Owner Pose
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake is not a teacher. He is not a nurturing type -normally. However, Pixie needed some training and he had seen the results of his abusive father on his mother. Sienna Blake had no recourse against that pig. At his core, the amoral Cat hated the very idea of a nice girl getting hurt or victimized.

Also she was terribly cute. That fact was not lost on the mercenary. Not at all. So swallowing his pride he had bought several rubber daggers and clubs. He was going to try to turn a Pixie into a Shiva. If she could take time away from tea parties for her stuffed animals. Silently he waits. Let her find him, and Mike for that matter. They fly. They magic. They can find him. Use a ouija board.
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn isn't really into tea parties and stuffed animals..Okay fiiine, so she still has a few of those but shush you. She's all grown up now and eager to prove herself to the world..But after a few hard knocks, she's still not up to speed with some more accomplished melee fighters like X23 and all those crazy clones. So of course she was eager at the opportunity to refine her dagger fighting skills - she does use a soul dagger Afterall, right?

Which is why the pink haired girl is now flying over Central Park, searching for Thomas Blake. Is he wearing a costume, is he carrying a little neon sign? Well one way or the other she's sure she'll find him..
Michael Hannigan Contrary to what Thomas thinks. Mike is not flying, nor is he magicking. But being he was the one making the arrangements he had a general idea of where Thomas would be. Hair pulled back, secured, and tucked into his shirt to give the illusion of shorter hair. The musician is dressed more for comfort than style.

Mike comes casually up the path. Considering his general posture it doesn't LOOK like Mike just arranged for a young woman to get dagger handling lessons from an ex-con in a public park. But then again, performers generally have some type of quirk or two. The denial is strong in this one.
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn spots a Mike first and swoops down lightly to join him. "Heya, Mike, how goes?" she smiles brightly, "Thanks for arranging all of this. I dunno this guy that well but I hear he's a well trained martial artist or some such?" she grins, "Should be fun.." she peers around, trying to recall where they were supposed to meet him.
Michael Hannigan Getting the glimpse of movement in his side vision, Mike tilts his head to look to the incoming Megan. He cracks a smile to the younger being as she thanks him. "No problem. Considering some of the stuff I've seen you get into, I wasn't about to say 'no'. Also, all I did was call, I'm just glad he's willing to entertain the notion. I'm not sure on the fun part but, it should be educational."

A curious glance is given to the Pixie, "How are things with school?"
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake speaks directly behind Megan, resting his hands lightly on her shoulders. "Fun? I would love to ave fun with you and Mike but this comes first and it is very serious business." As is his wont, the Cat appeared suddenly and quickly, too quick for Mike, who was facing his way, to do more than barely blink. One moment there is a definite lack of Blake. The next, there he is kneading Megan's shoulder slightly, giving every indication he could twist her into a pretzel.
Michael Hannigan There's a time when the conscious and subconscious mind have a bit of a disagreement. When Thomas decides to make his appearance the way that he does, this becomes one of those times for Mike. But perhaps a bit more explanation is needed.

Let's cover the conscious portion first. Megan asked Mike to arrange for training so there is that period of time where Mike used the burner Thomas gave him to request that. There was the period of surprise to Thomas agreeing. And even a bit of thankfulness. But to get to the point. Mike in some way was expecting something of this nature. Thomas will Thomas. Just as Megan will Megan. And Mike-

Well, this is where we go into the subconscious side of things. Conciously Mike knows these things. He has reason to suspect. But the actual visual of something jumping out at him harkens back to a very bad period of his childhood where that was usually followed with malicious intent from that something.

So, with this input, plus the factor that Mike is not currently phantasmed, conscious mind got a STFU notice when it tried to interject. Subconscious was already busy kicking off the general 'Here we go again' drill: The eyes abort their scheduled eye moistening maintenance and goes back to open mode, given a new objective of locating and checking the newcomer's hands. The feet shift, switching to a more defensive stance as the arms and hands start to shift, readying themselves to grab or redirect away anything that gets thrown towards him.

That's a lot isn't it?

Yeah, he got through the first item on that list and part of the second when Thomas stopped at Megan. But the orders are still there and it's hard to call those back in the middle of execution. So, Thomas gets a glimpse of that combined with an expression that rarely came up in the past 11 years of life.

When conscious tears up the STFU notice and snatches the controls away from subconcious with probably a few choice words, Mike blinks. The hands lower as his expression shifts. He glances aside of the two for a moment before looking back to Thomas, expression reset to before. "Hi Thomas." Mike greets, "Thank you for agreeing to this."
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn smiles and nods, "Still good to know, I appreciate it." she shrugs, "School is school, tiring, grinding sometimes. Not keen on writing exams, I much prefer to sing and dance. But I think I might major in KinesAaaaahh!" she yelps, jumping maybe ten feet high as Thomas pops out of nowhere, scaring her silly, "Heeey you nearly gave me a heart attack! Sheesh!"
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake rubs the bridge of his nose considering. "I can work with her," he says to Mike. "She at least had the sense to disengage and not fiddle around making a stand o whatever."

Thomas makes a gentle motion indicating Megan should come back down. "This is serious. You are a lovely girl and I'd like to see you stay in one lovely piece. You are small. You want to be good at melee? Well growing six inches and adding sixty pounds of muscle is a start but I don't think I can manage that. You're just going to have to learn to be ruthless and work with what you have, good reflexes, good speed. This will be hard. Self defense courses don't cover this. You need to learn to hurt people and fast because you're never going to be able to block a kick or tank a punch. Get down here. I made my point." He makes a huggy gesture at her.
Michael Hannigan Hearing Thomas give his initial assessment of Pixie, the musician shifts back to a more relaxed posture. Although, just wanting to make sure someone's not attacking is hardly something that classifies as a pose. But being that Pixie's the one getting lessons. He should be fine. Right?

"Just remember you quite literally asked for this." Mike reminds Pixie.
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake looks up another moment and then sits cross legged. "Whenever you're ready, little girl. Take your best shot. You learn by doing. Or fly for home." He watches her reaction and movements but in a somewhat casual way. He's ready but doesn't seem to care too much.
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn frowns, "Heey, I'm not a kid, you know?" even if she kinda acts that way, and she's not terribly big or imposing. Still she's trying to take this seriously and nods, "Right. So rely on speed and initiative. I already do that, but trying to get in close can be tricky..I don't have great range with my dagger, but once I hit someone, they bypass armour so that's good. I'd love to improve my throwing ability too." she grins at Mike and nods, "Heey, I'm not backing out, no way! I wanna do this, so let's do this! I'm ready.."
Michael Hannigan The musician chuckles. "You can protest all you want but to me you're still like a kid sister. I still remember the tree incident." Mike comments. He pauses, "Well, maybe that'll change when you start looking older than me."

And yet despite that commentary, Mike is stepping back a little to give the pair more room. Also the talk of throwing knives is definitely noted.
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake looks over to Mike and says, "She always talk this much? I mean I told her to attack and she's still flying around chatting with me. I really don't talk a lot. Get down here and attack ME! Or I will bring you down. Are we clear? Take your soul dagger or whatever and come for me." With that he suddenly has a boomerang like weapon in his hand, hefting it. "Throwing daggers is for show offs. You use something like this. One more time, come to me or I take it to you."
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn makes a face at Mike. "Well boop, you're never gonna let me live that down, are you." she looks back at Thomas and rolls her eyes, "Oh, you mean *now*.Okay. Here goes!" she summons the glowing pink dagger, dark insect lid eyes narrowed as she rushes at him, trying to slash at his face and neck a few times. If she hits, it won't cause physical pain nor can it be blocked at all as it will literally go through him, causing great spiritual pain instead.
Michael Hannigan As Thomas brings out the Catorang, Mike steps back a little further. There's probably a good chance that something sharp is going to go astray and the musician would rather have the space to evade.

"Pix, he's giving you a choice. Attack or D-"

And off she goes with an advance warning.

Mike sighs.
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake grins as he sees the attack coming in. She's going for the neck! Awesome! Part of his front was a bluff. The 'catorang' gets jammed in the soil. Then as she slashes at him he rolls back from his sitting position.

He locks his legs around her waist, getting them battered a bit by those wings until he shifts them. He rolls over and over, he slashing him blocking, her attacks coming faster and faster until he finally gets a lock on her weapon hand (and a sock in the jaw for his troubles). Then he grabs that wrist.

"I'll give you a B for that attack. Not bad. I thought you'd hold back. Trying to stab me in the neck was a nice touch. My advice to you is keep doing what you're doing and if you see someone like me, let the dedicated melee fighters handle them. You aren't a bad fighter. I mean you could probably take on the Blue Beetle easy enough. Time out."

He releases her wrists and rolls off to sit beside her. "Get over this bad ass term. What you call a bad ass? We're people who became what we are to simply survive our own bad decisions. Study your magic and flying and do your fairy stuff and practice melee when you can. I will show you some pointers for the dagger. It looks... like... what -crystal?" Without warning he reaches to run his finger on the dagger testing its edge.
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn rushed in without a thought. Oh she's quick sure, but he's giving her a run for her money. He's stronger definitely and he's more experienced, she yelps as he grabs her wrist, fluttering her wings more rapidly. At this distance it's likely he might get sprayed with a mild dusting, though nothing to great effect.

Still she yelps and struggles as he grabs her wrist, before she remembers her training, perhaps a moment's hesitation too late. "Gah!" she yelps, staggering backwards, "Hey no fair..I can't believe I didn't even touch you once.."

But when he reaches for the dagger, she steps back, pulling it away. "Heey, careful. This is no ordinary dagger. How do I explain, it's made of pure energy, it contains a shard of my soul I guess.." oh but it's sooo much more than that. "It can bypass armour and hurt your very soul. To the supernatural it's deadly. To the mundane it just causes extreme pain, and other..Weird stuff,"
Michael Hannigan The observer tilts his head to Megan's comment. "You know it's never going to be fair. Pix." Mike points out, "Remember the doppel in Limbo? Did she take turns?"
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake daws his hand back. "Ah... I have a dagger that was forged by a princess of Hell. I don't daw that unless I intend to use it. It has vey dark magic. Speaking of hurting the soul, never lose your heart to a demon." He regards Pixie a moment then says, "You tagged me in the jaw." He turns his face to show her a small bruise developing. "That's where Robin hit me. One of them. The first one. Hated that kid."
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn frowns at Thomas, eyes narrowed, "Waaait a minute, princess of hell? Don't tell me you mean the very same, Yknow, Illyana? cuz she's the one who forged this dagger for me..Out of my very soul!" yea, that's a touchy spot for her. "And yeah, I'm all over that, I mean, I nearly lost my soul to Illy, and she's basically a demon, you know?" she sighs, clenching her fists around the dagger, all upset now.
Michael Hannigan The question gets Mike grinning. "Different type of hell." The musician answers, "There's a lot of variations out there. Each with their own ruling party." He pauses, "I think there's some shared border between Limbo and dreams."
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake laughs. "No... not Illyana. One of Marduk Kurios' brats. Let me not name names. Hey, I didn't mean to upset you... this time anyway. I'm glad you got that piece of your soul back." He's about to pat her back and thinks better of the dust. He takes her empty hand and pats it.
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn shrugs, relaxing a bit. "Oh, huh..I guess I've heard that too. Geez, that's totally not confusing or anything." and she definitely does not want to visit any of these other..Hell..Dimensions. Nope! "Ah, it's okay, really. I mean, sure my soul is in this dagger, but it's kinda scary. I mean, because a piece of my soul isn't where it's meant to be, and it's been corrupted. Sometimes I can be a bit..Mean..?"
Michael Hannigan "I think it's pretty safe to say we all have a mean side. Some are just more careful about it than others." Mike comments, "Even with a soul all together in one spot you'd probably be able to tap that." He glances aside, frowning as he plays the word usage back in his head. "...Tap into that?"
Thomas Blake Thomas Blake continues toying with Pixie's fingers a little. "That's okay. I can be a bit mean too, and I don't have an excuse of dark magic. In fact I was bad enough to interest a succubus. That tells ya something. You guys want to get a bite? I could eat."
Megan Gwynn Megan Gwynn peers at Thomas. "Succubius? Really...Yikes!" she bites her lip, "I mean I'm not really badass at all. Honestly I've got nothing on Illy, everyone just sees me as 'Magick lite' or so,etching. Nit very flattering..You really think I got what it takes to be something more?"
Michael Hannigan Mike smiles, giving a nod to Thomas's suggestion. "Yes, let's go get something." He looks over to Megan, "Come on. My treat. You guys can discuss things while we're eating."