Eye of the Tiger

[Connor Kent]

Emily took her call. While she was gone, Connor continued. "Only one, huh? Hmm....You know, you need to take me down there. I think I might need one too. I've shot a rifle a few times, but a handgun might be nice."
He smiled and felt goofy like a stupid teenager.

He remembered a movie he'd watched with his dad, back when his dad was on his James Bond kick- which, he remembered, included trying every type of martini he could find. "Maybe a gold one."
He laughed. "I'll change my name to Scaramanga and get a third nipple."
Likely no one else would get it- they were all too young- but he didn't care. Ayden made him feel a kid again. He'd just turned 46 and while he still had as much energy as ever, there was no denying that he wasn't a kid any more. Gray in your stubble sort of made that pretty clear.

Still feeling like a kid, he turned to Giovanni. "What about you, man?"
He'd noted the guy had been sparring. "You wanna go a few rounds in the gym?"
With Ayden there, he felt like he had an audience. A part of him wanted to show off a bit to her.

[Giovanni]

Emily had to take a phone call, so Giovanni turned his attention back to Ayden and Connor. Connor had this teenager in love grin on his face that only people who actually feel love have. Giovanni didn't know if he could feel that emotion anymore, but the thought brought the gentle voice of Ordine into his mind saying that he could. He doubted that she was being honest with him. Ordine was a manipulative one.

Caos was the one that he seemed to resound with more, and that partially bothered him. Caos wanted him to do things that hurt other people. Like when he was with Nox. For the short amount of time that his two companions had been quiet, Giovanni had thought about his meeting and wondered why the two hadn't gotten along. What had made them hate each other so.

"Because the kid was a prick."
Caos spoke up.

Giovanni mentally nodded to Caos and despite her silence, Giovanni knew that Ordine wasn't happy with that. Giovanni was broken out of his thoughts by Connor asking him something.

"I'm sorry - what was that?"
Connor repeated his request to spar.

"I think that would be enjoyable. A friendly little match. Swords or fists?"
Giovanni grinned.

"Given you dont have a sword- and I dont plan on getting skewered today- fists will do. What style you training in?"
Connor replied.

Giovanni smiled. His hand to hand combat training was based in grappling. He got close and personal, but he was really rusty with it. "Judo mostly - grapples, pins, joint locks, and what not. I'm rather rusty though. Maybe you can show me a thing or two?"


Connor smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. I've only been doing this for a few months. But yeah, could be fun. I've been learning Brazilian jiu jitsu so that's what I'll use."


Connor and Giovanni headed to the ring, and Giovanni thought once more of the guy that Connor was working with. "So the guy you were training with. He looks familiar, but something seems different. Where would I have seen him before?"
Giovanni wondered. He had seriously seen the guy before.

((With Connor))


Edited by Giovanni Cavelli, Dec 16 2014, 01:36 PM.

[Ayden]

Ayden smiled at Connor's comment about wanting a gun as well, mostly because of her prior thoughts on showing him how to use one. That could be a very interesting time. Connor made a joke, she didn't understand it but she smiled anyway and patted his hand in support. He dated himself regularly with her, it was funny, but when he was reminiscing about his past, he was fun and childlike. And Ayden enjoyed fun Connor.

But her thoughts were soon turned towards a spar between Connor and Giovanni. Ayden's heart leapt, it was a gut reaction to Connor fighting. She knew he was using MMA now because his life depended on defending himself, but it hadn't always been about that. They hadn't discussed the reasons, but that was what he'd done when Ayden had told him what she was, he'd resorted to getting hurt, to feeling pain and the adrenaline of the fight. Ayden sighed but smiled. "That could be fun to watch."


Emily returned with tears in her eyes and Ayden frowned, she watched as the men started towards the ring. She turned to watched, but out of the corner of her eye she watched Emily. She smiled, "Everything okay, Emily?"


Ayden wasn't exactly sure she wanted to deal with her emotional again, but she was a friend, she didn't like seeing her in pain.

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily moved next to Ayden as the boys left to fight. She found it strange that people fought each other for sport, but she wasn't one to judge. Ayden was smiling, but asked if she was okay.

Emily returned her smile, wiping her eyes as she did so. "Yeah, I'll be fine...just overwhelmed a bit. Don't worry, the crying part is over."
She gave Ayden a grin.

"It's just that since Mom and Dad died, I've had so many decisions to make, and they are decisions that affect everyone who works for my company. If I make the wrong ones..."
She let the statement go unfinished and sighed. "And now, there are more decisions waiting for me when I get back. Big ones too. I wish I could tell you more, but Company Non-Disclosure Policy doesn't allow me to. I just wonder if I'm making the right choices."


Emily sighed again, feeling surprised the tears hadn't come again with the mention of her parents. "I'm sorry - I'm unloading. It's been a really rough month."
She rubbed her forehead and then put her hands on her knees. "That's why I'm here though. The board doesn't expect me to be making choices until I get back."


She grinned and looked at the boys as they started to fight. "What makes you wary of him, and how are you so good at reading people?"
To be honest, Emily was more interested in the second question. An idea had begun to form in her mind.


Edited by Emily Shale, Dec 17 2014, 01:56 PM.

[Ayden]

Ayden listened to Emily's short tale. DNA's were a bitch. Though Ayden only suspected that, never had to personally sign one, her DNA's were typically I'll kill you if you tells, and sometimes even if you don't. An assassin for hire always had to keep that in mind, sometimes you were just a loose end to tie up. Thankfully she'd been good enough that her former clients were afraid of her too. It kept her safe. And Ayden knew one day that life was going to catch up with her. Someone would say something, to someone and it'd be heard by the wrong ears. It was possible, no matter how hard she'd tried, she knew there could be any number of mistakes she'd made to lead to her demise.

Emily asked about Giovanni and her feelings about him, and how she knew. Ayden smiled. It was a long story really. Ayden sat back in her chair and watched Connor move. She wasn't a fighter, she could if necessary, but her career had never relied much on that, if she was that close then she was dead anyway.

Ayden smiled. "I just have a bad feeling about him. Nothing specific. But once upon a time it was my job to know those types of things."
It hadn't been a time so long ago. And she hadn't had to judge people too much, well except for when she met Bas. He was a thug, a cute thug, but a thug none-the-less.

[Connor Kent]

Connor got into the ring and cracked his neck to the right and then to the left. His muscles were loose from the last bout. He felt ready. This was going to be friendly anyway.

Pretty soon they were going at it, dancing around, probing, attacking, defending. He'd been doing it for a few months and was feeling confident. Giovanni was doing pretty well and the few strikes he landed were solid. But on the main, Connor had him on the defensive for most of the match. The man seemed to know how to fight but his moves indicated that he hadn't done so in a long time, the timing being slightly off or too slow.

Course, having a guy like Charlie- at his fighting peak- come at you with a whirlwind of feet and hands was a real quick motivator to learn as fast as possible- not if you didn't want to spend the whole afternoon on the mat, anyway.

All in all, he liked the fighting. It was a way to shut your brain off. Well, that wasn't quite it. You were actually more alert than at any other time. It was just that you were so focused on what you were doing- your whole body a machine you were piloting at speeds never before encountered for more than a few seconds- that you didn't have any other attention to spare to other more esoteric or mundane matters. Bottom line, it was fun.

[Giovanni]

It was nice to fight again. Giovanni hadn't had a fight like this in awhile. He had fought Nox, but mostly that had been with the power...and it was anything but friendly. Giovanni could tell how rusty he was. His movements were slow but he landed a few good hits. All in all, he was having a good time.

Caos entered the fight, wanting a little fun. He spoke to Giovanni, telling him to summon power. Giovanni did and felt it roaring through him,and for those moments everything came into focus.

Giovanni made a quick thread of air and pushed Connorback. He didn't do so too hard. Connor knew of his abilities, it was all in fun anyways. He used the momentary distraction to get in close and initiated a grappel.

Giovanni smiled. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

[Connor Kent]

The fight was going well and he was soon covered in a thin layer of sweat. But it felt good. Giovanni seemed to enjoy it too, from the way his eyes lit up. Even as he got hit his spirits seemed up.

And then it seemed as if he was able to anticipate Connor better. He got just a little bit faster. I must be telegraphing my moves, he thought. The man seemed more aware of what was going on.

He felt a laugh well up in him. Oh yeah. It's on now. At that moment, however, something seemed to push him away hard. It was....nothing. Like an invisible bar had just surged at his chest with a sharp force. In the middle of fighting- mind focused purely on watching Giovanni, interpreting his moves, looking of openings- he was not in a place to understand what had just happened.

In shock, that very instant, he stumbled back from the push and fell on his back. Giovanni was grinning at him. "Sorry, couldn't resist."
Connor sat there for a moment, trying to understand what he was talking about, his confusion plain on his face.

Suddenly understanding dawned on him. Duh!

[Ayden]

Ayden watched as Connor and Giovanni sparred. It was interesting watching the men fight. Ayden had never really be interested in learning to fight more than in self defense, though her Army training had insured she knew how to do it to a basic ability. But she preferred to stay far away from her prey, fighting wasn't necessary, she could always use her other talents to get everything else.

Ayden watched the man she loved, the way he moved, and swayed and took a punch. He wasn't too bad, or this guy was not good at all. Ayden knew Connor hadn't been doing this long. It was a good outlet. He hand to get his issues out somehow, and now that they were back together his destructiveness had seemed to stop. She smiled at that, but it was a sad thing to think she'd made him go over the deep end because of her former life. A life she still missed at times.

Connor fell backwards from an unseen force. Ayden stood up and walked over to the ring to catch Giovanni tell Connor he couldn't resist. Ayden smiled and embraced her power. It washed over her with a sense of peace. She wove a small thin tendril of air and flicked it at Giovanni's ear.

She grinned up at him, "Play fair or I'll give Connor an advantage."

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily turned to watch the fight between the two men. She really didn't understand what was going on, but Ayden's eyes were on Connor. Emily was really happy for them despite feeling a little alone herself. Connor fell - but Giovanni hadn't touched him and Emily blinked.

Emily stood and followed Ayden to the ring. She felt Ayden embrace magic and saw the tendril flick Giovanni. She told him to play fair or she'd even the odds. Emily's eyes widened.

"Men can use magic too!?"
She whispered to Ayden. It was a question, but Emily guess it made sense. She had seen though. "But I didn't see anything."


Thinking about magic brought to mind her other questions. "Ayden, you were holding magic earlier - like - it was there but your weren't using it. How do you do that? And you don't have to speak words?"
All of this was a different type of revelation. Emily had no idea what to think of it.


Edited by Emily Shale, Jan 5 2015, 01:50 PM.