InsaneJournal

Who: Carol Danvers and Colleen Wing
What: Training
When: July 7th - night
Where: Chikara Dojo
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete

Colleen should have known the Dreams would have picked up with their bullshit again. Really, it was only a matter of time. After her escape from the Hand, it had essentially just been dealing with helping Danny clear his name, then going to K’un Lun only to find everyone dead and trying to find answers, only to end up back in New York. Which led to trying to fight the Hand another way and some old guy showing up at her Dojo. All in all? Nothing to write home about.

But that couldn’t last. Of course not. Danny met allies (though Colleen wasn’t completely impressed with them, despite Claire’s vouching for them) and there was a lot of questioning of the one Hand operative they had found. But then it was hearing something and going to investigate. And it was Bakuto. Of course it was.

Trying to brainwash her again. Trying to get her to reach her ‘full potential’. Colleen didn’t know what it was that he wanted, but she knew she wasn’t about to go down that path again, so it was fight. Even as she got sliced along the abdomen and it was undoubtedly the arrival of Claire, Danny, and Luke that kept her from being killed as Bakuto seemed to again vanish. Then the precinct and breaking down as she had with Blake as Claire patched her up, about how the foundation of who she was had been shattered after breaking out of the brain washing, how all she wanted was something stable. And getting her katana back after speaking with Detective Knight.

So yeah. Waking up? Not fun as again she was injured thanks to the Dreams. She was also on edge, those lingering feelings of not knowing who she was because of the broken foundation back. But there was no time to deal with that. So instead Colleen just patched herself up and went about her day.

Not that it was a lighter day. She had some lessons that she taught through the injury with and then there was a cage fight because well….she needed money. It was only once she was back at the dojo that Colleen noticed she had opened the injury.

“Dammit…”

Sighing in frustration, Colleen headed to the back to get her first aid kit before fixing up the gash on her abdomen again. At least her winnings were good and would last the month most likely.

Carol had been feeling particularly punchy lately, her dreams irritating her on a number of levels. So she was more than happy to meet Colleen for some additional punching lessons. Carol figured it never hurt to brush up on her skills and it had been a very long time since basic.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking around the dojo with her hands in her jean pockets. It was about what she expected, but she liked it. Very Karate Kid.

Dreams being irritating was probably a theme for most people. When they weren’t pulling the rug out from under you or whatever else they might throw at you. Colleen tended to err on the side of being irritated though. When she wasn’t suddenly dealing with the Scientology similarities or injuries. Though those also were irritating.

Hearing someone enter as she finished re-bandaging her abdomen, Colleen pulled her shirt down and grabbed a nearby bokken before going to the main dojo from the sectioned off living space. Only when she realized that it was Carol did she remember she had offered up punching times if needed.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Carol replied, giving Colleen an easy smile, despite the tension that ran through her body. “I hope it’s not too late?” This was probably a healthier outlet than some other things could be. She’d put in a few hours in the simulator earlier and it hadn’t really helped -- and she wasn’t stupid enough to fly for real in a mood like this.

Late was a relative term. Okay so she also woke up early but it wasn’t like Colleen minded. She got the sleep she needed when she wasn’t interrupted by Dreams and that was enough for her. So late nights and early mornings? Par the course really.

“Not at all.”

It was true though, sometimes punching things was a healthy outlet.

Carol tossed her bag against the wall. “Should I remove my shoes? I should probably remove my shoes…”

There was a mat after all and she had some dim recollections of the Proper Etiquette but wanted to be sure.

Recalling what it was that Carol wanted to work on - reflexes - Colleen stood at easy as the other woman got her shoes off, and once she had straightened up and with no warning at all, Colleen then swiped the bokken at Carol to knock her to her feet.

She had training from her time in the military, which meant that Colleen didn’t have to go easy on her. Especially given what they were supposed to be working on.

Colleen’s move caught Carol off guard and she barely got out of the way, stumbling embarrasingly and very nearly falling on her face. But she recovered quickly, falling into a familiar defensive posture as some hair fell in front of her face. She blew it out of the way and thought maybe she should just chop it all off. “Okay, so it’s gonna be like that.”

Against someone who was armed, the trick was to either stay out of their reach, or be too close for it to be effective.

This was Carol Danvers, and she charged right in.

The only reaction Colleen gave was a nod of the head in what could be encouragement that Carol had at least managed to get out of the way instead of landing on her ass. Which admittedly was usually what happened. So that was something, but other than that? Her expression was impassive and she was completely in control.

“It is.”

And of course Carol went for charging in, so Colleen side stepped and swept the bokken under Carol’s legs before jumping back.

That time Carol couldn’t quite get both legs up in time to avoid the bokken and she landed flat on her back. Cursing vividly, she rolled to her feet and charged again, this time aiming lower. She swept her foot out to try to catch Colleen’s shins.

As Carol rolled back onto her feet, Colleen just stepped back casually, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Which of course was all projection. She was constantly prepared and so as Carol tried to catch her shins, Colleen again moved out of the way and used the bokken to hit her student on the foot.

“Ow fuck damn!” Carol hopped away, shaking her foot out as she got some distance between herself and Colleen. If this was her dreams she’d just blast her, but while she could feel a buzzing under her skin nothing came of it. Okay then, she’d just do this the old fashioned way.

With a shout, Carol charged forward again, ready to bring her arms up to block the bokken with every intention of just charging right into Colleen.

If the whole point of this training was for Carol to learn to be more aware of her surroundings and able to pull back a punch if necessary, blasting certainly would go against that. There was nothing wrong with using your anger to your advantage - however there was a thin line between that, and anger blinding you and making you predictable.

And Carol was very predictable.

Spinning the bokken, Colleen got into fighting position so that when Carol went to block another bokken attack, she instead went for the leg swipe.

Okay she needed to work on that. Colleen wasn’t some dumbass in a bar fight, she was a trained fighter and when Carol went down again, this time she rolled and popped back up, but didn’t charge. Treat this like a dogfight. Assess your opponent, find the weakness and then out fly her.

Nice of Carol to switch up her routine. Because it was honestly getting a bit boring. So Colleen just remained impassive. Oh, she could give pointers, of course she could. But this was a teaching moment. Once it was clear that they were at the pointers stage of this, that would be when she would speak up. For now it was seeing what Carol had planned now.

This time Carol waited, circling Collen slowly, one step at a time, either looking for an opening or playing a game of patience. Possibly a little of both.

When she struck, she feinted left and jabbed right.

Any other situation and Colleen might have made a quip asking if Carol had been a vulture in a previous life. But instead she was just went along and remained seemingly at east while all the while being prepared to strike and defend.

And while Carol didn’t land the hit, there was a quick switch as Colleen blocked.

“Better.”

“I’m getting there,” Carol assured her, stepping back and circling again, this time in the opposite direction. There was a time for brute force and a time for finesse, and she really needed to learn the latter.

Her next attack she feinted right,then left, then struck for the center mass.

It wasn't just finesse that was being worked on though. There was also making sure Carol could have the reflexes to pull back when necessary.

So while she let herself take a hit, it wasn't enough to do damage as Colleen used the momentum to regain the advantage and throw Carol on the ground.

Carol hit the ground, the wind knocked from her lungs as her back protested. She slapped the mat a few times before crawling to her feet and resting her hands on her knees. “Okay, okay I give. What am I doing wrong?”

And it seemed they were done with the go around. Which was fine. It was instructive for Carol as it were. After all, if you always win with one style of fighting, you could get complacent.

"Nothing, you're just very used to hitting things head on. Which works well enough, but not always. Especially if you're wanting to get better with reflexes. If all you do is hit something without situational awareness, you leave yourself open. Also you're less able to stop an attack if you realize too late there's no threat."

“You’d think I’d be better at situational awareness,” Carol remarked, thinking of dogfights. But that was a different beast, with a thousand different things to pay attention to. Maybe she just needed to apply that mindset to fighting hand to hand.

But brute force was so much fun. “Let me get some water, then lets try this again.”

It was amazing how simply looking at things in a different light could make things fall into place. Or that different situations meant you had different priorities.

"Sounds like a plan."

It wouldn't change anything overnight, but it was still a start.