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She probably shouldn't be out in the city. Abby knew that the "have an adult with her" thing was for her own good. It just got to be too much. It was nice to have Serena go out with her. And some of the other adults weren't so bad. But Abby wanted to be by herself. She didn't want company. So, she had sneaked out of the school for a day without people. Though, she didn't really sneak out, since she didn't hide the fact she left. She just... didn't tell anyone she was going.

But it was paying off. Her nerves were calm now. She was just walking around the city at this point. She didn't really ever have a place in mind when she went out. And she had thought ahead and covered most of her known features. She had a hoodie covering her face and a long skirt keeping her legs covered. It wasn't too windy today, though she avoided the few places that had high winds due to high buildings. Sticking to the residential areas or park areas was what she thought was best.

Abby stopped to watch a few younger children play in a park fountain. The water was as clean as it got in New York. This fountain didn't seem to have any coins in it. Probably had been a play-place for years then. The water was a little higher than her knees, but parents were keeping an eye on the smaller children. With a soft smile, the blonde went to play with the water a little. She let a few of the more excitable kids splash her with the water, and she splashed back. A few of the adults seemed to find her interactions with the kids amusing.

Abby was careful not to show her teeth or let her discolored skin be uncovered. While she was trying to fix her skirt, and splash one of the kids, someone knocked into her from behind. She gasped a little and tried to stop her fall. Instinct let her know the water was oxygenated enough for a shift. The height was good too. She threw her hands out, trying to stop from being submerged but it was a useless action.

As the water closed around her, the semi-familiar pain started. The skin on her neck and legs began to grow at alarming rates. The stinging pain of small cuts into skin came to the forefront of her brain. Her gills were forming. She felt her skirt rip as her dorsal fin forced the fabric to its limit. As the pain faded, Abby caught several long screams from outside of the water.

>>"That was a very good first attempt. Bare in mind that people in the real world won't always follow the same rules, and a lot of them will act differently, keep your mind open and be ready to react to unexpected things. But again, good job. You dodged most of those very well."

Abby pushed her tongue against the cut inside her mouth. It wasn't bleeding much. Though that could have been due to how often she cut herself there. Her teeth were sharp. Or maybe DocProf did something to help people heal after seeing him so many times. That would make sense.

"I still got hit," she muttered, still checking the cut. When she was satisfied with its condition, she stood back up. "Would I person figure out how to hit me that quickly?" She didn't know it, but a little blood was clinging to her teeth from the cut.

>>"Well, I think it's time to work on the avoiding getting hit part of things. After this we can take a short break to drink some water, then resume."

Abby bounced a little on her toes. This was the part she was really looking forward to. Knowing how to fight was all good. But she wanted to know how to not get hit at all. This would help with that.

>>"This one will swing every 10 to 15 seconds, in 3 different positions, I want you to stand in front of it for a minute, and try to avoid as much as possible."

It sounded easy. Then Serena made it look easy. But the older girl had been trained by this Sam guy. And he seemed to be as good or better than Cafas. And Cafas trained everyday. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Abby moved to stand in front of the dummy. She made sure her feet were like she had them when punching, though she lowered her back foot more than when she did that.

It started with the same first attack it had with Serena. Remembering her moves was easy, and the dummy was aiming way higher than her head. She flinched a little before ducking her head down like Serena had. The arm swung wide over her head. Then the dummy went back to it's start. Abby felt more confident for the next one. When the dummy moved like it had for Serena, she twisted away from the fist. Then they were back to the start. The next move followed the pattern. Abby jumped back a bit to dodge the upward swinging fist. Then reset.

The next fist would be the same as the first, wide overhead. This time, Abby knew she would be safe from the dummy. It missed by a foot last time. She didn't move more than to watch the fist. She should have moved. It hit her in her cheek. Abby fell to the ground with a groan. Her teeth had cut into her cheek. She turned around on the floor and glared at the dummy. It hadn't followed the pattern.

>>"Very very good Abby! A big part of learning how to handle yourself is working stuff out and hard work, unlike with actual learning there is a lot less hand holding. Especially when you're not taking formal lessons."

Abby beamed at the praise. She had done it! She was learning how to protect herself. Having someone to teach her was a lot better than trying to figure it out herself. She had seen other students try that method.

>>"It would probably be smart for you to take some from Sam at some point, he's a lot better at this than I am."

Sam seemed to be someone Serena looked up to. Maybe he was like a brother. Brothers were nice to have. At least, Abby thought so, she didn't have any brothers that she knew of. Or maybe...

"Would you introduce me first?" she asked. While she liked meeting new people, it helped to have someone she knew there. Abby was learning lots of tricks to help with being so shy.

>>"I understand, I'm sorry you have to deal with that."

Abby smiled a little. "It's not so bad in water. Or when it rains a lot. She was happy the conversation was moving away from the topic of... growing up. She didn't really like talking about it. Though she had heard several older girls exchange "tips".

>>"Try 4 or 5 more times and then we'll take a break from this one and move onto the next one. Remember, shoulders squared, turn your body into the punch."

Agreeing to the instructions was easy. Doing them not so much. Abby fell down two more times before she figured out how her feet needed to be to keep her standing. Her front foot had to stay put. Not move a bit. Her back one needed to be on the balls of her feet so her foot could move. After that, she stayed on her feet when practicing the punch. Once she had done it right four time, she stopped and turned to Serena.

Abby was pulled from the world of Cinder when an older girl sat down by her. The little blonde looked up to see the older girl, maybe almost an adult, had a book too. Abby sat up a little trying to see the title, but she couldn't make it out.

"Hi," she greeted softly.

Abby didn't know about late blooming, but she did know she was probably the only girl her age with a flat chest. But she was getting used to the idea.

>>"Wait wait, you talked with Cafas about this? Oh my goodness, my dad had to deal with all of that on his own, I wonder if Cafas was as embarrassed and awkward as he had been?"

"He didn't look embarrassed. He told me he'd introduce me to older women like me," Abby frowned. She didn't think Cafas had trouble with it. He seemed calm, though she hadn't really looked to him much during that talk.

>>"Hmmm, I imagine the floor in here is a little slippery for you bare foot. Are you more comfortable like that then, or do you just not have good workout shoes on you?"

Abby staggered to her feet. "My skin is really sensitive. Legs and feet a whole lot more. I think it's because of a natural shark's lateral line. Shoes and I don't really get along." Abby shrugged a little. "I usually got barefoot or wear sandals. I might feel better with a different kind of shoe, but I haven't really tried."