[Video]

[forleaving]

[Adam isn't good at asking for help, and this video is long overdue, honestly. He's put it off too many times out of uncertainty or not wanting to bother people or...some other lame excuse. But he's done with excuses now.

He still looks unsure when the video comes on.]

Hello. So, I've been here for a couple of months now and I've seen that a lot of the missions involve fighting, which is something I can't do.

I want to change that.

I'm looking for someone, or multiple people [He wasn't going to limit it to just one person; everybody had different techniques and styles, maybe learning from multiple sources would benefit him.] to teach me how to fight.

I warn you though, I've never thrown a punch in my life, so we'd be starting from the ground up, but I'm a diligent student.

[He hesitated for another moment, biting his lip, then nodded.]

Thank you.

Comments

[forleaving]

Who's Rieper? I've met Cassie.

[Just so he'd know who he was looking for when he visited the gym, in case it wasn't obvious.]

[worthallthis]

Evenings, for an hour or two at seven, three times a week?

[Their own evenings are the most free, and the training car isn't as busy after dinner.]

Come wearing clothes you don't worry about maybe tearing or getting grubby, yeah?

[flatteries]

It's not that hard to learn! Not the basics, anyway.

[ And hopefully the basics should be enough for when he finds himself wielding a sword in battle - at least for now. They have a while until the next mission, after all, and a month should be enough to at least learn something. ]

And they have practice swords here on the train, so we can easily use those. [ So no one will end up accidentally injured during training. Inigo doesn't want to have to explain that to one of the healers... ]

[forleaving]

[Adam laughed.]

Yeah, a lot of kids try to get out of that. I never really minded, personally.

[forleaving]

[He nodded.]

That sounds good. And all I have are my train clothes, so I'll just wear the ones that already have mission wear and tear.

[That seemed like the most logical thing to do. Especially when Adam had taken great care with his clothes back home to make sure they didn't get dirty or anything.]

[forleaving]

That's a relief. I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt anyone while learning.

[By being a clumsy idiot or something. He assumed he would be the one at the most risk of doing the hurting since he wouldn't know what he was doing.]

[helborn]

I did, I was the scrawny book nerd who hid in the library. I had some endurance, but not speed, and not nearly enough of either.

[flatteries]

[ He laughs. ]

Don't worry too much about it. I'm an expert, you see? [ It's definitely much more confident than anything Inigo would usually say, but he figures that he may as well be a little dramatic to keep the air light and joking. ] I'm pretty sure you couldn't hurt me even if you tried.

Well, not until you get a little better first, anyway.

[ Inigo definitely isn't invincible, after all, no matter how much he likes to pretend so at times. ]

Just let me know when we should start.

[worthallthis]

[Better safe than sorry-- some people do seem to have a lot of clothes from home. Soldat will get there, too, but not until they've got all their gear and important memory items.

Satisfied that at least Adam will get to learn the basics even if the other trainers start him directly on offensive work, they ask,]

Want to start tonight? I've gotta finish up making dinner, but after that.

[forleaving]

I couldn't afford to let skipping out on gym participation bring down my grades.

[Or else he wouldn't have been nearly as dedicated to laps and whatever else had been required of him.]

[forleaving]

[Adam laughed, too.]

I wouldn't tempt fate if I were you. You never know what could happen.

[And Adam'd tempted fate enough during his 19 years so far.]

I'm all right with starting whenever you are.

[Even if that was immediately.]

[forleaving]

[Adam hadn't spent any of his points in the shop yet. He'd just been...hoarding them, in case something important came up. They weren't literally money but he was treating them as such.]

Sure. Do you want any help with dinner?

[flatteries]

Well, if you want, we could head over to the training carriage right away and see if there's some room for the both of us. [ Since Inigo knows a lot of the people here on the train do train a lot.. But then again, it's not like two regular humans like them are going to need a whole lot of space. ]

See you there?

[enthunder]

Tall guy, bald, wearing red. He organises the whole thing, so he'll be somewhere obvious.

[forleaving]

[Adam brightened. He wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed sitting around and waiting, especially when it came to getting into something new, so immediate was something he could appreciate.]

Sure; that sounds good. I'll head right on over.

[forleaving]

[Adam nodded, committing that description to memory.]

Alright. Thank you.

[worthallthis]

[Whereas Soldat has been spending them as fast as they get them. Maybe less once they've got all their necessary gear and items from Beacon, but they haven't had to worry about something as mundane as money in seventy years. A resource is for using.

They nod.]

Sure, if you want to come along. I'm never alone in there, really, but I won't say no to an assistant.

[Maybe possibly slightly teasing, on the last bit.]

[forleaving]

[Adam smiled.]

I think you'll find I can be a pretty good assistant.

[So long as Soldat didn't mind that Adam was on the quiet side. Adam enjoyed helping people, and more than that, he enjoyed learning. Being able to do both at the same time? Even better.]

[flatteries]

[ True to his word, Inigo does immediately set out to head over to the right carriage. Thankfully it doesn't seem too busy right now - maybe some of the people who usually train are kind of done with fighting for a little bit after fighting so much during the mission, who knows.

But thankfully it leaves enough room for the two of them. So when Adam arrives at the carriage, he'll find Inigo already holding two practice swords, raising one of them so he can wave him over. ]

Over here!

[forleaving]

[When he arrived, Adam was relieved that the carriage didn't seem too crowded. He might have joked about being the one getting hurt, but he didn't want to accidentally smack someone else with a training sword, either. He was more worried about that than embarrassing himself.

Heading on over, he offered a nod.]

Looks like you're all ready to go.

[flatteries]

Of course!

[ Inigo lets out a small 'heh', offering one of the swords to him when he's close enough. ]

Got to be prepared if I'm going to be the teacher here, right? Just try holding this one.

[azurebichen]

[True, but the last mission requires a lot of killing in order to win and turn the tides of battle and save whatever humanity left on the planet. Still, indeed it was a possibility]

Come on over in the morning, and I can train if you're able. Swordsmanship and archery is a good start. There are others training in handling a gun.

Spirit levels. In my world, we call it Qi and to raise one's qi or spirit is to help channel that into casting spells to attack your opponent. I raise my Qi to attack using magic paper talismans and set the demons on fire for example.

[forleaving]

[He took the sword, shifting his hand around on it until he had a comfortable grip, though he had no idea if it was even close to how you were supposed to hold a sword.]

You don't look like a teacher. [After a beat he realized how that could sound and hastily added-] I mean, not like the teachers at my school. A lot of them were pretty stuffy. You're much nicer.

[forleaving]

Okay. [He made a face at the mention of guns. He wasn't very fond of them and wasn't eager to get his hands on one again. Luckily, he'd probably have enough on his plate that he wouldn't have to worry about people trying to show him how to use a gun. Hopefully.

Listening carefully, he nodded slowly.]

Is that something anyone can learn? [It sounded like it, but.] And what if someone has...an innate talent, that may or may not be spirit related? [He didn't know, honestly, if what he could do was connected to his spirit. He knew it was connected to his soul, but.]

[flatteries]

[ Inigo looks baffled for a moment, but then, once Adam adds the rest of what he's saying, he just bursts out into laughter instead. ]

I thought for a moment there that you were going to insult me! [ But now he understands. Inigo had teachers back home too, after all, and he also thought they were incredibly stuffy back when they actually taught him.

And he's very much glad to not be shoved into that category himself. ]

Well, I guess it's since it's not exactly my job to teach this stuff to people. But sometimes necessity makes us do odd things, right?