fandomhighdorms | The gym, Tuesday evening

Dinah needed his help with something. Priestly made his way downstairs double-time.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Priestly!" Dinah beamed at him, bouncing toward him across the mat. "Would you be up for some sparring? I know you haven't fought a lot, but I could really use someone to face off against."

The expression on her face might be more desperate than usual, there.

How . . . exactly did one spar?

Whatever, he was a quick learner. "Yeah. No problem. You know I'm here for ya."

"Awesome! I have some extra gloves here, and wrappings for your fingers," Dinah said, relieved he was going to help. "We can do it with or without throws. Whichever you want." She handed over the boxing gloves and the wrappings, and then went to punch the bag while he got ready.

Priestly took the gloves and tape and kind of stared at them.

Uh.

Right, this couldn't be that different from getting ready for a game, right? He could totally do this.

It took him a bit, and the taping was anything but pretty, but Priestly got the tape and gloves set.

He tried to play it casual. "We can do throws if you want."

"You're sure?" Dinah grinned at him, mood already improving. "Awesome! Okay. You're ready?"

She got into her own ready stance, arms up, carefully watching to see if he'd make the first move.

Priestly quickly copied her stance, shifting his weight slightly from foot to foot. "Totally ready."

Right. Sooooooo, spar. He threw an easy -- okay, sloppy -- right hook.

Dinah blocked and deflected it downward, then followed it with a right cross to his shoulder, trying to get him off-balance.

Yeah, it totally worked. Priestly took the punch and stumbled back.

Wow, she could hit, huh. That might bruise. He shifted his weight and tried the right hook again. 'Cause, you know, she totally wouldn't expect him to try the same thing twice.

Right?

Well, no, but she did see it coming. "C'mon, Priestly, don't go easy on me," Dinah ordered, blocking it again, and twisting into a side-kick to his hip. "I can take it!"

Ow! Easy on her?

Okay, fine. A left and a right.

"Yay!" Much more like it! Dinah blocked the left, then had to dodge the right, taking it on her side, grinning widely at Priestly, having fun. Forgetting other stuff, yes! And that would be a feint from the left, followed by a punch toward the his arm on the funny bone.

Augh! Geez! Priestly hissed, keeping his arm tight to his body, and lashed out automatically with his foot.

Thankfully, he was wearing his sneakers, instead of his steel-toed boots.

"Oh, whoa, are you--" Dinah dodged again, the kick scraping along the outside of her leg, then asked, "Okay?" It was belatedly sinking in that Priestly wasn't blocking very well. Or, um, at all.

"I'm fine," Priestly said quickly, managing not to wince as he worked his elbow a little. "Just warming up. Making sure you can get work whatever it is off."

"Sure," Dinah said, a little uncertain now, settling back into her ready stance. Priestly had said he'd played football, and had seemed confident enough that she didn't question his agreement. Maybe she should dial it a back a little.

Bounced up on her toes, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Okay, tingling starting to fade from the arm. He was starting to get the swing of this sparring business. He feinted right with his body, then let loose with a fist toward her upper arm.

Which Dinah hadn't been ready for, so that even in twisting away, she caught it full and hard on her shoulder, a bright blossom of pain that had her turning and swinging a side-kick to the back of his left knee.

Priestly was busy being proud of himself for getting a hit in and nearly missed seeing the kick coming. He hopped back, lifting his leg to take the kick on the calf instead.

Ow.

He shifted around to try and circle her, punching for her arm again.

Another glancing blow, as Dinah blocked again, then swept his arm to the side. She turned sideways and jabbed out for his chest, hoping to drive Priestly backward. Slower than usual, since they were so close, but still dead-center.

Wow, how was he supposed to dodge that?

He flailed at her arm and managed to deflect her arm down more to his side than the center of his chest. She succeeded in getting him to drop back, though.

Possibly time to rethink his strategy here. Or, you know, come up with a strategy.

Dinah started circling Priestly, looking for another weakness, a little frustrated at the lack of speed. "You're not hurt? Really?"

"I'm fine, come on, let's go. . . ." Priestly bounced back and forth a little. "Get it all out."

"Yes!" Dinah brightened again, and did a right feint-left punch combo that was mild, quick- and meant to distract from another forward kick to his thigh.

And distract it did.

She was tricky! Time to fight fire with . . . well, his only strength.

Surprise tackle!

"Whoa!"

And that totally would have taken her down-- except Priestly was telegraphing again. A lot.

So Dinah side-stepped fast, grabbed his arm, twisted, and yanked hard, as quickly as she could, putting her weight behind it to give the throw as much spin as she could.

Surprise . . . throw.

Priestly hit the mat hard, his breath going out with a *whoof*. He automatically tried to sit up, only to flop back to the floor.

Okay, wow, he just got thrown by a girl. That sucked.

"Priestly?" Dinah thought he was faking for a second, then her eyes widened. She dropped to her knees next to him, expecting him to roll away. "Priestly! Are you okay?"

Roll? He was supposed to roll?

Okay, he could do that. First . . . which way was up again?

". . . fine. . . ." He squawked, trying to get his breath back. "I'm fine. . . ."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Dinah babbled, pulling off her gloves. "We'll stop now, okay? I wasn't thinking." She bit her lip, wincing. "Just lie there 'til you get your breath back."

Forget that. Priestly was trying to lever himself up. "No, no. . . . Just gimme a minute."

"Lie back, Priestly," and that wasn't her fake-Arthur or king-for-the-stage voice, that was the Voice she got from Barbara. "Let's just check that you didn't bust a rib, okay?"

"I didn't bust a rib," Priestly protested, though he did flop back onto the floor. "I know how to take a hit."

And he did. He just had never been thrown like that before.

"Man . . . you got skills."

Dinah still did a quick check, fingers running light over his chest before pulling up his shirt to make sure, then she let go of his T-shirt and sat back on her heels, relieved. "You're right. You're fine. Just winded." She grimaced. "Thanks? And sorry! I just reacted."

And wow, would Barbara ever give her hell about playing rough with the other kids.

Edited 2009-03-04 04:08 (UTC)

"Bah, you just wanted to see my chest." Priestly smiled a little weakly. Man, he was gonna be sore. "No wonder you're a superhero."

Dinah facepalmed, then grinned. "Totally true! And you are so good for my ego... except for the part where I should've managed not to bruise you doing this."

Priestly waved his hand casually. And didn't bother trying to get up. "Dinah, I used to play football. You're good, but you got nothing on a three hundred pound linebacker."

Dinah grinned again, folding her legs to sit by him. "Thanks. I would be insulted, but I think it's good you know I don't weight three hundred pounds."

Priestly laughed. And winced. "Dude, seriously, what got you so wound up?"

Dinah opened her mouth. Closed it.

It was one thing to tell Tony everything. He had to know. Priestly didn't. At least until Arthur said anything definite, like, Never approach my manservant or my person again, foul sorceress! Or something like that. So she told him what she'd said to Francine.

"Had an argument with someone. Kinda left." She grimaced. "Can't talk to them yet. Or about it much. Too wound up." Dinah reached out to rub his shoulder. "Will when I can, though."

Priestly grunted softly at the rubbing and nodded. "Right. Well, I'm around when you wanna talk. 'Cause . . . I'm thinking I'm probably better at that."

Dinah laughed again, and reached down to grab his hand. "How about we get some ice and ibuprofen and call it good for now? And maybe a DVD of some kung-fu movie or other?"

Priestly nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good." He held up his hands. "But you get to untape me, first."

The gym, Tuesday evening

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