8842/Meanwhile, back at the gym

Meanwhile, back at the gym
Date of Scene:	28 November 2021
Location:	Grant's Gym - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Achilles, Naria Shepard, Dinah Lance

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Achilles has posed:
    The ride to the gym didn't take all that long. Not on a fully modernized and tricked out Ducati. Angelo hung on to the back of the seat behind him. It's weird with his long legs to be crunched up so tight. But he's suffered worse. That damned wooden horse was torture to sit inside of for hours.

    Either way, when they park, he steps off and finally removes his helmet to reveal his blonde hair and green eyes. No mask here. But he glances up at the gym and nods. He recalls Grant from the man's competition days. So he has no hesitation in stepping inside... where he turns to regard Dinah, only to find her answering her phone. So... he turns to inspect the place, slowly pacing the area to get a feel for it.

Naria Shepard has posed:
It was...decidedly less of a trip to bring herself to the gym, Rave had been getting pretty familier with the place and often had the bruises to show for it!

Once the message had been recieved and she'd taken the time to save what she'd been working on for the evening the amount of time to get changed and speed toward the location could be measured in under half a minute!

With the streak of blue neon crossing the city announcing her arrival, Rave skidded to a stop outside the place, the bluenette girl lifting her hand in greeting on to blink at the sight of another beyond Dinah here.

"Oh hey!"

Achilles has posed:
    Glancing towards the door, Angelo is readily identifiable to folks who know him. He grins as he spots Rave and lifts a hand, "Small world. Last time I saw you, we were being shot at outside a warehouse in New York."

    He turns to approach the door and gestures, "Well, come on in. How have you been?"

Naria Shepard has posed:
A squint, a frown, it takes her a second before she gives a little embarassed laugh. "Oh hey! Yeah that uh...has happened to me more than once..."

A shrug, she steps through, glancing back to Dinah and her call before moving into the gym. "You here for some training too?"

Achilles has posed:
    "One can never train and practice enough. The Black Canary invited me here to spar with her though." offers Angelo... but then he stage whispers, "I think I am going to get my but kicked really."

Naria Shepard has posed:
"You are," Rave nods, the speedster reaching into the pocket of her hoodie jacket and retrieving a hairtie to secure back her glowing blue locks. The jacket unzipped, despite the cold the girl was left in simple workout shorts and a tank top. Dinah knew enough about how her powers worked now to understand why, but then again it wasn't that odd for heroines here and there to show a little skin at times.

"I think we both are. Without my powers it's...kinda really hard to land a hit on her."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Don't be silly!" Canary says as she struts in, waving at Rave. "Come to practice without the torture chief have you?" she adds in a sidelong comment before turning her attention back to Angelo. "I don't kick butts in training. I just make people use them so much the muscles scream for you to stop. Much more painful that way."

Then back to Rave with a wink. "And don't cut yourself down, Rave. Last time you got close to almost hitting me. And in a straight-up full-powered fight I'm down and out before I can take a breath. This is emergency training."

Achilles has posed:
    Yeah. Angelo underplays his skill level and experience most days. I mean is it cheating to have over three thousand years of real combat experience? "But either way, I always love finding out just how good someone is. I think of it as a challenge and a pleasure."

Naria Shepard has posed:
Dinah's back, Rave lifts a hand to wave and can't help but smile, a little laugh given as she crosses her arms at her chest. "Well, it'd still be awesome to see the look on someone's face if I actually manage to drop someone if they find a way to shut down or block my glowy...awesomeness."

Punctuating her words with a little drawing of her fingers through the air to leave a little holographic 'loveheart' floating there for a moment, she steps back and stretches her arms over her head lightly.

"So what's the plan for tonight?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
"The plan is for you to first watch an ass-whupping, Rave," Canary says with a cheerful grin. "Then we go over the errors made. Then, since you've got falls down pat now, even from height, I'll teach you your first force-misdirecting throw."

The grin widens.

"You're gonna love those. I sat up a while thinking of techniques that you could also use when you're going lightspeed. I think force misdirection would be your single most efficient action, slow or fast. And they work like magic."

And with that, the little bird does a complicated routine to enter the ring that makes it look almost like a snake slithering up the ropes before jumping in.

"So with that, Angelo, let's see what you're made of."

One humbling peg-down-taking to go, stat.

"I promise I won't hurt you too bad."

This is going to be good.

Achilles has posed:
    Again, keeping himself humble, and not planning to show just how well trained he really is... Angelo climbs into the ring in a far less flashy method. He lifts the middle rope and climbs between it and the bottom one.

    He removes his leather jacket, and tosses it to rest on a chair, "Probably should've done that -before- climbing in." he admits with a shrug. But yes, the man has a muscular build... not a ton of bulk. Some yes, but mostly it's that he uses every bit of muscle he does have.
    "Any rules?" he asks as he lifts his brow, "Or is this a simulated street fight?" And yes, he does have just that hint of an English accent remaining. Either way he goes into a relaxed stance... something somewhere between Hapkido and something more modern. "I wager I'll tap out inside a minute. Just a guess." he adds.

Naria Shepard has posed:
Oh, this was gonna be fun indeed! Rave zips herself to the side of the ring, perched on a coner for a moment before she 'zips' back to sit on the sidelines, nodding her head and leaning her elbows against the base. "Got it," she offers before tilting her head to the side with a thought at what Dinah was suggesting.

Supersonic judo throws? That could be crazy, but speed like hers would be a heck of a lot of leverage.

Excited grin spreading over her features, she settles in to watch!

Dinah Lance has posed:
Canary's got bluster. Bravado. (Or is that bravada?) Arrogance, even. But that all departs when the spar actually begins. Angelo's physique is noted and processed as she, too, takes off her jacket and (in a showy move) thrown out of the ring into a chair. Without looking at it. She then adopts her stance.

As a nod to Angelo's, it's a formal hapkido stance.

That melts into a looser, more fluid, capoeira stance. Just to toy.

"The rules are whoever exits the ring first loses. Whoever gives in first loses. No trying to kill, maim, or otherwise permanently injure." Trying. "And broken bones are frowned upon," she adds. "But other than that no rules."

Then she illustrates the 'no rules' by launching straight into a blaze of attacks, switching from capoeria's lightning strikes and foot sweeps informed by Mhuy Thai's mix of extras like elbow and knee strikes. The attacks, however, to the discerning eye, don't appear to be intended to land. They're more a probe, albeit an extended, high-speed, energy-draining one.

She's arrogant, brash, blustering. But she's not stupid enough to treat a visibly-trained opponent as a non-threat.

Achilles has posed:
    When it comes to defense, Angelo has an annoying habit of doing minimal defensive moves. What does that mean to him? Leaning back -just- out of reach. Blocking by redirecting the bare minimum of force to make the strike miss. Things like that.

    So most strikes that come his way look like they will damn near hit, but at the last moment, they don't. That's just how he usually does it. Today, he's actually not fighting someone superhuman, which is quite a relief. But he's also not using his sword and shield.

    The capoeira maneuvers are sneaky, but if one knows what to look for, they are telegraphed. The muay thai is far more effective. Quick and difficult to see coming. For now... he is on pure defense. Trying to get a feel for -her- method of attacking. A few of the strikes do get past his guard and hit him... making him grunt now and then. But even knees to ribs don't slow him down. It's like he has the ability to ignore pain.

    Only when that flurry of attacks is finished, does he take his turn on the attack. Looks like he's taken some lessons from a master of Wing Chun the way his hands move into quick flurries for up close work. Again, much like her, he is testing his opponent before he tries to land a step in hip throw using that original Hapkido technique he started with. He isn't expecting it to land, not fully. But hey, he -might- catch her off guard.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Boy's got moves."

That terse summary is Canary's only reaction after the expected counterprobe comes in. Shit. Wing chun. That was in the 'to-do' list along with arnis. Thankfully Muay Thai is sufficient in close-in work to have most of the attacks fail to land, but it's not pushing-hands grades of sensitivity to motions so some blows land.

Canary is not immune to pain. But it seems to add life to her eyes, sparking something feral within.

The hapkido throw is, unfortunately, playing to her strengths and almost as quickly as it begins, her hip swivels and disrupts the move's formation in Angelo and gets turned into a counter-throw attempt.

After the elbow strike to direct his attention away from the latch-on point.

Achilles has posed:
    Down goes Frazier! Okay, so down goes Angelo. The counterthrow works -flawlessly-. But Angelo -does- demonstrate breakfall skills as his body hits the mat... his legs spread out to offer more impact area, and his arm slaps the mat in a traditional demonstration of the skill.

    But he's rolling up to his feet an instant later and moving away from an expected followup attack.

    "That was impressive." he states with a smile as he rotates his hips, adjusting due to the discomfort of the hips hitting so hard.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"You smashed me in the floating ribs and call me impressive. Don't know if you're sucking up or mocking."

There's no follow-up attack as Canary has to take stock of the blows that landed and why, not to mention figure out what adjustments have to be made for bruised flesh. She just stands out of reach as he gets to his feet, adopting a muay thai readiness stance as she assesses his fall and his quick return rise.

And his wise choice to fall back.

"Otomo would cuff me for not stomping or kicking you while you were down," she says, dropping the name of her instructor for elucidation. "So would Ted, mind you." Another instructor. She's signalling with the name-drops. These are my teachers. Maybe others. Don't expect a singular style.

This round, however, the fact that Angelo has actually managed to a) evade a lot of strikes, b) take a few strikes without complaint, and c) land a few telling strikes of his own reins in Canary's impulsive nature. (Pain is a wonderful teacher.) Having probed and been counter-probed, she awaits instead his attack, biding her time.

Achilles has posed:
    Grinning, Angelo nods his head, offering a silent compliment that may as well say, 'good move'. While that is not spoken aloud, he -does- say, "I liked your counterthrow. I liked that move a lot." He doesn't namedrop. After all, most of his teachers are long dead.

    However, he does indeed come in. This time starting off with a low and fast leg sweep that uses its own spinning momentum to circle about... where he plants that leading foot only to twist and launch a reverse turning kick right out of old school Tae Kwon Do. It's one of those kicks that uses the body to hide it until it thrusts out. But...

    If you are watching the body language and footwork, it's a lot easier to see coming and counter. It's not that he is holding back now so much as just using skills that are more of a chance to see how the Black Canary handles these moves.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Tae kwan do is not among the arts she's trained *in*, but it is among the arts she's trained *against*. Which means Canary's recognized the incoming attack and is already on the way to blocking it.

But...

Angelo's technique is top form and the resulting block not so much. She's not dealt with top-tier TKD fighters and thus, while the kick does fail to land, it sends her back, off-balance, preventing the counter-strike she would otherwise have tried to land and instead putting her on precarious footing.

This is one of those increasingly rare situations where she's finding her heels a detriment to the fight.

Achilles has posed:
    And that is also the moment where Angelo just stops and says, "Okay. I didn't come here to try to flaunt stuff. Or to try to make you look bad. I should actually introduce myself. My name is Angelo Tampambulos. I am essentially one of SHIELD's close combat specialists. You said you wanted a workout, and I did too. What say we call it here and maybe plan to grab a beer in the future?" he asks. No, not his -real- name. But real enough.

Dinah Lance has posed:
For a moment there's a spark of anger that Angelo would even SUGGEST stopping. Visible in her eyes and set of her mouth. Paired with an incipient stubbornness that seems about to take over and insist on continuing this forward.

Then Canary laughs, rubbing her hand through her hair in mild embarrassment.

"OK, I got schooled," she says, laughing. (A bit of strain in that laugh. She doesn't like this. But accepts it. A good STUDENT, in short.) "But hey, I did take you to ground first."

A desperate bid to bolster an ego? Or just banter? You decide!

"I've seen SHIELD types in action. Some of 'em are pretty damned good. If you've instructed 'em, you have grounds to be proud."

The rueful head rub ends and she extends her hand for a handshake instead.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Black Canary. Though chances are if you're SHIELD you know more."

Achilles has posed:
    With a shrug, Angelo says, "You did indeed take me to the ground first. You are very good. I'd love to work out with you on a repeated basis if you wish. I'd love to share knowledge both ways... a little give and take you know?" he asks.

    "And I apologize for misleading you. I wish I could elaborate about my experience and training. I will however say that I am older than I look." Hah. Understatement that.

    He reaches and accepts the hand before shaking his head. "I have had a lot of opportunities to learn from masters all over the world. So, I didn't mean to mislead you and play the ringer. You are very good... and I am definitely going to feel it in the morning."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"I'm always open to exchange of styles. Wing chun just got pushed up the priority queue..." A nod to how he got his first strikes in. "...and I'm still really interested in ecrima at some point." Canary gestures to his hands. "I think for that first one I found someone who can at least take me past the point of theory into praxis. Whaddya say? You get me started down the wing chun path and I'll teach you how to wear fishnets and knock 'em dead."

"Beer sounds good. As a chaser to some Five Roses."

Achilles has posed:
    "I will have you know that I -have- made hose and stockings look good. I have not tried fishnets yet though." admits Angelo. Whether he's serious or not, it's gotta evoke some awful mental images.

    But then again, when he was fourteen, his mother hid him from his father by having him dress as a serving girl for a neighboring kingdom. Long story.

    "I would be happy to help with Wing Chun. I was fortunate enough to learn from a very good Sifu. And it really helps when in close... but I want you to show me that counterthrow. I had -no- idea it was coming, and no defense against it."

    That said, he inclines his head, "You are not truly injured are you?" he asks.

Dinah Lance has posed:
"The guys at the bank, one of them got me across the back with a tire iron or something," Canary says, dismissively. "The wing chun hits were love taps by comparison. Bit of bruising, but you got where I'm muscled so nothing serious."

To demonstrate this, her exit from the ring--a subtle signal of loss--is just as showy as her entrance was.

"OK," she then says to Rave as Angelo departs. "Time for the post-mortem. Mistakes were made, on both sides, I want to see if you can spot them."

Naria Shepard has posed:
There was a plus side to Rave's powers, the same senses that could watch the individual motions of a hummingbird's wing could easily watch an exchange of fists between a pair of 'normal' humans.

"He was better than you thought...but he also dropped his guard a little because...he hesitated hitting a girl?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
Canary claps Rave on the back. "Correct on the first count for certain," she says, cheerfully even. "I misjudged him and paid the price in the first round. But that's the point of that first round. I was probing. Flury of mixed-art attacks is a good way to figure out how strong your opponent is, and I'm generally good enough that it won't be a fight-ending exchange. I learn and adapt."

Her amused eyes look at Rave before winking. "And yes, I play up that angle quite a bit, actually. My choice of costume is for distraction and for boosting the feminine angle. Lots of guys--even thugs--have this thing about hitting women, and it's something I'll exploit ruthlessly if I get the chance. There's also the added factor: it's a lose-lose game for most guys anyway. If they fight with me and I win, they got beaten up by a girl. If I lose, they won a fight ... against a girl. Either way they look bad to their poor testosterone-poisoned minds. Is it "unfair"? Sure. But we're not in this for play. You take whatever edges you have and you use them."

Beat.

"In a fight, though. You train with handicap. This is not me giving you an easy out for today's practice!"

Naria Shepard has posed:
"So you're saying I -shouldn't- change up my skirt and fishnet look?" Rave jests, grinning a little at the mention of distraction, nodding her head at the mention of esentially weaponising cultural bias against foes.

And the last bit that earns a little playful pout before she shrugs and zips closer, lifting her fists playfully. "One day I'll get to put this stuff to use at full speed, and it'll be -awesome-."