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[kampfgeist]

[ the video comes first!

heine films from where he's sitting on top of a mailbox on a street corner. it's a slow pan across an empty intersection just northeast of the bank—the bank building itself is visible, as a landmark for where he is, but he also makes a point of filming as much down each street as he can manage. master film director heine is not, but at least he manages to pick out a few identifying storefronts so people can triangulate themselves!

there's no talking, or really any sound at all (which for heine is still one of the worst parts of this place). once he's filmed enough that he thinks the location has been conveyed, the video cuts off.

when he uploads it, it's with a text accompaniment: ]

let me get this out of the way first: i'm not trying to die
and i also don't want to kill anyone [ today, anyway! ]


but if you're also here without the weapons you're used to
don't want to get stuck with your thumb up your ass if shit goes wrong
and think you could use a good fight to keep your skills sharp

then hopefully you can figure out from the video where to go
if you can't then [ he is judging you slightly ] ask for directions



rules:
1) i have knives but if you want to use something else that's on you
2) no sparring bullshit, we fight like we mean it
3) i'll go easy if you need but don't ask me to teach you

Comments

[kampfgeist]

[ on the contrary, heine has no problem with the banter! he's just bad at himself, the product of years of being a relative misanthrope who can count the people he speaks to regularly on one hand. in a way, wrench's willingness to let his words run ahead of him is a little refreshing, even if heine can read it pretty clearly as an effort to obfuscate any important information amidst a deluge of other, less important information.

the winking earns a roll of heine's eyes and a slight quirk at the corner of his mouth that belies his amusement. ] I should be asking you that. First touch probably defeats the purpose, but first blood? First to the ground? Whatever.

[ in this case it's up to wrench, really. first blood is almost meaningless to a guy with accelerated healing, but that's not a decision he can make for wrench, who presumably takes a normal human amount of time to recover from injury. ]

[kampfgeist]

[ beggars can't be choosers indeed—heine would have much preferred to have his guns, but the knife will have to do. it might not be his favorite but that doesn't mean he doesn't know his way around it.

heine circles as loki does, asssessing the same way—calm, relaxed, but very clearly paying attention to the way the other man moves. he's found that people who aren't afraid to fight like they mean it have a certain way about them, something he sees in loki know. this is going to be interesting.

although normally heine would generally prefer not to be the first person to swing, in the name of sparring he can make an exception. he feints, then ducks low and shifts his weight as his knife arm swings up, aiming for loki's side—not meant to do real damage, he'd meant that part, but at least getting things started. ]

[wrenchedup]

[ Damn, his cover is blown that easy huh? Cause... yeah, sometimes Wrench was chatty because he's actually just anxious but usually he acts the way he acts to throw people off the scent of him knowing anything or being capable of much beyond acting like a weirdo. Heine's already seen his more chill side but being like this was almost natural for him and for the most part, it works! So why fix something that's not broken, right? ]

First to draw blood. [ He's messy and he knows that. Going to the ground isn't necessarily enough to tap out. Hell, he might purposely go to the ground just to get Heine down too. Guess they'll see how he feels, huh? So, up come the dukes and when Heine signals he's also ready, Wrench doesn't waste time. He'll crack it right open with an elbow toward the gut. ]

[kampfgeist]

[ no fault of wrench's own, just, you know. half a decade of knowing badou nails, you sort of learn the tricks. ]

First blood, then. [ no problem. heine's stance is already loose enough that he's ready to pull back from the first elbow wrench throws out, and he dodges back, quick on his feet. his arms come up to protect his core, and heine circles a bit before pressing back in with an uppercut, aiming for wrench's middle.

it's always nice when someone else is willing to throw the first punch, and heine sort of likes the experience of being on his back foot, however temporarily. he tries to move at the same speed as wrench, at least, to put them on a similar playing field as they move in to trade blows, then pull back to regroup—although when the opening presents itself, heine can't resist the temptation to drop low enough to sweep a leg at wrench's ankles. ]

[abit_ofboth]

[As they circle and assess each other, Loki can tell that the other man is trained in combat, though he suspects that knives and daggers are not his preferred. Of course, if Loki had his own way, he would’ve had better access to his magic. No one here would stand a chance if he was at full power. He would’ve simply sent the man flying and taken the knives. Of course, if he was at full power, he would’ve just conjured up his dagger and there would be no need for any of this.

Except maybe just for fun.

It is nice to see that he has some training. Might make this not so dull at least. Loki smirks as the other man finally makes a play and Loki is relieved to find he still has his strength and agility as he easily dodges out of the way.]

Nice try, but you will have to be a bit faster than that.

[Quick as lightening then, Loki reaches out with his free hand, attempting to grab Heine’s wrist in an attempt to both grapple and disarm him, a wide smirk on his face the entire time.]

[kampfgeist]

[ there it is. to be as openly confident as loki has been without the abiilty to back it up would be a fool's errand, but heine has known plenty of fools. he's been looking for something that gives away the skills in which that confidence is based, and the easy way loki dodges his first punch shows that he's not going to be an easy opponent.

heine grins, teeth sharp. ] My pleasure.

[ quickly, much quicker than a human should be, heine twists his arm away from loki's grip and tosses the knife to the other hand to swing with it instead. not with the blade this time, but with the blunt end of the hilt, aiming for loki's outstretched wrist. ]

[wrenchedup]

[ Damn that redhead. ]

First blood, then. But if its a minor cut that shit doesn't count. [ He's not a wiener, man. Heine wanted to 'fight like they meant it' right? So sure, he does, and maybe some part of him was doing this more than just because he needed to get better at it.

Speed was Wrench's biggest asset. He was quick, and he was agile if a bit clumsy. He had potential but he was still just human and you know... it didn't quite hit him that this guy could also have powers that were just capped, not removed, or that he could be NOT human.... Oh well!

Wrench moved with the man as he circled around him. Watching. A loose but ready stance even if there was just a fleeting 'oh fuck' sort of reaction when Heine finally made his move. He'll take that uppercut to his middle just to get a hold of Heine's arm, get in close. It was clear that the other man wasn't great at defense but he did have a surprising amount of resilience and willingness to fucking headbutt a motherfucker. Elbows and knees, keeping Heine in close as they match fists before something broke and down he went to the ground.

Woops, woops, woops, he scrambled to his feet and stumbled back a few steps with a bit of a chuckle. Damn, now they were further away from one another and he had no toys to create a diversion in order to get back in close. ] How's your head?

[abit_ofboth]

[The first few moments of a sparring match such as this, to Loki, was always about assessment. What is your opponent capable of? What skills do they have precisely? As such, Loki often started on the defensive, especially in times when he can’t, or is not allowed to use his magic.

As such, he feels he is learning everything he needs to know about, mostly that his opponent is not human at least. But no mind. Loki had plenty of experience in battle with his brother and he can’t imagine this man to be stronger than Thor.

With that thought in mind, he sees what the other man is doing, but simply allows him to strike at his wrist, curious to learn just how strong he is.]

[kampfgeist]

[ it quickly becomes apparent to heine that wrench is quick on his feet, moreso than most people heine has fought thus far. not superhuman, but quick enough that heine has to speed up to match.

that wrench is also scrappy enough to haul heine in with a grip to his forearm is another pleasant surprise, and heine can't help a sharp grin at that. he dodges what fists he can—although he does take the headbutt fully to his nose, which doesn't break but does immediately start bleeding. it's through that haze of pain that heine manages to get wrench to the ground, although he watches, both amused and impressed, as wrench almost immediately scrambles up again.

with a little bit of distance between them, heine takes the opportunity to wipe blood off his face. this is where a close observer might be clued in to heine's unusually fast healing: the bleeding has already stopped, and the longer wrench watches the more apparent it'll be that the beginnings of a bruise are already starting to slowly fade. ]

Head's fine. How's yours? [ he spits on the ground, getting blood out of his mouth. ] You counting that as first blood?

[ because in heine's opinion they shouldn't, only because the fight will be short and he's a freak who likes fighting people for fun—but on a technicality, the stain of blood on the bandages around heine's neck would indeed mean that wrench won. ]

v late v sorry

[kampfgeist]

[ certainly not stronger than thor, although heine also has no concept of thor (in fact, his apologies to the entire pantheon)—maybe quicker on his feet by virtue of being lean. but he's still stronger than almost any human, even here, where he most often describes himself as declawed.

regardless, the strike to loki's wrist isn't really meant to disable, though, just to divert the grasp enough for heine to slip away from it. there are no rules to the way heine fights—he's observant and responsive, but otherwise he treats this fight like it's a real one, like his life is at stake even when it isn't.

that means some controlled slashes of his knife, some wild ones. some practiced defense and some that's mostly just scrabbling away. heine's objective isn't to win as much as it is just to stay mostly uninjured and up on his feet. ]

Absolutely no worries!

[abit_ofboth]

[At the moment Loki doesn’t care who this man knows, though he suspects by the time they’re done here, he will remember Loki. He’s fairly certain he will remember Heine as well.

The strike might not be meant to disable, but it definitely told Loki exactly what he wants to know. Heine is strong. Now at least Loki knows he can go a bit harder than he would with a typical mortal.

Loki’s movements are much more controlled, but only to someone who really knew what they were looking at. He uses lots of spins and ducks and dodges all of Heine’s wild and not so wild slashes, trying to run literal circles around him as he slashes back.]

[wrenchedup]

[ Wrench isn't strong. That much was evident. Stronger than he was in his twenties but who was counting that? He put a lot of feral energy behind his attacks but they were kinda scrappy and kinda more about passion than technicality. It was speed that won him and that scrappy attitude which allowed him to take most people by surprise.

Thing was, he's never been in a sustained fight without weapons. It was always a last minute resort to get him the fuck out of there or grab a weapon from the person who cornered him into the mess. So whether he could sustain this was debatable. But he did come here to learn and he learned by getting his hands dirty. ]

Nothing more out of sorts than usual. [ He chuckled. ] Blood, what blood? [ Which meant no, not a chance dude. Heine looked okay. Definitely noticing the healing thing, interesting. But he was okay and the other guy was okay so fuck it, right? Alright, let him just roll a shoulder. Crack his neck a little. Run in to try and superman punch the guy. ]