Obi-Wan is aging surprisingly well (obi1) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-05-12 19:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kitty pryde (shadowcat), obi-wan kenobi |
Obi and Kitty are NINJAS! (Part 1 of 2)
Who: Obi-Wan and Kitty
Where: An abandoned warehouse, full of structural damage. Definitely condemned. Don't try this at home, kids.
When: This afternoon!
What: parkour!! I mean... well, basically parkour.
Ratiing: PG-13. Language and minor injuries.
Obi-Wan knew exactly where to host their experiment: an abandoned warehouse in Santa Ana that had once been a shipping facility. He’d spent more than a few nights there, keeping warm. In the summer, the homeless tended to avoid the area, as teenagers typically used it for drugs and sex. But as long as they avoided the top floor, they’d be fine, though it was still wise to keep an eye out.
He waited outside in the deserted street, wondering if Kitty would show, and not exactly hoping either way.
A motorcycle rolled down the street, coming to a stop near him. The woman riding it was wearing jeans and a tank top. She pulled off her helmet, revealing curly brunette hair that dangled a bit past her shoulders. She flashed him a grin, "Obi?"
Obi-Wan glanced downward at the sweatpants and t-shirt that hung on his much thinner frame, and eyed Mrs. Higgins’s Camry parked off the road. “You know how to make an entrance,” he said. Kitty was younger than he had pictured. Like she had her whole life ahead of her. He questioned getting her involved in this at all, even if she did seem more gung ho than he was.
“Oh, if I was supposed to make an entrance, I could have done much better,” She replied, getting off the bike. He was a lot thinner than she expected, almost a bit ragged, but she could sense a strong inner core. She wasn’t going to back down, though. She looked around, “This place seems perfect!”
Obi-Wan nodded. “I gave it a quick walkthrough, it’s mostly deserted. We still should avoid the top floor.”
“Why, whats on the top floor?” She looked up, trying to see what it might be, then shrugged a shoulder, “All right....so...how should we get started?”
Her eyes scanned the building, looking for hand holds and convenient angles.
Horny teenagers, Obi-Wan mentally replied. “Kids up to no good. Like us.” He smiled, briefly, but it was a smile nonetheless. “Why don’t you take a look at the interior?”Teenagers aren’t the only ones. Kitty nodded her head, and then jogged inside and looked around, “Oh this is like an industrial nightmare. Did OSHA shut this place down?”
It really did resemble an evil lair, complete with not being OSHA compliant in the slightest. She ran, kicked off a bar, grabbed onto a catwalk and swung up and onto it.
Obi-Wan watched her do this. In his dreams, he’d performed moves that were similar. He looked at the catwalk, thinking that if he couldn’t pull that one off, then he’d might as well call it a day already.
So he followed her up. There was a little less grace in his movements, but he pulled himself up without too much difficulty.
He walked along the catwalk, gripping the railings with each arm. “Perhaps we should start slow,” he said, motioning to a series of pipes overhead. It led to a small ledge on the other end of the room. “Let’s try not falling first.”
Kitty's heart was pounding. She could get used to this. It was almost as exciting as jumping her bike like she'd done the other day.
Maybe more exciting, as she looked down at the mess of rusted equipment and metal on the floor beneath them. That would hurt.
She gripped onto the railing as the catwalk shuddered with their movements, and eyed the bolts where it was fastened to the building with suspicion.
She looked up, and nodded her head, "Balancing?"
She hopped onto the railing, grabbed one of the overhead pipes and swung up. She crouched, then slowly straightened, before making her way to the other ledge.
Obi-Wan’s hands tightened on the railing, watching her with eyes that felt they might pop out of his head at any moment. Every shudder in the metalwork sent a shudder through his own body. What was it, exactly, they needed to prove--and why did he feel so desperate to prove it?
“Thanks for being the guinea pig on that,” he said, hoisting himself upward. Lean though he was, he still had a good number of pounds on her.
"Yeah, no problem," She replied, her voice a little higher pitched than normal. That had been nerve-wracking. Exciting. But nerve-wracking.
She knelt on the ledge, putting her hands on the pipes in a vain effort to steady them.
Obi-Wan took a tentative step forward, afraid that he’d be too much to hold. Then he made the mistake of looking down. Shit. No. No... you can do this. He held his breath and leapt from beam to beam, moving more quickly than Kitty had, just to get it done with. At the other end, he needed to take a few moments to close his eyes and envision something soft and friendly. Like a puppy.
He opened his eyes. There was already sweat collecting at the collar of his shirt. He nodded. “That wasn’t so bad.”
That was impressive. Color Kitty impressed. She lifted her hands and clapped for him, "Awesome! You're a natural!"
He was a natural. Why were either of them naturals? "Wow, we're naturals."
She looked back over the piping and for the first time realized just how far across it was and how high up, "Holycrap."
While she was looking up, Obi-Wan had returned his gaze to the floor. That was the big test, wasn’t it? Surviving a great fall? Although last time he’d been fortunate enough not to plan in advance.
Without speaking, he pulled himself back up to the beams and crossed back to the catwalk. This time, his movements were more focused, more coordinated. He turned back to face her. “Okay. Now, float to me,” he said with a very pleased-with-himself grin.
"Wait, what?" Kitty stared at him, "Float? Like float float?" She looked down, "I can't float. That's ...I can't do it."
“I’m only joking,” he said, though he was the tiniest bit disappointed.
"Don't get me wrong, I really, really want to. Probably more than anything I've wanted before."
She climbed onto the piping. Wanting to a) one-up him a bit and b) push them both to try harder, she took a running leap, swung off another pipe, landed on a third, before reaching the catwalk. It shuddered a bit with her impact. She stood, "Flying is close enough?"
Could she float? She looked down again. Her body wouldn’t obey, she couldn’t shift. Couldn’t sink through the metal.
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. So, she was showing off, now. “Impressive, my young padawan.” Now it was his turn. He pulled himself up onto the pipes, and up again to the beam above that. With a jump, he was on the next floor up. He started to run.
If she was following him up, he wasn’t paying attention just yet. His eyes were on the wall dead ahead, the wall that was rapidly racing towards him. With a leap, he continued his run straight up the corner, pushed off with a backflip and landed neatly on his feet. “Woah...”
"Hey!" Kitty scrambled to follow after him. She came to a stop when he backflipped, "Whoa is right!"
She finished making her way up to the next floor and jogged up next to him. She clapped him on the back, speaking excitedly, "What are we going to do next?"
He needed to catch his breath after that one. Or... no, he was fine. Odd. “Maybe all you need is a running start, and then you can run through to the next room.”
Kitty backed up to the end of the room. She took a deep breath, and then another. She remembered Logan's training, and centered herself. It was a memory? It should be a dream..
She started to run, picking up speed as she approached the wall. She closed her eyes, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!
Without a sound, she passed through the wall, as if it wasn't even there.
Maybe she could hear him through the wall, as he screamed, “No! Don’t--SHIT!”
Obi-Wan gaped at the wall in disbelief. He reached out a trembling hand and touched it. “K-Kitty? Kitty!” He gave the wall a pound.
Kitty skidded to a stop, turning around and slapping her hands on the wall. She let out a woop! "I'm okay! Oh my god I'm okay! I did it!"
..only how the hell did she do it and how did she do it again? She slapped her hands on the wall again, and pushed, "Okay hold on!"
She backed up and sped back towards the wall.
THUD
"OW FUCK!" She stumbled backwards and landed on her rear.
He’d gone so far as to back out of the way, but apparently it wasn’t necessary. He let a few seconds pass. “Are you alright?” Obi-Wan looked the wall up and down, left and right. The only door had been sealed long ago, probably by cops trying to keep people out. “Kitty, this is a solid wall. How are you going to get back?”
Obi-Wan looked back the way he’d come. Perhaps there was another way up from below. Or from above. He craned his neck. Yes, there was a gap, but there was nothing to climb and it was too high to jump. Or was it? Obi-Wan scratched his beard. Hmm, indeed.
Crouching low first, he sprung upward, and the surprise of grabbing hold next floor was enough to cause him to almost lose his grip. Ten feet. That was ten feet. Easily. Holyshit was right.
This level was much wider: it probably spanned the length of the building. As for the floor itself, aside from that one small gap, it was solid. Obi-Wan hurried across to a door on the far side, making sure to stomp his feet so she would know he was above her. The door opened to a stairwell.
"I don't know." She looked around, "I can't...Damn it, why can't I?!" She pounded on the wall, frustrated, "Fuck...!"
Pause, "Excuse the language."
She looked up, hearing the pounding of his feet, and followed along beneath him. It was like he was some sort of hero. Maybe he was a jedi. He was kind of cute, too.
Obi-Wan tore down the stairwell, which ultimately mean he leapt over the railing and bypassed most of the steps. By now, he was doing these things without a second thought. He opened the next door, hoping he wasn’t about to skid across a puddle of blood. “Kitty?” he called, as the door flung open.
She waved her hand at him, "Obi. That was fast!"
She pounced at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging, "I did it I did it!"
Obi-Wan wasn’t, as a rule, a hugger. But she’d sprung it on him so fast that there seemed to be no way out of it. He was just glad to see that she wasn’t bleeding to death. And yeah, the hug was okay, too. He checked her head for bruises, his eyes blinking quickly. “You did. You actually, did!” His face broke into a rare, wide grin. “Shit, you scared the life out of me!”
She rubbed her forehead, "It was...right! And amazing! So many amazing things lately." She grinned at him. He should grin more often, "Hopefully you're a cat and you have eight more."
Obi-Wan flexed his eyebrows. “I think I’m down a few more than that,” he said. His grin, however, faded. It hit him then. It ought to have hit him much sooner. Perhaps he’d been blocking it out. But this was the woman who may very well have saved his life, the only person who knew his saddest secret...
He moved away from her, walking back to the wall, and placing his hand on it. “How do you think you did it?” he asked. “What was going on in your head?”
"I..." She walked over, touching the wall as well, "I'm not sure. I felt ...a great need. And the wall came rushing up and my body did the rest."
“So why do you think you bounced off like a superball the second time?” he asked.
"I didn't try hard enough!" She punched her fist into the wall, "It didn't come as easily. Or at all. I didn't even try to slow down, either time.."
“Obi-Wan hummed. “So perhaps speed has nothing to do with it. I mean, if you just...” He acted out what he was trying to convey, rather than say it. He closed his eyes and reached toward the wall, like he was preparing to dip his fingers into a cool pond. He opened his eyes. “Trust your instincts.”
Kity nodded, closing her eyes and pressing her hands agianst the wall. She pushed, but nothing happened, "Come on, damn it...!"
She was trying to trust her instincts, and was having a hard time doing so. It had come so easy before..
“You’re trying too hard,” Obi-Wan said. He moved to stand behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Do it. Don’t try!” And with that, he gave her a good, forceful shove.
Kitty's face smacked into the wall, "Ow!" She stumbled back into his arms, "What the hell?!"
He spun her around quick as he could. “Oh, shit! Oh! I’m so, so sorry... Oh, I really thought that would work.” Part of him was struggling hard not to laugh. “I really thought I was onto something there.” He dapped at the tender spot on her forehead.
"Nice try, Obi." Kitty started to laugh, "Oh man...I'm going to need a nose brace at this rate."
She winced, "I'm going to have a bruise aren't I?"
“Think of it as a battle scar,” he said. “Come on. There are stairs over here. Let’s try them instead.” With an arm on her back, he began to lead her towards the the door. “You can tell people I’m responsible, but you need to make sure they know it was an accident. I don’t want anyone thinking I pummeled you .”
Kitty laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not going to lay any blame on you or anything. I'll blame ninjas." She winked, "At least we didn't bother or wake up any horny or drugged up teenagers."
Oh she hoped that wasn't a famous last words moment.