It is a truth universally acknowledged that every person deserves a happy place. That happy place should be the place where a person goes to forget all of their troubles and be somewhere else for a while. It's a place where you can be someone else, or nobody for a while and give yourself exactly what you need.

For Quin, that was her dojo.

There really weren't any more belts to earn, or competitions to win. Aikido wasn't the kind of martial art that really approved of competition anyway. Why did you need accolades for use of a tool? Sparring, however, was always approved, and on this particular Saturday morning there were plenty of people around for such sparring. A number of them were new.

Quin was well into it at this point. She had spent a goodly amount of time warming up and was ready to practice with a partner. Nothing could compare to practice against a real person, and it was important to keep one's skills honed.

"Turn to face a partner." The instructor instructed.

Quin turned.

Following his prolonged stint overseas the Ranger had been reacquainting himself to New York City. Where was worth eating now, where to shop, etc. Among the list was where to train and where to fight.

To this end he had visited most guns, clubs, and dojos within a reasonable distance. Today he was going to an aikido dojo. While the Ranger did not have as much experience with aikido as other styles he was not unfamiliar with the concepts it used. Granted most of his training was in striking and grappling. The former is what aikido is in theory good at handling, but there is a reason only Shinya Aoki really has a history in the style in MMA fighting. Yet, the reputation aikido has as a defensive style in bar and street fights is well earned so picking up a few techniques from it is not going to be a detriment to the Ranger’s combat effectiveness.

The Ranger entered the dojo and deposited his stuff where everyone else who was already there had. Today was a day that everyone was there to spar. He surveyed the crowd already at the mats, looking to find someone who was his size or larger or…

It couldn’t be. Officer Archer.

Today just got a lot more interesting.

The instructor moved to the front and gathered everyone's attention, “Turn to face a partner.”

The Ranger slid like a ninja over next to and faced Officer Archer. ”Partners?” he said with a friendly smile.

The instructor said to turn to a partner, and Quin turned.

Wait, had that guy been there a minute ago? No matter, in the happy place one partner was as good as another. "Sounds like a plan. She said as others moved around the room and tried to find partners.

"Do you come here often?" the redhead asked as people paired off a few at a time and made space so nobody would run into each other. Quin narrowed her eyes a bit.

"Do I know you?" . Something was familiar here...

Officer Archer found their plan agreeable, the Ranger wondered how long before she recognized him. It had been around three years.

"Firs' time. Jus' moved back t' town." That said he caught her narrowing her eyes. Then she asked if she knew him.

So she was remembering him. Hopefully she wouldn't make a scene here, he hadn't really done anything to cause her to make a scene. Did her department's job a couple times. And, she didn't arrest him the last time they met so that's a plus.

"I think we've met a few times." Ranger extended his hand "I'm Michael."

As soon as her partner opened his mouth, Quin knew exactly who he was and her eyes rolled so hard it almost hurt.

"I thought things had been awful quiet for a while..." she said, shaking her head.

Michael...yeah, that had been his name. "I swear to god that if things start blowing up or crazy people with guns pop in out of nowhere and shoot up my happy place, I'm going to take you out myself."

"Bow to your partner and begin!" The instructor said.

Quin scowled at her partner slightly, then bowed. Apparently they were going to spar...as long as there were no explosions, that was fine by Quin. If she remembered correctly, Michael had been very strong the last time they'd met. So the redhead waited, ready to counter whatever he did.

Her happy place? Well this was extra interesting to run into her here then. He retracted his unshaken hand. Rude.

"I didn' cause any of that. I jus' ended it." He raised his hand in the scout salute, "Scouts honor. No explosions or guns popping out."


"Bow to your partner and begin!"

The Ranger bowed, very formally with hands at his sides, to Officer Archer. He then brought up his hands without clenching fists one blocking his face the other his mid section. He moved, strafing to one side, then back the other. When it was clear he'd have to make the first move he moved in and went with a tried and true MMA opener. Feint with left, feint again, shin kick. He threw the feints and then the kick, he aimed low, but if she dropped her hands to try and block he'd snap his leg up at her head.

It was on.

Quin watched carefully as Michael rose his hands and began to move. He strafed to one side, then the other, it was an aggressive opening, but Quin was ready.

As Michael kicked out, Quin moved to redirect the attack. She didn't try to block, the bones in her arms were tiny compared to the leg bones coming at her and even in sparring that was a good way to get bones broken. Instead, she simply redirected the momentum of the kick and went with her gut, ducking the kick from the other leg that followed.

Michael was good. Not that Quin had doubts, considering his extracurricular activities. This was going to be fun.

The redhead countered, moving forward in the brief moment her opponent would need to regain his balance after the kicks and redirection. Maybe she could get in a strike or redirect that momentum to the floor.

His kick was redirected, this was an aikido class after all. He was ready and immediately spun his other leg into the air using his initial momentum plus what Archer added to bring it up at her head. She ducked. That was less expected.

Ranger finished the aerial and landed on one foot, then the other and before he'd finished straightening up Archer was on him. Ranger grinned despite himself, this day just kept getting better and more entertaining.

Quickly backpedaling he reached out and caught Archer's arm. Knowing he was going to fall he pulled her by that arm and turned. The pair went down. Archer his first, landing on her chest. Ranger came down on top of her, one arm still held by Ranger's/ Ranger's free arm was busy driving an elbow into her back. Immediately Ranger wrenched her arm up applying a large amount of strain to her shoulder.

He waited for the tap out, slowly pulling harder.

Well. She had managed to dodge the kick, and her counter hadn't been entirely unsuccessful...

Okay, maybe that was a stretch. Many years ago, when Quin had decided to take aikido, she'd been told by her first instructor that while the art was very effective in certain situations, there were other disciplines that would be very hard to counter. That had been fine with Quin, she hadn't joined the class to have flashy martial arts battles, she had wanted the training to go up against run of the mill people in bad situations. Her training had proved mrore helpful over the years than she could even say.

This was not one of those situations.

Quin knew as soon as Michael grabbed her arm that she was in trouble. There was simply too much momentum from her own movements and the added strength of his pull for her to keep her feet. The redhead hit the mat face first with a less than graceful, "Oof" there was an elbow in her back and as if things couldn't get worrse, her arm was slowly being pulled back.

There were two options here, Quin decided. The first was simply dislocating her own shoulder and hoping that Michale would be so surprised he would simply let go. In all honesty, the surprised part didn't seem all that likely. That only left the second option.

"Alright, ALRIGHT...let me up you.....". The rest was lost into the mat as Quin waited to be released.

As soon as the word “Alright” left Archer’s mouth the Ranger released her arm and moved to get up. He then couldn’t help himself and stole a look at Archer’s rump. Not that she was wearing form fitting clothing, but hey male will male and a look doesn’t hurt anyone.

After a brief moment he extended a hand to help Archer up.

”Y’ almos’ had me there. Good job.”

Ranger brushed the little bit of dust his legs picked up off the mat and moved to ready for another round. Again he blocked his head and core with his hands. He decided this time to wait for her to make the first move. He beckoned with his left hand in challenge ”Y’r turn.”

Quin took the proffered hand with a bit of a scowl. Yes she was being petulant, but the ire was starting to fade as the prospect of a good spar presented itself. Quin had been at this for years, and as a result she'd gotten to a point where sometimes it was hard to find someone who could really spar with her.

"I didn't expect you to pull me down with you. I'm too used to sparring with other folks who are just using aikido." she said.

Michael reset, and Quin followed suit. In aikido there were no true offensive starts, the art was all about redirection of enemy attacks. Any offensive or aggressive action was completely counteractive to the basic tenants. It was, however, impossible to practice defensive techniques without someone to perform offensive techniques. The person performing the offensive techniques in an aikido spar was called the uke. It was important that the uke commit so that the tori, or defender, could really practice their technique. It was also way more fun. The problem was, Michael was much larger than she was and there was no way she was going to take him with a purely offensive strategy.

She chose a Tsuki attack. It sounded fancy, but it was really just a strike towards the solar plexus. As odd as it might have sounded to someone outside of this dojo, Quin really just wanted to get back on the defensive. It was where she was better, and most likely to succeed.

"Why y' gotta spar against differen' disciplines. Or better yet, people who use several."

When Archer attacked, she came at him with a strike aimed at his core. Immediately the Ranger moved to avoid the strike. No blocking, no fancy redirection, just a solid move out of the way.

In sliding out of the way of the strike the Ranger moved closer but at a diagonal. He reached out and caught his hand behind Archer's neck. The moment his hand contacted he dropped sideways. His free hand hit the floor as his legs went around hers. His forward leg went across her abdomen in front of her and his back leg went back behind her knees. He then went down on his ass bringing Archer back with him.

A flying scissor takedown.

This left the pair of them on the floor making an almost L shape with their legs tied up. The Ranger reached for Archer's leg nearest his torso with both arms. He wanted to tuck her toes under his armpit and with both hands clasped where her heel was on top of one wrist and he could apply pressure for a submission with an inverted heel hook.

Well. That had happened fast.

To be completely honest, as soon as she'd had to go on attack Quin knew she was in trouble. She'd tried to bravado her way out of it inside her head, but as soon as Michael had gotten a hold of her by the neck, it was over.

A heel hook is one of those holds that can get nasty real quick. The leverage that the hooker (yup, he was a hooker) had against the hookee was pretty intense. Quin only knew one thing to do.

Slipping her foot under Michael's elbow, she did her best to push his arms off of her leg. It worked...to a degree, but he still had her leg in a firm grip between his. Quin sagged slightly, then tapped out.

"Why are you so fast? she said.

The inverted heel hook almost caught Quin. She managed to break it right before the Ranger had her locked in. From there Quin tapped out. The Ranger released his hold on her and untangled himself.

"Why are you so fast?

The Ranger smiled. That was not what he was expecting her to say. "Years of trainin'. Some is jus' I can move quick, some is I've fough' enough to predict a little of what's comin'."

Standing up the Ranger wiped some dust off his clothes, "I don' jus' shoot people you know. I have training in many fightin' styles and lots of real world experience from handlin' situations."

Michael's explanation made sense...even if Quin's question had been mostly rhetorical. You only got the type of experience that made you versatile when you went up against someone who was good and skilled in more than what you were good at.

Quin was starting to see a pattern. Rising, the redhead pulled her hair tie free and busied herself with fixing her ponytail for a moment while she thought.

"See, I've only ever done this. I never really thought I'd need more out on the street." she said finally.

"I might need to diversify." It was an interesting thought. Maybe some more offensive arts would be a good idea.

"So where've you been? It's been awful quiet for a few years." she said, not quite ready for another beat down just yet.