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The Gym, Monday After Classes

Kathy'd wanted a spar. Who was Dante to refuse? He hadn't had the chance to flex these muscles in at least a week, and that was absolutely tragic.

So he showed up to the gym a couple of hours after classes, his new boombox in one hand. Old-fashioned, sure, but 1) he could take it anywhere and 2) he'd gotten it for free. (Also 3) Kathy had tried to stop him from getting it, which meant bringing it was funny as well as necessary.) He set it down by the nearest outlet; not too long after, the sound of loud guitars would be heard throughout the gym.

If you had the chance to bring your own background music to a fight, you took it.

He sat down on the floor next to the boombox, his legs sprawling out across the floor, his back to the wall. Now he just had to wait until Kathy showed up.

[[ expecting one, but open before. or during, if you're the popcorn-loving kind. ]]

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Hey now! It wasn't that Kathy hadn't wanted Dante to have the stereo, she'd just had the insane idea that it should have been paid for. And had even volunteered to do just that!

Revolutionary, she knew.

Dante didn't have to wait long for Kathy to show up. She'd been looking forward to their spar since they'd agreed to it. The loud guitars were a nice touch, even if she did sigh at the sight of Dante's boombox when she walked in. Still it was a good song, definitely got the blood pumping, maybe she could ask Dante--

"Zombie fistfight?" she asked, once she was able to make out the lyrics. "You are such a brat."

Hey, now. Dante could've been way more of a brat, but he'd chosen to heal the bite marks that morning. Have a little respect, Kathy.

He looked up from his spot, idly lounging by the boombox. "Hey, I happen to like this song," he said, grinning. "Seems appropriate, don't you think?"

She was! There were so many other names she could have called him! Dante probably took 'brat' as a sign of affection! He'd probably appreciate it more than 'Glowstick' ~~or the future 'Drama Queen'~~ anyway.

"Yeah, yeah, it's great," she said, rolling her eyes as she pulled her hair up. "...Who are these guys anyway?"

Because smartassery on Dante's behalf or not, this was a really good song.

"Combichrist," Dante said, hopping up onto his feet in a fluid motion that was only a little show-offy. "Not sure if it's your speed."

She'd probably be running to Tumblr the moment she saw one of the videos.

"You'd be surprised at what's my speed, musically," she said shrugging. The music on her ipod ranged from K-pop to gangsta rap to black metal. The latter had seen quite the jump since Lottie had come to the island. "This would hardly be the most esoteric band I listen to."

Kathy was perfectly fine with acknowledging the problematic aspects of the things she liked! ...Generally on Tumblr, yes.

"Do you always have a soundtrack when you fight?" she asked, giving a small smile of appreciation to the way he'd gotten up. "Explains the need for the boombox."

Dante shucked his coat off and dropped it onto the floor next to the boombox. "Whenever I get the chance," he said, his lazy grin and his tone doing a great job of making something sound casual when it wasn't rooted in anything particularly casual to begin with.

"The right tunes make life a little more interesting in general."

Kathy followed his lead, losing her shirt in favor of the tanktop and sports bra she wore underneath. Her shorts were already very short, too, she wanted there to be very little for Dante to be able to catch or hold onto during their spar.

Starting to stretch, she added, "I'd be tempted to do the same in Baltimore, but that kind of kills the idea of stealth."

You know, even more than the rainbows.

"Stealth," Dante said, snorting. "Right."

Pffft. Subtlety.

"So how do you want to play this?" he said. "Hand-to-hand, first one to tap out loses?"

It was for people who couldn't walk off getting carved from stem to stern! Weird, she knew.

"Sounds good," Kathy said nodding. "I wasn't exactly looking forward to dodging around your sword. All my weapons are either distance or very up close and personal."

"Hey, I've got no problem with up close and personal," Dante said - look, he couldn't not take that opening, especially when he could combine it with slipping riiiight past her. "But whatever makes you feel safe and snug."

Kathy turned with him, orienting her body with his. "Well, that's the fun of hand-to-hand, isn't it?" she asked, taking the opportunity to turn the tables and do a slide riiiight by of her own. She was still stretching, sure, that was it. "It's about as up close and personal as you can get in a spar. And you've already said--several times--you like it rough."

Suuuure, Kathy. Of course, that mostly just got him to smirk in a way that was slightly less 'smug' and more 'thinking about you naked', but that wasn't why they were here today, so.

"I do," Dante agreed. "Glad you remembered that. Wanna give it a shot?"

He stepped a few paces - but just a few - away from her, stopped, and crossed his arms.

"If you insist," Kathy said, darting forward to close the distance between them. She feinted left, then right, then reached out with blurring hands to strike at him. She could punch nine times in a second--how many of those punches could Dante block?

Holy shit.

Dante'd known she was fast, but dealing with that in directed strikes rather than brainless floor-humps was something else. Which meant she landed at least a couple of them (not that it really hurt) before his reflexes overrode his everything else and suddenly he was sidestepping, no, side-leaning away from those blows.

With any luck, that'd cost her her balance for about five seconds.

Sorry, Dante. Kathy and balance were pretty inseparable. Speed and agility (and bouncing) were the cornerstone of her powers. She punched air another time or two after he leaned out of the way, but her body immediately compensated for the lack of target and she was bouncing back on her heels.

With Dante leaning to the side, her next course of action was pretty clear. She lashed out a kick towards the back of his knee and then hit the ground to try to sweep his legs with her own.

She knew he was much stronger than she could ever hope to be and that he was faster than normal people. Her only hope was to keep him off-balance and herself out of reach when he did go on the offensive.

Unfortunately for her, Dante was awake now to the actual danger that she posed - which wasn't huge, since he sincerely doubted she could actually hurt him - but not nonexistent.

In the split second between her kicking out and actually connecting with his knee, he jumped up, made a perfect somersault over her head, and landed neatly outside of sweeping range.

His legs whirled out as he turned and kicked at her at the same time.

Two could play the speed-and-agility game. (Though no one could play it better than Vergil, as he was going to find out some day.)

(Yes, but nobody liked Vergil so it all evened out.)

Kathy was taken aback by how quick Dante could move when he wanted to, which meant that she seriously needed to up her game. More speed was required, which meant so was more room for maneuvering. She was already rolling by the time he kicked out at her, this time not towards him but away, leaping up to her feet a moment later.

Then she was up and running for him again, this time her whole body a blur. But rather than running in to punch him, she stopped about a foot out of read and bounced up and over his head in a somersault of her own. She knew there was no way she could land and hit him before he spun to face her, so instead she kept bouncing around him. She'd hit the ground for fractions of a second before launching up into the air again, defying physics to build up momentum instead, looking for any opportunity to get behind him, or at least off to the side.

Dante's eyes darted from one Kathy to the next to the next to the-- and then gave up. Fuck it. He pushed up and jumped again; had to get out of this sideshow. Fist-first, just in case he got lucky and caught her on the way up, and then his feet hit clear air like it was solid and propelled him up just a little further.

If he didn't, well, he'd only be in the air for a few fractions of a second, but it was a few fractions longer than any human would be; it would be like gravity wasn't sure what to do with him.

He was hoping that somewhere between launch and coming down, she'd stop, or linger, or just become more obvious for long enough that he could hit her with his feet on the way down, or something. He'd see.

Gravity and everything else, yo.

But, hey, wish granted at least. Because when Dante pushed himself up higher off of nothing, Kathy had to pause to gape. That wasn't possible. Like, sure, yes, it wasn't really possible for her to pick up momentum while bouncing, but she did. But that was, like, bending the rules of physics, rather than outright breaking them.

"What did you just do?" she asked.

You know, maybe he'd tell her-- later, when he wasn't taking her momentary confusion as an opportunity to strike her in the chest feet-first. Dante was trying to keep the force down, but with the power of gravity behind him...

... the best he could do was flip off and away from her as soon as he struck.

Ouch.

Yeah, that felt like a concrete block to the chest. Kathy hit the ground, driven down by the force of his attack. Her ribs were individually informing her that they protested this behavior and would like her to please cease and desist. But since none of them came with the stabbing pain that said 'broken' she was going to ignore them and push herself back up to her feet.

Still rubbing them because ow.

"Pretty sure your boots are made of rocks," she called, moving into a defensive position. For the moment, he could come to her.

"Pretty sure you're smuggling a pogo stick," Dante called back, hitting the ground in a graceful, oft-practiced bracing position, one leg outstretched and his arms behind him.

He twisted around, spotted her, and went charging in full speed. (For a moment, a shadow of Rebellion flickered off his back, but never quite materialized.) And... shot past her, pushed off the wall and came swinging at her back.

She was fast. He was mostly sure this wouldn't hit, as long as she had the reflexes to go with it. But it looked cool.

It did look cool! And hopefully so did her dodge, which was a simple backbend under his swing. She certainly couldn't stand still and look cool while bricks and glass went flying by without touching her, but she could duck under a punch.

That backbend turned into a back walkover and she was back on her feet, facing Dante's direction. "Told you I was bouncy that night in the bathroom," she reminded, rubbing absently at her chest. "Didn't you believe me?"

"I did," Dante said. "Ish."

Spend enough time being told you were crazy to believe in powers at all, and no matter what grasp you had on your judgment, you were going to doubt some stuff. Or at least question whether you should take it at face value.

He began to circle her, almost absently, radiating apex predator in a way he wasn't even entirely aware he had.

Well, that was unsettling~~ly hot~~. Kathy turned as well, not letting him get to her unguarded back. She could handle this lull in the action for the moment, letting the throbbing in her chest settle into a dull ache.

"Bit different seeing it in action?" she hazarded. "I still have yet to find a way to make it sound less ridiculous."

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The Gym, Monday After Classes

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