Still Not Safe #2 [M&M 2nd ed]

[Cubey]

"Huh? Who's that kid?" The long-haired, bearded guy is distracted and because of that lowers his defenses. And his sparring partner uses the opportunity to land a straight one on his jaw!

Or rather would land one, as the first of the boxers intercepts the hit with lightning speed - with his open palm.

"I won't be beaten so easily!" He attacks with his free, right hand, sending a powerful jab that leaves the glasses-wearing man staggering!

"I believe he's one of the Shifters." He says, still swaying around in dizziness.

"Ah, that's right! The whole base is about them after all. Hey there!"

[Haven]

"Mhm, it's fine." Emi nods. "Are we going to watch it in your room, or go look for some common area? Well..." Her cheeks redden a bit. "I'd prefer the first option, as long as there aren't any giant Tesla coils around that can zap me, or other unusual stuff like that. I don't know what you keep there, I have never been to your room, after all."

"Oh, ah...that should be fine," Lorne says, though he looks a little embarrassed himself.

"I suppose it depends on what you mean by unusual stuff, though..." He invites her in. His room is very clean and well-organized, with a desk to Lorne's right with a large computer monitor and tower, and a postcard from home. It's unadorned except for a workbench behind Lorne, which has some electronic components to the side and a partially disassembled mechanism of some sort in the center.

"I was talking to some of the others, by the way," she varnishes the truth (Andy is too "some"!). "We were pretty... undirected in the fight after the conference. It'd be good if we could agree on one voice everyone trusted to make decisions in a pinch." She gives a small pause. "You're kind of the obvious choice for that. What do you think?"

"Well...it did seem to work at Stork's Nest, and being able to help everyone take advantage of the information I receive would be a benefit. I doubt if James or Ben would like that very much, though. Plus...in some situations," he says, trusting Cat knows what he means, "I may be unreliable."

Andy laughs. "Hah! Well said. But that's where you're wrong. You at least have the advantage that the attraction's obviously mutual there, dude" he winks. He then scratches his head. "I didn't know that me being head over heels for Cat was THAT obvious, though. Oh, the embarrasment! Which other dark, terrible secrets have you gleaned from me, you evil thief? he jokes, hamming it up so as to make it obvious he's actually pretty happy Lorne's actually jabbing back.

As the Spanish saying goes, "At the blacksmith's home, wooden knives". For all his ability to read other people, when it comes to himself and his own relationships, Andy can still be fairly clueless - or rather, he's pretty sure that any signs of Cat's interest are mostly wishful thinking on his own end, and therefore not to be trusted.

Lorne chuckles. "None of your secrets, no. I would have assumed it was mutual, but then, I am probably the last person you should ask."

[Tengu_temp]

"I suppose it depends on what you mean by unusual stuff, though..." He invites her in. His room is very clean and well-organized, with a desk to Lorne's right with a large computer monitor and tower, and a postcard from home. It's unadorned except for a workbench behind Lorne, which has some electronic components to the side and a partially disassembled mechanism of some sort in the center.

"Well... I don't see anything unusual here, at least not unusual in the bad way!" Truth to be told, Emi never was in the room of a boy her age before, personally. To all her knowledge they might as well be filled with dirty socks, half-filled packs of chips and porn mags.
"It's pretty nice in here. What are you working on?" She glances at the machine at the workbench. The postcard grabs her attention, too, which results in a slight, and rather sad, smile.
Will I ever receive postcards from home? Unlikely... I bet Mom is happy I'm gone, and Dad didn't even notice.
"Anyway.", she returns to reality from Internal Monologue Land. "Shall we watch the DVD?"

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"I believe he's one of the Shifters." He says, still swaying around in dizziness.

"Ah, that's right! The whole base is about them after all. Hey there!"

"That's Todd..." Ben replied wearily, "I'm Ben, and this is James. You're pretty decent. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" he asked as he approached the boxing ring. He climbed up onto the ropes so that he could look the man in the eye.

[Haven]

"Well... I don't see anything unusual here, at least not unusual in the bad way!" Truth to be told, Emi never was in the room of a boy her age before, personally. To all her knowledge they might as well be filled with dirty socks, half-filled packs of chips and porn mags.
"It's pretty nice in here. What are you working on?" She glances at the machine at the workbench. The postcard grabs her attention, too, which results in a slight, and rather sad, smile.
Will I ever receive postcards from home? Unlikely... I bet Mom is happy I'm gone, and Dad didn't even notice.
"Anyway.", she returns to reality from Internal Monologue Land. "Shall we watch the DVD?"

"Oh, it's a lock--fairly complex. Just trying to keep my skills sharp."

He also notices Emi's other reaction, but decides not to make anything of it. "Sure," he says, and puts the DVD into his computer, navigates the menu, and starts the show. He seems to be enjoying it, if a little puzzled at some parts, though watching it alongside Emi is naturally a bit distracting.

[Cubey]

Ben:
"Nice to meet you. Name's Alex." The man offers a handshake, after removing the boxing glove from his hand.
"I've read about boxing, but I never fought before. How can I perform like this then? Perfect visualisation." His gaze is energetic and curious, as if he was not sure what the nearest future brings - but was looking forward to it no matter what.
"If you have a view of everything that's going on in your head, you can easily predict what's going to happen. Everything else is an issue of just catching up with your body. Would you be interested in a course?"

"Ahem." The other of the two is being rather quiet.

"Ah, that's right. My courses are cancelled now that I work with SECT. Tough luck, sorry."

[Fri]

"Course? What course?"

[Cubey]

"A course on visualisation. You could say, it's my speciality." There is a boastful tone in the bearded man's voice. Apparently his name is Alex.

"But that's a thing of the past now. My new job is to defend the Earth against an alien invasion. Well, in a way."

"We will be partially responsible for operating the upgraded defensive system installed on Stork's Nest station." His friend elaborates.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"You could do all that just by reading about it?" Ben asked incredulously. "You'd have to have a near perfect memory and excellent reflexes to pull that off...which, by watching, I'd say you do, Alex. That's impressive, but I'm not sure that 'visualization' would work as well for others as it obviously did for you." he went on. "We were actually here looking for a course of a kind. We're trying to get someone to teach us more about hand-to-hand combat so that we'll be a little less useless without our armor on...Hey, do you think you could teach us the basics of what you read? It just might help get us started on the right track."

[Tengu_temp]

"Oh, it's a lock--fairly complex. Just trying to keep my skills sharp."

"Oh, I see. If your career in science doesn't work out, you could always try becoming a burglar." Emi's tone is amused and joking.

Depending on how much time Lorne has, they'll watch from one to several episodes - not a lot of them though, something must be left for the future. Emi's quite happy to watch the show with someone - and since she's already seen it before, she can afford to divide her attention and observe Lorne's reactions too.
"So...", she asks after they're done. "What do you think about it? Umm, if you don't mind, would you like to watch the rest later, together?"

[Cubey]

"Well, yeah." Alex rubs his beard, as if trying to appear like an old and wise mentor.
"The course takes a while to finish, and I don't have that much time. As soon as the upgrades are completed, I'm moving out of here. Besides... I usually don't do freebies."

[Fri]

"Ah" James might not know much about anime, but if he knows about the word otaku, he'll agree that that word might describe him too. As he is a martial arts otaku. Anyway, he didn't watch Drunken Master a dozen of times for nothing. "I know about this kind of situation. So, what strange task that we need to do before you see us as worthy of your teaching, master? Or do you need to fight us first to see whether we're worthy of your lesson or not?"

Yes. James can joke too.

[Cubey]

"I really meant it - no time for training." Alex already removed both of his boxing gloves, so it doesn't look like he's going to fight anymore.
"But if you're so determined, I can show you a trick or two. Nothing in life comes free - show me how you fight!"

"Do you really expect high school students to spar with you?" Although he wears eye-obscuring sunglasses, you just know that the other guy's (what is his name, anyway?) gaze is incredulous.

"Of course not. YOU will be the one to fight, not me." The bearded man grins widely.

[Fri]

James smiles. "Don't underestimate us just because we're young, oh wizened old masters." he directs this toward both of them. He then turns his sight toward Ben "Anyway, I was here because I thought I could spar with you, Ben. But it turned out that we found something more interesting."

James puts his hand on the rope and leaps inside the ring. "Let me try this first, guys. I've been wanting to try the celebrated SECT soldier's mettle for a long time. So, which one of you guys that want to fight this high school student?"

[Cubey]

The two exchange sentences:
"I suggest against this course of action."

"It's just a spar, nobody will get hurt. And stop talking like a robot!"

"Very well. Prepare yourself."
It seems Sunglasses has been convinced to spar with James. When the fight starts, he raises his gloves in a boxing guard, approaching steadily and looking for an opportunity to strike through your defenses. He sends a careful, probing punch, but since it was only a probing one, it was easy to avoid.

(Initiative 26. If you roll more, feel free to act before him, but his attack missed either way.)

[Fri]

James put his stance and easily dodges the, coincidentally, similarly sunglassed opponent. He then closes toward his opponent and launches his fist. But before his fist connects, he pulls and follows with a punch from his other hand.

Spoiler

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acrobatic bluff (1d20+6)[24]
attack (1d20+4)[5]

(really james? a critical miss? really? this is so embarassing so I'll use a hero point for this.)

[Matar]

"Go on James!" Todd cheers James on, with great passion! "You can do it, I have faith!"

Todd keeps cheering James on from the sidelines, being way too tired himself to fight.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Ben settled in to watch the fight, hoping to gather as much as he could about fighting hand to hand from it. His frustration just built, however, since this still meant that he wouldn't be able to find a teacher. How could a military base NOT have a combat instructor? Was he just looking in the wrong places?

[Cubey]

James manages to distract his opponent, and then - bang! His real strike connects, throwing off his glasses and maybe creating a minor bruise. Good thing you were wearing boxing gloves, right?

"Hey... he went easy on you!" Alex seems surprised that it's over so quickly.

"I did not go easy on anyone." James's sparring partner picks up his sunglasses. You could catch a glimpse of his eyes while they were unobstrucated - icy blue and piercing, their gaze drilling through everything in the environment.

"Well, a deal's a deal. I can show you a few tricks... James, was it?"

[kamikasei]

Cat looks on in puzzlement. She had come along to see what Ben had in mind and whether he would get anywhere with it, but what had seemed like a straightforward idea had quickly turned weird. Who were these guys and what were they up to?

Well, at least it seems like James does actually know what he's about. Cat waits with the others to see if he can make any use of the knowledge.

[Fri]

"Yes, Thank you." James puts his hand together and bows. "And I'll accept any lesson gladly."

[Cubey]

"Come tomorrow then. Same time, same place. Don't worry, there'll be less fighting from now on. Although I have a feeling you can handle yourself." Alex jumps over the ring's border ropes and turns to leave. And unless someone interrupts him, that's what he does.

You can only hope that he will fulfill his promise and meet with you the next day.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Hm..." Ben said to James as the two older men left the room, "He better mean all of us and not just you, because I'm coming anyway." He grinned and socked James playfully on the shoulder. "Hey, since we have some free time now, what say you school me some on what you know, bud? You went toe to toe with 'Glasses' and came out of it on top, which means you probably know more about fighting than the rest of us. So let's get a few spars in and I'll get up to speed for the lessons tomorrow. Cool?"

[Cubey]

"I'll be on my way then." Sunglasses seems to be unphased by his defeat at the hand of James. He leaves the place as well.

There doesn't seem to be anyone willing to fight after wards. What is up with this place? Shouldn't it be full of battle hardened mercenaries and soldiers? Or maybe they arrogantly think they're good enough already?

(Do you want me to describe what happens the next day, when you come back to this place, or would you rather spar and talk a bit first?)

[ChronicLunacy]

((OOC: I'd like to spar James with my non-armor stats and see just how bad I really am at it. ))

[Fri]

"Sure" James smiles and fixes his shades. "I might not be able to conjure fire or create objects out of thin air, but I guess I kinda know how to punch and kick." He then sighs. "In fact, that might be all I can do..."

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Alright, James, just don't take me too lightly." Ben smiled as he pulled the tie on the boxing gloves tight with his teeth and then settled into a general ready stance. "I think the armor actually makes me a better fighter somehow," Ben chuckled. "I feel ridiculous without it. Anyway, tag, you're it!" he shouted as he lunged forward, telegraphing a right hook to James' jaw.

Spoiler

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Initiative: (1d20+1)[18]
Attack: (1d20+3)[7]
His strength is 10 without the armor...so I think it's just a DC15 Toughness save should I get lucky and actually connect. (Though it probably won't hurt at all with the gloves on.)

[Fri]

James easily weaves through Ben's attack. "I can see that you're a boxer. Boxers hit hard, but their attacks are rather straightforward" He then follows with a similar strategy that he did previously. Distract, then punches.

Spoiler

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(1d20+6)[24]acrobatic bluff
(1d20+4)[18]attack

[Cubey]

It is a -5 modifier to perform a bluff as a move action, so you rolled a 19. But the attack roll is enough to overcome Ben's defense anyway, so he has to roll for toughness vs DC 17. All damage is nonlethal, and because you use boxing gloves then it will disappear after the fight - it's used only to judge who is winning.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Spoiler

Show

Acrobatics vs. Feint Attempt: (1d20+9)[24]
Toughness: (1d20)[2]
Embarrassing, but not enough to use a hero point. I'll just have to bear it.

Ben was quick on his feet even outside of the armor, but not being surprised wouldn't help him against the blow. "Oof!" he exclaimed before he stumbled back against the ropes and fell to his butt. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "Ugh...so, that was embarrassing...I think I leaned right into that one. See? That's why I came down here." he commented, shaking his head again. "I don't know where the fighting ability goes when my armor goes away. I feel like a punk kid again."