soul_logs | Morning Training

Entry tags:

Morning Training

Characters: Everyone!
Location: Training Ground, Shibusen
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Time: 6am to 9am
Description: Training takes place every morning in the park to prepare the guests of the city for the ongoing war. It's handwaved most days, but approximately once a month this gets played out in a log. This log takes place on April 24th.

Official areas:

FAQ: In need of help or answers? Come here! Staffed by Tenten and Neji.
Breakfast: The incentive for coming to Morning Training for those who actually don't care about Death City. All food providers are given funds to buy/prepare the food and are then paid for the time they spent cooking/preparing. Provided by Saya and Fabiola
Combat Instruction: One can learn and improve on fighting techniques! Staffed by Cloud and Genesis
Sparring: A bunch of people are there. You show up and pick one to fight. Staffed by Hanabi (beginners), Fabiola (intermediate), Amaterasu and Cloud (advanced), and Overseen by Neji
Weapon Transformation: New Weapon? Unsure on how to transform into a weapon (or how to transform back)? Go here! Staffed by Bakura, Aqua, and Gray
Soul Perception: Find out more about your soul, what they are, and what they potentially may do.
Partner Training: Learn how to work as a partner!
Weapons Handling Training: Learn how to handle sharp things and not so sharp things! Staffed by Tenten and Auron
Shooting Range: Learn to shoot a gun, not at quail though, so expect your face to come out of this just fine. Staffed by Sarah Kerrigan, Naoto, Giroro
Meister Ability Helpers: Learn about your Meister ability and how to use it. Staffed by Edgeworth
Finding a Partner: Unpartnered Weapons and Meisters meet each other here!
Medics: A place for medics to hang out, recruit and aid the injured - especially if they get shot in the face by accident. Staffed by Rosalia and CR-S01
Watch: This is where members of the watch meet up, chill, recruit and train! People interested in the watch welcome!
SEES: This is where SEES members hang out, and recruit!
Hug Brigade: A begrudgingly still opened squad dedicated to hugs of encouragement. Thank Lee for this! Staffed by Lee
Evacuation Briefing/Process: Learn what to do in case the city is invaded. Will most likely come in handy for the future! Staffed by Tenten and Neji

Feel free to make your own threads!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Y-you think?

[He stutters if only, because he's never thought of it that and what if Sasha is right? After all, he's not like everyone else here and he has been having some difficult forcing the change. Thoughtfully he draws a hand up to the edge of his metal face.]

I wonder... and yea' I mean I don't know of anyone who can really fit in me.

[He grows quiet, to ensure others won't hear.]

Back home I was always a good spot to hide. It worked in a pinch too if I needed to protect someone.

So I've witnessed. [With the kittens.]

I suppose there's only one way for us to find out. Do you want to try resonating?

Y-yeah.

[He acknowledges it nervously, because his state of being isn't something he is letting people know about yet.]

Ah... if you want!

[Given the bad luck he's been having he doesn't sound confident, but he is curious now.]

You've already resonated with someone else?

Edited 2013-01-25 01:45 (UTC)

Yeah, a few.

[Munching on his treat.]

To reach into someone and wield their power...it's different, but still a lot like something I do at home.

Already!?

[Man that just makes it worse, Sasha just arrived and he's been hear almost a month. However, he doesn't get to freak out more, because he can't help but become curious over that last part.]

Huh? What do you mean?

It's what I was brought here to do, right? The first time, someone with a lot of experience showed me how to do it, and it's been pretty easy once I was shown how it feels.

[How it feels. Saying it like that makes Sasha have a silent epiphany--because he hadn't honestly felt it physically, only spiritually. If he could apply this to Alphonse, then...]

I think I'll explain it when we know each other a little better.

[Also known as...not right out here in public.]

Yeah... you're right, it just hasn't been that easy for me.

[He can't help but feel a little jealous, after all, he was a genius when it came to alchemy and he was transmuting things before he was ten. Why was changing into his form difficult if it was something he was supposed to be able to do according to the academy?]

It's all right...

[He knows how to take a hint.]

Still, think you could offer me any pointers?

[Even if Sasha was a Meister, he might still be able to help and Al needed all the help he could get.]

Don't beat yourself up over it, Alphonse. Not every lesson is an easy one to learn.

[Sasha knows what he's talking about, having gone through lessons that he would have liked not to experience but had to anyway, for the benefit of him and others.]

Pointers? As a Meister? [He asks with a surprised tone, then takes a moment to think of what he could possibly offer.]

...They talk about how well people need to resonate, and how the personalities of a Meister and a Weapon dictate how successful it is. But I think that the trust between them is equally as important. It's a level of trust far more intimate than merely fighting alongside a friend. A kind of trust that you would have with your own body.

[Fear not, Alphonse, this analogy applies to you, too.]

The Meister is the mind, while the Weapon is the body. The mind orders the body to act, and the body trusts the mind's decision on how to act. Inversely, the mind trusts the body to communicate the interactions it has with the outside world so it can make informed decisions.

I know, but it's been a while and like you said it's what we're meant to do here so why shouldn't I be able to do it?

[Bringing his hands down between his metal legs, he fingers a few blades of grass with practiced strokes of his fingers designed not to tear them from their place in the ground as he listens to Sasha's tips.

He can at least agree that trust makes up an important part of all this and considering how careful Edward wanted him to be since his arrival he's been careful to remain more detached than he'd like given his physical condition. Of course, trusting his body is another issue all together - his body while firm and practically invulnerable like that of a human is irreparable without Edward's presence and alchemy. Not to mention his connection to it is ultimately fading away at an unknown rate.

Still, are these odds any worse than ones he has faced in the passed?

It's a question he begins to contemplate for a brief few seconds, before Sasha's words about the mind and body catch his attention.]

Huh?

[Shifting his attention back upward his metal head cants just slightly off to the right.]

My teacher back home used to tell us that in order to train the mind we had to train the body.

Maybe if you're pig-headed. The truth is, you can train either independently of the other, depending on where your strengths lie. But to be an efficient fighter, it's important to train both in tandem. Just like the relationship between Meister and Weapon.

[Sasha finally gets up off of Alphonse to toss his trash in a nearby trash bin, then returns to his side and holds out a hand.]

Stand up.

She honestly trained us to do both at the same time, when we were first learning she'd assault us with physical and mental attacks at once. Though for alchemists back home we're only limited by our knowledge and in a fight every split second counts.

[Which is why being able to transmute with the clap of your hands and a press only gave the Elric brothers a very high advantage in their battles.]

Still, you're right... I've seen partners work well together, Hades and my brother were like that.

[Looking up as Sasha returns to him and holds out his hand he would blink if he could. Stand?

Reaching up to take Sasha's hand he firmly wraps his fingers into place and gets to his feet.]

What do you have in mind?

Shush.

[Sasha closes his eyes and meditates in silence, seeking out Al's soul with his own. And even though Sasha's soul can reach out for a bond, it does so cautiously, as if mildly unsure of what lies out there other than Alphonse.]

[He goes quiet and still almost instantly. Uncertain as to what exactly Sasha has planned and is doing he remains perfectly still, a task that is all too easy for him as he watches carefully.

In truth, his soul for those with any experience with soul perception will instantly be able to feel the faint pulse of his soul. Tethered by smeared blood on the inside of his back plate it resonates throughout his whole body causing limbs to move at the mere thought. It also serves as his eyes and ears, the only senses he managed to keep for his own when he lost his body and Ed bonded him to his metal body. Another connection that those with greater perceptive abilities would catch on to when they looked more carefully at his soul.]

Edited 2013-02-14 08:19 (UTC)

[The blood is something familiar to Sasha as he too had the permanent stain of his own blood on his soul. He reaches out for that sensation, managing to forge a connection between them, a Resonation. Sasha spends a moment to strengthen that connection, and as it grows in strength, he looks up at the face of the giant iron body.

Sasha's soul is exceptionally warm, like the hearth friends and family would gather around together to seek shelter from the blistering cold winds of the world outside; a solid, reliable structure for those who are lost or need help.]

...Do you feel it? [Their connection.]

[It's been almost six years since he's felt anything. It's been long enough that he can't even remember what feeling really feels like. Every day he steps under the warm sun, wind blows, and he gets just as wet walking in the rain as anyone else, but he never really feels any of it.

It's impossible not to feel Sasha as he strengthens the growing connection between them. At first it's small and muffled, the blood that binds him is not his own and though the connection to his brother has been temporarily severed by BREW something still remains of his brother there to be felt. It's protectively woven around him, keeping him replaced, but once past lies a soul as bright and strong as any other.

The connection however, doesn't last a moment past Sasha's question and the silence is broken by the sudden sound of his foot steps launching him back a few paces.

It's been almost six years since he's felt anything. For almost six years he's wanted nothing more than to feel the warmth of another living person.

As it turns out feeling anything at all turns out to be so suddenly overwhelming after all this time that it terrifies him.]

[Because of his question, Sasha wasn't concentrating on maintaining that connection, and it severs easily. The sudden break sends a chill-like shiver up Sasha's spine but he stays put without pursuing Al. After the visually obvious shiver, Sasha looks up at Alphonse with a silent facial expression that asks if he's feeling all right.]

[He breathes heavily, it's a habit really, something he does when he seems to know that he should be gasping or sobbing. His attention fades from Sasha after he catches that silent but obvious expression.

Is he all right?

He's not entirely sure, but more than that he's still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he actually felt something. That was feeling ... wasn't it?]

That was... it was... I think I felt something.

[Sasha gives him a soft, sympathetic smile.]

It's been a while, hasn't it?

[He'll never know what it's like for Al, to be without tactile sensation and, for the first time, be able to touch someone in a more intimate way than just by skin. And yet, it's not exactly something he can force upon the other--and even if he could, he wouldn't.]

I can tell you aren't in your Weapon form.

Edited 2013-02-21 04:39 (UTC)

[He draws another slow breath.]

Yeah.

[Though a while feels like an understatement and already is his mind is attempting to hold on to the sensations. The connection was so raw, sudden, and so very warm that he can't help but be frustrated by how quickly it came to an end. With hands balling into fists he nods in reply to Sasha's words.]

No... it's just me, but I felt you. That has to amount to something, right?

[He's been trying so hard on his own that he's starting to realize that maybe he had approached the entire thing wrong.]

Can we try again?

[He asks lifting his head upward as he steps forward for the second time.]

Depends if it gets you anywhere.

[It's kind of a mean thing to say, almost brushing aside Al's reaction to the resonance, but if that reaction continues to disrupt the connection, they're basically back at square one again.

Sasha holds out his hand.]

Sure, but only if you promise not to sever the connection so rapidly again. It gives me the chills.

[It is and he might have physically flinched away in frustration, however, he knows that he can't keep going on the same path he's been walking. He's been getting no where and he knows that the most difficult journeys have to start with a single step forward. It's something they've repeatedly stated time and time again. Move forward. Keeping walking. Edward might be gone, but he knows his brother won't easily forget him. Reaching out he wraps his larger metal hand around Sasha as he steps closer to make a confident promise.]

I won't.

[Sasha wraps his fingers around Al's hand once again--or, rather, as well as he could--then closes his eyes and concentrates again on seeking out Al's calm, bloodstained soul imprint and forging a connection.

This time, if Al has the fortitude to maintain the connection, he'll start forwarding a resonation that seeks to find Alphonse's Weapon form.]

[Having experienced the connection once before he's prepared, at least as much as he can be for the initial sensation of warmth as it begins to penetrate the thin veil that separates them. Instead of pulling away from the heat he feels he remains still and steady. The only thing that remains is his own fear of the unknown, he has no idea what his weapon form is, but he trusts Sasha's experience in the matter not to lead him astray or into harm.]

[Sasha reaches out with his soul and practically grips Al's with his own, melding and almost manipulating the other. It's slightly pushy, but also a confident gesture, trying to force something out of Alphonse that has not happened before. It would be easy to resist, but it would also be easy to simply let Sasha take the lead--to jump off the edge and go with what feels natural.]

[To be honest, Alphonse is grateful for the pushiness and confidence he can feel expressed in the way Sasha's warmth seems to envelop him. The heat that pulses now into his core causes him to freeze in place and his metal body gives a final clink as it relaxes into place before Sasha.

Now comes the harder part, Al knows he's supposed to change, but he's not sure entirely into what. He's seem people change into swords, daggers, and he's heard of the great Death scythes that work for the Lord Death. The latter thought causes his soul to resonant with amusement, Edward would probably comment how scythes were cool. Though Edward had never wielded something so and then mentally the picture comes to him.

More times than he can really recall both Izumi and Edward have summoned up from the earth beneath their feet large metal spears. So he does his best to focus on that and even now he can recall it's length, width, the thickness and hardness of the blade, and the way the golden dragon curls up from the handle and around the tang of the spear head.]

Morning Training

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