Description: This is one of Kai Gabriel's first times on scene! What kind of person will she turn out to be? Staring Kai Gabriel, Acacia and Mickey Rogers.
Since enrolling into the program at Justice High, Kai Gabriel has had to give up her home in the upper class area's of Japan to come live in the dorms. For the past three years or so her house, which she inherited when her parents died, has been left closed up. Only a grounds keeper living there. As a result the girl is forced to find training on her own time. Therefore finding the most unused place she can nearby, assumes to have found time alone. Just her and her training. Little does she apparently know the packed earth is here because this section of town has baited many to train on it's soil.
Right now Kai looks surprisingly limber, despite having taken some recent beatings. That battle against Shingo did not go the way she intended. Actually she had no desire to fight Shingo to begin with, which is why most of the time was spent against that trouble maker Nassir. In the back of her mind she would remember clearly how she had to deal with him, why just the thought of the heretic made her angry. Sweat beaded, her every move now results in sending a small spray and her shouts are laced with venom. It wasn't pride, it was divine retribution. A few palm strikes and a great deal of kicking later and she pauses to breath heavily. A memory passes through her mind.. Nassir shooting her. Darn.. it!
"AAAAAAH!" A dramatic move sends her staggering as a bruise in her ribs causes her to lose power and topple.
Some way down the street, another girl crosses the road, hiking boots scuffling against the pavement. Acacia Gillespie, dressed in one of her oversized military camo jackets, sleeves rolled up, T-shirt, jeans.
Dangling over one shoulder, she carries a collection of plastic shopping bags, handles looped round the fingers of one gloved fist.
And she whistles, as she walks.
She seems to be in a good mood. Uncommonly good, for Acacia.
Presumably -someone- got up on the right side of the grubby sleeping bag this morning.
As she makes her way across the block, moving through the cool night air - the distant sounds of Gabriel at work catch her attention. Acacia blinks, turns her head. Blinks again. And then, curious, changes direction.
Before long, she rounds a corner, catching sight of the other girl. With an intregued expression, Acacia stands, and watches.
It takes a few moments to recover. Those Shingo Kicks must of hurt like big time. "Maiden.. give me strength." Gabriel manages a murmur. A clasp of her symbol and she gets to her feet again. It's been hard to train while she's in the shape she's currently in, but that's the best time to train! Anyway doing homework has been impossibly difficult, since her mind was distracted with the missing notebook Nassir stole. She was almost thinking of him like .. like.. a boyfriend. *gag*
So back to square one. Take your partner round and round, she makes a few swings and palm strikes, breathing heavily. "Yaaaah.. hah!" another pause. This was wearing her down big time.
"Injured..." Acacia murmurs, softly. A quiet comment, an observation.
"...distracted..." she continues, eyes fixed on Gabriel, tracing her movements with a careful, practiced light, "...bad to train like that."
Acacia's tone is flat, deadpan, but it's not -entirely- devoid of emotion. There's just that very faint hint of concern in Acacia's statement, and echoes of that in the look she gives the other girl.
Standing on the street corner, Acacia swings the shopping bags off her shoulder, letting them dangle from one hand by her side. She clasps her other hands over her mouth, fingers half-covering her face. A strange, reflective gesture.
Acacia makes herself known to Gabriel who immediately stops her training and looks over to the new arrival. Now is as good a time as any to take a break anyway, right? So she stops. Turning to Acacia - Gabriel gives a respectful bow and introduces herself, "I am Kai Gabriel, Miss.. thank you for the advice, you are probably right, but I could not think of anything better to do with myself."
She walks over to a bag and pulls a towel out to dry herself off. A water bottle is pulled out too and dumps some over her head then dries that off too. "Is there.. something I can help you with miss?"
Lowering her hand, Acacia gives Gabriel a look of close scrutiny.
"Acacia," she replies, after a second or two of hesitation. Her name, of course. Not her full name, but it'll do. Acacia stares at Gabriel a second longer, sizing her up.
Then she allows herself a tiny little grin. Not much of one. But a smile nonetheless.
"No," Acacia says, "just passing by. Heard you."
She stops, quirking an eyebrow. And explains:
"Was loud."
Gabriel blushes rather brightly at that, "I didn't mean to be so loud, I was only trying to really put my heart into it." A seat is taken at a tree stomp. Wow what a work out, she's still looking rather strung out from all the work. "You can sit down and join me if you like, I wouldn't mind listening to some more of your thoughts, you seem to know a lot about all of this."
A little room is made incase Acacia cares to sit.
Acacia...snorts. Her body shaking, as if she's holding back a laugh. Which she is, really. Gabriel's statement seems to amuse her. -Darkly- amuse her.
That said, though, she does take the offered seat. Crossing over to where Gabriel is. Setting her plastic bags down on the bit of grass around the tree stump's roots, she settles down next to Gabriel, scooting forward a little so she doesn't take up too much space.
"Thoughts?"
Acacia shakes her head. Gives another self-depreciating snort. "Pfft. I don't know -that- much. But..."
She turns her head, looking Gabriel in the eye.
"...the way you were training. Worked up...why?"
"A man, a terrible man," Gabriel replies with a faintly dark tinge to her own voice, "His name is Nassir and he only spreads lies and ill where ever he goes. I do whatever I can to stop him, but I havn't had a chance to meet him face to face and alone.. yet." Gabriel frowns.
A bee starts to buzz around Gabriel's head, it even lands on her for a moment then buzzes around some more. The girl takes note of said bee, but doesn't go even so far as to to swat it away. She just watches it before continuing,
"I'm sorry, it's a personal fight, but I have to do something about him."
Acacia bobs her head in a nod, once. Mulling over what Gabriel said, a faint cloud ghosting over her own features.
"Mmm," she says, making a small sound of understanding and acknowledgement.
Acacia brings a hand to her head, running slender fingers through her silver locks.
After taking a few breaths, and choosing her words, Acacia speaks, again. In a calm, measured voice.
"Many people spread lies and...ill. Metro City's biggest growth industry. Southtown's got large output, too. Many people."
Acacia cricks her neck, tilting it to the side. "You going to go after -every- one?"
"Everyone? Well.. I mean.. " This was odd, Acacia must of misunderstood her. She never mentioned that, but her expression says that there was some real stock to what Acacia was asking. "Well.. I mean.. yes I am.." She blushes a little and looks down.
"I just want to help people Miss Acacia-san, but some people don't want to be helped or even know they need it." She looks at the sky now and closes her eyes. It was hard to admit but she was practically acting like an idiot. Practical. Another explanation could be that she is acting like a fanatic. This was strangely enough a perfect description of what she actually is.
Acacia isn't particularly fond of fanatics. For a given degree of fanatic, anyway. Possibly because the last one she met threw grenades at her. While all she wanted to do was get through the front door of her -house-.
If Acacia knew of this 'Nassir's relation to Rolento, she might have reacted rather differently to mention of the name. But 'Nassir' means nothing to Acacia.
And so, she has a rather more...detatched response, to what Gabriel says.
Acacia shakes her head.
"I understand."
She closes her eyes, momentarily. Bows her head, leans forward, resting her arms in her lap, hands clasped between her knees.
"Even feel the same way. But..."
Acacia looks up, frowning. "Obsession isn't healthy. At one man. Or the world. Mm?"
"No, I'm also a student at Justice High school and I enjoy swimming and polo and embroidery, " Gabriel replies, she is after all, a person. "Oh and I am a member of a school organization.. I don't suppose you attend any classes miss Acacia-san?"
Ironically, or rather not so ironically, Gabriel has met and gotten along with Rolento quite well and good. Though this is another point of minor interest which is left to be unmentioned. For better or worse (better). "Do you believe.. in something bigger than you or I? a higher power?"
Acacia begins to shake her head, no - though, she pauses, mid-motion, realising that a verbal response would be better. After all, Gabriel asked a good deal of questions. A good many, indeed.
"Don't go to school, though been thinking..." She trails off, leaving the thought incomplete. Switching mental tracks.
Then she smiles.
Impishly.
In a somewhat lighter voice than her usual dull monotone, Acacia murmurs, "Well, Mayor Haggar is bigger than -both- of us, and government's a higher power, I guess..."
Government..? Gabriel isn't sure what to make of that statement, but then she figures out, "Oh.. no I mean, bigger than- hey.. you knew what I meant didn't you."
A narrow eye is fixed though playfully on Acacia at the thought that she was being teased. Then a sigh. Another non-believer. She would cope however because so far, this girl was alright.
"Okay, fair enough, but I'm not obsessing, at least I don't think I am." This is a matter of some concern, the Goddess Magdalan would have problems with that. She would have to repent. Maybe the shrine near town- no wait, helping to clean a shrine to another deity is bad also. More repenting.
Acacia raises a hand, holding it up, palm open, in a concilatory gesture. "Yeah," Acacia says, with a half-apologetic smile - but only half-apologetic - "I knew."
She nods, then, dipping her head again. Glancing back up, Acacia's smile fades, slightly, looking somewhat rueful. Her eyes going distant. "And...not saying you are, but...just...be careful. I know how it is."
Acacia taps her forehead with one fingernail. Her good humour returning, suddenly. "And -I- have the stubborness of a rock."
Well Gabriel can relate to that, "Me too," she says with a smile and brings her legs to her chest to for something to rest her arms on. "My old master used to tell me that anyway."
No one else has since, but more to do with little interaction. She had few friends at school, Justice High was a competitive school in a lot of ways. Some people made friends of course and Hyo encouraged it, but Gabriel had never even met him really despite how big he is in the school system.
"So what do you do then Miss Acacia-san?" Gabriel finally asks.
"Fight, mostly," Acacia replies, looking Gabriel over, again. Bringing a hand up, in front of her face, she rotates it at the wrist, before clenching it into a fist. For emphasis.
"Be stubborn," she continues, "punch things..."
Acacia shrugs. "It's a living."
Then she gives Gabriel a bemused smirk. "Take it you're a fighter too. But...you...a student? School?
With a nod Gabriel replies, "Yes, my martial art talents have a ways to go yet. I need to work on my technique and well, all the fighters in the main stream have.. "
Gabriel fishes through her bag and pulls out a small deck of trading cards, the one in her hand happens to be of a boxer with a funny hair style.
"See here? Signature move.. 'Blast Upper'.. Supposedly it's something he's specially good at and everyone loves to see. But I havn't got anything like that.. All of my techniques have a purpose and a place."
Not as though Gabriel is overly concerned, she just shrugs a bit.
Acacia examines the card with a critical eye, and a look of mild distaste. She screws her lip up in disgust.
"Signature move? Hmph."
She shakes her head in disapproval.
"Could always jump up and down singing the Australian national anthem while beating someone with a rubber duckie."
Acacia says this with a -perfectly- neutral, apparently humourless expression. She's good at that.
"Quack Smack."
She crooks the fingers of one hand, forming it into the shadow-puppet approximation of a duck bill.
"Pfft."
"You think that would be me?" Gabriel asks and stares at Acacia for a moment. The wide eyed expression, the clueless exterior and so on and so fourth makes it plain that sarcasm is nearly completely lost on Gabriel, but even so.
"Besides, I didn't mean for show, you know, I mean like there isn't anything in my technique I've developed to a point of near perfection. " Another sigh and a frown.
"Oh.. by the way, do you know the Australian national anthem? I don't believe I've ever heard it before."
Acacia shakes her head, well aware that the joke fell flat. It nearly isn't as funny if she has to -explain- it...and so she doesn't bother. Instead, she just breathes a sigh, and covers her face with a hand.
Taking a breath, and releasing it, she drops her hand back to her lap, and looks up. Blinking. "No, I don't. Forget it...not the point."
Acacia frowns. "Was trying to say...don't like doing things for show...but..."
She looks at Gabriel with some regard. Nods.
"You know that."
She flashes a small smile.
"So..."
Acacia shrugs. "Meh. Train. You'll get it."
She seems, strangely, quite certain of this.
"Thanks," Gabriel smiles and nods with determination of her own,
"I believe I will too and don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to rush." Another glance is spared to the tree line.
"This Nassir, he feels the same way about me that I do about him. It's to the point where.. one of us has to win and the other has to lose." That part she seems to expect will be understood completely.
Oh, Acacia -understands- it.
But the sudden flare of anger on her face, her sudden scowl, shows she doesn't -like- it.
Doesn't like it at all.
Her mood's been swinging all over the place in this conversation, from levity to somewhat darker emotions. This is one of the latter. She clenches a fist. Squeezes it, fingernails digging into her palm, knuckles whitening as the skin tightens. It trembles.
Then she releases it. And expels the breath she was holding, in a hiss.
"Okay."
Acacia looks at Gabriel. It's not quite -sympathy-, per-se. She feels sorry for the other girl, certainly, but it's closer to empathy. She knows how it is.
Acacia sighs. Once more.
"People shouldn't have to deal with this shi..."
She pauses. Searching for another word - she's not sure how well Gabriel would react to profanity.
"...this...this..."
Failing, she waves a hand, vaguely.
Gabriel has taken a lesson from Vanessa in sailor talk and after a night long expedition into the holy book of the church of worthy cause, managed to come up with only one very vague reference on the matter of foul language. A week or so later she's still attempting to interpret it. Needless to say, she figures the rest of the word out but doesn't seem to mind.
"Yes.. I agree, that's why I want to help people Acacia-san, as many as I can. A world where.. " A moment is lost then she frowns and sighs. "I'm not obsessive. Really."
"Yeah."
Acacia puts up one finger, waving it from side-to-side in mock warning.
"Remember that."
Standing, Acacia gets to her feet, pushing herself off the tree stump. She bends over a bit, flexing her legs at the knees. "Ngh. Like I said. Feel the same, but..."
Acacia grins. "You know."
No need to complete the statement, it seems. At least to Acacia.
Reaching out, Acacia picks up the shopping bags she set down earlier, with a faint rustle of crinkling plastic.
"Anyway. Getting late. Friend's probably wondering what happened to me..."
"Alright Acacia-san.. " Gabriel replies and stands to show her off properly with a bow and,
"Farewell for now, I hope we will meet again soon."
It's geniune as much of what she says is. Sometimes it's a little surprising. Perhaps aspiring to be a female version of Shingo.
"If you ever want to visit you can come to my school." The girl offers with a friendly smile and a wave. it was time to take another bit of training. That break was awfully long.
Acacia nods, and turns on a heel, beginning to walk off. Heading down the street, out of the city outskirts, to the forest.
She does, though, look back over her shoulder - giving one of those bemused little grins to Gabriel. And tosses up her free arm, waving the back of her hand to the other girl.
"...maybe," Acacia allows. "See you...Kai Gabriel."
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Late afternoon and the day was dragging on toward the cooler segment of evening. This was the time that the people who only spent hot days in air conditioning or a swimming pool consider to come outside. Gabriel had spent most of the day out, but was now wearing some training clothes and carrying a bag up the streets. She was looking for something, a place, quiet, secluded and generally where she could be left alone. She was still sporting some Shingo related bruises and muttered silently to herself what could be curses, or perhaps prayers.
The outfit she was wearing consisted of mainly light cotten over spandex. The last thing she wanted was to wear something as exposing as some of the people around here dawned in training, but she also didn't want to go around in her nice clothes. The first thing someone might notice watching her is that she's covered most of her skin. The next thing someone who has a better eye might notice is she is walking as though she is sporting bruises. Perhaps now wasn't the best time to train.
For some people, training time is the only time they feel much of anything. One of those people is Mickey Rogers. Inside the dingy 17th Street Gym, Mickey works in sullen silence, jabbing the heavy bag hundreds of times with each arm before moving to another piece of equipment. He too, sports plenty of bruises on his face and arms, but he looks more natural with them, like he is more accustomed to them. Sweat beads and runs down his brow, jumping over the rememnant of a large cut over his left eye. But to Mickey, all that exists right now is the bag, and his fists hitting it. Over, and over, and over again.
Even in the hot weather, Gabriel looks perfectly dry, since she hasn't started training yet, still a gym might hold some interesting things. She could use some ideas before moving off to train herself. Mickey of course catches eyes. he's the boxer sort, seems to be a club of them running around, like a group of M.Bison fan boys (and girl). This vaguely reminds her of the 'Sagat' fan-club.. Or did they change to the 'Adon' fan club. At any rate the magazines spoke of a group of Muay Thai fighters as well as the boxers of southtown. This was.. probably one of them?
Gabriel enters the gym to watch, for now she'll just commit the combo's to memory for later use.
Mickey Rogers keeps jabbing, over and over, not for technique or speed but for building up his arm strength and snapping power. He keeps this up for several minutes after Gabriel enters the gym, until finally a trainer barks "Time!" Mickey takes a few breaths, and gets a shot of water in his mouth from a squirt bottle, then re sets himself in front of the heavy bag. He starts up again with right hooks, *wham wham wham*, over and over once more, working that left hand as hard as he can. He stares straight ahead, his face stony and unfeeling as he works out with his stronger arm.
Time training, Gabriel would have to remember that too for later training. She could work for a while and take breaks. Work out, take break work out take break. She'll just take out her little black book which was replacing her pink hello kitty book while that bastard Nassir held onto it. Then she'll set her watch for the intervals, which she'll have to estimate and.. There. All ready for her own training. Still, the gym was too crowded a place and she was still too bruised to do very much intense training. For now she'll just watch.
Mickey Rogers hooks the bag time and again, hitting the same spot repeatedly for what seems like at least a hundred, maybe two hundred punches. Mickey's face remains stoicly silent, his eyes dull and almost glossed with dispassion. The muscles ripple on his right arm as he drives his fist into the sand filled bag, the sweat pouring down his chest and underarms. But before long, the trainer shouts "Time!" once more, and Mickey gets another shot of water. He looks around for a moment and spots the little girl taking notes. He squints a bit, a faint glimmer of recognition in his eyes. He blinks, then looks down a bit, and looks back at the heavy bag. Time for the lefts.
He's alternating sides and even punch types. Gabriel considers this for a while and then decides against copying that too. It wasn't her style to do that sort of working out, far too one way, so to speak. She would rather do more variety. The punching bag probably helped for strength training though. Having something to hit would be more than she could ask for where she was going right now and besides, it would likely only aggravate her own injuries. Shingo hadn't had a finger so much as laid on him, but rather she used her throw techniques against the teenage tank. So at least her hands were not so bad off.
Hitting the heavy bag is not glamorous. Boxing itself -- not the hype or the money, but the actual fighting -- is not glamorous. That's the difference between boxing and martial arts. At least, that seems to be what Mickey Rogers thinks about the topic. His mind wanders a little as he left hooks the bag again and again. Trying to place where he knows that girl from. After 50 punches of thinking, it starts to dawn on him: "Do Your Best!" Hrrrm. That's where she is from. Hooking the bag a little harder, his lips begin to turn down a little bit into a slight show of anger. With the call of "Time!" Mickey takes a swig of water, then takes a few steps towards the girl. "Hey, if you're here to see me get beat again, sorry, you're outta luck, huh." He sniffs harshly through his nose, and turns to head to the bag without waiting for a response.
Gabriel meanwhile is totally unconcerned. She doesn't look taken aback, insulted, no on the contrary she bows politely and replies, "Your style looks very strong mister, I appreciate you letting me watch, I'm sure I'll be able to put what I've learned to good use. " She doesn't seem to have a sarcastic bone in her body.
"My name is Kai Gabriel mister, but please don't let me distract you from your training. If I'm disturbing you I can leave, I have to do some training myself, but.." She casts a glance around the gym nervously,
"I don't think I want to be watched right now."
Mickey Rogers raises his gloved hands in a shrug. "Look around you, girlie, ain't no one watching anyone in here but you watching me. I don't care of you watch me hit the bags. Just didn't want you to think you'd get to see Mickey Rogers on his back again like when I fought D." Mickey nods to the trainer, and moves over from the heavy bag to the speed bag, and begins to lay into it, his handspeed substantially more impressive than his strength.
"Mickey Rogers," Gabriel mimes and writes it down in her book. "So next time, he won't lose." She writes that down too. Perhaps she doesn't even remember the first time. Doesn't seem like it. That or it was just not important to her. She'll keep in mind what he's good at and not so good at too. So he can land blows can he..? Well if she ever needs to face him she'll keep it in mind. Seems that maybe HeavyD isn't so good at the speed, so perhaps he takes blows better, or deals them harder. She'll keep that in mind too. *scribble scratch scratch* lot of note taking going on just now. The little black book isn't as good as her pink hello kitty journal, since this one is smaller but it will have to do.
Mickey Rogers rocks the speed bag back hard, keeping it from falling below the halfway point as his hands fly, a blur or white tape and dark skin as the red bag bounces off the top of its own perch continuously. Mickey's eyes go back to their slightly impassive look now, watching the bag and nothing else. Not his hands, not the gym, and certainly not the little girl who pisses him off for some reason. He can't put his finger on it, but there is something which annoys him about her... enthusiasms.
That's a first. Not many people take Gabriel in that way. Sure she wears her holy symbol everywhere and clutches it often to say little prayers, talks about blessing and all of that stuff frequently. But she wasn't you know.. obsessive. Right? Well maybe she was, even so there were the things she got away with to bare in mind also. None of which Mickey would know about but neither can she read vibes. So he looks focused and happens to be annoyed? That's fine, she just seems to think he's focused. Oh and this is sure to piss him off,
"Do your best, neh?"
Mickey Rogers is pushing her out, this girl that shouldn't annoy him but does, whom a few years ago he probably would have been nice to and asked about how she was doing and teach her about boxing. But thats all gone now. She's out his mind, and out of his thoughts, until she says her little piece which drags him back to reality. He stops short, the speed bag seemingly happy to no longer be pummelled with his fists. He purses his lips, about to say something... but doesn't, sighing and taking a seat on a nearby bench. "I do, kid, believe it or not," he says, his voice down. "But sometimes when you give your all, you do something you can't live with." Mickey rubs his chin and jaw with his right hand, then wipes the sweat off his brow with the palm.
For a while Gabriel considers that and then decides she doesn't get it and therefore won't even try. Instead she falls back on something she's fimiliar with, faith and then replies, "The merciful mother will forgive any sin so long as the sinner is true and honest in their attonement." Sounds just like christanity if you replaced the merciful mother with some other names. This is a concept lost on Gabriel who is NOT a christian fanatic thank you very much. Though probably her little religious bit just now didn't do much good for making Mickey feel any better about anything.
Mickey Rogers shakes his head a bit as he looks down, his thumbs going to his temples for support. "Yeah kid. So people tell me. Also been told that there's something called a mortal sin, and that once you pull off one of those, that's all she wrote. And let's just say the Mickster's been written off." He looks back up at her innocent face. "Why you hang out here? Why you want to fight?"
"I've never heard of a mortal sin before, I think that's only for the non-believers. In the church of the worthy cause, we don't believe in a point of no return." Gabriel replies with a smile, the sort of sweetened look you get from a fanatical zealot. "I fight.. because I'm a crusader of light who wants to show people the way, that there can't be no forgiveness for anyone. That's just too terrible."
Mickey Rogers doesn't nod, or shake his head, or do much of anything. He just sits there and listens for a second, then stands up abruptly. "When you're older kid, you'll see." He starts to walk away, then stops and turns again. "You'll see that there is a point of no return, where no matter what you do its no use. Just hope its not you at that point..." He pauses. "Like it is with me." And with that, Rogers is done, grabbing a towel and tossing it on top of his head.
"Then what do you fight for, " Gabriel asks, sounding even a little sad at the way the boxer left. She wouldn't believe it though, it was against her teachings and she wasn't going to let it get to her. Maybe she could help him, she would help him. She picks up her notebook and writes down as much, 'I will help him'.
Log created by Gabriel, and last modified on 05:57:00 01/31/2007.