2492/So Then He Says...

So Then He Says...
Date of Scene:	17 July 2020
Location:	Workout Room, Avengers Mansion
Synopsis:	A little sparring, a little banter, a little wondering what the hell Barnes is up to, a little bit of playing dead -- the usual.
Cast of Characters:	Janet van Dyne, Steve Rogers

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Janet van Dyne has posed:
Workouts for the Avengers are pretty rarely just a little bit of cardio, free weights and stretching. Nor is it enough to just train with punches and kicks. Everyone's unique skillset makes their fighting techniques varied and unique to the end user.

To that end, Janet's been broadening her skillset a bit. It's easy enough to use her talents to evade, overpower, or simply hurl stinging bioplasma at targets; with Steve's tutelage, she's becoming a competent grappler and learning how to use her size and variable mass to implement throws and locks that would have been difficult in the time prior to their relationship.

Not that Steve makes it *easy* to throw him-- wrists twisted up, struggling for purchase, the two of them sway back and forth in a complex cross-lock. Janet's stance breaks enough for Steve to send her flying with a flip through the air. Mid-toss, Janet shrinks to something the size of a grasshopper. Wings buzz furiously to keep her aloft and she reappears two steps away with her feet quick-stepping to halt the momentum of the throw. She lunges at Steve, wrapping her legs around his waist and trying to get his arm in a chicken-wing hold.

It doesn't exactly hit with the same force some of the mightier Avengers can deliver.

"Give up anytime!" Janet says through clenched teeth, and fruitlessly tries to push Steve's arm behind his back.

Steve Rogers has posed:
There she goes, across the room, and Steve still has that little hitch in his heartbeat -- wonderment if he's gone too far this time, thrown too hard -- but no. Here the Wasp comes again, buzzing like a mad locust, and now she's clinging to him like an angry koala.

"Any time?" he asks, his tone full of amusement. Little by little, he lets his arms give to the force against them, as if she were winning over his serum-boosted strength. "What'f I said I'll give up when the sun doesn't rise? Gotta keep up that impression I earned all those years back. Something about being thick-skulled enough that I could ram through a brick wall like a bull?" His smile at her is gentle, just that touch edged with focus on the task of grappling at hand.

It's probably dirty pool, but he then stoops to lay a kiss on her with enough force to tip back her head a touch. Arms then close around her like a careful, indefatigable bear-trap. Smush.

"Give up anytime," the Captain then echoes teasingly.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Mmph!" Janet's eyes fly wide, then flutter as she reflexively leans into it.

"Hey! Cheating!" Janet objects, realizing Steve's objective as his forearms close around her narrow waist. Her workout attire has the same colors as her 'official' costume-- black midriff halter top with yellow striping and knee-length yellow leggings with complementary alternating black stripes. Even her soft-soled tennis shoes match.

Janet puts her hands on Steve's shoulders and struggles and kicks to try and get free, then abruptly just goes completely dead-weight in his arms and flings herself backwards dramatically. Her arms and head dangle towards the floor.

"Yes, you're very stubborn," Janet announces. "Everyone says it's your best quality, too. 'Oh here comes Steve, he's going to get in an argument with a parked car about right-of-way'."

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Not cheating if it works," argues the Captain with no ire whatsoever...maybe just to argue, subtly (and not so subtly) contrarian as he can be. He watches her flop backwards over his arms and sets his balance better to simply let her do it, as if she were some cat refusing affection.

"Y'know I'd have the parked car convinced it needed to turn about 'nd go the other way too. Mean, that sounds like a challenge to me," he continues drolly. "Worked well enough on you, that stubborn streak. Thought you'd have me all twisted 'round your little finger right off the bat, didn't you?" Steve still grins until those dimples show, absolutely weaponized.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
It's an apt comparison; Janet twists and rolls around in Steve's grip in protest, then with a flexion of muscle sits upright again and eyes Steve skeptically. "It didn't 'work' on me, I chose to overlook it in favor of some of your other qualities," she informs him.

"Stubborn only wins you points with the Army guys. I'm much more impressed by 'Oh Janet, you were right all along' and 'yes dear, whatever you say'," she informs him.

Two can play dirty pool; Janet's thighs clench and she rolls her hips rather pointedly. Then with a *whuft* of air, she vanishes, and reappears two strides away with her hands impudently clasped behind her back. "And damn right I had you wrapped up," she informs him, and her large green eyes dance playfully. "I'm the one who had to do all the chasing. You were absolutely incapable of reading signals. Are. Whatever," she says, and backs away with a swaying, enticing step.

Steve Rogers has posed:
A snort from Steve. "Maybe it's more like I liked seeing what on earth you'd do next to try 'nd get my attention." He does meander a step towards her nonetheless, body language loose and confident, entirely comfortable in her presence. But then, there's a moment when he frowns as if struck by a sudden thought. Another quick grin. "But now speaking of twisting around little fingers..."

Okay, Steve, that's a segue.

"If I told you Barnes went 'nd played tennis with a young woman after meeting her at a coffee shop 'nd then going out for coffee again afterwards, what would you call that?" There's a knowing little smile, but by all appearances, the man is truly curious as to what his other half categorizes such a thing as in the end. Another rolling step, utterly nonchalant, almost as one half of a dance in unconscious echo.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Played tennis?" Janet's eyes roll a little and she shifts her weight over one foot, a hand rising to fan at her face. "God, if it was anyone else but you I'd hope that was some kind of euphemism," she tells Steve. "Next you'll tell me they were at the soda shack, holding hands and sipping from the same sundae while Count Basie was playing on the jukebox."

She breaks into motion abruptly to counter Steve's angling, and charges for his midsection. Abruptly she twists in midair and vanishes from sight, bounding near-invisibly between Steve's legs and re-emerging behind him low to the ground. She mule kicks at the back of his knee and disappears again, buzzing to the side so she's not crushed by American's best asset.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve laughs despite himself. "Can see 'em doing that too, honestly. Buck's an old-fashioned kind of -- "

Despite having read intent in those seaglass-green eyes, he's not entirely ready for it. The crouched angling of arms was very ready to redirect the forward momentum of the charge dead at his solar plexus. It's when she pulls the disappearing act that he realizes he's been had.

Only time for a blink and twist of the body before her foot nails the back half of his knee. Down the Captain goes with a grunt of impact to one hip and even as he's scrambling to turn it into what might have been a leg sweep before (just as quickly, he realizes it's futile), he continuing with the strain of focus in his voice: "Think it was a date. Made me want to pinch myself."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet doesn't waste time putting her feet on the ground; she almost floats sideways, buzzing invisibly, and reappears with a little upwards English so she comes crashing down to straddle Steve's midsection. Both hands go for his left arm to try and pull off a figure-four lock. Her heels dig into his ribs to keep him from just dislodging her with a push, but the comical difference in size and strength means even perfect technique's not going to be a great aid.

"I thought Bucky was in a--" she grunts-- "long term relationship with his nine-millimeter," Janet tells Steve. "Who is she? Some SHIELD techie? Alphabet agency-- DEA, CIA? FDA? NKOTB?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Janet's weight is just enough to throw him to his back briefly. His jaw clenches as he feels the lock slip into place, but she's also not going anywhere in turn for how he resists it. Instead, there Steve is now trying to get to his feet, albeit slowly and while attempting to carefully peel the persistent Wasp from his limb.

"Insofar's I can tell, she's an author," he grunts back. "Nothing spectacular on file with SHIELD. Doesn't mean there's not nothing there, but so far, that's it." Another gritted sound as he then tries to simply dislodge her as threatened. "Buck's not in a relationship with his nine-millimeter anyways, c'mon, <<Seillean>>."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's eyes widen thoughtfully at Steve and she nods as if he's revealed some great secret. "And yet, your omission of his rifle is conspicuous," she says with a hushed and furitive tone.

Janet doesn't give up the lock until Steve's standing upright; she dangles from his wrist for a few seconds, toes barely scraping the mat. With a sigh of resignation she lets go and lands.

"It was a joke, honey," she informs him with a dry tone. "I'm saying Bucky's married to his work. I've never so much as seen him look at at girl. Let alone an... author?" Her nose wrinkles. "Wouldn't have figured him going for the nerdy types."

She eyes Steve, and puts both palms against his midsection to try and just push him over. Toes scrape for purchase against the mat. "You are really terrible at this. I'm the girl; you're supposed to let me win. I let you win at Monopoly," she accuses him.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Dunno if 'nerdy's the word you're looking for. Maybe scholarly."

Still, he does sigh to himself. "Buck's hard-pressed to separate himself from what he does, 's'true. Hoping maybe this'll be a good change for him." His regard falls to her sudden impress of palms against his chest. The shift of his workout shirt on his skin isn't much, but it's proof of the amount of pressure forced against the plaques of his upper abs.

"Whatever was I thinking," he deadpans. And then, with a grand display of flailing limbs, he simply flops onto his back with enough impact to drive air from his lungs. "'s'going dark! Can't feel my toes!" A straining hand reaches for Janet in utmost dramaticism. "Mercy! Mercy?!"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Ha!" Janet jumps on top of Steve's midsection again, and rests her palms with elbows locked out atop his torso. Built as he is, her knees barely touch the floor on either side of his ribs. She catches the flailing hand and puts a kiss into his palm with a gentle affection. Then she gets to her feet and offers him a hand to rise as well.

"You're not allowed to die on me," Janet informs Steve, and stands tiptoe to kiss the side of his jaw. "Or be paralyzed. Or bruised, shot, stabbed-- I've got a whole list of things, y'know," she says, and goes down the list of Horrible Things Steve Is Not Allowed To Endure as she worms under his arm and the two walk out of the gym.

But she's smiling up at him the whole time.