[Training] a pocket full of mumbles

Leafchange had found Torchline for sure, but still the alchemist was dressed in a mere t-shirt and shorts. Remi thought he might find his better half here, at the boxing ring, but was surprised to see it empty. Hmmmphing under his breath, the alchemist made his way over, leaning against the ropes and peering into the square of sand within. It seemed to have held up well from when it had been built, weathering all the storms Torchline had thrown its way. Having never been especially good at hand to hand combat (read: never learned), Remi didn't really understand the appeal of an activity like boxing, whether for endorphin/testosterone release or as a method of training. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

The changing of seasons certainly brought quite a bit of things out in Torchline – but without the dreary cold of the Grounds, he finds it still feels quite like home. With it, a sleeveless shirt and pants adorn his own body, a furnace in his own right to keep him warm without much else. He carries a couple bottles of whiskey with him, slipping around the edge of the building with a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, aiming to replenish some of the stock here he’d brought from the VlamVloed.

He doesn’t expect to find anyone here, and when he spots Remi he glances around quickly to scout for Ronin. When he doesn’t find the hunter on his quick glance, slipping toward the back to put the bottles away, he pulls the cigarette from his lips and turns to look at Remi with a quiet rogue smirk. “Thinking about going in?” He asks with a tilt of his head, expelling a plume of smoke through his nose as he walks toward the other edge of the ring, steel eyes scouting Remi’s face.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

Glancing over his shoulder at the sound of Sunjata approaching—not to mention the long shadow he casts—the alchemist returns the smirk with an uncertain shrug. "Well I've been told that it's Ronin's thing and that I'm not to interfere. Honestly, I think he just wants to make sure that I don't develop a knack for it and best him in something new." Remi was still the stronger of the pair, a fact he was sure Ronin was trying his best to change. Sea-glass meets steel, and the alchemist offers the flood a lazy grin before letting his gaze swerve back to the sands. "Then again, what sort of alchemist would I be if I didn't check up on the things I'd helped build?" Raising his brows slightly, asking for silent permission, if Sunjata didn't indicate he should do otherwise, Remi would lower himself down to duck between the ropes. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

Ronin’s thing? This sparks a deep accented chuckle to leave him, a slight nod granted as he rests his arms over the ropes and shakes his head a small amount. “Last time I sparred with Ronin I got a broken hand.” A grin crosses his face. “A slight concussion too I think. Can’t remember.” He winks to that before a slight shake of his head. Honestly? He’d asked for it. Wasn’t complaining in the slightest, and he was healed now anyway.

He spots the brow raise from the Alchemist, and he pushes away from the  ropes to gesture with one hand as if saying ‘be my guest’ to enter – moving over for the wrappings for their hands. Something Ronin went without last time. But if Remi wanted to give it a go, Sunjata would ensure the man had all the options available for him. He dips beneath the rope and heads toward Remi then, offering the wrappings for him before moving to wrap his own hands in practiced movements. “Have you boxed before?

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

"Oh, I heard." Remi grinned back. Ronin had come home a bit worse for wear himself, provoking no shortage of jokes about whether or not the hunter actually had the stamina or skill to climb the flood as the two had often joked about. The alchemist shook his head no, he'd never boxed before. Glancing down at the offered bandages, looking ruggedly baffled by their presence, the alchemist shot Sunjata a skeptical smirk. "I might not know much about boxing, but if you wanted to tie me up Sunjata, you might have just said so." Watching as the strips of cloth were wrapped around the flood's fingers and knuckles, Remi raised a brow as his expression turned to one of latent understanding. "To protect the bones, and add strength as well?" He guessed. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

A dip of his head to the fact Remi had heard about it is granted, no surprise there. It was an amusing thing – just reinforcing the fact that he needed to train more often. That he wasn’t as strong as those he surrounded himself with, wasn’t strong enough to fight back. But that’s what this was for, wasn’t it? For more hand to hand, more intimate combat just like back home?

He can’t help the bark of laughter that leaves him at Remi’s jest, a quirk of his brow and a smirk crossing his face. “I hardly think something this thin would keep you down.” He teases back, wrapping his hands when Remi guesses what they’re used for. A swift nod is granted to that, showing how he’d wrapped his around the wrist and majority of his more delicate bones. “To help with absorbing a bit of the blows.” He explains, when he finally tucks it in and steps closer to the Alchemist.

Holding his wrapped hands out to Remi, he lets the man decide whether he wants to wrap them himself, or if he’d rather Sunjata wrap his hands. It doesn’t matter either way to him. “So what do you know about boxing? Or… Close quarters I guess.” His gaze flits up to meet Remi’s seaglass stare.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

"Oh, so you've given it some thought then?" The alchemist smoothly replies, his grin crooked and his eyes sea-bright and amused. Watching Sunjata with the eyes of a creator, he nods his understanding at both the explanation as well as the practiced movements of the other man's hands as he binds his fingers and wrists. "Well, go on then." He says with a nod, holding out his hands for the flood to wrap. Chuckling, a sound low and almost growl-like at that, Remi raises a brow. The alchemist is rarely this much shorter than anyone else, and though he is strong, by sheer brute size Sunjata looks easily the stronger of the two, that it's hard not to feel..strangely small around him. "Truth be told, I shied away from almost all close contact for the majority of my life." Remi said with a light shrug. "What with being gay punishable by death and my...shall we say, inability to hide my want for transgressions." R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

“Perhaps.” A playful wink sent to the Alchemist as he shows the way he’d wrapped his hand up. And when Remi offers his own hands, Sunjata begins to wrap them as well – not too tight to make it impossible to move the hand, but tight enough that the bones should stay in place in case things went a bit south. Honestly? He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he did know that Remi was powerful and somehow that was all he really needed to know.

The question, however, has his gaze lingering down on the Alchemist’s face, listening when he mentions that he’d shied away from it. A swift nod is granted, a quiet hum of consideration before he finishes wrapping his hands. “Part of my training was hand to hand combat. But boxing was illegal back in Korofi, with the gambling and drinking and alla that.” He explains, offering a slight grin to Remi. “Really it’s no different than sparring. There’s rules with it, though I haven’t really implemented many of them. Just fight with your fists, not your head or elbows.” A swift grin to that, stepping away and taking up a stance, fists at the ready to watch the Alchemist.

“Ready when you are.” Ready to see where this takes them, what kind of attack the man might do.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

Once the bandages were around his hands, the alchemist flexed his fingers a few times. The sensation was strange, and had he ears capable of movement, he might have pinned them back against his head. Through the attuned bond Sunjata would likely feel his mounting uncertainty. While given the right context the man-Remi might have liked being bound, the animals within certain didn't, and he had to focus to keep himself from tearing the cloth away. "Can't say I sparred much either." Remi laughed with a light shrug, no longer embarrassed about just how easily any sort of physical contact with other men completely rendered him undone. One day he'll have to ask the flood more about his past, but for now, he suddenly feels a wellspring of testosterone rising inside and he very much wants to punch the handsome grey-eyed man before him. "Presumably no magic or other body parts, human or animal." The alchemist adds, thinking it probably in both their best interests that things stay as...managable as possible. As Sunjata assumes the position, not that Remi knows it, the alchemist does what almost any beginning would. He lowers his center of gravity, but only just, bending at the knees. Then, without much thought, he shuffles his feet forward, aiming a punch for Sunjata's left ear with his right fist, taking almost no defensive measures whatsoever as he does so. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

Honestly? He’s surprised when Remi tells him that he hasn’t sparred much either – imagining that the Alchemist had spent plenty of time honing skills. But again, he doesn’t know too much about the man other than their interactions and whatever Phoebe had told him. At least in this instance he can get a better understanding, a better feel for him while they’re both on mostly level standings. Still, Sunjata’s blood is pumping already, he can feel his heartbeat in his neck begin to spark when Remi comments again.

“Nope.” He’s had enough of claws tearing through his flesh. If it weren’t dragons, it was Deimos’ panther shift. A trend he hopes to stop by any means necessary. For now, it was just strength and dexterity, trying to keep things as level as possible. His steel gaze does scan Remi when he takes up the position, taking the time to notice where he holds his weight, what hand he seems to favor.

Sunjata, himself, is left-dominant, and finds that when Remi shuffles forward to aim the fist at his left ear, he takes a quick step back, turning to take the blow into his right shoulder to avoid another attempt at a concussion – using the way he’d had to twist to endure the punch as a means to propel him to aim his own fist with his left hand to the Alchemist’s exposed side – aiming for the ribs.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

Hitting Sunjata is like hitting solid steel, and Remi is both frustrated and pleased by this fact. That is of course until the flood's fist connects with his entirely exposed side. The alchemist can't quite help the feathers and fur that snarl through his curls and down his shoulders as pain ricochets in bright ebbs outwards from the point of contact. That would certainly leave a bruise. Had Remi any thoughts of getting through this without Ronin knowing, they were surely scattered now. Biting down on the oooof of pain balling up in his mouth, Remi looks up at his opponent from a slightly cowed position and grins. Centre of gravity much lower now, the alchemist lurches forward as best he can while still trying to protect his aching ribs. Aiming for his right shoulder to collide with Sunjata's left hip, side, or thigh, Remi will try and tackle him to the ground. Perhaps the unexpected will catch the flood off guard. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

There’s some hint of satisfaction at the way Remi’s feathers and fur blossoms along his shoulders. He hadn’t meant to collide with the alchemist so hard, but if he’s going to learn he supposes getting right into the thick of it is a good way to learn. Sunjata’s always been more of a hands-on learner anyway, and with Remi he wonders absentmindedly if it’s the same.

But he doesn’t get long to ponder it, not as he over extends a small amount with the way Remi drops to a crouch and shoots up. He does hit his left hip, but not quite hard enough to take him down just yet. He staggers back, catching his balance with a few swift steps back to rebound. “Good. Take advantage of your opponents weaknesses.” He offers with a bright grin, a smirk crossing his face. Taking advantage of Sunjata’s height and long legs certainly was a good idea.

Sunjata, however, uses the moment to recover before slipping toward the Alchemist again, aiming his left fist toward the Alchemist’s head this time – a taste of his own medicine for the first strike, perhaps. Though deep down he hopes it either misses or doesn’t connect so hard. It's a good thing he's got a few bottles of alcohol nearby for after.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea

'Oh, is that what I was doing?' The alchemist chuckled back with a smirk, retreating a step or so to try and find his own footing. His toes spread out against the sandy bottom of the ring, as if that might give him any additional purchase against the flood. It likely would do no such thing, but feeling grounded helped soothe the alchemist's mind against the fact he had absolutely no idea what it was he was doing. Sunjata's hopes are granted. Remi might not know how any of this works, but he is nothing if not adaptable. Leaning backwards to avoid the brunt of the blow—the flood's fist grinding across his ear but striking more curl than skin—Remi tightens the muscles of his stomach to help him balance, reaching out with a blow of his own towards Sunjata's lower back and side-ribs. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space

SUNJATA

A chuckle leaves the flood as he hears Remi’s reply. “Sure seemed like it.” He retorts, throwing his fist toward Remi’s head, meeting the briefest whisper of the alchemist’s ear and dark curls. Before he has a chance to respond once more, Remi’s offering his own attack, shifting and aiming the fist to his back and side. It comes in quick, but hits the edge of his hip bone as he moves, side stepping away in an attempt to avoid it all together.

He does drop his weight a bit in the process, using the way Remi had twisted and the way he curves to try and both evade and meet the Alchemist, to offer another punch to Remi’s own ribs, hoping to stagger him back or off to the side.

i no longer know if i wish to drown myself
in love, vodka, or the sea