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Taxing Trainning; (OPEN)
Topic Started: Jun 4 2008, 01:37 AM (274 Views)
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The sun was still high in the air, it rose just above the mountainside stretching it’s daylight even here in the mountain’s shadow. Brian blinked unaccustomed to the light as he held the first of a set of forms he had picked up from the library. With no formal teacher in the art of the blade Brian was having to do his own research, along with a very painful hand guard that the demon blacksmith had saw fit to install.

Every time Brian held the sword wrong the pointed handle would bite him, drawing a little blood if he was too rambunctious in his affairs. Yet the pain was welcome, it was real and it was numbing. The metal shifted in his hand slightly brought down quickly for a low guard. Brian looked down the length of this willow leaf saber, the blade wasn’t ornate, nor had it been designed with that in mind. It was functional for a novice of the blade. Durable to withstand the punishment it would take for its owner lacking skill.

As Brian paused there settling the form into his mind before he moved on, the sunlight traced the wave patterns that were innate of the forge that had spawned it. Hooking the sword, as he brought it rushing up, Brian felt his knuckles drag on the pointed interior. He winced as once again he did it wrong and was rewarded with the briefest of pains as his knuckles once again closed up the scrapes.

Returning the sword to the form before he looked at the blade and adjusted slightly, trying to account for the pain he had caused just moments before. He made no verbal comment to the blade, no excuse or promise that he would get it right this time he simply held his grip, as the spattered blood continued to soak into the handle.

Brian hooked the sword again brining it up quickly and fresh from the fur stitched wounds blood shot out as they were torn open once again, this time too his arm was caught by the blades handle. His face contorted in pain but he did not let the blade drop to the ground, he simply held it, waiting for the pain to pass.
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Drisk was walking, exploring and observing Dragoon mountain. Before he had gotten far, Drisk noticed someone ahead, swinging a sword around. Upon closer examintaion, Drisk couldn't help but notice the strange way he winced nearly every time he swung the sword. Also odd was the blood that seemed to decorate the handle. Walking forward slowly, Drisk yelled out "hey, isn't there an easire way to train, one that wouldn't involve bleeding onto a handle?"

Drisk continued walking forward, observing the other student. At a glance he seemed just like anyone else, but when Drisk looked at him closely there was something weird about him, not a negative kind of weird, but just some kind of weird.
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Brian winced again, as the shout echoed off the mountain; the blood splattered handle was obvious from a distance. Truth be told the handle of this sword looked like it was something made for torture, and at the same time it was a effective means of teaching him how not to hold the sword in a arrange of movements.

Brian turned slowly letting his tight grip loosen as much as his stance loosened when a unfamiliar voice ventured to this side of the mountain. Brian looked carefully at the young man who had seemingly crossed the mountain rather than circled though the woods. Tall, physically fit, he seemed able to stand up on his own, but his face lacked the haggard expression of someone who’d dealt with many of the horrors that AHS could offer to the unprepared.

So Brian relaxed, it wasn’t a threat coming his way so he took on a pleasant smile over his furry face. Allowed his tail to uncurl from his waist and simply let the youth approach. All the while keeping a keen eye on him, examining the smallest moment, or any hint of magical air about him.

“I’m sure there may be, but I don’t mind so much.”

Brian winced at the end of his statement, the reminder of why the pain was welcome stabbed at his heart more so than any of the dull aches that were cast though his hands. Brian pulled out a rag from his pocket and began to wipe down the handle and blade, purifying the blade from the riggers of his un-ortadox training. As he sheathed the blade, Brian had the air of someone who was undisturbed, yet beneath the surface he was thankful for a new distraction, these weapon forms were beginning to show signs of being mastered, and it gave way for his worries to bubble to the surface.

“…three weeks”

But a whisper that invited someone to approach closer Brian watched the young man.

“What brings you out to this part of dragoon mountain?”
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Drisk observed the sword-trainee, noticing the fact that he was covered in fur and had a tail. Deciding not to mention it, Drisk replied "Oh, I was just exploring the forest and happened to come upon the mountain. It looked interesting, and not quite so full of odd, slightly disturbing people." Here Drisk paused and thought of his encounter with the one named... was it Scream, or Saint, something like that. "Anyway, I also couldn't help but notice the immense amount of rock in the area, this being a mountain and all, so I thought it would be a great place to train." Drisk touched the ground with both hands, and raised a large rock from the ground. Drisk concentrated on it, and the whole thing turned into the green semi-liquid of base matter.

"I'm really inexperienced at it though, so my limit is 15 pounds of this stuff at a time. I can also shift this into another object, but I sort of suck with it right now so I can only make crude shapes." No sooner had he said it than Drisk heard the cold voice dig into his mind again:

I, on the other hand, can make near anything
Shut it, Marius Drisk thought in reply. "Anyway" he continued, "my name's Drisk, and I'm new to the school. Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?
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Though the forest after all, Brian slightly kicked himself for the unfounded assumption. He just had some dirt on him from his training. To which Brian lent a skeptical eye, he’d never seen someone use a power quite like that. It certainly didn’t have a magical component, in fast as he watched the rock rise then get disrupted it followed more to Brian like that of his Jukken style. Only his worked on solid matter, and it seemed to convert into a form the boy could use… or so he said.

The boy introduced himself and continued to be mildly pleasant, Brian hefted out a breath on how these first meetings always seemed to go. Do they want to tear your head off or share some skill? Drisk seemed to be the latter of the options which at least suggested he could relax his guard. His collar would likely be forgiving of him not pulsating extra energy though his system. He’d had enough of that excitement in the past weeks.

Brian tried to wipe his hands off, the stains of blood soaked into the bottom of his shirt as he approached the boy and his goo. He’d managed to at least show Brian some kind of interesting side product of what was likely his main power. His ability to draw the stone out of the soil may mean he had an aptitude for manipulating the earth.

“Brian Ronin, Graduate… for about a year now. I live out here, I sculpt, train, work. You’d best be mindful of the stones you deconstruct I might have pulled them out from the mountain to work down here. This is technically my artists quarry.”

To illustrate his point Brian envisioned the roots seeping into the soil wrapped around a fair size chunk of earth and drew it out to the surface beside him. Bringing his hand down over the stone the loose soil fell off, no longer being held together by the root magic of Tlachtga.
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Drisk thought whoops, better watch what shift from now on. He hurriedly shifted the rock as well as he could back into it's original rock shape, though there were some new cracks in it as well as some odd bumps that had been absent from the old rock. "Sorry" Drisk said hurriedly, "I hope that wasn't one of the stones you were talking about."
If the tailed freak tries to kill you, can I have control and waste him?
There are so many different things in that sentence I need to argue about with you, but I really don't feel like it. Instead, be content with this all-emcompassing response: go [censored] yourself, you murderous, crued, abominable asshole One of the main reasons Drisk had a naturally happy attitude was that most of his angry feelings were taken out on Marius, though never unfairly. Unfortunately that meant that when Drisk got angry, some of Marius rubbed off on him and he flew into a rage. But that was unimportant at the moment, as Drisk had no reason to be angry with anyone but Marius.

"so, as you may have noticed I pause once in a while when I talk. I'm just going to go ahead and say it now, it's because of someone named Marius, and I'd rather not go any firther into it than that. So, as a graduate, what are your plans, basically what do you hope to accomplish with your life? I know I seem a little nosy, but I haven't met a whole lot of people here, and I guess the absense of conversation has left me over-curious about people."
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Brian gave what felt like a warm smile as Drisk tried to put the stone back together, it was a funny attempt that for the most part was unnecessary; after all he’d drawn the stone from the ground himself. It wasn’t one of the many boulders or large standing stones he had in a part of the field not too far away. Still the sentiment was strictly the sort that put Brian’s worries of a confrontation behind him.

Stepping away from the stone he’d raised his hands and shook his head. The look in Drisk’s eyes suggested he was busy, somewhere else for the moment. So Brian returned to the spot marked by his fallen blood. Gripping his sword he began to think out the forms that he’d have to proceed though to get back to where he was.

Brian’s ear twitched as Drisk returned to this world almost as suddenly as he left. Someone named Marcus was in his head apparently or something along those lines. Brian could sympathize there had been plenty of occasions when the telepaths and empaths of AHS had pushed their way into his mind to force their morals upon him.

Drisk’s question felt far out of place, more like something you’d ask a student than someone already out living their life. Still Brian wanted to take it with a grain of salt for his explanation of why he asked. Brian turned his back to the boy for a moment as he formed the words that were rushing up from his heart to his mind.

“Live, long enough to find Raine.”

Gripping his sword tight at his belt side he felt wrenched in the heart to have admitted that. It was his only all consuming goal now, he couldn’t find her he’d spent weeks searching and he knew even with all his powers that he could spend years searching, whatever circumstance had taken her they wouldn’t surrender her till they were done with her. For that he cursed every fate, and god he knew of. Every concept of destiny for taking her from him, and the sky still shown blue.

Brian tilted his head up towards the heavens, his vision taking in all of the sky for all it could offer, while he felt like the world should be swept in an eternal gray rain. Eternal until he could be reunited. Brian saw Drisk still there… he didn’t want to trouble the boy anymore than he seemed to already deal with.

“The rain isn’t coming though, not for awhile. While I wait I have a few things to keep me occupied, my art, my sword training, and I’m building a large structure in the mountains. Not sure what I’ll end up doing with it when it’s done but I’d like to think it’ll have a positive influence around here.”

Brian turned his glassy eyes back to Drisk, though his eternal view of the world never diminished, he saw Drisk with his real eyes.

“Oh, don’t worry about that stone, feel free to practice on that one or the other one I raised. They’re mostly topsoil and dirt, nothing I could use for sculptures.”
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Drisk tapped the rock, sending it once again into the blank tool of base matter. In his head, Marius laughed non-stop, as if the whole scene on this mountain was a big comedy.

What is it that's so funny?
hoo haah ha ahaah ah, that guy over there, it's just so hilarious.
Give me a straight answer here, what... the hell... do you mean?
It's obvious that whatever he was saying about rain, it's a completely different kind from the water droplets.
How do you know?
Oh, Drisk, Drisk, Drisk.... it's perfectly obvious. Rain isn't something you plan on postponing your death to find. Also, no one searches for rain, it just occurs. For some reason, he suddenly decided you shouldn't be informed of his true goal
Well, who cares. It's his decision to tell people what he wants to about himself, so I don't know anything. He was just talking about the rain, and for whatever reason, he wants to find some. For now, that is what he said and that is what I know. Besides, I can sympathize. Both of us have goals we'd rather not tell anyone.
You're planning to go through with it then?
You haven't given me a choice

"Well, the clouds have been looking darker earlier this year, it might rain sooner than you think." That was all Drisk could think to say after his little.... conversation with Marius. This Brian guy seemed nice, a counterpoint to the majority of people Drisk had seen since arriving at the school. Drisk concentrated on the base matter, turning it into various shapes, though there were still many glaring mistakes in his shapes as a result of Drisk's lack of available practice time prior to his arrival at the school. While training, Drisk heard one more comment emanate from the depths of his mind, where Marius dwelled.

Yes, the rain will come early. And when it rains, blood will pour

((Note: I know that this is sort of a bad post, but I'm sort of tired right now))
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Brian knew his quick change of noun was a weak substitute for what he was truly feeling. He could tell too from Drisk’s repeat silence he was either mulling over what he had said or in communication with Marius. Either way Brian half expected to be questioned about his odd statement, he prepared a few deflecting responses but nothing heartfelt that he had to get rid of the boy.

Instead Drisk seemed to catch the hint, that it was a topic that he didn’t want to discuss, went so far to play along with the rain expression. It was a courtesy that Brian wouldn’t be soon to forget. Now with a silence settling in between them Drisk seemed to take key that he should take the opportunity to work on his power. Brian would have done the same with his sword training, accepting the boy into his training field if only for today.

Yet before Brian began his sword forms anew, he saw Drisk struggle with basic shapes in his manipulations. It was so similar to his earth manipulation that he couldn’t help but speak up from experience. Seeing him continually trying to make something rather than practice the forms would take too long for anyone to master, he had to focus on manipulating the shapes first.

“You know… if you held the shape in the goo form, before you solidified it or… condensed it or whatever you’re doing there. You could get more out of your training by just working at the shapes in the goo. Holding a shape would be harder to do than quickly finalizing the piece at least that’s how it was for me. “

The sound of metal clearing a sheath was heard as Brian had his back to Drisk again. A sign of trust for most people, exposing your back to a potential enemy was the death nail for many overconfident warriors. Still Brian could keep his eyes on Drisk if he tried anything even from this apparent blind spot. Which Brian did, as he started the first of the twelve sword forms he’d picked up out of the sword fighting manual.
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Drisk was growing frustrated with his lack of progress. Come on, I need to get better. If I don't, I'll have to resort to... that. The cracks were highly noticable in the objects, a square came out with a lump, a circle had an edge, the whole thing was maddening, maddening to a point that Drisk couldn't take. He was almost starting to get angry when he heard Brian's voice cut through the anger, with his suggestion of holding the shape in the base matter. Would that work? Was that even possible? Oh well, he might as well try, seeing as how this Brian guy was a graduate.

Drisk breathed deeply, and tried holding some base matter in a square shape. Keeping the image of the square in his mind, Drisk continued to concentrate on the base matter, making sure it remained as a square. Turning his head to the side and smiling, Drisk said "thanks" to Brian. Maintaining the square, Drisk had a sudden thought: Marius, did you know this was a good way to train?

of course.
then why keep it from me?
Oh, a number of reasons. For one thing, why would I want you to get better. And two, I'm Marius Ill.
Of course..... how could I forget?

Keeping his calm despite Marius's best attempts, Drisk continued to hold the square, and tried shifting it into a circle. It worked, and the base matter stayed a sphere. Confident with that, Drisk tried to make a broadsword shape, and managed to get the basic shape down, if nothing more.
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Drisk seemed to have an immediate and vast improvement the moment Brian’s suggestion sunk in. The goo block he’d been trying to get right, since he got here now looked far better than the blocks he’d been trying to rapidly cook. Brian was a little proud of himself for bringing a little help into someone else’s life.

With Drisk finally able to put some concentration into his goo forms, Brian decided to get along with his sword training. Though these forms looked like simple maneuvers when done slowly and stationary. His arm raised, then a slow sweeping motion to his lower leg to guard again. Then thrown sword thrusts, to be pulled back toward his body like a shield across his chest. According to the manual these core sword fighting positions were key to everything else out there, each guard could be developed, as each thrust, and slash could be developed the same.

As Brian cleared the first round of forms, he began to pick up speed. The simple forms turned into a whole new appearance. High guard, slash down, low guard, slash up, guard chest. As Brian picked up speed the spikes on the handle became more dangerous, he already felt them scratching at his knuckles when he didn’t do the sword form perfectly.

The scraped knuckles wasn’t enough to stop Brian as he speed up a little faster, the blade now didn’t stop, each guard was only there for a moment before shifting to the next pose. This is where he was before, sharp fast seamless strikes and guards which powered straight though his skin when they scraped against his knuckles and the edge of his arm.

He grit his teeth as he continued to slice though the air. His blood flowed freely again, and his eyes were tight. It was immense pain for all that he was going though, yet he believed it was worth it. There was no dying that the pain was a powerful motivator to get it right, and for every time he adjusted his grip he was all that closer to mastering the forms and mastering the blade.

Regardless of the high speed maneuvers, and the encouraging results of the decreasing pain. He could use with a distraction, simulate the need to not focus on every form, and let his body follow it’s memory of the forms.

“What exactly do you intend to do once you get that goo power of yours mastered?”
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Drisk sighed. He had been hoping that this question wouldn't come up, but of course it would. Someone doesn't practice at something without having a goal, and to be fair Drisk had asked some questions of Brian, even if he hadn't answered completely.... honestly.

"If I do ever get good enough, and I mean really good, like able to swipe at a large rock and in under a second have a newly made sword in my hand, be able to control much more than I can now, make more objects at a time, and maybe other improvements, I don't know right now, then there's someone I need to meet, face to face. I'm probably stupid for hoping I can meet him, and stupider still for thinking that I can beat him in a fight. But if I don't try, then bad things will probably happen, to me and to others."

Drisk was silent after that, concentrating fully on the shape of a broadsword he was working on with his base matter, determined to actually make it a real sword, instead of the sharp metal sticks his previous attempts had been. He solidified the shape into a sword, and was relieved to see it had a clearly defined handle and a sharp blade, though he could get no more complex than that. Yet.

"That's why I need to improve. I have two scenario's in my head to how my time at AHS will end, and I'd like to avoid one of those two at all costs." Drisk stopped talking. Why had he said so much? What he just said will lead to more questions, and although Brian seemed alright, Drisk really didn't want anyone to know the machinations of his mind. One person already knew them, and he was insufferable enough.
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Drisk’s explanation was the exact kind of caution that was thrown out when the term be careful what you ask for. Brian listened intently as Drisk went on to explain far into his powers levels of skill he could only know from experience. In all of Brian’s experience he’d never known what turns his powers were going to take, never knew the end result.

Dwelling on that was another mistake that he was about to regret, as the edge of the handle bit into his wrist and the slick blood gush washed over his hand. The blade slipped straight out of his hand and though the air, it’s speed still remained as constant as his practice slashes, and the blade embedded itself in a nearby boulder. Brian grasped at his wrist as the natural fur stitching took place. His wound was closed but it had been deep.

Brian had completely missed the final reason, yet Brian didn’t absolutely need to find it out. The reasoning was clear enough he was aiming to fight someone, to be better than this other person to the point where he won and the other lost. Revenge born of hate, it was a consuming monster… Brian pulled the towel from his belt and wiped his hands clean of the blood on them. He’d done enough training for the day. His body certainly couldn’t stand anymore, enough of these gashes were on his arm and hands.

“Well, I hope you don’t let your goal distract you from opportunities that will arise at AHS. You don’t have to go it alone.”

Brian walked over to his sword and draped the towel over it before sitting down. Staring at his hands he knew that he would have to visit a hospital if he wanted to continue training tomorrow. It was too bad he didn’t know anyone with healing powers, at least no one he’d ask for help in speeding up his training.
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Drisk's faced changed into what he hoped was a warm smile, though he couldn't be sure. "Well, I guess you're right. No use wasting school years because of some stupid goal. Well... I better be off, there's still more to the school I should explore."

Beginning to walk away from Brian, Drisk thought damn how I wish you were right. Nothing would be better than not having to do things alone. Unfortunately, by the end of my time here I'll either be a killer, or I'll be dead. Neither would be preferable, but preferences don't take priority over reality. If only I wasn't a meta-human, everything would be so much better. The persecution, the threats, those had been bad enough, but really it's you Marius, that makes me wish I was human. One way or the alternative, you will die, either by my hands, or through my alternative.

Oh, high school is a pretty substantial amount of time. I'm sure I'll be able to sneak in a few murderes between now and the time it's over.

Well, it's as you said earlier. When it rains, blood will pour. My only hope is that when it does pour, you will be the one bleeding dry.
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