Fun Times
Giles practiced a bit with a punching bag while he waited for his Slayer. He was feeling guilty, he really hadn't worked enough with her. He really needed more hours in the day.
He needed to find Ethan and discover how his friend was doing, he wanted to help Buffy with homework and he needed to organize everything in the place. Sigh.
Kris wandered into the gymnasium, dressed in her usual training gear, a pair of panks and a nike vest. Her hair was pulled back into a tight french plait, she didn't believe in it flapping around her face as she trained, glancing around for a moment, she smiled briefly as her eyes came to fall on Giles," Hey Giles." She called before wandering over.
"Hello, Kris," Giles smiled, straightening up from his punches and pulling off the practice gloves. "Ready to try and bruise my ribs?"
" I think so, yeah." She smirked softly, tipping her head to the side.
"Go grab a practice stake, one of the rubber ones," he smiled. "We're going to be working on very close up moves and I like my lungs without holes in them."
" Gotcha." She winked, wandering over to snatch up a rubber stake, she flicked it once before taking a firm hold of it before she walked back towards Giles.
"We'll start with some basic Slayer moves," he said calmly. "Most vampires will be expecting fear and for you to move slow. If they looked confused when you don't scream and run, react quickly and move to stake them before they recover." Giles moved with his hands extended like he was going to grab Kris by the shoulders. "Usually like this, wanting to go straight for the neck. Fairly easy to handle. Go."
Kris nodded her head, focusing her thoughts and eyes for a moment before she moved to hit the ball of her palm up and towards Giles' nose, in the hopes, it wouldn't connect too badly and might hit the Watcher offbalance so her second move which was to sidestep and stake would follow through smoothly.
Giles' head snapped back like a professional stunt man, allowing the palm to barely touch his nose. He felt the stake touch his ribs and nodded. "Yes, very good. Now, if they come out swinging?"
He stepped back several feet and then moved at her, swinging with a wide right hook.
Kris breathed out as she moved, ducking underneath the right hook, using her momentum to turn her body so she had her side guarded as her back faced him, but the stake went down towards Giles' chest.
"Not bad but if you slip I have you by the neck," he pointed out, touching her neck. "Remember they're very strong. One move and your neck is snapped. They're also very fast. Try again at full speed." He stepped back and then rushed her.
Kris nodded her head again, taking in everything he had to say to her, this was important and she knew that. As he rushed her, she sprung to the side, rolling her body across the floor perfectly before she raised herself up to a crouch, a leg then moved out to sweep his legs out from under him, Kris thought a lot about her movies but she mostly allowed her body to move as it would, she knew overthinking things could cause her to trip up but a certain amount of thought had to be put to everything.
Giles fell onto the mat and brought his arms up, preventing her stake from reaching his ribs and kicked out, catching her knee. He held up a hand, stopping the sparring. "Good, never repeat moves. Very, very good. Instinct will keep you alive almost every time. When you've got a vampire on his back, break his knee. The pain will distract him from using his hands and his equal strength to grab your wrists and prevent you from staking him."
Kris nodded her head, lifting herself back up to her feet, rubbing at her knee slightly," Knees, gotcha." She smiled, blushing lightly to his praise, this was much better than training all by herself, though that was fun too at times.
Giles stood up and offered her his hand. "Now, shall we try you and a vampire on equal footing, both of you realizing what the other is? Expect to take a couple of hits. I won't, but they will. If you get hit with a right, move with the blow, let the natural movement of snapping your head back flow into your arm and backhand him. He'll be expecting you to try the stake. Backhand him and then stake, or a kick between the legs and then the stake."
Kris smirked lightly," Gotcha, I'll do my best to remember." She cracked her neck to the side, taking his hand as he offered it to her, she could do this, move with the blows, she had done that before, and hopefully could do it now.
"Relax, you're doing great," Giles smiled. "Most of it is instinct. You wouldn't believe what I've seen Buffy get away with at times. Usually with a joke. Keep moving, don't get pinned, use anything at hand and stake as soon as possible. Pretty simple. Want to try some more?"
" Definitely." Kris nodded enthusiastically," It's nice having a Watcher who can teach me stuff, so far, I've been self taught." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled," Ready when you are."
Giles nodded and motioned towards the center of the mat and then shot a left at her temple.
Kris lifted an arm up to catch the shot to her temple and using her momentum to backhand Giles across the face, but before she did, she thrust her foot down towards his, to stamp basically, distract him as the blow connected, hopefully, she was just doing what felt right.
Giles smiled as the stake scraped his ribs and he felt a cut lip. "Not bad at all. Even when out having a good time, vampires have this miserable habit of showing up and wrecking things. Always alert if you can. Now, if you're dealing with more than one vampire and he has you by the arms, like this, react."
Kris watched as Giles took hold of her arms, and with an apologetic look, she lifted her knee to press it in a VERY sensitive spot, but she didn't want to press in anymore, just to show what she would do to first of all grab the vampire's attention before she moved her hands up and around the top of Giles' arms and twisted.
Giles hit the mat hard but nodded. "Good, but stomp the foot first, every single male on earth will expect a groin shot first. How are you feeling?"
Kris nodded her head," Makes sense." She then frowned," Me? I'm okay, a little amped though."
Giles grinned and reached out and pulled her ankle hard, dropping her onto the mat. "Always alert," he smirked. Giles got to his feet and extended his hand. "Come on, let's see if we can amp that up a notch." He walked over to a table and pulled on a practice boxing helmet and mouth guard. "Full speed, please. First I'll be the aggressor, then you."
Giles glanced down at the mat, waiting for her to move closer. He dashed at her with a right feint and a follow through left without warning.
Kris smirked before she decided to take the right hit as it seemed less hurtful than the left, she counted the left with the back of one of her arms, before she lifted a leg, twisted a foot and hit it down and out towards the back of Giles knee, shoving his arm back as she bounced on her toes lightly.
Giles yelped at the knee shot but thrust his right hand out, knuckles extended, stopping just at her throat. He pulled back and held up his hand. "You hesitated, waiting for the next practice shot. Remember what I said, keep moving, stake and then be ready for the next one. Don't stop when we're practicing like this. Nice shot with the knee, by the by."
Kris smiled," Thanks and I have to stop seeing you as Giles, and start seeing you as the enemy. I'll try, but it's difficult." She admitted.
"I know," he said softly and pulled off his glasses. "Just run on instinct. I'm a vampire, I know what you are and I'm pissed, you interrupted my dinner. Go."
Kris laughed," Gotcha but you asked for it." She teased for a moment, letting instinct will her, pulling her fists up, bouncing on her toes for a moment before she ducked, aiming a punch for Giles side and as he was hopefully still reeling from that, she stepped out to lift the flat of her leg to catch him across the face, and with speed she soon grabbed one of his arms, tugged him slightly off balance and thrust the stake down towards his chest.
Giles coughed, trying to catch his breath as he held out his arms in a surrender motion. "Very good," he said after a moment. "Keep up the guard with the left hand, you telegraph a right shot. For mostly self taught, you've got the basics down very well, Kris."
Kris smiled, blushing slightly again, withdrawing the stake from his chest," Guard with my left hand, gotcha, and thanks Giles."
"Now, one more and then we'll work off some of that amped energy with a run and then some food, shall we?" Giles suggested. "Full on and I apologize ahead of time if I connect."
The Watcher stood up, eyes watching her for a moment before attacking.
Kris appeared to have been ready for his sudden attack, lifting the flat of her sneaker to catch him in the chest, forcing him back a couple of steps. Her fists were drawn tightly into her body, guarding her chest as her eyes glinted, watching him very cautiously before she suddenly sprung into action, placing her foot down but as she did, she moved the other leg, to catch his ankle, tugging as a fist swept across his jaw, she guarded with her left hand just as he had told her to do.
Giles reacted, almost instinctively as well, catching her fist before it hit his jaw and holding it as his right hand shot out, catching her right shoulder, hoping to numb it. A follow through with his left leg at her right ribs was his next move as he released her hand.
Kris moved with the shot to her right shoulder, but she caught the leg before it could touch her ribs. She twisted the foot in her hands before she retaliated by thrusting the leg back, hoping to put him offbalance at the sudden moved as she aimed a right, a left and then another right to his side and shoulders before she twisted on the ball of her foot and whilst she guarded herself, she placed the stake down on his chest, or so he hoped.
Giles held out his hand, palms up in "surrender" before moving slowly to sit up. "You're doing really well with the stake and defense. How do you feel about it?"
Kris still remained in a defensive stance, relaxing ever so slightly but keeping her guard up, she replied," I'm actually feeling pretty good about it, I mean, before I never knew if I was doing anything right, but well you know, it's good to know. Gives me more confidence in my abilities and I've always thought that defense was more important in the long run."
"Both are," Giles nodded, pulling out the mouthpiece. "It's a delicate balance between action and defense. Too defensive and nothing gets done and it gives vampires time to gang up on you. Too aggressive and you get hurt." The Watcher removed the helmet and shook his head. "I hate those things but I've been bashed enough. Come on, let's try a short run in this oppressive heat, a shower and then some food? Sound like a plan?"
" I like that plan." Kris smirked before she scrunched up her nose," You got helmet hair." She was of course teasing, the impish smile on her face gave that away.
Giles rolled his eyes and went to the table to replace the items and retrieve his glasses. "Want to hear the worst? I'm planning on going on patrol with you tonight and then turning around and running Monica and Andrew's arses off at 5:30 in the morning. I am a mascohist."
Kris winced softly," Ouch, but running Monica and Andrews arses off, sounds kinda like fun." She smirked, sliding her arms across her chest before commenting sincerely," Thanks for this Giles."
"You're very welcome and I deserve a bashing from you for not getting to this sooner," Giles smiled. "Monica and Andrew want to be Watchers. First step is seeing if they can actually open their eyes at 5:30am. Come on, once around the block."
" Sounds like fun." With that, Kris started to jog alongside Giles, once around the block, it was.
Giles, once again, realized he personally hated Southern weather when they had reached the warehouse again. "Bloody hell," he gasped. "I think I just lost 10 pounds in sweat. Shower, water, food, yes?"
Kris was bent over, panting for breath slightly as sweat ran over her skin and clothes," Yes, definitely." She then straightened up and ran a hand across her forehead, damn it was hot.
"I'm too English for this," Giles agreed, leaning against the wall. "Grab a bottle of water before hitting the shower. I'll meet you down here in a bit. I'm buying lunch."
Kris laughed," Alright will do." With that, she jogged over to the elevator and waited for the doors to open before shouting," See you soon, Giles."
Giles sighed and moaned as he headed towards the stairs. "Keeping up with Slayers is going to kill me," he mumbled.
--------------------
I am suitably sweaty and disgusting, I will now go take a shower and clean myself up before tracking him back down for that food he promised. He even said he'd pay so how can I refuse?
I feel good, really good, I like having a Watcher to train with again, to show me things, to tell me what to do and what not to do.
--------------------
Hey, I saw from your journal entry, you were looking for me. Just remember 710 and I'd be more than happy to spend some time with you. Hope you're okay and not sore!
-Kris
He needed to find Ethan and discover how his friend was doing, he wanted to help Buffy with homework and he needed to organize everything in the place. Sigh.
Kris wandered into the gymnasium, dressed in her usual training gear, a pair of panks and a nike vest. Her hair was pulled back into a tight french plait, she didn't believe in it flapping around her face as she trained, glancing around for a moment, she smiled briefly as her eyes came to fall on Giles," Hey Giles." She called before wandering over.
"Hello, Kris," Giles smiled, straightening up from his punches and pulling off the practice gloves. "Ready to try and bruise my ribs?"
" I think so, yeah." She smirked softly, tipping her head to the side.
"Go grab a practice stake, one of the rubber ones," he smiled. "We're going to be working on very close up moves and I like my lungs without holes in them."
" Gotcha." She winked, wandering over to snatch up a rubber stake, she flicked it once before taking a firm hold of it before she walked back towards Giles.
"We'll start with some basic Slayer moves," he said calmly. "Most vampires will be expecting fear and for you to move slow. If they looked confused when you don't scream and run, react quickly and move to stake them before they recover." Giles moved with his hands extended like he was going to grab Kris by the shoulders. "Usually like this, wanting to go straight for the neck. Fairly easy to handle. Go."
Kris nodded her head, focusing her thoughts and eyes for a moment before she moved to hit the ball of her palm up and towards Giles' nose, in the hopes, it wouldn't connect too badly and might hit the Watcher offbalance so her second move which was to sidestep and stake would follow through smoothly.
Giles' head snapped back like a professional stunt man, allowing the palm to barely touch his nose. He felt the stake touch his ribs and nodded. "Yes, very good. Now, if they come out swinging?"
He stepped back several feet and then moved at her, swinging with a wide right hook.
Kris breathed out as she moved, ducking underneath the right hook, using her momentum to turn her body so she had her side guarded as her back faced him, but the stake went down towards Giles' chest.
"Not bad but if you slip I have you by the neck," he pointed out, touching her neck. "Remember they're very strong. One move and your neck is snapped. They're also very fast. Try again at full speed." He stepped back and then rushed her.
Kris nodded her head again, taking in everything he had to say to her, this was important and she knew that. As he rushed her, she sprung to the side, rolling her body across the floor perfectly before she raised herself up to a crouch, a leg then moved out to sweep his legs out from under him, Kris thought a lot about her movies but she mostly allowed her body to move as it would, she knew overthinking things could cause her to trip up but a certain amount of thought had to be put to everything.
Giles fell onto the mat and brought his arms up, preventing her stake from reaching his ribs and kicked out, catching her knee. He held up a hand, stopping the sparring. "Good, never repeat moves. Very, very good. Instinct will keep you alive almost every time. When you've got a vampire on his back, break his knee. The pain will distract him from using his hands and his equal strength to grab your wrists and prevent you from staking him."
Kris nodded her head, lifting herself back up to her feet, rubbing at her knee slightly," Knees, gotcha." She smiled, blushing lightly to his praise, this was much better than training all by herself, though that was fun too at times.
Giles stood up and offered her his hand. "Now, shall we try you and a vampire on equal footing, both of you realizing what the other is? Expect to take a couple of hits. I won't, but they will. If you get hit with a right, move with the blow, let the natural movement of snapping your head back flow into your arm and backhand him. He'll be expecting you to try the stake. Backhand him and then stake, or a kick between the legs and then the stake."
Kris smirked lightly," Gotcha, I'll do my best to remember." She cracked her neck to the side, taking his hand as he offered it to her, she could do this, move with the blows, she had done that before, and hopefully could do it now.
"Relax, you're doing great," Giles smiled. "Most of it is instinct. You wouldn't believe what I've seen Buffy get away with at times. Usually with a joke. Keep moving, don't get pinned, use anything at hand and stake as soon as possible. Pretty simple. Want to try some more?"
" Definitely." Kris nodded enthusiastically," It's nice having a Watcher who can teach me stuff, so far, I've been self taught." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled," Ready when you are."
Giles nodded and motioned towards the center of the mat and then shot a left at her temple.
Kris lifted an arm up to catch the shot to her temple and using her momentum to backhand Giles across the face, but before she did, she thrust her foot down towards his, to stamp basically, distract him as the blow connected, hopefully, she was just doing what felt right.
Giles smiled as the stake scraped his ribs and he felt a cut lip. "Not bad at all. Even when out having a good time, vampires have this miserable habit of showing up and wrecking things. Always alert if you can. Now, if you're dealing with more than one vampire and he has you by the arms, like this, react."
Kris watched as Giles took hold of her arms, and with an apologetic look, she lifted her knee to press it in a VERY sensitive spot, but she didn't want to press in anymore, just to show what she would do to first of all grab the vampire's attention before she moved her hands up and around the top of Giles' arms and twisted.
Giles hit the mat hard but nodded. "Good, but stomp the foot first, every single male on earth will expect a groin shot first. How are you feeling?"
Kris nodded her head," Makes sense." She then frowned," Me? I'm okay, a little amped though."
Giles grinned and reached out and pulled her ankle hard, dropping her onto the mat. "Always alert," he smirked. Giles got to his feet and extended his hand. "Come on, let's see if we can amp that up a notch." He walked over to a table and pulled on a practice boxing helmet and mouth guard. "Full speed, please. First I'll be the aggressor, then you."
Giles glanced down at the mat, waiting for her to move closer. He dashed at her with a right feint and a follow through left without warning.
Kris smirked before she decided to take the right hit as it seemed less hurtful than the left, she counted the left with the back of one of her arms, before she lifted a leg, twisted a foot and hit it down and out towards the back of Giles knee, shoving his arm back as she bounced on her toes lightly.
Giles yelped at the knee shot but thrust his right hand out, knuckles extended, stopping just at her throat. He pulled back and held up his hand. "You hesitated, waiting for the next practice shot. Remember what I said, keep moving, stake and then be ready for the next one. Don't stop when we're practicing like this. Nice shot with the knee, by the by."
Kris smiled," Thanks and I have to stop seeing you as Giles, and start seeing you as the enemy. I'll try, but it's difficult." She admitted.
"I know," he said softly and pulled off his glasses. "Just run on instinct. I'm a vampire, I know what you are and I'm pissed, you interrupted my dinner. Go."
Kris laughed," Gotcha but you asked for it." She teased for a moment, letting instinct will her, pulling her fists up, bouncing on her toes for a moment before she ducked, aiming a punch for Giles side and as he was hopefully still reeling from that, she stepped out to lift the flat of her leg to catch him across the face, and with speed she soon grabbed one of his arms, tugged him slightly off balance and thrust the stake down towards his chest.
Giles coughed, trying to catch his breath as he held out his arms in a surrender motion. "Very good," he said after a moment. "Keep up the guard with the left hand, you telegraph a right shot. For mostly self taught, you've got the basics down very well, Kris."
Kris smiled, blushing slightly again, withdrawing the stake from his chest," Guard with my left hand, gotcha, and thanks Giles."
"Now, one more and then we'll work off some of that amped energy with a run and then some food, shall we?" Giles suggested. "Full on and I apologize ahead of time if I connect."
The Watcher stood up, eyes watching her for a moment before attacking.
Kris appeared to have been ready for his sudden attack, lifting the flat of her sneaker to catch him in the chest, forcing him back a couple of steps. Her fists were drawn tightly into her body, guarding her chest as her eyes glinted, watching him very cautiously before she suddenly sprung into action, placing her foot down but as she did, she moved the other leg, to catch his ankle, tugging as a fist swept across his jaw, she guarded with her left hand just as he had told her to do.
Giles reacted, almost instinctively as well, catching her fist before it hit his jaw and holding it as his right hand shot out, catching her right shoulder, hoping to numb it. A follow through with his left leg at her right ribs was his next move as he released her hand.
Kris moved with the shot to her right shoulder, but she caught the leg before it could touch her ribs. She twisted the foot in her hands before she retaliated by thrusting the leg back, hoping to put him offbalance at the sudden moved as she aimed a right, a left and then another right to his side and shoulders before she twisted on the ball of her foot and whilst she guarded herself, she placed the stake down on his chest, or so he hoped.
Giles held out his hand, palms up in "surrender" before moving slowly to sit up. "You're doing really well with the stake and defense. How do you feel about it?"
Kris still remained in a defensive stance, relaxing ever so slightly but keeping her guard up, she replied," I'm actually feeling pretty good about it, I mean, before I never knew if I was doing anything right, but well you know, it's good to know. Gives me more confidence in my abilities and I've always thought that defense was more important in the long run."
"Both are," Giles nodded, pulling out the mouthpiece. "It's a delicate balance between action and defense. Too defensive and nothing gets done and it gives vampires time to gang up on you. Too aggressive and you get hurt." The Watcher removed the helmet and shook his head. "I hate those things but I've been bashed enough. Come on, let's try a short run in this oppressive heat, a shower and then some food? Sound like a plan?"
" I like that plan." Kris smirked before she scrunched up her nose," You got helmet hair." She was of course teasing, the impish smile on her face gave that away.
Giles rolled his eyes and went to the table to replace the items and retrieve his glasses. "Want to hear the worst? I'm planning on going on patrol with you tonight and then turning around and running Monica and Andrew's arses off at 5:30 in the morning. I am a mascohist."
Kris winced softly," Ouch, but running Monica and Andrews arses off, sounds kinda like fun." She smirked, sliding her arms across her chest before commenting sincerely," Thanks for this Giles."
"You're very welcome and I deserve a bashing from you for not getting to this sooner," Giles smiled. "Monica and Andrew want to be Watchers. First step is seeing if they can actually open their eyes at 5:30am. Come on, once around the block."
" Sounds like fun." With that, Kris started to jog alongside Giles, once around the block, it was.
Giles, once again, realized he personally hated Southern weather when they had reached the warehouse again. "Bloody hell," he gasped. "I think I just lost 10 pounds in sweat. Shower, water, food, yes?"
Kris was bent over, panting for breath slightly as sweat ran over her skin and clothes," Yes, definitely." She then straightened up and ran a hand across her forehead, damn it was hot.
"I'm too English for this," Giles agreed, leaning against the wall. "Grab a bottle of water before hitting the shower. I'll meet you down here in a bit. I'm buying lunch."
Kris laughed," Alright will do." With that, she jogged over to the elevator and waited for the doors to open before shouting," See you soon, Giles."
Giles sighed and moaned as he headed towards the stairs. "Keeping up with Slayers is going to kill me," he mumbled.
--------------------
I am suitably sweaty and disgusting, I will now go take a shower and clean myself up before tracking him back down for that food he promised. He even said he'd pay so how can I refuse?
I feel good, really good, I like having a Watcher to train with again, to show me things, to tell me what to do and what not to do.
--------------------
Hey, I saw from your journal entry, you were looking for me. Just remember 710 and I'd be more than happy to spend some time with you. Hope you're okay and not sore!
-Kris