The Salle, Sunday Afternoon

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia was still full of excess energy, and while Roy had been a lot of fun, attempting to seduce her roommate was just wrong. So she'd decided to do a two birds, one stone thing, and work off some of that energy in the salle. She'd told Blackagar in Macro-Tactics that she didn't know much about hand-to-hand combat. Her skills with a blaster weren't in question, but if she was ever disarmed or in close quarters, she needed to know more about defending herself. So she was punching away at a target dummy.

If it could laugh at her, it probably would.


[Expecting one, but open salle is open.]

Comments

[likes_scoundrels]

"You know how to fight, don't you?" Leia said. She'd only taken the one class with him so far, but she'd heard about others. "And you're a lot bigger and stronger than I am. It'd be useful to know what I should do against someone like you."

She had no idea how much it might bother her father, so that wasn't a factor.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I do," Max nodded.

He thought for a moment. "What, exactly, do you want to learn for?"

[likes_scoundrels]

"My home is in the midst of a rebellion," Leia said, glancing up in the vague direction of her home galaxy. "I'm not supposed to be involved in the fighting but I know it's going to be unavoidable." She couldn't be protected from it forever, after all. "I can shoot, but I want to know what to do if I'm ever caught unarmed."

Or, say, if she had to strangle a Hutt with a chain.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max raised an eyebrow. "Fight to escape, or fight to kill?" Those were two very different propositions.

[likes_scoundrels]

"Fight to stay alive, whatever it takes," Leia said. She looked up (way up) at Max. "I've killed once. I'll do it again if I have to." She didn't look forward to it, but she'd do what was necessary.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"So you're primarily thinking defensively?" Max asked. No daring commando raids against secret moon-base shield generators?

[likes_scoundrels]

"At the moment, yes," Leia said. She'd learned the lesson about needing to keep out of combat on Kattada. "But I know it won't stay that way forever. The rebellion is still small, and we're going to be called upon to do a lot of things we're not used to. I'd rather be prepared for anything."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Would you like me to teach you, then?"

[likes_scoundrels]

"Yes," she said. "Very much so, assuming you're willing to do so."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Sure, why not?" Max was willing to give anyone a shot if they asked. And he didn't even know who her father was.

[likes_scoundrels]

"Do you want to start now?" Leia asked. She was more than willing to do so. All this pent up energy needed some sort of outlet.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Sure." Max studied Leia for a moment. "Is what you were working on earlier a good indication of your current skill level?" That was: lack of one.

[likes_scoundrels]

"I don't have much experience at all, yes," Leia sighed. "I'm well trained in shooting a blaster, but my aunts thought a princess learning self-defense was unseemly."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"So I suppose we'll have to start at the beginning." Max wasn't going to voice his opinion that Leia's aunts were being silly.

[likes_scoundrels]

Oh, Leia would more than agree with him on that. They were responsible for the hair, after all.

"Tell me what to do," she said eagerly.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that the first thing to do is to learn how to stand properly." S tance was always a good place to start.

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia stretched out her arms to her sides. "So show me," she said.

Somewhere Anakin was probably getting a bad feeling.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Feet first." Max settled into a simple defensive stance, weight settled on his back foot.

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia studied him, then adjusted her stance to imitate his. "Like this?"

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max walked around her thoughtfully. "Your front foot is too far forward, and your weight is shifted forward a bit too far."

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia shifted her position a little. "Is that better? You can move me if you need to."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

He continued walking around Leia until he was in front of her again. Then he reached out and shoved her backward to see if she'd go down.

[likes_scoundrels]

She wasn't entirely expecting that and staggered backwards at the shove, but managed to catch herself so that she didn't completely fall down. "You could've warned me," she said crossly. That wasn't the point, Leia.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Why would I have done that?" Max asked, looking slightly amused at the suggestion.

[likes_scoundrels]

In response she resumed her stance, getting more of her weight on her back, grateful she had good reflexes and hadn't ended up embarrassing herself by falling on her butt. "Try that again," she challenged.