Sparring solves everything

[soggypastry]

Who: Lightning (soggypastry) and Leon (usedroar)
Where: Violet City.
When: Late Saturday Night. (March 5th)
Summary: The disappearance of a family member would set anyone on edge. But when it's a sister...things get bad.
Rating: PG
Log:

It had been almost a surprise to receive the text from Leon. Aerith was gone, and he needed a spar when she got to Violet. That wasn't a surprise, and Lightning had sent her own reply saying that she'd meet him outside the Pokémon Center when she and Hope got to Violet. Since that had been twenty minutes ago, she'd taken the time to change and put her hair up before going outside to wait for her sparring partner.

If anyone commented on the woman stretching outside the center at night, she didn't hear them. There were more important things on her mind.

Comments

[adamant]

[ He appears a few minutes later, making his way down from the inn, looking haggard. He's gained Yuffie and lost Aerith; he shouldn't be happy the first is here and unhappy the second is gone, but...he is, and without any Heartless to beat into submission, the next best thing is Lightning's quick fists.

He sees her stretching; he also sees someone eyeing her from across the street, in her track suit with her hair up. He catches the man's gaze and chases him away with a pointed glare. He's not in the mood to deal with problems right now. He moves to stand next to her. ]

Sorry to keep you.

[ It's early March, after all, it's still nippy outside; nothing that a jog out of town won't fix. ]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning looks up when Leon speaks, shaking her head. He didn't keep her. Five minutes, or not even that.]

You didn't. I just got here.

[She has a jacket on for a reason, after all. Being that she's not sick this time, the nippy weather doesn't bother her as much as it could. And the jog out of town does serve as quite the warm up for the spar she agreed to, as she slips into her stance. Business as usual.]

[adamant]

[ He stays stonily silent as they jog; they'd done this enough times back in late fall that he doesn't really need to think about where his feet are going.

When they arrive, he sheds his jacket, dropping it carelessly into the frosted grass. He moves to stand opposite her, now in nothing but his t-shirt and sweats.

He beckons her. Come at him, Light. ]

[soggypastry]

[Come at him? She does. The light from Violet is enough to see through the darkness on Route 31, and it casts his face into strange shadows. But she doesn't focus on that, instead sending a roundhouse kick at his shoulder without a word. Maybe this time will be different then the other times he needed a spar, maybe it won't.

Lightning doesn't really care, either way.]

[adamant]

[ His mind is in stranger shadows than his face. He's glad for her speed, because keeping up with her occupies his thoughts as he focuses on dodging. He's oddly single-minded, and it should become pretty apparent, pretty quickly, that there's a notable absence of retaliation, even when her strikes land. ]

[soggypastry]

[That lack of retaliation makes Lightning frown and change her tactics, dropping and sweeping her foot around to knock him over. If he can't dodge this, there's something definitely wrong besides Aerith being gone.]

[adamant]

[ He's not fighting back, that doesn't mean he isn't dodging. Still, her foot catches him in its low sweep and sends him down, but he immediately rolls back into place. He's a bit stuck, now, he doesn't have a choice but to surge forward and try to catch her with a punch to the stomach. ]

[soggypastry]

[Trying to catch with that punch is the best he'll get. Lightning steps back, now dodging herself instead of actively fightning back. She won't throw another punch or kick, but she blocks or dodges each of his hits with ease. Does he realize she's trying to wear him down? Probably. He's a smart man.]

[adamant]

[ Oh, he notices, alright--it's hard not to. But that's just the thing; he doesn't want to be worn down, he just wants to drag this on forever. As long as he can fight, he doesn't have to face whatever shit life is throwing at him. With no way of expressing that, though, he's forced to keep hitting her. ]

[soggypastry]

[When Leon shows no signs of stopping, Lightning stops trying to wear him down and starts taking the blows. That's not to say she lets him hit her torso or face, but instead she deflects instead of catches, acting like a rock in a river instead of the enemy trying to wear out it's next meal.

He'll stop when he's ready. All she can do now is let him hit her and keep him on his toes with quick jabs if he gets too close to breaking her defenses. He did the same for her, after all.]

[adamant]

[ It takes him about fifteen or twenty minutes at this grueling pace to wind down, movements becoming more sluggish, the heart having gone out of them. He's never been the most endurant fighter; Lightning usually has no trouble outlasting him. He's obviously overtaxed himself, because when he finally breaks away from her, he's panting hard, a sheen of sweat covering him. ]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning lets him break away, settling her own breathing. She knows he's overexerted himself and steps forward. Without any fanfare or concerned gestures, she makes him sit down to catch his breath. She should have brought a water bottle, but she didn't and this is just what's happening.]

This is about more than just Aerith going home, isn't it. [It's not a question. If Serah ever vanished, she'd act much the same way. But this is...something more. It's almost like the first two times he needed a spar mixed in with grief. Something is wrong.]

[adamant]

[ He obediently lets her sit him down and doesn't move, just stays there for a while until his breathing evens out. He remains immobile for a long stretch, watching his breath puff in the cool night air. He finally sighs, letting his head drop. ]

...long weekend.

[ He feels a bit bad for dragging her all the way out and not saying anything, but he doesn't even know where to start explaining. ]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning doesn't press him for an explanation, and instead sits beside him to stretch her legs out. He knows she'll listen if he wants to talk about it, but she lets the silence fill the space between them for now. Theirs have always been comfortable silences, and this one..feels a little different, but not a bad different.]