[training mingle] - I wanna be the very best

[traumaticus]

Who: The Chosen of Aldrip
Where: The X-mansion
What: The Chosen of Aldrip are invited to yet another training montage
Warnings: General violence. Please mark any other potential warnings on the thread titles!



At the dawn on January 5th the tents for the training grounds raise up again. However, unlike the last time the training camp does not take place in the empty fields of the outskirts but instead they are set on the property of X-Mansion. Courtesy of X-men, who have agreed to let their home to be utilized for common good.

Each tent marks a post for a different activity while ome of them work as a simplified armories. There are sets of blades (from knives to long swords), axes, armors, firearms, bows and arrows and what have you. Feel free to pick your poison, so to speak! However, Richard keeps a keen list on who borrows and what, marking down immediately if something goes missing. So! be sure to return what you take unless you want him to come after you. And just like the always, the chosen are more than welcomed to use their own weapons.

And if the Chosen gets tired of running around in the cold and snow they can go and grab lunch at the mansion's kitchen/dining area! This time it is provided by the inn which, yes, means there's different kind of poultry dishes are being served. As for the dessert there is hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows available for the chosen.

For those who seek out more challenge and advanced training methods they are given access to Danger Room, a holographic combat simulator tucked deep down in one of the basements. In case someone needs help with setting up a perfect training scenario for their needs Morph is there to answer any questions.


The activities include:

Archery (instructor: Richard)
Horseback riding (instructor: Richard)
Swords (instructors: a2, Mitsuru Kirijo)
Magic + Superpower guidance(instructors: Morrigan, Fauna)
Firearms (instructors: Caitlyn, Levi)
Non-lethal combat (instructor: Vash)
Tech-Support (instructor: Mitsuru)
First-aid (instructor: Kurama)
Survival skills (instructor: Kurama)
Rescue Training (instructor: Morph)
Hand-to-Hand combat (instructor: Vi)
Danger Room (instructor: Moprh)
Lunch


[ooc: There is going to be a top-level for each activity/category. But feel free to make your own wildcard options outside of them, too. o/]

Comments

[variantcover]

[ Training montage??? You can bet Gwen will be there with bells on. Or, rather, in her hero costume, cowl on and ready to go. She has also traded her katanas for wooden dummy swords, and is taking some practice swings when she pauses mid-move to look up at the instructor. ]

Huh? What do you mean I'm holding it wrong?

[ Maybe this is what happens when you learn swordfighting from someone other than a YouTube tutorial. ]

[abandonware]

[This human (?) is brightly colored and moves with the kind of confidence that A2, from her time observing humans, is beginning to associate with... not human "baby," that was a different form of development. A little older than the girl she'd spoken to on the network. Someone who was about the age that she was designed to appear as. And so, she treats her new pupil like she would-

(a flash of a memory: a sword passing from hand to hand. no.4 adjusting her grip - "here, like this, captain. see? it gives you more control over the blade. try this...")

- someone her age. She hesitates, then steps forward in a few decisive strides. Her hands lift, uncertain, then settle lightly on Gwen's wrist.]

Like this. [Slowly - a little awkwardly - she adjusts Gwen's grip on the handle of the blade, then takes a half step back.] You'll have more control over the blade. And be careful - watch your flank. Using two swords at once... you'll be left open there.

[variantcover]

[ Gwen takes note of the adjustment, and once her instructor has stepped back out of reach, she flourishes the blade, swinging it in a practiced circle, her eyes widening in comprehension. ]

Oh yeah, you're right, there's way more control this way!

[ She quickly adjusts the grip on her off hand the same way, then enters a ready stance again. ]

Okay, let's try this again. Come at me, and I'll try to block you.

[abandonware]

[The improvement is immediate, and A2 allows herself to feel relieved at it, that she'd gotten it right. At the direction, she nods in silent acquiescence, then creates some distance between them. It's basic training again, and memory fills in the uneasy cracks in her demeanor, making her shift into a ready stance as well.

A2 calibrates some of her settings, and when she rushes forward in a sprint it's at a pace a human being can follow. Dropping her shoulders before the point their practice swords clash, she starts off the spar with a quick upward swing of her wooden blade.]

[variantcover]

[ Gwen is able to quickly move her blade to block the upward swing, already feeling an increase in the control she has over the weapon thanks to the instruction she's received. Turns out that coming to this training meetup wasn't a waste of time after all.

She parries with one hand, then spins and swings the other in for an attack. ]

[abandonware]

[A2 counters by creating distance, elegantly backflipping and landing, cat-like, on her feet. Cat-like save the grooves her descent leave behind and the weight to her landing.

She straightens up slowly.] Not bad. [...] I see the improvement.

[variantcover]

[ Gwen's eyes widen with delight behind her mask when her instructor leaps gracefully out of the way. ]

Ohhhhkay. You didn't say this was acrobatics training, too.

[ But two can play that game. With a Cheshire cat-like grin, Gwen also leaps, flipping over the android and spinning in midair to swipe at her with one of her swords. ]

[abandonware]

[While far more subdued in her own reactions, A2's eyebrows hike up when Gwen leaps over her. Parrying the swipe, her return swing goes low and wide.]

Not really. But it's good to be prepared for changes in enemy tactics.

[Though this is far less deadly or high stakes than even her basic training, the familiarity of sparring is comfortable. A battle for show, for fun... it had been so long that she almost doesn't remember it.]