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xp_logsWhen Sarah and Matt first met, he invited her to the gym for a sparring match. It doesn't go particularly well for Sarah, but she makes some new friends (also frenemies?) and nobody goes screaming when her mutation makes an appearance. Win.
Sarah was nearly bouncing down the hall as she headed towards the gym. She hadn't realized how much she needed an evening in the ring until Matt mentioned it, and then it was all she could think about the entire day.
She shouldn't have been surprised walking into the gym, but like everything else in the house the gym was bigger and more stocked than she expected. "Wow..." She breathed, taking in the equipment and the space.
"Welcome to the gym," Matt called from where he was stretching in full splits, chest to the ground in the ring. This morning, when they had met, he had been doing the walk of shame. When they had met earlier in his office to see what could be done to clear her name, he had looked like a competent lawyer. Now, he looked like a gym rat in a pair of simple shorts and a ratted Fogwell's t-shirt.
"Warm up, wrap your hands. I've got gloves that should fit you," his own were on a nearby bench with his water bottle.
"It is a pretty nice gym, isn't it?" Darcy agreed, stepping back from the bag she'd been kicking and slowing it to a gentle stop, scooping her towel and water bottle up before moving closer to the duo. "I didn't know I'd be getting a show after my own workout tonight. I'm Darcy, it's nice to meet you. Sarah, right?" She smiled at the other woman, dropping into her own stretches. "Kevin mentioned there was going to be someone new here for a bit, and I met Piotr at the office."
"My Family owns a gym, but it's approximately 400 years old and smells like sweat and cigars. I don't even know how to use most of what's in here." She pulled off her sweatshirt, and her tank top revealed bone patches growing along the predominantly bony parts of her body. Shoulders, elbows, clavicle, and the tank pulled up just a little on the bottom to show some along her hip as well. She dropped her bag on the mat next to her and began some simple stretching. "Nice to meet you, Darcy. I'm here for a bit to ride out some Family drama."
“That’s what my Dad said to me once, five or so years on and I’m still here.”
Maya had been holding the bag for Darcy, but the new arrival had her curious as well.
“Name’s Maya, by the way.”
Sarah couldn't quite nail down Maya's tone, and didn't know her well enough to assume. So she bit back a response about fathers, and then another one about hoping whatever was going on in Maya's life worked out for her, and landed firmly on killing them with kindness. Motherfucking kindness. Her smile broadened as she switched stretches. She said brightly, "Nice to meet you Maya. If you're going to land somewhere, let it be a place with a fully stocked kitchen and a celebrity trainer gym, right?"
"Good gyms should always smell like sweat and cigars," Matt pointed out, gloves and other protective gear now on. "And leave Family drama out of this, we've all got history," he had his own issues with Family, capital F. "Rules are simple. None of us can turn our powers off, so use them sparringly. We're not looking for flashy and we're not looking to be the baddest mofo. This is friendly practice. That said, don't pull punches either. Sarah against me, first. Then Maya," he grinned at Darcy, "Kiss for luck?" he asked.
"Kiss for distraction, maybe," Darcy replied with a laugh. She obliged, however, pressing a loud, smacking kiss to his temple as she moved out of the way. "I'm gonna go make sure I've got a first aid kit handy for the inevitable small problems, I'll be back to watch in a minute."
If it had been anyone other than Darcy, Maya would have made a crack about ‘the olds’ keeping their PDAs to themselves but as with many things, it being Darcy gave her a pass, at least with Maya.
“You know, if it were me I’d have already punched you in the kidney while you were flirting.”
"Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous," Matt retorted, no bite to his words. Climbing into the ring, he motioned for Sarah to join him, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. He fully intended to go easy at first, to assess her skill level.
Sarah climbed in, with an ease and joy that suggested that she had been doing this for years. And she loved it. "Fight fair, fight clean, right?" Her trainers always started every session with that phrase and she liked the ritual of it. A reminder that while they were about to hit each other, nothing was personal and there were rules. She offered up her gloves to tap.
"Exactly," Matt agreed, his smile from the familiar words. He'd heard the same from every ref when his dad trained. Tapping her gloves, Matt took a defensive stance, letting her make the first move.
Sarah's first moves were tentative, trying to feel out exactly what, if any, advantages he had with his abilities. She moved around the ring, gaging his reaction time and when she thought she had a read on him she went in with a jab. When he easily dodged the first punch, she went in with a faster right hook.
Blocking it with a cover, Matt swiftly used the opening to use a jab to get Sarah in the nose, making sure not to hit too hard. "Return to position faster," he grunted, continuing with a cross getting her in the head before moving back to give her opportunity and reset.
The first time he hit her, Sarah was distracted and didn't really think about it much. She'd seen plenty of people get hit boxing matches, and she'd done some of it herself. But the second time he hit her, it started to dawn on her that it might have been the first time someone had actually hit her. She gasped and took a step back.
"Those fucking sons of bitches have been pulling punches! This whole damn time!"
Who what? Matt certainly wasn't. He didn't with Maya and he had no intention to start. "Piss you off?" He asked, hearing her elevated heart rate, "Use that. Hit me, Sarah!"
Sarah made a frustrated sound, almost a growl. Her body language shifted from joy to something more predatory. "I am covered in fucking bone, and they couldn't have hurt me if they wanted to." She stepped back in range, and without thinking, she threw a left hook. It wasn't her dominant hand, but they had insisted she practice both. She was going to tear into every trainer she had when she got back home, and then she was going to hug them for making her strengthen both sides.
Ducking, Matt resisted the urge to flip out of the way, to put more distance between them than the ring allowed. That wasn't in the rules, "Good use of your other side," Matt praised, getting up close despite her hit for an uppercut, "but not going back to defense fast enough," he moved away, motioning for Maya. "Maya, you work with Sarah on this."
Maya’s questioning look was her only answer for a moment as she shoved the boxing helmet down on her head. She’d already taped her hands but had waited to put on actual gloves.
“You want me to copy her?”
It was an interesting training strategy, Maya had to admit and not something she’d thought to use to help others before but it would show any limitations to them immediately. At least, minus some changes for build and height.
Maya was tall at 5’9” but not what she’d consider a giant, not like people like Piotr anyway.
“I’m ready.”
Sarah wasn't sure when her evening sparring in the ring became a lesson, but she was just bemused enough to let it happen, versus stubbornly digging her heels in. She approached Maya and put up her guard. "Fight, fight," she abbreviated the phrase with a curl of a smile and pressed what she hoped was some kind of advantage by throwing a quick jab followed by another left hook.
“Not so clean now?”
Maya had easily avoided the blows, given that she ‘was’ Sarah while her mutant power was active. Her eyes glowed with a colorless iris, their normal brown having disappeared as soon as she actively started to copy Sarah.
She backed off a short way and dropped her hands for a moment to reset her form, an exact copy of her opponents previous stance. She waited for Sarah to notice and take advantage, switching off the variety of defensive moves her brain was trying to move her into.
It wasn’t about winning right now.
"That was perfectly within the rules," Sarah shrugged, too aggravated at being mimicked to pick up on what she was seeing. She smiled tauntingly and threw another hook.
"Do you need me to go slower?"
Matt stood just outside the ring watching, amused. "Go again, Sarah," he called, "Really watch Maya this time. Don't worry about whatever Maya's planning. Focus on what you need to do and what she is actually doing."
Sarah stepped back, and shook her head. "I'm sorry, why am I doing this? How is someone I've only just met going to be an expert in what I do in a boxing ring?"
Maya gave her a look that could be best described as scathing as she dropped the gloves from her hands before leaning back against the ring ropes.
“You’d think anyone with eyes, or a brain in their head would be able to figure it out without being told. Think about it, why would Mr. Helpsalot over there want me to show you what you’re missing? What possible power might I have that would make it easy for me to tell within moments of knowing you?”
Jesus. No wonder they left her here to rot. Very slowly, a blunt bone growth pushed free at Sarah's shoulder, the sound of tearing skin and muscle audible to anyone close by. Blood began to trickle from the wound and into her tank top. Sarah didn't acknowledge it, but took a step forward. "I don't know, Maya, so far the only thing I have seen you do is run your fucking mouth."
"Alright, time out!" Darcy's voice echoed a bit in the gym as she moved back to the ring, hands moving in sharp, clipped sign as she came into eyesight. "Maya, you're being an asshole for no good reason and I'm disappointed in you. This is supposed to be a friendly spar where both of you get a decent workout and learn something. Sarah, the short version is that Maya can basically mirror you. It frustrating but can be an excellent insight to your own bad habits, if you pay attention." She pulled an alcohol wipe from the first aid kit and waved it at Sarah. "That sounds painful. Wipe for the blood?"
Sarah shook her head, and pointed to her bag. "Can you hand me that towel instead? It's clean, and alcohol stings." Taking the towel, She stepped back into a corner furthest away from the group and patted her face dry. "I'm going to pull this, so feel free to look away if pulling bones from your body doesn't strike you as a good time." She only hesitated a moment, before she gripped the bone firmly and pulled. It came out bloody, rounded on one end and jagged on the other. Like the other half was still inside her somewhere. She pressed the towel on the spot where the bone had been. "I should probably go back to my room. This will heal, but not quickly enough not to bleed all over your stuff."
Darcy winced at the sight, hoping it wasn't quite as painful as it appeared. "You know your body best, but I've probably got the stuff to staunch most of the bleeding in here if you'd like." She gave Sarah a wan smile as she recovered from the visual. "Or I could walk you down to medical, if you need stitches or something. Painkillers? That looked brutal."
Pointing at Maya, Matt shook his head at her, "I can't not 'look,'" he said to Sarah, going to check on her, "Sorry, if that's weird or invasive. My powers mean I see in 360-degree and can't really turn them 'off' but I can focus elsewhere. Go get cleaned up. You've got good moves. Hopefully, we can keep practicing."
Sarah shook her head. "No, it's okay if you look. It isn't that-- it just throws people sometimes and I like to warn folks who might want to." She smiled back at Darcy, who, bless her, probably should have listened. "If you come check on me tomorrow, I won't even have a scar."
She climbed out of the ring, and dropped the gloves back where she had gotten them. She picked up her bag and threw the now bloody towel over her shoulder. "It's more of an annoyance than anything. This shit is hell on my clothes. It's been fun though. Next time you'll have to come to my gym."
Sarah was nearly bouncing down the hall as she headed towards the gym. She hadn't realized how much she needed an evening in the ring until Matt mentioned it, and then it was all she could think about the entire day.
She shouldn't have been surprised walking into the gym, but like everything else in the house the gym was bigger and more stocked than she expected. "Wow..." She breathed, taking in the equipment and the space.
"Welcome to the gym," Matt called from where he was stretching in full splits, chest to the ground in the ring. This morning, when they had met, he had been doing the walk of shame. When they had met earlier in his office to see what could be done to clear her name, he had looked like a competent lawyer. Now, he looked like a gym rat in a pair of simple shorts and a ratted Fogwell's t-shirt.
"Warm up, wrap your hands. I've got gloves that should fit you," his own were on a nearby bench with his water bottle.
"It is a pretty nice gym, isn't it?" Darcy agreed, stepping back from the bag she'd been kicking and slowing it to a gentle stop, scooping her towel and water bottle up before moving closer to the duo. "I didn't know I'd be getting a show after my own workout tonight. I'm Darcy, it's nice to meet you. Sarah, right?" She smiled at the other woman, dropping into her own stretches. "Kevin mentioned there was going to be someone new here for a bit, and I met Piotr at the office."
"My Family owns a gym, but it's approximately 400 years old and smells like sweat and cigars. I don't even know how to use most of what's in here." She pulled off her sweatshirt, and her tank top revealed bone patches growing along the predominantly bony parts of her body. Shoulders, elbows, clavicle, and the tank pulled up just a little on the bottom to show some along her hip as well. She dropped her bag on the mat next to her and began some simple stretching. "Nice to meet you, Darcy. I'm here for a bit to ride out some Family drama."
“That’s what my Dad said to me once, five or so years on and I’m still here.”
Maya had been holding the bag for Darcy, but the new arrival had her curious as well.
“Name’s Maya, by the way.”
Sarah couldn't quite nail down Maya's tone, and didn't know her well enough to assume. So she bit back a response about fathers, and then another one about hoping whatever was going on in Maya's life worked out for her, and landed firmly on killing them with kindness. Motherfucking kindness. Her smile broadened as she switched stretches. She said brightly, "Nice to meet you Maya. If you're going to land somewhere, let it be a place with a fully stocked kitchen and a celebrity trainer gym, right?"
"Good gyms should always smell like sweat and cigars," Matt pointed out, gloves and other protective gear now on. "And leave Family drama out of this, we've all got history," he had his own issues with Family, capital F. "Rules are simple. None of us can turn our powers off, so use them sparringly. We're not looking for flashy and we're not looking to be the baddest mofo. This is friendly practice. That said, don't pull punches either. Sarah against me, first. Then Maya," he grinned at Darcy, "Kiss for luck?" he asked.
"Kiss for distraction, maybe," Darcy replied with a laugh. She obliged, however, pressing a loud, smacking kiss to his temple as she moved out of the way. "I'm gonna go make sure I've got a first aid kit handy for the inevitable small problems, I'll be back to watch in a minute."
If it had been anyone other than Darcy, Maya would have made a crack about ‘the olds’ keeping their PDAs to themselves but as with many things, it being Darcy gave her a pass, at least with Maya.
“You know, if it were me I’d have already punched you in the kidney while you were flirting.”
"Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous," Matt retorted, no bite to his words. Climbing into the ring, he motioned for Sarah to join him, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. He fully intended to go easy at first, to assess her skill level.
Sarah climbed in, with an ease and joy that suggested that she had been doing this for years. And she loved it. "Fight fair, fight clean, right?" Her trainers always started every session with that phrase and she liked the ritual of it. A reminder that while they were about to hit each other, nothing was personal and there were rules. She offered up her gloves to tap.
"Exactly," Matt agreed, his smile from the familiar words. He'd heard the same from every ref when his dad trained. Tapping her gloves, Matt took a defensive stance, letting her make the first move.
Sarah's first moves were tentative, trying to feel out exactly what, if any, advantages he had with his abilities. She moved around the ring, gaging his reaction time and when she thought she had a read on him she went in with a jab. When he easily dodged the first punch, she went in with a faster right hook.
Blocking it with a cover, Matt swiftly used the opening to use a jab to get Sarah in the nose, making sure not to hit too hard. "Return to position faster," he grunted, continuing with a cross getting her in the head before moving back to give her opportunity and reset.
The first time he hit her, Sarah was distracted and didn't really think about it much. She'd seen plenty of people get hit boxing matches, and she'd done some of it herself. But the second time he hit her, it started to dawn on her that it might have been the first time someone had actually hit her. She gasped and took a step back.
"Those fucking sons of bitches have been pulling punches! This whole damn time!"
Who what? Matt certainly wasn't. He didn't with Maya and he had no intention to start. "Piss you off?" He asked, hearing her elevated heart rate, "Use that. Hit me, Sarah!"
Sarah made a frustrated sound, almost a growl. Her body language shifted from joy to something more predatory. "I am covered in fucking bone, and they couldn't have hurt me if they wanted to." She stepped back in range, and without thinking, she threw a left hook. It wasn't her dominant hand, but they had insisted she practice both. She was going to tear into every trainer she had when she got back home, and then she was going to hug them for making her strengthen both sides.
Ducking, Matt resisted the urge to flip out of the way, to put more distance between them than the ring allowed. That wasn't in the rules, "Good use of your other side," Matt praised, getting up close despite her hit for an uppercut, "but not going back to defense fast enough," he moved away, motioning for Maya. "Maya, you work with Sarah on this."
Maya’s questioning look was her only answer for a moment as she shoved the boxing helmet down on her head. She’d already taped her hands but had waited to put on actual gloves.
“You want me to copy her?”
It was an interesting training strategy, Maya had to admit and not something she’d thought to use to help others before but it would show any limitations to them immediately. At least, minus some changes for build and height.
Maya was tall at 5’9” but not what she’d consider a giant, not like people like Piotr anyway.
“I’m ready.”
Sarah wasn't sure when her evening sparring in the ring became a lesson, but she was just bemused enough to let it happen, versus stubbornly digging her heels in. She approached Maya and put up her guard. "Fight, fight," she abbreviated the phrase with a curl of a smile and pressed what she hoped was some kind of advantage by throwing a quick jab followed by another left hook.
“Not so clean now?”
Maya had easily avoided the blows, given that she ‘was’ Sarah while her mutant power was active. Her eyes glowed with a colorless iris, their normal brown having disappeared as soon as she actively started to copy Sarah.
She backed off a short way and dropped her hands for a moment to reset her form, an exact copy of her opponents previous stance. She waited for Sarah to notice and take advantage, switching off the variety of defensive moves her brain was trying to move her into.
It wasn’t about winning right now.
"That was perfectly within the rules," Sarah shrugged, too aggravated at being mimicked to pick up on what she was seeing. She smiled tauntingly and threw another hook.
"Do you need me to go slower?"
Matt stood just outside the ring watching, amused. "Go again, Sarah," he called, "Really watch Maya this time. Don't worry about whatever Maya's planning. Focus on what you need to do and what she is actually doing."
Sarah stepped back, and shook her head. "I'm sorry, why am I doing this? How is someone I've only just met going to be an expert in what I do in a boxing ring?"
Maya gave her a look that could be best described as scathing as she dropped the gloves from her hands before leaning back against the ring ropes.
“You’d think anyone with eyes, or a brain in their head would be able to figure it out without being told. Think about it, why would Mr. Helpsalot over there want me to show you what you’re missing? What possible power might I have that would make it easy for me to tell within moments of knowing you?”
Jesus. No wonder they left her here to rot. Very slowly, a blunt bone growth pushed free at Sarah's shoulder, the sound of tearing skin and muscle audible to anyone close by. Blood began to trickle from the wound and into her tank top. Sarah didn't acknowledge it, but took a step forward. "I don't know, Maya, so far the only thing I have seen you do is run your fucking mouth."
"Alright, time out!" Darcy's voice echoed a bit in the gym as she moved back to the ring, hands moving in sharp, clipped sign as she came into eyesight. "Maya, you're being an asshole for no good reason and I'm disappointed in you. This is supposed to be a friendly spar where both of you get a decent workout and learn something. Sarah, the short version is that Maya can basically mirror you. It frustrating but can be an excellent insight to your own bad habits, if you pay attention." She pulled an alcohol wipe from the first aid kit and waved it at Sarah. "That sounds painful. Wipe for the blood?"
Sarah shook her head, and pointed to her bag. "Can you hand me that towel instead? It's clean, and alcohol stings." Taking the towel, She stepped back into a corner furthest away from the group and patted her face dry. "I'm going to pull this, so feel free to look away if pulling bones from your body doesn't strike you as a good time." She only hesitated a moment, before she gripped the bone firmly and pulled. It came out bloody, rounded on one end and jagged on the other. Like the other half was still inside her somewhere. She pressed the towel on the spot where the bone had been. "I should probably go back to my room. This will heal, but not quickly enough not to bleed all over your stuff."
Darcy winced at the sight, hoping it wasn't quite as painful as it appeared. "You know your body best, but I've probably got the stuff to staunch most of the bleeding in here if you'd like." She gave Sarah a wan smile as she recovered from the visual. "Or I could walk you down to medical, if you need stitches or something. Painkillers? That looked brutal."
Pointing at Maya, Matt shook his head at her, "I can't not 'look,'" he said to Sarah, going to check on her, "Sorry, if that's weird or invasive. My powers mean I see in 360-degree and can't really turn them 'off' but I can focus elsewhere. Go get cleaned up. You've got good moves. Hopefully, we can keep practicing."
Sarah shook her head. "No, it's okay if you look. It isn't that-- it just throws people sometimes and I like to warn folks who might want to." She smiled back at Darcy, who, bless her, probably should have listened. "If you come check on me tomorrow, I won't even have a scar."
She climbed out of the ring, and dropped the gloves back where she had gotten them. She picked up her bag and threw the now bloody towel over her shoulder. "It's more of an annoyance than anything. This shit is hell on my clothes. It's been fun though. Next time you'll have to come to my gym."
