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[Gambit]

Gambit let her have that, passing the opportunity to counteract. "'ey, not bad," he said, flexing his shoulder slightly after the punch. "Jus' aim somewhere 'ere, an' you'll be fine," he said, pointing at his solar plexus.

[Shade]

The blow hit, but most likely as Shade thought because Gambit had decided to grant her a little triumph; chances were he could have avoided it easily, still the fact that he didn´t gave her some satisfaction. She was wound up and venting her mood like this felt great, it was almost like back in the old days of little fights among neighbour kids even thought the circumstances were drastically different and Gambit was not actually fighting back much apart from being defensive. She did not feel the slightest anger with him but acting things out that way was relieving in a way and even though she had no desire to beat him up (which of course was not possible anyways) she was not intent on playing things as soft as she had when he had taught her some self defence.

She rememered the spot he pointed at to be a vulnerable one, but this was a fist fight, not mortal combat. "I´ll consider." she said, using the moment he was distracted with the pointing to try and aim another blot, this time aiming for his upper arm with her right fist before letting another blow follow, aiming for his chest with the other.

[Gambit]

Gambit avoided both blows by turning to the side, each glove slid along his body without much direct contact. "Come on, darlin'," he teased, swinging his arm lightly to give her a punch on the upper arm - she'd feel that and would hopefully start moving faster.

[Shade]

Shade gritted her teeth and gave a slight growl. Her adrenaline was getting high enough for her to not feel that much pain, but the punch was feelable and she shook her arm for a second. It was obvious Gambit was trying to provoke her, to get into more of a frenzy and hit faster and harder. She smirked inwardly, unable and unwilling to let this provocation stay without effect. With small, agile steps she hopped half a circle, leaving her left hand in defence again, swinging her right fist to test for a gap in Gambit´s own defence, before she started a row of fierce punches at his upper body in rapid succession. Not all of them were well aimed, not all were fierce, but some were.

[Gambit]

"God, she's alive!" Gambit exclaimed, almost laughing as he let her have it again, merely blocking or diverting some of her more energetic blows. He waited until the downpour of punches ended, quite content with his role of a punching bag, then caught the moment when Shade paused, only to give her a considerable punch on the side. He didn't have any scruples about beating her up a bit - she'd given him full license just by coming here with him, plus he had the experience of extremely harsh sparring sessions with Bella Donna, and he knew that the boundaries of what's allowed in fist fights with women were much wider than most women chose to demonstrate.

(( and I'm off. See ya ))

[Shade]

Shade reacted too late to block and gave a little yelp at the punch. It had been harder this time and she wasn´t sure if it was hard enough to leave traces. Whatever, she thought, she didn´t mind. He was holding back his strenghts of course but he was not inactively receiving her fists and she approved of that a lot. One of the qualities she had always valued in Gambit was the fact that he did not treat her as if she were made of glass, just because she was a woman.

"Oh yes." she gave back, growling, her eyes ablaze with a mix of wild amusement and fierceness. "Better take care." And once more she delivered a series of punches, this time with her left because that meant she could more effectively block blows that might come from him.

[Gambit]

The shade of a grin still remained on Gambit's face as he focused on Shade's movements. She was really getting into the mood for some actual competition against him, and he really liked that. He could tell how tense she'd become after the bar incident, so she could definitely display some angry energy here and he was all for it. Now it was time to become a punching bag that fought back, and he blocked and responded to every single move she made.

They must've looked rather strange from the side, with him being a cruiserweight and her a featherweight at most. He hardly looked like he was her coach, either.

[Shade]

Shade was getting more and more into a fighting mood, part of her smirk still there but mostly hidden behind a concentrated and somewhat wild expression. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face and was starting to annoy her, then swished it behind her ear with a glove quickly. She kept lightly on her feet, never taking an eye off Gambit who was making things considerably more difficult for her now. So far, she took his blows as they came and tried to block as much as she could.

Some of the men who had been standing around chatting, had turned their heads by now, watching during their conversations or looking at the two of them with some interest, but Shade didn´t notice. She did another step to the right, quicker than her usual hopping around and swung her fist again in a short but fierce blow directed at Gambit´s side.

[Gambit]

Balancing his agility with his desire to give Shade a hope that she actually stood a chance against his reflexes, Gambit didn't dodge the blow, but just shifted his body a bit - enough for the blow to lose most of its impact. She could be a considerable opponent to someone without mutation-enhanced physical abilities or extensive training, so he was probably a bad choice here, even if challenging.

"I'm just warmin' up, chere," he informed her, swinging his arm a tad slower than he could've done, to deliver a punch on her jaw, heavy enough to give her just an idea of how a blow like this one would feel in a combat situation.

[Shade]

It wasn´t the first blow on the jaw she got in her life - another reminder of how the fun old days had been and a floating image of her mother entered her memory, scowling at her for ruffling with her friends. She had tried to avoid the hook but it hadn´t worked and she let out a slight growl before she turned her head. Years back she would have abandoned any style and just start some wrestling, pulling of hair and scratching included. And, if the opponent had been someone she knew back then, she might also have used her powers, but that was nothing she considered right now. Not after they had gotten into a fight for being mutants some minutes ago.

"Who tells you same doesn´t go for me?" she gave back, once more intensifying her assault on Gambit. She was slowly getting the hang of it now and now that her undirected anger was channeled she could concentrate on the effect of her blows more instead of just beating and boxing without much direction. She raised her defenses again as she continued with strong little fist punchs going for his side and shoulder in turn, to avoid another blow at her jaw, then, without warning, swung her left hand, aiming for Gambit´s jawline from below.

[Gambit]

Gambit felt rather confined here, it was easier in a martial art sparring situation where there were many more means to avoid a blow. He couldn't duck or do a backflip here, and after blocking most of her other punches that looked like she was pointedly boxing his gloves, he did get a blow in the jaw. "Dat be more like it," he smirked after he turned his head straight again. He made a few small steps to the side, holding his fists on the level with his face, protecting himself from her. "Oh no, je t'en prie, don't beat Remy t' a pulp, please..." he mock-begged her, knowing that his mocking tone would result in an even harsher assault.

[Shade]

Had she not been concentrating hard, Shade would have given a yell of triumph which still showed through a glimmer in her eyes. She gave a short chuckle but didn´t reply. Getting more of an eye for the situation, she noticed that he had raised his hands again. Since he was taller than her, that gave her the chance to concentrate on the lower parts of his upper body. Doing a small bluff to the right, she quickly hopped to the side and assaulted his left side, trying to avoid and get through the defense of his arms, delivering half a dozen blows in a row.

[Gambit]

Gambit fought back most of the first punches while his focus was still the advantage, and then jumped back, making Shade hit the air. He didn't want it to look like he was retreating, nor was he giving her time to group herself for another series of punches, so he stepped to the side and started hitting her, alternating between aiming for her sides and abdomen and hitting her upper arms to make her lose her balance or at least stagger back.

[Shade]

He was too fast for her and Shade realised belatedly that it had been a bad idea to go into full offensive since she had neglected her defences. Staggering back, she instincively ducked trying to avoid Gambit´s blows and just in time managed not to stumble and fall. She did two quick and not that graceful steps backto avoid further blows for the moment, raising her arms, noticing only then that she was panting and had started to sweat. The blows had hurt but she would not admit the defeat there.

More people were looking now, but Shade barely noticed when she attacked again, one hand raised in defense, the other aiming a mighty blow at his ribs.

[Gambit]

Gambit gave a short grunt at her blow, but hit again before she even drew her hand back. The more he attacked her, the more force she seemed to be putting into her every next offense, so that was a strategy well chosen to let her sweat it out. "Give up b'fore ya get a broken nose," he commented, aiming his next blow at her face. It wasn't really fair with him being significantly taller than her, but well - with them two boxing against one another, 'fair' wasn't even considered.

The few people around the ring watched as the two were becoming more aggressive towards one another.