burn away your self doubt with the fire underneath you (literally)

[whattaprick]

Who: Nightrunners, engineers, and anyone who wants to check out the new facilities.
What: WELCOME TO THE GRIND aka. training yard construction + actual use. Prompts/ideas of what you can find there are in the log text and in this OOC post; otherwise it's a make-your-own-toplevel kind of log!
When: After the engineering meeting; through the end of the Carnival's stay in Mainframe and the break.
Where: The newly-cleared training yard space in the woods!
Warnings: Shenanigansss.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
With magic, absurdly powerful Pokemon, and combined experience putting together ridiculous shit at the Carnival's disposal, training yard construction goes by much faster than it would in an ordinary world. All facilities will be completed by the time the Carnival wraps up performance week.

People are free to come and go to work on various components for the training yard, gawk at the ongoing construction, provide useless side-commentary, or even attempt to help! Unfortunately, nobody here believes in wearing hard hats, so if you're not part of the official crew the risk is yours to take.

TRAINING YARD
A space dedicated to target practice, practicing forms, and more stationary kinds of exercises (many designed to prepare hapless miscreants who aren't quite ready for the obstacle course) for people who want to focus on something specific. Magic-resistant dummies are available for people who want to practice their magic or combat skills. Various beams, tightropes and poles of varying heights can be set up to improve balance. Climbing equipment of various types (such as walls and ropes) are also available.

It's basically a semi-customizable jungle gym with some target dummies to practice hitting things! Stick to whatever difficulty level suits you. It's mostly a bring your own weapon policy, but there are prop swords and balance poles that can serve as staves in a pinch.

OBSTACLE COURSE
The obstacle course spans the length of the clearing, and offers an opportunity to put together all the skills from the training yard. The basic layout is already pretty challenging on its own, but surprise, Peridot has also set it up so you can adjust the difficulty level depending on your level of experience.

On Normal mode, the course components are stationary. On Hard, things start moving around and actively getting in your way, like the tunnel starting to rotate and landings getting progressively harder as things disappear beneath you, and some parts of the course even have drones chasing you down with lasers to 'encourage' you to go faster. Sometimes things will be on fire to really encourage you to avoid them! On Death March the spinning is faster, there are lasers on everything you can conceivably put a laser on, and pyrotechnics have been rigged up so that the last part of the course has you flinging yourself out of the path of a controlled explosion (aim to land on the big X on the end for full points).

Where's the easy mode, you ask? Nothing in life is easy, why would this be?

There's a small signboard at the end of the course listing the shortest times it's taken someone to complete course. The Ringmaster currently holds the record, and no matter how she dares you to beat her, it's generally not recommended to try because faeries are big cheaters.

ARENA
There's a circular, elevated concrete platform towards the end of the obstacle course that functions as place to spar without holding back. It's surrounded by a moat (which coincidentally also serves as a place where anyone on fire because of the last bit of the obstacle course can throw themselves into) and there's a square-shaped sand pit in the center. Depending on the day, the moat might have robot crocodiles and it might be electrified or something? Actually getting into the arena seems to be a challenge all on its own, kind of like someone built it and then put everything else around it because it was cool in some strange reversal of painting yourself into a corner.

FIRST AID STATION

Haha just kidding there isn't one. There might be a small box with some bandages and antibiotic cream kind of thoughtlessly tucked behind training yard equipment though.

There's been an effort to reasonably fire-proof most items as possible, but it's not infallible. Acts of deliberately malicious destruction will subject vandals to being chased around by the obstacle course's laser-wielding attack drones and the ire of the Engineer. Have fun guys.

Comments

Obstacle course

[periphrasing]

Did someone mention Peridot yelling

Because to her, saying he's going to flood the ditch is extra worrying, her being involved in building the damn thing in the first place.

"That would be extremely inadvisable, and also likely hazardous to your health," she growls ominously.

[kingsroads]

Fun fact: Strange is pretty darn tall. As it is, he's kind of looming over poor Peridot in a manner that would be slightly comical to anybody else watching. He also...one hundred percent ignores that ominous tone in her voice and lets out a small huff of annoyance.

Extremely inadvisable she says, inadvisable according to who? Certainly not to him!

"Hazardous to my health how? It's just water."

[periphrasing]

Pretty much everyone is taller than Peridot these days. She hates it, but she also isn't going to let it intimidate her.

"The water's not the hazard, you clod," she snaps, gesticulating with the wrench she has in one hand. "I am! Or will be, if you inflict any deliberate damage to this course!"

[kingsroads]

On one hand, how on Earth is the tiny little green thing going to hurt him? On the other hand, the carnival is weird, magic is a thing, and Strange has already learned not to underestimate certain members of the carnival. So as much as he wants to just mess up the course out of sheer spite, he refrains from doing so.

At least, he refrains from doing so right now. Who knows what'll happen later especially since petty arguing is happening.

"How precisely is flooding a ditch 'deliberate damage'? It's a ditch. Besides, I'd simply remove the water once I left."

[periphrasing]

"The ditch is not meant to be filled with water, so therefore, you are talking about deliberately altering its layout. Or in other words: Damaging it."

Peridot lets go of the wrench and lets it float in the air next to her, so she can fold her arms over he chest, puff up, and look all that much more sanctimonious mature. "Besides, entire course is expertly calibrated to provide carnival members with the optimal exercising experience. It's how it's supposed to be, and we cannot guarantee satisfactory results if you tamper with it."

[kingsroads]

"What about that is optimal?!" said as Strange just dramatically points in the direction of the more laser-filled and death drone area of the obstacle course. Because optimal? Really? That's the word that Peridot is going for to describe the kill zone? Strange is pretty obviously judging this whole thing.

[periphrasing]

Peridot glances where he’s pointing, and then fixes him with an unimpressed glare. “It’s set to accommodate a higher caliber of at the moment. If you don’t think you can handle it, just turn it back to the beginner setting! That’s why we programmed in the different stages in the first place!”

[kingsroads]

"Oh, I'm certain I can handle it," Strange interjects, knowing full well that he cannot handle it in the slightest, "I just think the whole thing's needless. There's plenty of ways to train an army that doesn't involve...that."

They never used lasers in the peninsula is what he's thinking, but thankfully Strange has enough sense not to get into something like that here and now. It'd only open up too many questions, especially considering how at least three fourths of the carnival still have no damn clue what the peninsula is to begin with.

[periphrasing]

Peridot scowls. Strange sure isn’t winning any points here.


“WOW! Gee. Plenty of ways, huh? Well, maybe, next time you can attend all of the planning sessions and meetings, and maybe contribute some ideas to the process, instead of complaining about the results after ALL OF THE WORK IS ALREADY DONE.”

[kingsroads]

"I would have loved to attend the planning sessions if I knew they were happening in the first place!" Strange snaps back, with a little glare at Peridot. She's not really winning any points from him either.

"Besides, all of this," said with a vague gesture to the training course, "got put up during performance week when, and you might not know this, I was performing."

[periphrasing]

"WOW. Well I'm so sorry that I didn't think to change engineering's schedule around to accommodate for the participation of someone who wasn't even invited to the meeting, BECAUSE HE'S NOT EVEN ON THE TEAM!"

A few embers fly out of her mouth when she starts to shout, which is how you can tell she's really getting steamed about this.

[kingsroads]

The stupid fights continue as Strange continues to glare at Peridot...though he does take a few steps away from her as the embers fly out of her mouth. Let's not get set on fire in the name of petty fights.

"I'm a nightrunner! We should have had input to begin with!"

It doesn't occur to Strange that Lambert might have asked around and bothered other nightrunners about what they want in a training course...but then just straight up ignored Strange. There's no use asking the guy who's never run on a training course to begin with what he wants.

[periphrasing]

Peridot stops raging for a hot second.

"Wait. You are?" She looks him up and down, frowning, like there might be something physical about him that would identify him as a nightrunner that she might have overlooked in her initial assessment. But nope! Nothing.

She folds her arms, still looking vaguely annoyed. "Well we worked directly with the Nightrider on this project, so if you have some sort of complaint about not being included? Take it up with your supervisor."

[kingsroads]

Strange is a skinny rake of a man who kind of looks like he'd break his fist if he tried to punch someone. There is absolutely nothing that would identify him as a nightrunner.

"Of course I'm a nightrunner!" said as if it's the most obvious thing ever and Peridot is somehow an idiot for not figuring it out. Though her comment about taking it up with Lambert...urgh, she's probably right. And it's not like he can do anything about the training course right now instead of complain. "But fine. I'll take it up with Lambert. I suppose that's the only thing I can do anyway, considering the damn thing's already built."

[periphrasing]

"Good," Peridot grits out, trying to resist the urge to keep arguing with this guy. SHE DOESN'T MUCH APPRECIATE HIS TONE? Or how ungrateful he's being, since she designed this whole place for him and his teammates.

"You go do that then, and DON'T go flooding any ditches in the meantime," she reminds him. Her bright-green, crocodile eyes narrow, pupils contracting to mere slivers, and she growls: "I'll be watching."

[kingsroads]

Strange also narrows his eyes at Peridot, something that's a bit less dramatic considering that his eyes are mirrored, just reflecting the whole petty grump fight they're in. Peridot wins intimidating.

"You can't watch forever," Strange pettily responds, despite the fact that he damn well knows that if anybody floods the ditches, Peridot is going straight to him for blame. Maybe he'll find another way to make the training course less absolutely ridiculous.

[periphrasing]

"Sure I can, I CAN MAKE ROBOTS FOR THAT!" she argues. Honestly, who's really being the petty one, here?

[kingsroads]

"Robots probably don't even work that way!" yells the man who has no goddamn idea how robots work to begin with. Self-assuredness, thy name is Jonathan Strange.

[periphrasing]

"THEY CAN IF YOU INSTALL VISUAL RECORDING DEVICES INSIDE OF THEM!" she squawks. People are probably staring, by this point.

[kingsroads]

People are definitely staring, especially since Strange continues to yell. "Visual recording devices, ha! And I'm sure those don't get broken or erased or destroyed when your robots are destroyed. What a marvelous method of surveillance."

[periphrasing]

"Ha! It doesn't, because I have them transmit their findings to a remote server where the data can then be backed up and duplicated! Much more efficient than whatever archaic method of surveillance YOU would use!"

[kingsroads]

Strange has absolutely no idea what 'remote server' or 'backed up data' mean to begin with and he is far too proud right now to admit that. This stupid fight has swung to something that he knows he'll win at and he is just going to keep going. Magic beats robots, after all.

"I'd hardly call my magic archaic, especially since it's proven to be far more useful than your robots already!"

[periphrasing]

"What?"

She's genuinely confused by this assertion. And also, a little outraged? Like he has just hit a very personal point. "What the heck kind of data are you using to draw THAT conclusion?"

[kingsroads]

"Personal data! How useful were your robots during that whole vampire nonsense?"

It doesn't occur to Strange that perhaps the reason Peridot's robots weren't useful during that business with the vampires is because Peridot herself was kidnapped and also hey buddy, don't go bringing up traumatic incidents just to win a fight.

[periphrasing]

As soon as he utters the word “vampires”, it’s like her hackles go up. Peridot has been irascible through most of this conversation so far, but this is the first time she’s looked so downright livid. She already feels residually shitty enough about her inability to physically fight off the vamps that kidnapped her, and she hardly needs this guy disparaging her tech on top of that.

“Get out,” she hisses, bristling, deadly quiet. Then she lunges half a step forward, baring her teeth and spitting embers. “Get out, OUT OUT OUT! OFF THIS COURSE, YOU’RE BANNED! BANNED FROM THE TRAINING AREA, GOODBYE AND WOW THANKS FOR NOTHING!”

She probably doesn’t have the authority to make that call, but uh. She’s also spitting mad and sending off angry heatwaves, so, he might not want to stick around to argue that anyway.