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 Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:21 pm
The air was filled with the sound of heavy breathing and the impact of fists as Briiva took out her frustrations on the punching bag in front of her. Her clothing was covered in sweat, and her arms ached a little, but Briiva pushed past it, continuing to wail on the bag until her arms wouldn't go any more. Slumping against the bag, Briiva sank to the ground as she heaved to catch her breath. She reached for her water bottle and took a long drink, wiping off the sweat dripping from her forehead as she brought the bottle back down. The events of the alps hadn't so much scarred her as made her angry. If there was one thing Briiva couldn't stand, it was a feeling of being outclassed, and that metal ******** bird had certainly done a number to her ego, and about what she was physically capable of. Briiva worked out often; she had to remain limber and in shape for the physical requirements of fabrication, but that fight required more than on days worth of lessons on an antiquated bow. She was determined to be more help the next time something came up. At the same time, the fight at the hotel had woken something in her. Briiva did her best to ignore it, but she had felt a sense of achievement in felling the birds and, ultimately, whatever the hell that last giant was. Briiva wasn't sure she liked the feeling she had gotten, and was determined not to give her thoughts the spare time to dwell on the issue. Taking a deep breath, Briiva stood facing the bag, took up her stance, and began to hit it with renewed vigor, and gleam in her eyes. Word Count: 291
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:49 pm
The sound of fists on the bag was easily heard from the door of the gym and Misha paused, letting her eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting. The gym felt warm, not comforting but somehow safe. It smelled of leather and sweat and iron. Reaching behind her head, Misha adjusted her ponytail as she made her way across the floor, her sneakers slapping slightly with each step. "Hello?" she called. It had been two days since she had set foot in the gym. After the time away and the visit home, she felt the draw and caved to the wisdom of practicing both her defensive and offensive skills. She prayed there would be no further bird attacks any time soon but... You never knew. Besides, in spending more time with her fellow Chosen, she had come to like them more and care about more of them. Misha knew herself. She knew she was just a few steps from claiming a couple of her new friends as her own. It was time to learn how to protect them from big, stupid, metal birds. "Hello?" she called again. WC: 186
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:24 pm
Briiva continued working on the bag, fists tied up into balls as she focused on hitting it, again and again. She did her best to keep her breathing timed and steady, but the fight from the alps still loomed in her memory. The moment she let her guard down images of some of the chosen being grabbed and lashed out at by the giant bird clouded her vision. Briiva's own backached; Rafe had done a fantastic job healing her wounds and you could barely see the resulting scar, but she was still keenly aware of it's presence. All of this pushed Briiva on, urged her to be faster, stronger, anything to not make her feel helpless. At this point, Briiva's glasses had fogged up to the point that the bag itself was a blur in front of her. Deep down, she knew that this was just her way of running away from her problems rather than confront it; get absorbed in some task that would somehow make up for past failing rather than sit and deal with the emotional stress and grief those failings brought. If she only had to worry about failing herself, Briiva would have no issues, she dealt with that every day. But here, her and the other chosen failing could get others killed. Failure was simply not an option here, but they had seemed so close to it on their very first outing. ""god. Damn. Piece. of. s**t!" Briiva hit the bag as hard as she could, putting everything she had left into throwing her punches before collapsing against the punching bag it self. Her shoulders heaved, and then she heard ********." Briiva muttered under her breath, taking a deep breath to calm herself before turning and forcing a smile as best as she could. "Hey there. I, uh, Didn't hear you come in. Sorry about all that." Briiva sniffled, taking off her glasses to wipe them down while blinking away the angry tears that had been forming at the corner of her eyes. Word Count:340, Total:631
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:46 pm
Misha had heard the fury in the blows and had a pretty good idea what the hissed word had been before the other woman turned and offered her a brittle, false smile. She made no comment on any of it, though. What could she say, anyway, to a person she barely knew who was clearly going through some kind of mental anguish? Not that such niceties ever stopped her before. Pointedly, the curvy brunette looked at the bag to give Briiva time to get herself fully under control. She smiled a bit herself. "I think it's dead," she announced mildly. Then she approached and laid a hand against the warm leather. Still, she kept her gaze away from Briiva's expression. "Yep. It's totally dead. I'm calling it." Then, judging enough time had passed, she looked over her shoulder, bare but for the tank top she wore, and quirked one corner of her mouth teasingly at Briiva. "Don't apologize. You're doing what I should've been doing ever since we got back. It's cool." She paused, searched her mind. "Briiva?" she attempted with slight hesitancy over her recall.
WC:372
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:37 pm
"Well, nothing wrong with overkill. Might as well kick the s**t out of something while I vent." Briiva began to slowly unfurl the wraps around her hands. She could have stood to add a few more layers of material, after the first couple she noticed that she had stained the fabric with blood around where it had covered her knuckles. Peeling away the strips was painful, but nothing she couldn't deal with. "Thanks. I'm not exactly at my best, if I'm being honest." Briiva seemed as if she was going to offer her hand to shake, then looked down at her knuckles and thought better of it. "Yup, that's me. And you're Misha, correct?" Briiva had only briefly met the woman, while she and Cat had been hauling Beth back to the hearth.She hadn't really inquired much about Beth's friends, so she knew next to nothing about the person in front of her. She smiled again, this one more genuine, as she stepped aside to allow Beth at the punching bag should she choose to make use of it. "Never to late to start you know. Boxing helps in a variety of ways for a workout. Not as all encompassing as running, but I would say it serves quite well as a stress relief." Briiva bent down and grabbed her water, taking a long drink from it. Briiva's breath was still short, but her tense stance was slowly relaxing; She had always found it easiest to suppress her thoughts and fears when there was someone to keep her company. It gave her someone else to focus on. "How about you, how have you been handling things since you haven't been beating up a defenseless lump of sand wrapped in dead animal hide?" Word Count: 293, Total:924
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 10:29 pm
And that was the wrong question to ask in a lot of ways but Misha held it together and shrugged. All things considered, she had been doing well at distracting herself and, if some of the distractions had drawn out some of her emotions and concerns, so be it. Sleep had finally found her, after all, and exhaustion rode her too hard to allow for dreams. It was all sunshine and roses. Thoughtfully, Misha gave the punching bag a tentative little shove. It swung in reaction, just a foot, and then back against the flat of her palm. "Well," she drawled, "I've been doing a lot of mingling. Talking to people, hanging out, you know. I've been to the infirmary a few times but Rafe doesn't seem to like my sort of help." She turned and flashed a winning smile at Briiva. "I don't know why. I think I look adorable in a nurse's uniform." She gave the punching bag another nearly affectionate pat, grey eyes watching Briiva for reactions. "But I figured a little work-out wouldn't kill me. I've never boxed before. How do you do it? Do I just punch at this thing?"
WC: 567
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 8:05 pm
Briiva watched Misha as the girl batted at the bag, smiling back at the comment in regards to Misha in a nurses outfit. Normally, a quip like that would a nice flush to Briiva's face, but she was already rosy from the exertion of taking out her feelings by hitting things really hard. "Figure like that, I bet you were just distracting him from his job." Briiva continued to watch Misha with interest, taking in the woman's stance. "Well, before you start punching anything, you need to protect your hands, here." Briiva took Misha's left hand as she pulled sport tape from her pocket. Briiva began to wrap the tape around the woman's hard, doing her best not to get caught up too much on how soft and delicate Misha's skin was. Briiva's work meant she had built up callouses and fairly tough skin on her own hands, not that it bothered her at all. Briiva made sure the wrap Misha's hands more thoroughly her own, including a few extra layers for good measure. "All right, face the bag and keep you legs apart and you body a bit lower than you normally would. It's important to keep your center of gravity low. Also, when you make a fist, make sure you thumb is on the outside." Briiva was fairly sure that Misha knew how to throw a punch, but still didn't want any broken thumbs. "Now, the key to hitting anything with force is using your arms, not your wrists." Briiva carefully stood behind Misha, taking her fist and guiding her arm by the elbow as demonstration before stepping away. "Alright, go ahead and try it out. Just keep in mind that sand isn't actually that soft." Briiva grinned, as she took another step back to give Misha room, really hoping that Misha would notice that the flush of her cheeks hadn't left yet.
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 10:22 pm
Misha had watched with a bemused smile as she allowed Briiva to wrap her hands and she paid dutiful attention to the words of advice. She definitely noticed and appreciated the care the other woman took, too. While her hands still held some traces of the battle on the mountain, they still retained a softness and gentility that was hard to ignore. Even her manicure had mostly survived, she was pleased to note. Of course, using a sheild as a weapon undoubtedly helped. As Briiva put the final touches on the wraps then and stepped back, Misha rewarded her with a sunshine-bright grin. "Thank you, hon," she chirped. When Briiva moved to stand behind her and took her fist, Misha pressed her lips together to stifle further smiles or, heaven forbid a gentle laugh, and focused on following through on how the other woman guided her swing. Briiva's touch was warm on her bare skin and her fingertips calloused. It was easy to sense the strength in them. She nodded when Briiva stepped away and gave one final pointer. "I've been to enough beach parties to know that sand can sting like a mo-fo," Misha agreed good-naturedly. "I promise I won't break a finger. As charming as Rafe is," and here she looked over her shoulder and lifted an eyebrow with a wry smile, "I don't really want to go back and spend more quality time with him. No nurse costume for him!" With that, she winked and pivoted back with a dancer's grace to face the bag. Stepping forward, she threw her fist forward in the way Briiva had demonstrated. The punch landed solid and centered and the bag swung back from the blow. As it came forward again, Misha caught it with her other fist. Her face took on a look of focus, eyes locked on target and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. The blows were not over-hard but they were timed just right. Misha may not have been a powerhouse but she clearly knew well how her body moved. WC: 911
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:24 pm
Briiva watched Misha work the bag, crossing her arms. Misha's form was already pretty good, she obviously had a background in body control. She took the break from punching things to stretch, then pull out a flask. Instead of drinking from it though, Briiva carefully splashed it onto her knuckles, wincing at the sting of alcohol. Once sanitized, she carefully wrapped her hands back up with the sport tape, then circled Misha, continuing to watch her practice. Briiva's eyes strayed to the row of practice weaponry displayed on the far wall, and wandered over to the rack, running her hands across them idly. Her grip tightened on one of the great swords, pulling it from the wall with one hand before taking it in both, testing the weight of the blade. As with her bow, it was well made, though something like this Briiva almost wanted to be able to make herself. Glancing back over Misha, she chewed her bottom lip. After a few test swings, she called out. "Hey, how about we try something a bit more practical? After all, I doubt that there are going to be a lot of things that we can defeat with bare fists.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 7:37 pm
Misha finished the punch already in motion as Briiva spoke and then caught the bag on its swing back to her, steadying it absently as she turned her head to see what the other woman was up to now. She chuckled. "Mmhm," she hummed, "I see your point." And she did, too. Having only a shield at her disposal during the mission to the Alps, Misha had quickly learned that defensive weapons only do so much damage. It also meant she had to get up close and personal with her target. It was a small miracle that she only had a few already fading scars from the entire spectacle. She grinned and released the bag. "So do you want me to hold still while you swing that thing at me or should I grab something and see what I can do? You know I only had a shield out there, right?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 8:59 pm
"I used a bow, so we'll both be out of our comfort zones." Briiva Grinned, planting the blade on the ground to rest on it. "I would certainly encourage finding a weapon that suits you, and you won't know until you try. The sword Briiva herself was wielding wasn't really much shorter than her. It seemed light enough though, so she was sure that she wouldn't have too much trouble swinging it around. "Just as long as you don't mind a few bruises, because I'm certain we'll both end up leaving with some. At least here we don't have to have some awkward made up excuse for them."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:25 pm
"I hate to think where you were picking up bruises back home." Misha considered Briiva with a thoughtful, measuring gaze for a bit and then she nodded with a bright smile. "Alright but can we try hard to avoid banging each other too much please? Most of my wardrobe shows off my legs." Passing Briiva, she paused just long enough to consider the large sword in the other woman's hands. It looked a bit too heavy and definitely too long. The momentum, though, would probably be killer. Misha turned on her heel and devoted her attention to the weapons rack. A shorter sword caught her eye. It had a flat, leaf-shaped blade and measured only about two feet. She picked it up gingerly and found it easily lifted with one hand. "Hm. Okay." Misha looked over her shoulder at Briiva. "I'll give this a whirl," she announced as she turned back to show the sword. "I know it's not as big but..." She wiggled her eyebrows. "I hear it's all in how you use it, after all."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 4:13 pm
Briiva's grin widened, watching as Misha deliberated on her choice of weapon. Personally, Briiva perferred something with some heft in the swing, Briiva was used to dealing with heavy tools and bulky equipment in the lab and workshop, so grabbing something like a longsword just felt more natural to her. Misha seemed to have a simliar idea, picking up a reguar sword that seemed to be more becoming of what Briiva had seen of Misha's style. "I've picked up bruises in all sorts of manners, from wrestling and working, to well, other things." Briiva colored slightly, but her smile never diminshed as she made a point to lift the sword into a defensive stance, gently weaving the sword back and forth to get a feel for how the blade moved. "That may be, but size never hurts either. Briiva smirked, becokning. Waiting on you, Love."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 7:56 pm
"Are you in such a rush, darling?" Misha met the smirk and returned it expertly, then added a bit of a purr to the words. Her light eyes danced with amusement as she took a few steps further out to the clear space set aside for sparring. Almost idly, she stretched and shifted, first one leg out to the side and then the other. A few graceful lunges. Then she straightened and lifted the sword so the flat of the blade rested against her shoulder. She cocked her head to one side. "No foreplay?"
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Lissesul rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 9:59 am
"If this was a bedroom, maybe." Briiva flashed Misha a grin and charged her with a wink, brandishing the sword over her shoulder. Of course, a sword was much different than a bow, and Briiva could already tell that her swing was going to miss Misha by an embarrassingly wide margin. No matter, one didn't learn without a few bruises to show for it. Speaking of, Briiva was expecting one shortly, as her wide swing had left her side wide open.
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