Laura and Clarice | Backdated to 11/04
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ax_mainLaura and Clarice meet in the gym and agree to an impromptu sparring session. Clarice cheats a lot, but still loses.
Jab. Jab. Cross. Kick.
Laura took a slow deep breath as she paused in her practice with the punching bag, her knuckles barely tingling even though she had been at it for hours now. She used her arm to wipe at her sweat soaked forehead and frowned when she realized her ponytail had started to come loose again. She tugged the band out of her hair and quickly tried to redo it, only this time tighter so she wouldn't have to keep fixing it.
And groaned when she felt the sharp sting against her fingers when it snapped.
Wandering down to the gym to spend some more time on the bag, working on the punches and kicks she'd been shown in self-defense, Clarice was surprised to it gym already occupied. At this time of day, she usually could be sure she would have it to herself ... but it wasn't her gym, by any means. And she could always blink away if this unfamiliar girl proved to be bad company. Stepping toward another bag, a respectful distance from the stranger, Clarice breathed, and then began throwing punches. Her lavender skin stood out starkly against the gray of her tank top and the black of her shorts, but they were functional, breathable garments, suitable for a workout. Her luminous green eyes focused on her target like it was the only thing in the world.
Laura watched the other like a hawk, her long black hair now hanging in her face as her eyes tracked the movements of the girl with purple skin. The girl had good form and her punches were something, that if used on a person, would do a good amount of damage.
Laura fidgeted a little, the other had decicded that she would rather work out than talk and Laura should respect that. So, instead of going to talk Laura raised her hand a little in a wave, which she had seen used, toward the other girl.
"Hello." She called softly.
At first, Clarice wasn't sure the other girl had actually spoken, her voice was so faint it was pretty easily missed in the sound of fists and shins against leather. But her bright green eyes glanced to the side just to make certain, and she caught the end of that small wave. The island mutant paused to raise her own hand in greeting, if a bit hesitantly. "'Ey, gal," she said. "What you sayin'?"
After everything she had done and been through, it was startling to realize that she was nervous when the girl said something to her. Laura told herself she needed to quit being a coward and nodded. "Yes. I said hello."
The girl's accent was interesting and her skin a color Laura had never seen before, but she kept her own less vivid green eyes locked with the other's.
Clarice laughed, because she had honestly never heard that one before. "No, is an island thing. Means ... like, how you doin'? Or how it go?"
"How it go..." Laura repeated, trying to learn the phrase then nodded. "I am well. How does it go for you?"
She laughed again, since that was kinda great. "E'rything cool," Clarice replied. "Y'know. Beatin' on a bag, in case I end up in the middle of a angry, anti-mutant protest again. Don' wanna teleport anybody's gizzard to Arizona by mistake, ay'?"
"Teleportation is your mutation?" She asked quietly, reaching out to steady her bag even though it was barely moving. She tried to make sure not to stare too much at the girl's skin, but it was a very pretty shade of purple. She forced herself to look in the girl's bright green eyes and frowned. "You were in a riot before?"
"On a field trip to the city," Clarice acknowledged with a nod. "We went wanderin', and found ourselves in the middle of a bunch of angry people with signs." She left out the part where she'd been scared as hell; it wasn't exactly something she was proud of. "And yeah. I teleport stuff. People. Me." To demonstrate, she blinked from her position beside the bag to a point a few feet away. "I can go a lot farther, but, y'know. Gym ain' that big."
Laura's eyes widened when the girl disappeared and reappeared only a few feet away, moving a few steps back out of instinct. She scanned the girl's body, noticing that nothing seemed amiss after the teleportation and she took one step closer. "Does it hurt? To teleport?"
The lavender-skinned girl blinked; it hadn't ever really occurred to her before to think about how teleporting felt. She considered the question, her face screwing up in concentration. "It doesn' really feel any kinda way. But is kinda disorientin', at first, bein' here, then suddenly bein' someplace else. But you get used to it?"
"I understand." Laura replied, knowing that everyone had to grow used to the skills their mutation and she gave a small nod. "How far have you gone before? Can you cross oceans?"
"The farthest I've ever been was from here to Antarctica," she told the other girl. "So ... yes? I mean, I think I can go just about anywhere. At least, I haven' run into any limitations yet."
"That is impressive." Laura complimented, and she meant it. To be able to travel anywhere just by thinking of it was a feat that deserved praise. She turned back to her bag, but for the first time in a long while she was more interested in something other than training and turned back to the other. "My name is Laura."
"Clarice," said the other girl. "Or Clare, I guess; my roommate is call me that, sometimes, so I've got used to answerin' to it, too. Is it cool if I ask what you is do, then?"
Clarice. It was a nice name, one she hadn't heard of before, but still sounded nice when the other girl said it with her accent. Laura nodded and flexed her hands, her claws coming out quickly and she held them up as if for Clarice to inspect them. "These are my claws, but I also am able to heal quite rapidly."
The other girl's bright green eyes widened as the claws came out, and she brought her face as close to them as basic politeness would allow in unabashed curiosity. "That's wicked shit, dread," she breathed, then looked back to Laura's face. "When you is say 'quite rapidly', how rapidly you mean? 'Cause my Uncle Bertram always did say he was a fast healer, but it still took him a coupla months to get over that back sprain he had a while back."
Laura stared in surprise when the girl reacted so positively towards her claws, being able to understand about half of what came out of Clarice's mouth as she let the other look as much as she wanted.
"I mean," She raised one clawed hand to her forearm and scraped it across the skin so that it had a decent sized cut. The cut barely had time to bleed before the skin was knitting itself back together perfect. "Rapidly."
Clarice winced as the claw scraped along the other girl's arm, but gave an appreciative whistle at quickly the skin began pulling back together. In seconds, there wasn't even a scar to suggest the injury had ever been--just a tiny bit of drying blood. "Definitely got Uncle Bertram beat," she observed, straightening.
"So where you is from, Laura?"
The way the girl spoke was truly fascinating to Laura, having been taught that only perfect speech and grammar was acceptable. She let her claws slide back in as she thought about her answer.
"Arizona." She replied truthfully, the lab having been there. "What about yourself? Where are you from?"
"Man-O-War Cay," Clarice told her. "But that prob'ly don' help much, ay'? Is one lil' island in the Bahamas."
Laura recalled the world map, remembering where the Bahamas were located and tried to remember which of the islands was Man-O-War Cay, but was coming up blank. "I'm sorry, I do not know that island, but I know of the Bahamas. Is conch actually good?"
"Is okay. 'S not the biggest island." Clarice stretched a bit, and her eyes brightened immediately at the mention of native food. "Oh, yeah. Is the best. If you want, I'll take you down for conch fritters sometime. You'll love 'em."
"Fritters? What are those?" She knew they must be at least part of the conch since it had it in the name, but she did not understand what a fritter was. "Is it another type of animal from a shell?"
"You can make fritter outta nearly anythin'," Clarice told her, holding down her smile. Because while it was kind of cute that the other girl seemed to know even less of the world than she did, the sheltered, island-born mutant knew how it felt when people thought it was funny she didn't know things they took for granted. "A conch fritter's just diced-up conch and seasonin' all balled up and battered and then fried in oil. They has this sauce they make for it, too. 'S real good."
"Oh. Fried foods, I have learned, are some of the more delicious things to eat." Pringles after all were fried potato dough and they were wonderful. Clarice had mentioned an Uncle, so the girl had some kind of family. "Did you live with your Uncle?"
"Nah," she shook her head, grinning at the fried foods comment. It was true, but it was still weirdly endearing to hear it put like that. "I lived with my parents. We just have a big family, 's all, and we's all pretty close. Was a good thing, since with my skin an' all, I wasn't really allowed to go out much. E'rybody said it would be too dangerous."
"It would be." Laura agreed, knowing from her trip to New York and seeing all the protests against mutants. "But, with your ability you could get away very quickly which is helpful."
She turned to look at her bag, not wanting to face the other. "Besides, the protesters are probably envious. Your skin is a beautiful shade of purple that no normal human can achieve."
"I think they scared, more'n anything," Clarice said. "An' I gotta pretty good idea what that feels like. But I don't wanna hide for the rest of my life, an' I can' always run away when things go bad. Is why I'm down here, beatin' up on a big bag of sand that never did me nothin'."
Laura nodded, giving her own bag a light tap with her knuckles before turning to look at Clarice again. "How long have you been training?"
"Ain' long," she admitted a touch self-consciously. "Just since a little after that riot we got caught up in, really. Figured I needed to learn how to not be a totally liability, ay'?"
"That is understandable. No one wants to be weak." Laura replied. "Your form is very good. How are you with a moving target?"
"I dunno," Clarice said with a shrug. "I mostly practice with the bag, and a little bit in combat training. Haven' really worked my way up to sparrin' with real people yet." She looked at her, considering. "Bet you is pretty good, though. You move like you know a thing or two about that kind of thing."
"I do." Lauara said with a small nod. "Would you like to try? I will keep my claws sheathed for it, if that would make you more comfortable."
"Uh." Clarice needed to think about that for a minute. Was she actually ready for something like that? Would she ever be, if she never worked up the nerve to start somewhere? Mustering as much resolve as she could, she gave nod. "Okay. Yeah. And claws-in, please. I ain' puncture-proof."
"Of course." Laura agreed and moved over to the more open part of the room where mats were laid down, away from all the work out equipment. She thought about removing her shoes, but then remembered she had agreed no claws so kept them on and blew at the piece of hair in her face. "Do not be nervous. I will be gentle."
"Now I'm really nervous," laughed Clarice, moving to join Laura on the mats. "Long as we stick to the 'no claws' thing, though, I should be good." Bruises healed, after all. And she was supposed to be learning. As she neared the other girl, she raised her guard in a reasonable simulation of the way she'd been taught, crouched, and waited.
Laura waited until Clarice was in position, taking note of the way her feet and hands were placed before she moved into her own. She turned herself to the side slight and widened her stance, bringing her fists up level with her mouth.
Only practice. No claws.
With that in mind she ran at Clarice quickly and swung out.
That rush put Clarice immediately on the back foot; she blocked the first hit, but a follow up punch caught her in the side, causing her to wince. It definitely wasn't as painful as it probably should have been, but she couldn't pretend she hadn't felt it. Before she could even think of trying to counter-attack, there were more fists and feet coming her way, and while her shins and forearms absorbed many with relatively no harm done, an almost equal number were getting through. She'd never seen anybody move like that before--definitely never in training--and it was all the Bahamian mutant could do to follow Laura's movements with her eyes.
"Dodge the attacks to your body and keep your face protected." Laura instructed when she moved back, tossing her hair back over her shoulder as she moved into more of a crouched position. She let Clarice get a chance to breath before she moved in again quickly, glad when the girl finally struck out against her. She sidestepped the punch, reaching out to tug on the out stretched arm and throw Clarice off balance, then moved in to hit her lightly against the chest.
She watched Clarice fall down onto her rear and she stepped back still in a fighting stance. "Do you want to continue?"
Massaging her sore backside as she clambered back to her feet, Clarice set herself again and offered a determined, "Yeah." There was a blink, and suddenly she was behind Laura, fist arcing--lightly, she hadn't missed the fact that the other girl was definitely pulling her punches--for the small of her back. It had barely landed when she blinked again, reappearing at the other teen's side and aiming another kick at the back of her knees. It was hard not to feel guilty about using her powers like this, but Clarice would readily admit she was just going to get taken apart if she kept trying to fight fair.
Laura frowned a little when suddenly Clarice was no where to be seen and grit her teeth when her senses told her too late where the girl had reappeared. The hit to the small of her back was really nothing, and she whipped around only to find the girl was gone again.
The kick to her legs actually made her stumble a little and she turned again only to find air. Another hit to her back told her that Clarice had moved behind her again and Laura was a little too impressed to be annoyed. She didn't bother turning around this time, since disappearing quickly after a hit seemed to be Clarice's plan of attack. Not behind again. Laura thought to herself, which left only three options and when Clarice reappeared at her side, Laura moved as quick as she could. She was only able to brush her knuckles against Clarice's shoulder, but at least it had been something.
Clarice wasn't so caught up in her own cleverness at changing things up that she didn't recognize how serious that clip to the shoulder had been; with her claws out, Laura would have incapacitated her right then, or worse. Still, they were just sparring, and this time when the lavender girl reappeared instead of striking and teleporting away she instead blinked Laura through the floor. It took more concentration than usual, and she didn't attempt to hit the other girl, since her portals could lead to serious messes if they got out of hand. With a bit of effort, she oriented the exit point at a point horizontal to the floor, and perhaps just a foot or so above it.
When Laura reappeared, Clarice immediately attempted to take advantage of her momentary disorientation and prone state.
To go from standing up right to suddenly being on her stomach on the floor without even being touched was an experience that threw Laura completely, stunning her for a moment and leaving her open. When she felt Clarice touch her back, Laura immediately tried to push up with her arms, growling when she felt the other girl sit on her and press her weight down onto her back to keep her pinned.
Laura made a quick decision, pulling her right leg up so that she could at least get on her knee and then bucked hard a few good times until Clarice lost her balance. When the weight was lifted she rolled away and quickly stood, watching Clarice like a hawk. "Your mutation gives you quite the advantage. I am enjoying the challenge."
"Bet you'd like the challenge e'en more if I knew what I was doin," Clarice noted with a self-deprecating chuckle as she rose from the gym floor, gingerly massaging her butt. "As it is, I'm just sorta makin' it up as I go. Dunno how useful that'd be, in a real fight."
When it seemed Clarice was no longer willing to fight, Laura moved from a defensive position to stand up straight and furrowed her brow in confusion. "It was rather effective on me for 'just making it up as you went'. It has been awhile since I have been taken off guard. You should be proud."
Clarice's cheeks darkened to a much deeper shade of purple than usual, and her eyes flickered toward the floor. "Well," she began uncertainly, "thanks for sayin' so. But I bet it's your first time sparrin' with a teleporter who don' mind cheatin' a little. Next time, you'll be ready for it. And I'll still be pretty amateur, at the straight-up fightin' part." Still, it had been really flattering to hear.
Laura was confused as to why the purple skinned girl seemed to flush when Laura had only said what was true, but she didn't question it an gave a small shrug. "Yes, now that I know, I will learn to adapt to fighting someone who can teleport, as will you when it comes to learning how to fight with and without using your powers."
She cracked her middle knuckle by pressing it down with her thumb. "If you would like, I would not mind helping you."
"I would," Clarice grinned. "Thanks, ay'? I'll try not to slow you down too much. An' I'll work on gettin' better with the basic forms in class, so maybe you won' get too bored knockin' me down over and over."
The left side of Laura's mouth twitched in the start of a smile and she nodded in agreement. "That is good. Knocking someone down is only entertaining the first forty times."
Jab. Jab. Cross. Kick.
Laura took a slow deep breath as she paused in her practice with the punching bag, her knuckles barely tingling even though she had been at it for hours now. She used her arm to wipe at her sweat soaked forehead and frowned when she realized her ponytail had started to come loose again. She tugged the band out of her hair and quickly tried to redo it, only this time tighter so she wouldn't have to keep fixing it.
And groaned when she felt the sharp sting against her fingers when it snapped.
Wandering down to the gym to spend some more time on the bag, working on the punches and kicks she'd been shown in self-defense, Clarice was surprised to it gym already occupied. At this time of day, she usually could be sure she would have it to herself ... but it wasn't her gym, by any means. And she could always blink away if this unfamiliar girl proved to be bad company. Stepping toward another bag, a respectful distance from the stranger, Clarice breathed, and then began throwing punches. Her lavender skin stood out starkly against the gray of her tank top and the black of her shorts, but they were functional, breathable garments, suitable for a workout. Her luminous green eyes focused on her target like it was the only thing in the world.
Laura watched the other like a hawk, her long black hair now hanging in her face as her eyes tracked the movements of the girl with purple skin. The girl had good form and her punches were something, that if used on a person, would do a good amount of damage.
Laura fidgeted a little, the other had decicded that she would rather work out than talk and Laura should respect that. So, instead of going to talk Laura raised her hand a little in a wave, which she had seen used, toward the other girl.
"Hello." She called softly.
At first, Clarice wasn't sure the other girl had actually spoken, her voice was so faint it was pretty easily missed in the sound of fists and shins against leather. But her bright green eyes glanced to the side just to make certain, and she caught the end of that small wave. The island mutant paused to raise her own hand in greeting, if a bit hesitantly. "'Ey, gal," she said. "What you sayin'?"
After everything she had done and been through, it was startling to realize that she was nervous when the girl said something to her. Laura told herself she needed to quit being a coward and nodded. "Yes. I said hello."
The girl's accent was interesting and her skin a color Laura had never seen before, but she kept her own less vivid green eyes locked with the other's.
Clarice laughed, because she had honestly never heard that one before. "No, is an island thing. Means ... like, how you doin'? Or how it go?"
"How it go..." Laura repeated, trying to learn the phrase then nodded. "I am well. How does it go for you?"
She laughed again, since that was kinda great. "E'rything cool," Clarice replied. "Y'know. Beatin' on a bag, in case I end up in the middle of a angry, anti-mutant protest again. Don' wanna teleport anybody's gizzard to Arizona by mistake, ay'?"
"Teleportation is your mutation?" She asked quietly, reaching out to steady her bag even though it was barely moving. She tried to make sure not to stare too much at the girl's skin, but it was a very pretty shade of purple. She forced herself to look in the girl's bright green eyes and frowned. "You were in a riot before?"
"On a field trip to the city," Clarice acknowledged with a nod. "We went wanderin', and found ourselves in the middle of a bunch of angry people with signs." She left out the part where she'd been scared as hell; it wasn't exactly something she was proud of. "And yeah. I teleport stuff. People. Me." To demonstrate, she blinked from her position beside the bag to a point a few feet away. "I can go a lot farther, but, y'know. Gym ain' that big."
Laura's eyes widened when the girl disappeared and reappeared only a few feet away, moving a few steps back out of instinct. She scanned the girl's body, noticing that nothing seemed amiss after the teleportation and she took one step closer. "Does it hurt? To teleport?"
The lavender-skinned girl blinked; it hadn't ever really occurred to her before to think about how teleporting felt. She considered the question, her face screwing up in concentration. "It doesn' really feel any kinda way. But is kinda disorientin', at first, bein' here, then suddenly bein' someplace else. But you get used to it?"
"I understand." Laura replied, knowing that everyone had to grow used to the skills their mutation and she gave a small nod. "How far have you gone before? Can you cross oceans?"
"The farthest I've ever been was from here to Antarctica," she told the other girl. "So ... yes? I mean, I think I can go just about anywhere. At least, I haven' run into any limitations yet."
"That is impressive." Laura complimented, and she meant it. To be able to travel anywhere just by thinking of it was a feat that deserved praise. She turned back to her bag, but for the first time in a long while she was more interested in something other than training and turned back to the other. "My name is Laura."
"Clarice," said the other girl. "Or Clare, I guess; my roommate is call me that, sometimes, so I've got used to answerin' to it, too. Is it cool if I ask what you is do, then?"
Clarice. It was a nice name, one she hadn't heard of before, but still sounded nice when the other girl said it with her accent. Laura nodded and flexed her hands, her claws coming out quickly and she held them up as if for Clarice to inspect them. "These are my claws, but I also am able to heal quite rapidly."
The other girl's bright green eyes widened as the claws came out, and she brought her face as close to them as basic politeness would allow in unabashed curiosity. "That's wicked shit, dread," she breathed, then looked back to Laura's face. "When you is say 'quite rapidly', how rapidly you mean? 'Cause my Uncle Bertram always did say he was a fast healer, but it still took him a coupla months to get over that back sprain he had a while back."
Laura stared in surprise when the girl reacted so positively towards her claws, being able to understand about half of what came out of Clarice's mouth as she let the other look as much as she wanted.
"I mean," She raised one clawed hand to her forearm and scraped it across the skin so that it had a decent sized cut. The cut barely had time to bleed before the skin was knitting itself back together perfect. "Rapidly."
Clarice winced as the claw scraped along the other girl's arm, but gave an appreciative whistle at quickly the skin began pulling back together. In seconds, there wasn't even a scar to suggest the injury had ever been--just a tiny bit of drying blood. "Definitely got Uncle Bertram beat," she observed, straightening.
"So where you is from, Laura?"
The way the girl spoke was truly fascinating to Laura, having been taught that only perfect speech and grammar was acceptable. She let her claws slide back in as she thought about her answer.
"Arizona." She replied truthfully, the lab having been there. "What about yourself? Where are you from?"
"Man-O-War Cay," Clarice told her. "But that prob'ly don' help much, ay'? Is one lil' island in the Bahamas."
Laura recalled the world map, remembering where the Bahamas were located and tried to remember which of the islands was Man-O-War Cay, but was coming up blank. "I'm sorry, I do not know that island, but I know of the Bahamas. Is conch actually good?"
"Is okay. 'S not the biggest island." Clarice stretched a bit, and her eyes brightened immediately at the mention of native food. "Oh, yeah. Is the best. If you want, I'll take you down for conch fritters sometime. You'll love 'em."
"Fritters? What are those?" She knew they must be at least part of the conch since it had it in the name, but she did not understand what a fritter was. "Is it another type of animal from a shell?"
"You can make fritter outta nearly anythin'," Clarice told her, holding down her smile. Because while it was kind of cute that the other girl seemed to know even less of the world than she did, the sheltered, island-born mutant knew how it felt when people thought it was funny she didn't know things they took for granted. "A conch fritter's just diced-up conch and seasonin' all balled up and battered and then fried in oil. They has this sauce they make for it, too. 'S real good."
"Oh. Fried foods, I have learned, are some of the more delicious things to eat." Pringles after all were fried potato dough and they were wonderful. Clarice had mentioned an Uncle, so the girl had some kind of family. "Did you live with your Uncle?"
"Nah," she shook her head, grinning at the fried foods comment. It was true, but it was still weirdly endearing to hear it put like that. "I lived with my parents. We just have a big family, 's all, and we's all pretty close. Was a good thing, since with my skin an' all, I wasn't really allowed to go out much. E'rybody said it would be too dangerous."
"It would be." Laura agreed, knowing from her trip to New York and seeing all the protests against mutants. "But, with your ability you could get away very quickly which is helpful."
She turned to look at her bag, not wanting to face the other. "Besides, the protesters are probably envious. Your skin is a beautiful shade of purple that no normal human can achieve."
"I think they scared, more'n anything," Clarice said. "An' I gotta pretty good idea what that feels like. But I don't wanna hide for the rest of my life, an' I can' always run away when things go bad. Is why I'm down here, beatin' up on a big bag of sand that never did me nothin'."
Laura nodded, giving her own bag a light tap with her knuckles before turning to look at Clarice again. "How long have you been training?"
"Ain' long," she admitted a touch self-consciously. "Just since a little after that riot we got caught up in, really. Figured I needed to learn how to not be a totally liability, ay'?"
"That is understandable. No one wants to be weak." Laura replied. "Your form is very good. How are you with a moving target?"
"I dunno," Clarice said with a shrug. "I mostly practice with the bag, and a little bit in combat training. Haven' really worked my way up to sparrin' with real people yet." She looked at her, considering. "Bet you is pretty good, though. You move like you know a thing or two about that kind of thing."
"I do." Lauara said with a small nod. "Would you like to try? I will keep my claws sheathed for it, if that would make you more comfortable."
"Uh." Clarice needed to think about that for a minute. Was she actually ready for something like that? Would she ever be, if she never worked up the nerve to start somewhere? Mustering as much resolve as she could, she gave nod. "Okay. Yeah. And claws-in, please. I ain' puncture-proof."
"Of course." Laura agreed and moved over to the more open part of the room where mats were laid down, away from all the work out equipment. She thought about removing her shoes, but then remembered she had agreed no claws so kept them on and blew at the piece of hair in her face. "Do not be nervous. I will be gentle."
"Now I'm really nervous," laughed Clarice, moving to join Laura on the mats. "Long as we stick to the 'no claws' thing, though, I should be good." Bruises healed, after all. And she was supposed to be learning. As she neared the other girl, she raised her guard in a reasonable simulation of the way she'd been taught, crouched, and waited.
Laura waited until Clarice was in position, taking note of the way her feet and hands were placed before she moved into her own. She turned herself to the side slight and widened her stance, bringing her fists up level with her mouth.
Only practice. No claws.
With that in mind she ran at Clarice quickly and swung out.
That rush put Clarice immediately on the back foot; she blocked the first hit, but a follow up punch caught her in the side, causing her to wince. It definitely wasn't as painful as it probably should have been, but she couldn't pretend she hadn't felt it. Before she could even think of trying to counter-attack, there were more fists and feet coming her way, and while her shins and forearms absorbed many with relatively no harm done, an almost equal number were getting through. She'd never seen anybody move like that before--definitely never in training--and it was all the Bahamian mutant could do to follow Laura's movements with her eyes.
"Dodge the attacks to your body and keep your face protected." Laura instructed when she moved back, tossing her hair back over her shoulder as she moved into more of a crouched position. She let Clarice get a chance to breath before she moved in again quickly, glad when the girl finally struck out against her. She sidestepped the punch, reaching out to tug on the out stretched arm and throw Clarice off balance, then moved in to hit her lightly against the chest.
She watched Clarice fall down onto her rear and she stepped back still in a fighting stance. "Do you want to continue?"
Massaging her sore backside as she clambered back to her feet, Clarice set herself again and offered a determined, "Yeah." There was a blink, and suddenly she was behind Laura, fist arcing--lightly, she hadn't missed the fact that the other girl was definitely pulling her punches--for the small of her back. It had barely landed when she blinked again, reappearing at the other teen's side and aiming another kick at the back of her knees. It was hard not to feel guilty about using her powers like this, but Clarice would readily admit she was just going to get taken apart if she kept trying to fight fair.
Laura frowned a little when suddenly Clarice was no where to be seen and grit her teeth when her senses told her too late where the girl had reappeared. The hit to the small of her back was really nothing, and she whipped around only to find the girl was gone again.
The kick to her legs actually made her stumble a little and she turned again only to find air. Another hit to her back told her that Clarice had moved behind her again and Laura was a little too impressed to be annoyed. She didn't bother turning around this time, since disappearing quickly after a hit seemed to be Clarice's plan of attack. Not behind again. Laura thought to herself, which left only three options and when Clarice reappeared at her side, Laura moved as quick as she could. She was only able to brush her knuckles against Clarice's shoulder, but at least it had been something.
Clarice wasn't so caught up in her own cleverness at changing things up that she didn't recognize how serious that clip to the shoulder had been; with her claws out, Laura would have incapacitated her right then, or worse. Still, they were just sparring, and this time when the lavender girl reappeared instead of striking and teleporting away she instead blinked Laura through the floor. It took more concentration than usual, and she didn't attempt to hit the other girl, since her portals could lead to serious messes if they got out of hand. With a bit of effort, she oriented the exit point at a point horizontal to the floor, and perhaps just a foot or so above it.
When Laura reappeared, Clarice immediately attempted to take advantage of her momentary disorientation and prone state.
To go from standing up right to suddenly being on her stomach on the floor without even being touched was an experience that threw Laura completely, stunning her for a moment and leaving her open. When she felt Clarice touch her back, Laura immediately tried to push up with her arms, growling when she felt the other girl sit on her and press her weight down onto her back to keep her pinned.
Laura made a quick decision, pulling her right leg up so that she could at least get on her knee and then bucked hard a few good times until Clarice lost her balance. When the weight was lifted she rolled away and quickly stood, watching Clarice like a hawk. "Your mutation gives you quite the advantage. I am enjoying the challenge."
"Bet you'd like the challenge e'en more if I knew what I was doin," Clarice noted with a self-deprecating chuckle as she rose from the gym floor, gingerly massaging her butt. "As it is, I'm just sorta makin' it up as I go. Dunno how useful that'd be, in a real fight."
When it seemed Clarice was no longer willing to fight, Laura moved from a defensive position to stand up straight and furrowed her brow in confusion. "It was rather effective on me for 'just making it up as you went'. It has been awhile since I have been taken off guard. You should be proud."
Clarice's cheeks darkened to a much deeper shade of purple than usual, and her eyes flickered toward the floor. "Well," she began uncertainly, "thanks for sayin' so. But I bet it's your first time sparrin' with a teleporter who don' mind cheatin' a little. Next time, you'll be ready for it. And I'll still be pretty amateur, at the straight-up fightin' part." Still, it had been really flattering to hear.
Laura was confused as to why the purple skinned girl seemed to flush when Laura had only said what was true, but she didn't question it an gave a small shrug. "Yes, now that I know, I will learn to adapt to fighting someone who can teleport, as will you when it comes to learning how to fight with and without using your powers."
She cracked her middle knuckle by pressing it down with her thumb. "If you would like, I would not mind helping you."
"I would," Clarice grinned. "Thanks, ay'? I'll try not to slow you down too much. An' I'll work on gettin' better with the basic forms in class, so maybe you won' get too bored knockin' me down over and over."
The left side of Laura's mouth twitched in the start of a smile and she nodded in agreement. "That is good. Knocking someone down is only entertaining the first forty times."
