the salle - sunday morning - 01/17

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

There was no electricity, but there were plenty of practice dummies and that was all she needed.

A particularly nasty blend of anger, pain, and frustration boiled inside of her at the moment; it was uncomfortable both because of its intensity and because it seemed to stoke the more Infernal elements within her. When she was angry, there were temptations. Urges. They felt good, and that strange edge of strength and pleasure within all the pain, the feeling that one was feeding the other, bothered her even beyond what was really Bothering her. The last thing she needed right now was to feel like a monster, in any sense.

She left her yo-yo and her tessen away for the moment. Instead, she was just wailing on the dummies with hands and feet. Slicing would have had her needing a new set of dummies far too quickly; knocking the limbs and head off piece by piece, on the other hand, was both cathartic and took much longer.

[open]

Comments

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good, actually," Jennifer said. "Know anything about K-Mart? The girl, I mean. Not the store."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"I don't know anything about either," she admitted as she put the head over on one side.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Shucks," Jennifer said. "I need to observe her for class. Without her knowing. Stake-out basics, I guess. I'm thinking I'll have to do it un-green, though. Hard not to notice me when I'm like this."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"Unless she's in the preserve," she said with a little grin.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

Jennifer chuckled. "Maybe in the spring. But in this weather, I don't see anyone sane wandering the preserve."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"Sorry. No ideas," she said with a laugh.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Me neither," Jennifer said. "I'm not so good on the subtlety thing. I kinda like having the attention of the room, now."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"If that's what you need, I can give you hints. How to blend in. I'm good at that."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"That's definitely what I need," Jennifer said. "Any stealth tips, more than welcome."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"It's not so much stealth. You just have to have your own business. Do something else. Glance over occasionally; you'll find out more than you expect just by losing yourself in a task."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"And that should help me go unnoticed?" Jennifer said, a little skeptical.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She nodded.

"People ignore others pretty naturally. If you're doing something, they'll leave you alone even more. If you focus on her at all, she'll probably notice."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"That's pretty good advice," Jennifer said. "Now I just have to figure out how to know where she'll be."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"There's a record of the old radio broadcasts," she said with a shrug.

"Check there to see if there are places she goes a lot."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Smart," Jennifer said, tapping her temple. "Why don't I come to you with all my tricky problems, again?"

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She couldn't help it. She laughed.

"You're welcome to," she said with a tap to her own temple.

"All the books I read should be to some use."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Right," Jennifer said, smirking. "So, want to try to put those books to use trying to kick my butt?"

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She put the last of the parts off to the side before pushing her purse near to the wall and nodding.

"Where's the padding?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I thought you said you didn't need it?" Jennifer said, starting to stretch out. "I'm willing to put my fears aside if you're confident enough."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"I don't. But I don't want you feeling uncomfortable," she said with a lopsided smile.

"And I'm ready whenever you are."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Well, just don't let me hit you," Jennifer said, dropping into a fighting stance. "And then we'll have nothing to worry about."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She paused.

"I'm not too worried about it," she admitted, "but we'll see. Don't get afraid if you do hit me."

She was quite a bit tougher than she looked.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Only if I break something," Jennifer said. "Then I'm allowed to worry."

She started with a left jab, aimed for Fiona's stomach.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Easy enough to dodge and Fiona was fast when she wanted to be. She'd even nearly gotten the drop on her uncle.

Her own blow was a kick at Jen's knees.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

Jennifer was learning that it was easier to take blows rather than dodge them.

She was surprised at the force behind Fiona's kick, though, and she staggered for a second.

"Damn, girl," she said, impressed.