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| Virtue Verses the Boxing Bag; Johan | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 21 2011, 11:53 AM (339 Views) | |
| Sadie Newman | Jan 21 2011, 11:53 AM Post #1 |
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January 21 Mid morning Life had changed, to say the least, and some of her shortcomings had become more apparent, specifically her physical prowess. Or lack of it. She’d kept fit enough over the years, and like many mutants she had a faster-than-average metabolism, if only slightly. But it was enough to ensure that she carried little excess weight. But she was crap in a fight – the best tool in her arsenal was a kick to the crotch and maybe a slap. She needed to improve her ability to beat the hell out of somebody without her abilities – should the very rare opportunity present itself that they were unavailable. She didn’t like to think so much about that development, because… well, she was rather fond of them. But so many other members of the Brotherhood seemed to keep up on their training and ability to fling themselves around bodily and do all sorts of other interesting and physically intimidating things, that she thought she should at least try. Start small though, maybe she could beat up a punching bag (and make sure it didn’t hit her back), or bike an exercycle into submission. It was with such noble – okay, maybe not – thoughts in mind that she finally scrambled her way out of her new bed in the Brotherhood compound, and tugged on a loose fitting tank top over a sports bra, and a pair of shorts that she found on the floor. A pair of socks, a desperate search for sports shoes and an untangling of iPod earphones later, she was finally ready to get her fitness groove on. As she exited her room and wandered the hallway, she grappled her sleep-tousled mass of auburn hair into a ponytail and proceeded to get lost on her way to the gym facility. The facility – which she’d seen once before – impressed her again, once she found it. It was quite state of the art, designed on many elements to deal with the rigours of mutant abilities. There were machines that contained weights of ridiculous amounts and tracks made with high-density material to stand the beating speedster feet or disproportionally heavy mutants would give them. But aside from this, the gym also functioned as any normal gym, albeit high-tech and remarkable. It was for this purpose that the gravikinetic intended to use it, to first enhance her already present level of fitness. She first needed the endurance to run around and kick people in the head, before she could even try and do so. She started off sensibly, with a slowly-paced jog around one of the smaller tracks to warm herself up, before changing to a game of the same practice with a slightly different purpose. Picking a court, she raced to one line, then back, then to the next line, and back, until she’d completed the entire court and was definitely regretting the idea. It challenged her to stop on spot, turn fast, and repeat the process multiple times. Reflexes, or something. And then she was off to teach the nearest boxing bag a lesson in humility. Except, the only lesson’s sh herself had learnt when it came to boxing were from the television, and apparently entirely impractical. Because whatever the hell she was doing hurt her fists like a bitch as she pummelled the bag, and it hardly moved at all. Regardless of how she adjusted her fingers and thumb, or aimed at the bloody sack, vibrations of pain still tingled through her bones and were thoroughly uncomfortable. It was in a fit of frustration that Sadie gave up being good and thrust a small beam of concentrated gravitons at the god forsaken bag. However, suspended as it was from the ceiling, it really didn’t require that much force to move the bag – she, apparently, was just exceptionally inept when it came to boxing, or very weak – and the bag swung out further than she had expected, and consequently, back towards her just as much. In fact, into her as she hadn’t moved out of the way fast enough, and the bag smacked into her with a meaty sound and knocked her on her ass. Pissed off, sweaty, and with a sore ass from the fall, Sadie flopped onto her back and gazed at the ceiling. “Fucking exercise.” |
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| Johan | Jan 21 2011, 12:54 PM Post #2 |
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Johan was sitting on the foot of his bed staring at the television screen before him. On one hand he had some coke, on the other the remote. He lazily flitted through channels half-heartedly as he sipped his cold coke. He was bored, very bored. There was absolutely nothing to do in the Sanctuary. Sure there were shops but he was broke so nothing to buy. There were bars but he was broke so nothing to buy. There were restaurants but again he was broke so again he had nothing to buy. He made a sideways glance on his coffee table. There was a cup of water there next to his wallet. He made those H20 molecules rise up in the air and toss Johan’s wallet at him before landing back in the cup with a soft plop. Johan let the wallet hit him on the side then land on the bed. Tossing the remote back and putting the coke can on the floor he picked up his wallet and took a peek inside. He was greeted by a big fat…two thousand dollar worth of cash. Okay, so he wasn’t broke. But to Johan he felt broke. He used to be worth millions, he lived in a penthouse and ate food that Madonna would beg for. However now he lived in a run down apartment in the Sanctuary and ate pizza for breakfast. And lunch. And usually dinner. That was definitely not healthy. He lifted his shirt to look at his growing stomach. He hadn’t worked out in a long while, and though Johan was not an exercising freak, he most wanted to still be in shape. He knew there would come a time when he could not use his powers to get him out of tough situations but only his own body. He quickly changed into a black sleeveless shirt, boxing shorts, and tennis shoes. He grabbed a water bottle and bolted out the door with the T.V. still turned on. He quickly made his way to the Brotherhood training facility. He never actually used it before but luckily he knew the way. He heard it was pretty damn high-tech, serving the needs of physically enhanced mutants. Johan doubted they had an indoor pool though; Johan loved to swim but he would make do with whatever the gym had to offer. Johan thought he would be alone. His was wrong. There in the facility a red-haired woman was working out. Working out being used very lightly. She was punching a punching bag, go figure, with awkward success. Johan could tell she was uncomfortable. She kept switching had formations and such. Johan was no expert but he was pretty sure she was doing it wrong. Finally she seemed to push the bag without touching it. It could have been cool if the bag didn’t swing back at her slamming her to the floor. That made it comical. Johan bit down his laughter. He did not want to laugh at because he wasn’t exactly an expert. However he did take lessons when he was a young boy. He gave up in a few weeks. Can blame a kid for quitting boxing. “Fucking exercise.” Johan quietly went closer. “Not a boxer huh?” he asked with a small trace of laughter. He knew he should have removed all trace of amusement for the woman’s benefit but he couldn’t help himself. He walked over to her and stretched out his hand. “Johan Hill.” |
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| Sadie Newman | Jan 21 2011, 03:10 PM Post #3 |
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Sadie huffed a breath of air upwards and blew a couple of strands of long auburn hair out of her face as she lay on the ground. It was quite relaxing on the ground, nice and cool against her flesh too, as her body, so little used to this odd form of unexpected exercise, was rebelling and overheating a little. Layering one hand over the other and placing the pair on her stomach, Sadie continued to do nothing in particular, simply breathing in slowly and peacefully. Her eyes wavered closed, and snapped back open as the low scuff of soft steps on rubber soles sounded nearby. Turning her head slightly, she regarded the tall figure of a strange man as he drew up next to her, but didn’t bother to move from her position on the floor. If he was going to attack her, she was clearly not going to overpower him physically. She could use her power lying flat-backed on the floor as well as she could standing on two feet. Besides, he could only possibly be a fellow Brotherhood member here in this compound, and as such it was unlikely that he would attack her, at least unprovoked. Still, the gaze with which she regarded him was wary. As he spoke, however, a smile flickered over Sadie’s lips and her eyelids flicked shut again for a second, a somewhat self-depreciating act, though only mild, because of course Sadie had a rather magnificent ego at times and rarely let other people smack it around. But she could recognise idiotic behaviour on her part, and getting knocked over by a punching bag you were fighting definitely qualified as such. Still, when the man offered a hand, Sadie slipped her smaller one into his and allowed him to pull her into a sitting position, where she was able to clamber to her feet, and rather unimpressive height of five foot and three inches – especially when compared what was clearly the over six foot height of her new acquaintance. Now that she was standing, and her observation of the man was not as skewed, Sadie could see how much younger than she this Johan Hill was. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was still in his teens. And already a terrorist? At what she thought was his age, Sadie had been out doing decidedly less noble things than Johan; she’d had no cause but to enjoy herself as much as possible. “It fights back,” she announced, indicating the still swinging punching bag. It moved ponderously, with apparent ease, and Sadie was sure that not only did it fight back, but it took great delight in mocking people who didn’t know how to box. “I’m sure as well as my ass, it bruised my hands.” Curious, the gravikinetic spread the fingers of her hands and inspected them for bruises she was sure would eventuate. “I’m Sadie, by the way.” |
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| Johan | Jan 22 2011, 10:44 AM Post #4 |
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“It fights back,” the woman said as her ‘foe’ swung by a chain back and forth. Johan walked over to it and stopped it with his hand. He thought it would be some super mega punching bag filled with concrete or something, but it turned out to be a regular punching bag. He pushed it again to restart it’s swinging. Nothing special, but he decided to keep that observation to himself. She then told Johan that she probably bruised her hands and introduced herself. Sadie. Johan never heard of her before. Though he doesn’t really communicate much with fellow Brotherhood members. Beside the awkward ‘hey’s and ‘hi’s Johan gives on people he meets on his way to the training facility. Johan walked over to her as she examined her hands. “Actually from what I know you need protection when using a punching bag. Then again I don't know much about punching bags.” He said as he looked at her hands. Johan was pretty sure they would get bruises, unless she had super healing powers or something. “But you were able to push that punching bag aside without even touching it. That was pretty wicked. Why would you need to do some boxing?” Johan understood that it was beneficial to at least be physically fit in the event that one was unable to use one’s natural mutation. (Unless your natural mutation had something to do with hand to hand combat of course.) But Johan never thought about learning how to fight. He would ‘fight’ if need be but that would mostly consist of regular street fighting or something. He really does just prefer drowning them with his water than fighting them head on. Johan had to admit though, a lot of those hand to hand fighter looked really cool with their kicks and punches. However he was sure in a few seconds he could boil their asses right off. That was something he took pride on. At an early age Johan had to master his power. He wasn't perfect yet but his familiarity with his powers can be seen. Johan took a few steps back and sized her up from her read hair to her tennis shoes. Nothing about her physical appearance seem to catch Johan’s eye. Though he knew looks could be very deceiving. She was in the Brotherhood after all. Everybody here has probably killed humans, or are prepared to kill humans. For all Johan knew he could murdered right then and there by Sadie. |
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| Sadie Newman | Jan 22 2011, 02:28 PM Post #5 |
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It was perhaps a wise decision that Johan kept his observation to himself. Whilst Sadie recognised her incompetency when it came to boxing, and perhaps most physical activities, she didn't necessarily need that verbally pointed out when she'd just picked herself up off the ground. Besides, her ass was telling her loud and clear. She resisted the urge to rub at the jut of her hip bone where it was particularly sore from her unceremonious crash to the ground. Idly she hoped the bone was okay; at this stage of density loss they were still fairly strong, but you never quite knew what would cause an injury. She'd broken fingers, and even a wrist, doing stupid things that probably wouldn't break bones of average density. Maybe she should get her act together and visit one of the cities healers. She knew there wasn't much modern human medicine could do; the supplements and exercise they would prescribe weren't doing a whole lot anyway. Maybe a mutant could restore what was lost? Or ensure nothing else happened? It was worth a shot. As she inspected her hands, turning them this way and that, twisting fingers slightly and pressing on joints, Johan enlightened her a little bit. Well, gloves. That would explain things a little. Would probably fix that hand-position issue too. "No wonder it hurt like a bitch then," she murmured, half to herself and half to Johan, glancing with narrowed eyes at the bag that was still swinging, thanks to the easy push the other mutant had given it before. Superhuman strength, that was it. Ah well. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her shorts and shrugged. "Next time, huh?" When Johan brought up the cause of the incident, Sadie simply shook her head and smiled slightly. That was the easy part, using her powers. They were dangerous, even when used with the control she'd managed over the years. Gravity was so integral to how things functioned that adjusting it slightly often had disproportionately catastrophic results. Organic organisms were especially delicate when it came to the manipulation of gravity; she herself was evidence of that. It was her own power, written into her genes, but it was still slowly eating away at her bones. Like losing her ability, that was something Sadie would rather not think about, unfortunately it was a little more prevalent in her day-to-day life than the other. But at the same time as reveling in their ease of use, she hoped not to rely on them too much. Not always, at least. That was the intention of today, and she told Johan as much; "In case something happens and I can't use my powers, it'd be nice to know I could kick somebody’s ass as well." "But," she announced on a whim, and a rather sadistic one, "I could show you what I did - wanna go for a little trip across the room?" She wasn't serious, of course. She just liked to tease, and her version of teasing was a little... questionable. |
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| Johan | Jan 23 2011, 09:55 AM Post #6 |
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Johan watched as Sadie shoved her hands in her pockets. "Next time, huh?" she said. Johan nodded, happy to have helped at least a bit. He did not want to get on this mutant’s bad side. He did not need an enemy in the Brotherhood, after all, the Brotherhood have been known to be ruthless killers and Sadie, a Brotherhood member, probably is also a ruthless killer just like them. Us Johan corrected himself. She’s probably just like us. Johan was a Brotherhood member and he to is a ruthless killer. But he has only killed humans so far. Mutants he never fought and, unless they are human lovers or got into his way, he would rather he did not. Johan then talked about her ability to move the bag with her powers. He hoped she would have told him her powers but she didn’t. Of course she would not tell Johan her powers, he never asked. He just assumed she would tell him. Instead she just answered his stated question. "In case something happens and I can't use my powers, it'd be nice to know I could kick somebody’s ass as well." Johan nodded. He understood that. It was like a back-up plan to be able to whoop some ass when their natural gifts were unavailable. Johan too thought of that but never got the chance to actually train in hand-to-hand combat. He spent his younger years perfecting his powers over water. He prided himself in being pretty darn good when using his powers. Though this Sadie did have a point. He might one day need his skills in normal combat if his powers can’t be used. In that area he was weak. “You have a point there.” He turned his back on Sadie. He opened his water bottle and willed some water on to his left hand. He froze it. His hand was now gloved with ice with small spikes here and there. Sure it destroyed the whole point of fighting without powers but Johan did not have any gloves. Johan eyed the punching bag as it swung to and fro. When it came his way he pulled his arm back to deliver a punch when Sadie’s voice interrupted him. “But, I could show you what I did - wanna go for a little trip across the room?" she asked. Johan knew there was something…of with her question. Something that reminds Johan of the say he asks people, “Wanna go for swim?” However the prospect of possibly floating around the room aroused his curiosity. He quickly melted the ice and made it flow back into the water bottle. He then turned around and looked at Sadie. Ignoring his common sense that was screaming at him right now. Johan licked his lips nervously. He set his water bottle down so that in case Sadie might have no intention of letting him touch the ground again, he might be able to pull himself back to the ground. “Okay,” he said “Go for it.” |
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| Sadie Newman | Jan 26 2011, 11:56 AM Post #7 |
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Sadie watched silently as Johan coaxed the water out of the bottle and upwards, defying the force she had so much control over. She knew it was him, though he gave no outward indication, because it sure as hell was not her. Guess he doesn’t have super strength then, she thought briefly to herself as the tremulous stream of water wrapped around his hand, and solidified with an audible crackle into a glove of solid ice. It looked beautiful, with small spikes of frozen water reaching outwards and a rainbow reflection of light bouncing off the ice. On a whim, as he smashed his ice-clad hand into the gently swinging bag, Sadie questioned the younger brotherhood member on whether or not he felt like going for a brief trip across the room. Her tone had obviously been sarcastic, framing a question she had never truly expected an affirmative response to. When she did receive one, her immediate reaction had been to do as she’d been thinking when she’d offered the opportunity, but she doubted catapulting a fellow Brotherhood member across this rather spacious room would be seen as a good thing. Because her version of catapulting rarely came without serious injury, though she could technically minimise or remove that risk before he landed at the other side. She’d never actually tried doing that though, because if she went to the effort of using her energy beams, she usually didn’t waste them only to catch her prey at the other end. Prey? The word half caught her off guard, and odd choice as it was, though strangely accurate. She, like all mutants, was more lethal than Homo sapiens; why not call them prey? She was certainly the predator when comparing herself to them. She decided she liked the term. Mere seconds after Johan placed his bottle on the floor, he was gently floating upwards. Slowly, almost languorously, both she and Johan rose to a metre off the ground. Their personal gravity had not been affected, but through manipulation of the gravitons below and beside them, Sadie was able to lift and propel them. She could lift them at a great speed than she had, but the act of propulsion was not a speedy process even when she tried – mere metres in seconds. It was faster to walk, but unfortunately, one could not do that on air. So, they progressed across the room at what would be considered a stroll, though a fast one if you had to categorise it. Still, there was the novelty of doing it whilst not moving a muscle and floating on air. “There you go, other side of the room” she declared as she set them down near a row of treadmills. |
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| Johan | Jan 29 2011, 09:26 AM Post #8 |
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Johan’s mind prepared itself for what is to come. He knew he practically set himself up for disaster when he told Sadie that she could levitate him. He knew there was a multitude of ways this could go wrong, especially for Johan. For all he knew, Sadie is a psychotic mass murderer who is prepared to kill anyone. Of course, that is not to say Johan cannot defend himself. His control over water is great and though he is not sure he can defeat her should fighting arise he at least knew he could hold his ground. Suddenly he felt it. It was a strange indescribable feeling. He was floating. Johan felt a surge of joy from that. He felt like he weighed a feather, as if the laws of gravity no longer applied to him. He looked over at Sadie; a smile plastered on his face, and saw that she too was floating in the air. Johan then started to move around, trying to travel on his own. Unfortunately it was then that he discovered how powerless he was in that area. He tried to walk around the air, jump, even swim; all to no avail. He was not in control here. It was Sadie. He hid his growing panic as best as he could. He tried to return his feeling of enjoyment. Johan just repeated in his head that Sadie would not kill another Brotherhood member. She wouldn’t kill a fellow mutant, at least not one who is dedicated to the same cause. Then Johan moved. It was as if he was being carried to the other side of the room. Strangely it was this that caused his panic to slowly ebb away. It was a surreal feeling, a fun surreal feeling. He was not moving at breakneck speed though, or even walking speed. It was pretty slow, but hey it was fun. Finally when he landed on some treadmills. Instantly that weightless feeling vanished, replaced by the pull of gravity. He let out a breath of relief and satisfaction. He was still alive and he didn’t need to use his powers. That was good. He looked at Sadie with a grin, “That was fun.” He told her. Johan then walked to his water bottle and picked it up. For a few seconds he was tempted to put on a little show for Sadie using his water. Though he decided against it, in fear that she might believe him to be showing off. He looked at Sadie and cocked his head, “So what’s your power? Telekinesis?” Johan couldn’t help but be a bit surprised of how conversational he sounded. It seems so simple to ask ‘what’s your power?’ as if your merely asking for the weather. This was how it’s supposed to be. He should be able to walk on earth and talk with another mutant about their powers without being harassed or attacked. He longed to see that day. |
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| Sadie Newman | Jan 31 2011, 02:02 PM Post #9 |
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This was natural to Sadie; her power was as if another limb and as such, using it at a low level was no more difficult than flicking the cap off a bottle, than putting one foot in front of the other. It required conscious thought and movement, but only very little. And the weird thing was that after all these years, the effort pleased her, centred and comforted her. For something that went beyond habit, to automatic response, it was odd. After all, one didn’t garner those same feelings from putting a bottle of milk back in the fridge, which to Sadie, was an action of the same exertion. She didn’t try to understand why this was, and in fact wasn’t overly concerned. The Gravikinetic was under no illusion that she had the intelligence or knowledge to understand such things; she could do numbers, not psychiatry or evolution. As they touched the ground, Sadie’s control dissipated. There was no cliché moment of temporary bereavement, no sudden feeling of loss. For one thing, she didn’t live in a Twilight book, and secondly, it was right there anyway. Her sensitivity to gravity and its influence was higher than that of the average being – mutant and human alike. So she was aware of it even when not bitch slapping it around. Or gently encouraging, if you so preferred. She didn’t, because gentle was not an adjective often applied to Sadie. Or encouraging. As Johan walked directly to his water, Sadie veered to the right a little and hopped on a treadmill – she was here, so she may as well. She stood on the sides as she fiddled with the controls, not quite sure what she was doing. Would it kill the manufacturers to get together and standardize these friggen buttons? Would certainly make things easier for her. Press this button for faster, this one for incline, heart thingie here. Maybe she should go into marketing. Directing one last frown at the controls, which she hoped were set at a medium-paced jog, Sadie jumped on and jogged her way to nowhere, watching Johan as he came back across the room. The question he posed her was one she’d been expecting, and, she suspected, had been searching for the answer earlier in their conversation. What he came up with didn’t surprise her – after all, you couldn’t exactly see gravity, just its effects. “Gravikinetic – I control gravity, gravitons, that kind of thing.” With a nod to his water bottle, to which the teenager seemed permanently attached, she asked “Water-something-a-rather?” |
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| Johan | Feb 4 2011, 04:14 PM Post #10 |
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“Gravikinetic – I control gravity, gravitons, that kind of thing.” Sadie told Johan as he walked over to where she was. Speaking of where she was, she was on a treadmill and speaking of treadmills, Johan remembered his whole reason for coming to the training room. Exercise. With a sigh, he walked over to a set of dumbbells but stopped suddenly. He realized that maybe some of these dumbbells may be look light, but were actually designed for some sort of super-human mutant. Unwilling to look stupid in front of Sadie, Johan decided to use a less risqué set of exercise material. Slowly Johan walked over to a treadmill, one treadmill away. He placed his water bottle in the provided cup holder and took a quick look at the panel. It took him a few seconds to figure things out, but he managed to make it run in a similar speed with Sadie’s. “Cool, bet you could pretty wicked things with that power,” he put on a smile for Sadie as he looked at her direction. For some reason what came into his mind were airplanes falling from the sky, or humans turning into some super squashed organism. Johan then made his treadmill go faster until he was already running. Johan started breathing faster as his heart doubled in speed. Slowly, small rivulets of sweat formed over his skin. Running in a treadmill was okay, but what Johan really longed was a swim. He never used his powers while swimming for fitness. It just seemed wrong. Swimming was his favorite medium of exercise and he wished he could go for a swim right now. Suddenly, his longing for the comforts of the water were disrupted by Sadie, “Water-something-a-rather?” Johan blinked, Oh, my powers. With that Johan grinned, “Hydrokinetic.” He said simply. He took the cap of his water bottle, and willed the clear liquid up. He made it spin rapidly like a water funnel just for kicks. “H2O molecules only. Plus ice and stuff. When it becomes steam or vapor it becomes too difficult for me to control. Oh and water from humans don’t count for some reason.It’s a pretty fun ability to have,” he told her. Then, as if for proof, he opened his mouth as a stream of water shot out from the funnel and into his mouth. After a few seconds he looked at Sadie, “Want some?” |
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2:11 PM Jul 11