cutting_edgex23 | (no subject)

She has an audience.

It applauds, politely.

X smelled her before she got too close.

Probably.

Which is why she looks up, very calmly, and tilts her head.

"Hello."

She is not sure what the applause was for. No one was performing.

"Hey," says Buffy, blissfully unaware of X's identification-by-scent skills. "What're you up to? Warming up for a workout?"

"Yes."

X's response is prompt.

"You are training, too?"

Buffy looks at her inert feet. And up again. "Not at the moment. I just wanted some fresh air. How come it's so chilly here?"

"Oh."

Beat.

"Okay."

She stands up, then, the movement easy as anything.

"It is Scotland."

"...It's the end of the universe."

Was everyone lying?

"Yes."

X tilts her head very slightly, looking at the lake.

"The outside is Scotland."

Beat.

"It is not a hologram."

She nudges the grass with her toe. It feels extremely un-hologrammed.

"I, I figured, but...why is the end of the universe Scotland? I could understand if it was Cleveland or something, but this is actually pretty, in a cold kind of way."

X offers a one-shouldered shrug.

"I do not know."

Beat.

"You could ask?"

"I could," she allows.

Momentarily, she is stumped anew. "Who?"

X looks blank.

"I do not know."

Beat.

Beat.

"Do you want to spar?"

It is less confusing than talking about Scotland.

Honestly.

Scotland is a confusing place.

(Sometimes, with panthers.)

Buffy's idea of confusing vs. not is not unlike X's; it takes her only a few seconds to decide: "Sure. Here?"

X scans the ground around them, then she nods.

"Yes."

Beat.

"There are fewer rocks."

Fewer rocks that are not enormous boulders, that is.

And those are far enough away it should not be a problem.

"Point," Buffy agrees, and carefully removes a dangly bracelet from one wrist. Good thing she decided not to wear a skirt today.

It's gonna be weird sparring with somebody who's not padded from head to toe. But somehow she doesn't think X'd go for that.

X can take whatever Buffy dishes out.

As long as it is not decapitation.

Which explains why, once the bracelet has been set out of the way, X launches herself forward.

She's never been good at holding back.

Hopefully Buffy is ready for the spinning back kick followed by an elbow strike.

Buffy was kind of waiting for some sort of verbal cue that it was time for non-fatal violence, and she goes down. "I meant to do that," she mutters, and sweeps her leg to try to knock X's out from under her.

X leaps over Buffy's outsretched leg, aiming a blow at the other girl's shoulder.

Just to keep her off balance.

Edited 2008-06-06 05:48 (UTC)

It's harder than usual to knock Buffy off-balance when she's already enjoying the steadying effects of intimate contact with a reasonable (if small-scale) facsimile of a gravity-ridden ball of dirt.

So she rolls sideways, lifting her leg sharply to push away any and all projectile Xes.

X takes the blow on her midriff. She ignores the sudden loss of her ability to breathe--it's hardly unfamiliar--and drops a short, sharp kick to Buffy's knee.

This is followed (or occurs simultaneous with) a palmstrike to the chin.

Buffy's other knee retaliates swiftly.

This is not the most dignified sparring match she's ever participated in.

X shifts so that Buffy's knee hits her in the thigh.

Then she bends over, palms touching the ground, striking at Buffy with her heel.

She's never minded pain.

Buffy, on the other hand, is not a big fan of it.

"Ouch," she says, in order to convey this.

She decides that being on the ground is a poor tactical decision, and kicks upward, in the hopes that it will either (a) connect with X, or (b) give her enough momentum for a showy and energy-wasting re-verticalization.

X blocks Buffy's kick with her forearm, pushing her away.

And if this move gives X a chance to deliver a low and vicious kick, she'll take it.

Though it will be light on the vicious.

She is learning.

Buffy's learning, too. Like, for example, that it is better to not be on the receiving end of vicious kicks, however modified. She rolls sideways and into a crouch, spins to direct another sweeping kick at X, and pushes off toward an exciting new standing position without waiting to see if the kick connects.