JC and Mable Hangtime

[Mable Wood]

She cleared the chairs and table out of the Gazebo. "Ok. Let's learn to take control of ourselves." She smiles softly.

Then she nods sadly, "Yes. I am hoping he keeps in touch. He is always welcome to come back and will be missed." She points to the horses, "He helped me get the horses." He also helped her stay strong as herself and not give into the pressures of the innate bitchiness of so many other kindred. But now she needed to be strong by herself and for her fellow gangrel.

"Okay. I want to see your stance and power. So you hit me first."

[JC Smith]

“Yeah,” he said softly, he’d be missed. Though her mentioning the part about helping her get horses made him smile a little as he took a fighting stance. Though in a way, it was unfortunate he was only hearing it now. “Seems like something he’d be handy with. How’d he manage it?” he chuckled, thinking of Dirt Nap’s western sensibilities. Although… “I used to work with emotional support animals. Mostly dogs. Hasn’t been the same since turning.” No doubt Dirt Nap had learned Animalism. Mable too he assumed given her job.

He took a quick swing. Didn’t have the best start looked like it might be a good hit, assuming she didn’t avoid the late increase in power he’d given it.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-06 19:59:51	JC Smith rolls 5 to Str+Brawl (10 Again)	4, 7, 6, 9, 10, 10, 9	4 successes

Defense 3

[Mable Wood]

Mable ducked when he swung. Then she walked around him. "Hmmm, the stance is a bit weak. There is some power behind the hit."

She took up a boxing stance, "Stand like this with your hands here and here. Watch my eyes, feel where your body is and my body is. Then push through like this."

She swung her right hand watched his eyes follow it then hit with her left.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-08 09:13:43	Mable Wood rolls 6 to brawl 4 + Strength 4 subtract 3 from right (10 Again)	10, 4, 5, 10, 1, 9, 5, 8	4 successes

I have brawl dodge so defense 4. I had 4 successes but only two hit due to your defense. Hope I did this right.

[JC Smith]

JC rubbed his right side as Mable's hit connected. Pretty obvious one-two punch looking back.

"Bit out of practice," he admitted as he massaged the blood and the pain vanished as the bruise healed.

He reset his stance, feet slightly angled for better balance. "Definitely different than using a punching bag." Or when attacking unsuspecting people that collapsed into extasy when you bit them.

He shuffled around keeping his eyes up but his vision wide. Then he saw an opening as she moved to keep facing him.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-09 11:41:57	JC Smith rolls 1 to Brawl+Str-Brawling Dodge (10 Again)	9	1 success

[Mable Wood]

She grinned when he connected. "Very good. Your speed will pick up again soon. And I'm way softer than a punching bag." Her tone was light and flirty sounding but that was just who she was.

She shifted around him smiling sweetly then lands a kidney punch. "Don't let your opponent distract you." She says sweetly.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-10 08:31:12	Mable Wood rolls 5 to brawl 4 + Strength 4 subtract 3 for defense (10 Again)	4, 6, 1, 8, 2	1 success

[JC Smith]

"My ribs might disagree with you on relative softness," he commented.

"Well, I'd be might be better at sparring but I'd be a worse conversational partner," he quipped in response to her physical and verbal jab.

"So how did Dirt Nap help to get you the horses?" he asked again before immediately going in for a punch, hoping to take her advise and turn it around. The distraction failed though, and the hit missed.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-11 18:53:31	JC Smith rolls 1 to Str+Brawl-defense (10 Again)	2	failure

[Mable Wood]

She watched him carefully. Watched his reaction and saw the punch coming. She dodged and giggled. "Nice Try!"

"He found the horses in need or they would be put down. I had space here so he worked out the deal and I got those beauties." She nodded her head towards the horses.

She took up a different boxing stance, lead with her left and followed through with her right. She hit him square in the jaw.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-12 08:59:36	Mable Wood rolls 5 to St 4 Brawl 4 - 3 defence (10 Again)	4, 7, 4, 7, 10, 10, 5	2 successes

"Oh no. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Umm maybe we should move to the punching bag in the empty stall?" She felt horrible. She thought the stance was obvious.

[JC Smith]

JC shook his head with a smile. Yet despite the tip of the chin, his eyes stayed on Mable and his fist up.

"Most sparring I've done was just practicing hitting other people's gloves. At least when boxing." He had gotten other practice outside of that.

However, her gesture towards the horse got him to glance in that direction. Which ended up with his jaw agreeing with the beast that the Circle member ought to die.

He rubbed his cheek and felt the pain subside.

"It's fine, I've had worse," he said with a gentle reassuring voice "But you're probably right about switching to punching bags." Each hit still required blood to heal and he really ought to be trying conserve as much as could considering the jackal stalking him and his prey.

He followed her lead, letting more blood flow to his kidneys, since they weren't going to be doing anything more damaging.

"Put down?" he asked "Like from a culling?" He didn't know a lot about horses but the most common reason that came to mind, broken leg, wasn't easily solved by 'rescuing' them. Unless... "Are they ghouls?" he gave as a final question, looking into the stalls as they passed. He knew a couple myths of ghastly horses galloping through the evening as nightmares. Were Kindred of the Circle responsible for those tales? And did the tradition of bloodthirsty equines continue?

[Mable Wood]

She smiled at him when he mentioned he had worse. Did he know what she could have done to him? That she held back? No matter, she tended to like people underestimating her.

As the walked to the punching bag, "I'm not sure what its called but they were gonna become glue." "Nope, not ghouls. For some reason I am uncomfortable with having ghouls. Just a personal choice. I believe in free will."

[JC Smith]

She gave a smile that he couldn't quite read. Like somewhere between a private joke and just being friendly.

JC took up a spot on the opposite side of the bag. He'd done some practices with two people on a bag at once. However, he doubted any of his partners would have been able to match Mable's skill and strength. He expected he'd probably be spending most of his time, trying to get the bag not to swing so much from her strikes.

He swung at the sack, causing to to start spinning slowly.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-16 22:09:42	JC Smith rolls 5 to Str+Brawl (10 Again)	3, 7, 6, 4, 10, 2	1 success

"Is that a belief the Circle as a whole or more personal?" he asked, watching to see her strike. He didn't know much about Circle beliefs. What he heard varied between blood drenched savages and enlightened spiritualists. He suspected to Kindred those might not be mutually exclusive.