2014-07-14 - To Calm the Savage Breast

The boxing ring is active tonight. There's been a fair bit of sparring; in fact, the most recent arrival walked right to the ring and put on a pair of loaner gloves from the stink box. She put on the sparring headgear without complaint, and when Tony was put in the ring so he could have a safe session, Cassandra didn't even blink.

The sparring starts, no bell being really needed, and the two move around. Cassandra's feet are light and she moves like a natural, obviously holding back, but there's something in her motions that suggests she's not completely in the game.

Shortly, Tony takes an experimental swing at Cassandra Cain and nails her in the cheek, right in the guard. Oddly, Cassandra actually seems to react, waving her fist at the punch after it's gone in a belated and slightly annoyed block. Tony gets a bit happy at the fact that he hit and tries again, actually grinning as he pops Cassandra in the shoulder and...knocks her down. She wasn't faking it, she actually got knocked over.

Wildcat slips in from the airduct and through the upstairs window. There's a few citizens still in the gym but they're getting ready to leave and the light in that particular stretch of stairs seems to be broken. Unseen Ted watches the sparring holding his breath and wondering where he's going to get another dance instructor and assistant. He lets his breath out in a very cat like hiss as he sees Cassandra get tagged and go down. Then the mask comes off and Ted Grant descends the stairs to watch closer.

Yes he's still wearing the rest of his costume. He's pretty nonchalant about such things. He pulls a pair of sparring gloves on. and settles in at ringside. Cassandra Cain gets back up to her feet. To anyone used to the subtleties of combat, it's obvious that getting knocked down actually upset her a little, but she's keeping it very close inside. She puts up her guard, much stronger than before, and pops Tony in a very careful controlled jab that just touches his head. Fast, accurate, but not her usual speed or perfection. She seems slow and weak, actually. So, less than a professional boxer for once. ted seems about to yell some encouragement but his phone goes off. He reaches in his boot for it. "Talk. Hello Cecil! How are ya? You did 20 miles of roadwork tonight? Awesome. Where are you now? Bludhaven ... you need cabfare to get ba ... we been over thi ... why do you ... you do ten miles and turn arou ... Awright! Stop crying. I'll send for you. Wait by the wings joint." He closes the phone with a loud click. he breaks more phones that way.

Ted rubs his eyes for a moment and then says, "Tony! I'm spotting you. Go to Bludhaven by the wings joint and pick up Cecil. He done it again. And bring back the game special from the wings joint."

Tony steps back from Cassandra, blows her a kiss and tags Ted on the shoulder as he jumps out of the ring. "Right game special. Are you sharing any? That's 40 wings you know? He sees that Ted is all business and says, "Riiiiiight. Game special ... crap it's raining. I'm taking the gym van. Cecil and I may go cruising for studs on the way back."

Ted jumps into the ring and adjusts his gloves. He doesn't bother with the helmet.

Cassandra Cain lowered her guard when Tony blew her a kiss, looking slightly confused by the expression on her face. Ted coming into the ring makes her actively frown, but she raises her guard in a picture perfect boxer's infighting peekaboo guard. An odd choice, given her proclivities to not get hit in the first place. She moves in, staying very low, and doesn't wait for niceties. Got her usual lack of conversation going on.

Wildcat waits. He tilts his head to the side to avoid the first punch. Ted would make an awesome stuntman by appearances. He similarly evades the second and third punches, looking almost immobile by comaprison to Cassandra. he frown deepens, and is replaced by a look of concern. Ted finally attacks with a short, quick jab to Cassandra's shoulder.

When you have a student for a month, they're at an awkward time. They know the blocks, but they don't KNOW the blocks. They're using their head so much to figure out what to do that they don't do anything until it's too late, and they're actually slower and easier to hit than when they originally arrived because there's too many things to decide on and they're trying to use their head to do the choice instead of instinct. So they just stand there and get hit, trying to figure out which block to use. Or cover up and flinch.

Cassandra does both. She actually widens her eyes, obviously seeing the punch coming in plenty of time, and her brain tells her to make a call and she unintentionally leans into the hit while doing some kind of awkward block that probably came from Kung Fu, completely too late. Actually almost a full second after the punch, which is STUPIDLY slow for her reflex speed.

Ted steps back and throws his hands up. "What the hell ... you sick?" Now his face is all concern. He also notes the last of the black eye she was healing from. He thought he saw that when she fixed him up after the Bat sparred with him but then again he thought he saw Rocky Balboa flying around on angel wings. "Kid ... what's wrong?" He's also wide open for a right hook. Cassandra Cain actually tried to throw a punch at her opponent's left, but it's a bit off and doesn't do what it's supposed to do and she actually grabs her gloves and tears them off of her hands, ripping right through the heavy strings that hold the gloves on and are supposed to be impossible to do that to while you're wearing them. She actually swears, slamming the gloves into the floor and showing a temper that's a match for anyone who ever stepped through the door, though she only seems to know one swear word. The stream of other words that comes out of her mouth is garbled and barely understandable but she's so obviously pissed off that translation is barely necessary.

Wildcat says the same word Cassandra seems so fond of and can speak clearly. He nods vigorously at her trying to show his sympathy. Any citizens still in attendance and looking too closely get a fierce glare from the old cat. He also waits to see if he can get close enough to grab her in a hug-like fashion.

Did her crazy dad even teach her to hug? He saw what she did to her gloves. She's like a younger version ... of him. Hands of steel.

Her father didn't teach her to hug. She doesn't do hug very much, but it's something she's been learning. Her new family has though, and she puts her head on Wildcat's solar plexus since that's about the right height. She lets her arms hang down on her sides though and she mumbles into Wildcat's chest, "Help me," with an absolutely pitiful noise that should have been her voice.

Cassandra gets a big bear hug. Hell she gets the back of her head patted if she can feel it through the helmet. He says softly, "I'll help. What happened? Can you tell me? Does the Boss know?"

Cassandra Cain slows down, her metabolism still being one of those odd ones where she can go from raging screaming hell to calm and mild basically instantly. She wipes her face a bit, she was not crying after all and damn anyone who says otherwise, and pulls out of the hug to drag Ted to the corner of the ring furthest from any listening ears. She takes a breath, then pauses a moment. A bit longer, then she eventually says in her rough sounding voice, "Knows. Simple version. Traded body reading for ability to talk. Crappy trade."

Ted's face is a mixture of emotions. True it seems she was making a step towards functioning better with other people but he knew her as the living weapon. That was who she was. Of course if there was one thing Ted learned in his long life it was to deal with change. The trainer side of his brain was already working on it and giving her back some of what she'd lost.

Ted says, "Listen carefully. Your brain ... changed. Your muscles ... your body ... it remembers how to fight. You can learn to read people again. You start, now. Block. Keep blocking." Ted throws a simple punch at her shoulder again, far slower than usual. Then another and another. The exact same punch. They should sting. No more than that, but he isn't stopping. She better start blocking. He knows she has a hell of a mad to work out too. Please God, let her start blocking.

Cassandra Cain gets hit by the punches, and actually is trying to block. She can't seem to figure out what block to use, because she can't tell what's coming. It's like training a rookie again, and she tries occasionally to talk. "Boss...does this." In a bit she adds, "Suck at it," which is true, compared to what she was a month ago she absolutely is correct. The blocks she's using are -technically- correct, she knows the blocks but she's not making the right choices to use them. "Can learn, not the...problem." She pauses, then her eyes narrow in warning. "I Was Perfect." That's the problem. She knows what perfect feels like.

Ted swats at her hands angrily. "I am throwing the same punch at you. Do a side block. Keep doing it. Stop trying to be ... perfect and work on being good enough for now. Perfect will come. You have me and the Boss for teachers. You will be fine!" He returns to his rhythmic punching, for the same or almost the same spot. "Now block the way I told you. They are going to be for real now. You better stop worrying about perfect and just block."

Cassandra Cain follows orders really well actually. Being told what's coming and what block to use, she starts using it well, and right away. "Not stupid," she adds in her new and improved vocabulary. She actually manages a decent sidestep as well, with her brain analyzing the punch in her head so she knows what she SHOULD be doing. She does a picture-perfect sidestep-block-counter then on the next punch, showing she's still got the moves and her counter punch is delicate and sharp. Still a bit slow though.

Ted takes the counter on his upper lip. Ow. He grabs her wrist and flips Cassandra onto the mat.Well he did say block, not counter. Laying beside Cassandra he beeps her nose. He says quietly, "You ... like daughter to me. I'll help whatever way I can. I want Doctor Mid-Nite to look at you. He's also the best. then we work on training better. Okay?" He rubs her cheek with fingers that might be made of sandstone by their texture.

Cassandra Cain is thrown to the ground with absolute ease, giving away the fact that her body reading isn't just gone visually, but through touch as well. On the ground, she rolls her eyes at the nose-beep, but she does smile a bit afterward. "Talk normal, ears work fine," she suggests sardonically. Sardonically. So different from grunted single syllables a month ago. She gives Wildcat a bit of a hug with one arm, trying to get up. "Leg lock submission from here."