quarterback_of_steel | Buckeye and the Hawk (Test Thread)

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: JSA Brownstone

Buckeye and the Hawk (Test Thread)

Nathaniel Heywood is many things, but "ungrateful" is not one of them. As he walked down the corridor of the JSA Brownstone, hearing the new metal tiles underfoot and their crunch, he looks to the kitchen. He remembers when he had to eat. It's odd now. He picks up the apple and looks at it. He has to watch his strength with it, but he can't feel how much pressure he's using. Hell, with the suit he still can occasionally be too strong. Not enough to break bone unless he tries, but enough-

splat!

to break an apple in his hands. He feels bad about that and quickly wipes the remains off of him before continuing down the hallway. In the study waits the man he was looking for. Though the man was just visiting today, Nate wanted to talk to him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hall? Do you have a second?"

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Carter is doing some research in the study, going through the JSA's historical accounts of events. At the sound of footfalls he glances up from his reading.

"Of course, Mr. Heywood. What can I help you with?"

"I just wanted to say thank you. For earlier. I mean, if you hadn't shown up, I'm sure that the kids wouldn't have made it. I doubt I would have made it, i you hadn't taken me to see Doctor Mid-Nite. So... thank you. For everything."

Nate's voice resonates in his throat, giving him the slight sound of someone speaking in a coffee can. But something else resonates: hesitation. Like something else is bothering him.

His hearing isn't the equal of his famed vision, but its not bad. He also takes only so well to thanks - he does what he does for his own reasons, and its not accolades, but he's glad the kids made it.

"Something else on your mind?" he asks, skipping straight to the point.

Nate puts a hand behind his head. The sound of metal on metal is a little sharp on the ears.

"Yeah. I'm... just unsure. About everything now. I mean, I knew one day I'd be the main Heywood, just like Grandpa or my cousin. But I didn't expect it to happen so..." Nate looked for the word. "Suddenly."

Carter eyes him a moment. Saving people is one thing. Talking about expectations and feelings... is not a Carter thing. His eyes narrow.

"Whatever you expected, you're it now. If you're not ready, stick with the junior leaguers til you're up to the task, but the future starts now, how you deal with it is up to you."

Nate closes his eyes. He nods and looks up. "You're right." He's got to face this like a man. Be the hero his family knew he could be. Not a football star, but a JSAer. He grins at Hawkman.

"So, you fought alongside my grandfather, right? The original Commander Steel?"

A simple nod. "I did. He was a good man."

Nate nods. "Would you mind showing me a few things you learned? Grandpa told us a few stories about how you saved his hide from some Nazi soldiers with that mace of yours. You saved my hide with it once now too."

Hawkman eyes the mace at his belt, then looks back to Steel. There's a pause - he's usually not the trainer here, nor the person people go to for help with these things. But the guy's grandfather was, at the least, an ally in the war.

"Alright, we can do some basic combat lessons, but you'd best try and keep up."

"Yes, sir!" Nate stands ready. "Just name the time and place, Mr. Hall."

"Tomorrow morning, 6 sharp. Don't be late."

Though it's been years, Nate still remembers going to football training. He was an all-star for a reason; he's there at 5:30. Sleep doesn't come as easily to a man made of metal. He's ready in the brisk morning air in the field. He waits for Carter to arrive.

Its a bit of a wait - Carter is good at punctual, arriving almost at 6 on the dot. He nods his approval to find the man already there.

"Good sign. Your Grandfather was always early too - it was the Marine in him."

"Grandpa told us all that if you could get there early, to do so." Nate nods and looks at Carter. "So, how will we start?"

Carter considers the man. "How much training have you had? What martial arts? I've read your profile, and I'm familiar with your background, obviously, but it doesn't cover everything."

Steel thinks. "Not much in the way of real training, but I did play football for a few years. So I can tackle or take one pretty well." Nate hopes that's enough for Carter, though he knows he needs more fighting training than that.

"Honesty, good policy. Ok, I've seen a few of the real jocks in the field. Remember the first advice I'm going to bet your coach told you on tackling... keep your head up. Be aware of what's around you. Some other things you can take from that... remember tackling stance? Set your feet, wide base, arms up?"

Nate nods and assumes the tackling position. "Yep."

"Good, strong base, hard to take you down - but when you're not just attacking, but being attacked, its too broad a profile. From that stance, shift your left leg back about a foot behind your right, out at a 45 degree angle, turn your body with it - it'll keep your stability, you keep your weight on the balls of your feet for quick action and reaction, the same way, but you provide a narrower attack profile and are more stable against frontal assault - the most common. Then bring your right hand up to just under your chin level, keep your left hand down."

Nate does exactly as Carter says. The end result feels different, yet still somehow comfortable to him, familiar.

Carter shifts into the same stance, demonstrating how easy and quick it is to move forward, back or side to side from the position. "Ok, now, basic combinations - from this, you can work out others, but anyone can throw a punch - the real trick is setting yourself up for openings. swivel your hips into a feint with the left, in the process, bring your left hand up to guard your face while you snap punch with your right, like this..."

Nate tries the same maneuver, mimicing Carter's every move, though well out of each other's reaches.

"Good, now add an extra maneuver - feint, snap jab, then go for the uppercut with the left, each punch needs to set up the next, and you always have whichever hand isn't attacking defending your face." he instructs, demonstrating the simple combo.

Nate tries this as well. His actions are a little slower than he'd like. He's paying extra attention to where he steps. One feint and his foot hits a sprinkler. Putting roughly a ton onto a single sprinkler head only results in a big hole and the beginning of a flood.

"Whoops." Nate looks at Carter sheepishly, and if his blood was still red, he'd be blushing. Instead, he simply becomes a little shinier.

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Buckeye and the Hawk (Test Thread)

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