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Max had thought teaching the club parkour would be simple/ Fighting spirits was far more dangerous, and parkour could even make it easier to dodge. What he hadn’t considered was their inability to sit still. Before starting Max had to teach the basics, like momentum and how it didn’t care if you wanted to stop. Johnny had looked genuinely interested, but had somehow fallen asleep after the general warnings. Isaac consistently asked about doing cool tricks, and was consistently disappointed when Max said that wasn’t something you did in parkour. Ed paid attention, if only to know when the perfect time was to make jokes. Isabel was trying her best if only to be polite.
“Fine,” Max grumbled, “We’ll move on to the action portion. Don’t blame me if you break something because you didn't listen.”
“Can’t be worse than the acid spirit.”
The rest of the club had looked up at Max’s comment, Max had looked up at Isabel’s. Was she talking about actual acid? Spirit acid? A mix? A spirit that just made lemon juice? She unfortunately didn’t elaborate, and the air space was filled by excited chatter as they moved from Max’s living room to the grass outside. With any luck he could forget about the acid spirit and pretend his life was normal for a brief few minutes long. With a deep breath he performed a shoulder roll. It was a parkour basic, and helpful for dispelling momentum. Plus it could always be used to dodge.
“That was a shoulder roll,” Max announced.
“I...think we know how to roll Max,” Isabel said.
“So show me.”
Slightly confused Isabel took a few steps back and rolled over her head instead of her shoulder, ending still on the ground. Max then gently bonked her with his bat.
“That’s a good way to break your neck. You need to lead with your shoulder.”
Johnny spoke up, “I dunno, they looked similar.”
“A shoulder roll allows you to either dispel or continue momentum when running beforehand or after. If something goes wrong, you hurt your shoulder. A roll like that puts too much pressure on the neck. It goes wrong, you hurt your neck. You have to use the correct rolls for situations, like running away from spirits versus doing a cool trick.”
“What if...” Isaac started.
“No cool tricks while running away from spirits,” Isabel said, “That’s a general rule, not a parkour specific rule.”
Johnny made a face, “Y’all have rules?”
“Just to stop people from doing stupid things.”
“Like breaking a shoulder by rolling wrong,” Max interrupted, attempting to get things back on track before they went too far off, “So are you guys willing to try the correct roll.”
Isabel gave him a small smile, “Of course we are. Now let’s do this!”