Callum + Carmen, Dec 27

Dec 27 00:39:39 <SnowBeard>	Carmen was in the gym today, she deemed that her Monday afternoons and evenings should be spent on melee combat training. She has her long black hair pulled back and tied to stay out of the way, and of course she was wearing her stealth-combat uniform. At the moment she was circling around a punching bag like a predator would for a prey. She was trying to come up with a worthy scenario to practice on against the punching bag. After all punching inanimate objects turns out to be not that valuable of a skill.
Dec 27 00:43:51 <Knave>	Callum strode in, a blank expression on his broad and defined features as he crossed to the gym floor. After taking a beating sparring with Gungnir, and having promised to do it more, he decided he could stand to be a little lighter on his feet. He gives a wave and a "Hey there." to Carmen before retrieving a jump-rope from the gym's stock of equipment.
Dec 27 00:48:42 <SnowBeard>	"Evening..." Carmen murmured before rapidly engaging on the punching bag, giving it a fast hard knee to the side before swinging a wide punch to connect on the other side - She quickly jumps back from the bag after landing her hits and hops slightly on her toes. It looks like shes about to head out on some kind of mission with her uniform on: It's darkly colored and looks like it could take a beating, not to mention it has an absurd amount of straps that keep it skin tight and provide places to carry things.
Dec 27 01:04:44 <Knave>	In his t-shirt and sweatpants, Callum looks like a perfectly normal, if somewhat unusually perfect, young man about to exercise. And, frankly, as he begins to jump rope, he looks a little absurd too, not just because he is so big and muscular and serious but because he is quite bad at it. After the third time stopping and starting because of his legs getting tangled, he takes a brief pause. He's kept half an eye on Carmen's attack on the punching bag, and he says, "What'd it do to you?"
Dec 27 01:08:49 <SnowBeard>	She frowns and looks over at Callum, dropping her combat stance. "It was being a valuable training material. What did that poor thing do to you?" She points to the abused jump rope and raises an eyebrow. It's clear she was watching him as well, and noticed his troubles with it.
Dec 27 01:12:07 <Knave>	"It, uh," He looks at the rope bundled in his hand, "It did the old bucket-on-the-door prank." He grins and points up at his fair hair, "Hair dye. I used to be a brunette." He takes the rope in both hands again, ready to take another shot, "It agreed to help me work out as payback, didn't know what it was getting into." He chuckles.
Dec 27 01:30:44 <SnowBeard>	"Sounds like quite the stories, also confirms my theory that there's a drug trade connected within the school." Carmen strolls over to Callum and watches him. "Not used to cat's feet are you?" She says that like he should know what it means. "You're a big guy, makes sense."
Dec 27 01:32:22 <Knave>	His brow wrinkles in confusion for a second before he says, "No, can't say that I am." He gets going again, inelegant and graceless and tripping himself up, "You got any helpful pointers, or you just enjoying the slapstick?"
Dec 27 01:34:35 <SnowBeard>	"Tip of your feet, stop going all the way down." She stands in front of him - She was small unlike him. She stands on her tip toes and hops up, landing on the tip of her feet every time and only dipping a bit before jumping back up. "Your heels shouldn't be touching the ground."
Dec 27 01:36:42 <Knave>	He adjusts his stance and his approach and starts going again, making a much better pace of it. He's still clipping himself from time to time, but at least he's doing it properly. "Thanks." He says with a smile, throwing himself off rhythm again.
Dec 27 01:39:10 <SnowBeard>	She crosses her arms and watches him. "Focus on the task, a sly remark or expression isn't going to help you beat them, you know." She seems to consider what she says. "Well, unless it's a really sly one, I suppose." She circles around him now, much alike she did with the punching bag - Which probably means bad news bears for him - Well more likely her, by the looks of it she couldn't take a hit.
Dec 27 01:45:21 <Knave>	"I'm not trying to beat anyone." Callum says cheerfully, if a little bemused, before starting up again, "I'm just working out." His face then shifts into a mask of concentration, eyes focusing on some spot high on the wall while he jumps. "I'm Callum, by the way." He breathes out quickly, "I'd shake your hand, but I'm actually doing okay right now."
Dec 27 01:46:56 <SnowBeard>	"Carmen." She responds simply, raising an eyebrow as he says he doesn't want to beat anyone. "I don't believe you." She says sharply. "Hormones, in a place like this, a guy like you, there's absolutely no way you're not training to fight someone. Whether or not it's now or later - On a mission or not." She crosses her arms.
Dec 27 01:50:01 <Knave>	He comes to a heavy stop, laying the rope across the back of his neck, "Well, believe it." He doesn't seem to have worked up a sweat yet, "I've got a friend I've started sparring with, and I've been on missions. My priority isn't beating people, it's just being safe." He cocks his head, "And not getting beat myself would be a bonus."
Dec 27 01:53:19 <SnowBeard>	She smirks. "So then yes, beating someone in the name of self defense. Respectable." Carmen would offer to be a spar-mate but she's already sparring with two other people and well... It gets a little much.
Dec 27 01:57:29 <Knave>	"If you want to put it like that, sure." He shrugs his huge shoulders, then starts jumping rope at a gentle pace in the hopes of being able to keep up the conversation, "I take it you're training for a reason, then?"
Dec 27 01:58:41 <SnowBeard>	"Yes, a little more on the aggressive side than your's I suppose." She watches him bounce up and down. "Jump rope is an odd choice to practice on however. It's more of a cardio exercise."
Dec 27 02:00:51 <Knave>	"I don't really know a whole lot about working out." He admits, keeping up a slow pace, "Back home, I got all my exercise working on my family's farm. And I played baseball, I guess." He tilts his head slightly, "After I came here I mostly just jogged, did weights to keep myself active."
Dec 27 02:03:23 <SnowBeard>	"It's good, but you should also be optimizing your workout to get the most out of the least." She looks him up and down. "So why are you jump roping? I'm sure there's a better exercise to pick unless you are working on cardio."
Dec 27 02:08:32 <Knave>	He stops jumping rope, and rubs the back of his neck, "Uh..." He pauses before admitting, "I thought maybe it might make me lighter on my feet." He shrugs again, clearly a little bashful about the depth of his ignorance.
Dec 27 02:12:15 <SnowBeard>	Carmen seems to consider it and shrugs. "Well... I guess that will do it. It's more of a habit and fighting style thing than it is something you train on. So I suppose jump rope could help you get into it. The main premise of being light on your feet is not letting your heels around the ground, it wastes time."
Dec 27 02:13:49 <Knave>	"But when my heels are on the ground I feel more stable." He says, gesticulating firmly. He bounces on the balls of his feet experimentally, frowning in consternation.
Dec 27 02:17:03 <SnowBeard>	"You are. Your balance is much better when your heels are on the ground. That's why light fighting styles rely on being fast and /not/ getting hit while hard hitting fighting styles rely more on reacting to an attack and hitting back harder. Being light is more exhausting and a hit will knock you off balance, but when executed properly can be extremely lethal." Thaaat explains it, well, why Carmen looks like she couldn't take a hit. Probably because she can't. She's taken being light over being able to take a hit. "That's a very generalized view of it though."
Dec 27 02:20:53 <Knave>	"Well, Gungnir hits pretty damn hard, but he's quicker than me too." He diligently stows the jump-rope back in its place, "Maybe I should just focus on being able to take a hit, then work my way up to being able to land one."
Dec 27 02:32:33 <SnowBeard>	"It is a viable strategy." Carmen nods. "Unless there's a weapon, then it's a really stupid one. You should analyze his fighting style and determine his gaps and weaknesses, everyone has them."
Dec 27 02:34:58 <Knave>	"We spar." Callum reminds her, putting emphasis on the words, "I think technically he /is/ a weapon, but he's not exactly going to cut me up in a playfight." Another thought visibly occurs to him, "Anyway, I've taken gunshots
 before, I'm probably fine as far as weapons go." He shrugs.
Dec 27 02:37:35 <SnowBeard>	"Technically I'm a weapon, but technically doesn't mean you should take it literally." She frowns. "Taking a shot doesn't mean you can take another, that's how brave idiots die."
Dec 27 02:39:41 <Knave>	"I mean..." He frowns while he waits for the words to fall into place in his head, his hand gesturing, "I don't just mean I've been shot, I mean I was fine after being shot." He pats his pec, "My body's tough, and it heals itself." He coughs into his hand, "Also, I mean Gungnir can turn his hands into blade things."
Dec 27 02:42:21 <SnowBeard>	"... So he's /literally/ a weapon then. Got it." She frowns, she was only technically one, so she couldn't relate much. "And you're right, wounds heal." She nods.
Dec 27 02:45:34 <Knave>	"Quickly, I mean." Callum is a patient guy, but conversation with her is a bit like pulling teeth, "I can take a lot of punishment, is what I'm getting at. In like a superhuman way." He gestures broadly with both arms to indicate the location they're in, "Part of the reason I'm here."
Dec 27 02:47:37 <SnowBeard>	Carmen's eyes dart around him a bit and she shrugs after the lack of another important detail. "Well then I would start incorporating that into your fighting style as you said. If you can recover supernaturally then you should focus on a high risk high reward strat, but for you it would be low risk high reward."
Dec 27 02:50:25 <Knave>	"Right." He nods, trying to keep up, "So what should I be doing, exactly?" He runs a hand through his short-cropped hair, "I know when I throw wild haymakers I just get knocked down for my trouble."
Dec 27 03:17:21 <SnowBeard>	Carmen shrugs and thinks about it a bit. Finally stopping from circling him and staring at him. "Hard hitting. Practically at least. If I were you I'd be going all out with fast recovery speeds. Against your friend? Well I can't say really."
Dec 27 03:18:52 <Knave>	"Right." He says, sounding quite uncertain about the whole thing. "I guess I'll just get better with time. Thanks for the advice, though." He smiles, then points with his thumb towards the door, "I'm think I'm gonna do a lap or two of campus. I'll catch you around."
Dec 27 03:22:03 <SnowBeard>	"Take care." She waves him good bye.
Dec 27 03:23:01 <Knave>	-Scene ran-