ataraxion | 003 ☀ video ☀ show you the difference 'tween my gun and my pistol

[ Jaye's been restless and it's starting to get to her; starting to show, really, if the way she runs her hand through her hair and fidgets with her silver wolf earrings before speaking counts as 'showing'. ]

I'm looking for a fight... or a spar, I guess. No guns, no blades -- in fact, if it's a weapon you brought with you to meet, you can't use it. I'm looking for hand-to-hand more than anything. [ Hmm, what else. ] No fatalities or potentially fatal injuries.

[ There's a pause, one lip curling upward slightly. ] You can pull your punches because I'm a girl, but I won't be as nice to you. [ Confident much? Well yes, because she never said anything about not shapeshifting. Besides, this is a good way to assess threat levels.

There's a pause though, then some more fidgeting with one of her earrings as she continues, on a different topic now. ]

Stefan, Bass -- other than the general creepy factor and how bad it smelled, that walk wasn't half bad. Not as useful as we were hoping, but maybe we can try again later.

Metalman, Kirk the Lipstick Captain, Dances With Bears or Goggles or Brick Shithouse, whatever I'm supposed to call you, and anyone else who was all concerned -- we're fine, we've been back, we didn't get lost, none of us are dead, and I got the chemical smell out of my nose.

[ And another pause... ]

Seriously, anyone who wants to spar. Let's go.

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[ There's more laughter, though this time it's all mental; the vocal cords of a snake hardly allow themselves to anything like laughing, after all. Still, she's large and muscular, a creature who is feared, who takes livestock and swallows them whole. Her tongue flickers out, tastes the air as she coils.

Well, I could have constricted you, but you dropped me.

Rather unceremoniously, she might add, but she's not too bothered. She's slower like this, though, and there's a hiss of annoyance before she's shifting back again -- human, this time, coming out into a crouch. ]

[He watches and he waits. It's a fascinating process, to say the least. Not that Bass has ever really had the mind to invest his time in fascination.]

You got heavy.

I should have just turned into a bear and sat on you.

[ Ah, well. Too late now. Jaye stands, still grinning. ]

Come on, your move.

Do you make that threat often? [And yeah, okay, he assumes a new stance with his arms and turns his side to her, taking a couple of measuring steps backwards before lunging towards her arm to twist it behind her back, control kept on both his speed and strength.]

Maybe. [ She doesn't, actually; she and Dominic spar so much that they're fairly in-tune with what the other will do. She and Bass don't have that (yet) and it's thrilling, not knowing where the next hit will come.

So far it seems like Bass likes to go for the arms, for pinning, and Jaye lets him -- only for her other arm to shift so she can try and punch him right in the face. She's thinking more about how Bass moves, his strategies, than her own at the moment. ]

[When Jaye's fist connects with Bass's jaw he doesn't quite stumble as much as his focus falters, barely a second passing before he can capture it again and reach for the same hand she used to keep her occupied while he aims his forehead at hers. He took too much time to deliver that attack successfully, though -- trying to hold back is also new to him, and Bass's current tentativeness makes him edge somewhere close to clumsy.]

[ A second is all it takes, her hand gone as she tries to twist out of his grip. As a result his forehead clunks into the back of her skull, making her hiss but not making her stop, fist going for his kidneys once more. She can tell he's holding back, that there's something off, and it frustrates her more than it makes her curious. ]

Ah, fuck-- [barely a groan when he takes the other hit and steps back, words lost somewhere in the grunt he releases out of his own frustration with himself, with the turn of this fight and with how he's trying to be the opposite of instinctive and forgetting to listen to what's in her head so he can fight back the way he should.

(He remembers what happened with Cat, when he was altered by the disorientation and the thoughts he couldn't tune out. She wouldn't let him leave the medbay, tried to beat sense into him and in return he almost couldn't stop himself from bashing her head in.)

Bass stands and waits for Jaye, eyes watchful and hands ready.]

[ There's a hint of teeth as he groans, because whether he's holding back or not, there's still something satisfying about landing a hit. But if he's going to hold back, she should take it up a notch.

He asked if she would fight him as a bear. It's time to do just that, blonde hair turning brown in the blink of an eye -- another blink, and there's no woman there, just a grizzly bear on her hind legs. That's when she roars, the sound echoing, teeth bared.

Come on, Bass. She can take it. ]

That's an improvement, I guess, [he says, still a hint of provocation in an otherwise focused stance. Bass wastes no time in setting aside the absurdity of the situation (I fought a bear on a spaceship; how was your day?) and moves towards the beast, looking for a way to lock Jaye in his arms again - just to see if he can.]

[ "Your face is an improvement."

It's utterly childish but she's having fun, swiping one massive paw at Bass at he approaches. Her claws are extended -- they sort of have to be -- but she'll try not to fillet anything important off of him. ]

[It's a worthy attempt on his part, claws hitting his shoulder when he lunges with an arm around her throat, strong enough to throw at least some of her balance off as he tries to press his knee against her back. Bass releases an exhale when he stops, looking at the fresh and bloody wounds drawn across his skin and jumpsuit.]

That's really mature.

[It hurts. That's an improvement, too.]

[ Whoop. There's a grunt from the bear now before she thuds down onto four legs and... tries to roll all 440 pounds over on top of him.

This is a serious spar between serious people.

"Comes with the territory." ]

[The events that follow can only be described with ABRHABRHAGSHD

That said, it's a really good thing Mr. Hybrid can handle this, otherwise the Tranquility might have just gotten its first (almost) human pancake.]

Come on!

[SHOVING. HER. OFF.]

[ Bears do not actually slam their head back into the skull of whoever is beneath them. Jaye, however, is not entirely a bear -- her mind is still hers, and that sagittal crest bears have on the back of their heads... well, impact is probably going to hurt him more than it hurts her.

She's shoved off, partially of her own volition as she rolls over onto four paws again, shaking herself. Ugh. She hates people jumping on her back with no warning, and Bass is strong. Stronger than he looks.

Are you hiding tricks from me, Bass? ]

You don't get to talk about tricks, Jaye.

[Talking to a bear: another absurdity that's better left ignored. That little headbutt has his nose and lip bleeding, by the way (--his blood looks darker than it should, but that could just be a trick of the lighting, couldn't it?--) so thanks for that. He spits part of it when he gets back on his feet.]

[ "But I'm curious."

Bass can probably pick up on that easily enough. If it's a trick of the lighting, Jaye wants to see if it can trick her nose. Her head lifts, bear nose sniffing the air. ]

Yeah, well, you know what they say about that.

[He takes the pause as an opportunity to finish wiping off more of that blood with the back of his hand, sniffing and swallowing thickly with the occasional hiss. He looks back at Jaye weirdly.]

... You're smelling my blood?

[ "I'm a bear right now, not a cat."

Her head tilts right back at him.

"What? Is that weird?"

Yes Jaye. Yes it is. Really. ]

003 ☀ video ☀ show you the difference 'tween my gun and my pistol

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