[Morning Training!]

[spandexisyouth]

Morning Training happens every day in the city, and most days get handwaved. Once a month a log goes up to play out interactions and teaching. It happens from 6 am to 9 am, and this time it's happening December 31st, in-game.

I'll be linking/indexing once threads are made.

Batch 1: Beginners under the age of fifteen. Taught by Prussia, Fakir,

Comments

[OPEN]

[nailbitinghabit]

[Here as usual, early in the morning, content to practice on his own but never disinclined to spar. Kujaku is hoping he doesn't wind up breaking the practice sword this time.]

[picklesplz]

[Kirin drags his ass over to where his twin is, grumbling, sword in hand. He scowls, though it goes unseen under his bangs.]

So.

[nailbitinghabit]

...that's unexpected.

[Kujaku tries his damndest not to look uncomfortable. So he smiles at his brother, without seeming particularly cheerful or amused.]

Good morning, brother.

[picklesplz]

'morning.

[Kirin shrugs.]

You bitch at me for staying inside, I do hope you're not gonna bitch at me for actually going out.

[But there's a bit of an uncertain tilt to his lips. As if the smile is not sure whether it should come out or not.]

[nailbitinghabit]

[A flat look. He did not 'bitch,' thank you very much.]

Now why would I do that?

[picklesplz]

Dunno, I think our twin telepathy is broken or something.

[nailbitinghabit]

Probably. [Probably has been for a while, too.]

...

So.

[picklesplz]

[They should complain with the service provider.]

...up for a spar?

[nailbitinghabit]

...Sure. [H-haha, if even half that confidence was real. He still readies his sword.]

[picklesplz]

[Kirin smiles thinly.]

'kay.

[...and then he might be throwing himself at you a tad bit with more gusto than strictly necessary. Then again, this is Kirin. It's been forever since he fought someone he didn't kill at the end of the fight. He's forgotten how one does mild.]

[nailbitinghabit]

[ohshitson absolutely no time to not give it his all. On the other hand, sparring with Kirin is something he always took seriously, making this no change at all. Almost everything about this feels nostalgic, but that's not something Kirin gives him time to dwell on. Kujaku has trouble pushing back.]

[picklesplz]

[He's always been the strongest of the two, just not in the way that mattered. If if he had been the strongest of the two, in all the ways that mattered, his brother wouldn't have suffered as he did. But Kirin smiled, anyway, because there it was, underneath Kujaku's form, the hints of that gorgeous flowing style of his. Kirin kept pressing, hard and unrelenting, because he wanted to bring that beauty up to the surface again. It had been too long, since he'd last fought it properly.]

[nailbitinghabit]

[It's the way Kirin pushes him that forces Kujaku to really focus. There was no time to think about anything but this fight, right then, right there, and that's exactly the mindset that made him slip back into the style that he'd engraved in his bones. Kujaku doesn't have Kirin's strength, so he can't rely on brute force, but he has the skill. More skill than his brother, he knew now. Maybe that's what made the difference. His facial expression settled into something serious. Not vicious. Not mocking. Not crazy. Just determined.]

[picklesplz]

[By contrast, there's a small ghost of a smile on Kirin's face as he feels the satisfaction of fighting someone who actually challenged him. Kujaku's skill with a sword was something to behold, and being the one doing the pushing for now, gave Kirin plenty of chance to bask in it. He noted, too, the expression on his brother's face, and knew he was fighting his brother, not the monstrosity his brother became.]

[nailbitinghabit]

[Kujaku used to resent that smile, because he felt inferior, because he felt mocked, insulted, taken lightly. It had begun to sink in that maybe that wasn't really the case, that he'd misunderstood. At this point, all the hatred he'd cultivated towards his brother had caved in on itself, and not just because Adramelech was gone. Fighting him now? It wasn't as hard anymore. Slowly, he smiled back.]

[picklesplz]

[After a while, a funny thing happened: Kirin's movements became less... bloodthirsty, less pushy. Slowly, every so slowly, by degrees, he began to try and follow his brother's pace, rather than pushing and bullying him into his own. It took a while for Kirin to stop holding onto the sword with a vague killing intent, rather trying to enjoy it as much as he hoped his brother was enjoying it. It had been decades since he'd done something like that, though.]