combat training mingle log

[policier]

characters: everyone
location: the village gymnasium
date/time: every wednesday & friday throughout october
content: at the town hall last month, javert offered to set up a place for combat training. this is him making good on his promise. as he mentioned in his bulletin ad, these sessions are open to absolutely everyone, not just those who want to learn how to fight. partner up with someone and spar. do whatever you want, just don't hurt each other too badly—or javert will have words with you.
warnings: violence

setup

The gym's certainly seen better days, with it's crumbling walls and lost ceiling tiles. Javert doesn't need it to be pretty, though. He only needs it to be functional. In the last week, he's been doing what he can to clean it up, washing the floors and making some minor structural repairs.

Once the first day of combat training begin, the day after the ferry sinks, it's as clean as it possibly can be without any sort of overhaul. There are mats set up along one end of the gym, for people to stretch or otherwise use for sparring, and a collection of swords near the door. Some are blunted and old, perfect for training — though they may still hurt — while others are sharp or unwieldy, and will need to be handled with care. Use them, Javert says, but return them when you are finished.

There's a tiny collection of knives, too, though there aren't any targets to practice throwing them at. It's a work in progress. For light, there's a torch set up along the wall, illuminating the room and allowing combatants to spread themselves out from one another.

meetings

For the sake of not being micromanagey, there isn't going to be any formal structure to these practices. Javert is available to teach hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, should anyone wish it. He's also enlisted the aid of Jason Grace, who will teach hand-to-hand and swordsmanship, and Bucky Barnes, who is proficient in knife fighting as well as hand-to-hand combat. Anyone else, of course, may teach others as they please. Just this once, Javert's not going to be a stickler for formalities. He just wants to see everyone making productive use of their time, in some fashion.

Training will run from seven o'clock to nine o'clock in the evening. Arrive promptly, or Javert will berate you for being disruptive. No one is required to come to every single meeting, so come as often or as little as you like. If regular exercise is supposed to help combat the effects of total darkness, why not give it a try?

Comments

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara's shoulders - tense and nearly up to her ears - relax immediately. She grins and snaps her teeth. ]

Hello, Eleven.

[ For one reason or another, Eleven makes sense to Kettara in a way most of the other humans in Beacon don't. She's straightforward, and honorable in her own way. Not a warrior in the way Kettara understands, but comparable. And - perhaps most importantly - she doesn't treat Kettara's unease and strangeness as things to be corrected. ]

What shall we do? I can show you how to hold a staff. Or we could spar.

[savingthrows]

[Likewise, Eleven has fast grown to like Kettara. She finds the green woman pleasant, because she's blunt, sparing Eleven the need to navigate social cues she so easily misses otherwise. And she sees Eleven neither as just a child nor as just a weapon.]

What is 'spar'?

[She's fine with trying the staff Kettara suggested - really, she has no idea, so she will just follow along.]

[oldtonew]

A practice fight. So you can get stronger.

[ Kettara inclines her head toward the weapons rack. ]

You could start with a staff. Or whatever you'd like.

[savingthrows]

Stronger.

[Eleven nods. She understands practice - she had to practice with her powers, too, and she's gotten a lot stronger with them. It makes sense to her, in a backwards way of thinking, that bodies become stronger with practice too.]

You said...the stick would be good.

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara gestures for Eleven to follow, and begins looking for a staff. It ought to be close to her own height. ]

It's a good way to start, so you can figure out how to move. What feels best when you're fighting.

[ She touches one of the axes at her belt. ]

I fight with these, one had each. It's faster, but I don't hit as hard as someone with a two-handed weapon. There's a balance and you find where you fit in that. You understand?

[savingthrows]

Balance. Yes.

[Well... she tries to, at least. Never having held a weapon other than her own mind, Eleven doesn't fully grasp the idea quite yet. She certainly tries, of course, with... limited success.]

How did you find balance?

[oldtonew]

You practice. And you find what feels right.

[ Kettara hands Eleven a staff of approximately the right height. ]

The weight, the give. How you move with a weapon. It will feel strange at first, but not for long.

[savingthrows]

[Eleven nods slowly, then understanding dawns in her eyes.]

My mind felt strange at first, too.

[She takes the staff, weighs it in her hand. Feels the solid weight and then nods at Kettara.]

How... do you just...

[She mimicks, slowly, a motion of whacking someone.]

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara considers that for a moment. The mind as a weapon. She's only heard that said as a metaphor. But she doesn't think Eleven bothers with such things and only nods.

A mind as a weapon. All right. ]

Strike like this.

[ Kettara selects a staff of her own to demonstrates. ]

Block like this.

[ Again she demonstrates. ]

All things build from that.

[savingthrows]

Strike.... Block...

[Eleven copies the movements hesitantly, but clearly doing her best to mimic Kettara's demonstration.]

Am I... do you think I'm strong enough to... do much?

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara hesitates. ]

Not right away. It takes time to build up strength, to know how to react. But I was small like you, once.

[ She was taller than Eleven, obviously, but it took Kettara a long time to build up the muscle and stamina to keep up with her fellows. ]

Anyone can learn how to fight. But you want it. So you'll work hard and then you'll be strong.

[savingthrows]

[ It's difficult to picture Kettara es Eleven-sized, ever. Eleven knows people grow, of course. She's seen the way Mike and Will and Dusting and Lucas have shot up in height. Herself and Max, too.

Still. Kettara seems to...

Kettara seems like a mountain, not literally but in her presence. And Eleven doesn't know that mountains aren't as static as she imagines them. ]

Yes. Is it... cheating if I use my mind?

[oldtonew]

[ Kettara grins a little. ]

Yes. But only a little. If a day comes when you can't call your power, then you should know how to land a blow without it. It will make you stronger in all ways, in the end.

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven nods. It makes sense. And... this is a place of many dangers. If her batteries are empty, she needs time to recharge... it would be good to be able to at least whack someone, then. ]

Yes. I want to be stronger.

[oldtonew]

Good.

[ It's enough to start with, anyway. Kettara gives the staff an absent twirl, getting used to the feel of it in her hands. Not her favorite weapon, but one that she trained on when she was younger. She has good memories learning how to use a staff. That came after the camps, when she stayed with the Dark Spear and learned how to swim in the ocean for the first time.

Good memories. ]

Shall we?