entrancelogs | (no subject)

Who: James + you
Where: In the woods, on the range.
When: August 1 - 3
Rating: PG
Summary: James has been slacking off. He needs to get back in the habit and get used to throwing the real shield and not his holographic one.
The Story: The woods:

James runs through the trees, chasing after the shield he’s thrown. Tucking into a roll, he comes up and… the shield isn’t there. Scowling to himself, James goes off in search of it. He’s not sure where he went wrong, but it should have bounced right where he came to a stop.

Finding it, he starts again.

The range:

James stands at one end, staring at the targets. The shield is on his arm. Wearing his black jacket and red gloves, he flings the shield at the target. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses. Other times it ends up coasting in the surf and James runs to fetch it before the tide can carry it out.

Either place, he’s working up a sweat and trying really hard to handle the shield correctly. He’s open for bothering for whatever reason: pointers, or just bothering.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natasha's out on a jog when she spots someone at the range, someone much smaller than Clint, who she's used to seeing there, but she's not all that surprised when she gets close enough to see that it's James. She watches him as she approaches, since he seems immersed in what he's doing and doesn't notice her right away.

Not until one of his rebounds goes high and flies over his head in her direction. Still, she has to jump a little to reach it herself, managing to snag one of the straps and yank it down before it can fly into the water again.

She holds it out to him with a crooked grin. "Hey, kid. Practicing?"

James can't believe how unbearably bad he is at this. During the battle with Ultron and the Iron Avengers he'd managed to catch the rebounds and even surfed down a hillside on it.

Now, however, he can't stop it from sailing over his head and veering right toward the surf. Again.

He turns to go chasing after it and relaxes when Natasha catches it. He's glad that he's not going to get wet. Again.

"I'm not used to the weight." He admits. "Even carrying it is different." He rubs the back of his neck. "I've spent a lot of time chasing it today."

She holds it a moment, testing the weight curiously, but to her it still feels identical to Steve's, despite the fact that this one is a little more banged up.

"I imagine that takes a lot of adjusting to what comes natural to your muscle memory, especially if you've trained with something lighter for a long time," she comments before handing it back. "You almost have to treat it as if you're learning it for the first time. The angles should still be the same, but everything else probably has to be started fresh."

She gives him a sympathetic glance at that, and an understanding smile. "Steve's ability to do what he can do with this at all has always impressed me. It requires a lot of precise and fast calculations in your head to be able to hit what you want. I doubt I could do it anywhere near as well. The fact that you can do it at all is impressive. Keep practicing, I think you'll get the hang of it."

James takes back the shield with a slump of his shoulders. He's sore and exhausted and this just isn't working as well as it should be. He's Captain America's son... and he can't throw the shield around.

"Tony's still fixing my holographic projector, I think. That, I'm much better with." Because he did manage to defeat two Iron Avengers and one had had four arms. And guns in four hands.

"Thank you." He says softly. He's feeling pretty discouraged with this, but to know that someone - an alternate dimension's version of his mother - thinks he can do this means a lot.

She takes in his expression with a thoughtful look for a moment, because she could understand how frustrating it could be when training wasn't going like you wanted. Sometimes it was best to take a step back and come at it from a different angle.

Which is what has her toeing off her sneakers in the sand a moment later and motioning for him to follow her a few feet away from the range.

"Come on. Bring that. Let's try something different."

Edited 2014-08-12 02:02 (UTC)

James trots to catch up to her, curious. There's not much he hasn't tried. He'd gotten better when he'd stopped thinking while training with Steve, but every time he tries now, it's just not working.

"What do you want to try?" He asks, completely curious.

She shoots him a faint smile as she turns to face him, dropping into an easy defensive crouch across from him.

"You need more than just a shield in some fights - even Steve does. He's learned to incorporate other skills to perfect his offense and defense but it took some specialized training. Lucky for you, I was his partner for most of it. Try coming at me, see if you can land a hit - shield or fist or foot or anything. Let me see what you can do."

The first immediate thought that crosses his mind is 'I can't; you mifht be my mom.' But she's still Black Widow. And that's what makes him fling the shield at her and go on the attack.

His kick isn't imprecise but he definitely needs to work on his hand to hand. He's been lax about it with the ahield around.

She blocks the kick easily and shifts her weight to the side, letting his own momentum unbalance him. The shield had missed and landed in the sand a short distance behind her and now she keeps herself between him and it. She aims a blow at his middle, not using much force, just enough that he'd feel it if he didn't get his own defenses up in time to block her, even without his shield.

James moves and his arms cross taking the blow. His foot kicks out, aiming for her knee. One elbow comes up aiming at her ear.

Tthis is just like sparring with his siblings really. He's done that before. He's even sparred with the robots Tony made. This is the same thing.

He just has to keep telling himself that and not flashback to fighting Iron Widow.

If it helps, she's smiling at his quick reflexes and reactions in response to her own attacks. She starts talking him through them, her voice keeping up a steady tone of praise and advice as they go through the motions. She blocks his strikes, returns them, turning this into something almost resembling a dance, keeping him focused in the moment and what she'll do next, what he needs to do to keep the pattern and rhythm flowing. She's fast and strong, but she matches her pace to his. This isn't about beating him, it's about showing him what to do, letting him find his own rhythm until he's ready to push it further.

James listens. He's been trained by Tony, but he hasn't completely perfected anything by a long shot. However, when the chance comes, he dives for the shield and rolls, coming up with it, with a grin.

She wasn't going to keep him from it forever, after all.