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Entry tags:

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Who: Natasha Romanoff
Broadcast: Text
Action: Iskaulit
When: Now-ish or tomorrow morning

W4MW4Friendly Fight

Woman seeking sparring partner for morning workout. Call it cabin fever, but looking for new challenges. Normal human to moderately enhanced welcome. High skill level preferred, but beginners welcome if they're interested in a lesson.

Reply here if interested, or see Natasha Romanoff in the gym, tomorrow morning 8am.

[True to her word, Natasha can be found at the gym on the Iskaulit in the morning. She's already dressed and warmed up. She looks like she means business, but less angry or troubled—not like some of her other recent turns at the gym—but she's serious enough to give someone second thoughts if they weren't entirely sure in the first place.

Who's up for a few rounds?]

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I wouldn't say no to some coffee. Black.

Man, I take mine the same way. Makes things easy. It's a date, then. I'll see you tomorrow morning.

I'll be waiting.

[Good to her word, Natasha is waiting in the gym when Kate arrives. She doesn't have her uniform, but she's dressed for a workout. Her expression lightens somewhat when she sees the girl arrive, though there's something not entirely safe about the way her interest perks.]

[ kate's, like, the very picture of athleisure -- looking like she might be somewhere between a yoga class and a half-marathon. but, most importantly, she has a pair of travel mugs in her hands.

her greeting starts with a simple nod. ] Had to swing by the First Breath to use their coffee maker. We don't have one on the Blameless. Not yet. [ she offers one to natasha. ]

Did'ya get many takers?

A few. Still working out who'll be a good match.

[Natasha will definitely help herself to one of those travel mugs.]

But at least a lot of chances to find the right one.

[ she drops her purse in a corner -- and cradles her own coffee with two hands, now that one's been freed. there'll be plenty of time for throwing punches once the java is in their systems. ]

Can I ask a nosy kinda question? What's been the breakdown of super-powered to normally-powered? Y'know, in the offers you've fielded.

It's been a split. [Natasha watches, in no particular hurry to get to practice though she looks as though she could be ready at any moment. Some better fits than others, but that's to be expected.

A few people who took exception to the fact I called for humans.

-- Who?

[ on one hand, kate can empathize with the indignation someone might feel over that sorta stipulation. but on the other, she would have stipulated much the same. natasha wants a sparring partner -- you gotta take care with those kinda choices. non-human physiology isn't so easily predicted by those who are only human. ]

An alien and a kid with fox ears and a tail.

[Seems about right, doesn't it?]

I gave them a shot too, if they really wanted. Nothing personal; I was just looking for productive matchups.

I know the girl with the fox ears. Sorta. She seems sweet enough -- but a little sheltered. Like, she didn't know what a damn musical was. [ kate knocks back another long drink of her coffee and gives one arm an experimental stretch'n'flex. she's feeling alright. ]

As for the alien? I know we have a few of those kicking around, here. [ might as well go out on a limb, though. ] Was her name Kara?

I'm not sure I'm what she was hoping for.

[As for that...]

No. Kara did want to try sparring too, but she wasn't offended about the human thing.

She tried to hold back. It was sweet of her.

[Her tone makes it sound like that was unnecessary, which isn't entirely accurate but still defeated the point.]

[ a firm nod. kate likes kara -- a lot, really. but every now and then she can't help but see herself through kara's eyes: squishier, slower, weaker, human. she know the kryptonian doesn't mean anything by it. ]

Thing is, I don't even think she's half-so-strong as she probably should be. Her powers come from the sun.

So I hear. That must be convenient for the showrunners, too. If she were too unstoppable, I imagine that would get a little difficult.

Plus makes for better drama this way.

Makes you wonder what kind of drama they have in store for non-enhanced people like us. [ DOT DOT DOT. kate's head tilts. it's not like she's ever known for certain, so... ]

Assuming you are, y'know, non-enhanced.

[A slight smile tugs Natasha's lips at that question. Whether because she sympathizes with not being enhanced and surrounded by people who are or because she is and she's not going to admit it, she doesn't clarify.]

I'm sure they'll come up with something. [She says instead, following the other line of the conversation.] Don't have to be an alien or a super soldier to have drama.

Tell me about it. [ kate drains the last of her coffee. mind you, she had a head-start on hers. ] Though I suppose it doesn't count if, hypothetically speaking, my drama was...like, having an alien for an ex-boyfriend. Because that just puts us back in the alien wheelhouse.

[ not-so-hypothetically hypothetical. is this a case of being too honest? kate clearly doesn't much mind. she has very few secrets. ]

Let's all just hope we avoid ex-boyfriend drama here.

[Which is exactly all she's going to say about that. Her brows wing out slightly as she answers, sipping her coffee before she sets aside the half-finished coffee.]

Ready?

[ kate's got a sweet clint-shaped quip chambered, but she thinks better of it. no reason to needle the highly-efficient hand-to-hand fighter before going toe-to-toe.

so, instead, she gives her arms a sprightly stretch above her head. fingers locked. and she heads to the mat. ]

As I'll ever be. How should we do this? Count down? Just -- go for it?

[That is what we call having a healthy sense of self-preservation.

Natasha's smile changes tenor somehow and she tips her head in a quick half shrug as though consider—and then comes in for an attack, moving quick and sure as she fires off a kick toward the girl's midsection.

Spies are very rude.]

Whoa, nelly!

[ but it's all awe as she's left scrambling backwards with only milliseconds and millimeters to spare. she can hear the air whuff lightly with the power behind that kick. already, she's on the back foot. so kate plays it safe, dropping down to one knee and sweeping her leg in a wide arc: a predictable attempt to trip natasha and drop her shoulders to the mat. ]

[It's a conservative counter attack, and one Natasha is ready for with some quick footwork when it comes. Her evasion turns into another attack so smoothly that they might be the same move—or might as well be.

It is very quickly apparent that Natasha's style is characterized by efficiency.

It's also very clear that while she's not going to fight as though this were a real, life and death situation, she's not going to go easy on Kate either.]

[ although she understands she's likely outclasses, kate appreciates how natasha doesn't patronize her. they're both big girls -- and kate can bruise a lot before she cries uncle. natasha's attack connects solidly with kate's arm, and she feels the muscles go dead. briefly. so she lashes out with her off-hand: stepping past natasha and cracking down with a hammer-fist against the back of natasha's shoulder. ]

[Natasha respects the aggressive move. It's a good strategy, all things considered. Kate is recovering from an injury, she's younger so it's safe for her to assume less experienced. And she probably had ideas about Natasha's skill level based on he experiences in her own world—definitely has ideas. In a spar, she doesn't have to worry about caution the same way she would in a real fight.

Might as well come on strong, see if she can surprise Natasha and take the advantage back early on.

That doesn't mean Natasha's surprised, though. Kate's fist makes contact but doesn't go as deep as it could have, Natasha dropping her weight low as pivoting into a sweep.]

[ unlike others, kate's skill-set was born in the hokey community college class circuit: fencing, at school. jiu jitsu on the weekends. kickboxing, 'cause why not? although it means she's far from a professional fighter, she does well to make her peace with simple sparring -- she understands that neither of them are out for blood.

kate is still shaking off her dead arm when the sweep comes. she doesn't fall, but she does stumble into a retreat. she's starting to get a peek at natasha's relentless efficiency. it's something to admire, really.

finding her feet again, she twists 'round into a high kick. in a real fight, she might have gone for the face. today, she aims for a shoulder instead. ]

[Should have gone for the face, really. Natasha catches the blow coming at her shoulder and twists Kate's foot and ankle, using the momentum of her own kick against her.]

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