(Untitled)

[widowskiss]

Dressed in comfortable clothing, Natalia reaches for the morning sun, stretching idly as her students begin filing into the clearing outside the school. It’s early yet, but she’s been up for hours, her casual movements now solely to instill an sense of normality and calm in what will surely be a few nervous bodies

Comments

[highf]

He knows that this class has been specifically designed to put their fears at rest. It isn't hard to see. The fact that this class bars any men from casusal entrance, the fact that their teacher uses the fools who've tried as practical examples on the first day- it seems strange to think it, but Kurt's not sure that he's ever felt much safer in the company of so many strangers than he has now. The only thing that might make it better would be having his father around, maybe to pick him up after the lesson, but that's a thought he quickly stifles before it has time to take hold. There's no doubt that he misses his family. But dwelling on that seems not to serve him at all, and so he won't. Not yet. Not today

[widowskiss]

Natalia smiles for his enthusiasm, and though she agrees that none but the two fallen men failed to enjoy the lesson, she's not sure any student did so quite so exuberantly as Kurt.

"You appreciate the spirit of the course," she says, "That's all I ask, and you did very well today." She releases her hair from its ponytail, her fingers in it casual as she follows a longstanding practice of asking questions to which she already knows the answer. "You're newly arrived, aren't you? I've been here four months, myself." He'd kept to himself nearly the entire course. "Do you know any of the other students?"

[highf]

Allowing himself a slight laugh, Kurt shakes his head, feeling modesty rise to his cheeks in a flush. He knows that he's given the class his all today; it's rare for him to do anything but, and for a class like this, for a class with this purpose, he feels that it'd be almost disrespectful to do anything else. "I'm pretty sure that after that demonstration, there wasn't a single person doing anything but their best today," he smiles, letting a glance brush over the girls and feeling something not quite tangible, not quite like pride, but close enough that his chest fills with warmth regardless. Smile still nervous, he turns back to Natalia again, arms crossed lightly over his chest.

"But yes, ma'am, I've only been here for... two weeks today, actually," he confesses. "And no, unfortunately I didn't quite have the, ah, foresight to meet any of the other girls before class today. Wasn't sure if it would be too forward, or welcome, I suppose. Self-defense classes aren't exactly a hobby of mine."

[widowskiss]

"I would not expect they would be, no," says Natalia, "but please, call me Natasha. It is what my friends call me." Bending gracefully to reach the pack she'd brought, Natalia retrieves two waters, extending the second to Kurt.

"You are young, seventeen, yes?" she adds with a sidelong glance. "You would be in school back home, what did you study?"

[highf]

"Natasha, then," Kurt nods shyly, feeling his shoulders tense as they try to maintain his posture, rather than cowing out of the admittedly nontrivial level of intimidation that he feels upon standing so close to her. The mere fact that Natalia Romanova has decided to take on the task of teaching a course like this should be more than enough to convince Kurt of the fact that she's unlikely to grow impatient with a slightly chatty student, that the choice to teach rather than doing so as some practical obligation will probably make her more kindly to her students on the whole. "And I'm- well, of course you know, but I just mean to say that Kurt's fine."

Inhaling slightly he nods, the movement fast and frenetic. "Seventeen, yes. And ah, I was still in high school back home, so a little bit of everything, but with an extracurricular emphasis on musical theater."