2nd Transformation . spam :: gym

[permutates]

[ Instead of asking the network, she goes to the gym herself, wanting to see if there's any likely teachers, or people who are worth watching. (Raven can learn a lot from watching, she's found.)

So she ventures into the gym, blue-skinned, dressed in a tank top and loose sweatpants, and she sees the balance beam.

She part-remembers being a child, stepping out into a playground and playing along one. She always had the best balance. And she thinks of what Azazel has been teaching her, and she wonders...

She hops up onto it, a smooth movement, and extends her arms, testing her balance one way or another. She seems steady, so she dashes from one end to the other, every footstep sure. She tips backwards, then, folds until she's standing on her hands. It's hard to keep her grip, exactly; she shifts her fingers and stretches her legs out, a split, one forward, one backward. Rolls onto the forward one, moving herself back to her feet. And she does the whole movement again, quicker this time.

It's easy.

Part of her wants to laugh with the thrill of it, with realizing how innate her own physical abilities are. How graceful she is when she's not pretending to be someone else.

She balances on the end, debating attempting some sort of flip off of it. ]

Comments

[permutates]

[ And so she perches on the edge of the balance beam instead, legs dangling, watching. Natasha is about her size, and Natasha moves... really well. Better than Azazel, whose actions tend to be short and sharp, like he's drawing knives in the air. ]

[unmakeme]

[She moves like she has something to work out of her system, because she does. Too much inactivity, too little peace of mind. Sokolov's coma threw her for a loop. The situation with Touko and Zane has only put her more on edge. This place is fucked. All there is to it.

She notices Raven watching her, but she doesn't think much on it past that initial observation. She just puts it out of her mind, classifying her as a non-threat as long as she's that far away.

After a couple of minutes, with no one to brace her bag, it begins to come barreling back at her, almost as though it's fighting back. It's a predictable attack, of course, but it still adds a little something.]

[permutates]

[ She approaches carefully, making noise on the mat, stopping just out of easy attack range (a handful of meters away) if Natasha doesn't stop at the sound of her. ]

Do you need someone to hold that?

[unmakeme]

[Natasha notices, but doesn't stop moving until Raven speaks. Even then, she doesn't actually stop moving. She just slows.]

Depends. Are you strong?

[Her size and build wouldn't suggest it - but Natasha knows, better than anyone, that size and build can be deceiving.]

[permutates]

[ She considers her answer, for a moment. ]

Isn't more about how you brace yourself?

I bet you could knock over a strong guy without any problem.

[unmakeme]

[The very corner of Natasha's mouth twitches up.]

Sure.

[Two quick jabs, an uppercut, a lunge, then back, and a roundhouse kick.]

If I just wanted you to hold it still.

[Her voice clearly says that this is the most boring of all possible options.]

[permutates]

Is there something else?

[ Because she hadn't honestly considered anything else, but she's game, energetic, balanced on the balls of her feet. ]

[unmakeme]

Yeah. Right now, I know how it's coming at me, because I know how I'm pushing it away. Harder to predict with someone else forcing it to move. But it's not light.

[She can do it, if she's strong. Natasha can do it, so Raven probably can.]

[permutates]

[ Raven laughs. ]

I'll try. No guarantees.

[unmakeme]

Life almost always defies any attempts to give guarantees.

[But she waits obligingly for Raven to take up a place behind the bag before she starts hitting it again.]

So...

Why so blue?

[permutates]

[ She'll steady it, at first, getting a feel for its weight and the strength of Natasha's blows. ]

Very funny.

I'm what in my world is called a mutant.

[unmakeme]

Hey, you want to hold my bag, these are the jokes.

[Natasha's almost dancing around it, light and quick. Her feet aren't planted like a fighter's - her stance is springy, like a gymnast. Agility over power, she knows where her strengths lie. Her blows come with surprising force for a woman her size, but they're still not valuing raw strength. That's not where she excels.]

Blue scales are a hell of a long way from heterochromia.

[permutates]

[ Heterochromia. Ugh.

On the next hit, she sends that little surge of irritation into a shove at the bag, coming at Natasha from the left. ]

It's not a normal mutation. It's a specific one, that gives people... powers, I guess.

[unmakeme]

[Natasha smiles when the bag moves in an unexpected way, and she has to adjust on the fly. This is what sharpens skills, that little bit of the unexpected. It forces you to focus, and live in the moment. An assassin who isn't living in the moment and the future is a very dead assassin.]

And your power is looking like a lizard?

[The words may be dismissive, but the tone is honest. Natasha can admit to some curiosity. She also thinks that Raven's skin, glossy cobalt and textured as delicately as fish scales, is quite beautiful.]

[permutates]

[ The words sting, nonetheless. She directs that back into the bag too. ]

This is just how I look when I'm not trying to look like something else.

[unmakeme]

[Natasha beats up on the bag for about a minute before she answers. She can't think of Raven and her looks in terms of her own life. Her own life is neither typical, nor particularly admirable. No, her life is not a model to hold against, and when she takes that out of the equation...]

You shouldn't try to hide it. It's beautiful. You look like... a fairytale.

[She doesn't specify which part.]

[permutates]

[ A pause, in which she's just steadying the bag. ]

You mean like a fairy tale monster? A mermaid or something.

[ Yeah she's read real fairy tales. ]

[unmakeme]

[Something like that.

They compromise:] Fairytale creature. It's not a bad thing. Dangerous can be beautiful. A mermaid, a siren, some kind of fairy.

[permutates]

Except if people think you're scary, they tend to be scared of you. And then they tend to hurt you.

[unmakeme]

[Natasha has no pity in her voice when she answers. She'd find it insulting, and if this girl (woman?) has gone through her entire life feeling like she's on the outside, she has a feeling that she will find it just as insulting.]

So use their fear and ignorance against them. Don't let them hurt you.

[permutates]

I'm working on it.

[ Learning.

She isn't sure whether the emotionless tone in Natasha's voice is welcome or a little insulting. It's... odd, to her.]

Learning to stop hiding.

[unmakeme]

I'd say it gets easier, but--

[Natasha breaks speaking to take a few very hard jabs at the bag, rocking it back with some considerable force, trying to prompt Raven into action.]

It doesn't. It stays hard. If you're lucky, though, you get tougher. Life is worth not missing out on.

[It took her a while and a lot of outside help to figure out that last one, but she finally got it.]

[permutates]

{ She's silent, at that, lets the bag swing to the side - and then gives it a shove to come at Natasha from the left. ]

[unmakeme]

[A lack of conversation suits Natasha just fine. She focuses on her workout for a while. It's better with another person. Having the opportunity to observe Raven doesn't hurt any, either. She's a fascinating thing to behold.

When the bag loses its appeal, she takes a step back, and stretches her arms up over her head.]

You fight?

[permutates]

I...'m learning. I've only been training a few months.