Antony had no idea about the superhero thing. In fact, he didn't WANT to have an idea about it. He was firmly sticking to obliviousness, and so far it was working. He shouldered his bag and closed his locker, intent on getting home so he could write the paper that was due in a month.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't have to go to the hero kids: one of them came to him. How Aurora knew where his locker was, she wouldn't have told him. But there she was, standing in his path, holding on to the straps of her backpack that hung over her shoulders.
She looked up at him with those big, sea green eyes before asking simply: "Will you teach me?"
He blinked. "Aren't you Chris's girlfriend?" he asked for wont of anything else to say. Then he inwardly cursed himself, asking just what kind of "teaching" had he been thinking about, anyway? Dammit, Thanatos was a bad example!
"Uh, yeah?" she answered him. Well, she was a girl, and she was a friend of Chris' so, she didn't deny that she was Chris' girl friend. (Just wait until she got into those teenage magazines.)
"So, will you?" she asked again, not being very specific about what she was asking for, but she looked very earnest about it. "I'll be a good student, and I'll work hard!"
"You're in need of a tutor?" he asked, looking a bit confused, still. "For what class? If it's singing, I'm afraid I can't help, I'm not very gifted in that area."
He looked around. "Do you mind if we talk about this on the way out?" he added.
She turned on her heel, heading for the door way to walk with him. Antony couldn't sing? Wow! She grinned at him for that. "Don't worry, I gave up on singing a long time ago," she admitted to him. It was okay to tell someone who couldn't sing that you couldn't sing either, after all.
"But I want you to teach me how to fight!" she then told him.
"A few self defense moves wouldn't be too much of a problem," he said, jumping to conclusions. "You'll have to meet with me for about an hour or so sometime. But don't you think my Father would be a better teacher?"
"Well..... I know -you-, and I don't really know him," she told him honestly. She had barely met the man, after all! And she had met Antony more than once!
"I have time now, if you want too! I want to learn!" Self-defense is what he called breaking things? Well, okay! Learning how to fight was learning how to fight, right? And it would be useful. Maybe she could get him to teach the others, too!
"He's your gym teacher," Antony said dryly. He sighed, thinking of his paper and how he wanted to get it done. But of course he DID have an entire month--
"You are just surrounded by cute little girls, aren't you?" Thanatos asked from behind him. Antony stiffened slightly. "I mean, look'at her, she's a babe in the making! You could almost not blame a guy for going down the path you're going!"
Antony reached up, straightening his shirt slightly to keep from reacting. "I suppose I can show you a few moves."
Thanatos started laughing his head off behind him.
Rory noticed the sudden change in body movements with Antony, which distracted her for a moment. Then she shook it off. "Okay!! Now? And you're dad's really really -big-, so, I don't think learning from him would be very good for me," she added.
As far as the entity known as Thanatos? She had no clue at all.
"I'm taller--oh, you meant muscle wise," Antony said. "That makes no difference in teaching," he said. "We might as well use the gym, it should be empty by now."
"Oooh, you should show her your muscles! No, wait, you don't want to go down that path," Thanatos said.
Well, Antony was much taller, but well... she didn't she could get Shade into the superhero thing. At all. And Antony was a student! "Okay!" she told him happily, so unaware of the other, one sided, conversation.
"So, you've been doing this a long time?" she asked him next.
"Ever since he grew to a teen!" Thanatos said, moving to her side. "He's still in the closet about it. But you wouldn't understand that even if you could hear me, now would you?"
"Doing what?" Antony asked, glaring at Thanatos for a brief second. "Self defense? I suppose I've been doing it most of my life." Unfortunately.
"So," the younger girl continued, oblivious to Thanatos was implying, let alone saying. He was right, though. She wouldn't have understood it. Yet. But she did lean slightly towards him. "You're going to be really good a teaching it then?" she asked him.
There was something almost wicked going on about the look she was giving Antony. Not that she realized this.
"Oooh yeah, he'll be great!" Thanatos said. Antony inwardly laughed. Thanatos had never met Chris.
"I can't promise that I'll be as good as my Father would be," he said honestly. "But I can teach you what to do in a dangerous situation. The first thing you need to know is how to run away from the situation."
"Oh running I -can- do! I'm getting better at that, too," she told him almost proudly. Her little tail swung slightly as well.
"Then you probably won't need any self defense lessons," he said honestly. "If you can avoid the situation you've won the battle.
"But I want to know how to defend myself if I -can't- avoid the situation. Like I'm cornered or something. I can't run through walls," she told him logically. Besides, being a superhero meant she shouldn't run!
He stepped through the door of the gym, motioning for her to go to the middle. "Have you ever been in a situation where that has happened?" he asked her, reaching down to take his shoes off. Then he reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, taking it off and revealing the pristine white wifebeater he wore underneath it.
He had been doing his own laundry for a while, now.
And that reminded her a lot of Shade. Only, you know, much cleaner, which spoke volumes. Her back pack had been left on the side, along with her shoes, too.
"No, but it's always good to be prepared," she replied.
He walked out to the middle of the gym, ignoring Thanatos as he commented, "Wait, wait, wait! You can't do this in a public place! You horndog, you!"
"Now the first lesson is to always maintain your space bubble," Antony said. "Hold out an arm and turn in a circle."
Rory watched him with a very serious expression on her young face. When instructed, she held out her arms and turned in a circle. First she'd learn some things, then she would pop the question!
Besides, he had to be evaluated, right?
"That area is yours," he said. "No one has the right to enter that area without your permission. Understand?"
"Okay," she answered, looking up at him, though she was a bit puzzled. Chris and Wisp and other friends entered the space alllllll the time! But then, those were friends. There was a difference between friends and bad guys.
She smiled up at Antony. "What next?"
"The next part is if you feel uncomfortable, feel free to scream. 'Back off,' or 'get back' or just 'no!' work fine," he said.
"Good lesson to teach her," Thanatos said. "But aren't you doing yourself a disservice? I mean, since you're all alone with a pretty little--"
"Feel free to yell it now," Antony said. "Bringing your hands up slightly."
Rory brought her hands to her mouth while taking a deep breath. Then, just as it seemed she was going to yell, she didn't and looked up at Antony. "But, if I do that, then teachers would come and they might make the lesson stop. I'm a goood yeller," she told him. Tough how she came to this conclusion was another matter. She never had to before.
"Now, if that doesn't work, then what?" she said, settling her hands back down at her sides.
"If yelling doesn't work, then you aim for the soft spots," he said. "The soft spots are the nose, the throat, the groin, the shins, the feet, and the solar plexus," he said, pointing each out on himself. "You want to hit soft spots with hard."
"You're not even old enough for that sort of joke!" Thanatos said, faking an aghast gasp of shock.
Soft spots and hitting them was -very- important. She mentally noted that and gave a little nod. Her eyes followed to each place he touched even as she wondered if Chris even -had- a soft spot.
Not that she'd be fighting against -him- or anything. "Okay!" she answered chipperly.
So... when did the hitting begin, anyway?
"Now, let's teach you how to make a fist," he said, walking over. "Curl your fingers into your hand, then wrap your thumb over them. You want to hit with your first two knuckles, got it?"
She looked down at the hand in question, curling her fingers and making a fist as he told her too. Making a fist was easy. She had done it before, but hadn't used it like the people in the movies used it. And the people in movies were always awesome.
Unless they were a villain. She looked up at her teacher again expectantly.
"Keep your elbows close to your body--" he started out.
"Did she tell you why she wanted to learn that, Antony?" Shade asked from the shadows. Antony glanced up, slightly surprised.
"Hello, Mister Shade," Rory called, surprised but distracted with wanting to learn. Then she gave Antony and big, mischievous grin. Her green eyes shone brightly with an almost playful air.
"I want you to teach the others on the superhero team too! Except Chris, because he probably already knows," she blurted out. Sure she had been saving that information, but saving it was getting -boring-.
"Oh lord," Antony muttered, running a hand over his face. "I can understand teaching you for unavoidable moments, but I refuse to teach you so you can get yourself into them by choice." Girls weren't supposed to fight crime, fast or not!
"Awwww~!" Rory pouted her biggest pout at him for that response. Sure she wasn't a little baby any more, but... still! Belatedly, she remembered why she didn't out right say this: because he was a prince, and a prince would say something like that. "But I wanna learn! It could come in handy when I'm -not- fighting crime, and stuff!"
She turned to Shade who had like... shadow melded into the room. "Right, Mister Shade?" If Antony wasn't going to do it, then Shade might!
"What he's teaching you probably wouldn't be that useful against super villains," Shade said, highly amused with this situation as he walked towards them. "This is the basics of the basics."
"Which I am willing to teach," Antony agreed. "But nothing more. Being a superhero is just plain stupid."
"Being a superhero will be cool!" Rory replied, grinning up at Antony. "And we had -auditions- for the team! Irelia showed up!" she informed him, quiet happy that Shade was siding with her.
Well, what she felt as siding with her, anyway. She -did- want to learn something.
Antony looked away, seriously fighting down a laugh. Irelia? A superhero? What would she do, headbutt villains? Or just antagonize them?
"Chris is going to be there, right?" Shade asked. In other words they had to have SOMEONE to bail them out of the fire.
"Yep!" she told Shade happily. "Though he was reading a cook book while I was talking to another person who showed up! Her name's Delilah." She seemed quiet proud that more than one person showed up for the hero group thing. She was even beaming with pride.
Antony almost had a heartattack. "Delilah wants to be a superhero?" he demanded. "No! Absolutely not!"
"Antony... they're kids. It won't last that long," Shade said.
Rory blinked at this sudden reaction. Then she put her hands on her hips. "I think she'd do good! All informative and stuff since she talks to plants!"
She wasn't clear on what Delilah meant to Antony.
"Fine," Antony said, not replying to that. "Tell me how many girls do you have in this team of yours?"
"Um, well... we haven't confirmed them all yet... But definitely two! Wisp and I!" she told him, fidgeting from foot to foot. "I'll let ya know, though!"
"Then when you know for sure bring them to the park on Saturday morning at nine o'clock," he said, sighing. "We'll do basic self defense then."
"Good plan," Shade said, clamping his son on the shoulder. "Now get going, Rory, your mom's probably waiting for you."
"Thank you!!!" Rory cheered, launching herself at the older boy and hugging him tightly. Then, still grinning, she let got and zipped to her shoes, putting those on before she zipped out of the gym.
A thud and an 'OW' came from the hall, indicating that Rory didn't make that turn away from a wall in time. "I'm okay!" she called, before getting back on her feet and -jogged- down the hall to where her mom would be waiting for her.
What until Wisp and Chris heard this!!
"Lucky brat, you even got a hug out of it," Thanatos taunted. "So are you going to expand your collection of lolitas?"
"Shut it," Antony said. "I don't even want to hear it." Then he turned to put his shirt and shoes back on.
"I didn't say anything," Shade said belatedly as his son walked out of the gym.
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