Fandom Island and Town

Max looked around, somewhat gratified that some of his nominal students had returned assuming they had. He was keeping an eye out for newcomers. This wasn't a class at school, after all, no need to enroll. Just show up. And hopefully the word would spread and people would do that.

"Welcome back," he began. "Now I know that some of you are already pretty good with this sort of thing, but I mostly want to focus this class on those of you who haven't had a lot of training or experience with fighting. You're the ones who can get the most good out of this, I think."

With an apologetic shrug, Max looked out over the people he'd noticed were quite good last week. "The rest of you, please feel free to help out. I may be the official instructor here, but I'm not the only one with helpful advice to offer. So if you see something worth pointing out, speak up."

"Today what I want to focus on is balance. Whether you're standing still, or moving around, it's one of the most important things to focus on when you're in a fight. This is because once you're off-balance everything you do is weaker. You can't attack as well, or block, or escape. So balance is important."

"Two simple tricks will help you keep your balance when you're starting off. First, a good stance. The precise way you put your feet is going to be a matter of comfort and fighting style, but making sure that they're placed wide enough apart to give you plenty of support, and never letting your feet cross when you move," Max demonstrated a shuffling little side step, "will go a long way toward keeping you upright."

"The second thing to do is to be careful not to overextend yourself. It's easy to punch or kick too hard and end up leaning farther forward than you meant to. This can be really dangerous, so try to avoid it."

Max smirked. "And so, today, another paired activity. Each of you is going to find a partner, and you're going to practice your balance. You'll face each other, press your palms together, then link your fingers, and try to make the other person move their feet. Be sure to switch partners every so often so that you can get a feel for some of the different pressures you'll face when trying to keep your balance."

Max had arrived (gasp!) early to make sure that everything was ready. Since he wasn't planning anything too strenuous for the first meeting, he didn't really have much to prepare for. Now he just had to hope that some people actually showed up. Because it'd be pretty dang embarrassing if they didn't.

As the first people trickled in assuming they did Max just let them mingle. Nothing too formal. He wanted everyone to be comfortable.

Once he felt enough people had arrived (and that there wouldn't be too many more coming), he figured it was time to get started.

"Hey. Glad all of you could make it. Most of us have been on the island long enough to know that things go bad every so often. Not everyone has the training to defend themselves if that happens, and even those that do can generally use some practice and a chance to improve. That's what we're here for."

"For those of you worried about my qualifications," aside from the fact that Max was huge, "back home I'm combat instructor with the military." No need to get into too many details there. "I'll try not to yell too much since you're all here on your own time, but if I slip, hopefully you'll forgive me."

"I know that some of you are new to this while some of you have a lot of experience fighting. Help each other out. You don't have to have me for every little thing."

"And with all that out of the way. Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Antillar Maximus. Max. I'm a combat veteran. Served in multiple campaigns with the legions. Most of my experience is with swords," and bar fights, "but I'm proficient with most hand-to-hand weapons." No guns though. He should remedy that at some point.