001 | text | foster

[beknight]

My name is Alan, originally from 21st century Earth.

I'm looking for sparring partners. I'm familiar with a wide variety of martial arts, unarmed and weapon-based. If you're keen, you can find me here.

​​​​[ Enclosed are directions to a dojo in Olympia; he'll be there all day. ]

If there's enough of us, I'd like to start a regular group. ​​​​[ we're all in this together.mp3 ] We can learn a lot from each other.

​​​​[ eta: here is a log for direct action needs. you are also welcome to jump to action directly in the post. ]

Comments

[beknight]

Who wants to know?

[motivation]

name's dutch

[beknight]

Charmed.

I don't provide demonstrations. I guess you'll just have to take a chance on me.

[ He has very little to prove to anyone at his age; he knows he's not one to disappoint. ]

[motivation]

i'm sure

[ dutch is not actually charming. not unless she tries to be. but she is, in fact, pleased with his refusal to try and impress her in advance. ]

i'll be by in a bit

[ action ]

[beknight]

[ The dojo itself is less crowded than usual — partially coincidence, and partially because Bruce has requested some privacy for the afternoon. Despite the confidence in her texts, she might prefer fewer eyes. ]

[ So the only people she meets are a half dozen trainees in the courtyard adjacent, and the student who helps her to the room. Bruce nods as she enters. He's dressed simply, in dark colours, and slides the door shut behind them. ]

Thank you. We'd prefer not to be disturbed. [ To Dutch, he gestures her to the middle of the room, open space, a rack of stick weapons and wooden swords at the side. ] After you, miss.

[motivation]

[ it wasn't difficult to find and there's something familiar about any dojo on any world dutch has ever visited. this one is no different, even if there are, of course, differences.

bruce is dressed simply; so's dutch: tight trousers, a loose jacket that she'll shrug off soon enough, a tank top underneath it, her hair pulled back. ]

Got plans for me? [ she asks, tone casually flirtatious, when he asks that they not be disturbed. she considers the rack of weapons at the side and steps toward the middle of the room without one, light on her feet. ] Let's see what you've got, then.

[ she hasn't finished the words yet when she throws the first punch. ]

[beknight]

[ Lightly, ]

I anticipate you having a few ideas.

[ He's ready for the punch. Bruce parries easily, there's no hesitation, nor does he hold back much once he has the measure of her movements. His job isn't to dominate, it's to match her. The body knows, after many years in the thick of it, his mind adapts to the specific mix of her style, even as it picks out familiar techniques. She's not from Earth. And after all the exhaustive notes on so many metahumans, it's nearly a relief to find someone as human as he is — or Dutch is like Diana: very good at modulating her strength. ]

What did you do before you came here?

[motivation]

I'm guessing you've never heard of Killjoys or the RAC. [ dutch is as human as he is, for all that she isn't from earth. she's just as human and just as well trained — her reach isn't as wide as his, her body weight lower, she can't match him for strength, but she's been taught ways to compensate for these things from a young age.

he parries and matches her and they exchange blows and kicks. soon enough, dutch is grinning, something fierce and pleased. ]

Glad to see I'm not wasting my time with you.

[beknight]

The feeling's mutual.

[ They were both testing each other, turnabout is fair play. He gestures for her to keep talking about the RAC as he fetches a towel and a sealed bottle of water to give her. ]

[motivation]

[ she takes the bottle with a nod of thanks, downing about half of it in one go before settling the towel over her neck. ]

Killjoys is more of a nickname. We're Reclamation Agents. People write warrants to have something or someone found or delivered, so we find or delivery them or it.

[ or kill them, but dutch used to not accept kill warrants. ]

[beknight]

We call those bounty hunters where I'm from. How do they recruit?

[ She fights like violence is her first language, as deep and terrifying as his own. It's from birth or from young, if it isn't by other means. ]

[motivation]

Sometimes, that's what we call ourselves, too.

[ it's a fair assessment: dutch grew up in a royal harem, groomed together with other young girls to marry into royalty — and unlike the other girls from the harem, her tutor trained her to be an assassin as well. she knows how to poison, how to fight, how to master her own pain and kill despite it. the first time she murdered a man, she'd been eight.

the rac didn't recruit her. she ran to them — only to find that it wasn't what she'd thought it was. that she'd never really escaped her tutor at all. ]

It's an open call kind of thing. Anyone wants in can try out. [ a beat, in which she takes another sip, then she sets bottle and towel aside and steps back onto the floor. ] And what is it you do?

[beknight]

[ It speaks. To one who knows it, it calls out to be recognised. ]

This and that. I settled on being a martial arts teacher. [ He smiles, someone might not swallow that explanation wholesale; it's the best he's got. He won't use soldier as a cover. ] Thought I might set something up here. It's a shame to stop practicing.

[motivation]

This and that.

[ dutch repeats the words back to him in-between another round of blows and kicks traded back and forth between them. there's scepticism in her tone, but there's no questioning lilt to the sentence. she isn't asking him to elaborate, just indicating that she's not buying the story as such.

if he wants to keep his secrets, she won't poke at them right now. later, maybe. ]

Got the patience for it? [ dutch sure as hells doesn't. ]

[beknight]

[ In answer he cuts off one of her movements. She's agile, but he's bigger, and stronger, and not afraid to use that. Bruce pins her easily, then he stands up and gives her space. ]

We'll find out, won't we?

[motivation]

You're a slippery one, aren't you?

[ he'd told her to find out if he was any good, now he's telling her they'll find out if he's the patient kind. dutch isn't patient, and when he pins her, her jaw clenches for a moment. he gives her space, but she stays on the ground — to swipe at his legs, mainly, though she waits until he's no longer moving back.

that's another lesson khlyen had taught her. even if you're down, you still have to be dangerous. some lessons she likes better than others. ]

[beknight]

[ He dodges — wasn't expecting that. ]

Prickly one, aren't you?

[ Not very patient, but hardly a character flaw — patient people are more dangerous. ]

[motivation]

Oh, you've no idea.

[ but as much as the words are a challenge, there's also pleasure in them. like recognizes like and sometimes, it's good to be seen -- though dutch had thought before that perhaps she wasn't the only monstrous thing on her ship and she'd been wrong about that then. ]

[beknight]

I have some idea.

[ The same tone. Tit for tat. Although the things that live with them recognise each other, that doesn't make them less dangerous. Trust on both sides will be hard won. ]

[motivation]

[ trust is never easy, but familiarity has its own worth, as does recognition. dutch is glad to have taken him up on the invitation to spar. ]

Tell me, old man, do your knees already creak? [ she asks in lieu of responding to his comment -- though in a way, it's further proof of prickliness, offered with a twinkle in her eye and a challenge in her grin. ]

[beknight]

Heard that one before.

[ The amusement flickers — obvious to her, she's looking for it. ]

Let's try with some weapons. Staff or escrima?

[motivation]

[ khlyen taught her how to use both, and a large number of other weapons — from firearm to poison. dutch shrugs. ]

Your choice. I'll kick your arse either way. [ big words, jokingly spoken, though she'll certainly try. she's aware, at least, that they're evenly matched, so some of the cockiness that often creeps in in moments like this is missing from her tone. ]

[beknight]

I look forward to seeing it.

[ Big words, but she can back them up plenty. He chooses the escrima — let's call it nostalgia. Or perhaps to avoid the joke of the staff being a glorified walking stick. ]

Here.

[motivation]

[ she takes the escrima, settling into a loosely defensive position after finally shrugging off her jacket and tossing it aside. ]

Think you can handle it, old man?

[beknight]

[ The smirk's more in his eyes than his mouth, but it's the clearest it's been. ]

Try to keep it interesting.

[ She's not going to have any problem with that. ]