Log: Matt and Sharon

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Going to workout, Matt runs into Sharon and they compare gymnastics work



Round off...

Round off again, then followed by a back handspring...

Round off, back handspring again and this time Sharon let the power of the motion carry her through a double layout backwards, using all the power the slightly springy floor and her abilities offered her to gain enough height to complete the flip.

Entering the gym, Matt was surprised to find someone there and using the floor mat for something other than sparring. Granted, it could and should be used for other purposes, but he didn't often find it that way. Setting his water bottle down near the high bar, he chalked his hands, then leaned against one of the beams, letting his sonar focus on what she was doing. Bouncy.

A grin curled around Sharon's lips as she once more moved into the corner and started moving on the diagonal. Another round of and back handspring to gain speed, then continued to whip till she came near the end and folded herself into another layout, this time adding a twist.

Landing safely, she caught sight of the man watching. "Sorry, didn't see you..." She called out as she grabbed a bottle and a towel.

"Don't stop," Matt encouraged, "you seem to be having fun," he kinda wanted to join her. Maybe the high bar could wait. It had been a while since he just bounced on the mat like that. "I can leave if you don't want an audience. Or work on the high bar," he didn't have a spotter, but then, he never did.

"Just needed a break." Sharon commented between sips of water. "And it's fine if you want to stay. You do gymnastics yourself?"

"Some," Matt allowed. Well, more than 'some,' but he didn't need to say that. "I kinda dabble in a lot of different things. Do you do more than floor? Or just that?"

"I worked mostly on tumbling, but picked up some bits and pieces here and there. I can manage on the high bar if I wanted, but really complicated vaulting is not really thing." Unless it were parkour types of vaults.

Vaulting over things (and people) was fun. "Want to do something together?" Matt suggested. It was always more fun with a partner. "I'm a fan of complicated when it comes to stuff like this, but I can take it easy."

"That sounds like a challenge to me." Sharon grinned, something of a competitive light appearing in her eyes. "Why don't you show me what you can do and I'll see how far I get?"

Challenge accepted. "Sure," Matt agreed, stretching his shoulders a little and loosening up. Padding barefoot to the corner of the mat, he carefully positioned himself right at the very edge. Taking a deep breath, he took off, log strides giving him power as he flipped and twisted over the mat, the springiness underneath helping him get additional height. Most people didn't expect someone of his height to be able to tumble, but he didn't see why not. It was the same mechanics at 6'3" as it was at 5'0".

"Nice." Sharon allowed. "That is not too bad. But this I can manage." With that she headed to the same corner and with a deep breath she started into the sequence. Some of the transitions were a little unusual, but nothing she was unable to handle.

"What is the most difficult flip you can handle?" She asked when she padded back.

She was good, absolutely. Thinking for a minute, Matt grinned, "I can do an Arabian Double Front," he finally said. There were other things he could do on rings and high bar and such, but on the mat? That was a pretty difficult series of flips, even if it was also fairly common in more difficult routines. Taking his place on the mat, he got himself enough momentum, then proved it. "Can you?" he called from the other side before padding back to Sharon.

"Ohhh, nice one!" It took her a little more force to gain the height needed to do both the half twist and the double somersault, but when she landed she had a big smile on her face. "Could use a little more practice." She allowed, though she was still smiling. "One day... the triple twisting double back... that is one I'd like to do."

"I'm Matt," he wasn't sure if he had introduced himself or not so he offered his hand. He definitely didn't know her name, but he was getting better at that now that he was around more.

She grabbed his hand in a firm shake. "Sharon. Don't think I have seen you around here much?" She grabbed two sealed bottles of water, offering one to Matt as she cracked hers open and took a long sip.

"I was only here on the weekends." Matt explained, "I'm here full time now, except when I go to the city," Spending a few nights each week with Foggy was an unexpected side benefit of not working for the most part, though it did cut into his DD time since Foggy didn't know about that and balancing everything was awkward given the distance of the mansion. Still. "I'm trying to open a legal practice in Hell's Kitchen, which is a lot more work than I expected," even with all the research and prep they'd already done.

"Sounds like a long trip back and forth. You say it's doable though?" Sharon took another long zip before closing the bottle and putting it to the side. "So... you want to show me what you can do on the bar?" She nodded at the contraption.

"Not daily, unless you have a thing for mass transit or something, but yeah, it's doable," he replied. His love of New York City most definitely included mass transit. Places without it were not places he wanted to be. Canting his head towards the high bar, he nodded, "Spot me?" he asked, more for formalities sake than a real need.

Wrapping his wrists and hands, he rechalked them and then grabbed the high bar with the step stool. Once Sharon moved it, he began building momentum before stopping in handstand on the top of the bar, swinging down and twisting, rotating and flying over, and around the wood, making it dip and wobble. It was times like these that he forgot who he was for a minute, just relishing the feel of flying.

Sharon stepped back a little, though she kept still a careful eye out. When she saw the grin on his face, she had to smile and shook her head before calling out: "Having fun? Just don't forget there are others who also want a turn!"

"According to my brother, I don't share very well!" Matt retorted, but he dismounted a moment later, landing on his feet even if it wasn't a perfect landing. He was not trying to impress the Olympic committee.

"Never worked much on the high bar." Sharon admitted as she chalked her hands. "I played around a bit on something similar at my parkour gym though." With that she stood below the bar, crouched down a little and jumped up, her hands easily gripping the bar.

Helping her mount, Matt stepped away to be spotter, "It's more of a guy's gymnastics apparatus," he agreed, "girls usually do the uneven bars. No idea why that is. Just like guys do rings, girls do balance beam, etc," Gymnastics was completely gendered, but in the end, similar strength and skill was needed for it all.

"Maybe they felt it would be more 'feminine' or something?" Sharon commented sarcastically as she swung back and forth a few times. She did not have much experience on the bars, but she did know a few things as she kipped, ending with her leaning on her arms. This was followed by a quick hip circle both forwards and backward.

"Maybe," Matt shrugged, "No idea. Though, I think the uneven bars is because guys get too tall for it," men in gymnastics tended to be shorter overall, but that didn't mean there weren't some taller guys. Then again, the women in gymnastics tended to be shorter, too. "Nice form!"

"Thanks. This is just child's play though." Sharon leaned forward a little as raised her hips, slowly forming her body in a handstand, perfectly balanced on top the bar. "Just like this. About the limit of what I know."

"Hey, 'nice form' doesn't mean you did the flashy, showy thing. It means you did whatever thing, even simple handstands, well. So take the compliment!" he called back. "You gotta do the basics well before you can move on, you know?"

"I know." Sharon called back as she let her legs fall trough, moving till she was hanging on the bar again. "So, any suggestion of what I should try next on this? This is still more your thing."

Hmmm. That was tough. What was in her skill level? "Can you go back into a handstand and then change your grip to reverse direction?" Matt suggested. He had seen her do both things, but not together like that. It could be a nice way to challenge Sharon without pushing too much. He wasn't prepared to teach at the moment. Usually when he did that, it was working on hand-to-hand with Gen X and whatnot.

She was not sure what the traditional way was to do this, but she could come up with something. Again she cast herself in a handstand and kept herself there for a moment. But instead of falling through this time, she managed to do a kind of push up movement, clearing the bar just enough to reverse her grip. She was a bit wobbly, but she managed to regain her balance.

"Probably not the way you are supposed to do it.... but it works." Sharon commented.

"Are you on one of the teams?" Matt asked, partially because he was curious and partially because it would affect his answer.

"Not on the books, but I've done a mission as a medic here." Sharon let herself fall back so she was hanging down and dropped back to the ground. "How so?"

"Well, what you do there is different from a gymnastics competition," Matt pointed out, neglecting to mention that he wasn't on any teams and generally solo'd it because he did not work well with others. Sorta. "So anything I show you should be geared towards something you might use."

"Does not have to look pretty to help kick butt." Sharon grinned. "One of my martial arts teachers used to say something like that."

"Exactly," Matt agreed. "Pretty is fine for the judges. Effective is important on the streets."

"Speaking from experience?" Sharon's eyes narrowed a little. "You don't see many blind men fighting on the streets, unless you are watching a kung fu movie."

"You mean the Blind Samurai Zatoichi," Matt retorted, "And you don't see any here either," he pointed out. He wore a mask for a reason and he wasn't he only one. "but this is Xavier's and I've got powers and a brain. And Clint's my brother," when in doubt, blame Clint.

"You don't just move like a gymnast, but also like someone who does martial arts." Sharon pointed out dryly. "And you speak like know what street fighting is like... But I won't ask anymore." She grabbed a towel and dabbed her face with it. "So... how are you on that one?" She gestured at the balance beam set up in the corner.

"And I do," Matt agreed, "I'm a black belt in a couple different forms. My brother and I did it together as kids. He's also a retired super spy. So...." he shrugged. "Which one is that?" he asked, it was too far away for his powers to help him in a room this large.

"Balance beam. Might not be what you are used to though?" She injected a bit of a challenge in her voice.

"Ah," Matt nodded, "I can do a thing or two," he agreed, accepting the challenge. "Lead on, MacDuff."