Faith balances on a mirror's edge (onamirrorsedge) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-30 14:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !partner thread, cassandra cain (blackbat), faith connors |
Who: Faith and Cassandra
What: Parkouring!
When: Last week
Where: Around
Status: fin!
The blood rushed in Faith's ears as she ran, jumping over an obstacle, and then pulling herself up onto the top of a dumpster, then climbing onto a roof. She padded along the shingles, then jumped across a gap and shimmied down a pole into an alleyway. She jogged down it.
Cass had recently taken up running when she wasn’t at the gym or meeting with her coach. It was a good way to give her arm a break. Her upper body strength of getting much better and she was able to do handstands and walkovers, but she still hadn’t tried any sort of flips or things like the uneven bars or vault just yet. Her accident hadn’t made her afraid of the vault or anything like that, but she wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t reinjure herself if she did it too soon.
She had been running past an alleyway when she heard footsteps inside it and even though she knew she shouldn’t, she stopped just at the mouth of the alley to try and see what was going on.
Faith wasn’t paying much attention to anyone witnessing. She reached one side of the alleyway, then took a running leap, kicking off of a wall so fast it looked like she’d briefly walked along it, and grabbed onto a fire escape. She hauled herself up, then jumped across to another one.
Cass had just entered the alleyway when she saw the girl jump along the wall and pull herself up onto the fire escape. It reminded her of when Jubilee had slid down that railing at the park the first time they’d hung out a few months back when Jubilee had told her about being a vampire. She frowned slightly, wondering if the girl was running from something, but Cass didn’t see anyone else in the alley. “Hey!” She wasn’t sure why she called to her, but it was too late to take it back now.
The voice startled Faith. She landed on a railing and nearly lost her balance, her arms spinning around like windmills and her right leg twisting around to help balance her. Eventually, she steadied herself, and turned to look for the disturbance. “...What?”
Well Cass hadn’t intended to make the girl almost fall to her death. She probably should have thought that out more before she’d called out to her. Now that she had her attention though, she wasn’t going to pretend she hadn’t just done it, “Sorry. Are you running from something?” Yeah, it was kind of lame, but what else was she supposed to say to her?
“I’m running to something.” Faith only sounded a little irritated, and balanced precariously on the beam like she wasn’t concerned about the drop. “I’m a courier. This is a short cut.”
Cass’ brows rose slightly at that, “Really? That’s kind of cool And crazy.” She knew that bike messengers in places like New York and other big cities were kind of crazy when it came delivering packages and things, but she’d never seen anyone doing what this woman was just to get something delivered.
Faith flashed her teeth in a smile. “It’s a rush, and it gets the job done. There’s nothing like that feeling when you’re at the top of a jump and you can’t feel gravity any more.”
Well Cass knew what that was like. She might not have vaulted or done the uneven bars for awhile, but she knew exactly what the other woman was talking about, “I’m familiar with that feeling.” Of course Cass had mats that were supposed to keep her from getting too hurt, not that it’d worked very well in March, while the woman above her had the concrete.
“You look fit. Think you can keep up?” Hell, if she did well enough, Faith might offer her a job!
Cass hadn’t expected that, but her gymnastics plus the martial arts she’d gotten from the dreams would certainly help her to keep up with the other woman, “My upper body strength is kind of crappy right now, but I can try.” Cass moved to where the ladder of the fire escape hung, bent at the knees and jumped, grabbing onto the lower wrung then pulled herself up. Soon she was on the fire escape next to the other woman, “I’m Cass, by the way.”
"Just take it easy and don't try to race me, and you'll do fine.." She held out her hand.
Cass nodded and took her hand, “And what’s your name? Shouldn’t I know whose butt I’m going to kick?” She smirked a little.
“I'm Faith.” She shook her hand. “And if you can kick my butt I’ll buy you lunch.” Faith had had stranger “dates”. She turned and started to move along the rooftops.
Cass laughed and took a moment to size up the rooftop before following after Faith. She was glad that she’d been out for a run and was already in active wear, otherwise this wouldn’t have worked out quite so well.
Faith was quick, and she seemed to know all the best handholds and places to put her feet. She did slow down a bit to let Cass stay caught up, but she was enjoying herself - she didn’t meet many people who could do this at all, let alone along the rooftops.
Cass wasn’t as good as Faith, but her gymnastics and martial arts training helped her to keep up and not plummet to the concrete below. If she was honest, this reminded her of her dreams, except that she wasn’t in her Batgirl outfit nor was she swinging from ziplines from building to building.
Ziplines would be cheating.
Faith lept over a chasm, sprinting off the side of a billboard and rolling on the other rooftop. She popped up and looked back at Cass. “If you don’t think you can make it don’t try!”
Cass watched as Faith jumped the chasm and moved to the edge, glancing down then looking across to try and gauge how far across it was. She couldn’t do it the way that Faith had, but she was pretty sure she could another way. Backing up, she took a deep breath just as she did before a vault then took off running. Reaching the edge of the roof, she pushing off on the balls of her feet and did a flip in the air, landing on her feet on the other rooftop, her heart hammering against her chest as she thought about what she’d just done, “Shit.”
“Jesus!” Faith came over, half expecting her to not actually be there. “That was crazy! How did you do that?!”
Cass couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “I’m a gymnast.” Cass didn’t normally gloat, but considering how surprised Faith was, she couldn’t help it, “I won a gold in the Olympics last year actually.”
“Huh. Maybe that’s why you looked a little familiar. That was pretty awesome.” She looked back over the gap. “One misstep...”
Cass glanced back over the rooftop, “Yeah. I just tried not to think about it.” She’d definitely have to tell Vi and Jubilee and even Logan about this later. “So, what next?” She quirked a brow, adrenaline rushing through her veins.
“I guess I don’t have to hold back anymore.” And with that, Faith sprinted across the roof at full speed!
“I’ll tell you if I need you to slow down,” When Faith took off, Cass fixed her ponytail then took off after her. She had gone out for a run, but this was going to be an even better workout and she was sure to be sore tomorrow.
Twenty minutes and forty rooftops later, Faith was resting against a guard railing, looking down at a street market. She liked this view. Not that it put her above people, but because she could see things.
Cass had managed to keep up well enough, only slipping once, but she’d righted herself easily and hadn’t fallen to her death, so that was a good thing. “So where’d you learn to do all that?” Cass asked as she came to rest beside Faith, glancing out at the market.
“His name was Mercury. We were in San Francisco and he taught me a lot of the things he knew.” She sat down, glancing at her watch. She still had plenty of time, and figured that a break was well earned. “That’s why I’m up here. He wanted me to stretch on my own.”
“Technically you’re not stretching on your own now,” Cass teased as she sat down and rolled her shoulder and neck. She was definitely going to need a hot shower or bath when she got home, “So, he just taught you how to jump around on rooftops and along walls?”
“Parkour, yeah. I apparently had natural talent with that. He taught me business sense and stuff. I mean I was this kid just off the street and this wonderful man kept me from going into the gutter.” She shook her head. “But you can’t run a courier service without employees.”
“That’s pretty cool.” In a way, it reminded her of when she became Barbara’s ward in the dreams. “I just went to gymnastics classes. Nothing too fancy.”
“Nothing too fancy, says miss Olympic gold medals,” Faith replied, with genuine cheer. “You could probably make it at this job. Easy.”
Cass laughed and shrugged, “If I had the time, maybe. I’m gonna be getting real busy soon though, so I won’t really have any extra time for another job.” She was really looking forward to coaching. If she could help at least one girl to the Olympics then that would be enough for her.
“I figured I’d offer.” She smiled. “If you ever need extra money, just hollar!” She looked at her watch. “Really need to get back on schedule.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.” Cass smirked and nodded as Faith said it was time to get back on schedule. “No prob. I just need to know how to get down from here.” Cass glanced over the side of the building once more.
“Just don’t jump. Shimmy.” Faith grinned, then pointed at piping bolted into the side of the building. She walked over to it, and started to shimmy down.
Cass nodded, “Right. No jumping.” She smirked and once Faith was a ways down, Cass started shimmying after her. Once they reached the bottom, she smiled again, “Well, it was nice to meet you. I had fun chasing you along rooftops.”