Klaus Hargreeves (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hellogoodhigh) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2019-09-12 12:34 pm
hellogoodhigh) wrote in maskormenacelogs2019-09-12 12:34 pm
hellogoodhigh) wrote in maskormenacelogs2019-09-12 12:34 pm
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"Maybe I just like to call him pretty. Give him a ego boost." he teased, chuckling about it. Klaus was a strange one and he loved him for it. Ah but then she called him attractive. Ben blinked, then ducked his head a bit, grinning. A hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "Nothing about me is intimidating, at least." he said, trying to brush it off.
At his feet he bounced on his toes a moment and nodded. "After work it is. though not Fridays. That's already taken up with something important." Swimming. With her.
"Okay! So, there is a lot that you can learn, but I'm thinking some simple things to start. Like what to do if someone is trying to choke you out. It takes six seconds to choke someone until they pass out. the amount of muggings I've seen is ridiculous, and there's always someone trying to choke another out."
He stepped forward, hands coming to her neck, thumbs in front, hands wrapped around, just lightly. "What would you do if some asshole got hold of you like this?"
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She laughed a little and nodded. "That's fair. And no, you're not intimidating, but then again, not many people can intimidate me anyway." To the scheduling, Rikki took a mental note and grinned a little. "Yeah, I'm pretty busy on Fridays, so that's fine," she agreed playfully. She is usually busy on Fridays, but she'd usually be busy with him, so she found it a little funny that he brought it up.
Her eyes widen a little at the idea of being choked in an attack. That hadn't ever really occurred to her, but once he'd said it, she realized that it made sense if the assailant was larger or stronger, why not incapacitate that way? But then Ben demonstrates and asks what she'd do if someone else came at her like that.
Rikki couldn't help it, her response was reflexive.
One of her hands moved down, closing almost into a fist and causing a nearby bottle of water to explode, raining warm water down on them.
"Oh, no... Didn't think that one through," she muttered, frowning, just a moment before turning a mermaid and dropping unceremoniously to the floor with a loud, ugly-sounding thwap. "I would say I meant to do that, but it would be a lie," she confessed as she went to work to steam herself dry so that she could have her legs back.
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"Rikki, the unintimidatable. It's your super hero title now." he said with a smirk. And as she said she was busy on Friday's he felt himself go a bit smug in his smile. Friday's were his favorite day lately.
But okay, seriously now. Training. He was pretty sure this was going to be an easy one to start with, but then he jumped, letting go as water came out of no where. he ran a hand down his face and--Thwap! he blinked and Rikki was on the ground, as a Mermaid.
He blinked again, then blurted a short laugh. "Okay, so, I should have said it to begin with. No powers." He crouched down near her and gave her a pointed look, elbows resting on his knees as she started to dry herself.
"This place sometimes messes with powers. Lets pretend you've lost your powers all together. Though, honestly, if you hadn't got wet yourself, that trick certainly surprised me, so that's good. The element of surprise is a good thing."
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The just in case thought floated through her mind and faded her smile a little, but his follow up had her laughing again anyway. "Oh, okay, perfect. Now all I need is a ridiculous costume, yeah?" she joked.
At his bark of a laugh, Rikki's expression went a little sour. She wasn't upset with him but she also didn't love that she deserved that laugh. She'd thought she was being so clever, but alas.
Steam rose off her tail as Ben crouched beside her and she went on with her process while giving him her otherwise undivided attention. "That's not actually what I would've done," she confessed. "I just didn't want to hurt you. What I would've done if some asshole had grabbed me by the throat is heat up his bodily fluids until he was too feverish and disoriented to keep holding on. Then I'd've kicked him in the balls," she explained dryly, giving a little facial shrug as her legs came back into place and she got back to her feet. Clearing her throat, she nodded. "But...right. No powers. Okay, try it again," she prompted.
Once he'd repeated the movement, Rikki responded in a way that could only be considered weak and laughable. She'd never been attacked before the mermaid powers. She first tried to pull away, but the reality was that if someone had her by the throat, they wouldn't be gentle like Ben was being. So, she changed tack and tried to knee him, only he had put too much space in between them.
Rikki deflated. "I suppose I get choked," she pouted.
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As she dried herself off and explained, he let out a low whistle. "Honestly, you're powers just amaze me. that would actually do it right well. Glad you didn't just use it on me. As for the groin kick, that's always acceptable, if you have the closeness for it. But shit, boiling someones blood? that's fucked up and perfect."
But, this was a just in case the powers thing doesn't work. he hoped they never needed this kind of thing, but still. It's handy to know.
As she struggled in this new try, he smiled softly. "You're fighting my strength against yours. And that isn't to say you're weak, but I have a position over you. You want to be aware of the weak point. The thumbs. Instead of pulling at my arms, you want to duck your head down between them, breaking the hold my thumbs have, then ducking away and running."
He demonstrated how he meant it, ducking down with his weight and lurching under the arm. It was an easy move and a good set up for other moves. He tried to be encouraging as they worked.
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She watched how he moved and when it was her turn, she tried to get out of it the same way. It took one failed try bumping into his wrist and one failed try getting out of the hold only to have stepped awkwardly and dropped onto the mat clumsily before she finally got it on the third try. Rikki was relieved when he had her keep working on the same move several more times until she'd gotten it down properly.
"Right, if I muck up everything else today, at least I've learned one thing, so I call that a success no matter what," she said with a grin when they took a quick break so that they could get drinks and, presumably, so Ben could decide how to proceed with the training. She wondered how long they were going to work each time they got together for it and found herself hoping it was plenty long, not because she wanted to be working the whole time, but because she genuinely loved spending time with Ben and she was excited for a new excuse to do so.
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Still, he was glad she was picking it up fast. and she was doing well too. A few more times through it and she had it down good. breaking the thumbs hold, ducking down and dodging out and away. He was beaming as they took a quick break. He liked this time with her, really.
"Seriously, this is just the gate way move to more defensive things. if you move through it as fast as that? you'll be golden." He might ask Diego to spar with him a bit to get back into fighting spirits again, but the crime fighting at night had been going pretty well so far.
"For a first time, you're picking it up well." he said, digging into the gym bag he left there before and. Taking out a water bottle he held it... and a straw out to her before taking his own. he had noticed she used straws for drinks. We can try breaking a choke hold from behind, or maybe work on a defensive attack to get you away from danger?"
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She took the bottle of water carefully, lifting the bottom hem of her shirt to use it as a towel for some drops of condensation at the bottom before circling her fingers around it to take it from him. "Thanks, mate," she said, her tone warm and appreciative as her eyes shift to the straw he'd provided. Ben was really sweet, she found herself thinking as she sipped on it and he went on talking. He thought of things like that, things that wouldn't occur to her if the tables were turned.
"Which do you think would be more beneficial?" she asked, "or rather, if you think they'd be equally beneficial, then which one do you think would be the next in the natural progression?" He would know better than she would. She can't help noticing that this was a slightly different side of Ben than what she was used to seeing every Friday at the beach. This was more business-like and focused. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just different. It felt like getting to know him better and that couldn't be bad. "I'll defer to your judgement. You're the teacher. I'm just here to learn, yeah?" she asked, setting the bottle down when she'd finished sipping from it. "I'm ready when you are."
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He took a sip of his water and considered what she said. What would be more beneficial. "they both would be, really, but lets go with one more choke hold to cover that for now and see where that takes us."
He took another sip of water before standing, leaving the bottle on the floor. "This one is a little harder but once you see the weak point it becomes simple." He said and moved near her, giving her a smirk. He reached out to pull her closer, his right arm looping around her neck, pulling her close to his chest an holding her there a moment. From behind her ear he said softly. "Try to get free." And as she tried he's carefully lift her off her feet and drag backwards to add to the problem.
he had to try to ignore the part that just hit him. Outside of a few hand touches like helping someone to their feet, or sleeping back to back with Five when he was here, this is the most contact he's had with a human since being alive. And it was with Rikki...
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That confidence he had in her was why she was deferring to his judgment. He saw something in her that she didn't, yet, and she wanted to trust his gut. So when Ben suggested the chokehold, Rikki trusted that and nodded, waiting for him to approach.
The little smirk on his face as he approached surprised a little laugh out of Rikki as he positioned himself behind her, pulling her closer with an arm hooked around her neck. Reflexively, her hands went to his arm, curling fingers around his forearm and pausing when she heard his soft voice in her ear. Her eyes closed in a slow blink and she pushed away the attention she felt drifting toward the unexpected flutter in her stomach and the sudden closeness and the way she'd felt his words against her skin as much as she'd heard them.
"Right," she said, partially trying to draw her focus back to the task at hand. Obviously, she pulled on his arm. She kicked a foot out behind her, trying to catch his knee or leg to knock him off kilter, but she missed and he was able to lift her off her feet for it, dragging her backward. The impulse to use her powers flared up again — splash the water again, turn into a mermaid so you're too heavy to drag — and she grunted with the frustration that came with knowing she shouldn't indulge it if she wanted to learn.
Rikki thrashed against him, trying again to find his leg behind her to kick it out from under him, but she failed again. Maybe she went on a big longer than she ought to have, but she wanted to find the weak spot he'd mentioned on her own. A minute or so later, though, she'd tired herself out, slumping back against him with defeat and fatigue. "You win," she conceded, frowning. "Show me how."
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As she struggled, he effortlessly held her back, for much longer then he should have. He wasn't seriously going to choke her though but... "Six seconds, remember. That's all it takes." And he let her to her feet as she called Uncle basically. Still holding his arm around her. he leaned in a bit (ignoring how damn soft she was) and reached with his other arm. patting his bicep. "You're fighting against this, and dropping with your full weight will sometimes help, as well kicking backwards into a groin, if you can find it, but the fastest way is to break my grip."
He wiggled his gripping hand. "I noticed you found the weak point but wasn't sure how to break from it. that's where your feet come in." He explained how she had to take a step forward with the one foot, and a side step in and back with the other. How it turned her into her attacker so her arms could push her free. And once again dropping the head out of the hold, pushing and running.
"That's where that first move come in handy here. Once you get turned you can duck and run again." he said, and tugged his arm around her neck once again, leaning in to speak softly. "Try it in slow motion again, like before. Step out, turn, duck and push." he encouraged.
Kirk had said she said he was cute. WHY that thought had to pop into his head NOW of all times was beyond him. Right now he had to be serious, right? Right.
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Six seconds, he reminded her and she huffed softly, frustrated with herself. He let her go for much, much longer than an actual attacker would've had to before she passed out. She's got loads of work to do. It's a lot harder that she'd thought. When he leaned in again, Rikki's stomach fluttered again and her whole body seemed to blush, all going warm and pink, but she kept her focus where it needed to be: listening to his instruction on how to get out of the hold.
"Right, step out, turn, duck, and push, got it," she repeated. Her audible mental note was vague, but she felt semi-confident that she'd gotten it the first time.
She was wrong. Her first attempt only made his grip tighter because she moved in the wrong direction. "Oh, for Christ's sake," she muttered, frustrated with herself as she moved to reset. Rikki heaved a heavy sigh. She needed to rein in her impatience, lest Ben think she wanted to give up. Of course she didn't, but that didn't make the process less frustrating. She liked to be able to do things immediately. When the other girls, for example, had gotten their powers figured out a few days before Rikki had managed her own, she'd been irritated. This was no exception.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a huff, Rikki cleared her throat and nodded. "Right, I'm ready to try again." This time, she took it slower and, while she stumbled through it, she did manage to break free as instructed.