8143/Hardly Knocking at School

Hardly Knocking at School
Date of Scene:	06 October 2021
Location:	Grant's Gym - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	Dinah tries to brutally dissuade someone from the hero scene. It doesn't work.
Cast of Characters:	Dinah Lance, Naria Shepard

---

Dinah Lance has posed:
The invitation came by phone. Text message, not any of the fancy-schmancy apps that a modern phone would have.

    You are cordially invited to an ass-beating.
                    -- Black Canary

The address is Grant's Gym. The time on the message is now. And Black Canary, who's taken over the gym (after regular hours, with Ted Grant's permission) is waiting, casually kicking back in a chair with her boots up on a nearby counter.

Naria Shepard has posed:
As invitations had gone, it wasn't the most attractive of offers...or it might not have been, were it not for who had sent it. Of course she was going, but what to wear?

Eventually settling on the fact that the mesh shirt and bikini with skirt look probably wasn't going to fly this time, she'd swapped out for some yoga pants active-wear and a hoodie, easy to cover her hair, flexible to work with fast motion.

It wasn't like she had a gi or a super-suit after all.

One flash of blue neon light streaking across the city later and the girl arived in the gym, appearing with a rush of air and light sitting on the edge of the ring.

"So...whose butt is getting whupped?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
"There's you here, and there's me. Which do you think is about to get her ass kicked?" Canary says with a laugh. "Now you're going to ask how I plan to beat someone who can run around the world five times before I blink?"

And that's when Dinah's boots hit the ground.

"And that's easy. You're not going to use your powers."

She taps her throat. "I've got a finicky power, so I've had to learn to make my whole body a weapon, not just rely on my scream. Most of the time I don't even need the scream now. Because of that training. And that's what you're going to get."

She grins and winks, wrapping an arm around Rave's shoulders and dragging her toward the ring. "Now, knowing this, who do you think is getting the ass-kicking?"

Naria Shepard has posed:
"Crap."

Yep, crap. Rave had been without her powers only once since getting them, and for that? Well, she'd been locked in a pitch dark box for hours at a time. Not a fun experience, but she shakes her head a little exhaling a breath. "I mean, I get not shooting laser bolts and stuff but...I'm kinda just, normal girl without any fancy ninja moves or super strength or...whatever."

A moment passes, consideration of pleading for 'just a little' boost before she sighs, reaching to tie back her hair. "Alright, just...make sure there's some lights on for me to heal up after."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"I'm not turning off the lights, no. Blind-fighting will come later."

Black Canary is a merciful tormentor.

"And you don't have fancy moves yet. But you're going to learn today why you need them."

And without further ado, upon entering the ring, Canary spins back in a wide-legged sweep taking Rave's feet out from under her.

Thankfully from behind. She lands on her ass painfully, not on her face.

"Lesson one: there are no rules. For you. I have some but I'm not telling you what they are."

Canary stands and walks to the other side of the ring, gesturing Rave up.

"Lesson two: how to fall."

Naria Shepard has posed:
Whatever relief Rave might have had about not having to fight blind was quickly replaced by a cry of shock, frustration and...well, just kind of a squeek as her legs were swept out from under her. The worst part? As she fell her reflexes kicked in and she got to watch herself fall in slow motion before exhaling a breath.

"Oww...I didn't think you ment you were going to whup my butt literally..."

Climbing to her feet a little slower, or rather, at normal speed, Rave lifts her hands into a...decent guard position. Basic enough to either have been picked up from experience or a basic class.

No attacking though, clearly she was less keen to rush in when she couldn't...rush.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Look, I sounded a little harsh in the bar, the other night. I know. And part of it is ... I don't want you hurt, honey."

She gestures Rave's way.

"You're good at what you do, but here's the thing: what you do won't always be there. Frickin' SUPERMAN has taken training from me. Under kryptonite. Because he needed to learn to fight without lazing behind his powers."

Canary does an acrobatic routine forward that is likely very intimidating ... only it stops without an attack. She's just showing off as she advances.

"Now first things first, when, not if, your powers fail it won't be anywhere safe or convenient. You'll be running at speed, or falling or otherwise in a situation where you're going to get HURT. Get used to pain, Rave. Learn to like it a little ... but not too much. And above all, learn to fall!"

And that starts a shove paired with a step behind Rave, only this time Canary hangs on and lowers Rave.

"Arms!" she says. "You've got them splayed all over. Pull them in beside you. Waving them around and you're going to hit a sharp edge or a corner. Get cut. Or broken bone. Or worse. Bring them in beside you."

Canary waits for instructions to be followed.

"Now your back is going to touch the mat. When it does, slam BOTH your arms straight down beside you. Hit the mat hard, evenly all along the length. It'll hurt a bit, but a whole lot less than hitting it piecemeal. And it absorbs some of the impact so your back doesn't break in a real fall."

Naria Shepard has posed:
"I know how to fall..." Rave protests, but it's a little less confident when she's shoved backwards, balance easily taken from her and earning a little bit of a sheepish laugh. "I uh...tripped once or twice when I first got my powers." Still, there was a difference between 'tuck and roll' and an actual breakfall!

Exhaling a breath, she nods her head, bringing her arms in as she's told and waiting to be dropped. It was going to suck, but she'd have to deal. Pain had been a rarity, but that didn't mean it wasn't a reality. She'd learned the hard way what making a poor fist at accelerated speeds felt like after all...

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Good. Now get up. We're going to do this over and over again. Back break fall, flat. Both arms. I'll make you fall. You remember:

"1. Crumple your knees. Bring your body weight down on your legs before you fall over on your back. Hurts less this way.

"2. Arms in. Don't wave them around like you're waving in the air and just don't care.

"3. Slam them hard. This is a training ring, so you're not going to injure yourself, but it will STING if you do it wrong. Let the pain guide you."

Dinah claps Rave on the back. "Being masochistic helps in the trade," she says with a wink. Now ..."

Flat hand to the centre of Rave's chest, sending her staggering backward with the unexpected force.

"FALL!"

Naria Shepard has posed:
And fall she would, an impact but not quite so bad. Landing heavy as she gasps for air, the young woman hits the ground, were it a real fight? She was on the ground too long. Gasping for breath, the speedster's hand comes to her chest. It might have been in the solar plexus rather than the breast, but damn if it didn't hurt!

Rolling onto her knees and standing up, the bluenette takes a moment to steady her breath. "Think...I prefer it when it's the bad guys getting hit. Definately."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Rave thought she was going to get respite?

Naive Rave!

Dinah follows up Rave's fall with a forceful kick to the kidneys that ... stops just shy of actually landing, but close enough that her body warmth can be felt.

"You fall, you block. Instantly. Reflexively," she says. "This one you got free. Next time I go for real. You want to, when you fall, be up in a block, and moving to your feet, before you've even registered that you fell. Watch."

In a fairly realistic portrayal of someone who got punched and knocked back, Dinah falls to canvas, illustrating the straight back break fall form for extra pedagogy, before rolling forward, before her head has fully cleared the mat, into a cross-legged position, her arms before her crossed at the wrists, eyes looking for incoming attack.

"That's what I want from you. You're down, you're up and ready."

She holds her crossed hands.

"This is called a cross block. It's simple. It's fast. And it will help you out in most follow-ups that people are going to use if they come after you once you fall."

Canary walks forward after smoothly rising to her feet. "That's the basic and it'll do you fine for most situations. So learn itt and learn it well. Now get ready."

Dinah lunges forward clotheslining Rave across the shoulders while sweeping a foot behind her to take her straight down.

And if Rave is paying attention, yes, the kick is in the works and the look on Dinah's face says that this time she won't be stopping.

Naria Shepard has posed:
The hardest part about anything in this fight wasn't the pain, albeit even with Dinah pulling punches it wasn't quite completely 'gentle'. No, the hardest part was fighting the in-grown survival reflex of her powers wanting to kick in, to draw on her speed and avoid strikes that would otherwise be in slow motion to her...

The sweep has her crying out, down on her back quickly and already pushing up when the kick comes in.

She blocks, arms crossed in that demonstrated motion while she tries to bring herself up onto her hip without dropping her arms.

Perhaps on instinct or taking an ounce of Canary's demonstrated offence she kicks out, trying to sweep Dinah's own leg and buy her time to get on her feet...

But against a strong stance and a skilled martial artist? The most she'd probably manage was a stingging hit if she even managed to connect at all!

Dinah Lance has posed:
She actually manages to connect, largely because Dinah is taken by surprise,not expecting a lashing out like that. Still, phenomenal balance, top-notch reflexes, and honed, trained responses to so many combat situations that she doesn't even think before responding gives her the edge.

It's a fancy dance, worthy of Riverdance, but she keeps on her feet. And she stops to applaud. Slowly enough that it could be sarcastic, but her face is ... proud? Really?

"Good. I was going to teach you that later, but you've got the instinct. It makes teaching it easier. Once you've blocked, always counter-attack. Half of so-called 'katas'..." Dinah makes a face at the word. "...are strings of attacks and counter-attacks forcibly placed into your muscle memory."

Canary cracks her neck and rotates her shoulders. "OK, so you've got the idea. Now we practice. Straight-back breakfalls. First at ground level, then I'm breaking out the horses and we're going higher. I may or may not attack after each one, though this time you're doing the fall without me touching you. Like I did for the demo."

Her face softens a moment. "Look, hon, I know this is new to you and I'm probably coming across as a vicious bitch right now. But really, this is to keep you *alive* out there. I want you to be around next year. You've got fancy powers, make no mistake, but those can fail. Can be overstrained. Can be taken away from you. There's a lot of shit out there weirder than even you or me. In the end you've got to make things count with just your body and nothing else."

Back to drill sergeant face.

"Now, fall! I want to see you do it right 25 times. I'll be kicking at you for eight of them. I'm not telling you which."

Naria Shepard has posed:
Truth being told, Rave was probably in for one of the physically hardest nights of her life, even with the 'star struck' nature of getting to train with someone from the 'Big leagues'.

A couple of self defence classes in highschool and a relatively safe upbringing before she got her powers meant that the times she'd been pushed to physical exhaustion without her 'glow' were pretty few and far between.

Still, she was nothing if not stubborn!

Fall after fall, kicks both blocked and missed, by the time they got to the end she was probably going to have more than a couple of bruises!

Dinah Lance has posed:
Say what you like about Dinah. She's brash. She's definitively working-class in tastes and mannerisms. She's loud (duh!). She's perhaps a little psychotic, even, or at least the notion might be entering Rave's mind as the training progresses.

But she's thorough.

Once Rave got ground-level falls down, out came the top layer of the vaulting horse and she started practicing falls from that height. This being relatively simple, hardly different from ground-level falls at all, the second layer was produced and...

...now the falls are from an uncomfortable height, roughly Dinah's shoulder height. The impacts are commensurately harder, but the technique, honed through falls up to that point, brings the impact down to non-damaging levels.

But they still jarred. Still hurt.

Once, however, Rave went through them all, drill sergeant Dinah disappears into smoke and best-buddy, hard-drinking, hard-partying Dinah takes her place, throwing her arms around Rave in glee.

"That's it! The punishment's over! Hit the showers and heat those bruises into numbness!" Beat. "And then we go out and hit the town. There's a decent dive not far from here. They know better than to water my drinks by now. Let's drink and ogle the guys and rate them on the CanaryScale<tm>: meh->decent->noice->sa-weet!->smokin'!"

Naria Shepard has posed:
Bruised, battered, probably bordering on dislocated, there is a little groan of pain as she's hugged before she returns the hug with a little pained giggle and soft "Yay,".

Finally stepping back, Rave gives a nod as the glow to her hair flairs, deliberate supression giving way to her usual neon brightness.

Lifting her arms, the light in the room seemed to warp, almost liquify and be drawn towards Rave till she was momentarily just a silhouette of herself.

When the glow fades? Her bruises, abraisions and marks were gone, a picture of health punctuated with a 'whew!' before she laughs and gestures to herself.

"Neat huh? I uh...still need a shower though."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"OK, yes, that is really cool!" Dinah enthuses. "That, by the way, is the kind of stuff it's good to know about. If you take a hit, knowing that you can do that can lose me an extra distraction in combat. Now hit the shower, and let's hit the bar."

And with that, showing off, Dinah backflips over the ropes and lands on the gym floor to saunter over to the front desk and its comfortable chair while Rave showers.

Naria Shepard has posed:
A thumbs up and, predictably a little awe at the non-super-power flip, Rave gives a grin... then she's gone.

Super-speed or not, her shower is a good few minutes long compared to her usual travel before she reappears beside Dinah, noticably more dressed for a 'night out' rather then 'yoga and getting her butt kicked' like she had been moments ago.

"Where to?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Down the road a ways, hang right at an alley that looks like it's made for ambushes, there's a basement bar called Pete's Finger. You can't miss it. There's a hand giving the finger nailed above the door." Dinah pauses a moment. "Better wait until I get there before going in. If they see me with you they'll get the message: hands off."

She tilts her head and regards Rave. "That's a big part of the biz, actually. Not letting things get into a state where we're needed in the first place. Keep the peace, so to speak."

Heading to the door, she holds the door open for Rave to leave before locking up and pocketing the key. "I'll deliver it to Ted later on," she says by way of explanation. "You should probably get to know Ted. He taught Batman how to box. And me. And a bunch of others. He's a lifer too, but retired."

And with that she mounts her bike and tears off at speeds that would terrify most.

Rave, of course, would find it a charmingly slow nighttime drive.

Naria Shepard has posed:
"So...drinks and entertainment?" Rave questions before giggling at the comment about arriving with Dinah. "They'd probably ask if I was even old enough to be in there without you anyway."

Stepping out and listening to talk of 'Ted' and his lessons, Rave does await Dinah moving before she streaks up at a casual pace to match the bike rather than hitting any super-sonic speeds.

It was like a light jog with a friend...involving high-powered motorcycles!