(someday he'll look back on this and laugh. probably.)

[flowrite]

Fiacre Lachance 5/11 near Viea Village

Um. Hi everyone! (my first real post on here!!) (/ω＼) Does anyone know of someone who teaches self-defense, or of a good gym or studio that offers self-defense classes? Must be non-judgmental. No... body shaming, any of that stuff. Asking for a friend, so it's very important! Please let me know. Thank you! ヾ(＾-＾)ノ

Comments

[flowrite]

Fiacre Lachance Okay, I'll let my friend know!
Fiacre Lachance and it doesn't matter that someone is an adult, or a guy? We saw a few classes advertised online for women's self defense, not so much for guys....

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo Kihara That's not an issue at all. Our class is open for all ages and genders. Just because someone is a guy doesn't mean they won't get mugged or assaulted. As long as everyone is respectful about each other's comfort levels, we find it works out quite well.

[flowrite]

Fiacre Lachance That sounds perfect! I'll tell my friend to stop by this week and check it out! Thank you (◠‿◠✿)

[thisloveisjustice]

Tatsuo Kihara You're welcome!
I look forward to meeting your friend.

action; forward dated to Friday

[flowrite]

[Friday isn't necessarily ideal, but Fai can push his homecooked-meal-and-friends night to Saturday this week while he tries to decide if he's actually going to do this self-defense thing or not. And this is too important to give up on.

He sneaks into the dojo shortly before class starts, hanging near the back, trying to be as inconspicuous as a six-foot tall man can be.]

Re: action; forward dated to Friday

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo spots Fai pretty quickly and gives him a friendly smile from across the room before the class starts.

There are about a dozen people in the class. The majority are female, mostly high school and college aged, though there are a couple middle-aged women as well. But a third of the class are male, of varying age. Two are middle-aged and two are teenagers.

There's also an additional instructor, woman in her seventies with short silvery hair who comes up to Tatsuo's shoulder. She's the one who actually leads the class after Tatsuo runs everyone through warm-up exercises.]

Alright, last week we had a little fun working on what to do if someone threatens you with a knife. But this week, it's back to the basics. Remember, the point of these techniques are to help you escape an attacker. When practicing with your partners, don't grip lightly. Put some strength behind it. A few bruises now means your partner will have the confidence to use the necessary force later. The same goes for when you switch. Remember to use full strength on the breakaways.

[She motions Tatsuo over and proceeds to demonstration the first technique, breaking free from someone grabbing your arm. By the end, Tatsuo is on the floor after the woman swipes his legs out from under him. And then she mock kicks him in the ribs.]

It's not enough to just make sure they're down. You have to make sure you have time to run too. If that means fighting dirty, so be it.

[flowrite]

[Well, the mix of genders and ages in the class is definitely reassuring. Some of Fai's anxiety about being a grown man needing to take a self-defense class eases, at least. Since he's only observing he settles into his little corner in the back to watch--

--and is promptly glad that no one's looking his way, because as pale as he is, he goes white as a sheet when the instructor mentions being threatened with a knife.

He stays quiet during the instruction, watching the moves with interest and wondering how the hell he's going to be able to pull any of this off. He's tall but he's a twig, and he's never hurt anyone before. But the alternative....]

[thisloveisjustice]

[As the class continues, the students eventually break into pairs to practice with each other. Tatsuo and the instructor, Ogawa-sensei, walk around the room, helping this pair or that pair with the techniques. Tatsuo also cajoles the students shorter than him into trying the techniques on him, to show them they can put someone bigger than them off his or her balance.

With the students taller than him, Tatsuo takes a different approach (he's only 5'9"). For these students, it's harder for them to find a partner taller than them to practice, so Tatsuo gives them a shorter but stronger opponent.

By the end of the class, Tatsuo has probably spent more time sprawled on the floor than actually standing up.]

[flowrite]

[It's a long class, but there's a lot to watch and a lot of knowledge to absorb (even if he's not getting to practice any of it firsthand), so the time passes much more quickly than Fai would have guessed. He stays quiet and out of the way, just observing, and when the class ends and students start to file out of the dojo he hangs back, mostly so as not to get in anyone's way.

He'd also like to thank Tatsuo for letting him watch the class, and possibly talk about joining, but the normally boisterous and outgoing blond is vastly out of his element here, so he'll just... hang back, and see what happens.]

[thisloveisjustice]

[As the students start filtering out, a couple hang back to chat with Tatsuo briefly, but they don't linger long. It's getting late and most of the students are eager to head home. After a few minutes, he's free to head over to where Fai is standing.]

Hey, glad you could make it!

[flowrite]

[...right. Because of course no one actually believed Fai when he said he was asking 'for a friend.' Fai sighs internally, puts on a smile, and gives Tatsuo a friendly little wave.]

Hey, of course! Being Majima's friend was a pretty good recommendation. You're really good at this stuff!

[thisloveisjustice]

[Wellllllll no not really. Sorry. As an instructor, he's actually heard that line quite a few times. No judgement though, sometimes it's hard asking for yourself.]

I've been studying here since I was a kid. Utsuki-sensei really helped me a lot growing up, so I help teach now to show my appreciation.

sorry for the slowness, i'm at a con >_>;

[flowrite]

That's really nice of you! You said there was this class and... karate, was it? So you do karate too?

pshhh it's fine. i hope you're having fun!

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo nods]

Yes. I teach the beginner adult class. Those classes focus more on basic techniques and katas, or practice patterns.

I very much did :)

[flowrite]

[He nods slowly and crosses his arms together, a bit of a defensive gesture even if he doesn't consciously mean it to be.]

I think this class is definitely more my speed. I don't need anything fancy, just... something to get away from someone, like what you were demonstrating earlier.

[thisloveisjustice]

Ah, you mean when I was having my butt handed to me by everyone. Yes, the basic point of this class is to help create muscle memory, so that if you ever find yourself in a difficult situation, your body will know what to do on its own.

[flowrite]

[He laughs aloud at the first part]

Yeah, something like that!

And yeah, I think that's pretty much what I need. I've been in some... bad situations before, and I'd rather not let it happen again. Especially with all of this going on with Retrospec and the creepy pictures and everything....

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo nods. If he'd seen the individual taking those damn photos, he'd have socked them. But it was like they were taken from thin air. And you can't punch thin air.]

It does rather make one want to keep a baseball bat beside the bed, doesn't it? Most of the people who take this class have the same reason. They got mugged walking home from work or they're getting bullied at school. I had one student last year who had recently gotten out of a bad relationship. We all want the same thing, to feel safe. And barring that we want to feel like we can at least look after ourselves.