Private Finished An Offer of Self-Defence

Normally, to imply that she couldn't do so now? Interesting. "Teleportation?" she asked to clarify, because if that were the case...

Rory was good at picking things up. It was how she knew Zora was still feeling wary and probably wondering why the hell Rory was asking about her powers. Not like Lorelai would keep it a secret from her. She needed to be relaxed for half of this to sink in any way.

"I'm asking because the aim of self-defense is incapacitated and get out. Not stay and destroy. What abilities and skills you have are important. They determine how you're going to incapacitate an opponent and how you have to adapt to do so."

Rory approached Zora, keeping a casual pace and set her hands on the other woman's shoulders. "Firstly, relax. Even if you're feeling tense or afraid always remember to keep your body relaxed. If you plan on moving quickly — and as a general rule, you should — keep your weight to the balls of your feet." She waited for Zora to follow her instructions before she'd continue.

Rory nodded. That was a good start, so long as Zora didn't have, say, weird flexibility or mobility powers. Those were really useful for defense.

Zora still felt tense in the shoulders, even as she put her feet in the right place and seemed to be more light than before. Rory walked around her to better check the stance and to correct Zora's posture.

"Breathe out, lose the tension in your shoulders and don't stand so straight. You have to be ready to move at a seconds notice."

And when that was out of the way Lorelai stepped back in front of Zora. "Universally, learning how to disarm someone with a gun is a good start. Most people make the mistake of being within arms reach when pointing a gun at someone. I can't give any general pointers on magic, it varies so much here, but if you have a specific scenario in mind."

"Arrows but not bullets?" Rory laughed a little at that. "Alright, I knew a guy who used arrows. Magical arrows, but still."

God, Lorelai hated magic. She hated dodging it and fighting it, it was way too adaptive and there wasn't a lot of ways to explain to someone new how to defend against it. What was worse, in this universe, Rory recognized there was no one-way magic worked. Ugh. Annoying.

But the scenario was easy enough. "Okay. Relax, I'm going to step behind you here a second." And Rory did, then she wrapped one of her arms around Zora's neck. "Now, put one hand above my elbow and one below. When someone grabs you like this in an attempt to choke you, your goal is not to tear their arm away but to push it to your collarbone."

"Hold on," Rory laughed when Zora began to struggle. "The hold is good, now pull against it with your body and make sure my arm stays at your collarbone with your hands. You're going to want to move forward and to the side to step out of my hold. This is good for people who're stronger than you in battle."

And Rory waited for her to do it, taking the first time of this slow. They'd speed up the process in a few seconds, but it was good to have Zora understand how it worked before trying to do it on reflex.

Rory grinned. "Yeah, that was the easy one. We're going to try again — for real. Don't lock up and don't hesitate." And in a second, Rory was behind Zora with her arm locked around Zora's throat and the other hand helping to stabilize the hold at the wrist. No warning. No waiting.