7253/The Martial Arts

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The Martial Arts
Date of Scene: 16 April 2019
Location: Jason's Brownstone - Gotham
Synopsis: Jason and Kitty meditate and speak of the darkness that inhabits them both.
Cast of Characters: Red Hood, Shadowcat




Red Hood has posed:
They had been training for hours, it seemed. It was easy to tell that Jason was impressed with Kitty's skills in her limited scope of martial arts, and he tried to open up more of his arsenal to her. It was clear there was a lot that he knew but seemed to hold back on to instead use guns and other ranged weapons. It was a crux, really, a puzzle to be figured out.

Eventually, however, there was a call for a break to the action, and time to meditate after the training. He glanced over at Kitty, in her racer back top and shorts that cling to her like a second skin as he settles down, dressed only in a pair of workout pants as he settles on a mat to close his eyes, folding his legs into a lotus position as he settles down, expecting Kitty to join him.

Shadowcat has posed:
The Gothamite would find his girlfriend is quite skilled in the forms that she knows, though lacks Jason's wider-ranging experience and ability to incorporate multiple styles together. Swords in particular are a strength for Kitty.

After the workout, she gets a drink of water and then moves over to the mat to meditate. Kitty moves to take a similar stance about arm's reach in front of Jason. She gets settled onto the mat and lets her eyes linger over her boyfriend for a few moments. The sight brings a smile to her, starting her out on her meditation on a positive note though she is soon breathing slowly and deep, and trying to let all of her emotions slip away. Even those positive ones.

Red Hood has posed:
The sword play was actually exciting, though they didn't use real blades on each other - even if she could phase. He wasn't quite ready to take that step of trust with her. As he closes his eyes, he starts a small mantra. She's heard it before - it was the same one that he was using the night that she tried to use his own meditation techniques and was faced with something she wasn't prepared for.

Tonight, she's not alone. Subconsciously, his hand reaches out to hers, his fingers wrapping and twining with hers as he continues to meditate. There's a faint outline that is starting to form on his chest, the markings that she had seen that first time starting to make themselves known.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde's eye peeks open when he takes her hand. It puts a soft smile on her face, as most contact with him does. The young woman's love for Jason seems to only grow stronger with each passing day. She's gazing over at his face and smiling when she notices that faint image start to become noticeable.

Kitty's fingers gently close a little more on Jason's hands as she watches him. Her breathing is forgotten for the moment as her head tilts to the side a little bit. Haven't only gotten the faintest glimpse before, and not really enough explanation to satisfy her curiosity. Her gaze sweeps over his glistening torso, watching to see what happens next.

Red Hood has posed:
"You should let me help you. You're not alone with him anymore." Jason says quietly to her, feeling her squeeze, knowing that she has broken her concentration for the moment. He doesn't open his eyes to her, his voice is only that of a gentle chide.

His soft chant returns, his concentration returning to himself as he continues to speak, that soft glow taking on the form of the marks that were made on him - the marks that were made to help balance his soul back within him.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde doesn't try to return to her meditation, but instead watches as the marks begin to glow. She leans a little closer to see them better as they begin to glow with that otherworldly light. "The marks that you bare? What are they that they help you as they do?" Kitty asks Jason quietly. "How do they work? Do they have their own power, or does it connect you to... something, someone...?" Kitty asks.

She's trying to fit them into her framework of understanding with such supernatural, or magic, entities as she has experience in her lifetime. Though she also realizes she only knows enough to start to grasp how little she knows of such things.

Red Hood has posed:
"When I died, Kitty, my soul left me." Jason responds. The runes are anctient mandarian - very old, very.. different. They continue to glow with that soft blue almost flame like quality. "When whatever it was that brought me back happened.. my soul did not return. I was a man without a soul. A shell of death. When Talia found me, when she took me to the Lazarus Pit to return my soul to me - it didn't want to return." he admits quietly.

"I knew I wanted to be alive. But I had only one purpose. To kill. To avenge. To make everyone hurt as much as I did in those days before.." he trails off for a moment. "These marks? Darca put these on me. To bind my soul to me again. Before she submerged me in the healing waters of the Acres of All to cleanse me. To remove the anger. The frustration. It didn't make much of a difference. But it did make me human again. And not just a soulless killer that you'd never wanted."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde's thumb moves slowly over Jason's hand as she holds it. Her eyes gaze over at the blue flickering images, alternating between them, and Jason's face. "To face what you have, and what you do... and live a good life as a good man, and want to live a good life, as a good man... it speaks so much to the soul that you have," Kitty tells Jason quietly. "Some are never tested. Others are tested, and pass or fail. Then there are those of us who every day is a test for, even if others don't understand it."

Her fingers squeeze at his just a little more. "I understand it. Even if it is a little different for the two of us, I still can relate," she tells him quietly. "I love you, Jason Todd," she whispers to him, looking over to his eyes, even if they are closed.

Red Hood has posed:
"I know. I love you too. But I am not the only one sitting here, with darkness in their soul. Even if it's taken refuge in it's deepest roots of your being." Jason responds, his hand squeezing hers. "It will test you, eventually. And I do not want to lose you. Ever." he promises her quietly.

"When you are ready, we will face it." he offers to her quietly as he draws in his breath a few times, and gives a little swallow. "It does not have to be today. It does not have to be any time soon. But when you are ready to step forward. To bring your darkness out and figure out how to control it.. I will be here. Either as your lover. Or your friend." In case they do break up.

"Or your husband." The more hopeful solution.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty draws in a slow breath, holding it and letting it go. It's only partially meditation. The other part is just liking the sound of that last part. "I'm ready to marry you. Even if I think it's best we take it slow? I know in my heart that I want you, Jason," she tells him.

She brings his hand up to her cheek and leans her head against it for a few moments. "The ninja sorcerer wanted to take me over. Replace my mind with his. It would have happened, if I accepted what he put in me."

Kitty falls silent, eyes upon his chest and those glowing glyphs that mark Jason's skin. "While he might be dead, and unable to complete it... what he put in me is still there. Can still affect me and change me. I don't think it is something that can be controlled. Only resisted. Trying to control it would be accepting it and giving it a path out."

Kitty kisses the backs of Jason's knuckles before lowering his hand, letting it rest in hers again. "Though what you face sounds different. Needs to be confronted. I'll help you in that however I can. As your wife one day. As your girl, until then."

Red Hood has posed:
"Then we will figure that out. Together. What I have is not somegthing to be confronted. It's to be communed with and understood. After all, it is a part of me." Jason admits. "As much as you are part of me as well." he opens his eyes at the kiss, drinking her in, as the glow starts to dissipate, "Then we will work together.. and make each other.. and our children. Together."

With that, he leans over, pressing a kiss to Kitty's mouth, slow and warm, his free hand reaching up to caress her hair to guide her back on the mat.. to pass the afternoon away.