8617/Grant me the strength...

Grant me the strength...
Date of Scene:	09 November 2021
Location:	Grant's Gym - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Dinah Lance, John Stewart, Naria Shepard

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Dinah Lance has posed:
One of the reasons Dinah has no real life is that she splits up all available waking hours (and some sleeping) into:

1. Running Sherwood Florist.
2. Patrolling the streets and alleys (and occasionally saving the world).
3. Training to make the second task slightly less lethal in potential.
4. Convalescing from her failures in the third task.

This is number three. She's invited John Stewart to Grant's gym to train and, unlike with Rave, she isn't holding back as she does so: in the ring her kicks, punches, knees, elbows, forehead smashes, and other forms of violence are going full strength and speed ... because she knows he can take it.

And for added pain (hers) she's wearing weights: lead bracelets, anklets, knee pads, elbow pads, and even a weighted belt around her waist.

Her face is intensely concentrated, unlike her usual smiling, playful, "let the good times roll" demeanour. Staying alive? That she takes seriously.

Which is, of course, the scene that Rave walks in on: Canary in full regalia smacking herself non-stop against a Green Lantern. Because life is surreal.

John Stewart has posed:
Normally, John would be powering down his ring for any sort of sparring. Using any sort of crutch does a disservice to the body and it's muscle memory.

Of course, this isn't your typical sparring; this is giving his girlfriend a living punching bag that adjusts based on the mental calculations of a veteran warrior... and can give as good as he gets.

Anything that allows Dinah to get better at surviving out there is a win if he can keep his girl from being hurt too much. "You're losing power in your left arm when you come in from the side." John tells her matter of factly when an arm comes to up block her, a shimmering shield around it softening the blow for John, while at the same time keeping the same resistance for Dinah as a human would give.

It IS a surreal experience.

Naria Shepard has posed:
It was quite the lightshow to walk in on, especially if it wasn't something she was contributing to. Still without a proper uniform or 'Super Suit' of her own Rave had at least swapped out her usual club attire to something more practical, the tank top and yoga pants at least making her look like she was preparing for a workout of some kind.

To be fair, last time had been a workout and a half without her powers, if it weren't for her healing she'd probably still have the bruises!

Arrival of the neon speedster girl was about as stealthy as usual...meaning that a streak of neon light materializing into the young woman leaning near the ring made it pretty clear she'd turned up.

"Heya~ Oh, the glowing guy! Nice to meet you!" Well, if nothing else, she was as bright and welcoming as her appearance suggests.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Yeah," Dinah says, pausing in her routine to rotate her left shoulder, looking at it ruefully. "I thought I was giving a punk a chance to go clean and got rewarded by a tire iron. Still giving me problems. I had to block it straight up since it came fro..."

Then the light show heralds the arrival of her protege. "Oh, hey, Rave. You remember John here? He was more green then. Be nice to him, though. It's not easy being green."

She sidesteps out of John's immediate reach as she says that.

"Someday you and I will be training like that," she continues, grinning sadistically. "And you'll be good enough you'll get the occasional shot in on me even."

"John, this is Rave. We met on the job and I've kinda taken her under my wing. You met her at the bank job."

John Stewart has posed:
As Rave comes in and talks, John holds up a hand in a silent 'wait a moment' to Dinah as he moves to the edge of the ring and looks down at her. Rave can see a black man in all black. There's even a trenchcoat thrown over one of the corners of the ring and sunglasses. "John Stewart, Green Lantern Corps. You're the speedy one?" John asks, right right hand moving down to offer a handshake.

She can easily see the Power Ring on his right hand, a complex green lattice of crystal, glowing with power.

Naria Shepard has posed:
"The speedy, glowy one," Rave nods, smiling at her introduction via Dinah and sweeping her hand through the air to leave a little holographic 'HI! <3' floating there for a moment before it winks out. Introductions exchanged, the comment about landing a hit earns a pout of her still-glossed lips and she folds her arms under her bust.

"I'm getting better, even without my powers. But it throws me off having to move so...slow."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Yep. But I told you why too."

Canary's arm taps John's on the bicep. "Right now he's using his ring for my benefit. This is me-training. I'll take my bruises later once I get my weight routine down."

Her arm weights get waved around for show.

"This is my way of handicapping. There's people out there who can suck the strength from you, or turn up gravity or other stupid things like that. I train like this once a week--usually shadow-boxing, though, not live target--just to make sure I can work in that environment. Yours is to fight without speed. John's is to fight without the green stuff. We all need it."

She takes a deep breath and releases it noisily. "But there's a reason why I had you come out while I was training with John. He's got a different view on things and can teach you things I won't and vice versa."

She glances around the gym. "I train here because Uncle Ted was my first trainer. Boxing. And he's so good at it he trained Bats, or so the story goes. You need to see, to feel, different people at work on you so you get more flexible."

Resting her hand on John's shoulder, she peers up at him. "So, John, would you mind if we made this a three-way?..."

She lets the question hang a moment before suddenly turning red.

"I mean sparring, of course!" she adds, a little flustered. "Just remember she's new to this so we need to be a little gentler on her than we are on each other."

John Stewart has posed:
There's a moment of pause as john looks back at Dinah, then forward to Rave again. "I can already tell she's gonna be a fun one." John quips to Rave as he steps back into the ring. "Into the rough stuff? Good to know." John quips to Dinah dryly as he moves to the center.

"Don't worry about it." John looks to Rave and winks to her, "You can hit me as much as you like, my shield can take it. Do you want to add into this?"

Naria Shepard has posed:
Okay, so Rave gets to go red rather than blue for a moment. She too caught by the moment before Dinah corrects herself, a little shift of her form as she uncrosses her arms and then she moves to stand on the edge of the ring, nodding her head to Dinah's own explaination. It had been interesting enough to see the difference between Dinah and Kate, but another person with abilities that she might learn a few tricks from.

A glance between the pair and she lifts her arms upwards, stretching them out above her head as her hair glows lightly for a moment. "So...no speed stuff then, right?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
"I'll leave that to John," Dinah says with a grin. "I'd love to see how he reacts to someone who moves like you do. But that would just be a popcorn show for me. Seriously, probably best if you powered down and we did powers-free."

Mischief fills her face as she glances sidelong at John. "I mean I *know* I can take him if I unleash the Cry. I think it's more interesting if I take him hand-to-hand."

Yep. She's stepped out of arm's reach again.

John Stewart has posed:
"The ring can filter out most forms of radiation, electromagnetic and atmospheric stuff, so if I shielded against your cry I'd be immune directly. Jury is out if the air around me would still push me away though." John points out as he goes into a parade formal stance, watching the two. "I know for a fact I can't keep up with speedsters; I've studied them since I came back to earth. I just can't keep up with the mental reflexes they have. The best I can do is punch up a massive shield and hope I don't lose power."

John looks to Dinah then, "This is your time, so your choice."