Welcome to Gaia! ::

Roch hopped off his bed, scowling as he grabbed the heart patterned black boxers off the ground and grabbed his cat. He threw both the cat and the boxers into the closet, then cursed and reached in to grab the boxers again--only to find them not there anymore. Riff wasn't in his room, she was probably in the closet--

Well, that explained his boxers going missing. He stuck his head through the door. "Riff? Screechie, can I have my boxers back?" he demanded, not realizing that he had left his door open for the visiting ghoul to come through if she wanted. "Jackdammit--no! Not you, Jackdammit--" His foot went in the door, trying to shove the cat back. "I just want my jackin' boxers back!! Who knows what Riff's doing with those?!"

"Huh?" Roch asked, turning and accidentally letting Jackdammit slip through the door again. "Jackdammit! No!" he said, chasing after the cat as the cat sped through the room like a bat out of hell. He slipped right past the ghoul who had intended to give Roch "Private time."

"Yo, Xiu!" he said, distracted. "Wait up!" he said, coming out the door. "Leave me with who?" he asked. "I was talking to my pet. She ah... likes the heart pattern," he said lamely, not about to explain perverted minipets to Xiu. "Come on in, we'll get started."

He would have to get a new pack of underwear soon at the rate the fairy pet kept stealing them.

The room itself was pretty plain, and rather gray. The only thing that really stood out (other than how old some of the furniture appeared, and bland) was the bed, a gigantic papasan couch that had a pillow top with hearts on it, as well. There was a blanket hanging off the end of it.

"Ah... yeah, I got a lot of um... sewn up hearts on my stuff," Roch said, flushing slightly even though his vest had one on it as well. "There's a chair at the desk, it's pretty cheap looking but it won't break, you can sit there if you want," he offered as he headed to sit on the bed. "We should talk, first, and I'll explain some stuff to you."

"Alright," he said, taking a deep breath as he forced himself to lounge on the bed. "First off, you don't want to hurt anyone, right? Well if someone's attacking you, you do," he told her bluntly.

"Who would you prefer to be hurt, you, who's the innocent victim, or this guy who's suddenly attacked you for no reason, and has probably done it before to other cute little ghouls a lot like you?"

He wondered what her answer would be. He watched her closely for any small signs or ticks that might let him see what she was thinking.

"If they're needing stuff like that they'll just ask," Roch said. "They won't attack you. Okay, let's take a step back even further," he said patiently.

"First part of self defense is to avoid places where you might need self defense. Don't go through my old neighborhood, to start with. But sometimes you need to go to dangerous places," he said. "Start by walking confidently, as if you know exactly where you're going, and why. Shoulders squared, head up, no hesitation, get it?"

"Okay... think back to our little run in with the man eating plants," he said as he got to his feet. "You did good then, right? Those guys were huge and pretty tough, too, right?" he prompted. "You should be proud of yourself for surviving it!"

"No, that was luck," he said honestly. "But you learned something from it, you know. You learned that you don't freeze up like a coward in a dangerous situation. So take confidence from that fact and I'll show you a little that might let you back it up," he said, standing in front of her.

"First of all, let's talk about noise," he said, grinning placing his hands on her shoulders. "Noise is my greatest weapon, did you know? It doesn't affect everyone the same, but it WILL catch them off guard. Unless they're deaf. But not that many out there are. So... let's talk screaming."

"Not here, you can't," Roch admitted. "People would think I was killing you. But I want you to get this firmly in your head. If someone grabs you, or just makes you think he's going to do something really bad, I want you to scream your head off."

He lowered his hands, grabbing her by the upper arms. "Now, let's talk about what you do in this case," he told her. "What do you think you should do, after screaming?"