ellectrical | (no subject)

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This time, Elle stopped running before she collapsed.

As she’d started about noon, it was now nearing dusk. The sky was a deep blue slipping further into black, and Elle had dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged in the grass near the shoreline of the lake, watching the sunlight along it dissipate as the evening deepened.

Her breathing, which not so long ago had been harsh and ragged, had evened out by now, deep and slow, so that she barely seemed to move. She didn’t flinch or even glance away at the sounds of others on the grounds, or to any sudden ripples in the water. Though her eyes on the water, she seemed to follow nothing at all, her expression not closed, but empty.

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"Yeah."

She leans forward to rest her chin on her knees, though she's still watching X.

"But I had to stop."

X's eyes narrow.

"You did not get hurt?"

Did she?

"Or someone made you? Stop."

She shakes her head, and after a short delay there's a small, amused smile.

"I did it for too long. I couldn't anymore."

Some people actually have that problem, X.

Edited 2011-06-29 07:42 (UTC)

"Oh."

X absorbs that for a moment or two.

Then --

"You are resting? Now."

That is what people call it, right?

There's a pause, during which Elle's smile doesn't dissipate.

Then, she reaches over, and (playfully) shoves at X's shoulder.

X neither laughs nor smiles, but a vast amount of tension leaks out of her shoulders.

Then, very carefully, she reaches out and shoves back.

Elle does let out a swift peel of laughter when X returns the gesture.

But still, if delayed, she answers X's question -

"Not anymore."

"Good," X says.

Just in case there is a need for running.

Or, you know.

Practicing.

Soon.

She doesn't reply at once. Her gaze falls back to the water (the sky has dipped into twilight, and much less light flickers across the lake's surface now), and her smile casually dissipates.

Once it's gone, she shifts, leaning back with one hand on the ground as though to prepare to push herself up.

The other hand, however, she offers to X.

X, head tilting in curiosity but not uncertainty, reaches out to take Elle's proffered hand.

Elle pushes herself up to stand, likely pulling X along up with her.

She hesitates a moment, as though unsure whether or not is already clear, but then seems to decide to say, "I can practice now."

"Okay," X says, holding on to Elle's hand for a few moments longer than she needs to.

"You will be able to see?"

She shrugs, and answers simply:

"Can't have everything."

She does not look dubious, just studies Elle a little more carefully.

And for a much longer time.

Then --

"Okay."

Elle doesn't answer.

But her shoulders straighten once again, and she takes a step back, moving away from the shoreline.

X takes a few more steps away from the shoreline.

Just to be safe.

"You have been practicing. On your own."

X does not much think this is a necessary question.

She just wants to make sure she can make an accurate assessment of what Elle is likely to be most familiar with since their last session.

Edited 2011-06-30 03:34 (UTC)

"When I've practiced," she answers, quietly.

"Okay."

She falls silent again, if only for a second.

"We can spar. It will help you know how to think when you are fighting. Like this."

Elle, once again, simply falls silent.

Her blank expression seems to accentuate it, though after a short pause, she nods.

X is quiet for a minute, too, uncertainty flickering across her face.

"If you want."

They do not have to.

Elle's head tilts slightly, though her expression doesn't change.

But then, quite abruptly, she twists forward, aiming a hit to X's shoulder.

X, unruffled, spins away from the blow.

Then she throws a punch of her own, quick but still human-fast.

Elle ducks and rotates, this time aiming a kick to X's shin.

Her reflexes are very quick, though her offensive moves are more predictable, as tough she were only going through the motions rather than really intending her hits to land.

X springs sideways, rolling and coming up to her feet in enough time to offer a kick of her own.

Carefully.

Elle doesn't move out of the way quick enough to stop herself from losing her balance, but moves with the kick, curving her leg over X's in an attempt to bring the other woman down with her.

It's not particularly aggressive, but not very careful, either.