14361/What Gods Do For Fun

What Gods Do For Fun
Date of Scene:	06 May 2022
Location:	Flatbush, Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Natasha is learning to use spear and shield!
Cast of Characters:	Phobos, Black Widow (Romanoff)

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Phobos has posed:
    The spear tip swung hard enough to strike the shield heavily, sparks flying from the impact as the haft swirled in that smooth motion she has seen him use when they clash. A whirling movement, the shield snapping up to block while the spear slashed forward through the small half-circular gap in the Spartan shield that allowed him to make that thrust over one shoulder and along the broadness of his back. It looked impractical, yet was so deceptive, and fast as a viper's strike even as he retreated a half step to slip out of the way of her counter.
    "You're getting better." His voice was rich with warmth, amusement, even as his brow glowed with the sheen of sweat. Several long hours they had been at this. Starting with the exercises, reinstilling the needed techniques. The fourteen ways of holding the shield and spear. The slight crab walk to close the distance from a guarded profile. The angles of strike and the difference between overhand and underhand grips. It was not unlike the katas she was aware of. For it required the same muscular control, but it was still like learning a new dance and there would be errors.
    For there are always errors.
    It was only this last half hour that they had taken the gloves off and had thundered back and forth across the second floor of their home. The open floor plan giving them the large space needed to train, sparing only a small corner for the kitchenette and the breakfast nook. There was the hallway where their quarters were. But the rest of the second floor... just a forty foot square where they trained.
    Though now each only had eyes for the other. That intensity, that focus. There was still the roil of connection they always have. But also the tension of when each casts the other as their opponent. For this was not play. This was deadly serious.
    Yet no reason they couldn't enjoy it.
    He leapt, planting one bare foot, his loose sweat shorts billowing as he spin letting the centrifugal force slide his hand down along the shaft of the spear until he held it only by the end as he /clanged/ the tip of the spear again against her shield. Bare of chest, powerful, skin glistening from the effort of matching against her. He was beautiful. A golden god in his own right. Just if he'd keep his damn mouth shut.
    "Slow. Do we need to work on cardio soon?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha was a deadly woman in her own right. Give her any sort of weaponry that was somewhat common for the last century and she could handle it. Give her a pencil and she could turn it into a weapon. But things like the spear and shield, those were new to her. Which was exhilarating. It wasn't something that was really used anymore outside a few people. Thus it was giving her another thing to add to her long list.

In this, her role with Alexander was reversed. He was the teacher, she the student. Likely his teaching style was a mix of what he had learned from his father and his own person spin. Either way? It was annoying as hell when he ran his mouth like that.

They had been at this for hours. Thankfully, they didn't have to worry about neighbors. That might have been one to explain to the cops otherwise.

Like him, there was a sheen of sweat on her. She was dressed down in a two-piece leotard, basically looking like a bikini style top and boyshorts. It allowed freedom of movement as she worked through all the motions.

At his comment, she rolled her eyes and dropped into stance, shield held up and the spear in that little notch created for it. "Yes, I had noticed you were starting to slow down." As though his comment was about himself and not her. "We'll add more into your workout. As for me? I'm doing quite well."

Phobos has posed:
    The smile that slid across his face was a wild thing. Was it fair that a God of Fear should be so? That the only sign of his office was that wildness and complete courage as well as bravado? Assuredly not. Yet there he was opposite her with that look of amusement.
    "Well it's true, as a student you do make me terribly tired." The spear tip flickered out and rang as it struck off her shield, then he spun around, a half-step out of range as he tried to bring the haft against her shins to slice her legs out from under her. Yet she'd seen it before and slipped away just as she had been shown.
    To a casual observer they would be a pair almost seeming choreagraphed with such ease of motion and perfection. But they both knew of the other, could see those small gaps in technique. Such as when her retreat gave him the freedom to step in and then their shields came together with a loud /clang/ as he grunted and pushed her back.
    It was in that small moment of imbalance that his spear spun around and he thumped it against the floor, the haft making a /clink/ of sound as the metal shot end struck then the spear point snapped into position braced against his hip and along the curve of the shield. He mostly disappeared behind it, only the top of his head and eyes could be seen as well as his bare feet from her angle.
    "Next time we're kidnapped by a member of my family I want you to be able to kill anyone they match against you." The shield comes up as he blocks the thrusts sent his way, then he adds. "And I totally want to see the look on their faces when you win your first bout and they get all angry."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Now wait a second." Not physically as she never moves out of her position. Holding herself at the ready to be able to react when he attack. Because when he was peeking at her that way, she had no doubt that he was about to again. Admittedly, they had been at this for hours. Her arms and shoulders were burning a bit and he wasn't wrong. She was slowing down. While she was fit, she wasn't used to this sort of weight in the weapon and shield. It was going to take time to build it up. But she also refused to give up first. Nevermind he was a god and didn't tire like a human being. She tended to be pretty damn stubborn.

"You stated that like it is a certainty. The next time. Instead of 'if' we're kidnapped." She circled, feet silent as she moved, preparing for a chance to go on the attack again.

Phobos has posed:
    "Do you think it's unlikely?" They each played the spear tips off of each other a few times, shields making the rough clonk-ka-clonk sounds with each impact. Even as he led forward with several thrusts, pushing off with his back leg and using the forward to brace the shield at points. "I bet you right now one of them is up on Olympus thinking, 'Hah, arena battles, that's something I haven't done in a while!'" The voice Alexander affects for those words is squeaky and nasally and weaselly. Which goes rather far to show his opinion of most of his family.
    There's a sudden step as he leads with that leg again, and most people wouldn't catch that, it's a strong indicator of how far she's come that she can read his body language like that so quickly, and react in time with a downward thrust of the spear to try and slip beneath his shield...
    And since it's a feint... it likely shows how much credit he gives her talents.
    For that spear stabs down and she'll feel it catch along his strong thigh, slicing deep as it slips through the guard, a small spatter of blood marring the floor as those tips are live steel.
    But his reaction isn't to strike back, but instead his shield /crashes/ down hard splintering the haft of the spear leaving her holding only the less pointy bit. When she's on her back foot his own shield /whirls/ across the distance toward her, slamming into her own strong enough to knock it out of line and that's when he pounces. Rushing forward to smack her shield fully out of line and then /tackling/ her hard as he places the haft of that spear across her throat.
    But doesn't press down now that he has her pinned, a small rivulet of blood trickling down his leg as he smiles.
    And for a moment, looking down into her eyes, his smile is just as wild. Those hazel eyes so pale and vibrant, even as a single beadlet of sweat trickles its lonely way down the curve of his neck to slip into the valley of his chest. He looks down at her lips, then back into her eyes.
    And then says gently. "Hi."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
While she was catching on, he had been doing this all of his life. Twenty years. Trained by the god of war himself. To say he was good was an understatement. She was picking things up. Getting better. Able to use her knowledge of fighting to sometimes anticipate a feint or the like. Yet, he was still the master and she the student in this particular scenario.

She knew better than to feel any sense of victory when she drew blood and he proved why a moment later. Slamming through her defense, destroying the weapon and turning it more into a baton, then tackling her to the floor as she let out a gush of air upon impact.

Most people would never see him this way. He was in his element at the moment. He didn't have fear. He didn't have anxiety. If he got hit, he got hit. While anyone he fought, he would be able to sense those emotions in them. Feed off them likely. It added to his wildness. But for most people, he was as he presented himself publically. A laid back young man, mellow, easy-going. Few would know his truth.

She was lucky to be one of them.

She saw the look from him even as she had her hands braced against that piece of broken wood, trying to keep him from pressing down enough to interfere with her breathing. Truthfully, he was stronger than her. His upper body strength would not be resisted for too long. So she smiled at him. "Hi, baby." And she gave a little pursed lip smoochie motion as though blowing him a kiss.

Even as she lifted her legs up behind him, that flexibility and strength that made her deadly. He had turned this into hand-to-hand instead of spear play. And there she usually excelled, though he did damn well. She just happened to be a little better. Her core tightened as her legs came up behind him. One hooked around the front of his throat, the other locked with that leg. She heaved downward, trying to pull him back and off her but not intending to give up that hold around his neck if it worked. If it didn't work, it was a matter of who got to who first: him with the spear haft or her with her calves.

Phobos has posed:
    She had the distinct rarity of seeing him surprised, seeing his eyes widened as suddenly she bent and got that calf across his neck and then /yoinked!/ hard enough to pull him up and off of her as her own strength was nothing to scoff at considering her own dose of super soldier serum. Hard enough that she got that haft clear of her throat sending it flying to clatter against the couch some distance away as it fell behind it.
    Then he was rolling away, able to at least get clear as he flipped once backward and ended up on one knee and with one hand, crouched partially as he started to rise up. Shaking his head as he gained his feet, getting ready he pointed at her. No words saying, but the silent look in his eyes said that she was in trouble now and she would totally pay.
    Which was tinged with a smirk as he brought his fists up and settled into stance, for now the weapons forgotten. But he does offer a few words finally as he says, "So when are you leaving next?"
    No harm in having a small conversation while fighting for your life.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Like most women, her lower body was actually stronger than her upper body. It just was a thing. She had never been happy with that and made sure to concentrate on her upper body because of it. Throw in that Soviet version of the super soldier serum that had been given her back in the Red Room and she wasn't a typical opponent. Of course he already knew that.

When he falls into stance, Natasha tilted her head slightly to the side as she moved. Sliding one foot back and shifting to give him less of a target by putting her side in his direction. One hand came up in front of her, the other chambered in a fist down at her side. She flicked her gaze down to his wounded leg then back to his face.

"Are you certain you don't want to wait until that heals? Then we can start again?"

Phobos has posed:
    "Oh /now/ you're concerned about me being injured." Alexander's smile is wry as he then draws up, standing straighter and that smile slipping more toward smirking. It's all it takes in that moment, just that change of body language to let her know that for now their sparring was done even as he closes the distance to walk to her with arms wide and if she allows he'll draw her into a hug.
    There's no trickery there, since they do this almost every day. Sometimes it ends with one of them tapping, other times it just becomes a moment where they decide that they're done for the day. But for now he draws close and rests his arms around her waist, smiling into her eyes as he looks down, considering the height difference.
    And then it's time for candid words as he says with a gentler smile, "You did really well. I don't think even my father could fault your stance or form." And with that he touches a small kiss to the corner of her mouth, one hand lifting to brush fingers through her short hair as he gives a brush of his nose against hers.
    "You have any observations to make?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
She leaned comfortable against him as they embraced, resting her head on his shoulder. It was slick with sweat. Warmer than usual, which was saying something with his Olympian physiology. Some people would have an issue with all of that. For her, it was like being home as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close.

She turned her head up to look at his face as he spoke. "I'm sure he would." Because Ares wasn't the most understanding of teachers. He tended to be far harder of a teacher than she was. Which was saying a lot since she tended to be a hardass as a trainer. There was a reason the SHIELD trainees hated when she got involved.

"I feel like I'm getting better but worry I'd get trounced soundly in a real battle. I did appreciate that I was able to read your feint this time."

Phobos has posed:
    "In a battle line you'd be exceptional. In a duel you'd be merely great." Alexander's smile is wry as he held her close, just inhaling slowly as his broad chest lifts then lowers. A lift of the other shoulder she's not cuddled against has him taking a test-sniff and then making a face.
    "I... really need a shower." As he says that he gives her a loving squeeze, kissing the center of her brow gently before moving to start to disentangle, though likely she has a say in whether he's successful or not. But his intention is likely to head on down that hall toward the bathroom and their quarters.
    "What do you want to do with the rest of your day off?" He asks sidelong, tilting his head curiously. The last time he had decided when they wandered off to get sushi which was... an event. But now it's her choice.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I think you are biased," Natasha returned as she grinned up at him from her comfortable position. "I'll have to find some super villain that uses a sword and spear and take them down, find out if you are lying to me."

As he does his sniff test, she resists the urge to do the same. Honestly, after the hours they have put in today, they are both likely ripe. She allows him to disengage but not before she stands up on tiptoe and steals a quick kiss. Then she swats him on the bottom as he heads for the bathroom. "About time."

She considers following him but instead she heads toward the kitchen, to get a bottle of water first. "I'll have to think about it. I didn't really have anything specific in mind."

Phobos has posed:
    Over his shoulder he shouts, "Well hurry up!"
    Then, of course, he beats a hasty retreat into the bathroom. Though he does leave the door open, and after a few more moments there's the hiss of the shower in the background.