Anna Sighed (Brindle/Annabelle)

[Brindle Sterling]

Before long, Brindle was feeling much more calm, and she had forgotten Anna's presence almost completely. It was still the weakest part of her training, keeping her mind clear, and she still had yet to do so for even half of her routine. She was getting better, though. As she went through the motions, her mind went back to the same thing it always went back to the reason all this had begun.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sat and watched for quite a while, watching how much concentration Brindle put into each movement. She wished she could do something like that, and envied both her and her brother for their exercise routines that they somehow managed to keep even with all the distractions of the school. Only when it looked like Brindle was pausing in her routine for a break did Annabelle speak up. "How long have you been doing that?"

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle's eyes blinked open, and for a moment she paused before she realized who'd spoken. The fog had lifted quite a bit too, and it now felt awkward facing away from someone. She never paused for breaks, only when a move required pausing before the next began. Once she'd turned to half-face Anna, she continued where she'd left off. "Since the beginning of September," she answered.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna realized that was probably only shortly before she'd arrived at Hogwarts. "Wow, you're pretty good. Who teaches you?" She didn't know much about Martial Arts, but assumed it would be hard to do what Brindle was without having someone instructing on the proper form and movements. Anna remembered her talk with Markise about starting an exercise program to help her clear her mind, so before Brindle had time to answer, she asked another question. "Is it hard to learn?"

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle took in a deep breath, exhaling with her next move while she thought. Her lessons weren't strictly within the rules, and besides Markise, no one knew that she wasn't only going on the weekends like her parents thought. Still, she didn't need to tell Anna when she went, did she?

"I take classes at a little place in Diagon Alley. There's a Squib there who teaches Martial Arts." And she wasn't about to say how she got across, either. Anna could assume the Knight Bus and she'd be perfectly happy.

"Everything's hard at first," she went on, since Anna had asked. "And if you work hard enough, it stays hard and you learn it that much faster." She was much farther along than she should have been for how short a time she'd been doing this. Of course, she put everything she could into it, and practiced every day, even in horrible weather. And yet she knew Markise wasn't telling her everything. At least she knew that if something did happen, she could stand up for him properly this time.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle thought about all Brindle had said, and watched with amazement as she completed a few more moves. It became obvious that the concentration and movements were far more than the exercise program Anna had automatically assumed she did. Her eyes widened with comprehension at the dedication Brindle was showing for her chosen hobby. "Wow, so that's real martial arts you're doing. Like you could fight someone? I'd thought it was just one of those exercise programs to work out."

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle turned swiftly, one leg flying up to kick the tree behind her. "Keeyah!" The impact jarred her leg clear to her teeth. Maybe she was taking it too far, but her kicks were strong. There was no moving a tree, and so any human would give easier.

One. Two. Breathe.

"Yes, I could fight someone," Brindle said, then inhaled deeply before resuming her usual routine. She knew all about shock value, and she didn't want to frighten Anna, but some things were better understood with demonstrations than with words.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sat up at the sudden impact of Brindle versus the tree. "That's amazing!" She knew plenty of guys that fought, not Karate or Kung-Fu, or whatever it was that Brindle was doing, but the physical brawling that all guys seemed to inherently know. Brindle was the first female, outside of the telly or movies that she'd ever seen do anything remotely physically violent. Admiration shone in Anna's eyes, holding Brindle at an elevated status in her mind because of her ability.

[Brindle Sterling]

"That's half a year of training and hard work," Brindle corrected Anna. She was quiet a moment. "Are you Muggleborn?" she asked, then went on quickly. "Not that it matters, just... the majority of wizards and witches who even know about Martial Arts think it's a waste of time and energy." Throwing your limbs around, her father had said, and when she'd persisted, he'd decided it was cute. She hated being patronized.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

It took less then a split second for Anna to decide that Brindle probably wouldn't have an issue with her family history. "My dad's as muggle as they come and my mum's a squib. I grew up in an all muggle neighborhood and there was always martial arts on movies and the telly, so I'm used to the idea of physical fighting. Besides, most witches and wizards don't take into consideration the consequences of using magic in some inappropriate situations or places." Especially being underage, they could get their wands snapped in two or expelled for being irrational.

[Brindle Sterling]

"They don't," Brindle agreed. "They also don't think about what would happen if they were disarmed, or they couldn't get to their wand." Her lips pressed tight in an expression of annoyance she shared with her brother. Again, she silently cursed whoever those a~holes had been. Again, she silently cursed the school's policy of theory. Again she cursed her brother's inability to fight back-- Brindle swore as her next move missed its mark. She needed to calm down and breathe.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I guess that's true too, but I'd probably just try to escape." Anna hadn't really thought about being unable to get her wand or having it taken away, but she didn't think about fighting all that much to begin with. She hated confrontation, and would be more likely to run from a situation then to ever pull out a wand or start throwing punches. Noticing Brindle's agitation, she asked, "What is it?"

[Brindle Sterling]

"Bad memories," Brindle answered simply. Horrible memories, and the fact that they weren't hers didn't do anything to ease the tension. I don't really remember, I mean, I don't even think I knew what was going on. I closed my eyes. Brindle stopped where she was and went back several moves, back to where she was doing little more than stretch. She needed to calm down. Breathe. "I'm learning Martial Arts for a reason," she said softly. "It's for my own peace of mind. It helps." Hopefully that would be enough for Anna.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Oh." Rather than satisfying Annabelle, the short replies only served to spark her curiosity. The words however didn't leave much room to guess at the deeper meaning, and clearly told her that Brindle didn't want to talk about it. Without realizing it, Anna's own tone softened when she spoke. "Do you really think it will work? You know, if you have to use it again?" Her mind began creating scenarios in which Brindle would need Martial Arts, most of them scenes from movies that were completely irrelevant to anything Brindle might get into. But without knowing what had happened, she was assuming, and filling in the blanks with other possibilities.

[Brindle Sterling]

Brindle glanced over at Anna, who she could see clearly now that the fog had burned off so much. She wasn't surprised that Markise hadn't told her, but if he hadn't, she wasn't about to. "It could work," she said carefully. "If I was against a wand it wouldn't do any good, but for its purposes, I could defend myself." Or, if Markise got bullied again the way he had before the attack, she could stand up for him instead of watching helplessly.