- when I say thank you.
-E-
The sound of the bantos rods clacking against each other echoed throughout the circular room of the gym. She grunted as Ronon nearly whacked her arm, but managed to duck and block the blow. The resounding crack! from the rods made her ears ring.
He backed away, wiping the sweat off his brow. She used the small moment of reprieve to towel her own.
They'd been practicing at this high-pace for the past hour. Teyla had cancelled on her earlier that morning following a comm from the Athosians on the mainland informing her that one of her friends had fallen ill. She'd left shortly after with Carson.
So Eva had meandered into the gym, resigned to practicing her balance instead of sparring. Ronon had found her like that not long after and offered to spar in Teyla's place. Eva had delightedly accepted his offer.
He fought without reservation, with intensity.
And with force. She used her small size to her advantage where he used his strength to his. The end result was that each landed as many blows as the other and were pretty equally matched.
Now her competitive side was beginning to take over.
It didn't help that they'd drawn a small crowd.
This time when he came at her, she swung low to the ground and whacked the back of his knee, sending him crashing to the ground. He caught himself on his other knee, one hand splayed in front of him, and eyed her appreciatively (which caused her cheeks to heat) before expertly swivelling and rising in one smooth motion.
Bantos fighting was less about specific maneuvers and more about how to use the rods to incapacitate the combatant. It was about adaptability, reading the enemy's actions and physical cues, anticipating.
She loved it.
Ronon had a determined gleam in his eye, an edge to the set of his jaw. This had just gotten a hell of lot more competitive.
She supposed the cheers coming from their small crowd didn't help, either.
She relished the challenge.
In particular, she enjoyed the competition.
They met in the middle of the mat, rods clacking in rapid succession as each gave and blocked blows from the other. She exhaled sharply and rocked on the balls of her feet as Ronon swung a rod downwards and she barely blocked it from hitting her shoulder. Her arm shook from the force of the connection and her muscles protested as he slowly, but surely, overpowered her.
Fighting him head on like this would get her nowhere fast.
She kicked his knee hard enough to make him falter, but not hard enough to drop him. She was too close to get that kind of power behind the blow. She did use the distraction it provided to reach her other arm up and knock his rod away.
Unfortunately, that left her wide open to his counter-attack with his free hand, and her ribs paid the price. She grunted as the rod connected, but succeeded in breaking free from his attempt to overpower her and force her to the ground. She could already feel the bruise forming tender on her flesh where he'd struck her.
She pivoted on her heel just in time to block Ronon's second strike against her, and quickly turned her parry into an all out attack, forcing him back a few steps as he blocked her rapid strikes. He grunted at the impact of her fourth strike and a hard edge darkened his eyes. The force of her attacks was surprising considering the speed.
She knew it wasn't a pace she could maintain forever, but that wasn't what she'd been after when she started. She wanted to know if he could keep.
He could.
She wasn't eager to see how long that would be, because if she estimated wrong, he'd overpower her with brute strength. Agility was her ally more than muscle (though she trained both because overlooking one in favor of the other was stupidity - something she wasn't surprised that Ronon knew and followed).
If she wanted to win, she'd have to get creative. The man had stamina. Good thing she did, too. Though in a contest to see who could wear who out first, she wasn't sure who would win. Prolong this long enough and it was only a matter of time before he wrangled into her position she couldn't escape from simply because of his size.
She'd have to trick him into losing. The only question was how.
She landed a strike across his shoulders, but instead of following through as he anticipated, she quickly twisted out of the way and circled behind him.
He surprised her by dropping low to the ground and sweeping her feet out from beneath her. She landed roughly on her back and cursed while the (she noticed rather dumbfoundedly) much larger crowd whooped around them. Sheppard stood amidst a group of marines, all of whom were laughing and talking rather excitedly.
When her eyes met his for the brief second it took her to take in the surroundings, he gave her a thumbs up.
His sparring matches with Ronon usually ended with his ass being kicked in spectacular fashions.
Well, she was going to show him how to do it right.
Ronon was pivoting on his heels towards her and she rolled out of the way of his rod, hearing the sharp thud as it bounced roughly off the mat where she'd just been seconds before. She jumped up, landing on the balls of her feet and struck him across back then chest as he turned to her.
He dropped his rod out of his right hand and snatched her wrist before she could escape his reach and pulled her in close, trapping her against his body.
She could feel his breath dance across her lips.
Her hands were trapped against the flat of his chest and his other arm snaked around and yanked the rods out her fingers.