Learning some new things [Solo/training]

The same shop that Oliver had gotten Big Dipper from and The Satellites he found himself returning to.  Almost as if it were some sort of haven for him to practice and get training in.  Which was the reason for the lad to be here today.

The elderly shop owner greeted his unannounced entry with a dagger thrown into the door fame to try and scare the lad.  he only smiled and waved to her, "Looking as lively as ever Takane-san. I was looking to use the back room and about four training dummies. I'll be in the back."

Without giving the shop owner much of a choice in this back alley den of gambling and underhanded deals, Oliver was in the back room, picking up and setting down the wood and leather training mannequin dummies.  They were to be the subject of a few new techniques he wanted to try out.  The more fights he got in the more he found he needed to be prepared with some specialized attacks.

Setting the dummies up around himself in all four directions, Oliver took his time pivoting about with his footing, making sure that they were about the same distance between each other and himself. "Alright then lads, time we test out the new skill aye?"

Drawing out Big Dipper, Oliver leisurely swung his right arm upwards, letting the weapon unfurl, catching the dark handle of the other end of the three-section cane so that the pointed bevel end could stick outwards.  Thinking to start from the top of his mental list, Oliver took in a deep breath and prepared to try out Day Cycle.

Quickly shifting his hands to the center of the weapon, he spun it around his body with the ends not locked in staff mode.  This allowed them to flail around and carry around his body like nunchaku.  He brought the cane around from his right to the left, bringing it upwards after the second go around to spin it like a propeller.  But instead the weapon slipped out of his hands and went teetering across the room! Comically chasing after it, Oliver ran for the weapon with arms outstretched.

After finally getting to Big Dipper and walking back over to the dummies, Oliver bowed down and heaved out a sigh before taking in a deep breath, heaving it out after the fact.  Okay this time for real, he thought.  Again he brought the weapon around his body, pivoting about the ground this time to get a single turn along with his body making a turn itself.  Using the shorter time of spinning combined with the opposite turning to make it seem like two spins were done, Oliver brought the weapon up overhead. This time after the helicopter spin, Oliver brought the weapon around and the weapon went around his pectoral area, exchanging hand over hand with the flail ends of his sanjiegun striking across the heads of the dummies.

One and two hits were all it took to send each of the dummies toppling over and Oliver sitting down on the ground with a grin on his face, those amber eyes now burning garnet with excitement.  A few repetitions and set ups, and the dummies were dispatched time and time again, getting the hang of Day Cycle.

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Taking a short break after the first little impromptu training session that he did, Oliver sat in the room and took in a few deep breaths.  He finished learning Day cycle just a moment ago, now he needed to learn one of the other abilities he had in mind. Though he wanted to go down the bullet list that he had written up in his mind, there was a problem of the sun setting in the background that made it difficult to try the ironically named Night Cycle. He had time for a quick one, so he decided he would practice his Soaring Comet technique.

Pushing himself up off of the ground, Oliver grunted and got to his feet, dusting off his backside and proceeded to set up a few dummies that he had previously knocked over. Though they weren't grouped, he put two one one end of the room, two on the other.  After he set up the faceless, unarmed and defenseless beating bodies, Oliver looked over at the far end where the first two were set up.  He pictured what he wanted to do in his head, as if seeing a semi-transparent illusion of himself performing the technique perfectly, fighting off some sort of sentient mannequins in some horror story, Oliver started psyching himself up.

Taking Big Dipper and flexing it outwards to be a straight stick before pushing the sections into each other, locking it into a staff form. Twirling it overhead before bringing it around to his right side, the back of the weapon poking up just over his left shoulder as it splayed across his back, Oliver took a deep breath, eyes closed and then stared down at the dummies. It started with a few walking steps, escalated to a trot and then a full on sprint.  His eyes focused on the dummy on the left while he brought his pole up overhead with a vertical twirl.

Gripping the staff with both hands and jamming the end into the matted floor, Oliver sought to poll vault and launch himself at the dummy, so that he could slam his foot into its chest and deal some powerful damage to that sternum.  What he got instead was himself tumbling over himself, falling face first into a roll across the floor several times and between the Seven-Ten split of the two dummies. Thudding against the wall, Oliver had an annoyed look on his face, glowering with his tongue pressed up against his right incisor.

After a moment, Oliver helped himself up off the floor, dusting himself off and looking to the other side of the room where he had just came from.  First is the worst, second is the best--at least that's how the nursery rhyme goes.  Walking, trotting, sprinting; Oliver went at full speeds for the dummies.  This time when his staff went into the ground, he braced both feet and waited for the last moment of it pushing against him to kick off the ground with his more backwards foot.  This sent himself into a bit of a barrel roll out of control through the room, his staff whistling as it sliced through the incorporeal air.  When he got to the dummy on the right, Oliver swung his foot overhead, planting the sole of it against the dummy's chest with enough force to cave in the wooden training material.  The shop owner shouted at him in there that he would be paying for that!  Well at least he got the hang of using Soaring Comet!

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A new day, a new trip to the back alley of the town he was currently holed up in.  Oliver Oxford, rampant runaway, aspiring author, magician without magic.  All of these and his name shared a few things in common with one another; they all started with the same letter, and they all described the same person.  But that was neither here nor there, Oliver was preparing himself for a new trip to the impromptu dojo where Takane, the assassin merchant and his contact were 'graciously' allowing him to train some new skills that he had thought up and decided to practice.

He brought Big Dipper with him again, using the weapon to gently move the cloth curtain that served as a door out of the way. "Hello Takane-san! How are you doing today?"

"You know how I am doing you little bastard. Upset that I'm still alive after all of these years and upset you haven't paid for the replacement of one of those dummies, you big dummy. I should replace him with you!"

Oliver listed his hips to the side, making a bit of a curve in his body as he avoided the casual thrown knife of Takane. "As lively as ever Takane-san! Had I not known better from you reminding me, I would say you were in your sixties. I'll be in the back now, have fun!"  He ducked out before another knife came soaring his way.

Today there were a few dummies, one less than yesterday, though it was still there, just tossed to the corner with other broken equipment from other clients of Takane.  He took in a deep breath and walked over while spinning Big Dipper overhead, bringing it around to rest against his back, one end over his left shoulder, the other down to his hip.

How to do this, how to do this--he pondered to himself, thinking which one he should target first.  The closest was the safest bet.  Unlocking the sections of his weapon and gathering them up into one hand, holding onto the handle portion of the middle section and one of the end sections, and near the bevel pointed end of the other section.  Oliver then lashed outwards, locking the weapon into its full length all at once, seeking to strike the dummy in its shoulder!  The first hit connected, and as he brought the weapon back to try for the full move, it buckled and flew out of Oliver's hand, flying across the room and clanking against the ground, skidding along and scuffing the tatami matting a little bit.

Takane shouted in to demand knowledge of just what the hell was going on in there.  Oliver replied that it was just a mishap, and to put it on his tab.  He walked over and grabbed the weapon, deciding to try the move several more times and getting the same result.  Each time it flew out of his hand this way and that, Oliver was stumped as to what he was missing.  There had to be some trick to it, he could picture it being done in his mind so clearly.

He had to sit down for a few minutes, trying to think about just what it was that he was missing.  Was it the strength he put into it?  The tension of the weapon? The lack of a real target to test it on?  Well only time would tell.  he sat there, right hand holding his left elbow, his thumb curled up under his chin, middle finger curled over his upper lip and index finger pressed up against the side of his face. Striking that signature pose he always took when going into deep thought.

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Back to the grindstone, thought Oliver as he pushed up off the ground, having been seated for a break as he pondered what he was doing wrong.  He moved from standing to the ground after a while without realizing it.  He had come to some realization though, there was a chance it could work, yes!

As he got up he picked up Big Dipper on his way up to his feet. Standing up straight and rolling his shoulders, Oliver pondered how he would do this while approaching the closest of the training dummies.  It wouldn't be terribly difficult to execute if it worked.  He would give it three tries before attempting another theory though. As he got to the dummy, he held out Big Dipper square with his shoulders in front of himself, holding the end sections along their handles against the arches between his thumbs and index fingers.  He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Oliver started to bring the weapon around his body like nunchaku, though when it went up into the air over his right shoulder, he snapped his arm backwards, bringing all three sections into his hand and above his head!  He then moved as if he were swinging a whip.  This lashed out the sections to try and strike the dummy! It was a little too fast and it snapped out of his hand right over the dummy's shoulder.

Chasing after the weapon, Oliver went to pick it up and moved to the next closest dummy with a sigh.  Time for attempt number two of three.  Second is the best, he kept telling himself that whenever he was doing these little sessions.  Granted this was attempt number three total and third time's the charm!

Performing the same motion of crossing over from the stomach to the shoulder left to right, again and again before his right hand lurched up and yanked back, Oliver caught his weapon and then instead brought his arm around in a windmill fashion for an underhanded outward lashing.  The weapon extended and struck the dummy under the chin, and he pulled his arm back before lashing out again, having the weapon whip out and crack against the dummy's noggin, toppling it over.  Content with it, he felt he got the hang of how to use Violent Shooting Star, and then proceeded to leave the room, leaving Takane with a tip for the damages caused so that he could head home for the day and come back the next to master the last of his newly thought up abilities.

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Another day another skill to learn.  It had been several days of grueling self imposed training on his part to better himself in combat.  As he moved up in the world and explored more outside of Magnostadt, Oliver found himself met with a larger number of trials to over come, one of those was defending himself from things like necromancers, slavers, bears, oh my!

Today he felt like would be the last day he needed for his training purposes.  He kept that thought in his head to psyche himself up as he moved through the back alleys of the town he currently occupied.  It was through these back alleys that there was an alcove, a microcosm of dark seedy people gathering together like a second town hidden away in the first.  He made his way to an ornate looking drapery, pushing it to the side as the doorway behind was revealed.  He was met with another knife right into the doorway, right next to his head.  Oliver could only smile and wave at the shop owner, Takane, who addressed most people that entered the shop in that manner.

"As radiant as always my fair lady. I am going to be in the back room practicing a new move. As usual I will pay back any damages I make." He acted as polite as he could, he had to, but also wanted to.  Not because of her age, or how she taught him how to fight like an assassin, but because she was such an interesting character, he had to write up a character just like her in his book or series when he wrote it/them.  But enough of that, he went to the back room, finding three dummies still standing nice and perfectly ready.

From behind his back he grabbed the bunched up weapon, Big Dipper, and then made a wave motion with his right arm, letting lose the three sections, one dragging on the ground as he held the other extreme.  He brought the weapon over his body with a swing of his arm and grabbed the other end segment in his left hand.  Holding it with the center hovering between the two sections, Oliver took in a deep breath and prepared himself.  His eyes closed and he pictured the ability he wanted to use.  It was just like Day Cycle he had trained the other day, but different.  An upgrade but a completely new version.

He opened his eyes and looked at the dummy, twirling the weapon in front of him passing it hand over hand via the middle section a couple of times.  His right hand then shot out and grabbed an end section near the center of the end of it, bringing it across his body from the lower right to the upper left.  It brought the middle section up over his shoulder and across his back, resting with the chain draped over himself.  the other section came around, which he grabbed and sought to do the same motion in the opposite direction.  Like he was swinging nunchaku, Oliver did this a few times before trying to lash out one of the end segments, only for it to whip around and clonk himself in the forehead!

"Bugger me in the arse!" He shouted out and dropped the weapon, flopping down onto his rear end, holding his forehead with both hands.  That was gonna be a mark for a while unless he got some medication for it.  But it was enough of a pain to distract him and focus on what he could do to better himself.

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Oliver was sitting there, rubbing the spot on his forehead with one eye shut, the other opened up, glaring at the weapon that just hit himself in the forehead like someone that tried to show off with nunchaku and wound up getting knocked in a sensitive area. He was contemplating what went wrong with it whipping back and into his forehead. A thought came to him to try out!

That bump in the noggin might have been just what he needed, he thought while leaning over, one hand against the ground, the other against his knee as he pushed himself up off the ground to his feet.  He grabbed Big Dipper on the way up, the two ends dangling haphazardly as he straightened his posture and looked at the first dummy, "You get to live." He said tot he dummy, trying to play off that it wasn't that dummy that made him hit himself, it was the other one and would be the target of his aggressive attack.

He started with the posture he struck every time he practiced a new skill with this weapon. His hands holding the handles for the end segments of his sanjiegun, letting the middle swing and sway between the two lightly like a Newton Ball. It took a moment of thought before he decided on the new technique he would try with it.

It only failed twice, with the weapon flinging back at him, him dodging out of the way, or it flying upwards only for him to catch it. But, Oliver brought the weapon up and around, casting it over his back this time, reaching over across his stomach with one arm to grab the weapon as it whipped around and then repeated the process with his three section cane, wielding it like nunchaku.  As he felt it proper to finally do so, Oliver swung his arms outward as the weapon was brought back around.  He performed the action four times, striking the dummy and pushing it back with each clack of the weapon hitting the wood.

After the onslaught and the dummy pushed back and toppled over, Oliver decided it was time to call it a day on the Night Cycle. He turned on his heels and left the room, leaving a small tip on the counter for Takane, who gladly threw a knife at the cursed youth who used her store. Another of her cheery signs of thanks.  He walked out of the building, back through the alleyway and off tot he inn where he would get back to his warm bed.

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