xp_logs | Nathan and Haroun, Monday morning

Nathan and Haroun meet in the gym for another sparring session. It goes markedly better than their last - Nathan is definitely getting back on track - and Haroun makes a potentially very constructive suggestion.

Stretching was taking a little longer than usual today. Of course, he'd been lying around all weekend, Nathan reflected a bit wryly, so maybe he should have expected being stiff and creaky. Even considering that, though, he was less creaky than he'd been the last time he'd been down here in the gym preparing to do this. He couldn't help but consider that a good thing.

Haroun was already in the Gym, dressed to fight and ready to go. "You sure you're ready for this?" he asked his friend as Nathan stretched out, complete with the set of old-man groans. "You just sprained your brain this weekend. You medically cleared for combat?"

"I did not sprain my brain," Nathan corrected him meticulously, getting up. "I, uh... tried to shortcircuit my long-term memory and the feedback blew out my shields. Definitely not a sprain." Haroun didn't look overly impressed by the clarification. "Oh, bite me," Nathan said with a laugh, coming over to join him on the mats. "Of course I'm cleared. Do you think I'm going to risk Moira's wrath at this point?"

Haroun shrugged. "Like your little attempts at bad-sector brain recovery endeared you to her forever and ever." he said sarcastically. "You weren't the only one who had a trying weekend. I spent the entire weekend cleaning up after Little Miss Can't Put Her Things Away." he groused. "And then she gets all wounded at me when I ask if it would kill her to put her books away once in a while. Anyway - should I assume that we're going to stick to the basics? I mean, we could take this three-dimensional if you wanted, or go grab some staves from the weapons locker."

"Basics," Nathan said briskly, with a bit of an eye-roll at Haroun's complaint. Still getting the little things of living together ironed out, I see... He tried not to grin as he went on. "I want to see if I've gotten over that reaction yet. I think that second Danger Room session was a pretty good indication, but that wasn't fighting someone flesh and blood."

Haroun nodded. "I was in the booth for your second run. Noted a lot of improvement. Now let's see how you do against a flesh-and-blood foe." he said, in true Villian Monologue style, and attacked. But he was very visibly pulling his punches and keeping things slow for Nathan's benefit.

Still too tense, Nathan thought grimly. But then, he hadn't expected it to be gone completely. He stayed on the defensive at first, assessing himself as much as he was Haroun's attack. Hands were steady, although his heartrate was up. Up with more than exertion.

Well. Let's give it a better excuse. Nathan gritted his teeth and pushed back, going on the offensive and picking up the pace. The physical hesitation was gone - that was good.

Haroun matched the pace of his fighting to Nathan's - as Nathan sped up, so did he. He was still pulling his punching - like point-sparring as opposed to the more usual full-contact nastiness. Just to vary things up, he trapped one of Nathan's punches and used the momentum and the superior strength in his legs to send Nathan tumbling down to the mat.

Nathan managed to fall properly and roll, coming back to his feet. He did it quickly enough that the sudden insistent push of memory was out of context before it had even properly formed. Better. Much better. He launched himself forward again, knowing that he was still slow - eighty percent speed, maybe, was what he could manage at this point - but that it was still an improvement.

Haroun grinned as Nathan rolled smoothly and came back to his feet. "Good." he said with a grin, and this time pushed things up another notch. Still not redlined, but coming close to it. The contact was still light, though, as the rule about no-full-contact sparring with Nathan had never been formally lifted. There was a joy to be had in combat, in the physicality, in the blending of mind, body and spirit on a single goal.

This was one of the few areas he still had to get cleared in, Nathan thought in the part of his mind that wasn't wholly absorbed in the fight. Needed to do that. Maybe it would be a while before it felt entirely natural again, but this was better. Progress was good.

He actually managed, finally, to land a hit. It was amusing, how much of a surprise that was.

Haroun grinned at Nathan, but didn't say a word. He was in the Zone, and he had nothing to spare for banter. And he was running about a ten-to-one touch ratio - he'd take it. Wouldn't fly against a physical augment, but as Nathan wasn't it was OK. But maybe some additional defense work might be in order. He was getting sloppy with some of his blocks, and his stances were a half-inch or so out of alignment. He could feel it.

All of the fitness work he'd been doing was certainly helping; he wasn't breathing nearly as hard as he would have been even a week ago. The constant grinning from Haroun might have been unnerving, but this was Haroun and he tended to do that when he was sparring. This was all very familiar, Nathan thought, and with that realization relaxed a little more, his attacks coming more smoothly.

Haroun could sense that Nathan had shifted gears, grown a lot more comfortable. What a difference from their last sparring session! "All right, that's enough." he said after landing a one-two-three combination on Nathan. "You've come a long way since a week or two ago." he said with a laugh. "Regular workouts and you'll be back in fighting trim in no time. My suggestion to you is work with Shiro in hand-to-hand. I'm trying to file the kid's blunted edges to sharp nasty points, and he's doing all right that way. His problem is too much time in the dojo and not enough time in the School of Hard Knocks."

Nathan took a step back, catching his breath, but couldn't help raising an eyebrow at Haroun's suggestion. "Write it into his training schedule, then," he suggested. "I approach him off the cuff, he'll turn me down flat."

Haroun shook his head. "You two solve whatever it is that's between you. If I need to get involved, it won't be pleasant." he said pleasantly in his Jetstream-the-XO voice. "We have no time for this shit." He then extended a hand to Nathan. "Well-done. You got anything else on your plate for today?"

Nathan glared briefly, then reached out and shook his hand. "Thank you," he said, leaving the subject of Shiro for now. He'd see what the reaction was. Maybe the kid would surprise him. "Another session with Charles this afternoon. Until then... well, probably just more work on the nursery."

Haroun laughed. "Just between you and I, I am fairly hopeless with a hammer. My more preferred tool is the plasma torch or the soldering gun."

Nathan made a detour over to the bench for his water bottle. "No need for that at this point, sadly," he said. "All the furniture is bolted down, now. The TK-proofing continues apace."

"I don't envy you those sets of challenges." he said quietly. "But at least here you'll receive all the help both of you will need. And it seems that my choice of baby gift is even more fortuitious." he said with a laugh. "Even if getting leather done that small ate my budget whole."

Nathan grinned, then shook his head. "It'll be all right," he said firmly. "My minor panic attack the other night notwithstanding. In my defense, I've had a few too many shocks to the system lately."

"Just a few." he laughed. "They are what you do best."