James walks down the road towards the Glissade, his car parked on one of the roads around the Med Centre, where it would hopefully be fairly safe. Upon reaching the Glissade he glanced up at the building, remembering when Justin had taken part in a competion here. A faint spike of pain rose but he pushed it down, taking a deep breath, he couldn't let that distract him, not now. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Inside, is a large room designed for sparring. James can see another similar room through a doorway in the back, but sees leotards and ruffles flowing and twirling. In the front, though, he finds Neil standing at a counter with a pile of papers and envelops in front of him.

"Hi," Neil says with a smile.

James smiles, nodding back and stepping closer. Hopefully the man wouldn't be unnverved by the presence of a werewolf, or he might react to it during the sparring. James shook the thought off and held out his hand. "James Hallen, good to meet you."

Neil came around the counter to shake hands. "Hi... Neil Fields. I'm guessing you're not here for the ballet lessons?"

James chuckledly good naturedly. "Not this time I'm afraid, although it has been said I look good in a tutu. I was wondering about a private lesson." He gives Neil a thoughtful look, rememebering his earlier conversation with Alison. "Are there several instructors here?"

"Nope, just me. There was another guy that worked for me, Justin, but I guess something came up," Neil answered. He shrugged, wondering what had happened to Justin. They'd seemed to get on well... and then he just vanished.

James blinks, his nostrils flaring and he glances away briefly before nodding and returning his attention to Neil. "Sorry, I was asking because a friend mentioned an instructor here, the owner in fact, but not by name."

"Oh... well... that's me. I own the place, too," Neil answered. He gave a wry smile, indicating he wasn't getting rich or retiring any time soon despite that fact. "Is your friend a student? Or did they come during the competition we held?"

"She's a student, I think she took private lessons with you? Alison Yates?" James smiles. "Anyhow, I was wondering the same myself, I've got a basic grounding in kung fu and Alison said that was something you knew."

"Huh, yeah, Alison," he answered. He wanted to ask if him saying they were 'friends' meant they were 'together', but he was running Glissade, not his own private Match.com. It'd be a shame if he'd missed his chance, but Katrin hadn't really given him a "when you get around to it" vibe. "Uh, yeah, I know kung fu," he affirmed, coming back out of his thoughts. "Are you... better, or worse, than Alison?" he asked. Fishing for information -was- fair game, though.

James smiles, tilting his head. "Worse, she gave me a lesson herself earlier and your name came up. By the way, base jumping sounds interesting, not for me though, but it's just the sort of thing she loves." Perhaps spending time witha nice, normal person would do Alison some good, she'd kill him if she thought he was trying to set up things for her though.

"Who doesn't love the idea of trying to learn to fly?" Neil replies with a laugh. "It's easy, I once read: you just have to throw yourself at the ground and miss." He paused, mulling over what James had said. "So... not that I mind... but why are you here if she can teach you?"

"Hm, an Arthur Dent fan?" James smiles, nodding. "Because she said you were a much more experienced teacher then her and I'm aiming to go a long way with what I want to learn."

"Why do you want to learn?" Neil asked, smiling at the Douglas Adams reference. "This... is no small thing, to teach someone to hurt others."

James wondered at the strange question. Most instructors wouldn't ask something like that, Neil seemed a little unusual, although his ingiht was interesting to see. "This city is hardly a safe place these days and there are several people who mean a great deal to me. Being ble to fight may help them and may help me survive as well."

"So you want to learn because you're... afraid?" Neil asked, studying the slight man.

James' pride flares for a brief moment before he pushes it down, explaining the real reasons for needing to learn wouldn't really work.. "Afraid, or cautious, which word you pick is up to you, but I think it's risky not to know how to fight, avodining learning won't mean you avoid needing to defend yourself."

"Then I will teach you to defend yourself," Neil agreed. "You want to show me what you know? So we can figure out where to start?"

James nods, smiling. "On your lead then, thank you Neil."

"Alrighty, put your dukes up," he joked, to ease the tension. "I'm going to try to hit you... you just try to avoid being hit, OK?"

James nods, moving into a defensive stance and focusing his eyes on Neil, studying his movements.

Rolls


Neil takes a couple of jabs at James, missing with the first, and a glancing blow with the second. While the man is distracted, he brings a leg up in a quick snap kick, connecting solidly.

James grunts faintly and stumbles back, but resumes his stance, glad his tracksuit is hiding the speed at which the bruises are healing.

"Not bad," Neil says. "I want you to try to hit me, now," he adds, moving into a defensive stance.

James snaps off a round of punches, his first two attempts missing or only glancing, but he manages to land a more serious blow on his third punch.

Rolls


Neil frowns as James goes crazy on him and his hands and feet move in blurs, striking the man repeatedly to subdue him. "You need to calm the fuck down," he says harshly.

Rolls


Death Rage & Stamina


James staggers back under the heavy round and almost crummpes, keeping his feet and stifling a growl as the wolf within surges in sheer rage and fury. He's distracted for afew seconds as he fights it,a sturggle that's shown on his face.

Neil watches the man's face and takes a step closer to the wall with the weaponry; although his hand-to-hand martial arts was good, it wasn't perfect. "Please leave," he says quietly. "There's too much Fear and Anger in you, I'm not teaching you." It sounded like he was doing a bad Star Wars speech... but this guy just wasn't right.

James raises to his feet, seeming strangely unaffected by the beating he took and studying Neil, his face impassive. "You asked me to hit you,given your ability and my lack I had to put effort into it, I don't think I'm the one who lost control."

Neil cocked his head to the side, wondering if the guy that just went ape-shit on him was suggesting he had lost control. "Yeah... still... either way, I think it'd be best if you found another teacher. Sorry man."

James gazes at Neil for a moment later, his shoulders slumping, then he simply turns and walks out.