Summary:A workout for T'Challa and Mari and more planning Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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T'Challa knows that Mari has been spending sometime down in the Disaster Zone. Their project is moving apace with buildings being refurbished and a community area created for recreation and gardening. Unfortunately, it's not been without incident, as T'Challa well knows and yesterday was another example.
Mari is working out at T'Challa's apartment this afternoon - she's finished her work and needs to let some steam off. Which is why one of the dummy's T'Challa has is getting a thrashing.
T'Challa comes in, dressed as per usually quite well though in looser clothing styled on the traditions of his homeland and not in a collared shirt as is his usual. He sips from a glass of wine as he watches Mari go to town on that dummy. It is a very advanced and most importantly very durable dummy. If it had not been he'd probably be out at least one by now.
"Well that is one constructive way of working out your frustrations."
Mari aims a round kick at the dummies head - she's not a martial artist, more of a scrapper but she's picked a move or two over the years. The momentum of the kick turns her to face T'Challa as he comes in. "How long have you been home? I was hoping you'd join me, you're one of the few who can really stretch me."
That's said with a grin as the ex-model picks up a towel and wipes her face and neck. "I guess I'm frustrated. You heard what happened?"
"Long enough to get a glass of wine. But I suppose I could try to give you a workout if beating up my training dummy isn't proving satisfactory." The Wakandan prince says. He takes another sip though. That roundhouse. Very Chuck Norris.
"But yes. I did hear what happened and as you see I am not surprised that you have taken advantage of my secret training lair." Which is to say one of the many, many rooms in this small palace he lives in. Which is rather not secret at all.
"Do you want to? Or will you coax me with a glass of wine and the hot tub?" It's hard to say how long Mari has been at this, but long enough to work up a sweat. "I wouldn't say that your training dummy isn't proving satisfactory. I just prefer to wrestle with you."
How Mari says that with such a straight face is a good question on its own, but she does as she watches the Wakandan Prince.
"The thugs called me out. For my pendant. If people are smart, they'll ask why I just don't hand it over."
"Mmmmm. An interesting strategy. If whomever is sending these thugs knows anything about you they know that simple thugs are unlikely to get the job done. So was it a distraction? Or is someone trying to accomplish something that is less than obvious?" T'Challa considers as he sheds the outer, looser, garment he is wearing and steps into the room. "Well, if you think you CAN grapple with me you are welcome to try to wrestle me. But be warned, I will not hold back…" As he most certainly has before.
"They said 'you knows what he wants' and 'if you want the attacks to stop, give it to him'. Maybe it's a distraction or maybe he's just got impatient of waiting." Mari doesn't know Klaue well enough. "But let's work that through. He knows we know of his operation - even if we don't know the extent. He knows that we'll come for him, when we can … So what would he be doing if we're distracted?"
Mari grins as T'Challa disrobes and gestures to the man to 'come for her'. "Oh, I can grapple you and I don't think I'll need to hold back this time … Last time, I went easy on you."
Mind … she remembers the drubbing that Black Panther gave her.
"Mmmm. So firstly that is a lie. The attacks will not stop." T'Challa says as he takes a stance. He tests her reflexes once or twice and begins to circle. He is light on his feet and unnaturally fast. Part of the favor of the goddess he carries. Also he is rather fit.
Then he lunges, striking out with the heel of his palm several times before spinning away. She might remember that the Black Panther always fought a very mobile kind of fight.
"Getting on with the operation. Or moving it. Or hiding it. Though the number of places he can operate openly in New York is limited." To basically the Disaster Zone and Staten Island. Poor, benighted Staten Island.
"You and I know that …" Mari takes a stance and grins at T'Challa as she starts to circle, accepting the tests and not giving ground.
When he lunges, the ex-model sways, feeling the air move past her cheek as his hand sails past. And yes, she's remembered how fast and mobile the Panther was. She … might have learned from that fight and doesn't try to follow or counter attack, instead … she circles again, watching him carefully.
"Getting on with the operation is the most likely. It seems foolish. He must know that those who are involved with our project won't stand for that type of bullying … Moving, maybe? Though that's a big undertaking and we're just going to find it again."
"But if we don't find it in time. It is possible that he wants us to chase this instead of what he is actually doing. Klaue is ever the master of playing on emotions and finding just the right buttons to push." Give him time and he will figure out what he can threaten that cannot be ignored and it is then that Klaue is at his most dangerous.
T'Challa lunges again, this time leaping and spinning almost impossibly as he does. The corkscrew type strike comes in first high but drops as the Panther drops before bringing his feet down and transitioning into a capoeira-like tumble-kick. Now he is aggressive. Not letting up on the pressure and trying to force her to give way.
Without her spirits, Mari is just human. Trained and fit, but still human. T'Challa … has the blessing of the Goddess and the Heart Shaped Herb to bolster him.
Still, Mari doesn't channel an animal just yet - but watches the leap and strike as he comes at her. Not giving ground, she waits till the last moment, and dives towards him, not quite avoiding the kick but putting herself behind him.
"Oooof…" She's winded, that kick had a lot to it. "What does he get from riled up superheroes?" That seems to be the pertinent question - a question that is wheezed. "Is he trying to sow division between us? Or … something else?"
"Angry people, superheroes or not, are not often very reflective people." T'Challa points out as he spins, lashes out in a blind kick and then brings himself into a ready and slightly defensive stance. "Angry people act on emotion and make mistakes. Klaue uses anger like a finely honed sword, as soon as he can find the thing to push on."
And then he does horrific things, or else he gets away while his opponents are shadowboxing.
"We still do not know, after all, what his ultimate goal is. Getting the totems might just be a means to an end."
"Angry people also get destructive …" Mari agrees, using his kick to her roll with it. As T'Challa comes up in that stance, she's already below him, barrelling for his legs - she's going to tackle him.
It's certainly food for thought and Mari will indeed think on it.
There's no more words at this point as Mari tries to bring T'Challa crashing down.
T'Challa twists. He knows he's going down but he manages to get a position more or less behind Mari as they land and immediately climbs on her back. From here he can grapple quite effectively and her options for replying to him are limited. He starts by trying to snake an arm around her neck both so he can put her out and so he can control to some degree where she can look. People don't fight effectively with their heads in vise grips.
Ordinarily of course he'd just break her ribs with body blows and then slam her forward into the ground but… some things one does not do when sparring.
Mari growls as T'Challa twists behind her. She knows she can't let him get that advantage and it's now the ex-model channels her spirits. The rhinocerous beetle that perches on her shoulder - T'Challa might miss it and a … pangolin …
Her skin becomes tough under his arm as he tries to a choke hold on her.
It's the strength of the beetle that she's going to draw heavily on though … as she tries flip the two of them over, putting them both on their backs - her on top on the Panther.
Mari is far too strong for him to tray to match her strength for strength when she's using the beetle. So he doesn't. Instead he uses physics. He carries over the flip when she tries to put him on her back, er, his back, or well. Both their backs. And he continues the throw to put her off him and allow him to stand again. He gains some separation, eyes narrowed and face smiling.
"Ah there is the power. Use it well. You are going to need it. Come."
Mari grunts as the roll is carried over. It takes her a moment longer to come to her feet. That hurt - not that she'll tell him that and she knows she's in for more pain before this is over.
"You were waiting for it?" The pangolin disappears and the panther appears "I thought you might like my new signature spirit …"
Then she rushes him. She can't beat his speed and agility but she might just be able to tank him.
T'Challa does what she did last time. He goes low to knock her over and then turns on her. He can't grapple but he can strike and as he comes in over her she knows she'll have to defend herself from a rain of blows from on high or else find a way to squirm a way or bull her way out and he isn't going to make the last easy.
"I thought your signature spirit was the fox."
Mari sees T'Challa drop and turns the charge into a dive. Which doesn't quite work as he grabs her and drags her down. "Oooffff…" She does squirm as she holds her arms above her - blocking his strikes and using her shoulders and hips to wiggle. All she needs is a bit of distance and she use the speed of the panther to put some distance between them ….
At the moment though, he's got the upper hand - literally.
"Is that why you think they call me Vixen?"
"Well why don't you show me why." says T'Challa as he continues to rain down blows. He doesn't have any absolute advantages. She can be stronger than he, tougher than he, faster than he and she can fly. But he can be ALL of the things he is at the same time whereas she has to pick and choose for the situation. That does however mean that whatever advantage he has at the moment, he has to press it. Hard.
Which is what he now does. Though he knows she's going to do something. He's just not sure what.
"Oh, I don't like to cheat that way …" Mari answers. Just a little bit more and she'll be able to get away. Who the hell is she kidding. All's fair, after all.
With a cheeky grin at T'Challa, Mari grabs his face between her hands and plants a firm kiss on his lips.
That should shock him, just long enough to let her go.
She … hopes.
T'Challa suddenly goes rather stiff with surprise and his brain stops working. That will give her a chance to break free from the position he has her in and it will give her an advantage. Perhaps not a maneuver that would work in most circumstances but if she knew how to short circuit his brain otherwise she would surely do so.
"Um…" That's all he gets a chance to say. And then she's probably going to knock him over.
Mari is a little surprised that worked, actually but she takes advantage of the situation fairly quickly. With the blows stopped, and T'Challa stunned, the ex-model flips him using the strength of the rhinocerous beetle to put him on his front, her knee is back and arm turned up to hold his struggles.
"Say Uncle …"
T'Challa struggles but he is out of tricks that don't require his suit or being lethal. Mari is just too strong at the moment and she has the leverage so he can't just flip her over him. She doesn't weigh any more and if he could just get the lift he might manage it but he can't.
"Alright, you win." He says after a few moments, stopping the struggle. "Though perhaps next time I shall wear my suit."
They might not want to do that in his house though.
Mari lets him go and flops on the ground. "That might be for the best. In an open field somewhere … I'm no match for you without my spirits and with them, you're at a disadvantage. At least with the suit, I won't mind hurting you …" There's a small grin at that but she's watching him.
"So why do you think they call me Vixen?"
"Oh I am sure it has something to do with some Maid Marian cosplay you did when you were young." T'Challa says with a snicker as he sits up and rubs at his wrists. "I'm going to want more wine now." He mock complains.
"So why DO they call you Vixen?" He actually doesn't know that. Certainly she can be one on a couple of levels but…
"Not unless you're going to do the Robin Hood cosplay." Mari rolls over and puts her head in T'Challa's lap. "After that work out, I want a hot tub and wine. Then food." In that order.
"It's a name that stuck, really. Because my pendant is a fox-head and … I look good in a jumpsuit. I thought it cool, so I kept it."
At least she seems to have worked her angst? "How are our plans for Hawai'i going?"
"Well insofar as they are necessary, they are ready. We can fly out at our convenience, perk of being rich, and I have indicated to the Bishop Museum that we are interested in a donation and a close look at their collection. The professor will be a little bit more difficult to get to but the Provost assures me that a visit by Wakandan Royalty is sure to be something that he is interested in." Probably because Wakanda does - so far as the world knows - maintain a monarchy in which there will be some high level similarities with the no longer extant Polynesian models. Also, Royalty. It fascinates Americans.
Or that has been the Prince's observation, anyway.
"Then … let's plan to go next week. I'll do some scouting in the Disaster Zone, maybe the Black Panther will make an appearance, and then we will get that underway."
Mari rolls to her feet, and holds T'Challa wine glass just out of his reach "Come on, let's go see about spoiling you a bit."
"I like being spoiled. As a former king it is one of my primary skill sets. Let us see what you have in mind." So long as he gets that wine or something like it in the near future. He was thirsty when he came in and he is ever more so now.
Either way he turns to follow Mari deeper into the rather large penthouse he has.