ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk," and "kintsukuroi."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Nick Fury
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Minor character death. Bullying. Fighting. Suicide attempt (minor character).
Summary: This is the story of how a little boy named Flip grows up to save the world a lot.
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Family. Fluff and angst. Accidents. Emotional whump. Disability. Sibling relationship. Nonsexual love. Parentification. Manipulation. Coping skills. Asking for help and getting it. Hope. Protection. Caregiving. Competence. Toys and games. Comic books. Fixing things. Martial arts. Gentleness. Trust. Role models. Military. BAMF Phil Coulson.

Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32. Skip to Part 35.


"Little and Broken, but Still Good" Part 33


"All these styles you name, they focus on combat," says Sensei White. "If you are not careful, you will lose your center."

"I don't understand," Phil says. "I do some dangerous work. It's not rare for me to get stuck fighting bare-handed because I've lost my weapons or couldn't carry them in the first place. I need serious combat moves in order to stay alive -- to keep other people alive, too."

Sensei White makes a faint clucking noise with his tongue. "Which is stronger, hard or soft?"

"Soft," Phil says without hesitation. He's learned that lesson.

"You are not a violent man at heart," says Sensei White. "So if you fill yourself with violence alone, you will lose your heart. If you lose your heart, you will lose your balance. If you lose your balance, you will lose the fight before you even throw the first blow. Think! Why did you take up karate in the first place?"

"So I wouldn't have to fight," Phil says, remembering how he wanted to protect his sister, and how happy he was when the bullies mostly stopped bothering them. The karate moves had helped a lot, but the meditation made it easier to stay calm and out-think his opponents.

"These new styles you have been studying -- how do they help you avoid fights?" asks Sensei White.

Well, they don't, at least not the way Phil has been learning them. SHIELD personnel tend to be tough and fierce; they train and fight that way. Phil does his own reading, in addition to sparring with whomever he can find, so he knows that some of the styles can have a meditative aspect just as karate can. He hasn't bothered with that, though, and he suddenly realizes that might have been a serious mistake.

"Some of them have ways, but I have not explored those. I've been more interested in the attacks," Phil admits.

"Everyone knows how to counter attacks," Sensei White reminds him. "What if you need something else? Suppose that you need to stand against someone without hurting him. Perhaps you want to talk and he does not, or perhaps he is out of his head with fear. Then what will you do?"

"Probably screw up by the book," Phil says, dropping his gaze. "How do I fix this, Sensei?"

"Take up one of the gentler arts. I think aikido would suit you well," says Sensei White.

Phil bows, all the way down as he did in his childhood, touching his forehead to the floor. "Thank you, Sensei. I will do that."

Fingertips feather over the nape of his neck. "It takes a strong man to admit his mistakes. You will need that too," says Sensei White.

Years later, on stakeout in Rio de Janeiro, Phil will find himself watching a fugitive scientist, and will finally see what a disaster the strong application of force can be in a situation that requires tenderness. So even though Phil looks into Brazilian jiu jitsu to learn about fighting on his back, he keeps up the aikido.

* * *

Notes:

People can easily get caught up in "the best martial arts" usually meaning combat power. But sometimes you really need to be strengthening the soft side instead.

Aikido is all about fighting from the center, both physically and metaphysically. It uses the attacker's strength against him by pulling him off balance and deflecting force, aiming to avoid injury to anyone. The core philosophy is to extend the heart against the sword. Think about Phil's fighting style in the movies and you can see hints of this: he often uses attack moves to achieve a basically nonviolent end.

Nonviolence and de-escalation are ways of addressing problems without getting anyone hurt. They're damage control tactics. There are simple and complex instructions for de-escalating conflict. Notice that Steve often does the same thing, talking first rather than attacking ("The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing over a crowd like this, we ended up disagreeing."), and that probably plays into Phil's approach too.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is generally considered the most effective ground-fighting discipline. It is optimized for a smaller opponent against a larger one.


[To be continued in Part 34 ...]

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-18 06:16 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Definitely like this chapter, Sensei White is a terrific influence on Phil

--Anna Libertas

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-18 09:32 am (UTC)
jeshyr: Blessed are the broken. Harry Potter. (Default)
From: [personal profile] jeshyr
I love how you linked this back to Bruce too!! *happyfeels*

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-18 10:39 am (UTC)
yamx: (Default)
From: [personal profile] yamx
Phil was there when they tried to apprehend Bruce in Rio?

Then how was that screwed up so badly?

I love Sensei White. :) And I love his influence on Phil.

PERFECT!

Date: 2014-08-18 02:01 pm (UTC)
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
From: [personal profile] dialecticdreamer
I just can't add anything; this whole scene was perfect.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-18 07:58 pm (UTC)
thnidu: my familiar. "Beanie Baby" -type dragon, red with white wings (Default)
From: [personal profile] thnidu
aiming to avoid injury to anyone

A bag of flour to the face (in the trailer "A Funny Thing Happened on the Wa to Thor's Hammer).

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-18 10:00 pm (UTC)
peoriapeoriawhereart: Blair freaking and Jim hands on his knees (Jim calms Blair)
From: [personal profile] peoriapeoriawhereart
Looks like Phil was involved in Rio, but not in charge or provided with authority, so it was like seeing a car shatter.

Re: Yes...

Date: 2014-08-25 08:07 pm (UTC)
peoriapeoriawhereart: Cartoon Stantz post-kafoom (Default)
From: [personal profile] peoriapeoriawhereart
It's entirely possible that Romanova's fear of Hulk stems from seeing him rampage after being provoked.

And possibly not seeing the provocation even with it described.

Yeah, having him at certain layer of granularity.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-20 04:19 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Oh hey, I finally caught up. I've been rereading your series this week and I didn't realize I was that close to current.

I'm enjoying this little jaunt into Phil. Thanks for writing.

Starfevre

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-23 03:42 am (UTC)
labelleizzy: (Default)
From: [personal profile] labelleizzy
this series is so remarkable. =) *happy sigh*

Profile

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags