(no subject)

[anewlanguage]

[VIDEO;]

Every now and again I see people curious to learn some hand to hand--or hell, some weapons--fighting. I'm offering to teach, assuming you're up to the task. I'll tell you now, not everyone will be.


[PRIVATE VIDEO to BARBARA and IRIS]

[Admittedly he hesitated to put Barbara on the filter but logic wins out in the end.]

So what've you two put together about the Barge's engines? Need to bounce a few ideas at you.

Comments

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[routemistress]

I 'aven't been down there since we got back. I don't think there was much physical damage; I think 'e just hooked into the electronics.

Babs and Blue'll know more'n me.

And you'd better be up for teaching me more. Soon's I stop being three parts dead.

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[anewlanguage]

Aw, you don't give me credit at all! I could have you fighting at three-quarters dead.

Tell me more about Blue.

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[routemistress]

Megamind. You've seen 'im around. With me and Babs both deathtolling 'e's done most of the work. Plus 'e needed the distraction. It kind of hit 'im where 'e lives, a year after the Tosh business. Were you 'ere for that?

Oh, I know you could. I'm just a lazy arse, is what.

Re: [filtered Cain/Babs]

[anewlanguage]

Yeah, I remember Tosh. Remember all the people who died, too. [Cain hadn't cared much for the deaths, and still doesn't. Death isn't permanent here; and even if it was, it's not the very worst thing in the world. He would know.]

You on solid food?

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[routemistress]

The demotions and torture's what I remember. This 'as been better; no thanks to the Emperor, though. We just got lucky.

[Cain has probably never seen Iris really angry. Irritated, shouty, yes; she has a low threshold for that and vents them loudly and freely.

This is a different animal entirely. It shows only in the cold stillness that has nothing to do with present physical weakness, in her flint-hard, unsmiling eyes.

And then it flicks off like a lightswitch and she's smiling joyfully at him again.]

'Ow solid are we talking?

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[anewlanguage]

Solid as a cake.

[The answer comes easy but his attention is now focused sharply on the Emperor, and on that rare glimpse of Iris without her smile.]

I got questions to ask and I find they go down easier with something sweet.

[filtered Cain/Babs]

[routemistress]

[She really does hurt a great deal: the nanites, designed primarily to incapacitate, killed her by slowly eroding all her systems from the bone out, so that there's no part of her not affected. But she smiles, and snuggles deeper into her tiger-print bedspread.]

I'm very weak. You might need to 'and-feed me.

Filtered

[bodilesswarrior]

[She manages video, this time, smile strained but real.]

Iris is right - M's the one in the thick of it, right now.

Re: Filtered

[anewlanguage]

How'd you make out from the last crisis, Gordon? Not on bed rest like Iris, are you?

Filtered

[bodilesswarrior]

Afraid so. [She'd shrug, but she doesn't need the extra pain.] Went out like a badass, though.

Filtered

[anewlanguage]

I'd expect no less. Who got you?

Re: Filtered

[bodilesswarrior]

The Emperor's defences. I could have handled it as a Rix, probably, but once I was human again... [A slight, ginger sort of shrug.]

Re: Filtered

[anewlanguage]

Crazy world he has. Makes me wonder what he was in such a rush to get back to. Hell, makes his disappointment more satisfying to watch.

[private]

[fridgetothefire]

I've trained with a few different people.

[Including Cass. But she doesn't feel the need to mention it. He already knows, or he doesn't.]

I've lost most of my instructors, lately.

[private]

[anewlanguage]

I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. But I don't train easy--you've got to be able to take a punch without taking it personal.

How 'bout you come down to the gym if you're interested and we'll see where you're at?

[private]

[fridgetothefire]

I take being patronized personally.

[She says this with keen equanimity. It seems obvious to her that anyone requesting hand-to-hand instruction - certainly anyone who's had some before and wants more - would already have accustomed themselves to enduring some level of violence. But perhaps it's a blanket caveat. She doesn't know him, and she's too proud to prove herself immediately high-strung. He's been warned, and she'll give him this once for free.]

I'll be down in five minutes.

Re: [private]

[anewlanguage]

[It's a good warning. Cain makes a habit of finding buttons to push, to force his pupils to lash out in anger until they learn not to get angry. But she's too much like his own child in age and size and keen intelligence for him to want to risk doing that with her.

She will see quickly, though, why he had that disclaimer. He rarely pulls his punches and he might be sixty but he's stronger than many men half his age--certainly better trained.]

See you then. Just wear whatever you'd wear on the streets.

[private]

[fridgetothefire]

On the streets I'd wear my knives.

[She's sure he could train with or without. But the focus, as she understood the offer, was hand to hand. It doesn't sound like it's a question, whether to leave them, but it is.]

Re: [private]

[anewlanguage]

Bring 'em along.

[He can start her from scratch, and might still, but if she's comfortable with knives he'd prefer to start there, working with her strengths.]

[this_corrosion]

What, like karate?

[anewlanguage]

Yeah but...take that and dial it up. You ever fought before?

[this_corrosion]

I've fought robots.

[Does that count?]

[anewlanguage]

That's something. Were they humanoid or mainly gun turrets?

[this_corrosion]

Humanoid. Looked a lot like humans, actually.

[anewlanguage]

Even better. We're liable to come across something like them sooner or later.

If you're interested in learning some new tricks, come on down to the gym.