[Closed] I'll never give up, I'll never give in

[cardinalrule]

WHO: Hunter, Mirabel and Luisa
WHERE: Luisa's room.
WHEN: Early April.
WHAT: Self-defense lessons!
WARNINGS: Mentions of child soldiering, Hunter is a huge brat and won't go easy on them.


[Fighting is something Hunter is intimately familiar with. Unlike certain Coven Heads who basically just had glorified desk jobs (coughLilithcough), Hunter spent most of his life fighting. He went through the same training as the Coven Scouts, which included a large amount of witch dueling, and as the Golden Guard he was often called on to hunt down dangerous creatures and criminals. It's part of life, and honestly, to him it's pretty weird when he meets people where that isn't the case.

From what he's learned the Madrigal kids have had an incredibly easy life. You don't get any safer than growing up in an isolated, secure community with none of the Boiling Isle's dangers, with a whole community respecting and admiring you. All of the validation with none of the fighting to even earn a chance. It's weird.

But anyways. Offering self-defense lessons to Luisa and Mirabel is a good, pragmatic decision. He doesn't have the same resources he had back home, so this offers him a chance to do some practice training. On top of that, it lets him practice his leadership skills, something sorely he needs as the right hand of the Emperor. They learn how to get out of a fight, so it's a good idea all around!

The three of them are in Luisa's room, which offers enough space and privacy from the rest of the household. Hunter doesn't care either way, as long as they've got somewhere that's big enough and no one is going to interrupt them any space is fine. Rascal has gone and settled on a shelf out of the way to watch everything.

He's wearing his owl mask, though he's decided to forgo most of his Golden Guard armour and cloak, only wearing the vest and gloves. He doubts he'll need most of it, though the vest will be useful on the off-chance Luisa punches him or something.]

So, I guess we have to start with the basics for you two. [He's got his hands on hips, sounding as cocky as ever. There's a whole judgmental tone to his voice when he says basics, like they're having to start out with the baby moves for babies.] How about both of you come at me.

[That isn't a friendly suggestion.]

Comments

[nonmagical]

[Mirabel knows what they're here for. Hunter made that pretty clear, that they're here to learn how to defend themselves. Unlike Luisa, Mirabel has no problem picking a fight - though she does hesitate a bit. It's not like she's fighting a stranger here, it's Hunter. And she overall she likes Hunter. She looks at Luisa, almost as if trying to gauge her sister's approval of this whole situation.

But Hunter was here to teach them, right? It's not like... they were gonna fight for real, right?]

Okay. Okay-

[She looks at Luisa, and then back at Hunter. And she's just gonna... go for it. Run at him at full speed. She has no idea what to do when she actually reaches him.]

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa is a bit more reluctant about this whole thing than Mirabel, but for probably different reasons. It's very clear that Hunter knows what he's doing, and she doesn't think for even a moment that they're going to actually hurt him. And he isn't shy about letting them know that, either.

Still, when Mirabel rushes forward she follows after, and she's just a bit faster than her sister thanks to her runs in the morning, as she runs full tilt towards Hunter. ]

[cardinalrule]

[Hunter can't say he's surprised they're both choosing to do a straightforward, head-on attack. It's the simplest way to go after someone, after all.

He remains where he is, right up until they've almost reached him. Then he smoothly sidesteps both of them, spinning on the heel of his boot like it's no big deal. Once he's out of the wait he's bringing his boot up and squaring it at the small of Mirabel's back (since she's smaller and, therefore, likely easier to knock over) -

And stopping before his foot makes contact. Then he addresses both of them, chuckling like a huge jerk.]

That's it? You two are worse than I thought, you both left your sides and back completely open.

[nonmagical]

[Mirabel stutters to a stop, stumbling over her feet a bit before she turns back around.]

Well how are we supposed to do it, then?

[neverbreaks]

[ As he sidesteps to avoid them, Luisa comes to a quick stop and turns, and for a moment she tenses as his boot comes up to Mirabel's back. When he doesn't strike her, though, she relaxes, but only slightly as she frowns at him. ]

Look, you know that we've never done anything like this before. Are you gonna keep making fun of us, or are you actually going to help us?

[ She knows they aren't very good, but if he's going to keep rubbing it in their faces she's ready to call the whole thing off. ]

[cardinalrule]

[He lowers his foot, subtly adjusting his stance.]

Okay, okay. [Yeahhh, he should take this a bit more seriously.]

The first thing you two should know about fighting is learning to consider whether you should be in a fight in the first place. And given neither of you have any experience with fighting, your answer to that question should usually be no.

[He raises an index finger.]

Before you run at someone you should be thinking about finding a way out. If you can run away, then you've got a much higher survival rate!

[He sounds way too cheerful at that last part.]

[nonmagical]

So we're learning how to... run away?

[That doesn't sound as exciting as Mirabel had pictured their training sessions in her head, but honestly letting Mirabel try to fight is what helped landing them in the situation they're currently in.]

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa considers that for a moment, and admittedly, that's actually a bit of a relief. She'd always preferred to avoid confrontation and violence, so hearing him say that it was better to look for an out than to really engage made her feel better. ]

So what then, what if we can't? What if we don't have any other choice but to fight?

[cardinalrule]

Picking your battles is common sense. If you don't know that then you aren't going to last very long.

[He really cannot emphasize that enough. Even though these are self-defense classes, the best chance they have at survival is to just not fight.

He rolls his wrist casually.]

If you can't run, then you need to size up your opponent. Figure out their weaknesses, and use those against them. The best way to do that is to see how they attack without letting them get a hit in. It's pretty simple.

[No, it isn't.]

[nonmagical]

Sooo... we learn to dodge them? And that's how we see their weakness?

[She's curious how that works. Despite her fight-y nature, she's never actually had to pick her battles because she's never had to fight before.]

[neverbreaks]

So it's learning to pay attention to what they're doing while trying to avoid them so we don't get hit?

[ It really doesn't sound that simple. ]

[cardinalrule]

Right on both counts. And to be able to do all of that you can't be thinking about your own movements. You need to know your body inside and out - [He taps his heel on the floor.] Be light on your feet, know how to keep yourself balanced no matter how you're moving.

[nonmagical]

Be light on your feet...

Kind of like dancing?

[As an example, she takes a few graceful steps - like the start of a dance. She stops a few steps in.]

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa watches Mirabel for a moment, before looking back to Hunter. She at least felt a little reassured about knowing her body - she had spent years learning and maintaining absolute control of her strength that it was almost as natural to her now as breathing. That wouldn't be too much trouble.

But the need to be light on her feet...that, she knew, would be the more difficult part. She'd always needed to be grounded and steady, as firm as the rocks that she often had to move. Having to move quick wasn't something that had ever been required of her. ]

[cardinalrule]

[From behind his mask Hunter blinks, then raises an eyebrow. He's never thought about comparing fighting to dancing before, because dancing is some nonsense people do for socialization purposes. It isn't life or death.]

What? No, don't be ridiculous. This isn't like dancing. Can you die if you dance wrong?

[He goes to scoop up a couple of weights, holding those out for Maribel and gesturing at some heavier ones for Luisa.]

Here. Start lifting weight, but do it with one leg lifted up. Eyes closed, no wobbling.