On the Island of the Amazons

July 30, 2018:

Diana brings a number of allies to the island of Themyscira. Caitlin is among them, and gets a taste of how the Amazons train.



NPCs: None.



Mood Music: [*\# None.]

Fade In…

The Invisible Jet ride hadn't taken too terribly long since the vehicle is capable of traveling so very fast. All those aboard it were treated to a comfortable trip and plenty of chance to chit chat and mingle along the way.

Once they'd arrived they'd been greeted by Amazonians on horseback, dressed head to toe in their traditional armors and weaponry. They'd brought extra horses for the approved visitors and had been following them ever since they'd arrived, though some had gone off in separate directions now as the party had split up for the time being.

Now, the group with Diana is near the beach and a grassy field that rests just beside the white sands that eventually lead into the water. Diana is not in her Eagle Armor, she is in a more standard set of gold-hued metals and dark rich leathers. Her hair is tied back in a tight briad behind her and she's standing to the side of a large gathering of Amazons are are amidst a sparring session… a contest of skill for some of the newer members to the society… (newer by Themysciran terms can still be upwards of a hundred years by normal standards).

Diana is simply observing and smiling at it all, she's ever-happy to be back home amongst her people.. who are always thrilled to have her… though who always seem nervous when outsiders are included.

Excitement keeps Caitlin chattering, jittering, and fidgeting the entire trip. Mostly she resists the urge to start dismantling the Invisible Jet to see how it works— the redheaded engineer definitely has a hard time respecting things like control panels and bulkhead walls. But she maintains her best behaviour, up to and including the landing and the reception of the visitors. She'd said the right things, tried to emulate the manners and courtesies Diana had explained, and generally swung between the extremes of shy reticence and overwhelming, radiant enthusiasm for the company.

The horse had proven interesting— upwards of 350lbs, Caitlin's not exactly a light load. But she handles the reins competently enough and keeps up with the others, dressed informally in yoga pants and a light t-shirt that says COME TO THE DORK SIDE in bold print on the front.

At the sparring session, Caitlin faces off with one of the Amazons, clutching a blunted spear nervously in her hands. Her own hair's whipped back in a tight and efficient warrior's braid, but other than that her sole concession to the fight is being barefoot. Always more surefooted when you can feel the grass underfoot.

She circles with the Amazon, then lunges forward and flickers the spear in a deceptively swift jab. She's got long arms and can launch a thrust such as that from a country mile away, and she follows Diana's often-instilled mantra of mobility and immediately starts shifting her position in anticipation of a follow-up.

Diana was amused by Caitlin's difficult time in not trying to figure out the way that the Jet had worked throughout the first part of their trip, it'd been quite amusing and she'd let the girl squirm a bit before she filled her in on the basics of it. The Jet wasn't built from parts and engineering, it was manifested through a science that Earth did not yet possess, and likely wouldn't for a very long time. The Jet is manifested by Diana's will from a 'disc' that is capable of taking on the form of almost anything she needs it to… within a relative mass of about the size of a house. The ORIGINAL Invisible Jet, was a one seater that ran on earth-based tech, and it is safely tucked away in a cave on this very island.

Here and now, the sparring is going well and though Caitlin is certainly a capable warrior she'll know that the Amazonians are able to essentially toy with her… its just a byproduct of hundreds of years of training day in and day out.

"Keep your feet light, Caitlin." Diana tells her. "Yes, like that." She knows the young woman is already well versed and getting to hang around Cassie who's had only a handful of years of Amazonian instruction herself.

"Watch for the leg sweep!" Diana shouts, playfully of course, just as the woman fighting Caitlin uses their handheld weapon to attempt to sweep Cait's feet out from beneath her!

Everyone tries to trip Caitlin. She's tall, and definitely looks top-heavy even with the muscles in her legs and hips. And most people expect her to move slowly, or to brace and try and stop the attack cold.

Caitlin shifts her weight to her front foot for a half a second, but just before the weapon whips around she kicks off the ground in a forward flip that'd do a gymnast proud. Strong as she is, it takes no more effort than it would to hop the spear itself. Midair, she shifts her grip on the spear haft to choke up on it, and lands neatly on her foot opposite her sparring partner. She swings the staff with a short stroke that'd be laughably lacking in leverage if Caitlin was anything near baseline, but her feet are set well enough that she could flip a small car with the short lateral motion. Sweat cleaves to her face, a tendril of red hair sticking to her neck. She presses forward, dropping her hips for more power and trying to shoulder-block her sparring partner off balance.

There is applauding from Caitlin's flip, as the Amazonians know a skilled combatant showing moves that are rarely seen even amongst their people. Not all of them like that kind of flashy combat though so some of them just stare with displeasure and a few headshakes.

Diana? She's all smiles and her hands come up to clap lightly as she shouts words of encouragement at the young visitor who she had brought to the island.

Its a beautiful sunny day here with soft white puffy clouds in the sky and a cool breeze beating back the sun's blanket of warming heat… it really is a paradise, with the sounds of the wind in the leaves of the treets around this sparring field and the light blue waters of the ocean just a few minutes walk away.

"Good." The Amazon sparring Caitlin says. "You have the stare of a predator. Your foes will tremble before it." The shoulder block works and the Warrior Woman is sent back a bit on her heels but she recovers in a swift second and is rushing forward with her fighting staff to swipe quickly in a series of mid-section attacks!

Caitlin's brows lift, and she tilts her head a little, one shoulder rolling in a shrug. "Well, I've got that going for me," she says, with a breathless cheer and a quick laugh— and then, she defends against the attack!

She tries to remember her staff forms, and sets up a few good parries with the spear whipping so fast the center of it bows in her hands. She misses one block and dodges, but the next blow catches her just below the ribs. She grunts and hooks the staff with her arm, trapping it, and quickly pivot steps forward towards the other woman to close the distance, tossing the spear aside and reaching with her hands. There's a quick slapping exchange of grip counters and wrist locks, moving almost too fast to follow, and then Caitlin does the unexpected again— she moves with one of the locks. She steps low and wide, arms hooking around the Amazon's waist as she slips behind the woman. With a grunt of effort, Caitlin picks her up off the ground, the Amazon's hips almost on her shoulder, and heaves backwards, bowing her back into a deep arch. Up and over the woman goes in a textbook suplex, a move that would be laughably ineffecient except for how incredibly strong Caitlin is. Her posture forces her sparring partner to absorb all their combined weight and momentum on impact, and she only holds back enough to make sure she's not going to paralyze someone with a broken neck.

That would probably sour Themysciran-American relations a bit.

It probably would, if Caitlin's pre-existing powerset wasn't publicly known to the Amazonians… sure some of them may not have taken it very seriously, but others were aware that this wasn't just some normal outsider who should be coddled and considered a weak little fleshy mortal… no, its part of the vetting process that super powers have to be fully disclosed if an island visitor is to be given access to said island… The Amazons demand to know, Hippolyta demands to know.

So when the fight goes in the favor of Caitlin some of the Amazons just enjoy the show, while others seem downright displeased by it yet still.

Diana encourages Caitlin with some positive words and more clapping, but the leader of the fighting session today steps out and reaches her hands up to signal the end of the spar.

"That is enough for now." She says, eyeing her soldier who had let Caitlin get the better of her. "Farame. YOu are to clean up the fields today." She says in her harsh toned Greek-accented English. All Amazonians are speaking English so long as English speaking outsiders are on the island, another rule amongst the society.

Diana steps up and toward Caitlin, smiling to her. "Well, I believe you surprised a few people here and now."

Caitlin's a considerate person, and she is the first to offer Farame a hand up and a smiling, sincere apology— and a 'thank you' for the sparring session. She looks a little uneased at the mixed reaction from the Amazons, but relaxes when Diana moves up as the crowd disperses.

"What can I say, I watched a lot of WWE wrestling during my formative years," she says, her green eyes dancing. "I doubt I could do that move twice in a row though. Farame's quick. I figured I better go for broke or I was going to end up on my butt and getting laughed at."

She looks around, uneasily, and hugs her elbow with her forearm across her stomach. "Is… are they mad at me?" she asks Diana, lowering her voice. "I was trying not to hurt anyone, but they said give it my best. But they looked kinda mad that I won, anyway. I thought this was just all in good fun?"

Diana falls in line at Caitlin's side and she motions for them to walk a bit so that there is some distance from them and the other Amazons who are filing toward the middle of the fighting fields. There are more woman still practicing, the archers are still on the far side and horse riders are still performing their session, but the ground fighters are all gathering up in the center.

"They are not mad at you." Diana says back to Caitlin in her husky hued English voice. "They are mad at themselves." She adds and glances over to Caitlin. "You see, this is a life style for them… It is not like training in the rest of the world. It is all that they live and breath, it is their sun and stars. Farame…" Diana glances back over her shoulders to put her blue eyes upon the back of the woman that Cait had just been combatting, then she looks back to Caitlin a second or so later.

"She is an arrogant fighter, she is often pushing others to limits that they are not prepared for. You bested her, but… she is stil respectful and will do as she must to make sure thatyesthat move will not work on her again." Diana is now grinning lightly. "You did great, be proud."

Caitlin's grin could solve the energy crisis, radiant and utterly unrestrained. She tempers it a second later, but she can't hide the pleasure at the high praise from her eyes. She ducks her head a moment later, still beaming a smile, and starts undoing her braid.

"Well, I can at least scratch that off my bucket list. 'Suplex an Amazon'," she remarks. "I just want a crack at Darkseid the next time he shows his face here. Bam! He'd never live that down, getting the smackdown from an Earth girl from Iowa."

She ruffles her fingers through her hair, separating the strands. *FOOMPH*. The humidity of the island makes it promptly explode in a frizzy mess, before she starts binding it back in a loose ponytail. "This is… this whole island. I'm still thinking I'm asleep and I'm gonna wake up back at the apartment," she admits, as they crest a low hill and take in the view of the city beyond. "I've dreamed my entire life about seeing the island. Now I'm here." She inhales a deep breath and lets it out slowly, eyes lidding at the rich scent of nature abounding around them.

Diana laughs a little at the body slamming an Amazon thing. "I am just glad that it was not me." She quietly replies in a bit of playful banter as they walk closer to where the grass becomes sand that becomes beach.

"I assure you, that you are not dreaming, Caitlin." She continues, letting her eyes go up to the water in the distance that matches the same hue as her pupils. Diana draws in a breath while her hands are resting at the small of her back above her flowing skirt. "You get to be here for several days yet to come." She looks over to the other. "And tonight? The first of many feasts to honor the guests. Food and song, dancing and hopefully no small amount of positivity and fun." She grins again. "It is not often that we bring people here, so when we do? We want to make sure that they have great memories of this place… to understand why we train to fight to protect it like we do."
