Kate Bishop is practically an Avenger. (hawkeyetoo) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-27 17:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, blossom, kate bishop (hawkeye) |
Who: Kate Bishop (Hawkeye) and Blossom
When: Recently
Where: Self Defense Class
What: Kate’s teaching
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
After meeting Kate in the coffee shop, taking one of the flyers, Blossom had kept meaning to check out one of the classes. She really did. But then Tyler turned out to be a werewolf and Blossom got caught up in that and him being okay and managing things well, and Bubbles’ powers really starting to come out.
But now with things sort of settled, Blossom had fished out her flyer to look at. She hadn’t bothered getting Bubbles to come with her, at least not until she knew how to manage her super strength better. And since Blossom didn’t have hers yet, all the better to go along now.
Self-defense really was important, and she knew that she could probably learn it in a class easier than getting Buttercup to show her -since Buttercup was more of a ‘destroy your enemy’ sort of person. And Blossom at least wanted to support what Kate was doing, since she seemed like a genuinely nice girl.
There were never more than a half dozen people in these classes. And it varied--sometimes she got new people, but she had a dozen or so regulars who showed up off and on. It felt like they took turns showing up, so she never had the same class two weeks in a row. That wasn’t a bad thing, though. It was good review for the regulars, and a good introduction for the first timers. Besides, what did she expect from a free class?
Kate smiled at the only new student in the class. She remembered meeting her at a cafe or something, when she was putting up flyers. It was a moderate sized room, with plenty of chairs. If anyone passed by the hall in the community center they might think the women in there were a support group, rather than a self defense class. Well, until they started practicing.
Kate stood in front of the small group, and gave an introduction. She talked about how important it was for women to be aware of their surroundings, and to not put themselves in dangerous situations if at all possible. “This isn’t victim blaming. It’s being smart. It’s staying safe.”
She showed the ladies how to break a hold, using one of her regulars to demonstrate, then let the class split up to practice. After the rest of the students were paired off, she approached Blossom. “Hey. I’m glad you came.”
“I am too!” Blossom was excited and ready to go! She knew that defence was very important, it’d be best for her to learn these things just in case she needed them. And right now she wasn’t super-powered so it was safer to learn before she could punch through walls.
“This is really cool, I’m excited to learn!” Being smart, staying safe, that was the best way to go about things.
“Good!” Kate loved the enthusiasm, and was glad to see it from the other girl. It was really nice to meet a young woman who was so into the class. A lot of the times women in her free classes were either victims, or friends of victims, and it made the atmosphere a little more sombre.
“All right, so, did you catch how to break the hold? Like I showed earlier?” Kate asked, motioning toward the pair who were practicing nearby.
“I think so,” Blossom was a quick learner, she soaked up information, of course usually it was less practical than this, but with anything it was just about applying yourself to it. “I can get it, I’m sure.”
At the very least she’d apply herself until she got it, she wouldn’t be leaving unable to at least break a hold without needing to bite someone -because that was yucky. “Um, are you… Are you my partner?” Plus side, the teacher showing her how it was all done properly, downside, teacher seeing her fail miserably. Frowny face.
“I’m sure I can find someone else to pair you with, if you want?” Kate said. She understood how intimidating it could be to get into a situation like this--and then get paired with the teacher? Stress. But she offered up something of a smile. “I promise to go easy on you if you don’t mind having me as your partner. This is the kind of thing I wish they taught in schools.”
“Oh, no no, it’s great.” She’d rather really have someone that knew what they were doing and what Blossom needed to do to correct things, that was way better. “It means I’m way less likely to do something wrong and hurt you.” This was a good thing, and Blossom would probably not need to worry about having bad form. “I am ready.”
She could totally focus, and it just took a few times to learn exactly the right way to do the throw, and it was invigorating too, using all her muscles, exercising in a different way. Maybe this was why Buttercup liked fighting so much.
Kate gave a little laugh. “Yeah, absolutely. I doubt either of us will be hurting the other tonight.” She grinned, then motioned for Blossom to come closer. “Here’s how it goes.”
After a half hour of practicing breaking out of different kinds of grips and holds, then practicing using an attacker’s weight against him, they regrouped with the rest of the class. Kate was actually a little sweaty and invigorated by the exercise and the atmosphere of so many women working together to learn to protect themselves. She stood at the front of the room again.
“That was amazing work tonight, ladies. Thank you so much for being here, and for learning to protect yourselves. In a perfect world, there would be no rape, no assault, no domestic abuse. There would be no attackers in dark alleyways. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. And until we reach that day… be cautious, be aware, and protect one another.” She waved to the class to end it, and then came around to the back of the room.
Since a bunch of AA groups and whatever else met there, there was a coffee machine. Kate had already set it up with coffee, knowing she’d need some after the class. She poured herself a cup and waited while everyone milled about, then started to empty the room.
It was actually really fun; Blossom knew that some of these people were using this for practical application after a scare or serious incident, and she wouldn’t dare to lessen any of those experiences because she was using this before it became an issue for her -she read all those statistics about college and how men treated women, she’d be going into her second year soon, she wasn’t planning on letting anything happen that might jeopardise that at all.
While everyone was packing up, Blossom fired off a text message to let the professor know she was finishing up and would be home in a while, tying her hair up to try and stop it frizzing in the sweat, while gulping down some water. The room was mostly clear by the time Blossom was put together and she edged over to where Kate was. “So, hey, I wanted to say thanks, I really enjoyed myself.”
Kate turned at the voice, and broke into a smile. Her new student, Blossom. It was nice to meet her, and they’d had a pretty good time working together tonight. Actually, Kate was very impressed with Blossom--she seemed to pick up things pretty quick. “Hey, you’re welcome.” Kate said softly. “Anything I can do to make sure the next generation is prepared for anything.”
“Pretty sure I’m still your generation, I think.” Blossom was terrible gauging ages, but she hadn’t seen Kate on campus so she doubted that Kate attended, but still. “I had to sit through three of those seminars where they tell you these horrible statistics of what happens to girls in college, and how so many campuses won’t or can’t change that, and I just knew that I needed to at least take some steps.”
At least until she became a super hero and then she could laser eye blast anyone who ever tried anything where Blossom could see. She hoped she got x-ray vision just so that she could see through walls too.
Kate gave a little laugh. “Well, yeah, that’s true.” She said, smiling over at the younger girl. They were less than a decade apart. Probably, anyway. Kate didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about how old she was. She felt wise beyond her years half the time, and surprised that she was a grown-up the other half.
“I remember that talk when I was at USC. I mean, they really try to scare you those first few weeks, don’t they? Orientation. Riiiiiight. It’s a little ridiculous that they spend so much time teaching women to avoid being raped or assaulted, and so little teaching men not to rape or assault.”
“It’s a broken system that stems from the toxic history of the patriarchy that dictates that the male is only at fault for answering his baser needs while the woman should take steps to not make herself look---” These were probably things that Kate knew, she taught a self-defence class for women, she probably had to talk to people who’d been through that. “Sorry, I took Women’s Studies, it was exceptionally eye opening.”
Blossom had always considered herself a feminist, but it had taken the class and the orientation seminar to tell her that the world wasn’t quite up to standards just yet either. And that she needed to make sure she took care of herself, because it was decidedly unlikely that the college would if the worst happened.
Kate’s eyes twinkled a little as Blossom went off a bit on women’s rights. It was adorable and refreshing, and Kate was a big fan of women who weren’t afraid to speak their minds on topics like these. She just nodded, smiling. “It’s okay. Believe me, you’re preaching to the choir over here, but I really do admire your enthusiasm. It makes me feel like there’s hope in the world.” At least sometimes it felt like the next generation wouldn’t be as bad as the last. How long it was going to take for true equality to come about was anyone’s guess. But it felt like they were headed that way. Most of the time. Some of the time.
“Are you parked in the lot?” Kate asked. “We can head out now. Everyone’s leaving.”
Blossom had the impression that maybe they were moving forward, there were more people who challenged the social norms that excused men for the consequences of their actions, more people in power who were aiming to change the social norm there too. It was slow increments, but Blossom was sure that they were making progress on the culture that condoned this violence.
“I am yeah,” she’d even managed to find a decent spot to park. “So, these are on every week?” Blossom could absolutely make time in her schedule for a weekly defence class.
“Every week,” Kate nodded. She turned off the lights and locked the door as they made their way out, and gave a little wave to the janitor who was emptying a waste paper basket into his cart. “Night, Frank,” Kate called out to him.
The man grunted and gave her a wave, then Kate and Blossom left the building.
Kate turned to the younger woman. “They let me teach the class here free of charge, since it’s a community service thing. Pro bono and all that. Honestly, if I had to pay for the facility, I might not be teaching the class. It’s too expensive otherwise. And I just can’t see charging for this stuff.”
“It’s a great location though, and once a week is totally the normal for stuff these days anyway, especially free classes.” And yeah, Blossom could totally make time to come every week. Provided her super strength didn’t hit suddenly and she learned to control it quickly enough.
“So…. I guess I’ll see you next week Kate.” Blossom just grinned. “I can’t wait!” Learning self defense was totally important.