logsinthenight | combat training mingle log

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The Soldier is... curious. And nervous. (But seriously, what else is new.) But curious. As it's very used to doing things despite being afraid of them, after only a moment of hesitation, staring at her shoulder with an expression of contemplation, it nods.

Nothing more than that, just a nod. But that's permission, right? Give it a go, Kettara.

She'll find that none of what ever happened to the Soldier was magic, exactly, but the heart has absolutely been restarted before (multiple times, in fact), the metal arm is some kind of extremely advanced technology that might look a little like magic, and there's something very strange in its blood that seems made up of a whole mess of things. Possibly including magic? Maybe?]

[ Well, all right then. She steps forward and puts a hand on his flesh and blood shoulder, frowning.

After a moment, her hand pulses with magic. It feels cool, like stepping into a lake, but not unpleasantly so. Kettara was never a great healer, but she knows enough to send her magic searching, to find where the nerves connect and the veins flow and search out what makes the body power. Her teacher called it the Spirit of Life, the thing that powers all living creatures, but there is always more in the world; greater power, greater corruption.

In the areas where there is pain, she increases blood flow and encourages the body to begin healing. At the very least, she can ease some of the strain.

Kettara is quiet for a long time, concentrating. After a while, she pulls her hand back. ]

There is something in you that has changed your body, but it's not magic, or at least not a kind I know. Your heart has stopped and been restarted several times. I do not think this body was taken from another, or created out of nothing. You are not a Death Knight, for what it's worth.

I'm sorry. I'm not a healer. I can't tell you much more.

That's more than I knew before. And it's good to have confirmation that I have died before.

[The impression had always been there, a knowledge without any memories to back it up and a certainty of what the protocol was should it die on a mission, but impressions don't have to be truth. The fact that she'd said as much without prompting suggests truth. The Soldier steps back once, resisting the urge to rub at its shoulder where she touched. Standing still for so long while being touched, even with two layers of clothing in the way, had taken discipline and focus, and now it kind of wants to just shake all over to rid itself of the cool feeling that had come with it. Very strange.

The had been pain, all along it's back and left side, from the anchors for the arm continually tearing at flesh and muscle, but now that's actually... easing? That's weird. Probably won't last long, as the next time it uses the metal arm for anything will tear things up again, but it feels kind of nice, now. It doesn't take a genius to guess that came from her.]

Thank you. Do you feel more comfortable now?

[ Kettara blinks, not sure what to make of the question. ]

Why would my comfort matter here?

[Because it makes the Soldier fucking nervous when people around it are uncomfortable. Can't say that, though, so it shrugs.]

You have to work in here. Learn things. You should be comfortable. Or at least not thinking that I'm whatever that thing is that you don't like.

[Unless it's reading her wrong and she isn't against the... death knight things? Also possible.]

[ That's a strange way to approach training, Kettara thinks, and not one she expected from this place. It's kind, even. She gives one of her braids an absent tug, watching him. Finally she shrugs. ]

I don't understand you. But I don't understand most people here. There's no one in Beacon like me.

[ It's said frankly, though without malice. She's an orc and most people here are human, or at least think like humans. She's not entirely sure where Soldat fits in that system. ]

Death Knights had no choice. It was done to them. Some of them were honorable, once they regained their minds. Some were not. But the power that made them was evil, and dishonorable. It was intended to break the world. I don't want to see that here.

It's all right. I don't understand a lot of people, either. You don't have to. Everyone here seems pretty forgiving about it.

[And you know, if the Soldier allowed itself any more self-awareness of its past and how it got to its current state, it would be wincing at that description. Because hey, leave out the magic, and that's literally its life, right down to the people who did it wanting to break (or, well, take over) the world.]

I don't, either, then. We already have one world-ending power here to worry about.

For now.

[ Most of them are human, and Kettara cannot shake the nagging fear that she will be betrayed, that one day these people will realize that she is not like them in some fundamental, unchangeable way, and kill her for it. ]

Hnn. Yes. I suppose it's better to know, one way or another.

[ She eyes him for a long moment. ]

I'm not a healer. But I can encourage the blood flow where your arm is connected, if it starts hurting again.

[ Better to have allies than enemies, in the endl. ]

[Maybe this tusked woman is supposed to be a technician, if she's going to keep trying to fix it. The lightning, too. (Though the fighting isn't very technician-like. Hrm.) It shakes its head with a little smile.]

It always hurts. I'm used to it. But thanks.

[There are finally some other potential students trickling in, and the Soldier glances past her at them.]

Looks like I have to actually work now. But if you want to practice more after, I will wait. Classes only last two hours.

[ Kettara frowns, about to say that bodies shouldn't hurt all the time and it's probably a sign of some deeper injury, but stops herself. There are lines still, and she must be careful not to tread over them. She nods instead. ]

All right. Thank you. I'll wait.

combat training mingle log

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