hadriel_logs | Like tae bo? Booty boot camp?

Entry tags:

Like tae bo? Booty boot camp?

Who: Natasha & others, maybe you?
What: Making friends, getting drinks and dinner, running errands and punching somebody without breaking your thumb.
Where: Around
When: Early March
Warnings: Nothing planned, will update as needed.

Delight's Bar - Open

It's easy to end up at the bar, especially when there's not much else to do. Not much structure and no immediate threats.

She's hungry or she's antsy, or she just doesn't feel like being on her own, even if she's not one to admit it. If she wanted to eat alone—if she wanted to drink alone—she would have stayed in.

The practical outcome is that here she is, scanning the room for someone else who looks like they might be looking for the right company.

Scavenging Shops - Open

She can also be found hunting for supplies. She has a few things in mind. Clothes, if she can find them. Food. Furnishings for her temporary home here. What she'd most like to find are weapons that aren't linked to Rage. She knows better than to hope for bullets, but garroting wire? She might get that lucky.

Self-Defense - Connor

"You ready?" Natasha asks, giving Connor an assessing glance. He's fit enough, but he doesn't strike her as a fighter. Maybe he'll surprise her, though. She knows better than most people that how dangerous someone looks rarely has anything to do with what they're actually capable of.

Still... it would be a surprise.

"Let me know if you're not, because once we get started I'm not going easy on you."

Sparring - Matt

"Any ground rules we should get out of the way before we get started?" Natasha asks lightly, stretching her shoulder as she glances over Matt.

"No weapons, nothing below the belt...?"

It's a suggestion more than a boundary. Natasha isn't too worried about limitations. It's a sparring match, and while she doesn't necessarily know what Matt's capable of, she does know what she can do. She's confident in her ability not to get in over her head, and she's comfortable tapping out if she has to.

"Or did you have something else in mind?"

A Trip to Delight's Temple - Jade

Natasha waits on the road for Jade to show up, arms crossed casually over her chest as she keeps an eye open for the girl. She'd agreed to go with her to Delight's Temple. So far, she hasn't been to any of the temples, preferring to keep her distance, but there's no real reason holding her back.

And if anyone ever seemed to need some moral support, it's Jade.

Walk in the Woods - Amos

A lot of people have their own workout routines in the cave. Makes sense, after all. People don't give up on that—both because it makes sense to keep in shape in Hadriel, but also because it's comforting to go through the familiar motions.

At least, Natasha finds it comforting.

She's on her morning jog through the orchard when she spots someone a figure she knows going through poses, slowing as she approaches and finally coming to a stop as she gives him a curious once over.

"Yoga?"

Wildcard

Choose your own adventure!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Scavenging is a good way to keep busy. It's the easiest way to help out that doesn't involve killing things. Because, look. If Bucky can avoid killing stuff for a while, he will.

Accompanying Natasha was something of a happy accident. He'd run into her a few shops back, and they'd been going in the same general direction. It would've been ridiculous to try to avoid her from there on out. And two sets of highly trained eyes were better than one.]

So. [Making conversation. It's difficult.] You figure anything out interesting about our captors, Ms. Black Widow? [Because if there's anyone who can, it'd be a Widow.]

I've found out they don't know a whole lot humans.

[She says it with a snort an a wry turn of her lips. You don't have to be a master spy to realize that, but it still bears repeating.]

Other than that, it's an ongoing project.

[And one she's still considering how to approach.]

My normal methods don't work as well here.

"I mean, I'm not," he says quickly, "but I do want to learn."

He's just also really sure Natasha could kill him with her bare hands, so, like, that's a hard thing to be ready for.

Natasha laughs at that, not surprised but it's a good attitude to have. Realistic. She almost feels sorry for what she's going to put him through. Almost.

"In that case, lesson one. Show me how you make a fist."

[Jade meets Natasha at the agreed upon spot, looking nervous and unsure. She'd been avoiding the temples too, but between the promise of a way to get fabric and some anonymous advice she was given, she figures it's time to give them a chance. At least, she thinks, Delight isn't the worst one she could try approaching first.

But she's still nervous. She waves awkwardly when she spots Natasha, relived that she'd agreed to accompany Jade. There's a journal tucked under one of her arms and she tries to smile at Natasha, tries to make it seem like this whole outing is not big deal.

It is definitely a big deal.]

Hi. Uh, sorry if I kept you waiting...

[Natasha returns the smile, making it look easier even if she's not sure it actually is.]

I haven't been here long. Don't worry about it.

[She tilts her head toward the road ahead of them.]

Have everything you need?

Edited 2017-03-07 03:15 (UTC)

[Jade nods, clutching her journal in her hands. She doesn't feel ready, but she can't back out of going to the temple now, not when Natasha is there to join her.]

I think so? It's not like I was supposed to bring anything except happy memories.

"Is that not, like, an intuitive thing?" He balls his hand into a fist and looks at it like what could I possibly be messing up here.

"That depends on how much you like your bones in one piece." Natasha says it with a slight smile. Up to him, really. Then she takes his hand, moving his thumb so it's tucked a little further back from his second knuckle. "At least it wasn't inside your hand... Like this. Then line up with your wrist. When you go to throw a punch, try to hit with your first two knuckles here.."

She demonstrates by holding his fist against the palm of her left hand so the knuckles of his first and second finger hit first. She's simplifying this a lot, but it's not like she figures Connor's about to become a martial artist.

"I want you to picture a line from your shoulder, down your arm, ending here. the fewer kinks in the line, the more power gets from here," said patting his shoulder. For as distant as she can be, Natasha isn't all that shy in people's space. "To here." Touching his hand again.

"That make sense?"

[Natasha shrugs. She's not the one making the deal with the god.

She's also not sure that everything Jade needs and everything she's supposed to bring for Delight are exactly the same.]

Have those in mind, then?

"My dad showed me how to box, those rules sound pretty standard."

Matt shrugs. For a blind guy, he sure seems comfortable in his gym gear, shifting his weight side to side in a stretch. Then again, he's never gone hand-to-hand with an Avenger. Foggy would kill him if he found out. The thought makes him smirk.

"I guess I should mention you don't have to go easy on me." He did say he'd start telling people more, about his powers. Subtly. Or not-so-subtly. Natasha should figure it out soon enough. "Been doing this for a while. Should be fun."

Edited 2017-03-08 06:10 (UTC)

[She nods again, still looking incredibly unsure. She's not convinced even her happiest memories are going to be good enough.]

I've got a couple.

"Matt," Natasha's tone is faux offended, archness not entirely disguising humor. "Do I really strike you as the kind of woman who goes easy on people?"

Maybe not hard. This is sparring. Natasha's not interested in making this too serious. At the same time, she figures Matt knows what he's signing on for. She wouldn't have agreed to this if she didn't.

She's not entirely sure how he thinks he's going to make up for his disadvantages, but that doesn't mean she doesn't figure he's got something in mind.

Whatever it is, judging by his expression, he really is expecting to enjoy this.

"Whenever you're ready."

Then we're probably as ready as we're going to get.

[Natasha angles a sideways look at Jade as they start toward Delight's temple, not quite smiling.]

Are they things you can talk about, or you think you have to keep them to yourself?

[He hums, a sort of amused acknowledgement without any true laughter and only the faintest hint of a smile. Yeah, that first part he knew pretty well already, even when he was having trouble understanding humanity himself.]

Yeah, I don't imagine they do. Unless you use them on the other people here.

[He considers that.]

Which could be helpful, I guess, if people try to pull shit.

[And Natasha would be lying if she said she hadn't considered that as well. Instead she hums noncommittally as she shifts aside some empty crates to investigate whether there might be anything more promising underneath.]

I suppose I could always try to get close to the gods the same way, but... so far, hasn't seemed worth the risk.

[Which also doesn't rule it out entirely.]

For now, observation only.

[On both counts.]

"I wouldn't blame you." Matt shrugs, still smirking. He's looking forward to this, but he's also quite used to being underestimated.

He rolls his shoulders, adjusting his glasses mostly to make sure they don't slide off his face. His gaze falls somewhere to the right of Natasha's face, but his senses are totally trained on her. He'll 'see' her coming no matter what.

"Hope I'm not too rusty." He says, foregoing all preamble and aiming a punch to her shoulder. Might as well get this secret stuff out of the way, even if he doesn't have to look where he's throwing his punches.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." She says it even as she dodges. Natasha knows better than to watch his eyeline for signs of what he might be planning. Even sighted opponents knew better than to telegraph their intentions that way, and in Matt's case it would just be a distraction. If she could see his eyes at all, behind his dark glasses.

Her heartbeat is steady and her footfalls light as she dodges, and she follows up with a quick kick aimed at his ankle. The counterattack might seem like holding back, despite what she said, but in reality it's more of an experiment, gauging how he reacts and where his skill level really is.

Only one way to know for sure.

[He nods.]

Makes sense.

[He's quiet for a bit, then he sighs.]

I'm still figuring out what it is I should be doing around here. Jumping back into what I was doing before seems... ill-advised.

Makes sense.

[She can think of at least three reasons why it might be a problem.]

What do you want to do? Prison cave aside, what would you like to be doing?

[Jade follows along beside her, not quite able to look at Natasha. She looks at her feet as they way, scuffing the toes of her increasingly worn converse, the only clothes from home she always wears, as they continue along the path. As much as going to Delight's temple was Jade's idea, she doesn't seem in a rush to get there.]

I could talk about them, but they're not that exciting. It's just little stuff. Mostly from when I was like, a kid.

If you want to talk about them, I don't have a problem listening. If they're private...

[She shrugs, not wanting to pressure the girl.]

I don't think you have to worry about them being small though.

[Jade pauses. Long enough that Natasha might assume that she's not wiling to share her few precious good memories. But after taking a few more steps, she begins, voice quiet and just a bit unsteady. It's obvious they're not easy for her to talk about.]

Just stuff like... When I got chosen as my soccer team's goalie or the first time I got to walk to school with Jimmy or the family road trip to the lake. Stupid shit like that...

I don't think any of those are stupid. They sound nice.

[It would be easy for nice to sound weak or condescending, but Natasha means it. She has a difficult time thinking of anything in her own past like that.]

Delight should be satisfied.

[Bucky shrugs.]

I have no goddamn clue. I can't even remember what it feels like not to be fighting all the time, or looking over my shoulder all the time. What is there for someone like me?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 6

Like tae bo? Booty boot camp?

scavenging

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sparring

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject