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I'm Like a Million Supernovas

who: Ava Orlova and Steve Rogers

stevegrogers
what: Just some friendly sparring
when: Continued from the TDM
where: The gym
warnings: None I can think of.

[She figures they're not tossing around costumes, so she shows up in casual clothes- loose black exercise pants and a SHIELD-issue tee-shirt she'd had in her bag. She figures the later ought to be enough for Steve to pick her out of the crowd. She parks her motorcycle out front, a sleek red Harley that she'd happened to be riding when she was pulled through (which she can only say her thanks for).

Ava's pretty but she doesn't usually stand out in a crowd, though part of that is because she rarely wants to. Five foot nothing, bright red hair pulled into a short ponytail, probably not a buck even soaking wet. Her eyes are a little strange, bright blue, almost electric.

She figures he'll probably beat her there, and so she's scanning the faces, and if she sees him, she'll wave, trying to catch his eye as she walks over. This'll be fun. Good practice, anyway.]

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[ There were so many unknowns about ending up in some new strange place but Steve always spoke the language of sparring and just working out in general. It just so happened to be a universal language.

Sliding his way out of the communal housing, Steve made his way to the gym, a little more spring to his step than earlier. This would be something more proactive and he needed to keep up with his training just in case.

It didn't take him too long to arrive (oh, how he missed his motorcycle) and he quickly scanned the crowd for Ava. Noticing someone waving to him, he waved back and waited for her to walk over to him. ] Ava, right? [ Talk about embarrassing if he managed to get things wrong here. ]

[Ava enjoyed it. Sparring with Natasha was something that she missed more than she knew how to say. So this? She was pretty excited about it. And not just because he was Captain America, but because it had been a few months since she'd really had the opportunity... But also, because he was Captain America. For as much as she tried to play it cool, the Avengers were still the Avengers.

She smiles when she catches sight of him, walking over with an easy spring to her step.] Yeah. Nice to meet you in person.

[There's a slight jitter about her, but she knows Natasha and Tony, so she's not quite as flustered as she had once been. She holds her hand out, silent offer to shake his hand.]

This'll be fun.

[ It felt like far too long since Steve last enjoyed sparring with someone else or really working out in a more free and liberated way. Lately in his own time period, things had been narrowly focused on only a couple of things and it nearly felt like a relief to be free from it for a little while.

The relief, of course, made him feel incredibly guilty.

Taking her hand to shake, Steve gave a lopsided smile. ]

It's really nice to meet you too, Ava. Do you want to warm up first? [ He let go of her hand, gesturing over to the mats where a few others were stretching or indulging in yoga.

Warming up would allow him a little more insight into her level of skill. ]

[She shakes his hand with a smile, though it's a little thin. She follows his gaze over to the mats and considers a moment, a touch of a smile curving her lips. She's able to pick up the intent behind it, of course, but she shrugs her shoulders.]

Sure. Figure out how easy you should go on me?

[There's a touch of a laugh; she doesn't seem to take any offence from it. If anything, it's an invitation to show off, isn't it? It makes her a little nervous, because god, she wants to be taken seriously, which was always... difficult with someone like Natasha.]

C'mon.

[She says, heading over to the mats.]

[ Caught! Steve gave a slightly sheepish expression but walked over to the mats regardless. A few people looked over at them but no one said anything, which Steve found a relief but also really different from his own time. Usually, there were always people clambering to ask him something or in the very least asking for a picture of some sort. While, he never really minded, the constant attention made him uncomfortable when it went on for too long.

Being the center of attention never worked well for him.

When he moved into place, Steve began to stretch and do a couple of lunges. The burn in his muscles felt familiar and it sent another wave of relief to wash over him. This he could always control no matter what happened. ]

Maybe you need to see how easy to go on me. [ Steve responded with a smile sent her way. ]

Oh, nice save.

[She's teasing him, but it's pleasant, good-natured; she doesn't really take any offense in him wanting to get a feel for her before they start. She understands it honestly. He's strong enough he could probably accidentally dislocate her shoulder if she was normal. She'd be in pain, he'd feel bad, and it wouldn't be a good basis for friendly sparring matches.

She laces her hands together, bending to the left and right, back and forth a few times, stretching her sides, and it's easy to a get a sense for her flexibility. She moves like someone's who's pretty familiar with their body if nothing else, and as she moves from traditional stretches into a ballet pirouette and then an aerial kick that gets her a couple feet off the ground. There's an almost surprising strength to her, small as she is, and this is just a warm up.

The way she combines movements together might even seem a little like Natasha.]

You ready, Rogers? [She's smiling, more than a little excited. She can do this. It'll be great. Sparring with Captain America. She's come a long way from the SHIELD runaway with a bedroom in the remnants of the Fort Greene YMCA and most living off Soup Kitchens.]

[ The way she moved clued in a little more to her more extensive training than just the run of the mill workout enthusiasts. It intrigued him more than it should have and he felt a certain sort of eagerness to begin the sparring. The last time he sparred with someone just for the fun had been years ago and they seemed to get along fairly well already. A relief in all honest because he didn't always make the best first impression. He never really had a lot of practice with relating to others and trying to make friends. Before the serum, no one really looked twice at him unless they looked on in disdain then post-serum, most wanted to deal with Captain America.

The image matter far more than the man.

Not to be outdone, Steve stretched and managed a spiral roll in the air, landing with a graceful thud on his feet. He spent a lot of time pushing his body to the limits and knew all sorts of ways he could move and bend to accomplish it. ]

More than ready. [ With a bright smile, he took a stance in front of her, calculating for a moment before he started to circle around her. He jabbed at her here and there, offering a few light kicks, mostly testing her reaction and retaliation. Then he could formulate his game plan here. ]

[Well, looks like she's not the only one showing off. It brings a smile to her face, though- warm and genuine, a spark in her blue eyes as he sticks the landing. She's the one that volunteered to spar with Captain America; time to put up and see how this goes. It's also more than just a sparring match for her; it's also about control, keeping her powers down, just focusing on strength and skill.

You know, not accidentally electrocuting anyone. Maybe she should warn him, but she's also pretty sure he's someone that could take it. So here they are.

He takes a stance and she does too; fists high, center of gravity low, a slight bend to her knees, that mirror to a certain Widow that goes for black instead of red. There is the whole Natasha question, which she's sure he'll figure out at some point. Maybe now, maybe later, maybe it'll take weeks -- wouldn't that be nice? But she knows enough about him to know he's sharp, and Ava can't hide the fact that she will always fight like Natasha's shadow. It's just not something she's going to bring up herself.

He moves, and she knows he's trying to get a read on her. Respond, while giving away as little as possible, wait until he moves for real, then recalibrate. Natasha thought of it as battle math, the way a fight turned into numbers, angles and timing windows. It was a little harder than when she'd been linked to Natasha, when it just happened, reactions that happened on instinct instead of thought or awareness. Now she had to reach for it, think about it, let the knowledge fit into what she needed, but the fact was that a year later she'd learned how to use it.

Steve could probably at least tell she was military trained, even as Ava tries to not give too much away. It was in how she moved; strength that doesn't fit her body, fast and agile, almost fluid grace with few wasted movements. She'd deflect at the point that transferred the least amount of force to her body. For the moment she was keeping both feet on the floor while she got a read on him -- that would change quickly once they worked through the first few moments. Dodge a punch, deflect the second, not stepping back but moving in slight ways, trying to draw him in so he over-extends, keeping an eye on his feet and his balance, even if she wasn't pressing the attack so much as testing.

But, he's Steve Rogers and she knows that trying to match him punch for punch will be playing his game. Which she doesn't intend to do.]

Not bad for an old timer.

[ From the first gasping breath, life taught Steve to be a fighter and to never give up no matter how bleak things looked. And they would be bleak plenty of times in his young life and continued further into his adult life. So many shades swept through his life but the blues stood out the most - varying degrees of what they stood for. The contrasting hues between happiness, sorrow and justice. The color once shone in his mother's eyes, curling the comfort of home around him. It sparkled along the shield and uniform, each standing for justice and the 'better way'. But it also churned along crashing waves that tugged along his conscious when too much silence washed over it. And sometimes the dull color stared back at him in the mirror where once such a glint existed.

There were other pigments splashed along his life, of course, but everything seemed to turn back around to blue. At the moment, it spun around them with quick movements and testing defenses. The fluidity with which she moved told him plenty, nearly like a certain someone else he knew. It brought an earlier conversation back to life and a few other things clicked into place.

Natasha.

But they would talk about their involvement with one another later, for the time being he wanted to focus on the burn of his muscles and the bubbling excitement of having something familiar again. He loved to spar and even before the serum Bucky taught him how to fight. Boxing back then and some of his movements were reminiscent of a boxers but he also had military training and the paces SHIELD put him through after the ice. A varied tapestry of fighting styles all slammed together, which tended to make him difficult to anticipate.

The only thing Ava had going for her is the worry Steve held onto about hurting her. He always held back when sparring with anyone, never releasing his full strength or abilities.

Spinning around, he flipped over her to swipe at her legs to take her to the ground. A more gymnastic type of move followed by something more militia. Again, he combined a lot of different styles all into one. He always enjoyed learning from others as well, taking on their movements to fit it with his own. ]

Not bad for a young'in but you could use some more experience. [ He shot back with a smirk on his face. ]

[She can't help the excitement of not just getting to spar with Steve Rogers, but the fact that he's good. He's good when compared to her, and few people are. Her body just moves, reacts at a higher level than other people, so it takes a certain sort of person to be able to match that, which she's just never really had at the academy. She wouldn't admit it, but she gets holding back. When she sparred with other people, the challenge for her was on control, keeping her powers from reacting, keeping from hitting too hard, takedowns that didn't leave marks.

So this? Even if they're just getting started it's pretty amazing for her. It makes her pulse race and has her grinning. Her pupils glint bright blue by the light through the windows, but she keeps it together. Keeps her power pushed down, because flesh and blood is much more interesting to her.

Steve doesn't just fight with one style, his movements having multiple different tones to them that all ring in harmony. Ava's graceful and brutal, a different sort of nuance-- and that same synthesis of different fighting styles that Natasha had developed. But he's going easy on her, and she knows it, and she doesn't want him to play with kid gloves on.

So as he tries to swipe her legs, she grabs for his bicep- can't even get her hand all the way around, of course- but she has enough strength to lift her entire body up with just that grip of her fingertips, swinging up and about to drive her knees into his face. With her weight on him he can probably tell she only weighs about 95 pounds, but she hits harder than she should.]

Well, maybe I can find a fossil to help me out with that.

[Breathed in between blows, a smirk that curls across her lips.]

[ The physicality still took him by surprise even after having the serum for awhile because he remembered all the times he barely made it out of bed. The state of things before the serum always lingered within him and often made things a little difficult for him to wrap his head around. When he looked at himself, he still saw that little guy and it only reminded him of how much he lost, the great lengths of his sacrifices.

When she propelled herself, he managed to dodge her knees contacted with his face but the blows still hit a little lower. He used the momentum of the impact to twist them around to try and take her to the mat. A grin filled his face at the motions. Not bad, not bad. ]

Sometimes, you can use people's blows against them. You got to know how to take the hits and use them against your opponent.

[Truth is, she knows the feeling. Not to the same extent, but she'd gone from being the little waif that Sana dragged around to a girl that had punched her way through the Triskelion, taken out thirty armed SHIELD agents. For years she'd never been able to beat Sana, her bestfriend had been the charming one, the physical one, the one that won the regional gold medal in fencing.

And then it had all changed. Ava's only been like this for a little less than two years, but she's a quick study, good at picking things up -- though whether that's her or Natasha she'll never really know.

He tries to pin her to the mat, and she lets go, uses the strength in her legs to push off his body, landing hard on her shoulder just before they hit the mat and rolling out. For a moment before she fully straightens up to her feet she's crouched low, body braced on one hand as red hair falls over her blue eyes in that familiar pose that's so very black widow.]

Alright. Let's see how it works out. [She laughs a little, clearly enjoying herself as she tosses her head back, slips back into her fighting stance. The way she moves is a mirror of Natasha, but they're not the same people. Facets that don't quite line up no matter the similarities.] This is definitely different from fighting the people at the Academy.

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I'm Like a Million Supernovas

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