ArchivedLogs:Punch Therapy

Punch Therapy
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Xiao-shan	2013-08-15 Look Xiao-shan SOMETIMES does standard therapy okay?
Location <XS> Gymnasium - B1
For a mutant school, this is a pretty standard gym, even if its sturdy construction to handle mutant powers is less standard. Still, it is designed along normal lines; setup for a basketball court, standard equipment -- punching bags, rubber mats, standard assortment of balls, weight training equipment, the usual fare. It is large, and as well-appointed as the rest of Xavier's tends to be. At first, Rasa might think there is a slight mistake! As hir new therapist has scheduled their appointment not in an office, but in the /gym/. But maybe the therapist doesn't /have/ an office? Or maybe they really just like the gym. When Rasa arrives, ze'll soon be confronted with Jin Xiao-shan: 7 feet and change of /MONSTER WOMAN/. Ze's probably seen her around before; she's kind of hard to /miss/, honestly -- a handsome, broad-shouldered half-Asian half-Caucasian woman who would look relatively ordinary (if not a bit buff) until you notice she's pretty much a foot taller than anyone else on campus. She's dressed, today, in a navy-blue tank-top -- it bares those downright /burly/ shoulders and arms of hers -- a black sports bra, and black sweat-pants. Her feet -- perhaps unusually! -- are bare; her hair is pulled back into a pig-tail. She's currently sporting a duffel bag over one shoulder, a pair of punch-catching mitts slung over her other shoulder, linked together by a detachable strap. Upon seeing Rasa, the woman's eyes narrow -- one closes, the other remaining open -- before pointing an accusational finger at hir: "Rasa Djalili?" A pause, before: "You like to punch, yes?" Rasa enters the room with a curious look on hir face, very familiar with the room, but definitely unsure if ze is in the right place. As it is still a little while until classes start, ze is dressed for comfort first and foremost, with loose fitting purple yoga pants with yellow lightning bolts down the outside seams. Wrapping hir torso, ze is wearing a looser fitting tank top, layered over a form fitting camisole, both in white. Hir feet are bare for now and a bluish shade, only two toes instead of the usual five cling to ground, pulling hir along. Hir hands and tail all seem to be blue and a little fuzzy as well, but the rest of hir skin is an olive shade, something ze was born with. Hir hair, on the other hand, is midnight blue and hanging in loose waves around hir face and shoulders. Ze stops when the very, very large person notices hir, hir hands dropping to hir side slowly, leaving the hair ze was fiddling with alone. When Xiao-shan's hand rises to point at hir, hir skin color pails slightly. Then there are words and Rasa turns white. "Um. Yes? I mean. Yes. I do. Am I in the right place?" "Well, /I/ think you are," Xiao-shan states, her hand dropping down to her side. "But really, I guess -- hm. That's a question you have to answer for yourself?" The giant-of-a-woman is treading forward, now -- her massive gait lets her clear the distance between herself and Rasa in an instant, without ever looking like she's /rushing/. "Jin Xiao-shan -- just Xiao-shan, if you'd like. Or Ms. Jin, if you prefer to be more formal -- may I call you Rasa? Or would you prefer your last name?" She pauses, only to offer one /massive/ hand out to Rasa -- large enough to quite possibly engulf the poor metamorph's own. "I thought," Xiao-shan begins, "we should start by getting to know one another in a context we're both familiar with? I spar," she adds, with a slow, reluctant grin. "And, I figured -- after reading your file, I noticed you have an interest in it. So, if you'd like...!" She shifts, reaching to pluck one of the mitts off her shoulder. "--though, if it makes you uncomfortable, I'd be happy to do something a bit more -- neutral? I could get my exercise in /after/ we're done, today." "Ahh." Rasa is at a loss for words for a moment, a deep breath or two expanding and contracting hir lungs before ze is able to concentrate once more on polite conversation. "Rasa is fine -- and they told you what my powers are, right?" Ze is trying very hard not to look at that hand like it is a snake and it will bite hir. There's another pause before ze straightens up in surprise and withdraws a pair of gloves from the waist bad on the back of hir pants, slipping the left one on first, then the second. Finally safe, ze lifts a hand to shake Xiao-shan's. "I am sorry. I am more lax with protection when there are fewer people around. I will be wearing my gloves more once the school year starts up." "Oh. Yeah. I could do that. We can do that." Rasa's words and mannerisms are a little sluggish, hir attention span drifting over to the punching bag for a moment, lips pursing thoughtfully. "Should I go change and get my gear? It shouldn't take too long. It's in the locker room." "Touch-based telepathy and metamorphic copying? That was what I was told," Xiao-shan explains, almost apologetically. "I am comfortable with you seeing in my head! Or turning into me," she informs Rasa, as the metamorph slips on those gloves, "though I understand if you yourself are not comfortable with that. I do not /think/," she adds, with a crook of her grin, "that you need to be careful with contact around me. Unless you /want/ to be, of course." Xiao-shan withdraws her hand; when she brings her knuckles into her palm, there is a sound -- like /gunshots/ going off -- as she pops her joints. "Certainly! Gear would be lovely. I can set up here." The duffel bag drops to the ground; the catching mitts are slung up into the air -- caught with one hand, and... wriggle, wriggle. She's already sliding them on, strapping them into place. Rasa is not gone long, as it does not take that long to change into a sports bra and athletic pants, with a school t-shirt over the top. Hir hair has been pulled up into a ponytaile and hir timidness seems to be fading. Ze has changed into sneakers as well and grabbed a duffle of hir own. Ze is busily strapping on fingerless gloves as ze wanders back to where Xiao-shan is setting up, the velcro secured straps standing in for proper wrist wraps for the time being. "We're going light this time? I have my heavy gloves, if you think they'll be better." Ze pats the bag before pulling it off hir shoulder and kicking it out of the way. "And to answer your question - I don't know about mind reading mimicry. It's both just something I do - so very normal - and a weird freakish invasion of privacy and all about intimacy and... well. It don't have a hard and fast rule. I just kind of feel it out, on a person by person basis." Xiao-shan's left mouth quirks at the mention of 'going light'. "Go with what you're comfortable with, Rasa. I'll be fine." Her own foot shoves the duffel bag she's dumped by her feet aside -- skidding it across the floor. Both of her massive hands are now clasped inside even /larger/ mitts; soft, padded catching mitts designed to suffer the impact of /fists/. Her feet slip apart, her stance lowering -- something tense-but-practiced entering her posture. "I think," Xiao-shan tells Rasa, "that that is a very good policy. Different people have different boundaries. It's good to be careful -- and to change them to reflect differing needs. Whenever you're ready, go ahead. As hard as you'd like." Rasa pauses for a moment to consider Xiao-shan and her stance, hir mouth pulling back into hir left cheer, unsure. Ze then starts to shrug, moving hir shoulders in an exaggerated fashion to work warmth into the muscles and joints. Ze stretches and starts bouncing to loosen up before hir hands finally come up. "I have to say, it is quite strange to train here. There are so many teachers that welcome full strength and speed attacks - I have a hard time sparring with people I know can be hurt." Despite hir words, ze is still slow to attack, settling in with a slow punch that may be nothing more than a tap by the time it reaches Xiao-shan's abdomen, if it reaches, followed by one similarly slow. "Yes, that's actually quite a lovely thing, isn't it?" Xiao-shan agrees. "It took me a while to actually trust partners here when they said I could punch them as hard as I can." The mitts are immediately in movement when Rasa throws those punches; Xiao-shan steps back, the right mitt bobbing to intercept hir incoming punch with quick, practiced bob, along with the next one. Whump-whump. "--do you have trouble with that? Learning how not to hold back?" Rasa watches how Xiao-shan react and begins to move more quickly, treating the sparring like a dance instead of a fight. "I... I guess so. I think I have a hard time letting go because everything is so overwhelming and all I have is these few things I can do that keep me and others safe." Ze throws a right and a left, dodging a little to the left. "I want to learn all the new things that the school can offer, but ..." Ze shakes hir head. Xiao-shan is quite practiced in the art of /blocking/, it seems; the woman's broad, powerful arms swoop out to intercept the right hook, guiding it back and away from her torso -- and then she steps back to respond to the left hook similarly. She seems to be giving up more ground than a real estate agent during the credit crunch; she's backing up, but as she does so, she's also moving in a circle -- her posture crouched and aware. "--but?" Xiao-shan asks, immediately after the left side block; the woman actually seems to be having a bit of difficulty thanks to Rasa's smaller size -- she has to /crouch/ to block the lower blows. "It /is/ overwhelming. You -- your friends -- everyone around you -- are always in danger. Places that aren't dangerous -- sanctuaries -- seem both precious and few." "The sanctuaries that are supposed to be safe aren't always, either." Rasa's speed picks up once ze has to start moving forward to stay in range. "Ivan was just lured off the grounds, during a dance when we should have noticed. Sometimes, it's not even safe to go to sleep without fear of something terrible happening." Ze starts adding more power to hir blows, but keeps them standard - jab, cross, hook, and nothing else, keeping hir powers in check for the time being. "and that's when we're good and stay in the school." "No," Xiao-shan agrees, "no place is /truly/ safe. Even some of the students here--" There's a slight twist of her mouth, a slight grimacing half-smile, half-scowl -- it corresponds with Rasa's increase in speed. Another set of blocks -- WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP -- the jab, however, gets through. THWUMP! Right into her abdomen. Xiao-shan releases her breath, but doesn't seem very bothered by the contact. "--safe places must be guarded -- from threats on the outside /and/ threats within. And even if you do every single thing right, you might still end up hurt." Xiao-shan huffs a little, at the next set of blows, before: "The world is full of a great deal of terribleness over which you have no control. All you can really do is focus on the things you /can/ control. Can you punch harder than this, Rasa?" The question is asked suddenly, as if it were unrelated; Xiao-shan's footfalls are beginning to make an unusual /WHUMPING/ sound against the floor -- as if she was suddenly... heavier? As Rasa listens, hir skin grows darker, taking on a metalic sheen, but retains the flexibility of soft flesh. Hir hands keep moving despite the growing ache of holding hir hands in fists. Ze doesn't relent though, continuing to measure hirself and hir pace hirself with a slow, but steady increase. But ze falters entirely when Xiao-shan calls hir out on hir strength. "Uhh. Yes." Ze just stares at Xiao-shan awkwardly. "Would you /like/ to?" Xiao-shan asks, continuing to block, even as she watches the metallic sheen that swells out over Rasa's skin -- watching, perhaps with even /more/ interest, when Rasa falters. Xiao-shan soon adds: "Are you frightened you might hurt me? Or yourself? Or -- are you just uncomfortable cutting completely loose?" Block, block, block, with a sort of steady, familiar ease. Even /if/ she's stooping a bit. "I... I don't know." Rasa considers hir hands for a moment and draws in a deep breath, glancing up at Xiao-shan a moment later. "As hard as -I- can, or as hard as absolutely can... with borrowed attributes?" Ze swallows. "Did they tell you... about Oscorp?" Xiao-shan pauses; her posture stiffens, then relaxes. The left side of her face ticks upward into a smile again, before she answers: "Yes. I know about that. Not everything, but I've read the basic summary. And..." She glances down to Rasa's fist, then -- before slinging her eyes back up to Rasa. Under Xiao-shan's feet, there is a slight... creaking sound. She suddenly seems much more still; her shoulders much more /hunched/. As if some great, laborious burden had settled across them. "...right now? If you threw a car at me, it might /tickle/." "That was the closest I ever came to letting go." Rasa admits, still frowning, a little disquiet. Ze draws in a deep breath and wets hir lips again. "The person I was mimicking tore through an elevator shaft and tossed the doors aside as if they were nothing. He might have killed us all, if Mr. Summers wasn't there and the others, who got us out before part of the building collapsed." As ze speaks, subtle shifts start taking place in hir body. Ze grows taller and wider, as much as hir clothes will allow, the loose pants starting to cling tight to the new found muscle under hir skin. "People I didn't know were terrified of me. People that knew me were afraid for me. I barely knew myself. What if all I am is the control I exert over... me?" The form ze takes is more masculine, broader shoulders, thicker arms, longer fingers, and tighter thighs. Hir voice remains the same though, despite the squaring of hir jaw. Ze begins to take up a fighting stance, raising hir arms, sliding one foot in front of the other and looking at Xiao-shan in the eyes, while still looking up. "I don't know what this form can do. Do you still want me to hit you?" Xiao-shan watches -- eyebrows zooming up toward her hairline -- as Rasa /swells/ before her. She doesn't move -- the stillness that has overcome her form is almost preternatural; almost as if she were rooted to the very ground she was standing at. "I think," Xiao-shan tells hir, her tone very cautious as Rasa grows, "it is important to know your capabilities -- to find spaces where you can extend yourself to your very limits. It may help you understand how to control yourself in places where this /isn't/... appropriate." Her mouth thins, now; her arms -- very slowly -- begin to move. The floor under her produces a lower, deeper creak. Before: "Go ahead. As hard as you can manage." Rasa gives a nod and steps forward, using the same level of aggression ze stopped at previously, but adding in the tension of Peter's muscles to the new height and musculature. Ze delivers a hefty upper cut to Xiao-shan's torso aiming for the floating ribs, the fires off a left hook and two more crosses when ze gets a little more room. Each punch delivers more power to it, working hirself up to full power instead of jumping into it, to see how it feels. By the time ze has landed the sixth blow, a light sweat has broken out on hir bronze colored skin, hir movements faster and more powerful, throwing fists probably faster and faster, not bothering to see if the other woman can keep up. By the time ze's reached the tenth, ze is grunting with exertion. Still, ze's controlled. "Tch," is the only sound Xiao-shan makes when Rasa throws that first upper-cut -- her hands /dart/, now, with a speed that surpasses what she had demonstrated before -- /she/ isn't holding back, now; Rasa seems to have her full attention. The blow hits, just as the pads descend to intercept it -- there is a loud, solid WHUMP of force, but it's like hitting a padded brick wall. The left hook is caught with one hand -- again, darting, before growing perfectly still -- WHUMP -- then Xiao-shan takes a step back, the floor groaning under her foot as it *THWUMPS* down -- catching one cross, and the next. Xiao-shan's shoulders are /clenched/ tight; her teeth are grit, her jaw tense, her brow crumpled -- eyes narrow. She /is/ keeping up -- but it's taking a considerable wealth of concentration -- having to both 'unlock' herself to move and 'relock' herself to block. By the tenth blow, /she's/ starting to sweat. Then, suddenly: "You can go harder, can't you?" Quiet, very soft. Like an urging hum. Rasa gives a little cry of annoyance and hits with a hook that ze turns into a back fist, something ze throws all of hir strength into. Annoyance turns into a grunt of discomfort, but ze keeps punching, steadily ramping up hir punches, both in speed and in intensity until ze finally stops gaining strength and holds it steady for a while. It's... not a very long while. In fact, it's only about five more blows, hir chest heaving with a reddish tinge flooding hir bronze skin until it looks a bit like it is super heated. Ze grunts as ze gives one more hook, this time with the left, which ze once again turns into a back fist, with the explosive exhale that follows, at first a yell to channel hir strength, which then turns to a choked and awkward cry of pain as hir elbow hyper extends with the force of the blow. The sensation is jarring and ze stumbles before dropping to hir knee, cradling hir arm to hir chest. "Grrhkt--" is the sound Xiao-shan makes when the backfist hits; for an instant, she /moves/ -- just a tiny bit -- as she catches the blow against her torso, her feet /scraping/ across the floor. A few of the blows /do/ slip past Xiao-shan's defenses, now -- when they hit, though -- against a shoulder, against the side of Xiao-shan's chest, her ribs, even one glancing blow across her face -- she just grunts, grimacing beneath them. It's like Rasa's punching a lead statue; something /gives/, but it can be measured in inches -- not feet. That last blow THWACKS against Xiao-shan's jaw; her head snaps to the side beneath Rasa's backhand, face darting off to the left -- a scarlet blossom of impact spreading over her skin. She steps back, then -- another THWUNK -- but when Rasa stumbles to the floor and cradles hir arm, Xiao-shan shakes her head -- whipping droplets of sweat about in a rising storm -- and immediately steps forward toward hir. Whatever weight Xiao-shan was carrying seems to suddenly be gone; she moves with the brisk ease of someone who's just shunted off a two hundred pound pack off her back. "--that was very strong, Rasa," she tells hir, before: "How bad are you hurt? I'm sorry; I didn't mean to push you /that/ far." Rasa mrrgls a response quietly at first, hir skin still glowing reddish with a metallic hue, hir chest still heaving as ze tries to catch hir breath. Ze licks hir lips and shakes hir head a little, then shrugs then shakes hir head a bit before finding hir words once more. "I... um. No. I just did it poorly. I ... It hurts. I don't know. It just hurts and I feel a little sick." Ze moves to get to hir feet, looking up at Xiao-shan and giving wince of a smile. "Don't... Don't feel bad. I just... like I said. I did it poorly. Guess I shouldn't backhand when I am going that fast. Don't know much about this.. because I haven't done it before.. but.. yeah." Ze stops trying, hir arm shaking a bit with the shock of the injury. "Mmnh. May I see your arm, Rasa? I just want to make sure," Xiao-shan explains, "that you don't need to go to the infirmary." A hand gingerly extends for Rasa's arm as she rises -- attempting to stay away from the elbow! But to examine it nevertheless. "--might send you there anyway. Metamorphic injuries -- might be tricky. Hard to say how it works, I guess?" A slight 'tick' of her tongue against the back of her teeth. "--but it's good," Xiao-shan adds, with a quick, easy smile, "that you /can/ do this. That you can extend yourself this far -- it's good to practice. To learn about your limits, in a context where you can explore them safely." Xiao-shan's other hand lifts, instinctively, to rub at her jaw -- still pinkened from the force of Rasa's blow. "You have martial arts training, yes? You know -- martial arts was a particular challenge for me," Xiao-shan explains, "because of my power. I had to learn how to create -- an entirely new style that focused on controlling and applying my power correctly. Have you considered doing something similar with your metamorphic abilities? It might be an excellent way to learn how to control them much more /tightly/ -- and to understand what /not/ to do." Rasa is a little more compliant now, if still a bit shaky. Ze extends hir arm for just a second before gasping, the muscles around it clenching to draw it back in again, the joint already starting to swell. Ze mrrphs and frowns, eyes growing wider as the joint starts swelling even more, hir mind's concept of the pain apparently much bigger than the joint is on its own. it starts to appear like there is a softball under hir skin and it is continuing to swell. "Med bay," ze confirms to Xiao-shan, legs taking on a distinctly more rubbery constitution. "...hn," Xiao-shan states, watching as this swelling takes place, her little monologue suddenly cut off. Without another word, she's /wrapped/ Rasa up in her arms -- plucking the metamorph up as if ze were no more than a small package! -- and, cradling hir so, proceeds to /move/ for the medical bay. Despite the speed with which Xiao-shan moves, there's an unnerving calm about her -- everything she does is performed quickly, quietly -- as if this were nothing more than a very important errand. "I'll call Dr. McCoy once we're there. Best if you don't look at it, Rasa." "Okay, okay. Don't look." Rasa closes hir eyes as ze is hoisted into Xiao-shan's arms, hir face turning a little green, jaw set as ze draws in a few deep breathes, over and over, trying to clear the pain. "Talk about something else. Yes. I have some martial arts training. Logan trains me when he is here, but he's not always here. I've had at least three terms of self defense, because it seems we very dearly need it, and I do free running with Mr. Wagner. I wish to do trapeze with him some time, but I believe that is a winter course." Ze draws in a deep breath. "It's just a sports injury. these things happen. I'll be okay," ze repeats the last bit like it will make it so. "Mmn," Xiao-shan rumbles, as Rasa explains. They're already out of the gym, and into the hall; it's a hop, skip and a jump toward the doorway that leads to the med-lab. "Free running with Wagner seems like quite an interesting activity. Is that where you got the tail from? I /thought/ I recognized it. But -- yes, martial arts helped me control my power a great deal; I wonder if the same couldn't work for you." And... here they are. Right into med-lab; Xiao-shan is depositing Rasa on a bed -- gently! -- before she's immediately unsnapping her phone with one hand, and stepping toward a refridgerator with another -- the sound of something clunking as she retracts a cold compress. Stepping toward Rasa. "Eyes closed!" Xiao-shan clucks, before applying it with one hand -- even as she hits auto-dial with the other. "Hank? Xiao-shan. Med-lab, I need you. Rasa Djalili's suffered a mild elbow injury, but I'm not quite sure how to treat it. Cold compress?" "It could. It's just... I change a lot. A lot of it is about change, so I ... I don't know. Sometimes I find certain things work better with certain attributes and are pointless with other ones." The bridge of Rasa's nose crinkles as ze looks away, the words coming slowly and less specifically. "It might be a style thing and I should settle on a body to fight each style with and I could learn styles for the rest of my life, but i don't know what other teachers will take me in the way I look and change." Ze looks down at the bed as ze is lowered on to it, reaching with hir free hand to somewhat guide hir. It gives hir something to do. When reminded to keep hir eyes closed, ze looks away again, to the point where ze gasps a little when the cold press comes in contact with the inflamed skin. "Sorry about this. When... my head... panics, sometimes everything manifests." "You'll figure it out -- /we'll/ help you," Xiao-shan tells Rasa. "Whatever shape works for you -- we'll work with it." And then: "--mmn, yes? A bucket of -- alright. Thank you, Dr. McCoy." Xiao-shan hangs up the phone, sliding it into her pocket, rising up after applying the cold compress -- moving to the sink! To retrieve a bucket, and /ice/. There's the sound of flowing water, and then... "--that's fine. That's /good/, Rasa. That you're doing it here, now, where we can address it. It's something we can work on, in therapy. I had thought -- considering just how your physiology interacts with your mental state, it might be a good idea to address both at the same time /anyway/?" Xiao-shan is bringing the bucket of ice-water with a slosh. "To help you psychologically, but also help you control your physiology -- since, in your case, they both are so deeply interrelated..." Rasa moves hir hand to hold the cold compress in place when Xiao-shan moves away at Dr. McCoy's call, frowning a little, but still averting hir eyes. Ze sits up when ze hears the water running, frowning more, but resigning hirself. Ze gnaws on hir lip, still green tinged. "Yes. That is probably good. I agree. Sorry. I.. yes." Ze nods once more, eyeing that bucket as it comes closer. "It seems like a good idea as it feels practical to. Just talking... while important, I don't know that it was leading anywhere." "Talking is good," Xiao-shan states, as she brings the ice-water back for Rasa -- placing it on the table besides hir bed. Reaching for hir elbow! Intent, apparently, on slowly /easing/ it into that water -- to help with the swelling. Even as she shifts the compress on it. "But punching is /better/." As Rasa's arm is slowly lowered into the ice water, a shiver runs up hir spine ze beings to steadily turn white as a ghost. Cold water is cold! "Yes," ze almost gasps. "Punching feels much more... productive. Don't know when I'll be able to do it again though." Ze glances over at Xiao-shan, tilting hir head a little. "Are you okay?" Ze lifts the cold compress that ze was using before and holds it up near her face, if not pressing it to the mark of hir last blow. "Mmn? Oh," and Xiao-shan winces a little, as the cold compress is brought up to her face -- which is still reddened in the blossoming swell of that last blow. She grins, a bit, her own massive hand reaching to take up the cold compress -- pushing it there to hold. "--yeah, I'm fine. You actually punched a bit harder than I expected, but..." The grin twitches a tiny bit wider. "...from now on," the grin slips away, "we might want to do this outside. I don't know how strong the gym's floor is. Could accidentally crash through it." "Sounds good to me." Rasa agrees, falling silent, recoloring back to a more healthy, human shade as ze relaxes, shrinking down to hir standard size and breathes. "I... uh, really hit hard, eh?" "I've been hit harder," Xiao-shan admits, though she grins as she adds: "--by a bus." "Eeesh." Rasa's face wrinkles upwards. "You got hit by a bus? Eeeeesh."