soul_logs | [Open] Morning Training!

Characters: Everyone!

Location: Training Grounds, Shibusen

Rating: PG-13 for violence

Time: 5am to 10am

Description: Every morning in the city, Morning Training takes place to prepare the guests of the city for the war. It's handwaved most days, but approximately once a month this gets played out in a log. This log takes place on February 16th.

FAQ: Questions answered by Maito Gai
Breakfast: Run by Cinderella, Katakura Kojurou, Saya Tagaki, Yugo
Batch One: Beginners under the age of 15. Run by Prussia, Auron, Steve Rogers
Batch Two: Adult beginners. Run by Kaoru Kamiya, Maito Gai, Tifa Lockhart
Batch Three: Intermediate fighters. Overseen by Hyuuga Neji and Ling Yao. Please see list of random sparrers.
Batch Four: Experienced fighters, for sparring with each other. Overseen by Haruka.
Weapon Transformation: How to find your form. Run by Yuuri, Ishida Mitsunari, Spirit.
Soul Perception: If someone doesn’t know by now. Run by Luna Lovegood, Azusa
Partner Training: How to work together as partners. Run by Tassadar; Maka and Soul; Shizuo and Motochika; Eve.
Weapons Handling Training: Run by Genesis Rhapsodes, Tenten.
Shooting Range: How to Shoot. Run by Grit, Leon, Naoto.
Meister Ability Helpers: How to find it out. Run by Death the Kid, Edgeworth.
Finding a Partner: Run into others looking for partners and see if you can work together! Run by Sasame.
Fighting Witches: Speak to an actual Witch and learn some of what you're facing. Run by Cybele.
Medics (And First Aid Training): Training run by Naomi Kimishima, also a place for medics to gather and talk. (First Aid Training may need to be handwaved, player is on hiatus.)
Audience: For people to just gather and talk.
Watch: For Watch people (and prospective new members) to gather and talk.

For training via sparring:
Katakura Koujurou
Uchiha Itachi
Hyuuga Neji
Chosokabe Motochika
Steve Rogers
Maito Gai
(Various NPCs available upon request)
Partner vs Partner sparring is also good!

Feel free to start your own threads in the official groupings as well as elsewhere!

Breakfast
Lau [Open]
Clare [Open]
Loki [Open]
Yami Bakura [Open]
Bakura [Open]
Stan [Open]
Dylan [Open]
Yuuichi [Open]
Saya [Open]
Sheena [Open]
Taiyou [Open]
Duo [Open]
Luna [Open]
Utena [Open]
Nagi [Open]

Batch One
Taiyou [Open]
Utena [Open]

Batch Two
Clare [Open]
Yami Bakura [Open]

Batch Three
Sapphire [Open]
Sophie [Open]
Hinata [Open]
Sheena [Open]

Batch Four
Amateresu [Open]
Raidou [Open]

Weapon Transformation
Clare [Open]
Shindou [Open]
Yuuichi [Open]
Lee [Open]
Kariya [Open]

Soul Perception
Naruto [Open]
Stein [Open]
Stan [Open]

Partnership Training
Haruka and Cinderella [Unknown]

Weapons Handling Training
Taiyou [Open]

Shooting Range
Bakura [Open]
Yoichi [Open]
Aion [Open]
Saya [Open]
Re-l [Open]

Meister Ability Helpers
Gamzee [Open]
Loki [Open]
Sophie [Open]
Yugo [Open]
Touma [Open]
Demona [Open]
Chika [Open]
Misa [Open]
Raphael [Open]
X [Open]
Mitsuba [Open]

Finding a Parther
Clare - Weapon [Open]
Sapphire - Meister [Open]
Bakura - Weapon [Open]
Amateresu - Meister [Open]
Yami Bakura - Meister [Open]
Leo - Meister [Open]
Takasugi - Weapon [Open]
Hades - Weapon [Open]
Ryoki - Weapon [Open]
Demona - Meister [Open]
Chika - Meister [Open]
Steve Rogers - Meister [Open]
Nagi - Meister [Open]

Medics and First Aid Training
Yuuichi [Open]
Clovis [Open]
Taiyou [Open]

Audience
Yuuri [Open]
Stan [Open]
Leo [Open]
Rokudo [Open]
Ryoki [Open]
Duo [Open]
Nagi [Open]

Watch
Sasame [Open]
Duke Pantarei [Open]
Roy [Open]
Aion [Open]
Stripp [Open]
Re-l [Open]
Jules [Open]

Other
Gai [Open]
Clare [Open]
Chrono [Open]
Kenshin [Open]
Mithos [Open]
Auron [Open]
Kratos [Open]
Stein [Open]
Takasugi [Open]
Rokudo [Closed]
Dylan [Open]
Hades [Open]
Keroro [Open]
Naoto [Open]
Duke [Open]
Allen [Open]
Demona [Open]
Sendo [Open]
Bumblebee [Open]
Saya [Open]
Tenma [Open]
Chika [Open]
Kanji [Open]
Yugo [Open]
Jules [Open]
Ed Elric [Open]
Hitsugaya [Open]
Lee [Open]
Raidou [Open]
Kaoru [Open]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, no. You're welcome to sit where you like, that you are.

[he's not going to push Takuto to speak, at least not yet, but it's obvious the boy isn't at ease. not that Kenshin can blame him, after they last faced each other—Kenshin himself is playing down the "silly" act he'd usually give. he'll breach the subject if Takuto doesn't]

[He can't help it. He fidgets a little. But it's just hard sitting here when Kenshin seems to have so easily recovered from everything.]

H-how do you do it? [He blurts the question out almost before it had formed in his head. And then he stares down at the grass.] I mean... how do you go back to being normal?

[There's definitely more than a tinge of frustration and jealousy in his voice. It feels kind of weird going to Kenshin with his question, but at the same time, he feels like it's the right decision. He can't ask Kaoru--he can't even tell Kaoru--and the only other person who really seems to get it is Chrono, who is even more lost that Takuto himself.]

[a pause as Kenshin studies him—then he takes a deep, long breath and drops his gaze]

"Normal" may not mean the same thing to me as it does to you.

[from the madness? or was there more to it? his memories from his time spent under the black blood were fuzzy, but something had been off with Takuto as well]

I mean... how do you make everything okay after you've done something terrible.

[He knows that Kenshin lives his life to atone for things, that the redhaired swordsman must have done terrible things. And Takuto has a hunch he wasn't the only person on the wrong side of the reverse blade that crazy night, but Kenshin seems to have already gone back to normal. Of course, it's one thing to have been poisoned by the black blood and be in a hallucinatory haze. It's quite another to lose all sense of morality and happily side with the witches.

It's why Takuto has given up hope that he'll really be able to return to the way he was before, but he at least wants to seem like a normal person who can sleep at night.]

You don't.

[Kenshin's response is immediate, and there's no longer a smile on his face.]

What happened in the past isn't something that can be changed or fixed, and the first step is accepting that. Nothing will make the things that have already happened okay, no matter how well one might pretend. [and he knows about pretending all too well]

But even if that terrible thing is still a part of you, it doesn't have to define who you are now, or who you will be.

[Kenshin's words seem dismal at first, but his last words are startlingly encouraging. The terrible thing is indeed still a part of him, and despite his inability to get rid of it, Kenshin is promising him hope. Nothing more than hope, but hope was a very, very welcome idea.]

But how do I do that? I can't... I can't really see past it right now. [He swallows and looks away.] It's like... it's like it's haunting me.

[Oh, of haunting, too, Kenshin knows. Every bit of this Kenshin understands, far far more than he would like—more that he's sad for Takuto that he understands, though, than for himself.]

I know. And it isn't easy... to see past it, or find a way, and likely it will take time. But the answer to that you can only find on your own, whatever "truth" you find to help you look forwards.

Looking at those people around you, finding a reason to look forwards even if the memory is always with you, no matter how long it takes you can find an answer to your own question. One person's answer isn't necessarily another's. Just remember that what's part of the past doesn't have to be brought to the present.

[He's impatient, and doesn't like hearing that he'll just have to wait for time to heal him. It's almost as if he knew Kenshin was going to say that he couldn't tell him the answer--that'd be too easy, and if something like this had an easy way out... well, he'd probably have figured it out by now.]

But I can't get away from it. I can't get away from myself, but I really wish I could. It's more than just a memory that's following me--it's a part of me that's still here.

[He shakes his head and pulls his knees up, wrapping his arms around them.] I found out I'm not really the good guy, Kenshin. When they took away the good parts of me, there was supposed to be nothing left. Instead, there was...

Th-there was.... [He chokes on his words, unable to finish.]

[he closes his eyes, squeezing them shut for a moment.]

You said the good parts of you were taken away, but that they had to be taken speaks for itself, that it does. No one is wholly good or bad, Takuto.

I know that now. [Only all too well.] But I want to be good, or at least, I thought I was.... [He abruptly runs a hand through his hair and then rubs at his face in frustration.]

The thing is that I didn't know, before, that I had all of this in me. And now, I don't know how to deal with it. All those things--I'm still capable of doing them. I'm still capable of being that person, because that person is me.

["once a hitokiri, always a hitokiri."

he shakes his head, opens his eyes. jin-e, saitou, they were wrong. and it's something about seeing another person in that position that lets him see that.]

You're still capable, that you are. But when you choose not to be... when you find the strength inside of you to keep fighting it... you never have to become that person again. Despite the potential inside you, it can simply be the desire to never reach it that seals it away.

[He mulls over Kenshin's words for a while.]

So... it's a choice, then. [Does that mean that his actions are all that matter, even if he's warring with that darker part of himself on the inside? Or is Kenshin really telling him that he can bury that blackness so deep it'll never be able to reach him again?]

[Open] Morning Training! - February 16th

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject