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Damnation take crappy days at work, with the way things had gone the past couple of days, Aubrey really needed to beat the crap out of some things. Normally she loved her job, but a combination of extra work days with rowdy customers equals a really bad week.

Aubrey went straight to the locker room in a storm of frustrated energy and changed quickly, popping her neck and stretching lightly as she did so to start warming up. She jammed her headphones into her ears and shuffled until she found an angry sounding song so she could push herself in her start up run.

Aubrey went directly out to the running track and picked up a harsh pace. She felt her emotions start to calm down as faces blurred past her as she ran, she could feel the pleasant burn in her muscles and pushed past the pain to the euphoric sensation that was brought on by harsh exercise.

After running for 40 minutes she was tired out enough that she was no longer angry and stretched out her calf muscles and headed towards the Fighting ring of the gym, she didn't see anyone around that looked interested in sparing.

So Aubrey squared off with a punching back and alternated between punches and kicks enjoying the feel of her muscles straining as she sent the sand back rocking back and forth from her blows. Then she started adding dips and turns as she continued to hit the punching back, using the momentum to give her direction. However she really wanted someone to fight with at the time.

Left, Right, Left Kick, dodge, Right Kick, dodge. Aubrey was nearly lost in the rhythm of steady practice, although she wished the bag would do more than just swing back and forth.

The sound of a thud and then a cry of pain broke Aubrey's concentration enough for her to look over at Johnny. She deftly caught the punching bag's final swing and stopped its movement before she suffered the same fate and then paused for a moment as she observed the boy that was now laying on the ground.

With a small grin on her face she crossed the small space between them and peered down at him. She didn't laugh at him, Aubrey could still remember a time when she was younger, the first time she hit the bag hard enough to make it swing she had turned to grin proudly at her brother and was immediately flattened for her lack of concentration.

"Forgot about the bag's momentum huh?" She questioned offering her ungloved hand down to help him up.

Her face had lost all traces of amusement and there was simply a friendly smile on her lips as frizzy curls escaped from their french braid and fell lightly around her face. In the light of the gym the golden flecks in her eyes were more prevalent, making her eyes turn hazel.

Aubrey smiled at Johnny as she helped him to his feet then stepped back into a habitual balanced stance. "Yeah they do that on occasion, you just have to learn when to step back or just hit it back before it flattens you." Aubrey responded with a grin.

"I'm Aubrey, and as for running there's a very nice running track that goes along the outside of the building, it's much better than running stuck in one place, and it doesn't give you vertigo when you get off." Aubrey added after introducing herself.

"And you can't expect to be amazing the first time you try it out, I'm not the best at boxing but I haven't found too many people who actually practice Aikido here, which is my preferred fighting style." She examined him swiftly, he seemed to be the basic body type that would prefer Aikido to boxing, then hitched her hip and placed her hand on her waist.

"If you want I can show you the basics of Aikido, or what I know of boxing?" Aubrey offered with a friendly smile.

Lucifer Force

Aubrey couldn't help but grin at his sudden enthusiasm. She remembered what that was like, though Aubrey had been twelve at the time. "First of all, Don't call me Sensei, I'm no master at this, just call me by my name." Aubrey informed him, hoping that it would stick and she wouldn't be called sensei again.

"Second of all, Aikido is hard work,but it's not like Karate or Kung fu, the whole purpose of Aikido is to learn how to defend yourself without hurting the other opponent." Aubrey examined him for a moment. "Not that it can't be used for deadly purposes against a target who doesn't know how to defend themselves, but it's basically a series of holds and throws, so one of the first things you need to learn is how to fall properly without injuring yourself, because you will fall a lot." Aubrey informed him.

"You won't need those gloves, but we'll move to the mats if you're still interested in learning." Aubrey added gesturing towards the left where there was a large area of nice squishy mats to fall on.

Lucifer Force

Aubrey grinned at him. "Better, much better" she responded smiling pleasantly at him as she led him to the mats. When he started to talk about repaying her in some way she frowned and shook her head.

"Johnny, Look at it this way, the more I teach you the better I understand what I already know, it gets cemented in my own mind. You're actually doing me a favor, giving me someone to spar with since I haven't found anyone practicing Aikido since I moved here." She smiled at him, her green eyes shimmering in the fluorescent light. "So really, don't talk anymore about repaying me in some way, there really is no need."

Suddenly she grinned wickedly at him. "Besides, after the first lesson you will probably be cursing me instead of thanking me, the first lesson is about learning how to take falls, so you don't end up hurting yourself even more than you normally would." Aubrey paused in front of him, waiting for him to take off the boxing gloves before continuing.

"You will want to develop a proper way of standing that is balanced, so no matter what you are always ready for an attack, and it is over all better for your health and posture." Aubrey added with a gentle smile. She fell back into her balanced state, her legs far enough a part that she could remain standing if attacked from any angle. "Go ahead and try" She suggested with an encouraging tone in her voice.

Lucifer Force

Aubrey grinned at him and then gave him a little shove to see if he was balanced enough. "You need to keep your center of gravity low and centralized so that you are less likely to fall, or lose your footing, and then if you do fall you have more control over where you go." Aubrey instructed as she circled him, making minor adjustments to his stance by moving a foot here or there until he appeared from the outside to be balanced.

"Now the way you fall depends on the direction you are falling, there are a few break falls that will stop your momentum without hurting yourself or at least do less damage depending on how far you are falling. However we'll start with falls to either side, if you take a hit or are thrown this is the most likely direction you'd fall." Aubrey knelt on the mat and gestured for Johnny to do the same. "For learning purposes it's easier to start on your knees because you are less likely to hurt yourself before you master the proper way to fall from a standing position."

Aubrey suddenly collapsed to the left, using her right hand to shield her face from any additional attack and slapped the floor with her left hand, arm stretched out strait. She rolled over her left and stood up.

"Now with this move when you are falling you want to look in the opposite direction, grab your opposite shoulder with your falling arm and take the fall on your upper arm to shoulder. When you hit the ground release your shoulder so that your arm will naturally fall forward and slap the ground, lessening the impact." She smiled down at him. "Go ahead and give it a try if you think you understand." she added encouragingly.

Lucifer Force

Aubrey grinned and put out a hand to steady the boy, "Not really but I've been doing this since I was twelve, I've had an awful lot of experience falling." she responded with a light shrug. "That last one looked pretty good, though I think we might save the forward tuck and roll till another time, I'd rather you not break your neck on my watch." Aubrey added patting his shoulder lightly. "I'll go ahead and show you the other break falls, so you know them. They're a little less complicated too." she added hoping he'd be able to grasp them quickly.

"If you are falling forward you will want to take the brunt of the fall on your forearms with your palms stretched out flat, so when you hit the meaty portion of your arms will take most of the force and your elbows will naturally hinge to bring the rest of your body to the ground. You want to make sure that you keep your chin up as you fall so you don't hit your head on the ground." She demonstrated, collapsing from a kneeling possition to fall flat out in front of her, taking the weight on her arms and then bringing the rest of her body down. Then getting back to her knees she looked at Johnny.

"Falling backwards is even easier, you want to curl your back and tuck in your chin, and will slap the ground with both hands, so your momentum will rock you backwards without having any jarring impacts on your pelvis or spine, tucking your chin to your chest will prevent your head from flailing backwards and hurting your head or neck. And having both arms spread out will lessen the impact and stop your momentum" She demonstrated this one, falling backwards and letting her arms flop downwards to stop herself from rolling too far back, then pushed off of the ground to roll back up to a seated position.

"All of these moves aren't too hard if you understand the basic principles behind them, they'll help you not to get hurt in bad situations and is a building block for Aikido."

Aubrey nodded at him as she stood up and brushed off her knees, "I wouldn't mind teaching, you could both come in say monday and friday evenings?" Aubrey questioned looking at him. For the most part her schedule left those nights free, she would just have to make sure she could get those days off of work.

"If you know anyone else that wants to learn we could probably book a room from the gym for those days, that way we have a little bit of privacy and it wont be as noisy, I think that they do that here." She added making a mental note to check with the front desk and see if she could rent one of the side rooms and some of the mats, it would be great to have more people to practice with, and if she was ultimately helping other people, so much the better.

"Did you want to learn anything else today? Or wait to see if we can have more people to practice with?" Aubrey questioned as she brushed her hair away from her eyes.