Log [Alison, Haroun] It's all in the wrist...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Tuesday, early morning. Featuring moments from one of their daily sparring sessions, in which Alison still twirls the telescopic sticks like a baton now and then. There is talk about the trainees, afterwards. Well. Until they reach their room, anyway.

The crack of the sticks hitting each other resonated across the gym and Alison flung herself back, leaning sharply out of the way of the baton that whirred inches above her face. Popping back she twirled the baton in one of the motions she knew Haroun kept disparaging as not how to fight with sticks, yet which still worked well enough to her taste, and rattled it towards his ribs, only to be neatly blocked. This time the leap backwards involved her entirely body instead of just leaning out of the way and Alison adopted the defensive stance he'd taught her, sweat dripping slowly down the side of her face.

Haroun kept the pressure up, not letting her rest on her laurels and get her wind back. She could run for weeks on end, but when it came to explosive sustained muscular output, she wasn't quite at the level he wanted to see. He knew he was stronger than she was, and in terms of speed it was something of a wash. So he kept his attacks strong and fast, to see how she dealt with it. His wrists flicked the batons into an attack aimed at her head and the wrist on her leading hand, more-or-less simultaneously.

The vibrations each time the sticks impacted reverberated down her arms if she didn't make sure to divert and soften the impact each time, adding a flow to the motions which were a sharp contrast to the way Haroun himself sparred. The strike towards her head was blocked and the one to her wrist simple ignored by way of moving said wrist out of the way in a feint towards his elbow. He drove her back a few steps, until she started circling to the side, seeking flexibility in her motions and the ground she was choosing to take a stand on, as opposed to locking herself down to standing in one spot. It meant she wasn't wasting her time trying to actually match him on strength, and instead capitalized on her agility and endurance.

It also meant she actually was steadily growing stronger in some areas, she'd noticed, blocking a strike she would have chosen to divert only a few weeks ago.

Haroun grinned at Alison. She was learning, synthesizing her t'ai chi and her own style into the stick-work that he'd shown her. He couldn't be prouder of her at this moment. However, all pride aside, if he didn't take things up a notch he was in very real danger of her scoring a few "touches" of her own. And knowing her, probably on nerve meridians. Time to take it up a notch. She wasn't the only one who could play redirection games as he went for an elaborate trip of one of her sticks with his own, attempting to disarm her while using the other one to keep her honest and to capitalize on any opportunities that may pop up.

She knew what it meant when he got focused like that, though she always had to be careful with Haroun as he'd taken to seem lazy only to trip her up early in the training to make sure she'd never assume anything from his expressions or body language too easily. The stick was snagged and wrenched away from her, the motion coming up while she focused on the one striking out at her, but Alison let it go without contesting, blocking in a flat move that sent an aftershock down her arm - and then lunging for the stick in freefall, catching it to tuck and roll away neatly before rising back up into a stance. The counterattack came from pure instinct, the stick she'd caught flipped and held in a secure grip to defend even as the other lashed out sharply.

Haroun took a hideous risk, but he thought he was fast enough to get away with it. He let one of his own sticks go, and instead of blocking her attack, he caught her arm in mid-swing, dropping to one knee at the same time. His other hand, letting its stick go, grabbed for just below her center of gravity to send her up, up, and away. It helped that she was off-balance on the counterattack, not having the time to get centered before launching her own attack.

"Gyah!" The grip was rock steady and already being off balance meant that Alison did not have much to work with by way of counteracting that. Not in plain sparring anyway. So instead she pushed right into it, adding even more momentum to it to make the motion her own to arch over him - and her hand stuck out, the flat of the stick hitting neatly against his side before she was carried away further to land in a tuck and tumble that knocked the breath out of her only slightly.

Haroun took the shot to his head with good grace. It was hard enough that he felt it, but not so hard that he was in any sort of medical danger. A kip-up got Haroun on his feet, and instead of going for one of his sticks he stepped out into a fast, quick, and hard side kick, aimed right at her solar plexus. If she couldn't breathe, she couldn't fight. But he was careful to keep the force of the blow well within her tolerances.

The kick was seen from the corner of her eye as she shifted to face him, still off balance again. Dropping both sticks as well she did the same thing she'd done months ago - blocking with her forearms and hopping up slightly, to try and let the blow push her back rather than knock the breath from her. She didn't have her arm guards on this time though and the hit was solid enough that she felt it and then some. Landing solidly but taking a few steps back, now both of them without sticks, Alison grinned and lifted both arms slightly. "Ha." The hit had cut off her breath a little at that. "Pause? No sticks. This is sticks sparring," she added, with a slightly wry grin. They'd been losing the sticks more often, of late.

Haroun backed up, reached down, and grabbed his sticks. "So it is." he said mildly, and came after her with a twirling attack at head and ribs. He kept it fast and solid, alert for her redirection tricks and her tendency to turtle up and block rather than countering or adapting herself to the flow of her attacker.

And her sticks were on the other side. Without even thinking about it, Alison simply dropped straight down to the floor in one smooth motion, kicking back hard with one leg to roll in the direction of her sticks, nabbing one in the process and ending up with the other to her left as she rose. With a stick already up in a defensive position for the attack she knew would come, even as she shifted her weight to kick up with her left leg. Up and beyond his solar plexus, straight towards his face and slightly off center. To the left.

Haroun's left hand was way, way out of position, but his right was just about in a perfect position. Too low to redirect the kick directly, he brought the stick in a sweeping motion up his body, aiming for the back of her knee. Should take the wind right out of her sails, smart like sumbitch, and not do any permanent damage. If he mistimed this, if she out-toughed him, he was going to be in a world of hurt. With Nathan or, pretty much anyone else, he never would have risked it.

The stick hit, slightly robbed of its power by the fact that Alison kicked higher to compensate for the blow, and though it stung enough to make her wince she still managed to go through with her move. Her heel came down neatly on his shoulder, though not in a strike - instead she rested it solidly in place and then used that as leverage to kick up with her other leg for a chin strike, her entire center of gravity shifting as she sent her body into a back flip in the process.

Haroun had about a quarter of a second to come up with something, anything, to get out of the way of the elegantly dainty foot aimed straight at his chin. He did the only thing he could think of - he went backwards, in the same plane as the kick coming at his chin. Of course, him being who and what he was, he could aid the process with just the barest little flick of power. Even with that, he still got tagged on the chin, rocking his head backwards like it was on a spring. His landing was graceful only by the stint of inhumanly-fast flight software controlling the trajectory.

The kick hit, that much she could tell, even as she continued in her flip and mentally winced in preparation for the landing as the back of her knee suddenly went from stinging to numb. Landing on the foot that had kicked Haroun's chin, Alison was rolled back in her motion, the other foot landing down to act as a block - and folded neatly, the numbness fading entirely to be replaced by a very present and active throb of pain. "Aah!" Pushing up again she balanced on her good leg, nonetheless grinning like a loon, even as she checked on Haroun. His landing had been good, from what she'd seen while in mid flip, and she didn't think she'd hit him that hard as his motion had cushioned most of the blow.

Haroun recovered as soon as he touched down. "Nice kick." he said with a grin. "Of course, you try that with anyone truly fast and interested in doing you some harm and you're not just going to get a tap on the back of the knee." he warned. "But it was very pretty, and nicely set up too."

Not quite hobbling she straightened up, still favoring her left leg. "Wouldn't try it with someone faster than me!" Alison beamed at him, barely glancing down at her leg, still pleased with the move and with herself for following through on it without hesitation. The sheer fun of it too, was very much with her and apparent in her expression. "It was just there. Felt right so I took it."

Haroun grinned, rubbing his jaw ruefully. "What, are you saying I am slower than you are? Care to step back onto the mat and prove that notion, Missy?" he asked with a rogueish grin.

She balanced on her good leg and stretched out the other thoughtfully, then made a face at him. "Pbhhhht! I'm a good little girl. It's why the doctors like me. Enough for now I think. We're back on for tomorrow though." She grinned, and placed her foot back on the ground before taking a few steps to test it out, heading towards him. "It's nothing. Ice and it should be fine. Your chin?"

Haroun grinned, rubbing his chin again. "I'm fine." he said. "It's not even all that sore. You pulled it, and I moved with it. Minimal damage." he said with a grin. "But if it would make you feel better, you could kiss it and make it better."

"Phooey. I was going to use that line and you beat me to it." Walking closer with only the ghost of a limp, Alison waggled her eyebrows at him. "I guess I'll just have to do that anyway. Have to make up for planting my foot in your face somehow, don't I?" Careful to actually press her lips more along the line of his jaw, Alison then pulled back and poked him in the ribs lightly. "This leaves us an hour to work on other stuff, actually..."

Haroun nodded. "Let's head back up to our room. I've got some evaluations to show you, and we can talk about training schedules and scenarios and all that fun stuff. You can give me all the juicy command-level gossip." he smirked.

"Gossip? No such thing as command gossip. We're serious sourgusses, don't you know," Alison informed him solemnly. "Though I could do with a shower first," she winkled her nose a bit. "And then we can go over the new batch of scenarios. You've come up with some for the trainees, right?" A cheerful grin appeared. "I thought of a few for Cain." There was not a single hit of sadistic glee about her smile at that moment. Not one.

Haroun laughed as he swatted at Alison's butt. "Mmm. Shower." he said, in his best Walking Dead impression. "I'll even behave this time" he added piously. "Mostly, I want to go over the reviews. Got some good news and some not so good news." he said as they walked. "Most of the trainees are coming along quite nicely. But with a few notable exceptions, they're not where I'd like them to be quite yet. Some by a country mile, others by a whisker."

"Always with the any excuse to touch my butt," she grumbled, though there was a definite light in her eyes as she wrinkled her nose at him, unconsciously doing the walk closer and sway thing as they headed up for their room. "So far we're only got Paige using the Danger Room regularly for exercises," Alison mused, looking over her shoulder as she paused on the first flight of stairs. "Marie-Ange has had access to it for powers training though she and Doug are near to be ready for full scenarios. The others are all still on the paperwork to date. Should be a few more weeks before any of them has access, other than possible powers training..."

"I'm working them on hand-to-hand. Evaluating what they know, what they don't, and what they think they know but don't." he said thoughtfully. "And it's a very nice butt. It begs to be swatted." He smirked. "We've got a pretty wide range of skill sets here, and with Cain in the picture, things get even more complicated."

She'd managed to follow the subject change without a blink, though the realization of that particular fact did cause her to pause a moment. "You know, some people would take that begging to be swatted comment in an entirely different light." Resuming the walk to the next level of stairs, she nonetheless couldn't help the tiniest wiggle of her behind, just to taunt. A bit. A teensy bit. "Cain might help there, actually. For all his protests, he's not bad at all with the kids. And he has far more experience than they do."

"I have no problem with letting Marko help with the kids." he said with a musing look. "Nothing I can think of outside of a rifle company packing adamantium rounds can even give the guy pause to blink. Wait - no, I've got it!" he said as he thought it through. "Point sparring! In point sparring, the point isn't to turn the other guy into a pile of red goo. His biggest asset neutralized. Forces him to work speed, quickness, and reaction time. Sometimes, I am a genius." he grinned, nuzzling Alison's neck for a second as they walked.

A faint wince at what might cause Cain to blink – such as, oh, red crystals embedded in his chest being blown up – was neatly hidden away as Haroun's attention focused elsewhere for a moment. And despite any sheepishness involved, nuzzles such as that one were still meant to be enjoyed. "Add a pressure system to the suit his sparring partner would be wearing and you're
set. Too hard and the point doesn't count. Not hard enough means he has to work on nuance and control. May want to match him up with team people who can armor up at first until he gets the fine tuning. Then it's his fellow trainees. And then," she leaned against him briefly, then grinned, "you play with the suits sensitivity until he can manage even the lightest of touch points if need be. Add an unstable environment to be weary of and we're set. A rescue scenario with an unconscious team mate vulnerable to an explosion, an environment primed to blow up if he's not careful and an opponent thrown in for good measure... all about self control. Er. For when he's ready for that one, though. Might end up with a lot of booms if we throw it at him first." Even though the indignant look on his face might be fun.

Haroun grinned and nodded. "All excellent ideas. Adapt one of the touch-sensor suits that the fencers use. Just, you know, scale it UP for the big guy." he said. "That'll work nicely. Gives him a chance to work finesse and control, both of which I think he needs fairly badly. We know he can juggle Bradleys, now we need to see if he can carry eggs."

"Well, usually the swords are wired in fencing," Alison mused, considering that for a moment. "Not too worried about it though – Hank can come up with something for a suit for sure. Just a question of layering in something pressure sensitive in the fabric of the suit and setting it up for a signal to the sensors." There was also the temper issue, though Alison had noticed he'd got far more easy-going since the incident before Christmas. Well, compared to before. "We should work out a few new scenarios for Paige too, and then more introductory stuff for the ones who will just be starting out in it... individual first, then some two man programs. What do you think?" There were already some scenarios in the database, but more would never hurt.

Haroun hrmmed. "Paige was one of the folks I had red-flagged to talk about. Frankly, I'm worried about her. She's trying to carry a punishing academic workload plus clocks more hours than any other trainee save Marko and maybe Colbert plus her extremely fucked-up situation in her private life - I think she's starting to crack." He said quietly. "And if I red-flag her she's just going to route around me, so it is going to have to come from one of you."

"Scott and I have had several talks about that lately. We'd been trying the subtle approach but-" Alison stopped for a moment and sighed. "He called her in his office a few days ago to talk to her, actually. He's thinking it didn't go too well, but she didn't let anything show so - more visits to Samson. Cutting down on some of her tasks so she won't overdo it." Paige did clock more hours than any other trainee. Even with the refocusing on intellectual training. "I worry about her. But I can't reach her, either."

Haroun shrugged. "You want someone to swing the hammer, I'll take that one. I can't see Kurt or Sam being the guy to not take her shit." He said plainly. "Sorry, but it's true."

"I meant on a personal level, Haroun. Team wise - any of us will do what has to be done. When it comes to that. For now - Scott gave her a way to work out things. She's a smart girl and with the changes to her schedule right now she can't hurt herself while trying to sort things out." Resuming her walk, she shrugged a bit. "If things don't change in the week, we'll take her off the team missions on which trainees are allowed and sit her down for a serious talk. Scott, Ororo and I are already supposed to talk about that next week. Meeting's set and all."

Haroun shrugged. "You're being far more tolerant and lenient than I would be. She's been given her warning - if she doesn't choose to heed it, then she should accept what comes. She wants to be an X-Man, she has to learn to take orders. Even the ones she doesn't like."

"Maybe. But we still have to give her the chance to follow through before we start to take things away. Consistency and all. Besides - it's while she's a trainee that she gets the chance to sort this out." They weren't going to be as easy on team. Not anymore and her face hardened slightly in echoed determination. "Let us know if you see more that troubles you though." With a blink, she stopped, then reached out to open the door. "Ooh. Shower."

Haroun looked faintly annoyed. "That's my job." he said, and then looked through the open door. "Shower. Be a shame to waste water - care to join me?" Her schedule was open all morning, so if they took a little longer than they normally would in the shower, well, that would be just fine with him.

"I knooooow," was the reply, a touch of sheepishness injected in there for good measure. Other Things were set aside for now, while she closed the door behind them. "And I thought I'd laid dibs to the shower first?" She was grinning through as she darted ahead of him, the earlier strike to the back of her knee clearly entirely forgotten, then turned around to peel off her camisole, backing towards the bedroom - and the shower - in the process. "Well. I think we fit the two of us in there. We've managed a few times before, right?"

"Oh, I think that somehow you'll find a way to make it fit." he said, in a display of utter blatantness. "You're very clever when you're determined."

Laughter greeted that pronouncement, along with a thrown camisole to Haroun's head as Alison turned on her heel and made a run for the bathroom, all the while making sure he'd catch up before she managed to close the door.