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 Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:57 pm
Oliver had gotten out to the training field shortly after dinner. The sun had not yet gone down, not like back in his home town where winter nights started by four in the afternoon. Sometimes he felt disconnected from time in this perpetual summer. But mostly he was just glad he didn't have to worry about his toes freezing off during training. Tonight he was going to meet up with Peyton, a hunter he had not met beyond the occasional Twitter interaction, but even for a casual meeting he was getting nervous. What if she looked at his weapon wielding and said he was truly hopeless? After his recent promotion he shouldn't have expected the worst, but self-depreciating habits were hard to break. While he waited, Oliver staked out a training dummy and summoned his weapon. The giant skeletal blade made a slight whoosh sound as he swung it in practice.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:48 pm
"Don't be afraid to really lay into it!" The call came from across the field, and when Oliver turned he'd see a small, blonde, smiling figure walking towards him. No coat, but then she seldom wore it outside of missions. Instead she'd dressed for the occasion; jogging shorts and a tank top. Peyton quite enjoyed their perpetual summer. "Are you Oliver?" As she drew nearer she held out a hand to him. "I'm Peyton. It's nice to meet you."
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Grey Dragon rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17
Total: 17 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:59 pm
Oliver smiled, and ducked his head in deference to the tiny hunter. He was of average height himself, but there was something about his mannerisms, the way he held his head down, that made him appear smaller. The only thing thing that was not timid about him was the giant axe. "Oliver, yes," he said, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake. That was one life lesson his father had taught him, always shake with a firm hand. "I-it's nice to meet you too, face to face, I mean." Once the introductions were done, he seemed reluctant to meet Peyton's eyes. The kid scratched the bridge of his nose, where a large scar crossed his freckled face. "Um... H-how did you want to start? I don't... uh, fight much..."
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:11 am
He had a nice handshake, firm and confident, and it didn't at all fit the young man she was standing across from. The one that ducked his head and avoided her eye. Nervous, or shy, or something else entirely she wasn't sure about. it had her smiling reassuringly, her own head ducking so she could catch his eye and maybe hold it. She wouldn't bite, not without reason. "Depends on what you would like to work on most, Oliver. Do you want to strengthen your attack, or your defense? We can do both." This wasn't her first rodeo. She'd done this many time before with various trainees around the island. Training plans tailored specifically towards the area the person wanted to work on improving. "It's okay if you haven't fought much, everyone starts somewhere. What matters is you're willing to work to be better, right?" That desire to improve was not only admirable, but crucial. They all had to depend on each other, work together. A weak link could mean the difference between success and failure, or life and death. This, of course, she didn't say. He didn't need that sort of lecture, not when he had been the one to ask for help.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:30 am
Oliver looked thoughtful, still avoiding her eyes. "I... um... need to get better at avoiding attacks. It's hard to move fast with this axe." He gestured with a swing. "Momentum makes it possible to wield for awhile and hit hard, but I can't stop it mid-swing to change directions or block an attack... So I have to do something else." The mechanism of his weapon was something Oliver had spent a long time thinking about. He had achieved some success using gravity and momentum to his advantage, but what he needed was to keep himself safer during the process. The fresh scar on his face reminded him every time he looked in the mirror that he had almost died out there in the desert. Only Jökul's last burst of energy had been able to save him. The boy rubbed the scar at his nose again, briefly and nervously. "I-I can't learn to dodge by myself..."
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:42 am
She straightened, hands on her hips, and listened. Nodding as he lay out what he needed help working on, and already she knew how she was going about helping him. Really, she was a good match for this, regardless of specialization. She was quick, and her combat style was all fast jabs and close quarter slashing. "Defensive training it is." She smiled at him, once again going for reassuring and friendly. Dropping her hands, she took a few steps back from him, but did not summon her weapon. "Here's what we're going to do, Oliver. I'm going to come at you, weaponless, and you're going to do what you can to keep me from connecting. If you can learn to block my attacks, you should be capable of blocking most, and since I'm not using my weapons it means we won't have to worry about wearing your shield out too quickly." When she had finished she watched his face, gaze skirting across that scar, before twitching up to those eyes that still avoided her own. "Okay?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:09 pm
Oliver began to look a little more nervous the more Peyton explained. If it hadn't been clear from his behaviour on Twitter, it would be clear now, the boy was as high strung as a frightened rabbit. "B-but i-if you aren't using your weapon... I can't... I d-don't know..." He stammered, not quite getting out a full sentence. It didn't sit well with him, using his weapon against someone without one, and unlike what felt like most of his division, he had a very strong moral compass. This time his pale eyes did meet Peyton's, pale and uncertain. "A-are you sure?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:05 pm
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've done this." She grinned, bouncing up on the balls of her feet. "And really, not summoning is for your benefit. It evens us up more. Later on we'll try with weapons, but for now you get bare fists." Even then, it wasn't as if Peyton couldn't throw one hell of a punch. She was a heavy hitter, armed or unarmed. "Don't look so worried, Oliver. This is gunna be fun." She was taking another couple of steps back, hands coming up as she fell into more of a ready stance. "Let me know when you're ready, alright?"
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Grey Dragon rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-8)
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:16 pm
Oliver wasn't sure what to think. This was way different from Finn's method of training, which was to start off pushing him until he dropped. The time the Moon hunter chose to spar with him it had been a one-sided beating, despite the couple good hits Oliver had gotten in. He nodded, but everything else about him had predicted a solid head shake instead. "O-okay, I d-don't know about fun though..." he stammered, but slipped into a defensive posture anyway, the giant axe held at ready. HP: 50/50 Defending: 6
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Beejoux rolled 2 10-sided dice:
4, 10
Total: 14 (2-20)
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:55 am
She waited until he seemed ready, or ready enough. The kid was so nervous she was willing to put money down on it taking every shred of self control he possessed to stand there and wait to be charged. But he did, and that was something at least. "Alright, here we go." Peyton did rush him, but it was a straight forward attack. No bobbing of weaving, just a cocked back fist that was aimed for the center of his body. Powerful, direct. HP: 50 DMG: 8
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Grey Dragon rolled 1 8-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-8)
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:23 am
Oliver yelped, surprised at the speed Peyton came at him. He brought his axe up quickly, but there was no way the giant weapon would move as fast as her bare fists. He managed to knock away most of the attack, but it still hurt! He was beginning to fear fighting a girl without a weapon for an entirely different reason! HP: 48/50 Defending: 3
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Beejoux rolled 2 10-sided dice:
5, 8
Total: 13 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:43 am
It wasn't a pretty defense, and it came with a startled yelp, but Oliver had managed to knock her fist more or less off course. Not bad, specially for someone that seemed to incredibly nervous. She came at him again, aiming lower this time. There was the hard impact of knckles into axe, but her wrist twisted and she turned the punch inward to connect with his hip. "Not bad." She bounced back, giving him a little breathing room. "Because your weapons so large and cumbersome you're going to want to try to learn how to read into your opponent's movements so you can predict and act accordingly." She was to fast to simply block outright, he was going to have to be preemptive. HP: 7
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Grey Dragon rolled 1 8-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-8)
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:35 am
"Ow ow!" The boy yelped, even though he knew there would be some pain involved, it didn't make the sharp jab hurt any less. Though an inconvenience, it wasn't the worst pain he had faced in recent times. The last time his life had been in danger, his opponent had been too fast. There was no way to avoid damage, and Oliver had taken blows to his arms to protect his body, just like he had sacrificed his body to protect the two hunters under his care. His freckled skin had never had so many fading scars. "I can't, um, get it in the way fast enough and still swing it," he protested, almost hiding behind the large weapon. "What if I can't use it to block? It can't be the only way to protect myself..." HP: 44/50 Defending: 5
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Beejoux rolled 2 10-sided dice:
4, 1
Total: 5 (2-20)
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 1:41 pm
Purple eyes dropped from his face to the ax, then snapped up again. "It is the only thing you are guaranteed to have on you at all times, unless something truly awful happens." She frowned thoughtfully, though, taking a moment to think over his problem, before apparently settling on something. "If you can't effectively block, you could increase your speed so can dodge." He was small enough, with the right training, the right motivation and determination, he could be fast, agile. "I think you might want to focus on some endurance, speed, and strength training for a while. It will help you increase your speed, and once you have that you can learn to dodge an incoming attack." Her small hands came up, shoulders squaring once again. "And if you put on a little more muscle your weapon will not be as cumbersome, but an extension of your own body. Your mobility with it will increase." Naturally, along with training there was diet and nutrition. If he decided to heed her advice she would help him set up a schedule, make a meal plan. It wasn't hard, it just took the will to stick to it. DMG: 0
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Grey Dragon rolled 1 8-sided dice:
7
Total: 7 (1-8)
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:20 pm
"I-I've got more muscle than I used to, but it's still heavy," Oliver said, his voice shaky as he tried to block the oncoming attacks. He readied himself for her next strike. "There's a routine, um, strength training that Harland helped me with, a-and I really try to get up early for jogging... Finn never lets me off easy." Oliver looked a little sheepish, scratching the bridge of his nose. That was probably the only reason he had survived as long as he had, those exercise regimes had been put into place relatively early during his time on the island. He was no longer a 'marshmallow', as Finn had once described it. "Should I... uh, try to dodge rather than block?" HP: 44/50 Defending: 7 Beejoux Little does she know, he lives off junk food.
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