exsiliumlogs | Training & Studying [OPEN]

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Training & Studying [OPEN]

Date & Time: Feb 21st - 24th
Location: Training Hall, Library
Characters: Coby & YOU
Summary: Nothing fancy! This will follow Coby's regular training and studying regiments, something he's going to be repeating indefinitely for the next ... forever.
Warnings: None expected.

Early in the morning, Coby woke up and left his empty apartment, content to rush to work a handful of hours in one of the local delis, putting in as much time as he could without sparing the expense of time he knew was best spent physically active. Working as a butcher didn't seem to help his sense of pride in being a Captain, but pride wasn't something that paid well enough for him to maintain rent, food and clothing. Free food tended to help, too.

He would work from Six to Ten every morning, diligently maintaining his allotment of travel time so he could arrive at the training halls on time to help anyone if at all possible. He spent the first two hours doing light training and doling out advice even if it annoyed someone--it was in his nature to want to be helpful even at the expense of being hit once or twice. When noon approached, he would separate himself and train alone for a number of hours--never exceeding eight of it. He would do simple stance and posture exercises, dead-lifting and a cyclical arena of stretching, punching and kicking until he felt his muscles tense up. Not once during his training would he seek out water or food. Starvation training was all a part of it.

Coby would leave around nine or ten o'clock and posit himself in the library, digging up a number of books he had checked out and sitting with them he began what seemed like the arduous process of logging tiny pieces of information from them in his notebooks. In reality, reaching the library on a daily basis seemed to be an immense reward to him and as he ate small and rationed pieces of fruit and meat with what seemed to be a prisoner's allotment of water, Coby tried his best to study as much as he could before the need to sleep would take him back home. It was his routine as a soldier.

(OOC: Feel free to toss times & dates in here via the subject header! Action or prose is fine.)

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"Only a few minutes," Coby responded, his shirt having been left aside and his scarf hung over it. He'd learned to no longer walk around with his mantle--as it was overly ornate and ostentatious. Smiling at the sight of Johnny, he brought one hand up and saluted informally, turning to face the hall itself.

"Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah. Kinda. Out late last night." At the bars, where else? So maybe he was a tad hungover. "Tryin' not to sleep all day, but man. I could use another hour or two. But whatever, I'm here now. Whatcha up to?"

Coby couldn't have disapproved any more of alcohol and partying, but what did anyone care about what he thought? He reached up to remove his headband and fold his glasses in the same gesture, looking from Johnny over to the room that he was going to go train in.

"You should drink some water and do stretches. It'll get you ready for when you really start," Tucking his glasses into his headband, Coby began to walk off to set them down on his scarf. "As for me--I've been thinking that I would wait for someone to come in and ask for a match or practice with my Observation."

"Mm. Maybe, yeah." Stretching was a good idea. He could start on that now, accompanied with yet another yawn.

"Sparring, huh? I might be up for that. Wait, with your what?"

Coby, in letting Johnny have a moment to himself, brought his hands up and loosened his joints all at once by raising his hands straight up and locking his heels. The little pops that rippled from him showed just how experienced he'd become in training his own body.

"Observation. I haven't really told anyone, but I do have a special ability of my own! Admittedly, it's something that a few people can train within themselves, but I've honed my own version of it fairly precisely to suit my own style."

"Yeah? What's it do? Or is it some kinda top-secret thing."

"It's something you've got to experience," He steadied himself and raised his hands up again after stretching, resuming a proper stance.

"Are you ready?"

"If ya say so." Johnny got into a loose boxing stance, not sure what to expect. "Whenever you are."

Though Coby was often the type to rush in with a punch to gauge his opponent and help them move into a proper pace, he wouldn't be able to show Johnny his 'observation' without being the one on the receiving end of a few swings. Though it took a deal of focus--he was certain it would be understood why he considered it so useful.

"Feel free," Coby curled his fingers all at once a few times, gesturing for Johnny to attack.

"Suit yourself." Johnny moved in to throw some punches, high and low, not holding back. He wanted to see what Coby was made of. Although he lacked finesse, Johnny's speed made up for some of that.

Coby's gaze turned half-lidded and dreamy for a moment, his left hand raising as he felt a 'vision' come into his mind. The feeling and projection that Johnny landed each and every punch on different parts of his body could be seen in his Minds' Eye and he could pinpoint each and every trajectory a split second before they occurred.

Though, because Coby had seen them, he managed to bob and weave between each and every single punch just before turning his hand over--thrusting his palm towards Johnny's own elbow in an effort to grapple him and attempt to throw him over his shoulder, "Hah!"

Johnny wasn't expecting him to be that good. In a manner of moments, Coby dodged all of his fastest punches, grabbed him by the arm and flipped him right over. He landed on his back with a thud and a groan. He lay there for moment, blinking, before speaking up.

"What the hell just happened."

Smiling in return, Coby lowered his right hand for Johnny to take. Though it worked well enough the first time, "I doubt it'll work so well the next time I try it."

The gleam in Coby's eyes that had dulled had been a sign of his focus. Since he was no longer focusing, there was nothing complex in his expression.

"What I used was my 'Will'. The Color of Observation allows me to channel my will so I can anticipate attacks and feel the presences of others around me much more strongly," He reached up with his free hand to poke one of his own temples. "Though, it requires quite a bit of focus. I've only had it for two years, so it's not something I can use constantly."

"That was like somethin' straight out of a kung fu movie." Johnny got up off the floor and rubbed his shoulder, where he'd hit the floor. "Why's everyone else get badass powers like that but me?" Yeah, he's jealous.

"I'm not sure how I acquired it myself, but it took two years to train it to this extent," Coby spread his hands out and resumed a bit more of an offensive stance, facing Johnny properly.

"But, it's not a special ability. If you have it yourself, it might just awake someday like mine did."

"Get the hell outta here." He looked skeptical. "People just don't do that kinda stuff. I never saw anything outside'a movies or video games likes that."

Johnny moved back into a boxing stances. Proper stances were still a new thing to a street brawler like him. "So now what. We wanna try this again, this time without crazy shit?"

"Of course," Coby smiled, deciding not to get into that line of thinking. He knew what could trigger one's 'Will' and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Johnny that it would take something severely traumatic to awaken it in him. If he learned it naturally, that would be fine, but helping him out in that regard was something he couldn't help with. Coby would only be useful after the fact.

"Though, you don't need to worry about that. You know what I can do with it, so I doubt you'll be keen on letting me repeat it," With a tight smirk, Coby pushed forward with one foot and threw a jab Johnny's way, intending on exchanging a few swings with him to set the pace.

"Damn right." Johnny fell right in line as soon as Coby started. He might not be formally trained well yet, but he's got a lot of speed and some raw talent. He opts for dodging the swings as best he can, instead of blocking, before throwing back some punches of his own.

Coby breathed out in slow and deep bursts, his hands raising and falling in an exchange of blocking motions with his forearms and direct punches. Johnny returned what he gave him and though Coby could see glances of blows rushing at him, it was difficult to focus when he had offense on his mind at the same time as defense. Grinning the same as Johnny, Coby could feel very little flow from his opponent. It wouldn't be easy to predict at all--Johnny wasn't a properly trained warrior, despite his prowess.

Johnny could fight for days with the stamina his demon blood gives him, but the problem is that he loses his focus fast. It's easy to tell when he stops concentrating - dodging and countering, making aimed hits - and starts all-out brawling. Patience isn't a virtue he was gifted with. Coby would find it easier to land some hits then, but Johnny does his best to ignore them and push on. Problem is, it only seemed make him more annoyed and less careful with the more hits Coby landed.

"Johnny," Coby smiled, continuing to freely exchange swings, interchanging between shifting his weight to avoid punches and to return them in trained jabs. The exercise was good and Johnny was much stronger than he appeared, but Coby knew better. His smile was knowing and relaxed--considerably more than it should have been given his own line of injuries.

"I don't mind if you decide to get more serious."

"Ya want serious? Okay, fine." Johnny wondered of that was a stab at him losing his accuracy - but that was something he was aware of and had been working on it. But if he wanted serious, serious he would get. He slowed down his movement a bit, but started throwing more forceful, better aimed punches.

The dull thuds that came with Johnny's heavier swings were no surprise to Coby, though he began to step into deeper swings himself, though with less ease. Coby's inability to fight without attempting to consider every factor meant less advancement on his own part. Though, that wasn't without its own merits.

With a sudden flash of a smile, Coby slid his forearm out and parried one well-placed punch right away from his face--before advancing and trying to clinch it with a hook towards Johnny's cheek.

Good, he was starting to wonder if Coby was ever going to start hitting back. It gets boring otherwise. He wasn't expecting it though, and just barely dodges it, Coby's fist grazing his cheek. Johnny looks momentarily surprised, but then grins. "Nice try."

"I see," Smiled Coby, doing nothing to retreat. When fighting, there was often a set of 'two' steps which denoted the formality of the strength of a single blow. There was the initial 'setup' which could have easily been a feint. As Coby reached with his foot between Johnny's, Coby took the second one.

"Though--" then his other arm came barreling from the side. Though the posture was awkward, he had plenty of room. The 'one inch punch' was something all Rokushiki practitioners were used to. It came flat towards Johnny's middle abdomen. "Don't relax!"

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