thenearshore

Entry tags:

[OTA]

Who: Everyone!
What: Sparring, training etc
When: All day March 2nd
Where: A fancy pants gym in the far shore
Summary: There's a war going on and it won't be won sitting around twiddling your thumbs. Time to work up a sweat and earn yourself a few bruises and bragging rights in the process.

Turns out the far shore isn't devoid of some of the more earthly facilities enjoyed in life. Not the least of which is a gym. And not just one of those, hot cramps, 24/7 affairs but a whole arena that looks like it might have been plucked out of some classical epic. A real gym for the stars. Or the gods as it were. Upon finding it, it leaves Shepard with just a few ideas and today is the day they come to fruition. A couple days back, guests and residents alike recieve a mass invitation with the time and the place to come spar, train and otherwise get together to work out this situation.

The Main Event;
The largest space is dominated by a number of sparring rings for everyone to take advantage of. And off on the sidelines is ever possible melee weapons one could imagine. It's the perfect time to work on your skills before another wave of ayakashi show up to catch you and your shinki off guard. Some of the rings are even dotted with practice dummies for those pairs that are still figuring out exactly how this god and shinki thing works together. Or perhaps you'd like to pick up some new abilities. You never know when you might be caught off guard with only a bottle opener and a ball of twine to defend yourself. Just grab a partner and have at it.

The Shooting Range;
You didn't think the far shore's most vocal gun advocate would leave this out did you? But it's not just guns that stock the racks at this range. Bows and arrows from all ages as well as a rather impressive collection of throwing knives lay amidst the firearms. You might even find the odd slingshot or two if you really look hard enough. But target practice is target practice which makes this the perfect time to engage in some friendly competition with your neighbor, regardless
of the weapon.

Combat Instruction;
Perhaps some of you come from a world where war is the furthest thing from your mind. Where the worst you have to worry about is whether or not you passed that last exam or when that girl down the street might finally notice you. But to some, your recruitment into the battle against the Ayakashi is just one more stage in the mundane fight that's followed you for most of your life. There's novices and experts alike and this is where both can come together to share their skills. We're all in this together brogamis.

The Water Cooler;
More like a whole corner of the gym that's stocked with not only water, but juice, energy drinks, power bars and all manner of refreshments. There's a pile of clean towels for those of you that really work up a sweat and a bin for you to kindly dispose of them. After a hard day of hitting the gym, it's always nice to relax, unwind, maybe shoot the shit with a few new friends. Or enemies. No one said you had to get along and that was the last bag of chips after all.

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[Yuuki is, shock and surprise, armed with a sword. However, she won't just go out and practice by herself. There's not much she can train at without properly moving targets, honestly.

So instead, she'll just watch people as they train, taking in their movements. Even if noticed, she'll only grin and wave with all the cheer in the world. Nothing wrong with seeing how others do, right?

On the other hand, if you need a sparring partner? Getting her to join you will be a piece of cake. Really, just you try her.]

[ When, why, and how would all be perfectly reasonable questions to ask about the present situation.

But answers, predictably, aren't going to be forthcoming from the resident megalomanical artist. At some point, a great heap of what is apparently garbage appears in of the sparring rings, and it's sheer luck that no one is using it when Minamimoto makes his grand entrance. Teleporting the finished artwork in takes some imagination, but he's overall satisfied with the height of his weirdly stacked random junk and scrap metal.

Hey, training with zeros is clearly garbage, but watching them from atop his heap and jeering seems like a reasonable use of his time. He's sprawled comfortably across the tail end of a car that was sticking nearly upright in the pile, looking as smug as a cat on some particularly satisfactory perch.

Loosely held in one of Sho's hands is a megaphone, perfect for inflicting color commentary and random nonsensical math-speak on the unwary. ]

Edited 2016-04-05 03:25 (UTC)

Hey, look at that!

[Tsuzuki slings a quiver over one shoulder, and picks up one of the bows, glancing over at the archery butts lined up downrange. It's been a couple of years since Hisoka showed him the proper posture, but he's pretty sure he remembers the basics, and a bit of long range practice wouldn't be a bad idea.

Maybe he can try tying ofuda to the arrows....]

I didn't know they kept the archery range in the gym. Hey, have you ever tried? Want to give it a shot?

[Yukine can't help but gape for a moment at the sudden apparition. What. The. Hell.

Yep, he would love to ask at the very least why this guy has dumped a heap of garbage into the middle of the gym.

As he walks up to the base of the heap a second careful look shows him that the passive shinki isn't around. Well, probably not a bad thing he's not being literally dragged around this time.]

Hey.

[Yukine casually plants one foot on a jutting piece of something that might have been a guardrail as he looks up at the god whose name he still hasn't gotten.]

What's with this? You're taking up space, you know.

[Tsuzuki is heading back from the lounge area with a handful of energy bars (some of them should taste good! After all, they're divine, and most of them are chocolate) when he realizes that there is a very large heap of metal sitting in the center of the largest room in the gym.

Well, metal and junk.

His mouth drops open.]

Uh.

... [And is that Susano'o on top of it? The same guy who was talking about crunching the whole world up the last time Tsuzuki met him?

A few more stammered syllables escape before Tsuzuki manages to hit on a non-provoking greeting.]

Want some help cleaning this up...?

[Or, at least, it sounded good to him.]

[ She was perfectly content sitting in the bleachers or benches or on the side. After all, this was a shinki training event. Why not let the shinki train? If she joined in (no matter how much she was itching to punch something), that would make it a bit of an unfair playing field.

But then there's this guy.

She approaches, head tilted ever so slightly as she tries to make head or tail of the Heap. ]

Susano'o.

[ Her shawl shifts on her shoulders as she looks up at him and there's an evident furrow to her brow. That's definitely him up there. She can't fault him if he doesn't recognize her. After all, she isn't in her battle gear. She actually looks the furthest from a war god right now. ]

Mind explaining what all this is?

Water Cooler

[ For once, she's sitting by the refreshment stock without Kazuma in sight. Maybe she sent him off to kick some ass. Who knows? But she's got a box of Caloriemate and a bottle of water for him if he gets back. She doesn't seem to be dressed for training. Just a simple dress and a shawl over her shoulders. Clearly she's only come to observe rather than participate. But if she is approached, she will turn her attention to you matched with an offered towel.

Come take a break? She looks kind of bored to start. ]

--

Combat Instruction

[ She's decided to pull herself up from the bleachers/benches/near the water cooler and actually wander around. It sounds like a good idea to assess the new recruits, after all. While mingling with them during the welcoming banquet was a good idea, she didn't have enough time to see if everyone was combat capable. Now is a great time. And maybe test them. Yeah. Testing sounds like a good idea, too. After all, if you're out there on the field, Ayakashi aren't going to wait until you're facing them to attack.

So you'll probably catch sight of her by the corner of your eye. She might be watching your stance, head tilted and hand resting on her chin. But when you blink, she might have moved on or she might have disappeared entirely. If she's moved on, you may be safe. Heck, you can even probably ask her to spar with you. But if she's disappeared, you'd better move....

Because there's the blade end of a bamboo sword being swung right at your head. ]

[It feels good to hold a sword again, and far more familiar than Elsa could've imagined. Even though she'd basically been a whole other person last year, all those memories are still in her mind. In the aftermath of the final battle, Elsa had resolved never to think of them again, because she hadn't been the one in control at the time, and therefore she wasn't responsible for what she did-- what she was made to do as Mesogog's general.

Now, as she grasps what should by all accounts be a weapon she has never used with the confidence of a sesoned warrior, she wonders about that choice. It hadn't been her, but for all his evil intents, Mesogog had left her with a gift, in the end -- and now she gets the chance to use it for good.

At least now there's not the stress of actual battle to deal with. She'd done well under pressure, but does she really remember how to fight? Is it something she can do at will?

Sword in hand, she walks between sparring rings, watching how everyone fights with their weapon of choice. The part of her that's just a teacher wants to go back to her temple and read or dance; the part of her who fought because she wanted to destroy, though, believes she can take anyone here.

Best to start slow. That girl over there seems nice enough, and with any luck, she'll be skilled with the sword she's holding and treat Elsa kindly in the ring.

Elsa approaches her with a slight smile, forcing herself to look relaxed, mostly succeeding at that.]

Hello. Would you mind sparring with me? My shinki has decided not to join me, so I need a hand.

[Now that she knows she can, in fact, fight, Elsa has been focusing on mastering what she remembers from last yera. Her body knows what to do more than her mind does, so it's forms and swings, the very basics of sword fighting. She's not as sore as she thought she'd be after spending so much time at this; for all that she'd literally been enslaved last year, at least she'd come out of it in peak physical condition.

So when she catches sight of Bishamon's sword in the corner of her eye, she moves almost without thinking about what she's doing, shifting out of the way so the sword misses her, though not by much -- the blade whistles past her ear in the second before Elsa rights herself. With the momentum, she whirls to face Bishamon, swinging her sword out to strike back.]

[ It's a beautiful heap. Twisted scrap is positioned with only the most discerning eye for aesthetics, and his calculations are utterly superb. The end result is a true work of art, and a rather sturdy one.

Minamimoto shifts on his perch as he watches her, pleased to be invited to explain. There's no such thing as negative attention in his view. ]

A marvel of perfectly calculated beauty! Check out the subtle, tasteful curves of its silhouette. It's a masterpiece. [ Then, more conversationally: ] It's also a zetta good place to watch the show.

[ There's an odd moment where Minamimoto is legitimately baffled. He gets plenty of reactions to his masterworks, but offers to help clean up are novel. Threats, demands, complaints, and pure baffled stammering? All standard, but... eh, the gods around here are weird. Still, it's one of the more idiotic questions he's received. His brows draw together, and he regards Tsuzuki like he isn't sure what to make of this.

But then he barks out a laugh. ]

Who the factor would wanna do that? It's beautiful. [ Alas, he's used to idiots that can't see the true beauty when it's right there in front of them. ] 'Sup, candy man?

Not much, how're you, Susano'o?

[...beautiful? This? Tsuzuki eyes it.]

Uh, you're sure?

[He prods one of the bent pipes sticking out the side. It's wedged in there pretty good. Look, they can't just leave a giant heap of scrap metal and junk sitting in the gym where people are trying to practice, can they?

On the other hand if he doesn't have to move it, it's no skin off his nose.]

[ Why not leave one of his sculptures out where anyone could admire it? It's entirely within Minamimoto's power to remove it, but he's being generous. ]

It's a zetta tasteful composition. I call it "Dropped the Moon." [ It's particularly inspired because the Composer skipped town on him, though those influences might not be readily visible to a layman. ] It tells a tale of a significant number that's gonna get crunched.

[ He brings one heel down hard against the chunk of the heap he's sitting on. The bang is resounding, but there's nary a wiggle even this high up.

Sho builds some weird shit, but he builds it well. ]

Uh, okay. So the whole ... twisted up wreckage thing... that's about, uh, the moon hitting the planet, or something?

[He jumps at the hollow bang when Sho's foot hits the metal.

Look, this is as much as he can do in terms of art criticism. It looks like what's left after a bomb went off.

Weird that he'd pick the moon, though. Why not a meteor or a comet or something? They're way more dynamic.]

[ Oh, hey. It's the ballsy kid that played like he was tough.

This ought to be entertaining. ]

SOHCAHTOA. [ Thankfully, he goes on to gesture emphatically with the megaphone instead of using it properly. ] Some Overpowering Heap Can Appear Here To Ornament Artistically. That's what, short form.

What? No.

[ He snorts derisively, shaking his head in open disbelief. What do you think he is? Crazy? ]

"Tsukuyomi." [ With air quotes for good measure, as if he has a more legitimate claim to the status of a big name god than Shibuya's Composer. Of course, it's only natural that he does. ] That's who gets it. Zetta duh.

Oh-- hiya!

[She doesn't seem at all put off by the request, at least! Unlike Elsa, she's completely at ease, and it shows in how fluidly she turns to the woman.]

Sure, sure, I don't mind! You wanted to practice with a sword too?

[She needs to get some sparring in herself, so that works out just fine.]

It looks clear, so we can probably start right away! Oh, and-- can you fly or anything, or should we stick to the ground?

[What.]

[It looks, for all intents and purposes, like Bishamon's blow will strike true. But at the very last second, with a speed inhumanly absurd, Yuuki turns and snaps her own weapon up, swatting Bishamon's blade from its trajectory.]

[...Oh. Huh.]

Bishamon-sama?

[There's no malice, nor fear. Just some mild surprise and a healthy dose of curiosity.]

[Oh, that moon. Tsuzuki's eyes widen. Whoa, Joshua'd annoyed him with the whole pretending to be Tsukuyomi thing, but it seems like Susano'o's way more pissed about it.

That can't be good.]

Hey, he wound up with the title just like any of us did.

[ It's so entrenched that Minamimoto doesn't even realize just how obvious his grudge is. He wouldn't necessarily trade what he has for the slot of Composer now that he's made it into the big leagues, but it's too much a part of him now. ]

Heh! Not him. [ Because they had to be picked for a reason. Minamimoto certainly was. This is his big break, the acknowledgement of everything he'd worked towards and more. He'd just exceeded the phase boundaries when plotting out his final solution, that's all. It couldn't be random chance when he'd earned it.

The corollary to that was that the Composer had to have done something to get there as well. It's a scam. ] That jumped up garbage has illegal operation written all over him. It's his style.

I mean, sure, he was lying about being the original Tsukuyomi, but ... isn't "illegal" going kind of far?

[It sounds like Susano'o is working himself up for some big-time justice of the Heavens type of maneuver. That isn't going to end well for anybody.

... and while Tsuzuki wouldn't mind watching Tsukuyomi get cut down to size, he's not really a fan of watching him get just plain cut down. Susano'o has a reputation about that kind of thing.

Tsuzuki eyes him nervously.]

[Is that Shepard strolling up behind him? It totally is. In fact she was hoping he'd show up to this little affair. It'd been his job to find the archery range after all but now she'd beaten him to it. Like hell she wasn't going to give him a hard time about it too.]

Maybe I ordered it special just for you. [She comes right up to his side and drops an arm on his shoulder all buddy buddy.]

[...
He gets the feeling that 'SOHCAHTOA' is an acronym for something else entirely, but as he can't remember what at the moment, he lets that one go. (It's kinda impressive that this guy had the words already lined up though.)]

Ohh. So this is art? Sure as hell doesn't look like it. [But Yukine shrugs. Every idiot has their thing.] How about putting it in a gallery instead of a gym, then.

Hey! So I don't spend a lot of time at the gym. [He tips her a cheerful wink. She's the one he promised to show how to shoot, after all, so if she found the archery range so much less work for him!

Now he just has to look like he knows what he's doing. And focus really hard on his aim.]

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[OTA]

OTA

Main Event

Shooting Range/Open

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combat instruction

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Combat Instruction 1/2

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