Mireo

Knives??

Within a couple of weeks, I had learned a couple things about "killing".
Halio had taught me the most effective places to hit on a human to make sure they don't hurt me, he called it self defense but a lot of the things he taught me weren't really "defense". They were more "attack".
He also taught me how to fight with these sticks he called batons! And I got the hang of it quite fast.
It was quite an interesting art, and it made sense that sometimes people had to take killing into their own hands. Sometimes timers are too long, or the police won't do it themselves. But Halio made it clear to me to never mention this to anybody, no matter what.
"We think differently than them. They won't understand, they'll call us strange and they'll say we're the bad people for fighting against the rules." He said, striking me again with the padded baton. "Stay light on your feet and try to dodge where I swing."
"How do I stay light? That's not how gravity works!" I kept getting hit with the baton more and more and I was beginning to get impatient.
"Hop around! Be ready to dodge!" He struck again, this time around my waist and into my diaphragm, causing me to wheeze out the air in my lungs.
"UGH!" I got pissed, snatching the baton from him and smacking him across the head with it. He told me pain was a good thing, so when I saw the bruise on his face I smiled.
Yes! Success!!
He knelt slightly and assessed the damage to his face, giving me a sharp glare but covering it with a grin.
"Yes!! Use that anger! Whenever you're fighting you always use anger." he congratulated me, acting proud. "Emotions are our fuel and humanity needs to use them accordingly!"
He gave me a high five, something he had taught me, and grinned. But as soon as I lowered my guard, he snatched the baton out of my hand and actually hit me this time. The baton swung and struck me across the face, leaving a red welt and disappointment on both our faces.
"Damn. I thought you would catch that."
"Shut up, I still got you first."
"Thus my right to defend myself." He grinned. "Never hit first. If the police show up to a fight, what will they be looking for?"
I sigh exasperatedly, I had memorized this because he asked me those questions all the time!
"The instigator and the least drunk witness-" I recited.
"Bingo!! Good job" he praised my memory, which.... Made me strangely happy.
I always loved attention from him and it was so easy to gain! I just had to do something he liked, from memorizing stuff to getting him something he asked for. Sometimes I had to go with him outside of the house and whenever I followed all of his rules he would compliment and praise me. I tended to follow his rules just for the compliments.
"Thanks!"
"You're definitely learning faster than I did." he said as he continued the fight, barely trying to even beat me.
"When were you taught?" I dodged a blow from the right. He countered by lunging to my right, aiming for my head. I ducked out of the way and tapped him with my baton.
"Oof-" He spoke through laughter. "You got me. I learned when I was 13 and kept training until I went to med school, then I got my doctorate and I worked as a surgeon for a bit, now I'm a simple family doctor."
"A doctor is someone that helps you with injuries right?"
"Yeah, basically."
"Is that how you helped me when I fell to earth?"
"Ah. I forgot you did that... yes it is" he laughed to himself. "Hey! Wanna try something new?" He seemingly changed the subject after forgetting how I came here.
"What is it?" I raised my brow.
"Do you know what knives are?"
"The cooking things? The metal things that I'm not allowed to touch?"
"Well yes. But there's a kind of knife that's made to fight with rather than cook. Blades are very useful in more ways than one on earth!" He grinned, dropping his baton and running over to a chest in the middle of the large and empty room. He went on one knee and unlocked the chest, opening it up and fishing around in it until he pulled out a couple knife-like objects.
He walked back over and handed me one. It was like a knife but smaller and double-sided and dull, the blade barely looked metal and it was awkward to hold.
"These are practice knives, you practice fighting with them without worrying about actually cutting someone so you can get the hang of it!" He said excitedly. He was strangely happy to teach me how to kill someone.
"So how does it work?" I ask, wary.
"Well if you have a real knife, you could cut me. And sometimes if it's bad enough, it could kill someone. And remember you always aim for limbs until you can get to someone's torso." He advised, backing into a fighting stance. "Try to use the baton fighting techniques!"
I nod slowly and resume the same stance, holding the practice knife awkwardly.

Hours later, I had a couple bruises on my wrists and sides from where he had grabbed my arms to fake-stab me in the side. Fighting practice was quite infuriating, I always lost when using the knives! I loved winning with the baton because it didn't hurt and I actually got a chance to beat Halio. But now he was mad at me for losing and not being as quick to pick up knife fighting.
I felt bad.
Really really bad.
Is this my fault? No no it's not. It can't be.
It isn't my fault just for being slower.
Right?
Right.