ArchivedLogs:Never Play the Hero

Never Play the Hero
Dramatis Personae Anette and Pedro
In Absentia	2015-12-13 "Just...you felt like you were holding back."
Location <BOM> Training Center - Main Lodge - Ascension Island
Down a short flight of stairs off of the common room, this room is a departure from the homier stone and wood upstairs. Its bare concrete walls are clearly basementy in feel, though its floor has been refurbished in gleaming synthetic flooring marked out like a basketball court. This spacious gymnasium includes a variety of punching bags -- of several compositions (for normal strength mutants or mutants on the high end of the spectrum) -- a boxing ring, a wall for climbing, several lengths of rope, and many, many training dummies for people to practice their powers on. Someone's dressed up one of the training dummies as a police officer, and scrawled a dopey smiley face on it; the sign on his chest declares him to be 'OFFICER SHITS-HIS-PANTS'. Officer Shits-His-Pants has seen better days; by the look of him, he's been set on fire and lost at least one of his limbs. In the back room is more training equipment -- everything from boxing gloves, medical tape, sports equipment, and even some unusual customized equipment for the more 'physical' mutants. The infirmary door stands near the stairway leading back up. The training center is relatively quiet this evening, only a few folks around. A bulky mutant spars with another, who holds up large padded gloves for the larger one to hit. A few others, like Pedro, practice their skills or powers against the various dummies set around the gym. Dressed in green shorts with padded gloves on his feet, Pedro is practicing a variety of kicks against the dummy. Climbing down the stairs, Anette looks ready for a workout, black sports bra and gym shorts, her hair tied back in a braided ponytail down her back. Hardly any attention is given to her, other than a couple nods of greeting and she keeps to herself. Once she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she casually stretches, finally noticing Pedro's presence and makes her way over. "Hey roomie," she says, standing off to the side to watch him work out. "What's up?" Pedro gives a bit of a start when Anette speaks, having been absorbed in giving the training dummy a thorough beating. He grins and waves, "Hey Anette! Just practising a little kickboxing. Feeling a bit more energetic now, so thought I'd get back into the swing of things." He eyes her and grins, "You here for some sparring and such?" "Mm, same as you. Kick a few dummies. Spar maybe, if anyone was up for it," Anette says with a shrug. "Why? Looking to get beat up?" she teases, turning towards the dummy Pedro had been working with and giving a few practice, warm-up punches. Pedro watches as she starts in on the dummy. "I warmed him up for you.", he says with a grin. "And are you saying you could beat me up then? I'm not just all wind, you know." He leans forward a little, balancing on the balls of his feet, wings pulled in tight to his sides. Anette stands back from the dummy with a laugh as Pedro challenges her. "I /know/ I can beat you up," she says, grinning as she mimes jabbing him across the face. "Oh, I know you're so much more than wind," she teases playfully with a wink. "But what about something that counts in a fight?" "You know? Alright then, so let's spar then, si?" Pedro's feet start to dance back and forth a little as he gives Anette a few moments. "Whoever cries uncle first has to do the other a favor. Fair? No powers, no low blows, and no biting or scratching. I'd rather not lose an eye today." "You're on," Anette says with a grin, turning to climb into the sparring ring. "Though crying uncle is middle-school. Big kids tap out to quit." She waits near the center of the ring, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waits for Pedro to join her. "Let me know when you're ready, pretty boy." Pedro chitters noisily and moves to join her near the center of the ring. And once there, he looks very uncertain. He swallows noisily and starts to move his feet once again, moving close and then quickly dancing away, and dodging close again. A careful kick is aimed at her midsection, the bat looking to her eyes for tells. The first move is always the easiest to block. Anette swings an arm down, effectively knocking Pedro's leg away from her midsection, aided by a quick step to the side. In response, she throws a kick also, a roundhouse to his waist. Pedro seems relieved that she blocks his foot easily, and as she knocks his foot away, he's already moving his bent elbow downwards. He grunts noisily as she connects with his arm, and he recovers enough to dance away once more. With the initial exchange done, the bat looks more confident, and comes in once more with a kick aimed at her head. When her own kick is blocked, Anette immediately resets her stance. The kick towards her head is ducked and Anette takes this opportunity to rush forward, shoulder checking him while his balance is compromised. Pedro does look very surprised at the sudden charge and grunts as he is knocked to the ground. He gets his arm under his head and slides a little along ground. He immediately kicks upwards at her, before rolling away, bouncing up to his feet when he is safely out of reach. The young mutant looks warily at her, rubbing at his hip gently before starting to dance about again. Anette grunts slightly as the kick connects though she doesn't appear to be phased by it too much. She pulls away, rising back up and dancing around again. "Ready to give up yet?" she asks with a grin, waiting for Pedro to make the first move again. Pedro squints at her for a moment and shakes his head, grinning brightly afterwards. "No, we're just getting started, aren't we?" He comes in again, still moving his feet back and forth. This time the kick is a feint, ending with Pedro standing right before her, his right elbow coming up, and followed by his left immediately after. Anette does fall for the feint kick, attempting to block it which leads her open to be elbowed in the face. "Not bad," she grumbles, quickly using his close presence throw two punches, one to his chest and the other to his face. Then she quickly backs up out of range. Pedro takes the punch to the chest with a grunt, and quickly brings his arms in to block the shot to his face. "You're doing fine, yourself.", he says, following her in an attempt to stay close. The batty one aims a forward kick at her thigh, and follows with a side kick. Anette quickly steps to the side of the kick aimed at her thigh, blocking the side kick with her arm. This time, she ducks low, sending one leg out and sweeping it out, hoping to trip Pedro and knock him to the ground. Pedro squeaks as his feet are swept out from underneath him, and lands with grunt and gasp. He doesn't roll quite as quickly as before, and is slower to stand up. He holds a hand gingerly to his chest, and hops a few steps back, watching her carefully. Anette quickly straightens back up, yellow eyes scanning Pedro briefly. "Whenever you want out, just say so," Anette says. She doesn't look ready to back down herself, bouncing on her feet again, hands balled up near her, ready to block or punch as needed. Pedro looks defeated and glances down at the floor. "I think my wrist is sprained. It would be foolish for me to continue. You win this one." He grins at her, relaxing his posture. "You have some good kick in you. And punches too." Once Pedro admits he's out, Anette relaxes, lowering her fists and leaning up against the ropes surrounding the ring. "Sprained wrist? Ah, that'll heal. You're not so bad yourself. Just..." She frowns faintly, turning her head slightly, "You felt like you were holding back." Pedro looks away at her comment and nods. "I was. A little. Wasn't sure if I could fight you." He leans against the same rope she does, resting his chin on his good hand. "I didn't want to hurt you. But I know now that you can fight. So next time I will do better. I also was nervous about losing to you too." Anette mindlessly nods along at Pedro's excuses. "It's a sparring match. The idea is to hurt the other person. And you knew I could fight." She narrows her eyes faintly, her words coming out slowly. "Your...feelings weren't getting in the way, were they?" "Yes, it's for fighting. Of course people may get hurt." He carefully looks away. "A little,” Pedro says, in answer to her question. "But only a little." "Goddammit Pedro," Anette grumbles, standing up. "I told you, you need to get over that. It's a weakness." She reaches up and tenderly rubs at her chin, the same place Pedro had connected before. "You need your head in the fight. You can't be distracted like that. In a serious situation, it can get you killed." Pedro looks to her, his ears flattening. "Yeah, I know. But how often will a serious situation involve us fighting each other? I mean, that shithouse was a serious situation, and I vaguely recall us both getting out of there. I still have the taste of stale goon on my tongue, I am /never/ biting someone again." "Doesn't even have to involve us fighting though that's not out of the question," Anette says, vaguely motioning to the bite marks on her shoulder. "While I...appreciate the thought, it still could have gotten you killed. I would have come out right in the end. Emotions and l...and love confuses everything." She gives a faint sigh and looks away. "Especially if nothing’s going to come of it." "You appreciate the thought? About separating you and Killian? Or fucking up a living room full of guys with guns, and giving G some back pain? Yeah, sure, maybe you would have come out alright. But at what cost?" Pedro huffs loudly and slips between the ropes of the ring. "It's not the sex that fucking shit up.", he mutters, moving to lean against one of the kickbags, which doesn't even shift an inch. "That's not the point," Anette says pacing back and forth in the ring. "Emotions cloud your mind, clouded minds make piss-poor decisions, decisions that will get you or someone else killed. Just trust me on this." As Pedro leaves the ring, she stands still, following him with her eyes. "Amuse me. What is it that's fucking shit up?" "What I feel for you right now is the same as when I went into that house. Emotion is exactly what got us the fuck out of there that day." He turns around and faces her, hands on his hips. "You said no. But I saw your eyes the other day, when I said I had burned myself out. I felt that kiss." "Never. Play. The Hero," Anette says sternly, her voice beginning to rise loudly. "If you're going to save my life, do it because I'm a Brother, not because you think you love me." She swings between the ropes and leaves the ring. At Pedro's words, she suddenly chuckles and shakes her head. "You only see what you want to see. The kiss was because I...I didn't know what you really had done to help me. I was grateful and wanted to thank you." "I wasn't playing the fucking hero. I was saving my ass too, you know. Just pointing out that I went up there to get you. You are a Brother and there was no way in hell I was leaving you there. Just…hearing your scream gave me that extra bit of oomph that I needed." Pedro looks away and shrugs. "Oh. I see." The batty mutant turns and begins heading for the stairs. "Sorry.", he mumbles. Anette lets out a slow sigh, lowering her head. "Look, I'm grateful for what you did. Both times. It's just...I don't want you getting the wrong idea. And I don't want you getting hurt. I care about you, just...not in the way you want me to." She presses her lips together, watching him leave silently for a moment before speaking up again. "Maybe we should stop fooling around and give you a chance to clear your mind." Pedro pauses and shrugs. "As I said, it wasn't that. But you do what you need to. I'll see you later." He continues on up the stairs. A short time later the front door is heard closing.