I hope this isn't a harbinger of hayfever, Tom, because I have a pretty high threshold of pain and right now I'm barely functional.

ETA: Er, many Buffistas have it worse when it comes to headaches, so plz to forgive my emo.

I hope this isn't a harbinger of hayfever

Did you catch con plague, maybe?

Juliana, maybe Vortex and Aimee, and Steph would like to go and should.

Would LOVE to, but meeting for October 1 has just been set. Feh.

Did you catch con plague, maybe?

I only wish, because that wouldn't necessitate a doctor's visit and a prescription for antibiotics. For now, I'll just keep popping Benadryl and squinting at my monitor like a drunk with double vision.

Thanks, everyone!

x-posted from Great Write Way in order to get a larger pool of combat experts:

Help!

Two characters in my WIP are fighting. J has just tackled F, and they are rolling around on the ground. F draws a knife and slashes at J, scoring a minor cut or two, but then J disarms him, pins him down, and chokes him to death with his bare hands. Which sounded well and good, in a bloodthirsty way, until I tried to write it:

1. How does J disarm F? He's the younger and stronger of the two, so I think if he gets a good grip on F's knife hand, he can prevent him from doing any more damage, but how does he make him drop the knife? Should I have that happen before J knocks F down? I'd like the knife to be thrown/kicked somewhere where neither of them can reach it, because it's really important that J kills F with his bare hands--he's a soldier, so he's used to killing with musket and bayonet, and I want him shaken and shocked at himself in a way he wouldn't be if he'd used a bullet or a blade.

2. What is J going to see as F goes through his death throes? Will F turn red? Blue? How long will it take him to go limp and then to die?

Time is the opening decade of the 19th century, and J is a typical English redcoat--IOW if you want a musket fired and reloaded quickly or a line of infantry formed into square to meet a cavalry charge, he's your man, but he has no special training in martial arts or hand-to-hand combat and wasn't even the type who got in a lot of fights as a boy. So whatever he does has to be at least sorta-kinda plausible for acting on instinct.

Thanks!

Signed, Discovering that Fight Scenes are Much Tougher Than Sex Scenes, Probably Because I've Had Sex but Have Never Killed a Man With My Bare Hands

How does J disarm F? He's the younger and stronger of the two, so I think if he gets a good grip on F's knife hand, he can prevent him from doing any more damage, but how does he make him drop the knife?

oh! oh! I know the answer to this. But it's been years since my training and I'm sure ita would be able to answer it much more clearly.

Basically, J would break F's grip by grabbing his knife arm with both hands, one just above the wrist and one on the knife hand pulling the arm in close to his (J's) body but pushing the hand w/ knife away.

Um...and then knee him in the balls. That works pretty well.

I feel like I could demonstrate this still but don't know if it makes sense in writing.

Juliana, maybe Vortex and Aimee, and Steph would like to go and should.

cough Standing right here... Wanna go play.

Signed, Discovering that Fight Scenes are Much Tougher Than Sex Scenes, Probably Because I've Had Sex but Have Never Killed a Man With My Bare Hands

Hee! Better than the other way around, I guess.

Flea, that is super stupid, and they should totally suck up to you with money and bennies to make up for it. Damn.