8911/You people in costumes are so weird.

You people in costumes are so weird.
Date of Scene:	02 December 2021
Location:	Grant's Gym - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	Alexander takes Dinah up on the offer to visit Grant's Gym, only he finds Black Canary and Rave, and not Ms. Lance.
Cast of Characters:	Dinah Lance, Naria Shepard, Alexander Aaron

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Dinah Lance has posed:
"No, again!" Black Canary, sitting perched on the ropes at the corner of the ring issues her judgement and her sentence as Rave does another attempt at a forward rolling fall. "Do it that way at speed and you'll find your arm lying on the ground behind you, ripped off at the roots and ready to beat you with the messy end."

She jumps down to the mat. "Watch. Here's what you did."

In a slick, fast motion she's falling forward, catching herself on an outstretched arm and awkwardly flopping over onto her back and side.

"See what I did with my arm there? Sticking it out? That's natural. Reflex. People do that. But they shouldn't. That's helpful if you're, like, in a forest and falling on soft dirt. While tree boughs caress you on the way down, slowing your fall. Out in a fight? Your arm snaps like a twig and get the angle wrong and you'll find it wrenched out of its socket."

Pause.

"Don't ask me how I know this."

She gets back to her feet in an easy flip from the ground.

"Here's how to do it right. Bring your arm in, barely over your head. It's now the outside of a wheel like a wagon wheel. You're closer to your centre of gravity and you've got more room for the arm to bend without getting popped out of the socket."

Her second forward fall-into-roll is smooth, slick, and has her popping up on her feet at the other end in a little jump. A jump that has her heels slamming into the mat in a way that makes the whole ring shudder like it was a massive bell being rung.

Being now at the opposite corner she hops up into the ropes again and perches, eyes on Rave. "Do it again."

Needless to say, having a famous costumed vigilante and a glowing chick in the ring distracts heavily from the other users of Grant's Gym, the small clientel ringing the ... well ... ring in respectful awe.

One or two are taking notes.

Muttering and appreciative comments (some of which are directed at technique...) cut through the sweat-stained air of the gym as Canary teaches Rave.

Naria Shepard has posed:
Of course, Rave is well in to the practice, trying over and over multiple times. Of course, annoying as it was, Dinah was a perfectionist and the glowing girl was all too aware of the danger hitting things.

Her form wrapped in her activewear and her hair down, Rave exhales and zips around before 'cutting' speed and making her tumble for the who-knows-how-many-th time.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It had been an invitation, right? No no, it was. Over the glasses of bourbon Ms. Lance had asked him to come by the gym, evenings, sometimes people were training. It was a good place to let loose and where she enjoyed a social outing perhaps. But she mentioned he should come by, didn't she? For some reason the memory was a little blurry, but then it had been a fun evening of long conversation. And the bourbon. But really alcohol didn't trouble him.
    Still.
    Yet he made that decision. Wandering by Ted's gym in the evening, wasn't hard to find. In a rough side of Jersey for sure but nobody was crazy to kick off trouble nearby. At least not lately. Still was easy to locate all it took was a trip on the subway and then for the youth to wander down the street from the station a bit. There was the door, the lights from inside. And there, the sign. Nice.
    So it's with a shoulder that he nudges that door open and steps into the somewhat cooled gymnasium, hearing the voices of the people watching, a few gathering and taking videos, others still using the equipment. For a moment the young Olympian wondered what all the ruckus was as he started to move through the crowd...
    In the direction of the ring.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah nods with approval this time. And though she is a stern taskmistress, she's also able to praise when appropriate.

"That's what I'm talking about! See how that works? Not only aren't you risking losing a limb, you're moving into a roll more evenly."

The voice behind the mask is familiar to Alexander. Very familiar.

"And once you're in that roll, you can direct your motion, pop up at will or continue rolling. You give yourself options that don't involve lying on your back helpless."

Canary jumps back down to the mat. "Once again. Make sure this isn't a fluke." Beat. "But it looked natural to me. If you can do it five times in a row without error, we're done."

That swagger. That's familiar too. The way the shoulders are held. The startling blue eyes behind the domino.

Naria Shepard has posed:
A little 'Whoo!' of apperciatation, the young girl who still had the glowing blue neon trail behind her fading out of the air where she'd been accelerating to her normal super speed. Standing up and stretching her arms over head, she turns back to the Canary...in time to be told she's got to do it again. Five more times.

A little pout, she exhales a breath and then makes to pick up speed...only to blink as she spots another figure walking toward their position where most would be keeping back. "Huh...think it's an autograph or a selfie?" she muses aloud, then she moves in another burst of glowing speed to repeat the exercise.

Again.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It takes a little bit of time. A minute or two until he's wound his way through the moderate crowd, reaching the edge of the ring. Not close enough to lean on it, but close enough to get an eyeball full of the goings on while some people are still taking a pic now and again. One guy leans over and murmurs to his friend, 'The blond's not bad.' Though perhaps he has enough experience with the aforementioned blond as he doesn't say it too loud.
    Though the occasional comments do make Alexander half-smile as he lifts his eyes and watches...
    And that... is a peculiarity.
    The masked wonder and her protege. The gal with the danger hair, he doesn't know. Though she seems attentive to the older woman who...
    The heck?
    There's the way she stands, that bravo attitude, that stern taskmistress tone that he's heard in the past in the dojo. Those eyes stand out as well. But masked. There's something up for sure, and he's not one to throw a wrench into things.
    So the young Olympian doesn't /say/ anything, but he does present himself in Dinah's line of sight. Then he clears his throat at a convenient time to perhaps draw the eye. And yeah it's him, the handsome blond guy in the... oh hey he must've gotten a new pea coat. It looks nice.

Dinah Lance has posed:
It takes a while to notice the new onlooker. After all, Dinah's quite used to attracting a crowd when she stays still for any length of time...

It's about the third repetition without error that she allows her attention to wander, catching a glance over the crowd, smiling for a pic here or there at random and ...

...

Shit.

The freeze would be unnoticeable to most. Most who do not have godly senses and some of the training Canary gave Alexander in the past. Freeze aside, Canary's sudden turning away, keeping her face and eyes pointed firmly nowhere near Alexander, feigning a lack of noticing him while giving him no more chances to inspect her face for giveaway details, she focuses, seemingly, on her student again.

"Good!" she says after the fifth and final break. "Now you know how do deal with this."

And she steps in to throw Rave behind her, quite by coincidence toward where Alexander stands to let the resulting confusion mask her and distract from her even more.

"If you did that right, we go for drinks."

Naria Shepard has posed:
Rave herself wasn't unused to attracting a crowd. Hell, by her own 'day job' she actively performed in front of others and her whole appearance made disguise that much more impossible! Still, she wasn't quiet so famous as the blonde Bombshell in the fishnets and leather. That was much of the reason why she'd been so excited to be mentored by the 'Big Leagues'.

Thrown, flung towards the tall, blonde Olympian with only the ropes to stop her from landing on him, Rave gives a little 'eep' and stumbles, a distinct lack of superspeed as per rules the she rolls her way towards Alex only to divert herself sideways and pull herself upwards on one of the ropes. A little hectic, but it worked as well as she could for nearly being thrown into a 'wall'.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It was just as Alexander was tilting his head, taking a single step to the side so he can get a better look when Dinah makes her move, and the ever just and righteous Black Canary leaps into action grasping her oh so delicate and novice initiate and sends her /hurtling/ into the fray to block the Olympian spying out her secret.
    Which ends with poor Rave landing /thubba-thud/ and making that roll and reacting in time to stop from hurtling into the blond young man with the easy-going smile. It's a smile that reaches his eyes, pale and hazel ones to be fair, even as he lifts his chin and tells her simply, "Hi."
    A glance beyond her is given in the direction of Dinah, then he looks back and tells the gal with the blue hair, "My name is Alexander, what's yours?" Still standing on the edge there of the ring, though his line of sight is fouled, he doesn't seem to mind. He did, at the least, slide his hands up from his pockets to brace just in case she fell out of the ring. He'd have caught her if she needed it.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Without looking, as if she can hear whether Rave had done it right or not, Canary nods with approval. "We'll work on your capacity for surprises later, but the actual fall, taking into account your squawking shock, was done right. That's a wrap."

She grins at the crowd around the ring. In all directions except the one Alexander is standing in. "Sorry folks, show's over. Rave and I are going to hit the showers ... no audience there, I'm afraid ... and then we're heading out to pain the town red."

A quick glance at Rave follows, eyes avoiding Alexander's.

"Or in her case black and blue," she adds with a broad wink to some raucous laughter by some of the onlookers who've felt the business end of Canary in sparring.

~Get there before he can intercept...~ she thinks to herself as she hops over her side of the ring and makes a beeline for the change room and showers.

Naria Shepard has posed:
Coming back to a proper stand and exhaling a breath of relief, Alex's question makes her blink and she opens her mouth to speak only for Canary to drop her name for her.

"I can be faster when I'm not trying to deliberately stop my...fastness," she protests, but the praise has her beaming none the less. It actually takes her a second to blink and give a soft 'Oh' at the black and blue joke before she turns back to Alexander with a little grin. "I'm Rave, that's Black Canary and..." she cuts herself off. The other woman was already moving to the showers!

"Uhhh...what she said!" she adds, hastily zipping in a streak of blue neon to reappear by the orher woman's side.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Grinning up at Rave, Alexander's head bobs along with her words a little, listening to them and offering a small touch of his fingers to his brow like a salute before Rave is already set to run off.
    Yet it's when Dinah makes her glance over, avoiding looking in Alexander's direct eye contact, that she might notice his own body language albeit in abstract. For curiously enough when he perhaps feels that look toward Rave and coincidentally himself he turns to the side, hands out of his pockets and held up though more perhaps in Dinah's direction. As if she were a distant robber holding him at gun point. And he's doing a job of looking down and shaking his head.
    As if to say, 'I didn't see anything.'
    Which they both know is not exactly true. But he's not in hot pursuit. Probably going to let her play this breach in subterfuge however she wants. It's then that he addresses Rave again, however.
    "You guys seem very good. If you'd be so kind as to send your sensei my regards. Tell her not to worry. I had hoped to train with her some day, but I don't begrudge her taking on a student." As if the reason she might be reacting with a touch of embarrassment... might be that instead.