-defense seminars help, then.". Ghost stretches again before it unpauses, to get ready for what could happen next. "I think I have a strategy in mind, actually. Let's see if it works!". Her tone is enthusiastic, and she shows a lot of confidence in this 'strategy' of hers. "Have a lot of elements, gotta use them to my advantage.". "Very well," Mariot says with a smile. "Resume." And an instant after she says that word, the burly brute grunts, and makes a grab - though for Ghost's shoulder-bag of shopping, rather than the girl herself. Of course, any firm grip on it might well result in her coming too. As this happens, Ghost drops the bag on the ground, sweeping to the side and slicing him in the neck, dropping the keys after she does so, trying to wound him. If he doesn't stop her, she's making a break for around the steps, trying to get away from the house. "Holy crap, this is getting intense..". The bag's unexpected trajectory results in the assailant staggering forward slightly - exposing his neck to that attack. He bellos in response, free hand clapping to the wound as he staggers back. He /does/ flail at Ghost, roaring angrily, but his lack of balance and the delays imposed by his surprises mean that he does nothing more than brush fingers against the girl's back. Laughing, Mariot steps out of the shadows. "Indeed, yes. Now - what else could you have done? Bribed him? Thrown the bag? Tried to body-slam him down the stairs? Begged for mercy? In your case, we could add a scamper up the building, in hope that he'd be too stunned to grab you before you were out of reach...." "Well, hoping he was merciful, I could have just given him the bag..I don't think body-slamming would work, I'm not that muscular, haha. Climbing the building would have worked, but, also risky, so, I went with what I thought would work best.". Ghost grins, jogging in pace again. "So, did I do well? I think that's the easiest simulation I've done in here, actually. There was that one with the cougars and..well, that's a long story.". Laughing, Mariot shakes her head. "I'll run you through a few more before we wrap up for today, don't worry. But one of the best forms of self defence is avoiding looking like a victim - which can be very hard, and I /know/ that some who target you won't be readily deterred, but... I can give you some basic advice. One of the simple things that happened was that you announced in the street that you were distracted and over-burdened: you fumbled, focused entirely on the ground for a while, and so forth. Something as simple as having your keys accessible /before/ you want to use them can make a great deal of sense." Ghost nods, still pacing, stretching around. "Alright. Just, uh, no cougars. That was actually kind of frightening. They look so cute, and yet, so vicious.". "Just the velociraptors, then," Mariot agrees, deadpan. "Cue the next scenario, please."