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Summary: After dropping Renate off at the hotel, Laura decides to go to Central Park to try and put some of the pieces of the demon raves together. Vincent goes along, and suggests they spar to help clear her mind.
Date: June 21, 2010
Log Title Spar
Rating: PG
NYC - Alphabet City
Alphabet City used to be the slums of New York City, but now it's a trendy part of the East Village. Its name comes from the Avenues having single letter names. Apartments have been renovated into nightclubs, restaurants, and retail-establishments. Even though this part of the city isn't home to as many of the low income and artists residents, it still holds a Bohemian feel.
Upon reaching the hotel finally, Renate was in no mood for talking it seemed. Laura saw the strange girl up to her room, and gave her the key card, letting her know that she'd be back shortly. She was determined to get more information here. Soon it would be time to go back to see the man she'd taken for Edward and she wanted to have some theories in place by that point. Her thoughts running in every direction on the ride back down the elevator, and to the lobby. Spotting Vincent still there as well, Laura moved towards him, fixing him with a deep, steady stare. "Is there anymore you need to tell me about what happened? Or at least what you and Star may have found? She tends to miss details, and I can't afford to miss anything." Even as the words were spoken she was walking past him, expecting him to follow her from the hotel and down the street. Her destination was Central Park. One of her favorite places in the city, it was quiet at night and she could think clearly there.
Vincent looks over to the elevator and then back to the napkin in his hand that he had folded into an airplane. As she walks by talking he throws it at her and it drops like a rock, never hitting her. With a shrug he gets up and steps on it, while following Laura. "I told you everything I know. Unless there's one going on now, near by, I don't think we're going to stumble upon one." Vince says as he catches up to her. "But I'll be any help I can." Then he catches the idea that she's headed some where. "I've got a car, if I can take you anywhere, I'm sure it'll be faster than walking." He says, pulling his keys out of his pockets.
She pauses, already out the door and on the street. She turned back as he jingles keys and she arches a brow up slightly. "Is it nearby?" She asks, closing distance between the two of them, as she waits for his answer. As it soon now, she had two days maybe three tops to find out where the next ritual would be. Laura felt like there were still too many pieces of the puzzle missing.
Vincent raises an eyebrow at her reaction and smirks as he presses the key fob and a car just across the street bleeps on it's lights. "You could say that." Vince says as he starts to walk over to get it. "Now, where are we headed?" Vince asks sitting down and starting it up and heading out onto the street.
Laura followed him as he unlocked the car, pulling the passenger side door open and slide in. "Central Park." she replies in her usual flat tone, her green eyes focused straight ahead, Laura was clearly working through things in her own mind, and very distracted. She lapses into silence as Vincent pulls away from the curb.
NYC - Central Park Lakey
Bethesda fountain sits at the edge of the lake with a large terrace for people to hang out and relax. Benches sit under the trees creating a peaceful atmosphere. A dock stretches out into the lake for people to rent row boats to enjoy the entire lake. In the distance Bow Bridge can be scene crossing the man make lake.
Vincent gets out of the car and waits for Laura to open the door before he locks it. He smirks as he looks at Laura, falling in step behind her following her wherever she is headed to. "So what puzzle pieces do you have, and what do you need to know now?"
Laura seemed still stuck n her reverie as they reached the park. she sat in the car for a good two or three minutes before she'd finally realized they had stop. Seeing that Vincent was waiting on her, she slid out quickly shutting the door quitly behind her. Without a word she started down a familiar footpath, moving towards Central Park Lake, though at Vince's words she stopped to turn and fix her gaze on him. Annoyed more with herself for giving so much away in front of a almost complete stranger. "Er.. not that many, and too much." she answered vaguely, before turning back around and continuing at a faster pace up the trail.
As Bethesda Fountain comes into view Laura's pace slows, and she veers from the path to her favorite spot down by the water. Still completely wrapped up in her own thoughts she stops automatically, in her self proclaimed 'spot' and slides down into a low crouch near the water's edge. Her brow furrowed over and she scowled into the dark inky water. "I just can't figure this out." she muttered more to herself then to him really, Laura had almost forgotten he was there again.
Vincent follows along behind her without a word until she stops and drops into her low stance. He takes off his jacket and his shirt, cracking his neck afterwords and drops them both near the waters edge. "Spar." He says looking over at the fellow mutant. "Sparring usually helps me sort things out, or at least clear my mind slightly." He doesn't assume a stance, as he looks at her waiting to see what she thinks of his idea.
Laura didn't move from her low crouch, though her head tipped back slightly she gave out a humorless laugh. "You want to spar?" she asks slightly incredulous. "Aren't you just a human?" she adds after a short pause, deep green eyes shifting to the side to glance over at him. He did have blood on him the other night but there were no cuts.. That was slightly unexplainable, though Laura hadn't really cared enough to think it through. "I don't think that is a wise idea on your part." she answered finally, giving a firm, single shake of her head.
Vincent raises an eyebrow at Laura, "I did offer to spar with you." He says slowly flexing his muscles, showing that he has some abs and he's fairly well toned, but mostly for speed, not for pure strength. "If I'm just a human, don't stab me in the vitals with your claws." Vince says with a smirk, and forces the blades in his arm to shift through the muscle to be next to the skin waiting to be freed from it's bloody confines. "So would you like to spar me or not?"
Slowly rising back up to a standing position she keeps her back to him, clearly contemplating it. "I don't think so, no." she states after a moment, flatly. If he is human, sparring him would just cause injury. Which would mean a trip to the hospital for the poor fool, no doubt. "I don't want to hurt you." It was a good enough excuse. Vincent had seen her claws the first night they'd met, he surely wasn't that stupid, to think that she wasn't stronger then him. Finally turning to face him, her expression impassive, she stares at him, shirt off, not exactly in a fighting stance, but close and she sighs quietly. Looking back out over the lake, her attention drifting away from this horrible idea for a moment, she tries and fits the pieces together again without much success.
Vincent shrugs, "Well, this is going to be boring. Especially seeing that I didn't fall out of a tree this time." With that he spreads his legs farther apart and lowers his center of gravity. quickly he spins out both of his blades, letting them cut through both hands until they are level with his arm once again, only this time on the outside. His hands and the top of his arms start to quickly zip themselves shut, and the scent of blood quickly fills the air, so much so that if he wasn't so used to it, he'd notice. "How about now?" Vince asks, with a smirk and a raised eyebrow on his face.
The coppery tang of blood in the air had Laura snapping her head around so fast even she almost got dizzy. First her eyes moving to the treeline and beyond to the dark, empty park, have not even really heard his words she'd been so much inside her own head. Finally green orbs settle on Vincent, seeing the flecks of blood and the small dark splatters of it on the grass by his feet. A low growl pushing past her lips, as they curl back to expose a row of ivories. Her own pushing past muscle and skin, extending to their full eight inches in each hand. A small trickle of blood runs down the backs of her hands from each set, her own knees bending as she widens her stand staring at him suspiciously. "What the hell was that?!" she demands in a growl, clearly on edge now. How easy it seemed to Laura off. Secrets were not something she enjoyed. Not even a little.
Vincent raises his right hand for a moment, showing off his near ten inch blades, and lowering it just as fast. "Just my own twist on something over done I guess." Vince says with a smirk, and then he starts to walk in a wide circle around Laura, not moving closer or farther from her. He walks until he's near the edge of the water again, perfectly serene seeming. Dipping his blade in the water and raising it up to take on a defensive stance, like one would assume when holding two short swords. "Will you spar me now?" His arms stained with blood, but the lacerations are nearly perfectly healed.
Laura glared at him for along time, watching as he slowly circled closer. Her slender, bare arms taught with tension, the tone of her muscle easily seen now, even in the near darkness. Her lips curled back, and another low feral growl pushes past her clenched teeth. "So you're not /human/." she snaps out at him her eyes narrowing, as one slowly begins a step back. As it touches grass, another soft *shhkt* sound can be heard and another two claws appear, once protruding out of the toe of each of her boots. A single nod was given as her knees bend a little more, clearly ready to spring out at him at any moment. "Fine."
Vincent shrugs at Laura's statement. "I did say we all have our secrets." He smirks, though he wonders why she's so enraged at him, and the sight of two more claws coming from her feet, have him slightly worried. "Now that was very unexpected." And still he doesn't even know her name, but that doesn't matter as he takes a single step forward, to show he's not afraid, just that he's not going to be the first to strike, but he does continue to close the distance.
Laura didn't like surprises, and that is what it completely boiled down to. With another low growl uttered, she was in motion, starting to circle him slowly. A few deep breaths and her anger was slowly starting to cool, her focus was now on her opponent. "Any rules before we start?" she asks. His healing factor seemed as quick as hers maybe faster. Laura's own regeneration had this terrible habit about being picky about when it wanted to work at full strength. Maybe it was because she was still young, maybe it was just the way it would always work for her, she wasn't sure. His bone claws looked just as sharp as her's -minus the adamantium of course. A smile stretched over her features, though it held no warmth as he noticed her foot claws. "Like you said.." was her only reply, as she continued to circle, looking for an opening.
Vincent raises his eyebrows and shakes his head, "Shove my words back in my mouth then." He smirks and then is almost tempted to show her the opening she's practically begging for. When he moves a foot however, he steps on a smooth rock just as a ripple or wave sneaks under his foot and the rock shifts as he steps heavy to save himself from falling. The movement is jerky and surprising, especially for Vincent, and he doesn't fall, but his ankle is submerged now as he looks to Laura's probable attack.
Laura watches as he loses his balance for a moment, and she has to suppress the smile that was trying to pull at the corners of her mouth. She does take this momentary lapse in his focus to move forward. Dancing up a few feet to close the distance between them, her movements predatory as she feints left and then right, her penetrating stare never leaving him. "You never answered me." she murmured. "Do you want to set any rules in place? Or does anything go?"
Vincent steps forward at her rush and stops just as she does. "I'm fine with anything. Unless you want to have any rules?" Vince says, attempting to tap her wrist with the flat side of his left blade. "And then you can start whenever you wish." He says with a rare full smile.
Dropping her wrist as his blade come n for a light tap, Laura takes the opportunity to make a swipe at him. Not at full strength of course, but enough. Her let arm dropping down and then without a moment's hesitation it's up arcing towards his side, in an attempt to drag her claws across his side. f the maneuver succeeded, it would be merely a flesh wound, of course, no intent to cause any real damage.
Vincent pulls his head back dodging the swipe at his head and then, drops his right hand for a defense he was taught and accidentally, catches her blades with part of his own and part of his hand. "Tricky." He says with a smirk, not caring at all that his hand was cut open. Vince steps back and grins at Laura, "See, you're clearing your mind already aren't you?"
Was done with talk at this point her mind solely focused on the task at hand. She feels her claws shred through skin, though not where intended and she quickly shifted left again, closing the space between them. Her right leg coming up in a perfectly executed sidekick. The side of her boot-clad foot aimed right for his solarplexus. Another low, hoarse growl escaping as she throws a bit more weight into the blow, since he was safe from her adamantium coated claws.
Vincent moves right as she moves left, keeping them in a circle, and he drops low as she throws her leg, putting one arm up to block the kick, and using his left hand to sweep a blade at her shin that's still on the ground holding her up. His block was slightly misplaced, causing her blade to cut through another part of his arm. "Ow, damn it." He chirps softly.
Vincent moves right as she moves left, keeping them in a circle, and he drops low as she throws her leg, putting one arm up to block the kick, and using his left hand to sweep a blade at her shin that's still on the ground holding her up. His block was slightly misplaced, causing her blade to cut through another part of his arm. "Ow, damn it." He chirps softly.
Throwing most of her weight into the kick, she hardly flinches as his blade connects with her support leg. Letting her right come down as fast as it had gone up to strike him, closing the distance between them to only a foot or so now. Laura being a good deal shorter then him, as she was, uses the opportunity Putting on a quick burst of speed, she throw a right elbow aimed for his ribs, and then her left to the other side, a low grunt of exertion escaping. Shaking out her left leg slightly, a long gash in the shin of her jeans, though the blood flow had already begun to quell.
Vincent's blade cuts her leg and comes back up as he stands up, watching her close the distance he puts the back of his arm to block her first elbow, but the second elbow connects solidly in his ribs. He absorbs the blow and he rolls with it though he still looses his breath to the blow. However he spins, dragging a blade through the air, to catch her with it as he spins away.
Laura saw the counter coming as as it sailed through the air, her adamantium coated claws came out to meet it. Catching the the bone blade between her metal coated ones she gave a sharp, strong flick of her wrist, a clear attempt at severing the extension. As her left set of claws work at taking away some of his advantage her right foot came up once more. A low, kick, claw aimed right for his thigh, in attempt to pierce through muscle. If she succeeded, she'd use the leverage to kick herself back and away from him, gaining distance.
Vincent's bone is caught and broken off, leaving two little spikes on both sides of his hand. "That's not fair." He says, as if he doesn't even feel anything. Her kick however is not blocked, but Vince steps inward, closer and grabs her ankle under his arm and starts to pull backwards, trying to throw the mutant off balance.
Laura ignored the complaint and as her ankle was grabbed she simply kicked up with her left leg. Retracting her foot claw, and kicking out against his torso with the ball of her foot in an attempt to knock the air from him. As close in as the two were fighting now, she was almost positive her kick would land true.
Vincent's chest is kicked hard and he falls back, but he refuses to let go of the leg he has. He lands on his butt and finally drops her leg, as he rolls back. Planting his hand, he continues to roll, doing a quick hand stand as he gets to his feet he smirks as he points his remaining blade at Laura. "Not bad."
Laura allows her body weight to go with him instead of trying to fight against it. She could wrench her foot from his grasp easily enough, but it would unbalance her. She lands with the perfect grace of a lithe, jungle predator, balancing only on her right leg as Vince rolls away and finally stands. Not even winded yet she cracks a slight smile, as she dips down low to the ground and with no hesitation what so ever, breaks into a full sprint towards him. Hands at either side of her body as she closes the distance, she wait until the last possible moment to bare claws outward, in two rough, wild, but deadly accurate slashes at his body.
Vincent has seen something like this from his once teacher and he learned that he should probably jump over someone when they're doing this, but the distance is too short. So to counter her attack, he falls backwards and lands on his back, and rolls to his right. His arm does get a nasty cut across his wrist, again. She's fast. He thinks as he gets back up, a bit slower this time but he keeps his eyes and his blade on her, but he's not attacking.
Laura was not as in control of herself as she would have liked. As he dodged the lunge mostly, she bent lower, digging on hand deep into the earth, letting her momentum continue, but just change direction to face him once more. Her lips curled back again, exposing a sliver of ivory she lets another feral grunt fly past her lips. Looking more like a wild animal then a seventeen year old girl now, Laura over bright green eyes pace Vince, watching as she gets back to his feet and backs away slightly. It had been a while since she'd had a real fight like this. The demon rave had been a mass slaughter, really they'd put up no real challenge. Not to say she thought this was over challenging but it was a work out, it had done it's job, her mind clearing completely and instincts taking over almost fully. Moving at full speed now, holding nothing back, Laura breaks into another sprint.
Keeping low tot he ground this time as she closed distance, a yard or so away she sprung up, both sets of hand claws flashing in the pale washed out moonlight that bathed the lake and the two combatants. As she came down for a land, she released both foot claws, sending a flurry of rapid, adamantium edge kicks at Vincent.
Vincent held his remaining good blade out towards her, hoping she'd dive at him with her hands, knowing his arm and claw is longer than hers. However the kicks, didn't leave him time and the defense he had planned failed miserably. Vince drops do the ground, cuts all over his torso and arms, even one on his face. He lays there for a moment as he takes in a few deep breaths. "You're a lot better than I thought at first." He spins the broken and intact blades back into his arms, signifying that he's saying she won.
Landing lightly, and silently on the balls of her feet, Laura immediately dropped into a low crouch. Her teeth bared at the man bleeding and panting in the grass, her own chest heaving but for completely different reasons. With one set of claws positioned outward ready to strike again, she almost does. Though as Vince let's his own bone blades slide back home, it gives her pause. Seeming frozen for a moment, her eyes glaze over and then refocus, her back stiffens and immediately all six claws retract and she takes several steps away from him. She stands up sharply, and turns away, her light blue tank and navy jeans flecked all over with blood, some his, some her's she wasn't really sure. The last part of the fight was a hazy blur to Laura, as she walked back towards the water's edge in silence. Letting one claw in her right hand push out again she cuts away the ruined leg of her jeans and then slices the other to match. They were now short. "I apologize." she murmurs no louder then a whisper.
Vincent slowly forces himself back onto his feet, as his body starts to step up, using the now left over adrenaline to fuel the accelerated healing. "For what?" Vincent asks, walking closer, putting his hand around one of the cuts on his wrist.
Laura tossed the ruined denim into the lake, keeping her expression carefully blank as she replied; "For.. losing control. I apologize. I was too rough for sparring." Her tone going back to it's usual deadpan. She doesn't look back at him as he moves closer. "Are there any serious injuries that need attending to?" Laura sounded almost formal as she spoke, as if she were talking to a complete stranger - although he wasn't that far from it.
Vincent shrugs and smirks. "No. You don't have to apologize. I was trying to do that, I was trying to help you reset your mind." Vincent says, and continues closer. "Nothing I wont be ok with, and stop worrying about it. I wanted you to spar me, and I'm sure that you felt pretty good when we were fighting." He says, sitting down next to her and looking out to the lake, letting Laura be herself.
She stared out over the calm mirror-like surface of the lake for a long time. "I don't like that it feels better to fight then it does not fighting." she murmured finally, breaking the silence. "You're a mutant." At those words spoken she cast a glance sideways at him as Vince sat down beside her. She kept a careful amount of space between them, no contact with him now that the spar was finished. "Did you go to school here? Or did you learn yourself?" Laura wasn't really sure who she was. So being herself was near impossible, though she was trying to form some semblance of a personality, it was going well.
Vincent doesn't look away from the water as he replies, "I understand that feeling, but there's not much to do about it." He shrugs, "I'm not sure what you mean, where did I go to school. Where do you go to school?" He asks, pretty sure that she means Xavier's but he doesn't bring it up. He knows better.
Laura was most definitely not subtle, and as he hedges around the answer she turns her still over bright green eyes on him. "Xavier's." she states simply. "Did you attend as well?" Kind of going backwards here, she shakes her head slowly. "You don't understand at all what it's like." And she was completely confident in the fact that whatever Vincent may feel about fighting, it wasn't even one tenth of what she did. It was all she had ever known for so long, moving passed it was proving difficult.
Vincent nods, "Yeah. I did." Is all he says, still staring at the water. "No, I don't, but I do know that going to a primal place can help a person, and that's the only primal place I figured I would have had luck with." Vince smirks looking up to Laura, "Don't worry. If you do need to beat the shit outta something, you know I can take it."
With a shake of her head, she shifted her body to face him fully now. "You're lucky I stopped." was Laura's reply, her tone taking a serious under current. "I've been… trained my whole life to be a weapon. To fight, and kill." Her gaze dropped down as her voice trailed off watching as her finger laced and unlaced in her lap "I've killed stronger men then you." t was probably the most she'd talked about herself to anyone, and passing over the innuendo completely. She'd probably get angry about it later, but she was distracted again. "I don't think that I want to spar with you anymore."
Vincent blinks at her. "Am I? Oh." He shuts up when she talks. "I don't doubt that." He says, to her killing stronger men. He looks over at Laura solemnly, "Why not?" Vince asks, not sure where this is coming from, especially after he realized they probably have a few things they could teach each other, in fighting and life, and plus he's going to help her with her rave situation.
Laura only shrugs mutely, shutting down. Drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin there she looks out over the lake again. "I don't know. I need to think." she finally replied, feeling more confused then ever. On the one hand she still didn't trust this guy as far she could throw him, but he was probably the closest she had to an actual friend right now. Settling back in Xavier's was proving more difficult then she would have liked, and her tolerance for the school itself was waning. "I have to be somewhere soon." she murmurs again, after a long silence. Laura steals a glance back at Vince, an apprehensive set to her features. "If you hear anything.. You can find me at the school. Or I can find you, I know your scent."
Vincent simply nods and looks back out to the water, his cuts almost all gone. "I'll be sure you're the first one I tell" He says, reaching over and putting back on his shirt and jacket. "You'll figure this out."
Laura nodded as she stood in one lithe, flowing movement. With one more glance has back down at Vince, she turns and begins moving back towards the footpath that lead back out of the park. "Good night, Vince." she called over her shoulder.
Vincent looks up at Laura, and doesn't move, other than his hand waving. "Good Night Laura." He replies before dropping his hand and sitting there, at least until she's left the area.
