9875/Train with Wonder Woman

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Train with Wonder Woman
Date of Scene: 28 January 2022
Location: Courtyard and Arena
Synopsis: A wild group of combat enthusiasts get a chance to train with the Amazons at the Themysciran Arts Center! Madness ensues!
Cast of Characters: Diana Prince, Monet St. Croix, Achilles, Molly Hayes, Tabitha Smith, Ted Kord, Artemis, Stella Roundtree, James Proudstar, Cassie Sandsmark, Cinque Evers, Booster Gold




Diana Prince has posed:
The Themysciran Arts Center is a public place for people to come to and learn about the island of mysterious Amazons. The Arts Center boasts classes that people can enroll in, such as art focused, painting, sculpting, cooking and even clothing design.

But the main draw is the Arena.

The Arena is designed to be a smaller version of the one found on the island of Amazons itself. The scaled down arena, fills up with audiences on the weekends to watch shows of skill performed by Amazons who are on assignment in Manhattan.

Today, however, there is no audience, save a few groups sitting here and there that have come to observe an open invitation training class.

Wonder Woman is here, donning her blue, gold, and red, 'Eagle Armor'. She has arrived as of just a few moments ago, flanked by two more Amazon warriors, one a brunette named Galatea, and a redhead named Adrastea. All three women are approaching those who have gathered, and Diana places her hands upon her hips, smiling as she roams her eyes over those who have come here.

"It is so good to see you all..." She says in her thick Themysciran accented English. "To see that so many have interest in learning techniques of the Amazon warriors. But, before we begin, I would like to ask you how much all of you ... already know about combat martial training? What kinds of experience each of you have. Please... just introduce yourself, and speak a bit about your combat prowess as it stands today..."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix has come along as part of the training she has signed up for. This will be the first time she will be able to participate as opposed to simply watching. So the Morrocan Mutant over as she would cock her head down to watch. Diana is given a very, very formal curtsy that would be reserved for meeting a member of royalty from Monet's positoin. Each of the Amazons in turn would be given one as well.

At the instructions of 'please introduce yourself' M would reply, "My name is Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix. I have a moderate amount of self defense training and a limited amount of field combat experience. Almost all of it is in hand to hand and of a more general than specialized nature. I have no formal training in wielding close ranged weapons or ranged ones."

Achilles has posed:
    It's not like Angelo wanted to come and learn anything. These days, he works as an agent of SHIELD... specifically in their Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response, aka ARMOR. Gods, they do love their acronyms.

    But when he heard about Diana's open training session, he couldn't resist the chance to visit and maybe get a good workout. I mean... it's been quite some time since he had a -real- challenge. Something like three to four centuries. But he arrived early.. and is now standing off to one side where he can observe. At Diana's question.. he lifts a hand and says, "Do I need to answer the question of combat experience?" with an amused smirk on his face.

    He is wearing a semi-modern version of his ancient armor, forged by Hephaestus himself. Bronze gleaming in the lights, and helm concealing most of his face. "If you need, I'd be happy to help test the others.."

    And he turns to the group as a whole. "As an introduction... it's going to sound a bit fantastical, but in a world where Diana here exists, the fact that I never died from an arrow to the foot shouldn't be -that- surprising. My name is Achilles of Pthia."

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes jumps forward with both feet and giving a little bit of a stomp that, maybe surprisingly, actually makes the ground quiver just a little bit. Not what you'd expect from a petite young lady. She has on a fuzzy bunny hat squashed down over her ears, a t-shirt that says POP in pink glitter and a pair of blue jeans with sneakers.

"HI! I'm Molly! My superhero name is Princess Powerful! I am a mutant girl who fights for justice when I'm not going to school," she grins. "I don't have a lot of training, but I am, uh, very, very strong so I have to be super careful with sparring so I don't hurt anybody. If any guys will get all butthurt about being thrown around by a small girl, I think you, like, might be in the wrong place."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Oh Em Effin' Gee, this is gonna rock!" Tabitha Smith. The mischeivious mutant known by many codenames but mostly as Boom-Boom is probably one moment away from a squee that can shatter eardrums as well as any bomb she makes could.

Being all important and serious, the restraint from said squee is palpable. The blonde in standard New Mutant yellow and black to her full body X-Suit. Yellow chest shoulders, sleaves and boots with black synthetic leather from the waist and hips down. Red framed and red lensed cateye sunglasses on her nods while her hair is actually behaving and pinned back neatly.

"I'm Tabitha Smith. Boom-Boom. I'm not the greatest at haand to hand. Had some damn good teachers in Westchester though and they know who they are. No so good with weapons but that never stopped me. I kinda bring my own to any party!" she offers as introduction and in a very chipper tone.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord adopts a mock heroic pose. "Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. Man of Action! I out my skill level somewhere between Black Canary and Mall Security... no seriously, trained as a black belt but got years of practical experience fighting dirty." Ted bows to Diana. "Hello, Princess." Over his regular costume he wears a blue toga, falling to his knees. This is about as serious as Ted gets normally.

"Oh, if you have any advice on what to do when an uber powerful creature grabs you by the head... share. Please."

Artemis has posed:
    A tall cloaked figure enters the arena, pausing to look around the area. Spotting the gathering, she makes her way over to the other people, reaching up to throw her hood back and opening the cloak to reveal armor in red and black, otherwise closely resembling the armor Diana is wearing. Removing the cloak and folding it over her arm frees a long ponytail of blazing red hair.

    Listening to the introductions she waits for a pause and announces "I am Artemis of Bana-Mighdall. My training has been extensive, both armed and unarmed, but I am newly come to this country, so welcome the chance to test myself against others."

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Hey, an opportunity to learn! Stella's all about that. She definitely feels and looks very under-dressed for this. In a pair of yoga pants and a long-sleeved shirt with some illegible tangle of white text and tour dates on the back, her brunette mane is up in a tight bun. She's just got a pair of black sneakers on, and is thinking she probably take her earrings out.
     These people are all intimidating. Except maybe Tabitha, to whom she offers a meek wave.
     "Hey everyone! I'm Stella Roundtree, I'm from Ohio, I'm just here to learn. I don't have a second name or anything, but I can take a hit pretty well and make it feel like nothin' or keep it and throw it back, so... I'd like to be better in that. Sound n' shocks, too, but I don't think that matters here?," she says. "Sorry. I haven't had to describe it before." Her face is getting redder the longer she speaks, so she stops.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smiles and nods, to each of the attending as they introduce themselves. He meets Diana's gaze as it turns to him, "James Proudstar, Apache. Charles Xavier thought it might be interesting to meet another warrior culture. Most of my training is in hand to hand but I have some skill with blades and bows."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana runs her eyes down the line of people who begin to introduce themselves. She grins at the more flamboyant ones who speak up, while just softly nodding to the rest. Artemis, of course, gets a lingering look from her, as well as from Galatea and Adrastea...

"Well, we have quite a group here then, indeed." The Princess says as her hands come down from her hips. She regards James lastly before her eyes dart to Monet, and then to Tabitha. "It would seem Charles has sent a number of you here." She states with a smile.

"So, lets try and make this fun, but educational. I hope that those of you who can be hurt, are understanding of the risk that pain may be included in what we are to do here tonight." She calmly informs, giving another glance toward Artemis for motioning to the side.

"Over here we have a number of weapons used by our people, from the basics of swords, and staves, to the more complicated of bows and even bolos. So what I would like to ask of you, as a group, is to decide what you feel would be a weapon type that you would like to focus on, and come and choose it. If you would like to focus on just your hands, and no weapons... that is an option as well."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would go to cross her arms over and then watch at things over on the weapons present, evaluating them and figuring which ofthem she might, if ever, use in the field.. Then she would take a step back and go away to evaluate them. Moving over to the area that thye would be working with their hands on, her wrists in front of her and going to evaluate softly. Giving a nod over at the Princess.

Then going to sweep her eyes around from individual to individual present with casual observations

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie appears!

She arrives from behind wherever Diana has been setting up, coming out in her own Amazon-styled armor, a breastplate and war skirt, although the latter is notably worn over a pair of lycra sports shorts and one can see the similar material of the straps of her sports bra beneath the former. She's also kind of hopping along on one foot adjusting one of her sandals, as if she's just rushing out of the dressing room or something. "Sorry, sorry, got held up at class," she tells Diana in sheepish fashion, before straightening up, putting her hands on her hips, and eying the crowd. "Hah, so these are the victims, huh?" A bright smile turns slightly wolfish.

"So you maggots think you're up for Themysciran training, huh?!" Now she's immitating a TV drill sergeant. "We'll see about that! Gimme a couple of 'em Di, I can break in the newbies." Confident, this one!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
There's a smile back to Stella and a waggle of fingers to folks she knows like Stella, Ted, Molly, Monet, and James. The new folks to her get smiles and the Amazonian get a little more fangirly stares as Tabby and her excess of energy has her bouncing on the spot. The warning of pain and injury somehow far from a deterrent for the somewhat squishy mutant woman. The mutant blonde heading over to choose a weapon when others do. Eyeballing a nice solid mace, club looking thing that might as well be the size of a baseball bat in her hands.
5rSandsmark's entrance and drill instructor impersonation just gets Boom-Boom bursting into a laugh. "Okay, I'm trying to take things serious. Like super focus but that is hitting my brain like tickles on my damn feet." she states as she hefts her training bat thing.

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes shakes her head, "I don't need any weapons. I usually just punch or use stuff around me. Trees, cars. I hit a lady with one of those big blue mailboxes a couple of weeks ago. She was shooting at people and she wouldn't stop. I don't think throwing mailboxes is a federal crime but if it is, please don't tell on me," she says.

"I guess I kind of just want to get more technique so I can be more...precise? I kind of just fling myself at things and I don't alwasy know exactly how much damage I'm going to do."

Artemis has posed:
    Looking around the assembled group, Artemis shrugs a bit saying "It matters little to me. I am at least familiar with all the weapons you have there. Let the others decide what they want to learn a little about tonight."

    Cassie's entrance causes one eyebrow to raise a bit, but she manages not to comment on what the late arrival has to say, rather waiting to see what the others are going to choose for the night's fun. While she waits for the decision, she centers her attention on the Themyscirans, sizing them up.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar wears a dark tee and jeans, dressed casually with a pair of hiking boots, not the most usual work out attire but it fits him with room to move. He walks over to wall inspecting the weapons and smiles. Jim turns to the closest Amazon, Galatea let's say, "What do you prefer?"

Achilles has posed:
    "The weapon I've the most experience with is the spear. But I can adapt to whatever people wish to use. I have learned many forms of combat in the last three thousand years. So, just point me where you need me. Also, I am an excellent sparring partner if anyone needs one as I cannot die." says Angelo / Acchiles. As he speaks, a spear of celestial bronze forms in his hand, and a shield forms on the opposite arm. "So, how can I be of assistance?" he asks, kinda sounding a bit cocky, but if he is who he says he is... maybe he's earned it? Maybe not.

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella peruses the weapon assortment, "I feel like I should hold something. I like the thing that Tabitha's got," she says. "Looks manageable and easy to find something like it in the actual world. I think. Or something kinda like it. But I'm fine just using my hands, too..." she begins. But she trails off as she sees the spear materialize in Angelo's hand. Always something new to see in the city!

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord looks over the weapons with a little unease. He was never into stabby bashing things. In fact he went out of his way to design a nonlethal sidearm. Then he spots a round buckler and takes it up. "I'm not one to indulge n swordplay and such. I did equip myself with a shield though. I need practice with it. So far I've only used it to push in a few faces." Beetle starts swinging it and testing the weight.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha throws some heavy metal horns to Molly. "Hell yeah. I hit a bitch with a car the other day but kinda had to blow the car up to do it. Looked super awesome though! No super strength here. I'm probably the squishiest one in the arena here but." Tabby states and giggles as she goes back to her spot with bat shoulders like she's waiting for her turn at home. "I'm also a way better pitcher than batter!" she says and at least tries to keep some self esteem compared to the rest of the muscle that is the weight classes waaaay way over Tabitha's paygrade.

And that's waitress tips and minimum wage at Harry's Hideaway.

Stella's assessment and agreement gets more metal horns thanks to Ronnie Dio's grandmother's influence on a genre of music.

Ted does too. "Pistol whipping is a valid option whben you want to bust a perp up and ruin their day!" Tabby states with big bright and eager grin.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"It is serious!" Cassie declares, looking back at Tabitha, although her energy level and levity does undercut it somewhat. "Mega serious! We're gonna work you like kangas! I had to do all this stuff, and my new sisters didn't go easy on me, so I'm not gonna go easy on you!"

She goes over to stand nearer the weapon rack and see what people choose. "If you can't pick, the spear is the best option for people who aren't beefy or super confident. There's a reason mankind has been using pointy sticks since ancient time. Sound strategy, y'know? Reach, keeps you away from the thing that wants to kill you. Easy! Just poke them with the pointy end! So if you're not sure, go with that." Her eyes roam the rack. "Swords have a high skill range, you gotta learn what you're doing. Axes and maces, good if you've got the arm for it. Really SMASH through the opposition."

Then she whirls and snap-points at Molly. "Cars are great too!" Uh. "Hell on the team insurance premiums, but, you know, pretty effective in a pinch. But yeah, you wanna layer some technique on top of that raw punching power, for when you inevitably meet some End Boss level dude who's strong even compared to us heavy hitters!"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would take a moment to evaluate the others, and then move to just start to watch around the room. While she cannot copy everything.. She can memorize it all. With her enhanced senses and her ability to remember everything.. Beyond just a single opportunity to learn, hopefully she can get as many as possible. "I will take whomever is appropraite for myself to go up against."

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella perks up as she sees the horns. Something happy and familiar, at least. Though this does seem like it might be more dangerous than getting in the pit at a rowdy show.
     "I think I should probably pair up with someone who's not an actual god or whatever's close to that," she says. "Or someone who is able to kinda tone it down so I live through tonight," she says with a little laugh.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana smirked at Cassie's entrance, but didn't speak on it. Instead she walked along the line as people chose their weapons. Once they chose them, the Princess spoke up again. "Okay, I would like us to pair up, and get prepared to feel a bit of time holding your chosen weapon, get a sense of its weith in your hands, and remember that we are not here to truly harm one another, we are here to learn how to defend ourselves, and how to prepare for a bigger world of protecting others."

Diana will then starts to move to each group in turn. "These bladed weapons are all blunted, but that does not mean that they still cannot harm you. So let us also be careful as we can." Thankfully everyone signed the waiver before coming in to the Arena!

Diana passes by Artemis specifically, and motions her to pair up with Angelo, who gets a smile.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar nods and grins, as he heads over towards Stella, "I can cover the basics. Tabby and Monet owe most of what they know to my tutelage." He doesn't bring a weapon, "Can you make a fist?" He opts for the weapons that are always avaiable. Jim takes a knee, his voice gentle, he's done this before.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord walks over to Tabitha and says, "Okay, take a couple swings at yer ex-boss. Don't worry I have a shield and the costume is very durable. Take a swing and flow with it." He slaps the shield and readies himself. then he sees Booster incoming. "Booster told me we were wearing togas. If you get him with a backhand... there's a C-note in it for you."
    Togas! Okay now he's ready.

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes lines herself up with Cassie. She's not exactly nervous, since she's pretty hard to physically hurt, but she also has a pretty good idea that this girl has what they call 'the stuff'.

She does beam, however, at one thing, "Wait, am I a heavy hitter? I guess I am! I mean, I'm not actually heavy, I'm pretty light really, which is weird cause I'm so strong and tough, but I'm not hyperdense so even though like bullets and trains and stuff bounce off of me, I don't weigh like seven hundred pounds of condensed girlbeef oh my god, I saw this girl at the market, her name was Hella, she was built like a BRICK HOUSE, she should come by sometime, too, do I get gloves, I feel like I should have boxing gloves or maybe some of those UFC ones with the little finger cutouts? OOOO I NEED TIGHTS THAT SAY KNOCKOUT."

Achilles has posed:
    Saluting Diana with his spear, Angelo inclines his head... and then dismisses said spear before moving to the displays to select one there that is blunted. He doesn't really -want- to run someone through. That's not the goal here tonight.

    He hefts the makeshift weapon. It's not precisely balanced like his is, but it will do. But once he has it, he sets it aside and searches until he finds the other thing he desires... "Oh, perfect." he says as he reaches for a replica of a Xiphos sword, the old greek Short sword used when a spear was no longer the right weapon for the reach available. It's a backup really... and he straps it about his waist before picking up the spear... stepping off to one side, and giving Artemis a salute with the blunted weapon.

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella tilts her head back a bit to make eye contact and gives a little wave, gaze following him as he moves to a knee. "Hey, thanks. James, right? Thanks for takin' pity on me. And yep! I can do that!" says the brunette, confidence spurred with a gentle approach. She demonstrates, "Mostly I need people to hit me first for anything to happen. If I punch anyone, it's just going to be a girl punching a dude," she laughs. "I have one college Karate class under my belt and that's it."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Girl you damn well better go hard. Not many times a girl can willingly volunteer to get smacked around in public and enjoy it." Tabitha states to Ms Sandsmark, there's a wink aimed at the more powerful blonde as well but the smile is more playful.

When folks start pairing up Tabitha looks around and as everyone else she finds herself next to Ted and grins. The mention of combat training from James hets a point and a big grin for Molly! "Seriously, best teacher ever girl. Listen to the man!" she states and turns to look back at Ted.

"I've seen what yor costume can handle. Stampedes hurt!" she states and starts puttingg herself into a ready stance that seems somewhere between holding a sword, and waiting for a curveball from the pitching mound.

"Feels like gym class in middle school where the lamer kids get picked last" she says at her own memory's expense as she grips her mace that is totally not a bat and charges. Jumpiing as high as she can with the weapon over head to maybe try and just beat the man down. Or maybe use the shield as a platform for more Tabinannigans.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Oletha has spending this time looking for a dagger that has at least the similar weight of his bowie knife. Oletha balances a few blades in his hands for deciding on one blade. He spins it around a few times in his left hand, then his right hand. "It is not exactly, but it is close enough."

Artemis has posed:
    Given an opponent, Artemis moves over to face him, taking in the spear and shield he has called up. As she starts to call up her own weapon, he dismisses his weapon and chooses one of the training spears. She moves over to the weapon rack and chooses a battle axe, making her way over to Angelo as she swings the axe to both get a feel for it and loosen up her arms.

    "If you truly are Achilles, I cannot match your experience, but I have been extensively trained to be the protector of my city, so I believe I can at least give you a good fight."

    She salutes him with the axe, then drops into a ready stance, her attention centering on the man she is facing.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Its a loose definition, more like a sliding scale... but I say, once you're weaponizing passenger vehicles, you qualify!" Cassie tells Molly, cheerfully. "And nah, if you're invincible, or close enough, gloves kinda seem like a waste, yeah? I'm not exactly impervious but just, you know- tough enough it doesn't usually matter." She thumbs back in Diana's direction. "We got pretty much the same powers!" (Well, she has the BABY version. BUT NO ONE TELL HER THAT.)

"Cool costume idea, tho. KNOCKOUT BOOTY."

As the various groups are pairing off and spreading out across the practice space, she takes the opportunity to move off to her own particular corner, gesturing Molly along and then scranning the crowd. "Any other takers? Bruisers? Tanks? Flying bricks?" Perhaps it's Diana that steers Monet over to join their little gathering. "Ah good! And what do you do? Well, whatever. Both of you, line up here!"

She waits a bit for them to catch up on things and then suggests, "And when you're ready... come and get me! You know, with all that BRUTE smashing power. And I'll demonstrate a little bit o' technique." Again, that wolfish grin!

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smiles and nods, "Not at all. And yes it's Jim, Stella right?" Jim inspects the fist and makes s fee minor adjustments. He nods and goes over the physics of a punch, targetting, how to generate power. It's familiar info, most here have heard it. The Xavier girls might find particularly deja vu. He chuckles at her description of her skills, "I've done more with less. Okay, looks good. Hit me." His smile never falters.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana passes down the lines of people pairing up together, she watches over them, listening closely, as she smiles to those talking with one another.

"Another thing. Let us keep our natural abilities aside as best as we can tonight. We do not want to take an unfair advantage over our opponents in this particular match-up. This is about easing in to a new comfort place. A new skill is always what makes us look 'a fool' at first, but to not try and learn a new skill is to prove that we are indeed fools."

The Princess approaches Cinque and smiles at his choice. "I am a fan of daggers myself. Especially throwing them. This is a skill we teach here, if you choose to return to continue learning further in the future..."

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes figures that Cassie is pretty super proficient in all the fighting stuff. She'll dodge punches and Molly isn't even sure she's ever thrown a kick in a fight, not without falling on her butt (and she doesn't talk about that and there aren't any pictures of it anywhere online, no, there are not, DON'T YOU GOOGLE THAT BOOM-BOOM)

"I do need to figure out a costume sometime, I just kind of fight as I am, mostly. Which is bad because I am on the run from my murderer parents so they might find me if I make the news. Anyway, THIS IS SPARTA!" she yells and charges forward and tries to throw a fist right at the center of Cassie's mass, figuring that if she tries to block instead of dodge, there's a good chance Molly's blow will still blow past the blocking.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance at Molly, "Very well." She would go to bring her hands together and watch at Molly, "Very well." She would muse thoughtfully. Assuming that Molly has no training but immense force.. This called for attempting to flank. Also presuming that Molly might not very well coordinate with her and going to watch and assess.

"Very well." This is time to hold back and learn. Not to win. She would go to try and punch at Cassie from the side, quickly. The swing being done to try and flank her opponent in a quick jab.

Stella Roundtree has posed:
Stella nods towards Tabby, "I'll be good, I'll listen!" she says, doing not-that by chatting. She turns back to the task at hand, or rather, at fist. "Yeah, Stella. And Jim. Got it." She listens intently, seemingly happy to get any tips or pointers. And then punch she does towards his arm, with decent followthrough. She's in good shape, but it hits as hard as any woman who is a gym regular might be. At least the form isn't awful. "I know that in no way even tickled you," she laughs. "But sorry regardless."

Achilles has posed:
    "Indeed I am, but it is not always about experience. Natural talent, desire.. they all factor in. But mostly, this is not a battle to the death to save lives.. so I am not truly concerned about winning or losing. What I want.. is a good fight."

    That said, Angelo begins stepping forward, shield held at the ready. This is not some cinematic choreographed moment. He is using the shield to conceal his movements as much as he can. He is an unusual demigod though. He is not superhuman in strength, stamina, speed... he's tough enough to shrug off small arms fire. But mostly, he just cannot die.

    Everything else is a product of training and experience for him. He makes a feint to the left, then the right, and then lifts the shield to hopefully draw the eyes while executing a series of quick jabs with the spear. Mostly... this is a chance to get a feel for how Artemis fights. Not a single one of these attacks are expected to connect. When two skilled fighters go at it this way, it's not about hitting. It's about seeing how the other avoids being hit.

Booster Gold has posed:
    Somehow, much to no one's surprise, Booster floats in right after everyone has been successfully paired up. "Oh, hello everyone." He looks over at Ted. "Hey, nice toga." He barely suppresses a snicker as he drops down to the ground. He takes a moment to survey the matches going on, nodding to himself in approval as if somehow judging all of it.
    "Definitely some top tier talent here tonight..."

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar moving with the enhanced speed and agility to enable skin that can absorb 50 caliber rounds to feel like normal as it yields to her fist all while seeming to do nothing at all, is the first sign that Jim may have undersold himself. He nods, "Good, but you can do better. Come on seven more,"

Cinque Evers has posed:
Eyes shift from his choice in dagger back to Wonder Woman, his eyes widen slightly a bit. "You are a lot taller than you appear on televisio." Oletha shifts his eyes back to the dagger, "I rarely throw my knife, because I always afraid of losing it. I don't have a lot of replacements." Oletha spins the dagger around in his hands, "But, I would like to be more accurate when I throw it. It would get me out of some sticky situations if I could hit targets that are a little bit farther away."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Actually, kinda same. I usually just fight in my sportswear and throw on a Wonder Woman logo shirt or something. Gotta promote that brand, y'know? Move that merch!" Presumably, Diana is not involved much in the 'merch' aspects. Someone's gotta do it! "I only really throw on the armor when things are super serious. Well, bracers aside." That one key Amazon accessory she rarely goes without, and she holds up an arm to brandish the gleaming metal.

That Sparta charge, though.

While Cassie IS specifically giving a bit of a lesson on the application of technique in their realm of super strength, she does go easy in some regards. She can move fast enough to block bullets, but for now, she holds THAT back. It doesn't help much if her trainees can't SEE what she's doing. Which, well: Amazon martial arts aren't flashy or complex. They have a brute simplicity to them, developed out of militaristic training and designed for flexible use alongside weapons or without them, one-on-one or in a crowded battlefield. She waits until Molly's charge has almost reached her, and steps FORWARD in the last moment, while bringing an arm up and across her body to catch Molly's punch on the inside of her arm. It's just enough force to turn her fist off her body's main line. Then she grabs at her wrist with her free hand, and gives a good hard yank-and-release throw. The whole thing follows her natural momentum.

Simultaneously, she's invited Monet to join in. And this isn't a Kung Fu movie! Without her super speed, she can't casually engage both of them. She uses the movement to turn in such a way so that the incoming punch catches her in profile, ducking her chin into her shoulder and her arm down over her side. Still, she grunts a bit at the impact. "Superhero lesson number 17:" Obviously the numbering is arbitrary! "You fight a lot of hordes. Alien. Robot. Zombie. Et cetera! You can't always beat 'em all. But you gotta do the best you can, and think about positioning, spacing, where threats are coming from."

And then she quickly sets upon Monet in counter-attack, a sequence of a jab from that blocking hand, a cross...

And then a leg sweep!

Stella Roundtree has posed:
The feeling of judgment is harsh, even if it is mostly self-inflicted. The very shiny fellow gliding on in does not help matters. Stella inhales and nods, then delivers. Each one builds on the last, slightly multiplied, slightly stronger, but she's obviously getting frustrated. At least the apologizing has stopped, so it's less pathetic. "I think maybe I'm better at blocking than punching," she says.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana shows a smile to Cinque's words before nodding once. "At least taller in person is better than other things. What do they say about cameras adding pounds?" She jokes back before she notes of his talk of knives. "Here." Diana says as she reaches for a shelf of vairous items. She pulls out a satchel that she unfolds showing off a selection of Themysciran crafted throwing daggers. "If you would like to test these on our target range just over here, we can help you learn to use these. Of course, this means you have to come back as often as possible to get the best training possible." She says with a grin.

The Princess then looks over to wave to Booster upon his arrival. "Hello, Mister Gold. It is good to see you again." She calls out.

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes goes end over end up into the air as Cassie tosses her, her mouth dropping wide open in a casual display of "You may wonder how I got in this situation..."

But that quickly just turns to squealing as she's flipped over and over again and finally lands on her head in a way that shows that she has no idea how to control her fall and land 'safely' and that she's fairly impervious to any real blunt force damage.

"I ALMOST PEED BUT I AM DRY AS A BONE! I AM OKAY!" she calls out, jumping back up to her feet and then, for a moment, getting a little woozy and sitting down from her own application of energy, "Just gimme a sec."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The jab going at M is partially blocked over as M can't quite get her arm in the way quickly enough to fully take it and it would swing her back. The leg sweep was avoided by M just hopping up in the air to float several inches to evade it while going to then move to fly forwards several inches! Fist in front of her and trying to use the room and assist from her flight to get some more force and inertia to her fist. She's noly putting partial power into it. This is a spar, for instruction..

And she's well out of her depth. But just as things are merely hand to hand does not mean that one annot be flexible. And flexible means not limiting oneself to merely two dimensions!

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord resists the urge to 'meep' seeing the overhead swing coming down on him.

Blocking can hurt!

Ted steps to the side at the last moment. He hopes and tries to give Tabby a thwap on the back with the shield.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Jim can't stop smiling when he's around girls that can keep up with him. It's good for him." Tabby states with a grin to Warpath and Stella as she spars with Ted, the Beetle's shield and the man still being a bit adult male gives him an edge no matter how much tone is shown flexing under Tabitha's clingy costume.

The woman didn't want to comment on the toga but she can't not grin. Though Booster's comments might do enough. "How that man is single we may never know!" she teases over at the Gold while sparring with the Blue half.

The jump at Ted's shield is apparently the goal and somehow it feels like slow motion. There's a few options for Ted to react but that heavy ass mace is gonna make a big clang of thud if it comes down.

When he sidesteps, Tabby misses and just rolls with it while clearly off balance, she uses that momentum to keep the mace swinging and in a wide circle that would make a Diablo Barbarian proud steps into the arc like it's a whirlwind trying to swing around the shield into Ted's back and sides to just keep a feisty pace to her attacks and keep Ted defendind

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque Evers dips his head to not only peer at the throwing daggers, but to give a tip of his hat to Wonder Woman, "Thank you, I will come as often as I am allowed to come." Oletha turns to look at the target range, "I really do appreciate being able to practice here." Oletha takes the dagger and speaks over his shoulder as states, "Yeah, this is a greater distance than I am use to throwing."

Booster Gold has posed:
    A nod of appreciate is spared to Diana from Booster Gold as he comes to settle near her. "How are they all doing?" he asks of her, as if he were somehow one of the other instructors.
    He turns his gaze over towards Ted. "WATCH OUT TED!" he warns him, most unnecessarily. Perhaps distractingly.
    Maybe THAT is his super power...

Artemis has posed:
    Artemis nods as the fight starts. She's very well trained indeed, easily spinning the axe to block Angelo's starting attacks. Much like him, she's using the opening attacks to get a feel for her opponent. To experienced eyes, it looks like she's used to a heavier weapon, as the training one is moving to block too fast for a normal human. When she realizes this, she deliberately slows herself down a little. Like Angelo, she enjoys a good fight when there's nothing vital on the line. As they trade attacks a smile comes to her lips, making it clear she's enjoying the training.

    As Angelo observes her, it becomes clear that she prefers to be on the attack rather than defending, but she actually is very well trained, not so much leaving openings as much as always trying to press attacks home. One of his jabs almost connects, but she releases one hand from the haft of the battleaxe and swings it down and over to knock the spear away with the bracer that covers her forearm.

    "Almost, but I'm not an easy target. Your skill is impressive, however."

    She moves into a series of attacks, culminating with a flurry of blows at his head, then rolling her shoulder to suddenly swing the axe underhanded to try and get past the shield he's using for defense.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana provides Cinque with another soft smile before she looks over to where Molly was tossed. She tilts her head, but the young girl does seem to be as durable as she claimed, which gets a light smirk from Diana before she shakes her head just a little. At Booster's approach, the Princess gives him a quick smile before scanning the pairings.

"They seem to be doing well so far. But we will see how they handle the obstacle course here in a little while."

Obstacle course? Uh oh!

She looks to Booster again then. "Are you interested in participating? You could find a weapon of choice, maybe square off with someone who is brave enough to tango with you." She says with a grin for him.

Galatea and Adrastea are moving from pairing to pairing, offering instructions to them on how to hold their weapons, how to position their feet, and any words of encouragement that they think might help the trainees!

Ted Kord has posed:
Whoa did she just try... is she trying to get past his shield? For the record... his costume is great against knives and bullets and stabby stuff. Crushing damage is another thing!

Okay, try this!

Ted attempts to drop under the mace, landing on the palm of his hand he throws his foot out in a leg sweep.

"Here, break dancing... you like 80's stuff, going by your haircut!"

Oh yeah! He did! He spares a glance at Booster that seems to promise cancelling the sportsball channel.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smiles easily, "You're doing very well." He casually rubs his shoulder, "Yeah, we can move onto blocks." Jim runs through a couple of quick blocks, and then sets up to through a few half speed punches, making corrections and offering compliments, "Nice, very good, you're dropping your shoulder. Much better, good one." He picks up speed as she gets better.

Booster Gold has posed:
A grin is returned to Diana. "Oh, I'm afraid I am too late for that, unfortunately, and I could hardly ask you to accommodate my lateness." Booster replies. Then he looks towards Ted. "But if you wanted to stay after, I am sure I could show off a few tricks that work pretty well on the Beetle."

Achilles has posed:
    Well, it's a good thing Angelo has that shield of his. The large style of an ancient Greek Aspis. The shield comes up to block the incoming strikes once Artemis is on the offensive. Indeed, Angelo keeps his balance, but moves back to absorb the impacts. The one thing that he learned early on, and that never left his mindset is not to overreach.

    The jabs with the spear are just that, jabs. Not lunges... just quick probes. Batting it aside just makes him turn and reposition his feet as his shield covers his recovery. It's a give and take... and he can tell that Artemis likes being on the offensive.

    Even when he is on the defensive, he is taking opportunities to try to keep an opponent off balance. A shove with the shield at the last moment, to discombobulate an attack or to put Artemis off balance. These are the little tricks that an experienced fighter learns. Also... footwork. Footwork and balance are super important... leaning into a block and following it up with a one two strike using the edge of the shield, followed by the spear.

    With two such warriors, minutes could pass before anyone really gets through their opponents' defense. Stamina and endurance are what truly matters here. That and well... little tricks.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie is low from the sweep, and that flying fist is a real threat, since it can swipe her right in the face! And it would be hard to dodge, leaning back, her balance tested...

Oh wait, she can also fly!

This leads her into something of a 'Matrix'-looking dodge, leaning back to the degree where gravity would naturally pull her over, but not, because flying is bullshit nonsense physics! "Careful about overextending!" she calls, as the fist goes over her face, rather than into it! And then, as if to demonstrate, an upward punch from beneath, underhand and aimed for the lower abdomen, using her own flight to add some upward momentum.

Wherever all that ends up, she uses her flight to right herself, flipping properly vertical, and then landing her feet back onto the ground. And then she looks around.

Where did Molly go!?

No, she's actually paying attention, since teaching is the objective here, and holds up a hand to pause any kind of follow-up Monet might want to launch into. "So obviously you're both at pretty different stages, very beginner," she gestures at the pile 'o Molly, "and more intermediate with some training- but I think this applies to both of you, that you always wanna be careful about being too obvious with what you wanna do. SOMETIMES, when you've got a foe stunned or a teamate has them held for your SUPER TEAM UP COMBO MOVE, its fine to go for the haymaker, the wind-up, the flying pile driver megapunch. But otherwise you gotta think about defense too."

She walks toward Molly as she's talking, because even if the kiddo is invincible, she can't help but show a LITTLE concern, despite her grim taskmaster performance earlier. "Even if you're invulnerable! Working your powers into how you defend yourself is an important topic, 'cause it changes what you focus on, the priority. What you can ignore and tank, what you have to respect and defend. Amazons use our bracers, so that's often a focus in our defensive patterns, but there's all kinds of ways to approach it."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby looks back over at Booster offering his bro tactical assistance. sure, yes. Normally that would be fine. Brofest is brofest. But it's against Tabby and as the opponent. It's not fun. "I will throw bombs at him!" she threatens and there's even a crackle of plasma ennergy along her weapon like it was one of those glass sphere lightning thingies you see behind the head of every borg on Star Trek. It doesn't last though.

The sweep kick actually connects and with the further off balance Tabitha seems to be continually moving as much to recover balance as flow into the more clumsy moves with an attack.

This time as she falls she tries to use the downward momentum to drop the butt of the mace on Ted's skull while he's still hunkered down and Tabitha is letting out a very loud "EEEEP!" on the way to cushion the fall with that rounded collection of padding she calls an ass.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would be in a position over as Cassandra would go to strike up at her as her ownblow would move to miss as the other girl repositions faster than Monet can at this speed of engagement can go to match (or if she were to be honest then could get at all). Going to let the strike 'hit' at her as that was the point of this as she would go backwards. Then she's going to hit the ground with only slightly slower speed ready for a followup..

But as the signal from Cassandra Sandsmark is given for her to pause she does, going to lower her fists over and put them in an 'at ease' position while moving to watch at her. Her face wrinkled at how Cassandra is talking to Molly, but it would pass. The child has to be tutored in a language that she can agree with after all. So now she's just watching the other fights and taking in information while waiting for her turn again. Now is not the time to be petty!

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     "Yeah, I definitely do not think I'll be able to keep up with him, but he's nice enough to let me hit him," Stella laughs. She catches the action off to the side. Seeing Tabitha at the bar is very different from seeing her in person, in her manic, relentless glory. Sure, the blonde was intimidating by virtue of personality and small explosions alone, but the motion of that mace (aside from being hard to follow for the inexperienced brunette mutant), definitely recategorizes her.

She does burst out laughing as she sees the enormous man before her rubbing his shoulder. It's at least kind of him to pretend. Her laugher fades to a few giggles and then back to seriousness as she gets more comfortable with the blocks. The force, tempered as it may be, does not budge her. "I can push back, if you want?" she asks. "It usually kinda startles people, so I just want to be sure it's all right," she says, as if he couldn't just squish her without a second thought. "Biggest force I ever pushed back was a horse, so... less than that, please."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana gives a grin to Booster. "Maybe that can be arranged." She responds before moving around him to walk down the line of fighters. Her loose hair flows gently against her bare shoulders as the Princess watches the combat in-progress. "Did you go too hard against Miss Molly?" Diana asks of her protege in Cassie as she passes her.

She then comes to pause near to where James and Stella are, the Princess folding her arms across her stomach then as she watches them. "How is it going here?" She asks of the two of them. "This seems like a rather unusual pairing, but maybe an apt one?" She asks with a light smile for them both.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord sees the mace come down on him yet again. "I dare you tp throw bombs at him!" The shield backed with both arms comes up0 over his head! This is what you get going easy on a Tabby!

He makes a sort of deflating sound and is left sitting on his rear under the shield as he shoves the mace aside and tries to grab it. "Dang it Tabby! I could get hurt that way! Especially if you used one of the big maces." he starts putting his ands over hers to reach the end of the mace first. That means he wins right?

Artemis has posed:
    As the two warriors fall into the give and take of combat, the sounds of weapons clashing rings out almost constantly. With his experience, Angelo doesn't really fall for any of the openings she seems to leave as they are mostly feints or traps.

    At the same time, between the fact that he has a shield and his centuries of knowledge, none of her attacks hit home either. As the melee continues, despite trying to keep things to a human level her attacks are speeding up as she becomes frustrated with his ability to block or avoid her axe. The next several attacks make the axe blur through the air as she tries to get past his defense before he can move the shield into place.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord's phone beeps. He holds up a finger to Tabitha to halt. "Yello... experiment's done? How BIG? Of course bullets won't stop it... is this your first day? Read the fu... the training manual. I'll be right there! Sorry sweetie, you'll have to try to cave my skull in another time. Go play around with Booster. He LIVES for this." He jumps up and hurries off.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smiles and raises his eyebrows impressed, "A horse? Very nice, go ahead. Though, may I recommend-" Jim runs her through a basic hip throw, "Use my momentum against me. Go ahead and push back feel free to mix it up." Jim nods and smiles. He looks towards Diana and nods as she approaches. "Stella is doing quite well. Ambassador Prince, I was wondering if you might have any idea about this." He pulls out the shiny vibranium bowie knife for her inspection, "I found it among my brothers things, it seems it was a family heirloom though I never knew about it until It came into my position."

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella does use that momentum, and then some. Unlike her own punches, that part is effortless, like he weighs nothing at all. "Yep, one of our boarders' horses broke out, pushed it right back into the barn," she says as she practices the motion, confidence growing. But it depletes as soon as Diana approaches.
     "Oh gawd," Stella says, then realizes she's talking to as close to one as she's ever been. Sunday school in the sticks did not prepare her to meet divine beings outside of that particular canon. "Yeah! Yes. I am very thankful Jim is the one I got paired up with for this! I lucked out, he's a real good teacher," she says with a respectful nod.

Achilles has posed:
    Speeding up. Angelo has dealt with superhuman attackers a few times in recent years. He's learned to anticipate as much as one can. To pick up on patterns from examples. But as Artemis speeds up, he does his best. He really does... and he is basically a super soldier. As strong and as fast as a human can possibly be. But he is not superhuman.

    Sometimes you need to take the hit in order to get one of your own in. And so as Artemis's latest strike comes surging in... he accepts this, and simply surges forward to try to overbear her with the shield as a way to get an opening for his spear. He takes the axe blow... and he is fortunate it's a training axe. It still bruises the shit out of him as it strikes his collarbone. But the armor holds.

    The force of it drives him to one knee however, and he stops his forward surge at that hit. "I concede the point." he states.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque Evers is retrieving the daggers from the targets. Underneath his mask, a deep frown is forming when he realizes that only one dagger was near the bullseye, but two daggers here closer to hitting the wall. Oletha grinds his teeth and mumbles, "Yes, a bit father than I am use to throwing my knife."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"She said she was mostly indestructible!" Cassie replies, grinning back sheepishly at BOSS LADY Diana, who has stood so often in her position, looking over a certain blonde Amazon trainee as she lay on the floor in a pile. Indeed, even if Cassie's playing at R. Lee Ermey, she's ultimately far, far (FAAAAAAR - Diana is SOOOO old!) closer to these students in her own experience and mindset. She checks on Molly, and if she's out of it still, leaves her to rest a bit.

So much for the mean drill instructor!

"Anyway, this is all only meant to be evaluation, just to figure out where you all are in things. But I think there's plenty we can do with you, if you're planning on coming back to the Themysciran Arts Center for more lessons. I'll talk to Di and the others and they'll come up with some drills," again, there's a quick flash of semi-sadistic glee: she's spent thousands of hours on these drills herself, so the chance to inflict them on others is still karmically pleasing. To M, she continues: "Your aerial combat will probably require special training from me or Di."

"For now, I can show you some basic positions, stances, and drills." Here, she demonstrates what is presumably a basic Amazon fighting stance, legs bent and in profile, arms up. "Position one! This can work for armed or unarmed, and is based on fighting in shield formation, but its applicable generally, as you minimize your facing to the enemy." Subsequently, she demonstrates a sequence of steps, each with a movement of the arms, miming a block or a strike or a swing with a weapon, counting off numbers as she goes.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would go to glance over at the formation that might be something that would moreso be based upon that of a Phalanx or a formation of tower shields. She would give a nod in evaluation and thought. "Minimize your profile. Give your adversary the smallest amount of target they can get, while maximizing your ability to maneuver to meet them to evade or counter-attack." It was all about physics in some ways as it goes. Lower profile means lower center of gravity on the ground. Brace gives you more thrust to meet an opponent and hold yourself.

She would nod thoughtfully, "Interesting. I would.. Appreciate the lessons in aerial combat." There wre many fliers, not so many that were fully trained in it. Something that would be of benefit.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"We. Signed. Waivers!" Tabby yells as right as she tries to yank back her weapon there's a ringing sound and it's Ted's phone. The blonde might be getting way too into things. And as a business might want, he's answering it and Tabby actually in a matter of stunned politeness lets the man answer and walk off to be boss type guy.

There's a pout on Tabitha's features and looks around with mace/bat weapon bouncing her ankle.

"Did I just win. I mean that's not the point and forefeits kinda don't really count unless it's in a video game."

Of course that leaves Tabby pondering opponents,

Then she see's teds Bro, and then Tabitha beams an evil smile as she seems to judge distance. Her brow furrows behind her glasses. Math is not a Tabby specialty so it takes a second of considering.

Then Boom-Boom charges at the man. Sure she could have picked Diana but that means running through other fighters mid spar and disrupting them.

Kind of a dick move.

There's at least some clear space between them and anyone else so when Tabitha sprints she calls out "Booster!" in a challange and throws a bomb literally in her own path and as she just about runs over it she jumps and...

BOOM! Grenade Jump.

The heat and fire, tabby is plenty immune too. That somewhat flawless skin would be a lot more crispy otherwise, but she is not immune to the concussive force of the blast. It's loud and while no one else is in range, it is enough to get a good parabolic arc out of Tabitha aimed at the erstwhile hero from the future. The mace in both hands being shoved forwards as if it were a battering ram and Booster is the door to breach.

Of course the noise and the distance probably means he's in plenty of room to dodge and Tabby can make a spectacular second crater in the arena.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana offers Stella a very warm smile. "James is a gentle giant, so it seems." She says as she nods once to the young woman. "You are doing well though then, and are welcome back here any time." The Princess tells her... before James draws her attention with that offered weapon.

Diana steps toward him, and it, and reaches one of her leather wrapped hands out to take gentle hold of it. She will lift it up to run her eyes over it before she uses her other hand to drift her fingertips across its blade's underside.

After that, she looks up to James.

"This is Vibranium. It is from Wakanda." She informs the tall man. "This is... exceptionally rare. AS rare as finding a weapon from my own homeland."

A redheaded Amazon Warrior appears beside Cinque, and offers him pointers on how to throw those knives a little better. She is large, muscled, and arguably very intimidating, but kind!

Artemis has posed:
    As the axe finally scores on Angelo, Artemis grins and nods to the man, then offers him her hand to pull him back to his feet. She shakes her head and says, "I could not get through your defense without using my speed and strength. I don't know that I've ever faced a more skilled warrior. I think that had I not slipped and used my speed, I would likely be the one on the receiving end. Or we'd both still be here tomorrow swinging away at each other."

    She laughs a bit at the mental picture of Diana and her fellow Amazons asleep to one side while she and Angelo continue to exchange blows between yawns.

Booster Gold has posed:
    Booster has a problem. Well, many problems. But the most impactful one at this moment is that he is generally thick. Not thicc. That's something else entirely.
    He hears Tabitha call his name. But he figures it's a general challenge. And he has time to respond. Accept. Weasel his way out. That sort of thing.
    He does not anticipate that she is already charging. Or that she is explosion boosted. Or that she is coming down with a screaming mace at his head.
    Booster is busy watching Diana. Who could blame him really? And so it is only at the nearly very latest moment that he sees a shadow fall across his face and looks up. "Oh crud."
    Luckily for Booster his force field is keyed into his thoughts and therefore it comes up at the speed of thought. If not, he might not have another thought again.
    Unfortunately for Booster while the forcefield absorbs the impact of the kinetic energy and mace against it, it does not provide any resistance as the mace swings into him.
    Booster goes flying through the air, his force field crackling, a cloud of dust kicked ip from the impact.

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     "Thank you, ma'am, I appreciate it," Stella says, trying not to let the level of intimidation totally overtake her! The rest of the conversation seems private, so she looks around at the other folks in action, purposefully giving Jim and Diana a bit of space.
     And there's plenty to watch! Enough explosions to keep things interesting in the meantime.

Achilles has posed:
    Accepting the hand, Angelo gets up to his feet. He rolls his neck as the body heals from the bruise. He's not truly invulnerable. He's just glad people don't keep trying to kick him in the ankle to prove the legends right. At this point, he regrets letting folks think that an arrow to the foot killed him. But it -did- set him free from the man he once was, the unmitigated prick who took pride in killing people just for the sake of doing so.

    He stands and grins. "I take that as a compliment in the extreme. I would not wish to be on the receiving end of a -real- axe in your hands. But.. I wonder what you could do with this?"

    That question is posed even as he drops the spear to the floor and materializes his celestial bronze Xiphos sword in his right hand. Then he flips it about and holds the handle out towards Artemis. "I would love to see one of your speed putting this weapon through its paces. It was forged by Hephaestus himself for me, and has been my companion since Troy."

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar blinks and frowns, his face scrunched up, "But... vibranium? That's- _Wakandan_ Vibranium? On an Apache reservation? In Arizona? Hidden in a saddle bag? How is that even possible?" Jim takes the blade even more gingerly, "John, what were you involved in?" John Proudstar was killed during the 2012 invasion.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana spares a glance over to the sound of the bomb going off, and sees Tabitha flying through the air like some kind of wild woman. Poor Booster is ambushed, so it seems. Hopefully he signed the Waiver before coming in to the arena!

The Princess regards James again, holding the dagger still, she shakes her head gently. "I am not sure. But, if you would like... I can reach out to people who might know. They can contact you at the information you provided us."

A glance is spared to ARtemis, and Angelo, before the Princess looks back to James, and offers him the dagger back. "Be carefl with this. Very, very careful..." She says to him with a serious look before she smiles to sTella, and places a hand upon the girl's shoulder. "I am glad you have had a good time so far, hopefully this continues." She tells her before looking to those still battling one another.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby watches enough TV to have seen a lot of the more well known heroes in action that she doesn't know personally. So Maybe she might have had an inkling Booster can takke the hit. Or she's just guessing.

But when the mace hits, and Booster is knocked flying, the immediate response is Tabby skidding and rolling down and over onto her side and then back up onto one knee with the mace head down in the ground while it braces and keeps her mostly up as a leaning tool.

A few caught breathes later and she sees her target where he landed and Tabby goes bright eand wide eyed behind her sunglasses and pops right up on her feet with a jump and the mace over head.

"I have the power!" she yells out in her Eighties retro moment and grins. "And that is probably the best I can hope for here." she states with a giggle and a very giddy adrenaline rushed grin on her face. One could almost expect a "Puddin'" to be uttered.

Lowering the mace to hold in both hands she picks up a batter's stance once more and bounces around in a circle on the spot.

She fears no reprisal but maybe she is expecting some for breaking rules.

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella startles as she feels the woman's hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her daze- or whatever she was up to. "I'm sure it will, thank you!" she chirps, bouncing on her toes as the woman departs. "You okay?" she asks Jim. If one were to see them from a distance, the scale differential between the two is hilarious. "Sorry, none of my business, tuned it out, didn't hear a thing." And she means that quite literally. "So! What's next? Or are we wrappin' up?" she asks.

Cinque Evers has posed:
The explosion doesn't hamper his knife throwing, but it doesn't improve his throwing either. Oletha decides to start practicing throwing with his left hand, "Just a couple more throws. I know I can get at least one bullseye."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Yep. Combat's really kind of a practical thing. Like, I know, well, they use the term martial arts because there is so much technique and skill to what you can potentially do, and in a way it can even be quite beautiful... But at the end of the day, it's war." This, of course, marks another aspect of Themysciran mindset and training. That they are a warrior breed, training as soldiers. "So you always gotta think what's effective, efficient. What's the minimal effort, force, to put the other person down first, without exposing yourself to more risk than is necessary."

Cassie goes through a few more of the sequences, and when she's done, turns back and ambles toward the weapon rack they long left behind. There, she grabs a sword and shield, giving the former the two a spinning flourish as she selects it. Showing off? Or testing the balance. Because even if this is technically training for them, by now, she's very much fallen into the familiar rhythm of her own daily routines, without really even pausing to think much about it. This is her life! And the training never truly ends. Swish, slice, goes the blade through the air.

However, she too is caught with some surprise by the more exciting match going on elsewhere, especially when Tabitha goes flying with one of her signature booms, like a character in a video game. "... no offense," she tells M, "But I think I picked the boring team!"

Artemis has posed:
    Taking the sword from him, Artemis looks closely at the blade, then swings it a few times to get a feel for it's balance. "It's better than anything my sisters make, which makes sense if the god himself made it for you. I'm used to a longer sword when I use one, but this is exquisite."

    She goes through a series of attacks against the helpless air, then nods, "As close to perfect as I could imagine." Flipping it up into the air, she catches it by the end of the blade and lays it across her forearm, offering it back to him hilt first.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at the match, "None taken." She would glance over at the rack, "And warriors run the risk of becoming overly regimented. One practices something ten thousan times, if they are in a situation that does not fit, they may overreach in a circumstance." She would watch as the explosions would go back and forth, finally allowing..

"She has a unique combat style. You might learn something from engaging her." That is not something that she remotely says within listening distance of Tabitha of course. She would go to then take the blade and twirl it in a hand, inspecting the light practice piece and shield that she had likely only used in the previous time or two at the themysciran center, and glance at them while observing. "SHe is however overextending herself some.. But appropriately so long as she doesn't exhaust herself in doing so." M would muse, weapons at the ready.

Booster Gold has posed:
As the dust settles around Booster's body, there is a soft sound from the hero. Then he hops up with a kick flip, perhaps aided by his suit, but impressive nonetheless.
    His eyes take on almost a glow as he looks towards Tabitha. "Not. The. Hair!" Indeed, it appears that the impact of the mace on your force field caused an impact on his head, and his hair is now filled with some of the dust from the ground.
    "You want to see a flying drop? HERE's a flying drop!" Booster charges towards Tabitha like a rhino watching someone start a forest fire.

Achilles has posed:
    Reaching out to take the sword, Angelo nods, "You see, in my day... oh by the gods, I just said that, didn't I?" he asks, interrupting himself.

    He shakes his head and wills the sword back into its storage area... and then continues, "When I was first training... the weapon of note was the spear. The Xiphos... was intended for use in point blank range. What people now call knife range. It was used when a spear could not be."

    "IN the medieval era, swords became romanticized. And to be honest, most modern people don't realize that on the battlefield... swords weren't feared. Spears were. But maces also... a mace would kill a man in chainmail where a sword would simply slide along the links and do little damage. So, I never really modernized with swords. I still use a spear though." he adds with a grin.

    "Do you have a -real- axe that you prefer? I would love to see it." Yes, with real warriors, fighting one another is pretty much the same as shaking hands. You learn who a person is when you fight them. In many cases, that is where true respect comes from.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana steps over to where Artemis is handing the sword back to Angelo. She has her hands at her sides now as she looks from one of them to the other. She knows what Angelo is capable of, but Artemis is still a bit of a mystery to her.

"Well done, both of you. I caught much of what you did. You are exceptional warriors." She tells them both, with a light smile on her red hued lips.

"I would very much enjoy seeing both of you back here more often. We could use all the additional instructor help we can get..."

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar nods appreciative, "Thank you ambassador, I appreciate it." He puts the dagger away and returns his attention to Stella, "Where were we? Oh, right! Push back and hip throws." Jim stops finally catching up on what's been going on in the room at large. "Tabitha-" He rubs his forehead and sighs. "Please don't kick us out." Jim smiles to Stella and shrugs, "I was thinking we could move onto combinations?"

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Stella bounces on her toes a bit, getting back into things. "Man, she's fun, huh?" she asks, looking over at Tabitha. A person she's met twice, but now seems thoroughly impressed by. "But yeah! Let's do it, I'm gettin' better. You probably haven't even broken a sweat yet, sheesh," she says. "I'll try to make it more interesting," she says, shaking out her hands.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby eeps as Booster with barely a buzz to his forecfield make shis move, the bat slash mace is dropped and soon after it it seems there;s a backpedal jumping to try and get clear while at the same time there's more bombs, not the same power as before but these seem to glow a little brighter in their baseball sized form. The woman's arms folding as the glow appears and when she fans those limbs out wide the roll out in front of her as Tabby looks prety panicked.

However when they go off, the lack force but carry a different trait and Tabby at least tries to warn others she knows might not enjoy.

"Jim! BrightBOOM!" she calls out a moment before detonations.

The bombs are flashbangs, all light all noise.

Not fun for enhanced senses and even tabby is looking down and squinting through the effects but her glasses do help. Booster's gear probably has noise cancelling like a Bose Fight.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Oh yeah, variety is good. I started out before I got any official training, so it was all... street scrappin', plus whatever Robin showed us." Cassie tends to rarely specify which Robin, because it's too much work keeping that crap straight! "Then I got hauled of for some intense training after I met Diana. The Amazon training... I'm not gonna say its the only technique or the best technique or anything. It's their methodology and mindset. They forge you into something."

By now, since Monet has grabbed her own pair of weapons, she pauses in the little sequence she was working through and turns to face her again. She gestures, and then adopts that earlier stance - now returning to its true and proper form with the addition of the ancient armaments.

"And that is very important. The repitition, the focus, the intensity of training, the mindset that goes with it- it prepares you. Gives you the muscle memory to move without thinking, and the mindset to think without slowing down. It's very fundamental." Once M has her shield up, Cassie moves in, but this is not really a spar now, but the drill expanded into a two-person affair, as she shouts, "Position 3" even as she raises her own blade and brings it down.

Clang, clang, clang go their blades, clang, clang...

BANG!

Tabby's flashes go off right mid-sequence, and even Cassie can't out-flinch light. "Agh!"

Booster Gold has posed:
     There are reasons that Booster is not taken seriously. Mostly because he does not take himself seriously. Few things motivate him to actually expend effort at being a hero.
    His majestic hair is one of those few things.
    Another little known fact is that Booster was a world class athlete before his days as a hero. A quarterback. And so dodging a bunch of bombs is in his wheelhouse. Even as they are revealed to be flash bombs, the gold visor he wears over his face absorbs the light, preventing them from impacting him much at all.
    All told, it results in a bobbing and weaving Booster bearing down rapidly on Tabitha. With nothing on his face save for vengeance for his finely coifed hair.

Artemis has posed:
    She nods to Angelo, "I do, yes." She lays the training axe down and then stretches out her arm, calling "Mistress, to me!" Out of nowhere, an axe appears beside her, her hand wrapping around the haft. The thing is monstrous, easily taller than she is, with a huge axe head that is almost as big across as her height. She lifts it effortlessly with one hand and rests it on her shoulder. "Mistress is a little hard to use in practice fights, she's too sharp to take chances."

    At Diana's words, she turns to face the other Amazon and nods, smiling gently. "I would not mind that at all. So far I've only made one friend since my arrival, though she has been helping me catch up with the world as it currently stands. I would enjoy learning a bit more about the Themyscirans, and I could certainly pass on some of what I know."

Achilles has posed:
    Brows raising under his helmet, Angelo tilts his head. "One might wonder why anyone would make a weapon of that size and mass. But you obviously have the strength to not be hindered by such things. I would not be able to lift that thing much higher than my knees."

    And when Artemis speaks to Diana, he corrects. "Two friends." As he offers a hand towards Artemis. "You have made two friends now."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over, "Variety is excellent. Even hte most skilled warrior can lose to a technique or a skill that they have never encountered." She would go to take her weapons through them over and gonig to test them a few times over and her shield. SHe's gonig through the routine and the practice of it, engaging in the motions, the repetition, the focus.. And..

She's also aware of how Tabitha's powers work, from having trained with her bfeore and how they act when she's at high end. And at that point as Cassie's going to suddenly flinch. And then Monet is going in for th estrike!

Shield going to flip in at an angle to try and prevent Cassie from swinging her own hand around to block it, blade going to swing up and over in a chop aimed at the other woman's midsection, striking up along her torso. Her trying to get an angle where Cassandra can't use a gauntlet to block it. The blade is used on the flat end even for a training weapon, and twisted along so that if it would 'strike' that it would still. All of this sudden shift into the attack and away fro the training maneuver sdone without a noise or a change in body language

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana watches that weapon get revealed by Artemis, then shows a light smile to the woman. She watches Angelo offer friendship before she too nods her head softly once. "Hopefully three, and many more to come." The Princess says before she hears more bombs going off....

Who knew that Diana could whistle louder than bombs?

Well, she can! Diana whistles very loudly, her thumb and forefinger inside her mouth and pressing to the corner of her lips.

When she pulls them free after whistling for everyone's attention, she waves a hand. "Hello. Good job, everyone! But now it is time for the obstacle course! So please put the weapons away, and come with me..." She states, leading everyone to a walled-off part of the Arena floor... oh boy!

Obstacles!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Of course the flashbangs don't work. On Booster, So the man finally closes the distance and it leaves Tabby with one last Bomb, it's about basketball sizes and as soon as Booster gets closer enough to make contact with Tabby she takes the risk and blows the bomb.

Force way more that what she rocket jumped with so either it'll end up with Booster flying stampede knocking her down and the blast being absorbed. Booster maybe overloading the shield, unlikely as it is.

Things that will happen: Tabby is probably about to get launched across the arena into walls and stands and probably other solid objects.

How much extra force is going to depend on Boosters very very adnvanced shielding.

Right after Diana blows a whistle in coach mode.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar has time to turn away and close his eyes, but his hearing is shot between the booms and the whistle. He steps on the edge of Ted's discarded buckler. Causing the shield to snap up into his hand and is prepared to hurl it discus style into Booster's path as Diana catches his attention. He recognizes the body language even if he can't hear a word. And takes a deep calming breath.

Cinque Evers has posed:
As he finishes throwing the daggers, Oletha knows he has to return to practice here again, or find another suitable place to throw these daggers. Oletha twirls the daggers in both his hands and holds each of the daggers to the light to get a better look at them. Oletha memorizes the feel the weight of the dagger, the distance from the target, the different sounds and aromas of the room, until he has memorize every aspect of the targeting range. Once he feels that he can recreate his own place to throw knives, he quitely walks over and returns thee daggers back to where he got them from Diane.

Booster Gold has posed:
    One might expect that collision - Booster and the bomb, and were that to happen assuredly Tabitha would go flying. Instead, however, despite his seemingly blind enraged charge, at the latest moment Booster slides, ducking under the bomb.
    Three things happen at nearly the same time. Booster evaded the bomb, sliding beneath it with a devilishly designed leg sweep. Diana whistles to end the session. And Tabitha's body seems about to bear the brunt of her concussive force.
    With swift reflexes, Booster reaches out to grab Tabitha's ankles before she can fly away. The energy from the blast carried her forward and lifts from the ground, but he executed a quick pivot of that momentum, driving her instead forwards the ground. A crackle of energy surrounds her as he does so, and between his anti-gravity and force field he manages to bring her to a stop just on the ground, like laying her down on a pillow instead of a slam of her body.
    "Diana called time." he say, looking down at her. "Good match."

Stella Roundtree has posed:
     Well, maybe a few rounds elsewhere before she returns. Stella ducks down at all the commotion, but noting the relaxation of others and coming out of her tuck. Definitely time for a drink. "Thanks for being patient," the brunette says. "Sorry I was boring compared to all that, but if you do trainin' and you're looking for a student, happy to pay," she says with a shrug towards Jim.

Artemis has posed:
    Artemis clasps Angelo's forearm, then dismisses the axe to wherever it exists when waiting for her call. She nods and says, "Three then. A good day, I've tripled the number of people I can call friend. And I know Mistress is almost laughably huge, but as you must well know, there are some very resilient people out there, and not all of them can be called heroes. I do also have a sword for combat in places Mistress wouldn't fit."

    She looks back to Diana and says "You have a very nice place here, with your permission I would like to continue to come here and spar with some of your sisters. It's been a little while since I've been around other Amazons."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Well, it was SUPPOSED to be a drill!

Mid-excercise, Cassie is not only blinded, but subsequently sneak-attacked! Needless to say, she gets whacked with the practice sword.

"Ow. What is even happening right now!?"

Blinking to get her vision back, she holds up her sword and shield, grinning. "You got me, you got me. Anyway, c'mon, sounds like Di's dragging us off for something. Let's put these back, not good to keep HER HIGHNESS waiting." It is only with the utmost of sarcasm that Cassie ever uses those royal titles!

From there, it's a quick turn back to the weapon racks, to hang up the gear, before quickly turning to hustle off to follow after Diana for the next part of the day's excercises.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The catch arrests most of the force of Tabby's blast but to even get her moving to begin with is still a gell of a lot.

"Ugh, stupid graceful winner!" she groans with the weariness of someone that might have ran a marathon and then got hit by two cars.

"Fuuuuuuun. Dooon;t get to cut loose like that!" she says with a giggle. "Next time can I pick an Amazon?" she asks, pointing at all of them vaguely and maybe Diana and Cassie a little longer and as Booster sets her down, the girl just drops down onto her ass and then flomps back arms and legs wide on the ground like she's passing out from a bender.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar writes down a name and number and hands it to Stella, "She's a friend in Brooklyn. She'd love paying students."