ArchivedLogs:Punching Bags

Punching Bags
Dramatis Personae Dynamite, Rasa
In Absentia	2014-01-09 '
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. She's dressed in a tiny little pair of blue shorts and a grey sports bra. And it's an odd set-up she's got. She's using the heavy-hitter gym equivalent. An odd, reinforced ... stump of some sort is what Dynamite stands on right now. In addition to the multi-ton weight-set, there's a set of chains or links. This combination of chains and stump allows her to do curls in a way that actually allows her to lift to a height high enough to be significant for her. Next to the stump, one of the re-inforced sparring dummies. Her tiny little face looks like it has a sheen of sweat as she counts off, but despite that, not a hair seems out of place. Mutant biology can be rough! Rasa makes hir way into the gym, coming out of the women's locker room. Ze is wearing loose fitting sweat pants and a baggy tank top, a single band wrapped around hir chest for modesty. Hir hair is pulled back at the base of hir skull, the strands full of curls and snarls and frizz, black in color and appearing to be a bit greasy. Hir skin is streaked green and gray, neither color looking very healthy today. Yellow ringed green eyes slide in Dyna's direction when her movements attract Rasa's attention, but ze keeps moving for the time being, finding a heavy bag to work at. Ze slips some gloves out of hir waist band and begins to pull them on, the knuckles padded for hir skin's protection. And then, ze begins to stretch. Dynamite doesn't stop lifting when Rasa comes in, but then, she seems to have found a rhythm that works well for her. She looks over at hir for a moment with a distant sort of look. Assessment? Appreciation? Curiosity? "Are you a boxer? Does that mean you know how to fight?" "Huh?" Rasa rolls hir head from one side to the other as ze glances back in Dynamite's direction, her expression initially a vicious scowl, but it lessens and dissipates when recognition hits hir. Oh. Dynamite. Ze draws in a deep breath and shrugs. "I'm kind of into a bunch of different fighting styles, but I wouldn't really call myself MMA. Maybe later. I... I've just been training since I've arrived here. Too many reasons to." Arms go over head and clasp before lowering behind hir as ze stretched. "Do you?" "Oh, well... not until recently. The parents are hiring me some local tutors in addition to what they're offering here." She sighs a little bit as she lifts her weights slowly, steadily, trying to pull them up as high in the air as her height will allow, and then releasing. After a time, she finally sets it down, and begins to stretch again herself. "Everything okay? You seem, like, totes wound up." "No. I'm not okay. But no one is currently dying and no one is actively needing my help, so ... I guess I'm fine." Rasa focuses hir attention now on the heavy bag hanging from its support system directly in front of hir. Ze reaches out a hand to get a feel for the distance, then turns hir hand over as ze curls in hir fingers, forming a fist. There's a light tap to start, making the bag wobble, then ze withdraws the hand - or rather, recoils it, hir entire body shifting into a ready stance. Hir bare feet are shoulder width apart, hir left foot in front of hir just slightly, both knees bent. Hir arms are up, fists prepared, the lengths of hir thumbs facing hir. Ze draws in a slow and steady breath, then flips the left hand over, back of the hand up, pops the bag, resetting quickly and shifting hir weight into a true punch dead center on that bag. It sways, just a little. "I'll be more fine when I get some energy out of my system." The girl nods slowly to that, then offers,"Let me know if you want to wrestle or trade blows, then? I need a partner who can take hits, dodge, or heal fast before I can get to punching real-like." Also there's the fact that her size difference from most partners would make things difficult for Dyna,"Plus you look like you know what you're doing, so that helps. They're saying fighting practice will help build control." She suddenly opines,"You make it look so, like, natural!" "I can't heal fast and I can't take a lot of hits, but I do work well with my body. It's kind of a trade off for never being the same all the time." Rasa keeps staring down hir bag like it did hir wrong. Then ze starts hitting, left-right, left-right, jab, cross, hook! Jab, jab, cross. Ze starts working up a sweat, the perspiration bringing up darker colors to hir skin. "Control of what?" Dynamite has reconnected. "Huh. Then we'll maybe spar when I'm better?" She herself hops down to drag the podium over closer to the reinforced sparring dummy, and then climbs back up it. She begins striking it with blows of varying strength. Some of Dynamite's punches are thunderous in nature, others loud, but surprisingly light. Like she's carefully trying to range her strikes' power. "Control of my strength. I break things less and less... But I need to get fine control of it so I can get around easier." "I guess that makes sense." Rasa admits, glancing to one side as the noise begins, hir brows crinkling over hir nose. Ze gives a little shrug and refocuses on hir work out, striking the heavy bag with blow after blow, starting to throw in some upper cuts and back fists as ze really gets going, hir movements quick, but not superhuman. After a minute or two, ze steps back to start stretching hir legs. The girl has nothing but the most basic of ideas of how to punch. She's not throwing her arm all the way back, nor is her thumb bent under her fingers instead of over. But that's about it. Dyna even tries a few wide, lazy kicks. If she's an action figure instead of a dall, she hasn't gotten the kung fu action down yet, sadly. "When I first got here, I flew threw a window, for example, instead of, like, landing on the counter. Trying to, like, avoid that kind of thing." She looks over her shoulder,"Wanna talk about what's bothering you?" She doesn't ASK WHAT is bothering hir just yet, though. "Do you like purple, by the way?" "Purple's okay," Rasa admits at length, grabbing hir ankle and pulling it up behind hir, stretching hir quads. "I don't really want to talk about it. Did enough of that earlier." Hir jaw sets as ze stands on one foot, trying very hard to concentrate on hir breathing as a litany of curse words start appearing on hir exposed skin, like invisible people were running around writing 'asshole' and 'mother fucker' and a few more creative things on hir in black permanent marker. "Why? Do you like purple?" "Okay. Then we don't have to talk about it. Wanna go do some retail-therapy after school tomorrow? Mom said I could take the black card for a spin in the city if I get my aunt to chaperone." Dyna gives a thumbs up, then says,"I've got some bolts of this silky fabric, and I had an idea for a trouser-sari combination that I thought might look good on you. Sort of pretty and handsome at the same time. But I wanted to ask if you liked purple before I tried to make something you wouldn't want." "I... " Rasa pauses and blinks at Dyna, confused more than anything. Ze struggles for a moment, hir skin shifting into a silver color before ze switches to hir other leg. "I... was going to go spend the weekend in the city. Visit my friends, see if I can't cheer them up." Ze stretches hir left leg less time than hir right, but makes up for it by warming it up with knee rises and hip circles first. "Oh, okay." She doesn't actually seem all that put out. "Well, you can bring them, or we could maybe do it some other time. For now, take care of your friends. Just don't forget to take care of you, too." She tries a wild kick at the dummy, causing a thunderous sound as she strikes it. Girl can hit hard! This is followed by a few much less loud 'thwacks'. "Would you be interested? I've never made clothes for a full-sized person!" "I guess. I just. Well, we just met. I don't want to make you do something for me ... that's really labor intensive. I... Well, it's just. Well, kind of big." Rasa stumbles over hir words, turning to look at the heavy bag once more, a frown pulling at hir lips. "I get it that challenges are fun, but what if you don't actually like me when you get to know me?" "I like pretty much anyone who isn't mean to me and doesn't talk bad about me behind my back. And I like making things. But once I make something that was in my head, if I can't wear it or put it on a doll, then it should go to someone. I'm... not so much doing it for you as I am for me, and you're, like, benefitting." Pause. Dyna asks,"Are you going to talk bad about me behind my back or call me stupid?" "I called someone deficient today, but she just..." Rasa inhales deeply, a few streaks of green surfacing, then disappearing with hir exhale. "Look, I don't usually insult people or give them a hard time, but I also tend to tell people when they are being stupid. A lot of people do that. Act like they haven't used their brains. I don't use it in regard to actual intelligence or test scores. I will do my best to not do that to you, though. Because I know you're sensitive." "That's fair enough. It's not, like, I don't know that I'm slow. It just hurts to have people telling you all the time, you know? I can't help it." She shrugs helplessly, then rams a few sharp punches into the dummy. Dyna looks about as close to frustrated as she usually gets. Dyna makes an awful sort of face and punches once more, hard,"Anyway, you seem like you're nice enough. Just a little, like, keyed up sometimes." "Yeah, well. Stick around a while. Between students coming into their powers, the threat of the outside world, and well... the randomest shit you can think of - Xavier's is never really... boring. Relaxing is hard. Keyed up is easy." Despite not getting hir full work out in, Rasa begins to take off hir gloves, unwinding the lengths of bracing material after sheering velcro halves from their comfortable embrace. "I should... go take a shower or something. I'll text my friends and let you know tomorrow if they want to go shopping. I don't think they will, but I am definitely going to ask." Dynamite nods at Rasa a little bit, still pummling her dummy with the same intensive, unfocused desire to vent some frustration,"I'm not particularly imaginat... image... imaginative. I'm not particularly imaginative. So I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time being shocked. That's okay, though." She shrugs helplessly, and calls out,"No worries, Rasa. Turning me down won't make me upset. People over all have made this school already way more nice a place to be than my old one." "Good. We should technically look at for each other over all." Rasa rubs at hir nose and then heads for the locker rooms, orienting toward the men's this time. "I'll talk to you tomorrow.