[closed] but nobody wants to know him

[batmotif]

CHARACTERS: Bruce and Parker
WHEN: Day mumblemumble
WHERE: Training area
SUMMARY: Two people punch each other in the face a lot. (Sparring match.)
WARNINGS: Other than the expected violence from sparring/fighting, nothing! Will change if necessary.

[Bruce’s routine on the station has become predictable at this point. If one said that fifty to sixty percent of his time was spent training in some form or fashion, it wouldn’t be far from the truth. It keeps his mind focused, and his body from becoming lazy; it is, honestly, probably not that much different a routine than what it might have been on Gotham, just interrupted less by board meetings and charity auctions.

He’d call it a blessing, but even Bruce isn’t so thoughtless as to take such things for granted, these days.

But even the strictest regimen needs variety, else it becomes stale. Punching bags don’t hit back, and there were only so many times he could traipse through an obstacle course before it become mindless, near repetitive — the opposite of what he wants out of his daily training. And so he casts his gaze around the area, settling on someone he knows in passing. Someone who, honestly, might just tell him to take a long walk off a short pier, given their previous run-in with each other. (Never let it be said that such a thing has stopped Bruce before.)

And so, he walks over to Parker, his expression the same as what she might remember: serious and unwavering, as if forever on the edge of falling into a full-fledged frown.]

I need a sparring partner. [-he says, as if expecting the implication to be clear.]

Comments

[unfavoured]

[ There is no doubt that paranoia plays slightly into the role of overt caution. But it is not just that. The self-identity, the individuality of the one, it is part of Parker. It ought to be when most of her youth had someone tell her she was not good enough for the way she is, she was, for the way she would never become what they wanted her to. This place is very much the same in that oppression. It is why she rebels so violently to it, among other things.

And telling her she just needs to get over it, much like him, these people don't know her very well.

The walls she puts up tend to make it hard to get to know her and she tries her damned best to keep any telegraphed emotion or thought to slip through the cracks. But they are at best built in sand and the waves keep pushing them down. But she is too stubborn to let go.

Close-ranged combat is not Parker's best. She relies on counter and relies on keeping her distance and using the environment against her opponents, using their own strength. But Bruce is far beyond her level and she can't avoid the hit, the air sucked out of her lungs as she bends over herself, but doesn't exactly falter. The position she's in gets her head aligned just under his chin, and she grabs his arm, tugs it down hard to throw him off balance, before letting go and rising up quickly, aiming to slam her head against the underside of his chin, but keeping the left side open to lean away from a direct hit. ]

[batmotif]

((ooc; i will backtag this forever, but don’t feel obligated to cont. if you don’t want to!!))

[He hadn’t expected her to falter so easily, even with the air knocked out of her. Bruce barely knows Parker, but their previous interaction was enough to tell him that she was stubborn, that she’d bounce right back, motivated tenfold by frustration. He’s right, though he doesn’t have time (nor want) to feel self-congratulatory; his arm is pulled down, and he lurches his foot forward to keep balance. He accepts her skull making contact with his chin, the force enough to rattle his teeth that he keeps grit, and while it’s more shocking than painful (it’s a bit painful, at least), Bruce hisses a little under his breath in response.

He’s still aiming for distance between them, a range in which he’s more comfortable sparring (fighting), because all Parker did was manage to close the space again. He straightens, chin throbbing, and goes for the more uncomplicated tactic this time: A left hook straight for the jaw, hard. More discouragement for drawing too close, this time brought on by pure force.

Bruce actually speaks.]

What's your problem?

[It's Bruce's version of what's wrong, really.]