Dadragon6
Active Member
ISS Downrider
Cargo Bay
10 hours after the events of Union.
”White knight to E5,” said the absent-minded informant, moving his chess piece to capture the opponent’s pawn. As a response, the opponent moved another of his pawns two squares up to D5, putting it in danger of white’s other knight at C3—but a smart move, as the C6 black pawn could easily capture it should the white knight rush to claim the black piece.
Keith looked up at the hollow Overseer skull he had “rescued” from within Alipier Observatory, the thing posing as his opponent, resting at the opposite end of the crate being used as a table. Whatever mind it might have once possessed had now been long gone, and so he had to act in its place in this battle of wits.
In short, he had been playing matches of chess against himself, and for quite some time now since he’d woken up. Sighing, the ex-sergeant moved his white pawn to D4, clashing against black’s.
In the midst of all this, Rhea, after recovering from her extreme mental fatigue and… certainly more of her physical weariness than she expected to. She supposed that Aradia worked some of her magic while she was still a little out of it. Any way, she found her way to the cargo bay and happened upon this most… unusual sight.
“...” She stared, and rubbed her eyes a bit wondering if she was just sleeping, like when she thought she saw an angel, but no, there really was someone ‘playing’ against the mechanical skull.
“Uhh… are you winning?”
The informant looked up from the chessboard after moving a black knight to D7, partially shifting his attention to the vagabond girl by the corner of his eyes while still facing the skull. ”In one way or another, I suppose. How are you feeling?” he said, immediately returning his focus to the game, and hoping his question hadn’t been too vague.
“Well, alot less tired, and cold. Maybe could use a snack though...” She stares at the game of chess, not really getting why someone would play against themselves. Until eventually, she shrugs, and pulls up a… crate… to watch the game. “So… why?” She finally asks.
”Honestly? I’m not sure,” he said, moving his white knight from E5 to D7, capturing the black piece in trade for putting his own in danger of the black bishop, king, and queen. But still a fair trade. ”but playing chess helps my mind. After what we have been through in the observatory, I have been taking time to think.”
”...would you like to play? I can reset the board. Maybe teach you a few things about military strategy.”
She scratches her head a little, squinting at the board, before taking the metal skull’s place “Uhh sure…. Howww hard can it be?” Top ten phrases said right before disaster.
Keith glanced up from the chessboard at the now-seated girl, and gently swiped away the still-standing pieces with his arm to the side. He picked each up at a time, taking a painstaking amount of time to place all of them on their correct position and to make sure they weren’t tilted. ”I assume you do know how to play chess, yes? If you don’t, I shall gladly explain you the rules. Now, will you play on the black or white side?”
“Thiisss would be my first time playing, yeah...” She said as she stared at the board a bit. She had a vague understanding of the rules at best. “Uhh, is there a difference between the two?” She asked after a second, looking between them. They looked like they had the exact same pieces on both sides, anyway…
”Both entail different playstyles. By default, white plays offensively, while black plays defensively. In other words, white makes the first move,” he said, picking up one of the white pawns and turning the piece around in his hand. ”The pawns are your basic soldiers. They are the most numerous piece, and can move one square forward and capture diagonally. During their first move exclusively, they may instead move two squares.”
There were, of course, some lesser known rules of chess, such as en passant or castling, but Keith decided to refrain from playing a style the vagabond girl was unused to. It wouldn’t be a fun learning experience for her, otherwise. ”I’ll explain the rules as we go, or as you ask. Now, black or white?”
“Uhhh… black.” She figured she’d get a better idea of what the pieces did if Keith went first regardless. Even so, looking at all the many different pieces… and yet, how so few of them were, that this didn’t look like an easy game at all. She kind of frowned at the board, a bit unsure about just jumping into this game.
He simply nodded, placing the selfsame pawn he had in his hand two tiles forward from its previous space, on D4. ”The pawn is one of two pieces with which you can make your opening move. The other is the knight,” he started, giving a light poke to the “horse” piece, ”which can jump over the other pieces in an L-formation.”
“Uhh...” She nodded a bit, and squinted at the knight piece, before simply mirroring the move with her own pawn. Couldn’t go wrong there. “Okay… your turn?”
Keith moved his C1 bishop diagonally to D2, occupying the space his pawn previously occupied. ”The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally…” he leaned back on his chair crate, arms behind his neck while waiting for Rhea to make her next move. ”I regularly play chess to remind myself of my uncle’s teachings to me on military tactics. The goal of the game is not that much different from war—put the king, the leader, in check-mate, and you win.”
“Humm...” She nodded a bit, listening to the explanation, and grabbed the bishop herself and started moving it… and then, moving it a little more, but making sure not to put it in the path of the other bishop.
“So like… I just need to be able to capture the king, and I win?” She asked, looking over the other pieces after she finished her move and kind of just… guessing, how they might move from what little she saw of Keith’s game.
Some time later...
The informant moves his final piece into place, trapping Rhea’s king between the border of the chessboard, one of his rooks, and his last remaining knight. A check-mate. ”Good game, kid. What did you come here to the cargo bay for, anyway?”
“Blaahh….” Rhea let out with her chin on the table. “Oh uh, For some reason I thought this might be a good place to look for a snack.” She still stared at the board, a bit put out by the loss.
“Do you, do that kind of stuff a lot?” She gestures to the board without actually moving all that much. Mostly just with her eyes.
Keith gave a hearty but short chuckle, reaching over the table crate to ruffle a Rhea’s hair a bit. ”Don’t frown, kid! It’s not about winning or losing, but about having fun and learning. I know, this sounds cliché,” he said, turning over the portable chessboard and scattering the pieces all over the tabletop before storing them one by one.
”And, yes I do. My uncle was an army colonel, and taught me how to play chess as… a way to learn strategy. I’m not out on the battlefield punching someone’s teeth out anymore, but it’s always good to know your way around a situation.”
She scrunches up her face a bit at being patted, making an ‘eahh’ noise, before suddenly sitting up slightly, looking interested. After straightening her hair once more, of course. She couln’t have it looking like a rat’s nest… anymore. “So, you know how to fight?”
The ex-sergeant’s smile brightened up just a little bit more. Adorable. ”Yeah, standard military training, plus some extensive martial arts education by private tutors. Any soldier has to know how to take care of himself. What about it?”
“Umm... ” She is quiet for a moment, scratching her cheek “Uhh… I’m, mostly… Self taught, can, you teach me some things too, maybe?” She seems uncomfortable with even asking, as if the act itself was akin to admitting she wasn’t just the smoothest criminal puncher around.
”Gladly.” He nodded and moved to push the crate he’d just been using as a table to the side, making some space for the soon-to-be training session. Thank heavens for Aradia’s healing, otherwise even walking would have been difficult then.
Keith took a few steps back from the vagabond girl, ensuring she had enough room to not accidentally kick him on the side of the head. ”Now, usually, soldiers spend more time with endurance training than actual martial technique. First, I want to see how long you last—show me your fighting style until moving hurts.”
She nodded a bit, and kind of frowned, not really sure how to demonstrate what she could actually… do, without a target- and it is then that she realized most of her skill set actually involved running away in the most absurd paths that people couldn’t really mimic.
… Maybe she really DID need an actual teacher. A bit uncertain now- more so than before anyway, she first, demonstrated how fast she could throw a straight punch- decently fast to be sure. Enough that it certainly couldn’t be sustained by such a tiny body for more than a hot minute.
She also showed off a few kicks, proving to be pretty stable even as she kicked over her head- of course this too, proved to be taxing on her. Endurance was most certainly not her strong suit, it was much more fast- and explosive. Though, she also lacked power, and reach, due to obvious issues like her size.
She quickly tired, breathing a little heavy… and right away, started making excuses “I-I uh… usually use my magic or, climb up into weird places really fast… like-” She points up to the rafters, which do in fact look rather hard to get to… without cheating and stacking up crates like a staircase to get there. She would have demonstrated if it weren’t for the fact that after that she really didn’t feel up for it.
The informant nods thoughtfully throughout the display, stopping to offer some insight once Rhea is done. ”Speed seems to be your main advantage, but you tire fast. With your lithe build…” he pauses, thinking back on his own training. ”...get up close and personal, then strike vital points to make the most out of your stamina. I’ll get back to this topic later.”
Concluding his first evaluation, Keith shoves a hand into his military backpack to fish for one of the chess pieces he’d just stored, but still keeping his full attention on the vagabond girl. ”Next test… your reaction time,” he says, immediately withdrawing his hand from the bag and flicking a white pawn piece at Rhea’s general direction—though not aiming directly at her.
She blinked and smacked at it like it had offended her somehow- not successfully grabbing it, but reacting on instinct like it was a mosquito that threatened to give her horrid illnesses that man had yet to name. Smacked that chess piece right into the ground she did, sure showed it what for!
It was only after the smacking did she blink and seem to realize what she did, and nodding a bit at Keith’s earlier words. “... vital points uuuhh hu… you uh, mean like just... ” She mimics punching at about head height… actually, a bit lower, but not by more than a foot- coincidentally, this just happened to be right about where Keith’s presumably most precious body part lay.
The informant applauded lightly, taking note of Rhea’s quick reflexes. Though she would need to put some work on being able to control them outside her basic instincts, as favorable by the situation. You shouldn’t try to run from a snarling dog when other reactions are better, so to speak.
He then nodded, crossing his arms and trying hard not to chuckle. ”Yes, quite. The groin is indeed one of them. Again, I’ll teach you those plus martial stances later—I’m trying not to overload you with information on your first training session. Now, come,” he said, beckoning with his hand as he moved over to a stack of empty crates. ”next, your focus.”
”You’re able to do those… magic, crystal things with your hands, right? I won’t pretend to understand it, but should be much the same as firing a gun,” he said, having piled two empty crates up as makeshift target dummies, and stepped back a couple meters. ”You must be accurate, and precise. Know when to pull the trigger, and not to give in to distractions. How would you say you fare?”
She grins at Keith’s first comment, then starts thinking hard with the latter. “... I don’t really have anyone to compare myself too, really.” With that said, she noted that, quite often, they were… jagged, and imprecise creations when she actively made them, though they often got the job done all the same. “... I, think I do better when I’m say, not thinking about it directly, and using it to assist me somehow- like when I jump and they appear under my feet and throw me up, or when i need something to stand on when I’m trying to climb a wall… When I’m not they are… kind of not how I think they should be.”
With that out of the way- she took something approaching a stance- obviously half copied from things she’d seen on media of… various kinds, and half adapted to what she found a comfortable, stable pose to hold. She decided to go with basics here, first, twirling around with a kind of low sweep- and a crystal appeared out of the ground corresponding with the kick, not completely terrible when used with the intent to trip someone- but those somewhat jagged shards didn’t seem like they would leave someone entirely unscathed if she were to use them on a person. The follow up was a sidekick at head level in the same direction- and that same sheet of crystal followed her movements in a somewhat exaggerated manner- side swiping the dummy’s head.
The first one, unfortunately missed a bit, barely clipping the bottom of the dummy, as it was not aimed far enough outward, but it was enough to throw it off balance. The second one hit solidly- but if she had been using the first strike as her intended distance to strike at from that angle, it was the one off target, not the first. It’s likely that the distance between the strikes, differed almost exactly the same as that low sweeping strike, and the round house kick did, as far as distance from her body was concerned.
It was safe to say that, as far as ‘guns’ went, it was rather versatile, far more than an actual gun, however the moves seemed quite telegraphed, and clearly relied on precise movements to manifest- and it usually emerged from a solid object of one kind or another. Although, it was difficult to say whether that was just a way of 'rationalizing' the power, and thus making it easier to manifest, or what. It would seem as if this weapon would only be as accurate and precise as her own movements, for the time being at least.
The empty crates shattered into smallish splinters as the crystals struck their wooden frame, barely putting up a fight against the destructive force. Keith watched all the while, taking mental notes of Rhea’s capabilities, mistakes, and slip-ups, giving an honest, reassuring smile when she was done. ”Impressive! You’re young, yet already have a solid grasp on your, erm, ‘powers’. Albeit… your accuracy as a whole could use some work.”
The informant moved to set up some more crate target dummies, but this time scattered around the cargo bay and far off from each other. It would seem that, this time, he wanted to test the girl’s approximate range, taking some steps back from the last dummy and simply nodding toward them once he was done.
The moment the dummies started getting more than a few feet away, Rhea’s face scrunched up in deep concentration- for a second she even almost thought ‘yeah, that’s not happening’. But, she wasn’t just about to admit aloud that that was waayy out of the scope of her normal powers, and instead frowned a bit at the ones farther away, took a stance. She decided to wait a moment though at least… remembering that extreme, mental fatigue from before.
After a few, long moments of firm concentration, she took a step- no, she stomped the ground, and a crystal shot up in front of her- and then took a step forward with her other foot to mime soccer ball kicking it to one. It quickly started evaporating as it left the initial few feet- to a fine, spiked point, almost as if the air were the cause of its disintegration. Unfortunately- it only seemed to reach out about two meters away from the girl. Seems that range, was another thing to be worked on, in addition to overall accuracy, and endurance. Rhea looked very put out by the pitiful range- she knew it was fairly short, having been unable to conjure anything up more than a short distance away, but to have it disintegrate when thrown out of her normal reach, something she hadn’t tried up until then, was just too much.
”Interesting…” was the ex-sergeant’s only response to the scene he’d just witnessed. It seemed to him like Rhea’s magic grew dull the farther away one of its instances went from her. Scratching his stubble beard, Keith approached the girl before putting a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder, pulling out his modified revolver with the other and taking aim at one of the crates.
He pulled the trigger twice at different targets in quick succession, the strong recoil from the gun kicking its aim slightly off. Strangely, the revolver’s noise was minimized as both voltaic rounds shot off and hit the far crates dead-center, leaving almost no discernible damage besides scorch marks where they had landed. ”...here, use this instead, kid,” he said, handing the questionably safe gun to Rhea. ”After this, we’ll go find you some snacks, hm?”
“Uhh... ” She couldn’t help but muse that this wasn’t much better than the drivers that were… offered, one might say, for her use. “You’re sure there?” She says as she takes the gun and, is incredibly unsure of what to do with it, if anything. Then she looks at the target again and notes… well, it wasn’t really damaged…. And the noise wasn’t so bad. How bad could it be?
Thus, she took a stance again- the one that she was used to rather, not one super conducive to shooting, but, at least if it were in fact, a gun with heavy kick, she wouldn’t fall on her butt firing it, which at her size would be a valid concern. At best, she kind of vaguely understood how to aim a gun y what she’d heard on TV… so, as she fires the gun… feeling it kick like a mule, her aim wasn’t exactly on point. Certainly, she’d probably be better off trying to launch heavy objects at a distance using her power, than the gun at this stage.
The informant suppressed a chuckle, slightly amused at seeing the vagabond girl react to the recoil—but he kept his grip on her shoulder, helping her to withstand it as his eyes followed the round fired by the revolver now on her hands. Subpar aim… he reached to collect his gun back, gently taking it from Rhea’s hands, as if afraid the poor girl would shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.
He smiled, then, like a proud parent would at their child. All things considered, she at least knew how to use it, though that wasn’t the point. Rather, her willingness to go through these training exercises despite doubts and weak performance reminded Keith of himself when young. He pat the girl’s head again, turning to face the cargo bay’s entrance.
"Make no mistake, Rhea, I only handed you that gun to measure your aim because I know, for a fact, mine is safe. In fact, I want you to promise me something,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her with a face of discomfort. ”Don’t… well, don’t go using what you have and will learn from me to hurt anyone, alright?” His expression then brightened up. ”Now, I think you’ve earned some food. Let’s go see if there’s any in stock.”
Cargo Bay
10 hours after the events of Union.
”White knight to E5,” said the absent-minded informant, moving his chess piece to capture the opponent’s pawn. As a response, the opponent moved another of his pawns two squares up to D5, putting it in danger of white’s other knight at C3—but a smart move, as the C6 black pawn could easily capture it should the white knight rush to claim the black piece.
Keith looked up at the hollow Overseer skull he had “rescued” from within Alipier Observatory, the thing posing as his opponent, resting at the opposite end of the crate being used as a table. Whatever mind it might have once possessed had now been long gone, and so he had to act in its place in this battle of wits.
In short, he had been playing matches of chess against himself, and for quite some time now since he’d woken up. Sighing, the ex-sergeant moved his white pawn to D4, clashing against black’s.
In the midst of all this, Rhea, after recovering from her extreme mental fatigue and… certainly more of her physical weariness than she expected to. She supposed that Aradia worked some of her magic while she was still a little out of it. Any way, she found her way to the cargo bay and happened upon this most… unusual sight.
“...” She stared, and rubbed her eyes a bit wondering if she was just sleeping, like when she thought she saw an angel, but no, there really was someone ‘playing’ against the mechanical skull.
“Uhh… are you winning?”
The informant looked up from the chessboard after moving a black knight to D7, partially shifting his attention to the vagabond girl by the corner of his eyes while still facing the skull. ”In one way or another, I suppose. How are you feeling?” he said, immediately returning his focus to the game, and hoping his question hadn’t been too vague.
“Well, alot less tired, and cold. Maybe could use a snack though...” She stares at the game of chess, not really getting why someone would play against themselves. Until eventually, she shrugs, and pulls up a… crate… to watch the game. “So… why?” She finally asks.
”Honestly? I’m not sure,” he said, moving his white knight from E5 to D7, capturing the black piece in trade for putting his own in danger of the black bishop, king, and queen. But still a fair trade. ”but playing chess helps my mind. After what we have been through in the observatory, I have been taking time to think.”
”...would you like to play? I can reset the board. Maybe teach you a few things about military strategy.”
She scratches her head a little, squinting at the board, before taking the metal skull’s place “Uhh sure…. Howww hard can it be?” Top ten phrases said right before disaster.
Keith glanced up from the chessboard at the now-seated girl, and gently swiped away the still-standing pieces with his arm to the side. He picked each up at a time, taking a painstaking amount of time to place all of them on their correct position and to make sure they weren’t tilted. ”I assume you do know how to play chess, yes? If you don’t, I shall gladly explain you the rules. Now, will you play on the black or white side?”
“Thiisss would be my first time playing, yeah...” She said as she stared at the board a bit. She had a vague understanding of the rules at best. “Uhh, is there a difference between the two?” She asked after a second, looking between them. They looked like they had the exact same pieces on both sides, anyway…
”Both entail different playstyles. By default, white plays offensively, while black plays defensively. In other words, white makes the first move,” he said, picking up one of the white pawns and turning the piece around in his hand. ”The pawns are your basic soldiers. They are the most numerous piece, and can move one square forward and capture diagonally. During their first move exclusively, they may instead move two squares.”
There were, of course, some lesser known rules of chess, such as en passant or castling, but Keith decided to refrain from playing a style the vagabond girl was unused to. It wouldn’t be a fun learning experience for her, otherwise. ”I’ll explain the rules as we go, or as you ask. Now, black or white?”
“Uhhh… black.” She figured she’d get a better idea of what the pieces did if Keith went first regardless. Even so, looking at all the many different pieces… and yet, how so few of them were, that this didn’t look like an easy game at all. She kind of frowned at the board, a bit unsure about just jumping into this game.
He simply nodded, placing the selfsame pawn he had in his hand two tiles forward from its previous space, on D4. ”The pawn is one of two pieces with which you can make your opening move. The other is the knight,” he started, giving a light poke to the “horse” piece, ”which can jump over the other pieces in an L-formation.”
“Uhh...” She nodded a bit, and squinted at the knight piece, before simply mirroring the move with her own pawn. Couldn’t go wrong there. “Okay… your turn?”
Keith moved his C1 bishop diagonally to D2, occupying the space his pawn previously occupied. ”The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally…” he leaned back on his chair crate, arms behind his neck while waiting for Rhea to make her next move. ”I regularly play chess to remind myself of my uncle’s teachings to me on military tactics. The goal of the game is not that much different from war—put the king, the leader, in check-mate, and you win.”
“Humm...” She nodded a bit, listening to the explanation, and grabbed the bishop herself and started moving it… and then, moving it a little more, but making sure not to put it in the path of the other bishop.
“So like… I just need to be able to capture the king, and I win?” She asked, looking over the other pieces after she finished her move and kind of just… guessing, how they might move from what little she saw of Keith’s game.
Some time later...
The informant moves his final piece into place, trapping Rhea’s king between the border of the chessboard, one of his rooks, and his last remaining knight. A check-mate. ”Good game, kid. What did you come here to the cargo bay for, anyway?”
“Blaahh….” Rhea let out with her chin on the table. “Oh uh, For some reason I thought this might be a good place to look for a snack.” She still stared at the board, a bit put out by the loss.
“Do you, do that kind of stuff a lot?” She gestures to the board without actually moving all that much. Mostly just with her eyes.
Keith gave a hearty but short chuckle, reaching over the table crate to ruffle a Rhea’s hair a bit. ”Don’t frown, kid! It’s not about winning or losing, but about having fun and learning. I know, this sounds cliché,” he said, turning over the portable chessboard and scattering the pieces all over the tabletop before storing them one by one.
”And, yes I do. My uncle was an army colonel, and taught me how to play chess as… a way to learn strategy. I’m not out on the battlefield punching someone’s teeth out anymore, but it’s always good to know your way around a situation.”
She scrunches up her face a bit at being patted, making an ‘eahh’ noise, before suddenly sitting up slightly, looking interested. After straightening her hair once more, of course. She couln’t have it looking like a rat’s nest… anymore. “So, you know how to fight?”
The ex-sergeant’s smile brightened up just a little bit more. Adorable. ”Yeah, standard military training, plus some extensive martial arts education by private tutors. Any soldier has to know how to take care of himself. What about it?”
“Umm... ” She is quiet for a moment, scratching her cheek “Uhh… I’m, mostly… Self taught, can, you teach me some things too, maybe?” She seems uncomfortable with even asking, as if the act itself was akin to admitting she wasn’t just the smoothest criminal puncher around.
”Gladly.” He nodded and moved to push the crate he’d just been using as a table to the side, making some space for the soon-to-be training session. Thank heavens for Aradia’s healing, otherwise even walking would have been difficult then.
Keith took a few steps back from the vagabond girl, ensuring she had enough room to not accidentally kick him on the side of the head. ”Now, usually, soldiers spend more time with endurance training than actual martial technique. First, I want to see how long you last—show me your fighting style until moving hurts.”
She nodded a bit, and kind of frowned, not really sure how to demonstrate what she could actually… do, without a target- and it is then that she realized most of her skill set actually involved running away in the most absurd paths that people couldn’t really mimic.
… Maybe she really DID need an actual teacher. A bit uncertain now- more so than before anyway, she first, demonstrated how fast she could throw a straight punch- decently fast to be sure. Enough that it certainly couldn’t be sustained by such a tiny body for more than a hot minute.
She also showed off a few kicks, proving to be pretty stable even as she kicked over her head- of course this too, proved to be taxing on her. Endurance was most certainly not her strong suit, it was much more fast- and explosive. Though, she also lacked power, and reach, due to obvious issues like her size.
She quickly tired, breathing a little heavy… and right away, started making excuses “I-I uh… usually use my magic or, climb up into weird places really fast… like-” She points up to the rafters, which do in fact look rather hard to get to… without cheating and stacking up crates like a staircase to get there. She would have demonstrated if it weren’t for the fact that after that she really didn’t feel up for it.
The informant nods thoughtfully throughout the display, stopping to offer some insight once Rhea is done. ”Speed seems to be your main advantage, but you tire fast. With your lithe build…” he pauses, thinking back on his own training. ”...get up close and personal, then strike vital points to make the most out of your stamina. I’ll get back to this topic later.”
Concluding his first evaluation, Keith shoves a hand into his military backpack to fish for one of the chess pieces he’d just stored, but still keeping his full attention on the vagabond girl. ”Next test… your reaction time,” he says, immediately withdrawing his hand from the bag and flicking a white pawn piece at Rhea’s general direction—though not aiming directly at her.
She blinked and smacked at it like it had offended her somehow- not successfully grabbing it, but reacting on instinct like it was a mosquito that threatened to give her horrid illnesses that man had yet to name. Smacked that chess piece right into the ground she did, sure showed it what for!
It was only after the smacking did she blink and seem to realize what she did, and nodding a bit at Keith’s earlier words. “... vital points uuuhh hu… you uh, mean like just... ” She mimics punching at about head height… actually, a bit lower, but not by more than a foot- coincidentally, this just happened to be right about where Keith’s presumably most precious body part lay.
The informant applauded lightly, taking note of Rhea’s quick reflexes. Though she would need to put some work on being able to control them outside her basic instincts, as favorable by the situation. You shouldn’t try to run from a snarling dog when other reactions are better, so to speak.
He then nodded, crossing his arms and trying hard not to chuckle. ”Yes, quite. The groin is indeed one of them. Again, I’ll teach you those plus martial stances later—I’m trying not to overload you with information on your first training session. Now, come,” he said, beckoning with his hand as he moved over to a stack of empty crates. ”next, your focus.”
”You’re able to do those… magic, crystal things with your hands, right? I won’t pretend to understand it, but should be much the same as firing a gun,” he said, having piled two empty crates up as makeshift target dummies, and stepped back a couple meters. ”You must be accurate, and precise. Know when to pull the trigger, and not to give in to distractions. How would you say you fare?”
She grins at Keith’s first comment, then starts thinking hard with the latter. “... I don’t really have anyone to compare myself too, really.” With that said, she noted that, quite often, they were… jagged, and imprecise creations when she actively made them, though they often got the job done all the same. “... I, think I do better when I’m say, not thinking about it directly, and using it to assist me somehow- like when I jump and they appear under my feet and throw me up, or when i need something to stand on when I’m trying to climb a wall… When I’m not they are… kind of not how I think they should be.”
With that out of the way- she took something approaching a stance- obviously half copied from things she’d seen on media of… various kinds, and half adapted to what she found a comfortable, stable pose to hold. She decided to go with basics here, first, twirling around with a kind of low sweep- and a crystal appeared out of the ground corresponding with the kick, not completely terrible when used with the intent to trip someone- but those somewhat jagged shards didn’t seem like they would leave someone entirely unscathed if she were to use them on a person. The follow up was a sidekick at head level in the same direction- and that same sheet of crystal followed her movements in a somewhat exaggerated manner- side swiping the dummy’s head.
The first one, unfortunately missed a bit, barely clipping the bottom of the dummy, as it was not aimed far enough outward, but it was enough to throw it off balance. The second one hit solidly- but if she had been using the first strike as her intended distance to strike at from that angle, it was the one off target, not the first. It’s likely that the distance between the strikes, differed almost exactly the same as that low sweeping strike, and the round house kick did, as far as distance from her body was concerned.
It was safe to say that, as far as ‘guns’ went, it was rather versatile, far more than an actual gun, however the moves seemed quite telegraphed, and clearly relied on precise movements to manifest- and it usually emerged from a solid object of one kind or another. Although, it was difficult to say whether that was just a way of 'rationalizing' the power, and thus making it easier to manifest, or what. It would seem as if this weapon would only be as accurate and precise as her own movements, for the time being at least.
The empty crates shattered into smallish splinters as the crystals struck their wooden frame, barely putting up a fight against the destructive force. Keith watched all the while, taking mental notes of Rhea’s capabilities, mistakes, and slip-ups, giving an honest, reassuring smile when she was done. ”Impressive! You’re young, yet already have a solid grasp on your, erm, ‘powers’. Albeit… your accuracy as a whole could use some work.”
The informant moved to set up some more crate target dummies, but this time scattered around the cargo bay and far off from each other. It would seem that, this time, he wanted to test the girl’s approximate range, taking some steps back from the last dummy and simply nodding toward them once he was done.
The moment the dummies started getting more than a few feet away, Rhea’s face scrunched up in deep concentration- for a second she even almost thought ‘yeah, that’s not happening’. But, she wasn’t just about to admit aloud that that was waayy out of the scope of her normal powers, and instead frowned a bit at the ones farther away, took a stance. She decided to wait a moment though at least… remembering that extreme, mental fatigue from before.
After a few, long moments of firm concentration, she took a step- no, she stomped the ground, and a crystal shot up in front of her- and then took a step forward with her other foot to mime soccer ball kicking it to one. It quickly started evaporating as it left the initial few feet- to a fine, spiked point, almost as if the air were the cause of its disintegration. Unfortunately- it only seemed to reach out about two meters away from the girl. Seems that range, was another thing to be worked on, in addition to overall accuracy, and endurance. Rhea looked very put out by the pitiful range- she knew it was fairly short, having been unable to conjure anything up more than a short distance away, but to have it disintegrate when thrown out of her normal reach, something she hadn’t tried up until then, was just too much.
”Interesting…” was the ex-sergeant’s only response to the scene he’d just witnessed. It seemed to him like Rhea’s magic grew dull the farther away one of its instances went from her. Scratching his stubble beard, Keith approached the girl before putting a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder, pulling out his modified revolver with the other and taking aim at one of the crates.
He pulled the trigger twice at different targets in quick succession, the strong recoil from the gun kicking its aim slightly off. Strangely, the revolver’s noise was minimized as both voltaic rounds shot off and hit the far crates dead-center, leaving almost no discernible damage besides scorch marks where they had landed. ”...here, use this instead, kid,” he said, handing the questionably safe gun to Rhea. ”After this, we’ll go find you some snacks, hm?”
“Uhh... ” She couldn’t help but muse that this wasn’t much better than the drivers that were… offered, one might say, for her use. “You’re sure there?” She says as she takes the gun and, is incredibly unsure of what to do with it, if anything. Then she looks at the target again and notes… well, it wasn’t really damaged…. And the noise wasn’t so bad. How bad could it be?
Thus, she took a stance again- the one that she was used to rather, not one super conducive to shooting, but, at least if it were in fact, a gun with heavy kick, she wouldn’t fall on her butt firing it, which at her size would be a valid concern. At best, she kind of vaguely understood how to aim a gun y what she’d heard on TV… so, as she fires the gun… feeling it kick like a mule, her aim wasn’t exactly on point. Certainly, she’d probably be better off trying to launch heavy objects at a distance using her power, than the gun at this stage.
The informant suppressed a chuckle, slightly amused at seeing the vagabond girl react to the recoil—but he kept his grip on her shoulder, helping her to withstand it as his eyes followed the round fired by the revolver now on her hands. Subpar aim… he reached to collect his gun back, gently taking it from Rhea’s hands, as if afraid the poor girl would shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.
He smiled, then, like a proud parent would at their child. All things considered, she at least knew how to use it, though that wasn’t the point. Rather, her willingness to go through these training exercises despite doubts and weak performance reminded Keith of himself when young. He pat the girl’s head again, turning to face the cargo bay’s entrance.
"Make no mistake, Rhea, I only handed you that gun to measure your aim because I know, for a fact, mine is safe. In fact, I want you to promise me something,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her with a face of discomfort. ”Don’t… well, don’t go using what you have and will learn from me to hurt anyone, alright?” His expression then brightened up. ”Now, I think you’ve earned some food. Let’s go see if there’s any in stock.”