[open] light up your darkened dreaming

[cassassin]

who: Cassandra Cain and YOU!
what: Catch-all log. Sparring and whatever else as Cass acclimatizes to her new home.
when: April 10-May 10
where: All over.
warnings: Probably violence, references to child abuse, some language.

perimeter guard hq (Damian Wayne, both Captains America, any other sparring partners)

[The invitations had been clear each time. So, at the appointed times, she found herself at the Perimeter Guard HQ's training spaces. Her chosen gear for the spars was simple, a tank top and yoga capris, all in black. A lot of scars were clearly visible on her arms and around her shoulders, scattered all over. Old blade and bullet wounds of various age, old burns, that sort of thing.

She tugs her hair back, leaving her bangs in front as she ties the rest up.]

Ready?


wildcard

[Oooooor do your own thing!]

[hit me up if you want a starter and I'll put something in the comments for you! I'm at clockworkbrain or on discord at gigasatan#7576.]

Comments

[cassassin]

[Cass can relate, Keith. Training helps keep things focused, introduce some routine. Keeps her sharp. Definitely a lot of reasons. He may notice that some of the scars, bullet wounds included, seemed larger than they ought to be, like they had stretched over time. Like she was much smaller when she'd gotten them.

She just nods in response, starting off easy. Wanting to take Keith's measure without necessarily overwhelming him all at once. She still moves in very quickly, difficult to track with the eye as the gap closes. Her initial move is to throw out a couple of rapid Wing Chun-esque palm and forearm strikes towards his limbs and another burst towards center mass. Without missing a beat, she's following up with a Muay Thai-ish shin strike to his leg, aiming to unbalance him. Cassandra is pulling her punches, more than enough for a training session, but there's still serious force behind her attacks if they connect.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith wasn't using a particular style, but he was fast and agile, plus aggressive. He was willing to take a hit if it meant getting one in. However, like Cass, because they were training and sparring and this wasn't an all out fight, he also pulled his punches enough that there wouldn't be any major injuries. They'd likely both come out of this with bumps and bruises, a few aches, but nothing serious.

The lack of a major height difference actually forced Keith to balance his style a bit more as well. He'd gotten used to fighting opponents much taller and much larger than himself, which had caused him to go low with his strikes often, using his legs and taking shots at the torso of his opponent, but he found that he didn't need to compensate for that with Cass. It was a good change, and helped him find a few of his own weaknesses, places he'd fallen slack and out of practice in.]

[cassassin]

[Every fight teaches her. And Keith's approach is unusual, not something she's precisely seen before. There are moves she doesn't recognize in their execution, plus elements from fighting styles totally unknown to her. It's enough to throw her off at first. There's an almost unnatural fluidity to how Cass is moving, and as the match goes on, fewer and fewer of Keith's strikes connect, until she seems to be avoiding everything he has to throw at her. She more than matches his speed, blocking or dodging at nearly every turn, and only taking the occasional graze. Cassandra keeps weaving between blows as she watches him, her gaze analytical; aware of every twitch, every bone, every muscle. She's seeing and predicting the actions that he's just started to think about taking.]

Not bad. Fast.

[It comes out almost absently, but she means it. Cass starts throwing strikes in return, targeted shots to wear Keith down.]

But not fast enough. [On one of Keith's punches she ducks and reaches up to try to grab his arm, with the goal of throwing him onto his back.]

[tempredmental]

[The more Cass learned and dodged, the more frustrated Keith got. He hated not getting any hits, and it showed. His temper was his weakness and definitely a distraction. He felt her grab his arm and had just enough time to think 'oh quiznak' before he felt himself suddenly go airborne. He hit the mat flat on his back, but managed to recover fast enough to avoid a follow-up attack. Rolling several times to one side, he pushed back up to his feet.]

Thanks... I think?

[Like Cass, Keith wasn't much of a talker, so this sparring session was nice and free of distracting banter. Keith was enjoying the focus he could put into it.]

You learn quick.

[He had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised as how fast she had adapted to his rough and aggressive style. He seemed to have picked up a hodge podge of moves from various methods of fighting between training at home, getting into scuffles with classmates, fighting against Galra soldiers as a Paladin, and then training with the Blade of Marmora. He knew he wasn't a clean or polished fighter, but it got the job done, and that was what counted.

Of course, that also meant that he was also learning from her. Not as fast, perhaps, but he observing and taking mental notes on some of her moves, and was definitely willing to try using them back against her.

Regardless of the outcome, he was going to feel this later. For now, he dug deep to keep himself in the fight, keep moving, keep going, keep pushing... like it was another Trial. She definitely got her hits in, but Keith had an unusually high endurance for taking those hits. It was like a balance between them, and Keith found himself impressed... and he liked it.]