Charles still hadn't gotten Edwin to agree to punch properly, but about a month after Port Townsend he finally managed to badger Edwin into learning to escape holds. He didn't have to hit anybody, Charles promised, but wouldn't it be nice to know how to get away if he had to?
Edwin agreed that it would (Charles knew he would, once he'd found that argument) so there they were, dressed down, in the office, Edwin in rolled-up shirtsleeves and Charles in his vest.
"Okay," Charles said. "You can pretty much already get out of any pain compliance hold, cos of your thing, and obviously any stranglehold or suffocation lock isn't gonna do anything, so... Probably makes sense to start with pinning."
Edwin blinked at him with indulgent confusion.
"Right. Just, um. Lie down on the carpet - mm, I think face-down, most holds work that way - and I'll grab you and then show you how to get out of it. Okay?"
Edwin looked at him incredulously for a moment, then got down on the floor, remarkably gracefully but with mild exasperation in every muscle. He put his arms crossed under his chin with a slight huff and gave the baseboard of the wall a Look.
Charles grinned and knelt down over him, a leg on each side. "Sorry, I'm gonna need those, mate," he said, and extracted the arms from under Edwin's chin. He pulled them into position, and bent forward to hold Edwin, and -
and Edwin made a sudden meep noise.
Charles froze and frowned. That shouldn't've hurt at all, he was being careful. "You good, mate?"
"Mhm."
"You sure? I can be looser if you need. Or let go and we can try something else."
"No!" Edwin said, and his voice was high and tight like Charles had him in a stretch hold, which he didn't. "No, that's fine! I'm quite - I'm quite alright, thank you, this position is fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes," Edwin said emphatically, and Charles shrugged.
"Okay, let me know if you have a problem. So what you're gonna want to do here is..."
