xp_logs | Angelo and Nathan

They have a preliminary sparring session, while talking about one or two of Angelo's current issues.

His side was aching a little, but in a pleasant, 'look at me, I'm healing!' sort of way, and Nathan couldn't help a fierce grin as he continued to attack the punching bag, careful to keep the blows strictly physical. The euphoria from Friday night hadn't actually faded; it had just found a convenient hiding spot and came out to jump him every so often. Probably not at all healthy, Nathan told himself, especially since it seemed to come part and parcel with a really alarming lack of concentration, but was it that bad if he reveled in it just a little?

Angelo chose that moment to walk into the gym, and loitered in the doorway to watch Nathan's workout for a few moments, waiting for him to stop before calling out a greeting.

Nathan hammered away cheerfully at the punching bag for another few minutes, before he heard someone clear their throat quietly over by the door. He managed to cover his startlement this time, and limited himself to an embarassed smile. "Sorry, Angelo," he said a bit breathlessly. "My's head--well, elsewhere, these days."

Angelo nodded. "Hundred years of history in there, it'd be hard not to be. Don't worry about it."

"Still, kind of awkward. Not used to having people sneak up on me," Nathan said, flexing his hands experimentally as he turned away from the bag. "Sure it'll sort itself in time. So what brings you down there?" That had almost sounded like someone fluent in English, Nathan congratulated himself. A little stilted, but still - a massive improvement.

Angelo grinned. "Same thing as you, it looks like."

"Ah," Nathan said a bit mischievously, picking up enough of Angelo's thoughts - now that he was concentrating - to know precisely what the kid did want. "Leave you to it, then?"

Angelo picked up on the teasing tone and pulled a face at him. "Well, if it's not gonna break open that cut of yours, it's always more fun with two..."

"Think I should be okay," Nathan said, telekinetically levitating a towel over and mopping himself off a little before he continued. "Need to be a little careful still, but we can manage."

Angelo nodded, grinning. "You're up for it, then?"

"Bring it on, kid," Nathan said, tossing the towel aside and striding out onto the mats. "But you're not getting any free shots this time," he said with another fierce grin. "Just to warn you."

Angelo returned the grin, equally sharply. "Wasn't expectin' any. But thanks for the warnin'."

Nathan circled the kid idly, watching his eyes. Hanging back, he thought. Wonder why... "You do this with Sarah in Boston?" he inquired casually. "She's probably missing having all the handy people around to beat up."

Angelo turned in a slow circle, not taking his eyes off Nathan. He'd learned the hard way not to rush in too fast, especially when his opponent outweighed him. "Yeah, we sparred. An' she seems to be set - she's got herself a mat room she can hire, an' people there to fight with. Says it's not quite the same, though."

"Of course not," Nathan said, his grin changing slightly, turning into the bared-teeth shark's smile that always made Dom giggle with glee and try and kick him in the head when they were sparring. "They'd expect a certain level of civilized behaviour from her in a public setting like that. Must be an awful strain."

Angelo shrugged. "People keep watchin' her, too. Shinobi's got his fans an' apparently so does she, now. Not sure she likes it."

"Oh, I'm sure the lady protests too much," Nathan said, letting a mocking edge slip into the words as he continued to circle Angelo. "Someone who likes melodrama that much can't mind an audience."

Angelo was still watching him, turning on the balls of his feet. He shrugged again. "Maybe, maybe not. Think it depends on the audience."

"Yes, well. I'm sure the two of you get along beautifully," Nathan said, letting his voice drip with happy malice. He was not making the first move here, that would defeat the whole purpose of a) letting Angelo vent a little and b) seeing just how good he was. "Kindred spirits. A pair of real drama queens."

Angelo glared a little, shifting almost unconsciously into a more combat-ready position, mentally running through all the ways he'd ever learned to turn a larger opponent's size and weight against him. "We get on well, yeah", he answered neutrally, aware this time of what Nathan was doing and not giving in quite that easily.

"She's a little better on the follow-through than you are," Nathan said, thoroughly amused by Angelo's manful determination Not To Be Gotten. Well, we'll just see about that... "She did actually leave, after all."

"She had somewhere to go, an' someone to go with who'd be able to see them both all right", Angelo pointed out.

"She stormed off in an infantile huff, and Shinobi dumped his responsibilities to tag along after her like a lovesick idiot," Nathan said, letting that not-smile broaden a little, and feeling rather tickled that his English was behaving so well. "Good riddance to the pair of them."

Angelo's scowl deepened, and he bounced a little on his feet, ready to attack at a moment's notice. "She'd've gone sooner or later - it's not all stuff here that drove her away."

"Taking the easy way out," Nathan pronounced, still circling. "You and she have that in common, too." He let his eyes flicker deliberately to Angelo's arm, where the most recent burn scars were.

Angelo glared, fists clenching almost involuntarily. "I'm still here. You call that easy?" he asked, voice low and dangerous.

"No," Nathan said, "I call that dumb luck."

"Dumb luck got me here", Angelo said, still glaring, voice starting to rise. "You think it kept me here after I nearly burned to death again?"

"Oh, here we go with the whining again..."

Some part of Angelo's mind was still aware that Nathan was playing him, but the rest was pushed over the line by that comment, and he finally moved forward to engage the fight, lunging at Nathan.

About time. Nathan sidestepped, blocking one punch that would have landed right in the vicinity of his healing stab wound. "Shouldn't be that emotional when you attack," he said clinically, landing a carefully measured left hook to Angelo's jaw, hard enough to send him staggering backwards a few steps but not put him down.

Angelo regained his balance quickly. "Yeah, well", he said bitterly. "'s kinda hard when someone who knows your weak points is tryin' to make you angry."

"Words are words, Angelo," Nathan said, starting to circle again. He wanted to see more of how Angelo fought. "They're nothing. Less than nothing. If they mean that much to you, I am surprised you've made it this far."

Angelo watched him, but looking for an opening now rather than waiting for a move. "Well, I have", he answered, the bitterness in his tone only increasing. "An' we didn't fight with words back home. Not words that really meant anythin', anyway. Stock insults, maybe..."

"Should've figured out that things have changed by now," Nathan suggested, his eyes narrowing as he continued to circle Angelo. "Manuel fights with words. Pretty well, too. You've been losing those battles pretty uniformly."

"I know things've changed", Angelo retorted. "'s figurin' out how to change with them that's the hard part."

"Bitch, bitch," Nathan said mockingly.

Angelo glared, then very deliberately took a step back. "Not this time."

Nathan tilted his head, then lashed out - very delicately - with his telekinesis, sending Angelo sprawling.

Angelo managed to catch himself just before hitting the floor, twisting into a marginally easier landing. He raised his head sharply. "No one said this was a full-powers fight."

"Cry me a river," Nathan said cheerfully. "If you don't want me to bounce you off the walls like a ping-pong ball, kid, stop fucking around and come at me already."

Angelo grinned sharply. "Sure thing." And without another word, he lunged forward.

Not bad, Nathan thought, drawing Angelo out casually, examining his technique while not letting him land a single blow. This was just a diagnostic session, after all. Angelo had obviously absorbed what training he'd had, and was making up for what he lacked with enthusiasm.

Angelo's "training", such as it had been, hadn't concentrated all that much on unarmed fighting, and he was aware that he wasn't as good at it as he could be. He also knew Nathan was a lot better, but hey - this was just supposed to be a friendly match, so he kept going.

"So what's with this constant need to explain yourself publicly?" Nathan asked, blocking a punch and then sidestepping a kick. "You seem to have this compulsion."

Angelo thought about that, in between attempts at landing a hit. "I want people to understand - 'specially when somethin' I've done's pissed them off, even more when I didn't mean it, or when I'm not pissed off." He paused. "I'm not really sure, you know..."

"It comes across as whining," Nathan advised him calmly, stepping out of range for a moment as Angelo glowered at him. "Not entirely, and not all the time. But enough that you might want to be aware of that."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, you've said that before. I'm tryin' not to."

"Keeping that at the forefront of your mind when you feel that itch might be a good idea," Nathan said and then moved, almost at full speed, grabbing for Angelo's shirt and twisting his weight, throwing the younger boy over his hip and to the ground with a jarring thud. "And don't be fooled by what looks like a retreat," he told Angelo cheerfully. "Someone hanging back is just sizing you up, waiting for an opening. Don't give them one."

Angelo nodded, rightly taking Nathan's words as meaning more than just the sparring advice they were on the surface. He sprang back to his feet almost instantly, ready to keep going. "I want people to know where I came from, sometimes. But not always, an' definitely not all of it."

"And it's got nothing to do with wanting people to pat you on the head and tell you 'Don't worry, Angelo - you've had a hard life, and we understand'?" Nathan said with a raised eyebrow, making his tone deliberately caustic.

"Well, not quite in those words", Angelo answered, moving back into sparring position. "But is it that wrong to want that?"

"Not wrong to want it," Nathan said, deliberately hanging back again, waiting for Angelo to make the next move. "Wrong to advertise it. Because all you really succeed in doing is aggravating both groups of people. The ones who haven't had it as bad feel like you're looking down on them, asking for special treatment because you've had it so rough, and the ones who've had it worse than you - and there are a few people around here who could give you a run for your money, as bad as you've had it - just get kind of... pissy."

Angelo nodded - it did make sense, after all. "So, what 'm I supposed to do? Only talk to the few people I'm really close to about it?" He knew what Nathan was doing with the hanging back, and put an end to it, launching another attack.

"That would be a start," Nathan said, blocking, but letting Angelo drive him back, just a few steps. "And you could also work on quitting the passive-aggressive backing down."

"I don't mean it as passive-aggressive", Angelo said defensively, pressing what little advantage he had. "More just... when I do the posts that upset people, I'm usually not in a good place 'cause of one thing or another, an' then when I come out of it, I get scared..." This last was admitted in a low voice.

"You know the answer to that," Nathan said, pushing back very carefully, to see how good Angelo was on the defensive. "Stay away from the damned journals when you're not thinking straight. Whatever the reason." He laughed. "Witness my episode with the little blue pills."

Angelo grinned, not giving ground yet. "Yeah." He laughed a little wryly, directed at himself. "Seems to be when it gets like that though, all I want is to tell them another piece of it, or whatever. Might be a good thing I'm gonna run out of the stuff I'd tell just anybody, soon."

Nathan picked up the pace, putting just enough force into his blows that Angelo had to give way, step by step. He ignored the several openings the kid was leaving him - those could be addressed later, when they were doing this more seriously - and concentrated on getting a good look at all of Angelo's defensive moves. "Try giving people the opportunity to actually take exception, too," he commented. "Then, either apologize or tell them to fuck themselves."

Angelo nodded, concentrating on the fight. "You're probably right, but it's the fear again. When I'm back thinkin' straight, I can't quite get it out of my head that the other shoe's gonna drop, sooner or later. I told you that before - it's not a rational thing."

"Lots of things aren't rational. Life isn't, most of the time," Nathan said, and, smiling a little, froze Angelo into place telekinetically. "The key," he said, folding his arms across his chest and watching, waiting to see what kind of reaction he got, "is to have as rational a reaction as possible."

Angelo, fairly obviously, had only once been in that situation, or anything really comparable, before - and that hadn't been an experience he ever wanted to repeat, although it clearly wasn't going to be the same here, Nathan not being actually evil. He started by checking there were no gaps in Nathan's control, then, discovering none, settled for glaring at him.

Nathan chuckled softly. "I'm a bully," he said lightly, taking two long steps back and then letting Angelo go. "A bully whose stitches are beginning to protest a little, actually, so I think we had better wrap this up."

Angelo nodded. "Sure - don't wanna open up that cut again."

"We should do this again soon," Nathan said, heading back over to where he'd dropped his towel. "At the moment, though, I think I'm going to hit the shower."

Angelo grinned. "Yeah, we should. It was kinda fun, when you were lettin' me move, anyway."

"I'll ask you whether you still feel that way when we really start to do some work," Nathan said cheerfully. "This, Angelo, was what we call warm-up."