6157/Changeling: Fossil Tossing

Changeling: Fossil Tossing
Date of Scene:	11 January 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	May arranges a slightly unusual training session for Skye with the potential of becoming a fast-paced game of super soldier dodgeball.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Quake, Captain America, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye (Barton), War Machine
Tinyplot:	Changeling

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Melinda May has posed:
Melinda May was indeed saddled with the job of Assistant Director for the time being, but that does NOT mean she's letting her exercise regimen slip. By no means. And, when she can, she'll pull others in for multiple reasons. Today, it's to evaluate where Skye's at with her new, customized training. And that kind of evaluation is going to require some extra assistance.

Hence the assembled group of individuals.

She looks at everyone around, and starts to explain. "Skye. You're improving with your control and aim. But up to now it seems you've been working with inanimate and stationary targets. Time to increase the difficulty level. Barton, keep helping her with aim. Rhodes, work with her on timing. Rogers, Barnes. We're going start off with giving her moving objects to aim at."

That likely explains the multiple bags of red, bouncy, dodgeball balls sitting nearby as well as a hopper of tennis balls, and even a few of those truly large exercise balls that trendy hipsters like to use as chairs.

Quake has posed:
No, Really. Skye had been working on things, and so far she'd gotten as far as 'didn't need to have the bejesus scared out of her to get things going' so to speak. It was, however, still a little hit or miss as to how long it took for her to ramp things up, and just how hard her hits were once she released them. It all had a lot to do with how distracted she was, or how worried she was about hurting someone, or breaking things, or whether or not it was big or small, and holy crap was May actually suggesting they throw dodge balls at her to practice her aim?

"Wait a minute! We are not throwing things at me to see if I can dodge them." Oh, god, they were going to play dodge ball. "Is this some sort of payback for that hanging you from the rafters to keep you from Lara, because you said that was a smart move, and I swear I haven't told a soul since."

Until now. Ooops.

Melinda May has posed:
"That had not been my plan," May admits, "but now that you've mentioned it we'll work up to that."

Captain America has posed:
"Well...it's better than what I expected," Steve asides quietly to the brunet beside him. Dressed in the usual gym-wear of fitted t-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers, he was half-expecting to be used as a target, though more for the verbal type. "The dodgeballs don't look too bad." His brows flick high as he stands there, relaxed, arms loosely crossed. "Bet you lunch that you'll take one of the large ones to the face," he adds, smirking over at Bucky. Anyone unable to dodge those is worth mocking.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck's apparently back in the fold. For he's i sweatpants and t-shirt, too. "I'm not taking that bet," he says, drily. "I know you." He's kind of somber, as he has been since Loki freed him from HYDRA's grip. Memories haven't come back, for the most part, and the few that have aren't good. So he's been sticking close to Steven as much as possible, like he's some sort of cyborg gosling that's imprinted on the Captain.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint's dressed in SHIELD sweats and holding up the wall when May makes her presentation. It brings a smirk to the archer's face one he turns to Skye, "Nah, Keyboard, it sounds like we'll be providing moving targets for-"

May makes her amendment and Clint corrects himself. "Or you may have given May ideas..." he says with a chuckle.

He pushes off the wall, with a smile for Skye and a nod to May. "So, where do you want me boss?"

As for the others gathered around, they get nods of greeting.

War Machine has posed:
     Rhodes is dressed for the Gunshow. It's been a long while since he's been in anything sleeveless but looking at him it's clear he keeps himself in prime fighting shape. He's got the sort of muscles that are fairly telling of the fact even now he still keeps that Marine Core standard.

     He's dressed in his own workout gear, which is the same workout gear it's been since he left boot camp. Nothing too impressive just some real easy to move about in thin clothing for getting the job done.

     He'd gotten here a bit early, and decided to start up with his warm ups, make sure he was in prime condition for whatever was going on today, and well he certainly looks the part.

     Rippling muscles and abs showing through that shirt, legs that have run the gamut. His usually overly baggy clothing does a fantastic job of hiding his physical condition and training. Just a shame he doesn't have any of that baggy clothing to hide behind now.

     "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, give the game master any ideas." He speaks with a deadpan determination in his voice as if he were dealing a life and death situation, not even once cracking a smile. "Alright so it's cut a deal with a dragon, but the point still stands." He rolls out his shoulders.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods Clint toward the tennis and red bouncy balls. "Let's start with an example."

She hefts one of the exercise balls -- the thing is WAY bigger than her torso, but she refuses to make wrangling it look unwieldy -- and tells the archer, "I'm going to throw this across to Barnes, try to knock it off course. You have your choice of ammo."

She walks across the sparring mat from the two super soldiers, then calls out, "Barnes. Catch." And she launches the exercise ball across to the darker-haired of the pair whether he's actually ready or not.

Please don't deflate the ammo. They only have so many to work with right now.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He's ready - of course he is. Buck's got reflexes like a steel trap. It's the alloy hand that comes up, of course, in a gleam of liquid metal. The question is....does William Tell over there take it out first.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Of course Clint "William Tell" Barton is going to knock the ball off course. It's not even a question. It's really just a matter of how much style he's going to do it with.

In this case Clint ducks grabs a tennis ball off the ground, does a single flip and let's fly, the green ball flying across the room to strike the exercise ball just before it reached Bucky, sending it bouncing off wildly.

"So like that?" Clint asks all innocent like when he's done. The effect is ruined by the big shit eating grin he's wearing.

Quake has posed:
Skye's brow furrows. "Choice of ammo?" Because rightly, she doesn't need to use *anything* to knock if off course. Unless using something to knock it off course is the point, which just upped the difficulty of this little ballgame (see what I did there?) a whole notch or four. "Uh.. you know I'm still getting the hang of this, right?"

Odds are really good she's going to explode a ball or two (or six, or eight.. you can follow the math) if she's using balls to knock balls off course. Let alone if she were just nudging the balls with airwaves.

Regardless of what May intends her to do, though, it all starts with focus, and that's a thing Skye has been working a /lot/ on lately. Turns out those breathing exercises she learned oh soooo long ago weren't just for cutesy fun or stuff.

She's also really happy to let Clint throw balls. He's one of the worlds best gosh darn archers after all, if you can't cheat using your boyfriend, when can you cheat?

Captain America has posed:
A round of golf-applause from the Captain standing beside Bucky as he watches the results of the two balls colliding. "Nice shot as always, Barton," he comments, grinning at the archer.

Melinda May has posed:
"Skye, I want you to use your abilities to knock projectiles off course. Rogers and Barnes will be throwing them to each other for you to aim at. And Rhodes and Barton will take turns helping you with aim and timing and with me throwing more targets for you to aim at." She'll let the super soldiers throw the exercise balls. They're heavier.

She gets out the red bouncy balls and stands with one in each hand waiting for Rhodes and Barton to decide who will be her first victim.

Quake has posed:
Okay, now that much Skye understood a whole lot better. It still ranked up there in 'you realize I'm just learning this' territory, because focusing both on projectiles (albeit large ones!) /and/ the fact that they were moving... But May was right, Skye had been playing it safe up to this point, and there really was only so much the girl could learn poking her powers at helpless inanimate objects just sitting there looking innocent and waiting.

Thankfully, she hadn't taken out anymore swaths of forest. But there was a table and chair set in her quarters that didn't fare so well..

"Gotcha," Skye says more confidently, now that she has both an idea, and can feel the familiar tingly awareness of power gathering within her. She wasn't ready to let loose yet, but she was extending it to feel out for one of the balls. One of the BIG balls. Because bigger was louder in Skye terms, and right now louder was easier.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck....well, sometimes the jagged edges of his psyche still get him. So there's a muttered excuse to Steve, and he's slinking out. Got to find somewhere quiet to just breathe for a while.

Captain America has posed:
Steve gives his oldest friend a quick nod and does not acknowledge his absence further but for a lingering watchfulness until the man is out of sight. Something to check in on later. For now, however, he's got exercise balls to catch. As such, the Captain readies himself and sighs, hands held outright before his body. "Let's get this show on the road," he says, wiggling his fingers like the good sport he is.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Thanks, Cap," Clint says with a bow to Steve.

When May lays things out, Clint nods and moves beside Skye. "Good luck," he says putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Like the man said, let's get this show on the road," he says stepping away from Skye again lest anything be sent his way first.

Melinda May has posed:
As Barnes abruptly takes his leave and Rhodes is called away, May simply nods to each of them. To the former to acknowledge his need for space, and to the latter as thanks for agreeing to be here.

Looking across the sparring mats at Steve, she apparently plans to go easy on Skye at first, lobbing one red bouncy ball in a slow and gentle arc over the intervening space and giving the younger woman plenty of time and space to knock the thing aside.

Quake has posed:
Okay, that first ball lobbed at her? Not so bad at all. First, she's got plenty of time to see it coming. Second, it's her first shot - no fatigue. Third, it's a slow, easy lob that's not meant to hit her with any force, or put any panic in her of getting hit by the thing. Just a nice, easy lob of a decent sized ball that Skye has good vision on, and a decent feel for.

That's why the first ball is knocked nicely out of the way and bounces away innocuously like a good dodge ball, and rolls itself into a corner to think about its poor performance in not hitting its target.

That's because it's the first ball. And an easy one at that.

Captain America has posed:
Steve watches the ball deflect from its gentle arc and nods. "Easy enough." He takes a few steps to the side and gathers up one of the exercise balls. Returning to place, he squares up with May and then lobs the ball back towards her.

His arc is not as high nor as slow, but a gradual increase in difficulty instead. It flies across the space between May and the Captain, bright in its curving path.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint scoops up a couple of tennis balls, juggling them idly as he watches. "Good shot," he remarks to Skye as she knocks the first one out of the air.

The second though is faster, still he says, "You've got this," while still juggling the tennis balls.

Melinda May has posed:
May braces to catch the large exercise ball. This is going to be her exercise for the day, because those things weigh a fair bit, and they hit kind of like a boxing heavy bag when thrown. Of course, what she's HOPING is she'll never get to catch any of them because Skye is knocking them clear before they get to her.

She's got that second red bouncy ball in hand, though, and that could make catching a bit more of a challenge. So she hastily launches it away from herself. Coincidentally at the now-juggling Clint. Really.

Quake has posed:
Ah.. the gist of the game becomes clearer to Skye as most (if not all) of the balls are pointedly thrown other places (May seems to be an exception, throwing spanners into the gears to keep Skye on her toes), with some intent for Skye to see that none of them make it to their targets.

At least that's the current interpretation she's going for.

Unfortunately, she's still not got all that much finesse behind her. That big exercise ball - totally an easy mark. Unfortunatly, it's totally an easy mark. That sucker slams into the wall and explodes in a rather defeaning manner, the percussive sound of it reverberating through the room, and, as it happens, dropping Skye to her knees with her hands over her ears, wincing. Because *loud*. And unprepared. And did we mention *loud* for someone who hears things move on a molecular level if she listens for them?

Clint's tennis balls are lucky. So is everyone else. Those suckers would have flung out like shrapnel had they taken that blast from Skye.

Captain America has posed:
Blinking a few times in surprise, Steve stretches his jaw in sympathy for his ringing ears. "Been a while since I heard something like that," he comments quietly before rubbing at the ear that was facing the explosion of the training ball. He decides not to throw the next ball he stoops to pick up. Rather, the blond man waits patiently, glancing between May and Clint and then to Skye herself. He understands the need to gather oneself as necessary.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
When May hurls the balls at Clint the archer begins to move out of the way when suddenly the ball just isn't there. It's slammed /hard/ into the wall with a resounding boom. Like Steve, Clint blinks too. "Wow," he says. This wasn't the first time he'd seen that sort of thing. He'd been on hand for the dinner table incident after all. Still Skye's powers could be shocking, case in point.

He ducks down to grab the balls he dropped. "You alright?" he asks Skye, his tone quiet. "You need a break, just say so."

Melinda May has posed:
May doesn't react as strongly as the others to the sheer NOISE of the ball exploding against the wall -- not visibly, at least. She does freeze for several seconds before recovering and looking at the others, particularly Skye. By this point, Clint's already checking to make sure she's okay, and opts to not crowd the younger woman. Instead, she takes the time to gather up the various balls scattered about so they'll be close at hand when Skye is ready to start again.

And if she opts to end this here, well, cleanup will be that much easier.

Quake has posed:
Skye shakes her head, getting up slowly. She's visibly surprised by what she jsut did, and, more to the point, the resulting noise caught her off guard, but she's not ready to give up yet. "Heh, not even close to a forest's worth, Skye jokes lamely. "I forget myself sometimes. Still working out the kinks. Sorry everyone."

Once she's standing again, there's a reassuring nod that it's okay, and the game should go on. "I think a little less kaboom next time. And.. maybe a lot less listening than feeling out. Holy, that was loud."

Clint gets an extra grin. "And you. You're supposed to be trying to hit people, not show off your fancy juggling skills. Sheesh. Steve is gonna put you to shame, and you're our marksman."

Okay, Steve was NOT shabby in the marksman department, but Skye has to tease them somehow.

Captain America has posed:
Steve tosses and catches the exercise ball in his hand with lazy skill. He grins, just a little, as he adds to Skye's thought.

"Me? Have better aim than Barton? Maybe once in a blue moon." Whenever Skye is ready and May is alert, he lobs his ball back at the Director. The same speed as before, but a lower arc, so the travel time appears to be faster than it actually is. This will take some leading in terms of aim.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"No doubt," Clint said of it being loud, rubbing at his ear. Even though it'd taken some damage in the big kaboom up in Canada, he could still hear the ball exploding against the wall just fine.

"Everyone's a crititc," he teases about the juggling. "Well I can step in for May or Steve next round and throw a bit back and forth if you think you're up to the challenge," he says putting on a smug front. He looks to the other agents, "What do you say?"

As for Steve being a better shot, Clint snorts, but he backs up Steve's claim. "Steve's got game. Some of those bounces he gets with the shield... they confuse the heck out of me." he says offering Cap a grin.

Melinda May has posed:
"If you're feeling underutilized, Barton," May says while again bracing to catch this next ball, "Take my place here, and I'll make your and Rogers' tasks a bit more challenging at the same time."

Yes, she's suggesting they keep lobbing practice targets for Skye while at the time time trying to avoid getting beaned by May.

Quake has posed:
Skye has to gather herself together again, but it doesn't take so long to focus this time. She's got the idea, and the feeling in her bones so to speak. She manages to redirect another toss, this time with not only fair ease, but instead of rolling away, it just neatly hovers for a moment before seeming to roll backwards in the air.

Of course Ms. Thang gets a bit excited by that success and immediately loses it, but she did it - for a brief second, she had that thing doing her bidding, and it felt good. Better still, she knew what it felt like now - all the easier to repeat the performance.

Captain America has posed:
Steve takes a few steps forwards to catch the ball headed back in his direction. After it's in his hands, he tosses it a few times and examines it to see if it was physically affected. Not this time. He looks at Director May and there's the smallest curl of a smile.

"A little spice on this one," says he, and this throw is markedly faster than the rest. It's still got an arcing pathway, indicative of pulled power, but it's going to take some bracing to catch it if it's not deflected first.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint blinks when Skye sets the ball to hovering before a grin spreads over his features and he mutters, "Show off," with laughter in his voice as the ball bounces away.

"Sure thing," Clint says when May offers to switch with him. He moves to take her place, picking up one of the heavier exercise balls.

Which of course puts him in the way of the speeding ball Steve throws his way. "Aww ball," he whines even as he braces himself for impact.

Melinda May has posed:
May promptly ducks clear when Clint accepts, circles around behind Skye, and then starts scooping up tennis balls to fling at Steve and Clint from close enough to the younger woman that it might as well be her throwing them.

Oh, and she's not throwing gently, either.

She's no professional baseball or softball player, but she can throw. And she knows where to aim to make the hits sting without being dangerous.

Quake has posed:
Sure, Skye grins when she shows off. Hey, she's only got a few tricks up her sleeve right now, and this whole inhuman thing has been a not as pleasant as you might think journey, so a bit of smug along the way might be valid.

The switchover of players is taken in stride, but that curveball is literally that - a curveball.

Skye's hit on Stive's ball arrives at the same time Steve's ball hits Clint. Luckily, it's not a full powered blow - more like a fun punch on the shoulder between friends.

"Ooops," she laughs.

Only May starts in with the tennis ball barrage, and well, the game is on.

Skye manages several - if only by virtue of a wide swathed push. A couple get decent singular blows to them. Skye might just be getting the hang of this thing after all.

Captain America has posed:
There must be some element of revenge in the speed and impact of those tennis balls. Steve immediately rolls up a shoulder at the first one that flies past his head. The next one hits him firmly in the hip and he laughs when the third one whocks off his head with a loud sound. Bucky would have commented on his skull being hollow with how it sounded.

"Barton, you've got competition!" He dances about in place, leaning left and right and ducking and being bopped here and there until ammunition runs out or the practice ceases, whichever comes first. The Captain, having successfully aided in the exercise (and avoided being chewed out thus far) is then content to help scrouge up errant balls (and pieces of them) from around the area before he leaves to go scrounge up one Mister Barnes, if only make sure that he's okay.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint's fast, just about as fast as any plain vanilla human can get, but with the speeding exercise ball coming one way, and the tennis balls the other, Clint really doesn't have a choice but to hit the deck and hope for the best.

Clint rolls and then flips back up to his feet. "Seems like it," he calls to Steve before the other man disengages. "Good shooting, May," he says, grabbing one of the tennis balls off the ground and hurling it at May, then ducking again to grab one of the big exercise balls which he sends flying towards Skye.

Melinda May has posed:
Of course Barton would start throwing things back at May. She's fine with that. And, she proves she's seen the movie 'A League of Their Own', catching the thrown tennis ball and looking at Barton as if unimpressed. Of course, then he's a target in earnest.

Quake has posed:
Balls. Balls. BAlls everywhere. It's beginning to look a little like a drag show let loose - only without the drag, and without the show, and a lot less heels.

And... it's been a lot more concentrated effort using her powers than Skye is used to on this level - especially given the relative lack of *kaboom* and *kablooie* or other mishaps.

She manages a few of the now flying fairly fast, and moderately furious balls, but there are just too many, and after a the first few deflections, more reach their destination than are sent other ways, and while she's trying - reaching out with her hands and making the motions of it all - Skye's actions are too little, too late, and it's clear she's getting oerwhelmed and overtired by the fact that even her regular body reflexes are failing.

A for effort, but it's time.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
As much as Clint seems to be just having fun hurling things at Skye, he keeps a close watch on her progress. She's looking better, looking good even, and he's impressed. Though as more balls fly, and she begins to tire, he pauses, grabbing one of the mid-sized balls he asks, "Keyboard, you ready for a break?"

The ball is held close like a shield just in case May has another ball to throw his way.

Melinda May has posed:
The moment Clint notices Skye appearing to tire, she calls a halt to the training. They've been at it for a good little while, after all. And the younger agent was clearly getting the hang of deflecting -- even catching -- the balls with her powers. So, as much as Clint just made himself a perfect target, she doesn't throw another ball at him.

Time to clean up, and May perhaps surprisingly lets Skye and Clint take off while she stays and Steve helps her tidy up.