noel "(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻" hu. (gongfu) wrote in fableless, @ 2016-07-01 00:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log/thread, marty solverson, noel hu |
WHO: Marty Solverson & Noel Hu
WHEN: 2010
WHERE: The gym (Woodsbridge)
SUMMARY: What happens when two unregistered people with enhanced combat powers meet. ⚔ (Bingo prompt: first meeting)
WARNINGS: ---
STATUS: Complete
As much as Noel needed to regularly practice her combat skills to keep them in tip-top shape, going to the gym always made her vaguely uncomfortable. It wasn’t the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears or worrying whether or not she’d keep up with the other people running laps on the track -- quite the opposite. She was too good, as much as she begrudgingly had to admit it. The punching bags always swung a little too high like a pendulum, she had mastered all the levels that the treadmill’s UI could provide, and her most resilient opponent in a kickboxing match that she’d been able to find had been a Century BOB. The curious stares from onlookers felt invasive, but the solution of practicing at home wasn’t an option, not when there were too many breakables in the vicinity. Today was no different, as she could feel the attention of fellow gym members, even as she stood in the farthest corner of the room. Her feet propped in a 45-degree angle, she pivoted towards the left to put more weight on her rear foot, and then in one snap motion, her leg swung up to strike the BOB in a clean roundhouse kick, causing the mannequin to topple over like a matryoshka doll. Marty liked running, but unfortunately for him he had to do more to keep in shape, so to speak, and trying to fit gym equipment into a one bedroom apartment was a joke at best. And so, the gym was a necessary evil just like the shooting range he visited on weekends. He usually liked to come late and night, when people were less apt to notice when he hit things just a little too hard, or executed moves just a little too flawlessly, or tried to join a fencing class on a whim and ended up being scolded by the instructor for not taking the advanced class. He’d noticed her before, it was hard not to, but Marty had never commented even though he had wondered. It was difficult not to. Asking people about their Tales or powers wasn’t something he did. It was their own business, if they wanted to talk, great, if they didn’t? Also great. But this time he was on his way in just in time to catch something spectacular. As she toppled the mannequin he couldn’t stop the impressed sounding “wow” that slipped from his smiling lips. And he didn’t really want to stop the statement that followed. “Bet you can’t do it again.” If Marty had spoken earlier, Noel would have been caught off-guard enough such that she too would have toppled over, but in a more ungainly manner than a bodybag. Had she really been causing a scene? How many other people were watching? She was all too used to strangers vaguely staring from a distance. That was easier to ignore. This wasn’t. Noel slowly turned around, only half-relieved to see one other person in the same corner as her. At least she didn’t have a large audience, she silently grimaced. Facing the man who now stood opposite her (tall, well-built, athletic-looking himself -- Noel mentally took note), she frowned slightly. “That was a one-hit wonder,” she replied flatly, with every intent on downplaying everything. “I just got lucky.” “Really?” It didn’t sound like he believed her in the slightest. Now the question was should he push the issue or shrug it off and walk away. For some reason, Marty felt like going out on a branch. “You must be lucky a lot.” He sounded faintly amused, for a second he almost considered setting down his gym bag and challenging her. Could she do it again? How many times could he? There was only a beat before he spoke again. “I know I could. So, I bet you could. Some people are just lucky.” Her powers may have granted her unnaturally quick reflexes, but even those did not help Noel hold back the slight flinch in her otherwise steeled expression at Marty’s remark. “What can I say,” she shrugged, throwing her hands up as a dramatic gesture. She decided to roll with it. “I’m a walking good-luck charm.” Turning the tables back on him and not wanting to increase the spotlight on her abilities, she asked, “So, you manipulate luck or what?” She had asked, and he still felt like going out on that limb. It wasn’t every day that you thought you found a Tale who had such a similar power. “No.” He shook his head. “Enhanced … fighting, combat, I don’t know what you’d term it, I’m not registered.” He’d always been open about these things when he felt like it, a slight smile met her steely expression. “And you wouldn’t want to challenge me to a game of darts either.” “Hm. I see.” Noel pursed her lips but refrained from nodding, as she was initially unable to decide if she wanted to immediately out herself to an unfamiliar face. “I’ll pass on the darts. I was never much of an archer, anyway.” She studied his contrasting expression and wondered what it was he wanted from her. Her curtness only bought her a few seconds of time, as her curiosity egged her on to continue. “Do you fence?” He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, it was a feeling he’d had before, one that didn’t have a word to describe it. Like when he’d met Gideon, or Amara, or even Veda, sometimes Marty just sensed that someone was … whatever the non-existent word was. He didn’t know this woman, but for some reason he liked her. “I try.” He shuffled his gym bag a bit before continuing. “The instructor here won’t let me in on anymore of the classes.” What he was about to ask next was probably painfully clear. “Do you?” “I used to,” Noel shrugged. “I stopped when it was clear that I wasn’t of the same calibre and I was a ‘disruption’ to the class.” She knew what it felt like to have that unfair advantage; the best description she could illustrate was the exact opposite situation of the scrawny kid picked last in gym but even that metaphor fell short. She couldn’t help but continue, as her voice took on a wry tone. “Anyway, I mostly just go to the gym every now and then, so the most attention I get is when unregistered people suspect they have powers similar to mine.” There. Disruption was the right word, he’d heard that one before. Marty found himself nodding, the slight smile on his face faltering slightly. “Ah,” once he started speaking his tone matched hers perfectly, wry and there was a hint of something else, something hopeful. “And do you ever spar with them? Test their powers? See if they’re really similar or just full of shit?” After a few seconds he added. “Because there’s fencing equipment here that’s not being used right now.” Ah, there it was. The familiar itch to grab a saber. The feeling circled around Noel’s hand, and up her arm, where it translated into the beginning stages of adrenaline. “Please,” she smirked, arching her eyebrow to the challenge. “They’re all full of shit until proven powerful. So--” she realized she hadn’t even known this guy’s name. “-- want to give the fencing equipment a whirl?” “I’m Noel, by the way.” She stuck her hand out, ironically in the same way two opponents would right before a match. His hand reached out to shake hers, “I’m Marty.” The smug, smirking expression was back, “Let’s go see if I’m full of shit, shall we?” |