UN: MadMax

[beyourzoomer]

Has anyone seen Charlie? He wasn't at the house when I woke up this morning.

[There's grass on the shelves, but there's no other sign of him.]

Comments

[beyourzoomer]

Yeah, he's a centaur. he lives with us.

He works in the greenhouse with Eddie but Eddie hasn't seen him.

[justbeingknife]

...oh. And he ain't answering messages, either.

[ At least, he assumed not if Max was asking the others about it. ]

I'm out on Rue Lafayette right now, but he ain't passed by. I can look for him on the way back, at least.

[beyourzoomer]

Nope.

Okay. Thanks, Majima.

[She's pretty sure he's gone.]

[justbeingknife]

No problem. Let's hope he turns up.

Or that Sora's right.

[beyourzoomer]

For his sake, I hope it's the latter.

[Maybe he'll end up in a nice world like the one with rollercoasters. Although...he probably couldn't ride them...]

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. Hey, I gotta question for ya, and it's not about Charlie.

Eddie's post got me thinking. How likely is it that the monsters from Hawkins might make it here?

[beyourzoomer]

[It catches her off guard, at first. She hasn't mentioned the demogorgons to anyone here. Right. She's not the only one from Hawkins here. He lives with the other two people from Hawkins.

But it's also not something she's given much thought to.]

I mean, I guess it's possible. Since we're here.

[justbeingknife]

[ Huh. And yet, even if those specific creatures didn't show up here -- ]

It might be a good idea if ya learned how to fight.

For real, I mean.

[beyourzoomer]

[She's had a lesson from Hot Dog already, but she's not about to turn down more training from anyone who offers it. And it's not because of the threat from actual monsters.]

Is that an offer?

[justbeingknife]

[ He wasn't going to beat around the bush here. ]

It is. Shit's dangerous, and it ain't practical to plan on always be in a group. It's not just the Sound Eaters, either.

[beyourzoomer]

[She knows that so well. Maybe less here than at home, but still. She doesn't have to think twice.]

I'm in.

[justbeingknife]

Okay. You had any training before? Get into any fights?

[beyourzoomer]

One lesson, here. I've been in a couple fights before, yeah. [The rest can't really be called fights.]

[justbeingknife]

Right. Then lemme ask ya a couple more questions so I know what you wanna learn.

You interested in armed, or barehanded fighting? Personally, I think you could benefit from learning a weapon, but I won't push ya too hard either way.

[beyourzoomer]

[She considers that.]

I'm not opposed to learning weapons.

[She's just never used one before, really.]

[justbeingknife]

[ it's never to early to discover the joys of hitting people with inanimate objects! ]

Okay. Then gimme a couple days to get things set up.
I think ya might do pretty well with a tonfa.

[beyourzoomer]

[That certainly does have its appeal!]

Yeah, sure.

What's a tonfa?

[justbeingknife]

It's a melee weapon from Okinawa. No edges, and ya hold it close to your body. Kinda like an extension of your arm, so it's pretty intuitive to use.

Some police forces use 'em, too. You can hook the handle into a belt loop, so they're easy to carry.

[beyourzoomer]

Oh, like a baton.

[Sounds easy enough to learn. Practical. Quiet.]

Yeah that sounds like a good starting place.

[justbeingknife]

Yeah, like that. Blocking's easy, and you can learn a bunch of holds and other junk, too.

[ There was something else, as well -- with only a few fights to her name, Max probably wasn't used to hitting other people. A bladed weapon would likely be a misstep. Most people naturally shied away from the idea of hurting others at all, let alone drawing blood. ]

[beyourzoomer]

Cool.

[She can't help but smile a little, because the idea of being able to protect not just herself, but her friends, as well, is definitely appealing.

Max doesn't, however, want to hurt people, in general. Hurting someone for the sake of it might be her stepbrother's M.O., but it isn't hers. She'll fight when and if she has to, but deep down she'd rather not have to at all.]