[ as beowulf stretches, marco discreetly adjusts his stance. widening the distance between his feet a little, bending slightly at the knee to lower his center of gravity. he is an honest man by default; he's only ever mysterious because he prefers to be quiet, but the fact of the matter is he has never made a point of being deceitful in his life and he certainly works to avoid it if he can.
however.
marco knows that in order to fully gauge another's raw strength, sometimes it is best to let them operate under their own assumptions. in height and sheer muscle mass, beowulf towers well above marco. his superhuman genes are not so easily visible, and he would rather the man come at him with what he thinks is an appropriate level of strength to handle someone like marco.
so he says nothing, and does nothing as beowulf lunges at him — except in that last second, before shoulder connects to his gut, where he folds himself a little more neatly against the man's body, where he hoists himself up on his toes just in time that the full force of that attack doesn't leave him windless.
in the end, marco does very little grabbing of his own. he has beowulf walk him through four more different holds, taps out dutifully for each of them. he tries three of his own that he'd never seen in combat before, with the acceptable amount of strength a man who looks and acts like him would possess.
and though he might have been holding back, when at the end they're both sweaty and panting on the ring's floor, the strain on his body is genuine, as is the small smile that's curled his lips. adrenaline is still adrenaline, and anything that allows him to turn his brain off for even a few minutes is always going to be a welcome thing.
he reaches over, offering beowulf his hand. ]
Thank you, for that. I hope I wasn't too bad a student.
bless u ✨🙏✨
however.
marco knows that in order to fully gauge another's raw strength, sometimes it is best to let them operate under their own assumptions. in height and sheer muscle mass, beowulf towers well above marco. his superhuman genes are not so easily visible, and he would rather the man come at him with what he thinks is an appropriate level of strength to handle someone like marco.
so he says nothing, and does nothing as beowulf lunges at him — except in that last second, before shoulder connects to his gut, where he folds himself a little more neatly against the man's body, where he hoists himself up on his toes just in time that the full force of that attack doesn't leave him windless.
in the end, marco does very little grabbing of his own. he has beowulf walk him through four more different holds, taps out dutifully for each of them. he tries three of his own that he'd never seen in combat before, with the acceptable amount of strength a man who looks and acts like him would possess.
and though he might have been holding back, when at the end they're both sweaty and panting on the ring's floor, the strain on his body is genuine, as is the small smile that's curled his lips. adrenaline is still adrenaline, and anything that allows him to turn his brain off for even a few minutes is always going to be a welcome thing.
he reaches over, offering beowulf his hand. ]
Thank you, for that. I hope I wasn't too bad a student.