Red Star

[Tan Li]

It had been a while since there was any challenge in any of his fights -- short of Nhysa of course, she gave him a run for his money, but classes hardly qualified even when others matched his skill. Li took several steps back and waved their new friend forward. "Let's see what you've got." The world still glowed with with presence of the dark light's essence, the circulating air moved through their hair and across their skin. The sounds in the other areas of the gym were loud in his ears. It was purity at it's finest and Li enjoyed the presence of the nature with in. "Just not the face. Can't ruin the money maker." he teased.

Li readied for whatever he threw at him, but he spoke louder among the voices in his ears. "Jump in any time, My Heart." Whether she join in with him, against him, or against them both would be a fun thing to see. A friendly little training exercise, it was meant to be a workout, and such nothing more.

[Nhysa]

Nhysa had no problem with a little objectification. Predatory amusement sharpened her lips, and this time the lazy roam of her gaze was sizing up something quite different in the stranger who thought to play such a game with her. He was all fired-up muscle and testosterone, thinking himself the biggest monster in a playground of lambs. It was quite adorable. Especially when he bared those darling teeth.

She continued her own routine, explored a little of the gym’s amenities; it was deliciously high end in here. Occasionally she cast a hungry and appreciative glance over Li, mostly because she enjoyed watching him move. She knew his body intimately. He was beautiful in motion.

Throaty laughter answered the invitation. A sly look at both men. There were never times she let Li win in the ring. Though when he did manage to slam her down into the mat, and the heat and sweat of the spar turned into quite something else, it never felt much like a loss. She knew his propensity for surprise. For intuition and fluidity. And he knew she might as easily turn against him as side with him.

[Zixin Kao]

It was customary for the smaller combatant to dictate the intensity of a spar. As Zixin nodded, lips twisting into a smirk of appreciation, he figured he had at least twenty pounds on Li. The other man was half a foot shorter too. Oh, Zixin was aware that Li could do some damage if he wanted, but there were rules to this sort of thing that Zixin was civil enough to observe. Red Star was a classy place after all. Exactly why he stripped out of his shirt and chucked it to the wall, displaying the goods for the delicate flower with a few pec pops and wink for good measure.

When he stepped up, he was ready, feet bouncing, arms up and eyes focused. Li moved like a striking snake; the first one connected Zixin on the ribs. It didn’t hurt, which told Zixin they were going to start light and technical. Zixin returned as good as he got, and let the smaller guy decide their pace for the first few minutes.

For all the peacocking before the round started, he was intensely focused on the spar now. Zixin was technical and controlled. He could throw strikes fast and precise, but pull it just the last second so to not hurt Li. To his credit, the master actor was just as controlled.

A few more minutes passed and both their blood was pumping hot and heavy. Zixin felt amazing, and it might have been a shitty thing to do, but he did it anyway. He stretched out one of those powerful legs and connected with Li’s chest hard enough to push the guy back a few steps. Then Zixin hurried in close and swept the guy’s feet out from under him.

He stifled a smirk and paused. “Oh man, sorry about that. You alright?” he asked from above.

[Tan Li]

Breathing was heavy. Blood pounded. It was more than a fight in the dojo but it wasn't all hell like at the Alamaz. It was somewhere in between. The skills being show cases were more about form than power, though Li had no doubt there was power behind those muscles that rippled.

And when Li found himself on his back catching his breathe the power slipped from his grasp and the world dulled. There was a smirk and words but Li just smiled back as he kicked himself back to standing in one quick movement and took up a fighting stance. The blow had changed the stakes and his calm was shredded, the power would flee until he came upon the peace and tranquility of it all. But blood raced and that calm was far away. He beckoned his partner to rejoin the fight and when he was ready Li let loose.

The games were done. It was not a fight to the death, it wasn't even a fight for his life. Li had no intention of harming his partner, but neither did he intend to let the man get another shot in. Li flew at Zixin with hands and feets, nothing to hurt or maim but a flurry of kicks and jabs and sequences practiced years upon years.

[Zixin Kao]

Li popped right back up bright and cheery. Zixin took it all in stride, of course, nodding along while the other man regained his footing, and with a showy kick upright no less! Good for him. As he rejoined the spar, Zixin kept tabs on the intensity progress, which was next to nothing. Despite the sudden ramp up and kick to the man’s ribs, he didn’t retaliate. Which meant the guy was either the most humble man alive or he flat out didn’t have it in him. It remained to be seen which it was.

Li did change some tactics after a few more minutes. He switched into rapid offensive, and it was all Zixin could do to keep him at bay. They moved around the mats in a game of cat and mouse, though the role of cat changed sides frequently. Finally, Zixin twinkle-toes himself over of the same sweeping move that he previously pulled on Li and kept himself off the floor by the skin of his teeth. He smirked, acknowledging how close that was, and decided that he was also very close to his weapons.

He put up a hand to indicate a short pause and went about the quick process of unwrapping his hands. The straps fell to the floor like a lover’s clothes, and in its place, he took up his two swords.

The chinese dao swords were single-edged, slightly curved, and used primarily for cutting or slicing moves. This particular pair were used for training, which meant their edges were kept duller than would be functional, but it still hurt like a bitch when it ripped up skin. With an eager lick of the lips, he indicated that Li had only a moment to select the weapon of his choosing before Zixin moved in.

[Tan Li]

It wasn't uncommon for a scene to introduce weapons in a one sided fight. His opponent thought to train with them and Li admired the balls to include them. Though he had been warming up with them when they arrived. He shouldn't have expected anything less than all ones tools in the arsenal.

While he readied himself, Li closed his eyes and said a small prayer to the universe, centering himself once again with the natural flow of things. For what chaos brings, it so brings order when asked. Three deep breaths in and out in a favored technique and the source of all life and death floated in his hands. Li had watched a boy -- a young man, twenty something come into the dojo and practice with the power in such a way he had never thought to try. Fighting with this gift was dangerous, it could explode at any moment, Li didn't trust himself but the young man had wielded the power with such mastery and yet fumbled with his own balance. He'd claimed he was relearning himself. A missing arm would cause anyone to refocus and relearn, but Li had learned from the young man.

Li took up his stance again, weaponless by all eyes but unseen were the winds of power at his beckoning call. Li beckoned him again with a grin as he set himself into his final stance with a flutter of his arms forward in a gentle tantric motion and a breeze from no where fluttered around the room shuffling papers and the hair of dark goddess who watched nearby. She knew of the same power, the light and darkness of it's touch and feel.

Zixin rushed in burnishing his sword and it met a solid block of air an inch from Li's arm, he wielded the invisible blocks like tonfa. It was crude, nothing so sustaining as what he'd see the young man in the dojo wielding. He couldn't even possibly conceive of how he bent the light, shifted the air, wielded fire balls all the while preforming a self choreographed kata to perfection. This was nothing like that.

[Zixin Kao]

Grips tightening around the hilts, Zixin struck the moment that Li indicated he was ready. The other man opted to go without a weapon, and Zixin wasn’t here to actually slice off his head, so he intended to parry himself before Red Star was bathed red. A little blood wouldn’t hurt, though. Well, it wouldn’t hurt Zixin.

Zixin's relentless onslaught began with a lightning-fast strike, his swords whistling through the air. He pressed forward with unwavering focus as Li blocked with nothing but his bare forearm. Zixin stifled a smirk with the impending wound, but when the sword struck a solid barrier an inch from Li’s skin, Zixin pulled the blade away with curious examination.

“You sly devil,” he smiled proudly, no offense taken at all. “This will be good practice for me,” he added, twirled his weapons back to their beginning stance, and struck again, this time without any intention to hold back.

Li danced nimbly. His arms and legs spun and twisted, creating an intricate dance of defense, but Zixin's determination proved unyielding. He delivered a rapid succession of strikes, exploiting every opening in Li's defense, his swords whirling like a tempest, threatening to overwhelm his opponent.

[Nhysa]

By the time the spar grew serious, Nhysa paid more attention. Li didn’t need her to protect him, but certainly she was watching his opponent for weaknesses. He was all fired up ruthlessness, a child at the spoils of war. But there was something else she was watching for, too, and it was the main reason she chose to simply give them space to play it out. The first time she sparred with Li at the dojo, he’d held back. She knew why. All those scars deftly interwoven with body art, apart from the ones rent across his soul, which were the worst ones.

Unseen wind stirred her hair, and she knew the meaning; surprised he took the step to incorporate it after the way he reacted to the boy at the dojo. Though his opponent clearly saw nothing but naked skin by his response, despite the swing; a reaction to which she made a narrow-eyed note. Nhysa forgot little. It was her job to be observant. And by now she wasn’t the only one paused to watch on the outskirts of the fight. Into the murmur of appreciation around them she made some enquiries.

[Tan Li]

The fight was relentless on all fronts. It was no holds barred save for that it was a spar and neither of them were trying to kill each other. Though Li wasn't sure his opponent cared one way or the other. They fought until both were showing some fatique nothing that they couldn't push through but hearts raced and the blood pumped. It was a good day. Though it wasn't a spar with Nhysa. He would have to make it up to her.

Li backed away from the fight first. Held his hand up after a good bought. "You are an excellent fighter. Li Tan." He offered his hand in friendship but he was done. "I didn't catch your name. I do think we drew a crowd."

[Zixin Kao]

They were both breathing heavy and a little banged up by the time the spar closed out. Neither truly won, though when Zixin let his arms sink at his sides, he felt himself come out on top. He would leave the day with more secrets in his head than when he began it, and formed an ally no less. Ryker was a tool, and perhaps he could add another to the box? It only remained to be seen how gullible (or sadistic) Li was; and all celebrities hid skeletons in their closet.

Zixin stowed his practice swords with his stuff and returned to shake Li’s hand. His chest and back was slicked with sweat. More dripped from his scalp, pebbling his hair a black rain. As soon as their hands clasped, he tugged a friendly tug on the adjoining arm and wrapped his elbow around the shorter guy’s neck, presenting the trophy actor to the crowd.

“Sexy man meat like us always draws a crowd, friend,” he laughed, scanning the faces watching. He knew some, recognized others, but it was upon the sultry eyes of Li’s delicate flower that his rested.

Then with a purse of the lips, he turned back to his sparring partner. “And where are my manners?” he joked, realizing that he knew Li’s identity but the same knowledge was not offered in return. With a mysterious glint in his eye, he shared his name. “Zixin Kao.” Would the high and mighty Tan Li recognize the kingpin of the underworld?