2014-07-03 You had to google 'dojo'?
This scene is rated Everybody
Warning: N/A
2014-07-03
Players: Logan, Ember, Scott
GMed by Random Acts of Spongebob
Title: You had to google 'dojo'?

Against one pillar, Logan pushed against it and let his upper torso twist until he finally heard and felt that gratifying crackling, and only then did he exhale in relief. Logan, a.k.a Wolverine, a.k.a Weapon X, a.k.a numerous other aliases was almost impossible to kill, with the ability to regrow destroyed and damaged tissue, muscles, blood, and even organs. And with his bones covered in an unbreakable metal known as adamantium, it meant he would never have to worry about broken bones, and could walk around with a certain degree of 'invulnerability' that the average joe didn't have to worry about.

But being able to regrow muscles and tissue didn't always mean that grew back correctly, and with all the recent heavy amounts of stress his body had gone through and how little amounts of rest he got inbetween, his body felt like it was going through the wringer. But, this wasn't about him, it was about the new kid. Some kid named 'Ember', probably a hundred pounds soaking wet and only an inch taller than him(something he'd…mostly gotten used to at this stage of his life.), and who seemed refreshingly shocked about the usual unusual sights that New York City had to offer.

With a grin, the man in sweatpants and a wifebeater walked up to her, unshaven and looking like he'd just rolled out of bed, barefoot and rolling his own neck around and grimacing in discomfort.

"Awright, kid, show me why yer here. I smell the Mutant gene in ya, but I gotta see just what it gave you, so we know what we're workin' with."
You are empty-handed.

Ember, the aforementioned 'kid' who… used to weigh in at a very solid body mass a few years ago, was told to dress for physicall draining activity in the dojo (a word she had to google before coming down), so she slipped into a worn blue leotard and tights set before then 'dressing' herself in the mid-length brunette with hazel eyes and a bit of farmer's tan appearance she's taken as her 'around the school' standard.

She's not exactly standing in front of Logan with any great degree of confidence. She keeps shifting her eyes to the place where some of his face wasn't the time they sort-of met. But she is paying attention and gives him a questioning look, "What do you mean, sir? Show you what I can do, or what my powers are?" Her voice trails off at the end of the question in a manner she's found useful in the past to get teachers to restate their questions. Of course, sometimes she just uses it to see what kind of reaction it draws.

Scott relaxes near the side of the room,though one would never know it. With his tall build, slim physique, and a well maintained appearance, he may be the polar opposite of the feral veteran. His meticulous attention to detail, as well, only serves to widen the gulf between the two men.

Despite being in a set of worn workout clothes, Scott looks prepared for a lecture. His hair is still well-combed and his breath steady; he hasn't gone for that evening run yet. One hand clutches a clipboard while the other scribbles away with a pen. "No small joint manipulation, low blows, or rabbit punches. This is just to help us understand how to better prepare you, Ember." He reminds, setting that ruby gaze to settle upon Logan as well.

A glance was thrown over Scott's way, a deadpan deathglare that lasted for a fraction of a moment before Logan ran his left hand through his stubble, as well as his sideburns which had grown more lately. He snorted just to better get air through his nose before speaking, raspy voice sounding slightly more irritable. It seemed that, despite whatever tension may be between the two men, that Logan was trying to keep things professional, and making sure the kid had first priority.

He still did rehearse how easy it would be to kill the slim bastard from this close, however. Old habits and all that.

"This ain't a fight kid, an' I ain't gonna hurt ya. I just need to see what ya can do power-wise. Lets us know how better ta help ya, an' its good fer the kids here ta have a place where they don't hafta reign it in all the time. So, show me what ya got. C'mon."

Ember chews on her lower lip a bit as she's addressed, assured that 'this isn't a fight' and that it's just to see what she can do. Her expression is probably one that both of these two have seen in young mutants before… the look of someone who's spent more time keeping it bottled up than flaunting it. Then there's the 'what the hell, why not' moment and the light in the room begins to shift, becoming somewhat more dim in most of the room as it visibly flows towards her like a CGI movie view of what happens around a black hole. Except the Ember-singularity becomes brighter and brighter still as the light is absorbed into her form.

In some ways, while the brightening light gives her an ethereal seeming, she could be said to also appear more solid at the same time. She stands up straighter, hopping from one foot to the other rapidly like a sprinter at the blocks.

After a minute or two of this, the light level in the room returns to normal but with the addition of Ember adding to the brightness with light shining inside of her but not so much emitting from her as folding back into her constantly, shifting color and pattern and then starting to expand outward from her body in a solid, snaking mass between her hands… a jump rope. Which she then skips a few times before the jump rope becomes more of a lasso that she spins idly at her side. "You mean like this?"

Of all the people to observe, it is fortunate that Scott has no fear of being blinded. That line of crimson merely watches, lowers to record something, then lifts once more. "If possible, don't use your gifts. If we can teach you to be a competent fighter without them, you will only get better when you bring them into the mix." He explains, pausing with consideration.

Logan's eyes were like that of a predator's. He could see in nearly complete darkness, and focus on details in ways comparable to a jungle cat, or an owl.

When it came to obscenely bright lights, he was as vulnerable as someone else, and distinct memories of 'permanenty' blinding himself by being forced to stare into the sun stayed with him and caused him to recoil, to squint his eyes and turn his head even as a left hand was brought up. Soon, the light changes into…a jump-rope, and a lasso, and Logan nods appreciatively while whistling.

"Goddamn, that's pretty nifty. Are ya able ta turn it int-"

And then Scott Summers brought in his opinion, and Logan's response was tipped with a bit of venom that he couldn't help in time.

"We were getting ta that, Summers. Simmer down."

The little bigman was rolling his neck around and stormed off toward the end of the dojo, breathing through that nose and forcing the blood in his veins to pump a little slower, particularly the ones in his neck. His journey was to grab a little 'man' on a pole, a padded green looking torso and face with red eyes, stood atop a pole and meant to replicate a real life person for hitting. Logan quickly strode toward the child and almost violently set the dummy down, keeping it balanced as he quickly adjusted the height and brought the dummy down more for a height appropriate for a young girl.

Or, a height appropriate for a Canadian assassin and super-hero. But that was another topic for another time.

"He's right though. We get a lotta hate poured our way, and sometimes ya gotta defend yerself. So, this is an attacker. Hit him, before he hits you. Let's go, girl, let's see what ya got!"

Ember's entire manner seems almost joyous as she drops /MOST/ of her pretense and puts her power on full display. She feels so overcharged with the energy she's absorbed that she doesn't really register the significance of the object Logan is retrieving until he slams down the pells and tells her to hit her 'attacker'. That's where the happy ends… as well as the body-glow she emits, as well as the solid-light rope. All of it collapses inward while the extra light she was emitting escapes her body in a brief flash that can't hide the reflexive cringe and defensive raising of her arms that just as quickly is aborted with her arms being pulled back tight in front of her.

That pose is only held long enough for her conscious mind to reassert itself, to remind herself that she's not being swung at like that anymore. He's dead. But she does look at the practice dummy with a shrug, "I don't know how to hit."

That reaction didn't escape Logan's notice, and his blue eyes softened slightly before he hardened himself again, and walked up to her. He wasn't touching her or making contact, but rather herding her away from the dummy with his physical presence alone just so he could stand in front of the girl and better demonstrate.

"Awright, everybody's gotta start somewhere. It don't matter what my hands are doin', watch my legs. You payin' attention, darlin'?"

He spoke and exhaled a deep breath while keeping his body limp and ready. His legs bent a fraction before he acted, and even with him slowing himself down as much as he knew how, the right punch he sent right to the diaphram of the foam dummy hit in an instant and hit so hard that the dummy crashed to the ground and hit it with a deafening 'crash'. A second later Logan put his foot on the bottom of it, and flipped it upright again, draping his hand over the shoulders of their 'foe'.

"Ya see that, how I was standin'? Before you do anythin' else, stand like I was standing. Balance and footing, that's at least eighty five percent of the game right there."

Ember uses the time while Logan is shifting over next to her to get herself under control again. A barely whispered mantra of, "They're dead now," repeated until her breathing settles preceeds her matching Logan's stance without much difficulty. She watches the punch he throws at the dummy and then listens to his words about stance and double checks that her balance is as much like his as she can manage. "Yeah, I think I've got it." Then she raises her eyes towards the dummy and tries her own punch. It's not weak, there's plenty of oomph behind it, but it's clear that hitting back was never seen as an option before today. But even with the amateur hit, she winces from the impact and shakes her hand off as if it hurts more than that kind of contact should cause.

They had a long way to go, but Logan at least got them on the right path. Katas, the science of boxing and throwing a punch, showing her how it's all about bodyweight, about how the entire body was responsible in throwing an attack, and not just your arm or your leg.

More than that, Logan decided that this kid wasn't going to benefit from complicated martial arts lessons, that if she was in something dire, then she was going to need very practical, very direct self defense lessons. Knees to the groin, strikes to the throat, even showing her how to throw a palm into a guy's nose, and teaching her precisely how fatal that was. He taught her how to disable a larger, more powerful target with as little effort as you could manage, and taught her the best time to use teachings like this.

It would be very surprising if she wasn't sore, with limbs that felt like dead weights by the end of it, though.

Ember isn't a slouch, to be certain. She picks up on things with a fair degree of swiftness once she's shown how it's done. And when the instruction changes from the complicated, elegant stuff to something more dirty she certainly lights up, literally and figuratively… her body-glow returns as Logan starts her on elbow and knee strikes. With each lesson, her first few attempts result in sharp pains whenever she hits something but then out of reflex she starts to emit and solidify the light around what she's hitting with and it not only protects her from the strike's back-blow but strengthens the hit as well.

And yes, she's getting sore and tiring out as the session goes on. Her body-glow becomes dimmer over time and it takes longer for her to recover her breathing. But there's no sweat or any scent of sweat on her at all.

When there is a break in the routine she steps back to snag her water bottle from the side of the mat by simply connecting her hand and the bottle with a band of semi-solid light and then contracting that band until she's holding the drink. After swigging and recapping the bottle she looks at her instructor and observer. "So how am I doing?"

Scott has seen enough for the time being. After finishing the final field of his form he leans forward, tucking the clipboard under his arm as he strides towards the door. He leaves the assessment of Ember's progress to the instructor, only waving a hand in parting towards Logan. "When you're done with your session, lets get together and get a curriculum worked in for her." Scott says, smiling towards the girl in passing and moving towards the exit. "Enjoy you're training."

The gruff country warrior nodded when it was time to break things off, walking over toward where she kept her water…and opening the blue cooler he brought with him, with the many, many cans of cheap Canadian c-brand booze stuffed inside. He grunted and felt his stiff muscles already starting to get a little better, although he'd need to work them manually later. And he gave a snort while he popped a tab of one golden can, one-handed.

"Ya did good, kiddo. But ya need to remember that what I'm showin' ya, it ain't a game, somethin' ta do when yer bored. It's somethin' ta save yer life. I don't want ya bustin' some boys' nose 'cause he didn't take ya ta prom, ya understand me?!"

With such a ridiculously specific scenario, it was possible that such a situation, indeed, occurred. Logan shook his head at the event and downed half that can already, one swig to overload his hyper sensitive tongue with poor quality, ice-cold and bitter hops and yeast. His eyes far away, deep in thought.

Ember nods to Scott about the ciriculum part of things. "I talked to the Professor about seeing how much I can test out of as far as high school goes. I had gotten a lot of extra classes under my belt my last year back in Iowa."

She nods at Logan's admonision about not attacking folks for no good reason. "I don't hit people just because they're being an ass or a stuck-up prig." Ember shows no outward sign from the workout save for a body-glow that had dimmed but it now recovering as she soaks in the surrounding light more passively than the rather showy demonstration she started with today. She eyes the beer as Logan pulls one out to drink, biting her lower lip a bit before deciding against a light-speed snatch. "I prefer to work them over more subtly. Make them do the work so they end up ruined better than any punch. That just takes longer."

As she finishes her water and returns the bottle to her bag and same way she got it, she looks thoughtfully at the practice dummy and down at her hands. "Um… you've probably had all kinds of mutants here, right? Can that dummy… take a laser? Because the training gave me an idea of something to try, but if I don't pull it off it'll maybe end up as a laser, instead."

Logan looked from the dummy, over to Ember, and seemed to consider this for a bit. After deciding that it wasn't his dojo, he finally gave a nod and a thumb's up.

"Go for it, kid. Fry 'em!"

The lights dim sharply again as Ember draws the light in to recharge herself, but this time she isn't being dramatic so her own body-glow remains steady without the bright flare of before. She takes a few paces away from the dummy before facing it in a wide-leg set stance with her hands held in front of her, palms facing each other about shoulder width apart. The light begins to concentrate between her hands until there's a fist-sized ball of floodlight intensity there. Ember's breathing is deep but mostly steady as in the center of the ball of light, the side facing the dummy goes from energy to a semi-fluid hemisphere. Then, with a sharp exhalation and one of the kiays Logan has been teaching her she pushes her arms towards the dummy and the semi-fluid mass of light shoots away from her towards it. It hits almost before the act of throwing is registered to the eye and the mass flattens like a beanbag against the dummy's front surface, knocking it backwards halfway to the wall.

After it hits, Ember drops to her knees like a marionette with the strings cut, breathing heavily with a body-glow that's dimmed almost to nothing.

"Goddamn, kid!"

Logan watched that dummy get blasted across the room, watching the far wall crack and spiderweb just a bit and he almost dropped his beer. Almost. But just as he saved his beverage, his ears heard the shift in her composure and weight, and he turned to react before his mind -really- knew what happened. That precious beer that was previously saved clattered against the ground as the big, powerful, and hairy arms of the veteran and teacher wrapped around the small girl, and he gave a chuckle while speaking softly.

"Easy does it, darlin'. Ya did good, now just rest an' take it easy. Yer goin' to yer room, understand?"

He lifted her, carrying her as easily as a feather, and he'd take her to her room for as long as she couldn't walk.

In the back of his mind, he thought about how cool it would be to do something like that. Some Mutants got all the fun stuff it seemed, then he got the ability to live through a dozen landmines a day. Whatever.

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