revenance_rpg | Training time (open)

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Training time (open)

Who: Kanji and anyone who runs into him!
What: Training time for Kanji and his duo
When: Sometime after the fourth wall business
Where: Around Traverse Town, ending at the Fourth District
Warnings: Nothing so much?

Kanji wasn't much of a magic user. Okay, so perhaps he'd had to step into that position during the skirmishes with Nightmare Moon, but he'd never had the power to keep it going, never had the force behind his attacks some did. It was his own strength that he trusted most, and it was that that he wanted to work on, right now.

With his Dream Eaters by his side, he was working his way around the town, checking out the usual spots for Nightmares to be found; Plum and Jet (as the Meowjesty had come to be known) taking care of business with their usual speed, and with various treats being thrown around at the end of it all... they deserved it.

In the end, he could be found in the square at the bottom of the hill in the Fourth District. Around the place, some of the barrels and crates that seemed to be omnipresent, piled up. (And a few with Nightmares' - or even Nightmare Moon's - face drawn on them.) While the Spirits were playing on the steps - time for a bit of target practice.
With his typical yelling, he rushed the barrels, swinging his shield around viciously - but not with any regard for what it was supposed to be, not with any finesse, just another blunt instrument to be wielded. How long before any of his targets broke under the onslaught? Not the most elegant training method, but ...
...well, he'd make do.

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Kanji at the very least looked a spot awkward at being called on it. Good point, but he didn't figure it was that interesting. "Well... ain't like I can go over to Twilight or the ship at the moment, right?" he attempted to defend himself. "Gotta do it somewhere... but... heh."

"And this thing? Well..." He shrugged. "It does the job. It's easy enough t' carry round with me in case anything happens. That's pretty much why I'm usin' it."

Ah, ah, didn't say there were rules! Jet teased gently, and rolled back to where he'd been.

"Point." Wash shrugged and munched another handful of popcorn.

He swallowed and just stared when Kanji offered that explanation. "You're kidding. That's the only reason you're carrying it?" He closed his eyes for a moment, doing his best to bite back sarcasm. "You know that's more likely to hurt you in battle than help you, right?"

Carmen had at least landed on her feet. She shook herself and hurtled towards Jet, howling a battle cry. Oh, it is ON!

Melody watched, unamused, and lightly pawed at her person's knee. She'd like more popcorn, please.

"I've been doin' this for a while, now, okay?" Kanji responded sharply, giving Wash a wary eye and turning away slightly. If it was good enough for Shadows... "I get used to swingin' whatever I can find. So far, it ain't hurt me," he finished.

For a big Dream Eater, the Meowjesty seemed to be keeping the dodging up. This time, literally up, while his companion bounced in laughter.

"So far, you haven't come up against a skilled opponent," Wash shot back. "It's only a matter of time until you do, and if you don't know what you're doing, they'll use it against you. Either learn to use that or get something that actually suits your fighting style. Since I don't think you're going to become Captain America anytime soon, you should probably get something else."

Melody got up on her hind legs and pawed at her person's thigh. Seriously. Popcorn, please.

Carmen skidded to a furious stop and leapt straight up, going after Jet. She is going to get him!

Captain - Captain who? He's not even from America!

"You ain't seen what I've fought!" Kanji retorted, glaring. "You don't like what I'm doing? Fine - but -" throwing the shield down and his hands up - "What the hell should I do?"

Meanwhile, Jet slowly started to tail-hover his way up the steps, just trying to stay that tiny bit out of reach.

"I just told you," Wash replied, fighting to keep his tone even. Yelling at the kid wouldn't do any good - not yet. "Get a weapon you can use. If your whole strategy is to hit it 'til it dies, fine, but get something that'll work for it." He let out a breath, slow and controlled, before continuing. "There's a Moogle just over there. Go change your shield out for a club or a nightstick or something."

Melody gave up and sat back down. She'd get some more popcorn eventually.

Carmen just stopped where she was and shrieked. Not fair, dude!

"Told ya. It'd been workin'." He sighed, scowled slightly. Still... it would be worth a try, maybe. "I'll... go have a word with it, okay? I don't know what sorta stuff they've got."

After a moment more teasing, Jet settled back down. Aw, he's done now. C'mon.

"It was slowing you down. You'd have broken your arm if you'd hit something wrong." And it would have been ugly. "Go ask. I'll watch the Spirits."

Carmen sat down and turned her nose up. She was totally done too. She doesn't play with cheaters.

"Alright. I'll ... see how this goes." And he headed off.

From the direction of the Moogle, a bit of an argument came drifting. "Look, are you sure I can't just, uh, borrow it? ...No? Can I pay half now and half when I'm happy with the thing? So... Yeah. Okay, okay, that works." There went half of what he'd just gotten off today's run of Nightmares.

Meanwhile, among the Spirits, Plum just looked despairingly between the two. Can't we all just get along, guys? You were both just playing, right?

Kanji returned shortly.
"...This more the sorta thing you mean?"
Resting against his shoulder, he was carrying a - colourful as anything else here, but otherwise plain and simple - warhammer.

Wash just closed his eyes and sighed, listening to that argument. Kid wasn't much of a thinker, was he.

Melody took the opportunity to paw at her person's knee again and this time received a few pieces of popcorn for her trouble. Success!

I was just playing, Carmen corrected Plum, nose still up in the air. He was being a jerk.

Wash couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Kanji's choice of weapon. He hadn't seen anyone use anything like that since Carolina way back when. It was certainly more in line with the 'hit it 'til it dies' strategy. "Possibly." He nodded towards one of the barrels. "Give it a swing. See if it works for you."

He gave a slight frown back. Hey, he's only got so much munny to go around. Can't buy the whole of their inventory just to see...

"Grip feels kinda awkward, but the weight's okay," he commented as he gave it a few test swings around. After all, when everything he'd used for the past year - longer, really - had been hands side-by-side, something with a defined handle to it was weird.

Right. Time to see. With a yell that made his Spirits glance over for a moment, he laid into the first barrel with a ferocious swing.
If it'd been against a Shadow or Nightmare, the thing would likely be on the floor. As it was, the barrel shattered.

"...Huh."

"You can always wrap the gr-" Wash was interrupted when one of the barrels exploded from the force of the blow Kanji had dealt it. He raised an arm to shield his face on instinct - none of the splinters from the barrel were going to fly all the way up here, but combat instincts ran deep. It was a moment or two before he lowered his arm and resumed leaning against the wall.

"Can't do that with a shield."

"...guess not." Well, maybe. But it was a good start, wasn't it?

He stepped back from the damage done, rested the hammer's head on the ground and wiped his face with an awkward laugh. "Think that was just a lucky shot, though. This thing feels weird as hell to be swingin' around."

"Yeah? Weird how?" Your primary weapon was something you needed to be comfortable with, and if Kanji couldn't get used to the warhammer despite being a goddamn powerhouse with it, then it was back to the drawing board. "And if you think it was a lucky shot, try it again. You've got more barrels."

He thought for a moment, "Dunno if it's just not bein' used to it or not... I've always used things that I can swing around like I was with the shield. The movement's a bit different." He mimed it in slow motion. "So it's kinda new to me, ya know?"

He rubbed his hands together, picked the hammer back up -
"Alright. 'nother try."

And while that first shot might have been 'lucky', the ones to follow were hardly to be sniffed at, either. The next barrel went down in three hits, though with him missing one swing pretty badly; the next, two.

"Not bad." Wash surveyed the wreckage of the additional two barrels. "One thing you need to watch out for: if you miss a swing, the followthrough will leave you wide open." He looked at Kanji's Spirits, addressing them. "Which is why you guys need to watch his back.

"Aside from that, if you can get used to it, I think we have a winner."

"Heh. Gotcha." He nodded at Wash's additional point; yeah. He'd had that happen enough times during his time fighting with everything else he could lay his hands on, he didn't need it happening with this, too.
His duo bounced in agreement - sure thing, Other Person! You can count on us!

"Let's see how this goes, huh?"

It sounded like an affirmative from the Spirits, and Kanji seemed happy enough, so it was good enough for Wash. "Well, either you can abuse a few more barrels or we can go Nightmare hunting." He was not about to offer to spar against a warhammer. Uncertain status in the waking world aside, Wash did not have a death wish.

"No better way t' learn how to use this thing than in action, right?" he replied with a bit of a smile. After all, it'd been how he'd learned everything else about combat. Formal training? What was that? "Sure. There's gotta be a few more lurkin' around by now." And after all, he'd need to try and earn back some of the munny he'd just about impulse spent...
He paused. "Though, uh: I've still got that t' take with me, too," he said, with a head movement towards the shield. As promising as this experiment was, he wasn't in a hurry to abandon what he was used to completely.

Edited 2014-06-07 12:31 (UTC)

"Sure." There were plenty of other ways to learn to use a weapon, but Kanji didn't seem the type. "I'll cover you." Long-range cover was probably a good idea with someone who was very enthusiastically only just learning to use a freaking warhammer.

Wash glanced at the shield and shrugged. "Either strap it on your back or I'll take care of it."

"Yeah, alright." There's a moment's fiddling around as he readied the straps and slings the shield over his back - with the hammer resting over his shoulder readied, he'd almost look like a competent fighter to anyone who didn't know his usual habits. (As it is, such things remained relative.)

He beckoned his Spirit duo over, ready to get going.

Fighting Nightmares wasn't exactly the vacation Wash had wanted - it certainly wasn't mindless - but it was better than anything else he'd had to deal with recently. Kanji was easy to keep track of in battle (the loud ones always were), so it wasn't too hard to stay out of his way and cover him from a distance.

As it was, they'd cleared out the fourth, third, and second districts. A break was in order. He gave Melody and Carmen each a cookie before pulling a potion out of a storage compartment - "Hey. Catch." - and tossing it to Kanji.

Damn, that was a relief to see. Kanji was aching just about everywhere down to the tips of his fingers - this had pulled muscles he didn't even know he had. He'd definitely gotten a bit carried away, his obvious lack of practice with a real weapon showing, never mind what the weapon was.
He rested the head of the hammer on the ground, snatched the potion out of the air, and knocked it back before he could manage a "Thanks, man." His own duo would get a snack each (as much for not starting anything else with Wash's as for fighting).

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Training time (open)

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