Atlas Gym, Fandom Fight Club [Sunday Evening]

[atreideslioness]

The gym was set up for fight club again, but with an important difference from the week before: Half of the area was devoted to the children. There were toy weapons, well-padded mats, and a large ball pit. The other half, for the adults and any students who remained their usual age, held the normal mats and safety equipment.

Ghanima looked vastly amused. "Welcome back, everyone. For the under-ten set, today we have your own special combat zone. Go have fun, and work it out amongst yourselves. I don't want to hear about it unless you're bleeding in a significant manner."

"If you drool on anything, mop it up," Tyler added, looking a little uneasy. He still wasn't comfortable around this many children. "Everyone else, we aren't assigning fights this week because there aren't enough of us to bother. Open sparring. Don't hit the kids."

"Or go play with the kids," Ghanima offered. "We won't judge you."

"We will be around if you have any questions, and I'll be near the beginner mats for the first half of the session. Now go to it."

Mingle | Kid Section | Beginner Mats | Open Sparring | Tyler and Ghanima | OOC

Comments

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

Oof.

"So I can tell," Algren managed, taking an extra step back and crouching over a little. "Not so much, for me."

This wasn't going to stop him from trying to hit Anakin again, however, making a feint for his face and trying for an actual hit for his stomach.

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

"You'll get better," Anakin said, taking the hit in the stomach so he could be close enough to aim his fist at Algren's jaw again.

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

Someday, Algren would learn to not let his face be where someone else's fist was headed.

Today was not that day.

"That was the hope," Algren mused, resisting the urge to put his hand to his jaw in favor of punching toward Anakin's again. If he stayed right up close, it would be harder to dodge, right? He could dream?

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Even that close, Anakin moved out of the way. Jedi instincts were hard to ignore.

He looked a little apologetic as he did it.

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

At this rate, Algren was going to wear himself down before doing any significant damage. And he knew it. He nodded, stepping back and eyeing Anakin thoughtfully for a moment.

"If I keep going, I'm not going to finish this fight standing on my feet, am I?"

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin shook his head. "Sorry."

He wasn't, not really. Anakin liked winning.

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren wasn't a fan of losing, really. But he was slightly more fond of being able to stand up than he was of winning. Slightly.

"Well, then I'll be the one to say 'stop,'" he decided, holding out his hand. "Nathan Algren, by the way."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin shook it. "Anakin Skywalker. I teach ethics."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"American History, alongside Tyler," Nathan replied. "Actually, Tyler had suggested I speak with you earlier this week in regards to a student I've had a few concerns over."

He'd spoken with Deadpool first. And then harpies attacked. And then he'd spent the next few days convincing himself that he hadn't lost his mind.

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin immediately looked concerned. "Oh?"

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren nodded, once. "One of her classmates had approached me with worries about her home situation. Stop me if you've heard this one before. Child super-soldier, running missions she may or may not return from, physically enhanced through scientific means which make her stronger and faster, but which might also put her at risk. Little chance anyone here would be notified should anything happen to her on the field which might... prevent her return."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin sighed, looking as old as he really was. "I think it would depress you to know how many times I've heard that one. It doesn't stop each individual tale from being heartbreaking."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren gave a tired nod at that.

"I spoke with the girl in question," he added. "She seems content with the direction her life is headed. But it was her inability to comprehend that people worry for her safety that caught me the most. She doesn't understand why her classmates would care if she were to die, doing her job or not."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

"Because the ones at home are in the same mindset," Anakin concluded. He didn't mention his own granddaughter was in the same mindset. "We have far too many child soldiers here." He shook his head. "I used to be one of them."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

That earned a short, curious glance, and then Algren's mind was right back on the topic at hand. Curiosity later. "I'm not certain what I should be doing in this situation," he confessed. "I've known plenty of youths myself who have gone to war, who have died doing what they believed to be their duty. But each and every one of them understood that there was a significant difference between being dead and simply falling out of touch."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

"Perhaps the student in question believes it would be easier for the people here to believe they'd simply stopped writing back? Or isn't that something they seem to have considered?"

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"It isn't even anything so close to an emotional attachment," Algren replied, shaking his head. "I had to all but explain the concept of people caring in the first place. By the end of the conversation, she thought that I was trying to explain that not knowing if she was alive or dead would be... An inconvenience. And that was an improvement, somehow, to what she understood before."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

"She isn't Jedi, is she?" Anakin asked cautiously.

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"I... don't think so?" Algren raised a questioning eyebrow. "Her friend said she was a... cyborg. If that means anything to you?"

It didn't mean much to Algren, really, besides 'little girl who is exceptional with guns.'

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "She's partially machine," he explained, "which might explain why she has trouble with emotions. They're phenomenally difficult to program."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"To program," he repeated. "Of course."

That kind of made Algren's head hurt. And broke his heart a little more. "I think I owe it to her friend to figure out some sort of solution to this. Even if the best I can manage is some kind of assurance that we be notified should anything happen to her."

He wasn't sure what else he could do.

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "And that's not a fun conversation to have, either," he said softly. "We've lost a few students since I've been here."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"Breaking the news to civilians is never easy," Algren agreed. "Children or otherwise. But I suppose that's as much our duty as teaching them about ethics and history in the hopes that they won't make the same mistakes if they can at all avoid them."

Re: Open Sparring

[sith_happened]

"And in the manner of teenagers across the universe, they roll their eyes and insist on making the same errors," Anakin said, shaking his head. "I have one who's convinced that there isn't absolute evil."

Re: Open Sparring

[shiroi_tiger]

"And now you have me curious what sort of background a child would have to come from for them to not believe it exists," came Algren's reply, an eyebrow twitching upward. "They're all so completely different here, even if their age is something they all have in common."