Not So Silent Training

[Richard Buckles]

He looked down the distance where the balls had landed apart. He would go down to retrieve them while they talked he though originally but then she inquired about how he still needed training. It felt a tad more insulting than she meant it to he was sure of that. Then he reminded himself that he was old for the awakening or so they said. Not something he thought would quite be the issue it was at the moment.

Though in fashion with the rest of her reactions she did so it a less than tactful manner. He was not letting it get to him since she looked like a little girl this whole time, but this was getting on his nerves a bit. He swallower and rubbed his fingers against the heel of his palm in the right hand nodded "Yeah they warned me I was a bit on the old side to start training. They told me when they found me last week that 18 was an odd time to have my ability manifest."

He just had to keep reminding himself she is a young girl that he shouldn't take her taunting seriously. He just wondered if this was the way it would be with anyone he met. Mocking him for lack of control because he was 'so old' as Demi put it. "Think you can cut me a little slack?"

[Demi Smith]

Demi stared, and just kept right on staring as he kept talking. He'd... he'd manifested at nearly eighteen? Demi nearly goggled at him. Waiting that long would've been torture, but you'd think that he'd at least be more ready for it than not. Demi just couldn't help but turn her head from side to side, trying to figure out this strange.

"Uh, no?" she said, adding a snort. "you're just some kinda late bloomer. You should, like, be working twice as hard. 'cuz I'm, like, at least four years younger than you," she held up her fingers, then gestured, letting her power work over her, "and I've been training most of my life," she flicked one finger at a time, sending out little bursts of dirt and grime, "and, like, I've had my power for about a year."

Demi smirked up at him, clearly about to offer to beat him up to really teach him just how much better she was at this whole thing than he.

[Richard Buckles]

He just kept thinking loudly in his mind 'she is just a kid, she is just the kid'. Though he did calm down some as she brought up valid points that he was at a disadvantage being much further behind in development compared to those that gain their abilities years younger than him. The problem he had was that she didn't need to say it as it was obvious.

The puff of dust that came up along with it made his fan in front of his face coughing for a moment. He hadn't expected her to do that. He took a few steps back in response to the annoyance though not thinking it was hostility. "Well I guess that's good that you had so much time already. Guess I just have to work harder like you said."

He didn't want to fight her even in practice as he wasn't far enough in development he felt. Even still both outcomes were bad. Either beat up a girl or get beaten by one. Neither blow to his ego would be satisfying. Though he couldn't help but feel like she was building up to wanting to duke it out. She had such an abrasive and aggressive personality with this sense of superiority.

[Demi Smith]

It was definitely good that Richard hadn't vocalized all those repeated 'just a kids" that went through his mind. One mention of that passing his lips and Demi would've used his body for target practice, show him just how much of a kid she happened to be. If he thought she'd been posturing and strutting so far, well, he hadn't seen anything yet. His neutral, diplomatic comment just had Demi snorting too.

"Real hard," she said, turning to spit for a moment, wincing as she saw the brown sludge that left her mouth. Dirt did have a tendency to get everywhere, especially when she manipulated it as much as she did. She looked back up at him. "So what are you doing? Just coming out to the field and tossing coins around?" Demi jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

"'cuz that's so a good way of actually practicing your skills," she said, chuckling again. It actually didn't sound too horrible. She'd practiced with flinging dirt at targets from time to time, and she did forms all the time. That wasn't the point here though: the point was that Demi was better than this guy in every conceivable way.

[Richard Buckles]

"Yeah I was thinking that throwing around for some target practice would be a good idea." he told her as he let any semblance of a smile fade from his face. He saw her seeming to have more dirt in her mouth than before as the spit was more like mud than dirty saliva. He was a bit concerned as it seemed a byproduct of her power flaring up. He pulled some stuff out of his bag and put it in his pockets.

He pulled the water bottle out last and tossed the bag aside. He took a small sip and swished it around till spitting it out a little. "I had a feeling that, this was what you were building up to considering things from the moment I met you." he told her as he leaned his head side to side "But I wasn't really looking for some combat training today. Though I appreciate your interest.

[Demi Smith]

The smile left his face, which nearly made Demi's own grin grow all the more. So that's how he was playing it, huh? All scared of the little girl, afraid to actually fight her. Then again, that was probably smarter than most of the people around here. Roxana, Devyn, and Vera hadn't, and most of them had learned the hard way.

So he wasn't going to nibble, even seemed to figure that it was what she'd wanted. The polite refusal had Demi snorting. "Yeah, because learning stuff would suck," she replied, rolling her eyes again. "What if it wasn't, like, fighting? Just you throwing stuff at me or something. I won't fight back at all. Then you're just training against something that'll actually move, and that'll be way more useful than firing at people's stuff."

Demi raised her brows and crossed her arms, smiling and filled with the utmost confidence that Richard would take the bet.

[Richard Buckles]

"Well more because you seem like you are spitting mud there rather than saliva. You sure you shouldn't take a break from using your power for a little bit?" he asked as he was genuinely more concerned with her well being over his ego. She was just so set on challenging him she would resort to any sort of tactic it seemed. She didn't seem like she wanted to help him just show off her superiority.

She offered something beside s fight and he did like the idea indeed "Well I suppose that wouldn't be quite so bad but only if you are sure you can do that? I wouldn't want you to push yourself to hard. I wouldn't want anyone hurt for any reason cause of me." He was perhaps to gentle to fight with her because he saw her as a little girl but if she were a grown person he might not have so much trouble.

He wanted to be a soldier so moving targets would be better and even more so she could make the object she controlled move in way he normally would see and there for work his ability harder.

[Demi Smith]

The question had Demi letting out a harsh laugh. "This?" She turned and spat, actually catching it before it hit the ground. She held the bit up for him to see. "That comes from my layer, and, like, if I move a lot it just sort of happens. Plus, why wouldn't I use my power?" she released it then, before wiping her hand off on her side.

Her second offer came and he seemed a lot more willing to do that. Suited Demi well enough: training was training, and not all of it had to be sparring. Sure, sparring was more fun, but it wouldn't hurt for her to practice dodging. She had to snort at his comments regarding her safety. "uh, I trained with the big professional military steel guy. I think I can handle your coins."

Demi wiggled her fingers a bit and then started walking backward, keeping her eyes on the guy all the while. "C'mon, whenever you're ready," she said, gesturing toward him with a "try your best shot" gesture and smirking.

[Richard Buckles]

He watched her show him an example of what she saw as nothing really more than an irritation. She tried to ease him mind which it did slightly but only slightly. She was still using her abilities all over and he wondered if given enough time could he use them that much without issues? He would hope that would be the case as he didn't want those searing headaches popping up like they did in boot camp.

But back at training he was told he was keeping up with the instructor in basic hand to hand because of his natural ability which allowed him some prediction of movements and best response. He knew that his ability could be used in a variety of ways though more subtle than earth moving was for certain. "So you are used to training with robots?" he asked her as he didn't realize that people could have a metal exoskeleton as part of a power.

She goaded him onto trying his best luck. He engaged her as an opponent in his mind and his brain started to work. He didn't realize he was analyzing her steps back and using that plus her walking before to gauge her gate. Having determined that he took out two golf balls and put one in his left hand and one still in his right. He breathed slowly to draw in his focus.

The more he focused and pushed out distraction the less he was hurt by the use of his power. So this was a good start with a moving target but at the same time not something to lob back at him so he could keep his composure. Once he did this well, it was time to deal with being attacked in return in time. He figured projective fighting would be harder than hand to hand with the calculations.

He took some steps back to increase distance. He then took a few steps forwards as his brain told him that was the right choice, it would increase his speed and power. He took another sideways throw. This was a whipping action that would increase the speed of the projectile more without increasing the exertion on his body much more. The first ball was headed straight at her. He then swiftly shifted the ball to his right hand from his left. He sent it sailing so if he was right on her speed and gate then if she went to the side to avoid something coming straight at her it should hit her with the second one. But that was only if she stepped to the right. He had assumed she was right handed like most people are so she would favor moving to the right or so he thought.

(ooc: hope that made sense)

[Demi Smith]

"I'd break robots," Demi replied, grinning. "It was a guy. A big one, who wrapped himself in steel,' and he was totally badass too. That had been one of Demi's high points from her time at this dumb school. She could still picture the hulking guy looking down at her, admiring her tenacity even while he knew full well that she didn't stand a chance at fighting against him.

Demi liked her odd a lot better now. She saw him get the golf balls out, which made her wince. Those would hurt some if they connected, and Demi wasn't stupid enough to figure that they wouldn't, not with his accuracy. Didn't stop her from stretching and getting ready to dodge. Entering Flow would be somewhat helpful here, particularly if his motions had anything like a pattern or a cadence to them or something. He moved; she moved, already seeming to take dancing little steps, her expression melting into something that was an eerie combination of complete calm and teasing arrogance.

The throw. Demi saw the action and swerved, but still found the ball whizzing close enough to disturb some of the dirt she threw up simply by breathing. Another went sailing by, and Demi managed to step aside... mostly because she happened to be left handed.

"That best you got?" she asked, still impressed: he'd been really close, and if she'd gone right instead of left.

[Richard Buckles]

Before the start of their exercise she claimed that it wasn't a robot that she was fighting but a man, a literal man of metal. He was a bit taken back by that one, he pictured that had to be an interesting transformation. He pictured like armor deploying as security measures. Individual plate sliding down one after the other. Or maybe it was more like his skin just transitioned in metal in a small time.

He had to get his mind off of the metal man though and focus what he was doing to here and now. So after that his wave of attacks failed. She had gone to her left instead well that wasn't expected but good to know. She might not have noticed the way he was throwing them, while hard an fast were all going to just be grazes on the outside of her body. He didn't relish the idea of actually hurting her, but if she wanted to play rough then he wouldn't just outright tell her no.

He stuck his finger in his mouth and then pulled it out, he knew this would make it easier to tell the wind speed even if he had no idea how his brain would calculate it. He took a deep breath as he focused himself now as he was expect her to try and dodge but he wondered if she intended to use her ability to block as well. One way he knew he might be able to hit her but not injure her was by a bounce but he wasn't sure given that it was dirt out here how that would work. He looked over the ground then up at her followed by up in the sky. He took out three golf balls now and transitioned two to the left hand. He threw one up into the air with a lofted approach so it had a heavier arc to it. He then quickly did the same with the other though at a different angle and power.

The first came down with much more power than he put behind it because of gravity though still not as much as when he whipped them directly at her. It was moving slow enough she could see it was coming down towards her but more on the right part of her body. The second one was aimed at her position but more to the left side of her body. They were coming down relatively the same some so if she tried moving to either side directly she would be struck. He followed up as they moved through the air only feet from their target, with the third which he was using the first two as distractions if not to wing her for this one. He took a two step lunge and whipped the third at the ground, bouncing it off so he would have the trajectory coming up slightly. This was different tactic than before with going straight at her or from above and at the same time as it would tag her it would not strike with the pain a direct hit would. His brain processing this all at the speed it did he threw all the three balls in about 15 second span.

[Demi Smith]

This was definitely getting to be a blast for Demi. She trained every day after all, but it was rare when she got to do something like this. True, part of her wanted to flick dirt at Richard, make this end real quick, but she knew that dodging was part of thing. It was surprisingly hard to get people to throw things at her without actually meaning it. When it came to that, well, Demi dodged those sort of attacks on at least a weekly basis.

Two above, coming in at different, harsh angles. Demi knew she could dodge one, had already started moving, but the other she had to actually start using her power to work. She jerked her head at the same time she snapped into moving, pulling the dirt and dust and deflecting the shot away from her. She'd started smirking before realizing that there was a third coming up from the ground. Demi didn't have time to think or react to that: her hand just lashed out.

And she caught it. Wincing, Demi shifted the ball to her other hand, waving the other one. "you are good," she admitted, staring down at the slight red spot on her palm. "Shoulda counted the balls you had at the beginning, then I totally could've handled all of them."

[Richard Buckles]

He saw that his plan had worked as she avoided one but then had to use her power slightly to escape the second she still had not noticed the third till it was almost to late. She caught the ball which he still counted in his favor because if this had been bullets that would have ripped through her palm and inside of torso. Grim thought considering he was training with a girl but it was true. He wondered if he could bounce a bullet like that? Something he had never considered till now. "Well yeah that would have helped I am sure. Well I mean I have amazing accuracy that cant be helped."

He felt a tension in his temples as it was already starting to irritate his head. It wasn't anything that needed even an aspirin yet but it would come if he kept this up. It was mostly because of doing three calculations so rapidly that was causing some taxing already. He wondered if he should pop something ahead of time she he would be able to go longer. He told himself no as if he was in the field he wouldn't have access to something like that necessarily so he chose not to do that.

"Your hand going to be alright?" he questioned as he came over towards her more. It looked like at first he was coming to check up on her but once he came over he bent down and picked up the two balls right next to her before he moved over picking up the rest and putting them back in his deep pockets "Maybe we should try reversing it? How about you try chucking something at me this time?" he suggested as he stood in front of her with his hand out for the ball she had in hand. "Like I said the throwing stuff is the easier end of it. But dodging now that is where I could use some work."

[Demi Smith]

Demi kept shaking her hand, feeling the throbbing in there. It was a good sort of throb though, a wound that she'd kind of earned in a way. the thought made her grin, and she could practically feel it seeping in. "You kidding? This is nothing. I usually end up spitting blood when I'm training," the thought of which had Demi grinning almost viciously now. She couldn't help but feel truly good, truly alive when she did this. Everything else at this school confused her, often hurt her. But this, training, using powers, that felt good, felt right, especially with someone like this guy, who was clearly older than her and also just as clearly looking up to her and admiring her.

"that going to help you?" she asked. Not that Demi wasn't thrilled at the prospect of attacking this guy from a distance. She'd definitely had some practice there, but she wasn't going to turn down a chance to do it some more. "I don't mind beating you up, but you're obviously the one who needs the training here," Demi gestured at him before sliding a hand down her body, letting a little cloud of dust sort of roll off. Yeah, she was still awesome.

[Richard Buckles]

He put the last of his golf balls into his pocket as he looked at her "Well good to hear the ricochet works to deaden the impact. Wouldn't want you seriously hurt now." he said with a smile and not at her. That was before he started to back away from her so they could begin the next phase of the training. He had to not only get used to aiming which came relatively easy with small adjustments but also avoiding and deflecting things that came at him. These might require much more of his ability and body, training both at once. He was told his ability would allow him to do feats of athleticism which he guess he had used back in basic on the obstacle course.

He apparently had been using his ability the last week or so before they picked him up and he didn't know it. Though stretched his arms a bit and did a small leg stretched as he prepared to do some maneuvering. He was a tad concerned that she apparently trained hard enough to be bleeding though not terribly surprised seeing as her attitude was rather 'determined' he would put it as nicely. "Oh? You assume I will be an easy target there Demi. It is training trust me in fact its double training. Don't worry about it just throw some stuff my way."

He stood with his feet slightly apart ready for her as he could be. He breathed in and out slowly as he had to stay in control and focus on the objective. He wondered how hard she would come at him.