let's get down to business

[whattaprick]

Who: Nightrunners and whoever wants to make use of the training yard for whatever reason.
When: S2 D1-D5
Where: The Training Yard
What: Training, or pointing and laughing at people training.
Warnings: Explosions and swearing, probably.

Though it's never really been off-limits, once they're down off the moon, Lambert wastes little time informing the nightrunners he officially expects them to get back to training and getting in shape. They can make ample use of the training yard facilities to learn how to work with each other after their extended vacation, or just get to know their newer coworkers in an environment closer to what their actual working conditions will actually be like.

The yard, as usual, isn't limited solely to nightrunners. Anyone who wants to work on their physical or magical skills are welcome, as well as anyone from the other departments who have anything they might want to test out that requires a combatant, for some reason.

Lambert's generally a constant presence at the fringes, sometimes participating in exercise or sparring himself, but mostly just watching and making sure no one's about to put someone's eye out or break the equipment, because that would be bad for obvious reasons.

[ ooc; this is an open log, so bring your own toplevel! ]

Comments

TINY TRAINING TIME- | OTA at the Training Yard-

[soft_focus]

Now that she's not suffering from her own poison illness, this seems like the perfect time to try things Again, at least with something like the obstacle course. When Reira first arrives though-on her bike, because after all, she has one now and that clearly means riding it WHENEVER SHE CAN-she takes a little more time than that.

She's going to get familiar with Everything here.

There's also a Very large white and red eagle flying over, landing, and doing the same-walking along at her side, following and occasionally chirping as it tries preening the girl's hair. The obstacle course will be the last one she looks over. And the arena? No. She's not dumb, she knows she's not someone who should be getting into ANY fights (it's the entire reason her magic practice consists of Avoiding it).

...The training yard proper is where she's thus wandering, occasionally crawling up to sit/perch on a pole in a section no one is using. Just to look around.

Generally this involves an eagle awkwardly mimicking her, which is especially great when she's holding her arms out for balance-the bird is doing the same with the wings, and occasionally squeaking at her, as if to say, 'so, um. what's this about??'

...It might take a minute before Reira realizes anyone else is actually looking at her, though.

[criticallyfucked]

Reira might be the most ambitious seven-year-old in the world--scoping out the training yard, taming eagles, practising magic. She'd best be careful, because older aspirants than her have learnt the consequences of having too many irons in the fire.

Not that Foster particularly cares about literally any of Reira's proverbial fire-irons except one, and it's on that matter that he comes trotting--literally--across the ground, his paws full of what are pretty obviously just... dozens and dozens of feathers, from soft white downy ones and long grey flightquills.

He comes trotting because the is where he knows the sparrow is, but....

He can't... find her?

He can't find... the sparrow should be right.... right here...?

....oh. Ha ha.

He looks up.

OTA

[hippocarnival]

In the early afternoon, Yuya makes time once they return to the carnival to take some of the open space of the training yard to practice. Of course, he's determined to get the most out of his barrier spell, but usually he's toying around with a very magically charged staff.

Mostly, he's swinging it around with no real direction. Sometimes he stands, focusing with it. At least once he throws it like a javelin, testing what it can ands can't do.

He's still figuring that out, but he has realized one of it's abilities, and frequently he has the tip down to the ground where he draws out glowing lines in the forms of circles and squares. They fade as soon as he moves on to the next shape, but Yuya doesn't seem terribly concerned about that.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita's at the training ground, but for the most part, she's slacking. As a new mercenary, Lambert's order to train technically applies to her, which is why she showed up, at least. She spends most of the day sitting on the sidelines, observing others... or more specifically, their abilities.

The staff in Yuya's hands catches her attention, and when she sees him tracing lines with it, it rouses enough curiosity in her to get her on her feet and walking over to him.

"What's that?" she asks, not bothering with a greeting.

ota

[mirrortide]

Lapis is neither interested in training or a night runner. So her being at the training yard is probably a really weird sight! As is the barking pumpkin, hopping around and running circles on certain portions of the course. Thankfully the lasers don't target her, and on normal mode there isn't really much to worry about!

Though it might be startling to have an orange pumpkin barrel it's way past you barking excitedly when you're running the training course. The good news is, if someone falls, Pumpkin will more than willingly give kisses to make the boo-boo better.

Lapis, however, will not. In fact, she'll probably laugh at you. She's just here to supervise Pumpkins play time!

FTR the horse and rider in the second image were fine, I checked

[criticallyfucked]

Foster is doing.... better with his legs, insamuch as he can now go above a trot without tripping on them and killing himself, but he's still not graceful. There's a sort of pattern to running with limbs like these, and every time he almost gets it, he loses it again.

Or loses control.

Case in point:

Foster doesn't have time to identify the orange thing that comes zooming out from around the corner; he doesn't even have time to try and avoid it--his options in that precise moment are both equally bad. He can either risk is neck and jump it or risk his neck and run it the fuck over.

Luckily, he has no instinct for self-preservation at all.

He jumps.

...and to his credit, he clears the pumpkin's top, even if he achieves this by taking the leap much, much higher than needed, and comes down twice as hard, his forelegs buckling, shoulders striking the ground, one arm crossed over his face as he goes ass over teakettle, long legs kicking out and body flailing as he rolls with some kind of audible crunch that is hopefully not part of his anatomy.

[stompadour]

If Jasper had realised Lapis was here when she ventured into the training yard, she would have turned around and left. As per Peridot's insistence, Jasper's not allowed within fifty feet of her erstwhile fusion partner, and for all that she might have been spotted staring at her unnervingly from distances over fifty feet now and then, Jasper has so far been obeying.

But here she is, hurtling through the obstacle course with finesse and dexterity that might surprise anyone who's seen the way she handles social situations. She's here partially for the sake of curiosity -- wanting to see what kind of thing is expected of the members of the Carnival whose jobs, unlike hers, actually require training -- and partially out of wanting to demonstrate to anyone who might be watching that she's capable of doing much more than just rousting about.

You know, just in case.

Tripping over Pumpkin, though, isn't doing her ego any favours. She'd assessed the ground ahead of her before any small barking orange things decided to involve themselves -- and now she's giving a shout of anger and confusion that's swiftly muffled as she eats dirt.

[dressedtothe]

9S is a reluctant trainee. Seriously, him running the obstacle course isn't going to do much. And it's especially annoying that he's not allowed to blow up the lasers. At least, not if he doesn't want Peridot on his case. Maybe if he disabled the alarm system before he did it...... but given how few technologically inclined carnival members there are, it would probably still be a dead giveaway. If only there was something to really give him a challenge, hacking wise...

But hey, here's a perfect excuse for him to slack off! He recognises the weird plant creature.

"Oh, it's you," he says when Pumpkin bounces over to him before he starts running the course. He met Pumpkin before, when Peridot invited him to have a look at some of her alien technology. Crouching, he reaches out to pat the creature. "Pumpkin, right? What are you doing out here?"

[pullingamiko]

Miko doesn't exactly trip over Pumpkin; more accurately, she finds herself with very little time to avoid her, and so ends up tripping over her own dumb kangaroo feet, landing face-first on the ground with a startled squeak.

She doesn't seem too bothered, though, and is sitting back upright with a hurry, her face lighting up when she gets a better look at the little orange culprit. "Wait-- holy crap, what is that, a pumpkin dog?"

closed to lambdork

[dressedtothe]

9S had been putting off this conversation with Lambert for a while. After his spar with Ichigo, he'd convinced the guy to hold off from telling Lambert. Give him some time to investigate his systems, try and find the cause of his inability to fight humans, and then... hopefully purge it. And if he couldn't... then he'd tell Lambert himself.

But what 9S found was... he can't. That love for humans, the same love that renders him incapable of raising a hand against humans, it's so deeply entangled in his personality data that if he was to purge it, he would be deleting himself.

He can't do that. The thought of losing himself is even more terrifying than everything else he knows.

So when Lambert orders them to get back to training, 9S reluctantly breaks the news. Which lead to him facing Lambert for a spar so the Nightrider can see the issue for himself. 9S kicks at the ground sullenly. "I'm serious. I can't attack you, no matter how hard I try."

Still, he nevertheless has his sword floating at his back, now actually covered by a properly fitting scabbard.

[whattaprick]

Lambert likes 9S, generally. He's useful, and he's easy to push around, and he's hilariously easy to embarrass. Unfortunately, the reveal of this little problem? That's kind of annoying, and one of those oversights Lambert wishes he'd known about sooner.

"I heard you. But that still means we've got to figure out the limits on that," Lambert answers, easily. Like 9S, he has his sword sheathed on his back. For a weapon, he's idly twirling the pool noodle from hell in his hand as he sizes 9S up. He's taking the opportunity to test out a few new things himself, as attested to by his shield strapped to his back.

"What counts as an attack? Can you defend yourself at all? Better know that now than later, when it's actually going to count. Ready?"

OTA

[prazerbutterfly]

He's not a nightrunner but he's certainly motivated. With enough time to be overly lazy, sick, poisoned and enchanted, now out of the way he's taking to the training yard for some decent practice. It's a good way to ensure himself that he's still in combat ready form without having to either blow something up with his dark matter and with the general lack of enemies. Not to mention he's not sure how many people could match his sheer speed and strength without feeling threatened or it getting out of hand. He could get pretty excited.

Easy is too much of an insult for him so he'll safely choose Hard mode when he hits the obstacle course suddenly and out of nowhere. He doesn't care if someone else was running it at the time as he sails past them with enough vigor and determination to put the laziest of Victorian nobles and magicians to shame. The low wall is almost too easy with how he merely has to leap over it and it is only halfway through does it really look like he has to try. When a panel of the floor goes missing he rebounds off the wall. His footwork is exceptional for someone who spends a lot of time socializing and napping.

He's confident and cocky that when he reaches the end with enough time to spare he'll actually stall near the end and wait before stepping over the finish line. Best not to try to beat someone's 'high score'. It's not like he's actually trying to impress anyone.

Though eventually all that energy will die down even as he takes to some of the higher equipment and he'll start to lounge up high in order to watch those still going down below. He even brought a sandwich ...or twelve.

[kingsroads]

Strange attempted the obstacle course earlier. He finished the damn thing, but with a bruised up shoulder for his troubles, thanks to a fall that landed the wrong way. So he's sitting down and icing the bruise as he watches Tyki take his turn. And well then. Color Strange surprised that not only did Tyki manage to clear the obstacle course, but cleared it in a remarkably quick time.

How unexpected. What else could that man be hiding from him?

He manages to catch Tyki later that afternoon, when he's hanging out on the higher equipment. As smoke, Strange idly floats up to where Tyki's sitting before turning back solid to sit next to the man. "I saw your obstacle course run earlier today," he remarks, with a wry little smile. "If you get tired of working for Childermass, you should petition to join the nightrunners."

ota, with a focus on magic people

[kingsroads]

Strange did the obstacle course once, bruised the shit out of his shoulder during a nasty fall, decided the obstacle course was dumb and has gone back to practicing in a different way. Surprising no one, that way is magic.

He lingers on the edge of the training yard, watching as people practice. Whenever he spots someone using magic, Strange just stares at them, muttering something under his breath. It doesn't happen every time but occasionally, the effects of the magic just vanished. A dummy that's on fire is snuffed out, a magic circle or barrier vanishes, any terrain that has magically been altered returns to normal. Strange's spellbreaking doesn't stop anyone from casting magic, it just removes the effects.

And considering that once the spells are broken, Strange starts smiling this obnoxious smug smile like the cat that ate the canary, it's pretty obvious who stopped the magic. Look, though he knows his spellbreaking works best with physical contact, there are some things one simply can't touch! This is him practicing, and that's the excuse he's sticking with.

[pipers_son]

Really, Joker had only glided over the training yard to see how people were doing on one of his own practice breaks over in performance. He'd merely meant to check things out, and then go back. Then he'd spotted the resident mad magician, and, well...

There's the sound of his wings announcing his arrival even before he lands on the ground behind Strange, looking amused. "Havin' fun?" he asks dryly, looking over to the latest bit of Strange interference. It's less destructive than others, so that's fine.

OTA

[chronosynthesis]

[(cheating) At the Obstacle Course]

[Syrlya's at least one nightrunner Lambert doesn't have to hassle into training, having the regime soundly drilled into his skull since his days with the Vigil. He just might have different ideas of what is and isn't important in keeping up to snuff, but who can complain so long as it works?

So he'd running the obstacle course on hard mode, shamelessly using his magic to phase through lasers, teleport across balance beams, and warping the time around moving sections so that they move slower (or he moves faster). There's a few close calls, but by the second run he's got the rhythm of his magic and the pace of the course down enough to not struggle so much.

Maybe he'll try death mode next time.]

[Dumb and Dummier]

[Seeing as it's been a few weeks since Syrlya's had to stab anything, which is longer than usual, he's giving the training dummies an honest effort--with a practice sword, because they may be magic proof but they probably aren't sword proof.

It's not long before he finds the effort lacking, and taps one sideways with the 'blade'. He frowns thoughtfully.] Not much good if they won't fight back, is it...

cheaters r us

[kingsroads]

[ Syrlya is 100% cheating. As such, Strange is going to cheat as well. Really, if people fuss at him for attempting to magically chuck a rock at a death drone, then all that teleporting or phasing around is certainly cause for being fussed at as well. Or, at least, cause for making Syrlya have to struggle and work at it a bit more.

Gesturing towards the course, Strange calls forth a steady wind. It's nowhere close to being dangerous or outright knocking Syrlya over, but it is aggravating, keeps on kicking up dust in his face, and will make concentrating a bit harder for the mesmer. ]

Be careful out there! [ he calls out, in the sing-song voice of someone who's being a shit and knows it. ]

Dummiest

[dressedtothe]

[If 9S looks grumpy that's half Lambert's fault for using the pool noodle from hell on him. His yelling (and maybe some screaming) after getting hit by it is probably something anyone at the training yard could have heard.

It's with a reluctant sigh that 9S offers--]

Do you need someone to spar with?

dummier

[pipers_son]

"Those sorta things are more meant for folks ta learn their basic forms and what-not," says a voice from the sky, over the sound of wing beats. "Get 'em used ta a sword. For folks who already know, well-" Laughing, Joker glides down in a circle onto solid earth.

"Probably not as helpful." Trotting a bit to help slow his landing, he grins at Syrlya. "Or satisfying, yeah?"

OTA

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout's tried on the black armor the Ringmaster gave her, which fits snugly over her tail and even encases the claw-hooves on her feet. She's left off the faceplate and put actual clothes on over it too, and her expression is dubious as she balances on some of the shorter poles, testing the traction she gets. Her heavy tail sways and curls behind her, moving more fluidly than a month ago.

She's spent most of the past month rebuilding and reconfiguring her lightsaber, going to the moon only to look at the World Walkers' wares and to go out running in the snow. Now that she's done, Scout doesn't know quite what to do with herself.

With a clatter she hops from one pole to another and balances on one leg, looking thoughtful now. "That's different," she mutters.

[pipers_son]

"What is?"

Joker would say he doesn't mean to pry, if that would be such a god awful lie. He knows he's being a bit nosy as he walks over, his wings folded snugly against his back. He'd dropped by to see some interesting going ons, and now he's just here for a good while longer. Hey, he's already been nosy, might as well go the full way with everyone else.

OTA

[pullingamiko]

Miko's actual job doesn't exactly require combat-readiness, but her personal preferences and how she chooses to live her life on a regular basis absolutely do.

She doesn't have much in the way of magic, except for the whole super-punches situation - but she does have that, a cool knife, and these... weird kangaroo legs. Which have taken some getting used to, but they are pretty good for jumping, so she can't complain.

She's spending most of her time focusing on the latter, scrambling through the obstacle course - on hard mode, which isn't... she does not seem to be quite ready for that yet. She's managing to generally avoid injury, at least, besides maybe a couple minor burns, and she does seem very determined.

After a while, she can also be found over at the dummies, practicing what will probably look, to anyone with the requisite knowledge, a lot like... attacks from fighting games? And possibly also professional wrestling? It sort of seems like she's practiced this stuff before now, too. What does this kid even do in her free time.

brainwashing practice! (featuring lambert, 9s, and strange)

[anti_nonsense]

It isn't long after a certain mess of an exchange over the network that Rita makes her way to the training yard for some specialized practice. She doesn't look especially enthused about it, particularly when she's already been coming for practice so much this week... but she has to admit that this may prove valuable, considering the fae's tendency to mess with people's minds.

She sits on a crate near the practice dummies while waiting for everyone to gather, acknowledging them with a glance and a nod, but no words of greeting. She hopes everyone will take this seriously and they'll get through it without any stupid nonsense... but Rita's not going to hold her breath for that.

[dressedtothe]

Despite all of his complaining, 9S is there within a short period of time. He's basically been ordered to, so he's not gonna go against it, even if he'd tried wriggling out of getting involved.

The sick feeling in his chest after he'd hit Lambert had been highly unpleasant.
Worse than if he'd punched himself.
But there won't be a problem if he can self-hack and remove it before he hurts anyone, right? Right...

When 9S arrives, he makes his displeasure at all this known with grumpy kicking at the ground and a sullen greeting. "Hey."

closed for syrlya

[whattaprick]

Of all the people in the Carnival, Syrlya's the closest to another witcher Lambert can get. There might be differences, and Syrlya's all too obviously a far more capable mage and he's obviously physically stronger, but the combination of evasion, swordplay, and magic usage as each of them seeks an advantage is a familiar dance. It's a pity they're fighting with wooden prop swords -- Lambert would much rather have real silver in his hands, and get used to these movements with the weight -- but it's useful enough to fight with props when he's still trying to get the hang of something new.

Namely, in this case, fighting with the shield Syrlya gave him. It still fits oddly in his arsenal, and when they finally call for a much-needed water break, Lambert groans, unfastening the straps holding it to his back so he can roll the kinks out of his shoulders. He's sweaty, and aching, but it's a good kind of burn, more satisfying than wrestling with magic spells.

"Fucking thing really slows me down," he bitches, though it's less of a complaint in itself and really more the sound of Lambert trying to work out a solution to a problem. He lets it rest on the floor of the arena, though he has the discipline not to drop it. The alien-looking eyes roll crazily, and he makes a face at it, grabbing his canteen and taking a long drink before looking up at Syrlya.

"Best out of five?" he smirks. He lost to Syrlya this time, but they're tied right now. He's lost track of time, but they've been at it for a while.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya's grip on the training sword slacks as he lets out a heavy breath of his own. He slides his shield off his arm, digging the base into the dirt so he can lean against it as Lambert hydrates himself.

"You get used to it," he assures. Which is true, and that shield is luckily lighter than it probably should be. Of course, with Syrlya's evasion being largely magic based, he has less shape to get used to--just mostly weight.

He raises a brow at Lambert's suggestion, a wry smile growing on his face. "A tie-breaker? You do not need to rest, first?"