Kenoma Team Training

[lachtara]

WHO: The Kenoma
WHAT: Training Activities
WHERE: Starts at the Citadel, varies per activity
WHEN: Starting on 6/4
WARNINGS: None yet...?

After a period of relative quiet, the Kenoma will receive a Communion post of utmost importance:

"Good day, everyone. This is Ciel. We may have received a passing grade from the Regent following the events in Venera, but they have sorely underlined how ill-prepared we were for a proper mission on Horos. Emet-Selch, Eustace, and I are in agreement, thus we have organized a series of training and teambuilding exercises. We ask that you all please attend, there will be... prizes."

---

OVERVIEW

When trainees arrive in the Courtyard after the Communion, a plethora of training activities await them.

The courtyard itself is sectioned off into areas, one for each training activity for the day. The activities vary from one subject to another, and still manage to be related to their tasks as a Kenoma while still leaving room for "fun". Weapons training, tag, survival training, and strength training are all provided. Kenoma is also welcome to spar on their own if they so choose. (This is not included as a specific prompt to avoid too much PVP, but you can add it in a TL if you like.)

Instructions on each activity will be provided to the participant before they begin. For those who can’t participate or choose to show up for moral support or to dodge the activities, water will be provided so that you may gossip around the proverbial "water cooler".

Each of the three trainers are on hand in some capacity or another to provide instructions on that activity or training on a specific skill.

These exercises can be done at any point and do not necessarily have to be done on a training day with the group. Characters can return after the crowd has dispersed to train on their own or with a chosen individual. The equipment will still be there and trainers (or fellow Kenoma) can be brought here at their leisure.

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I. WEAPONS TRAINING

Racks of weapons are lined up on the far side of the courtyard. These range from swords to polearms and rather sizable knives to swords and tonfas. Feel free to grab a weapon of your choosing and have a trainer engage you to show you how to use it. Or, if they have experience, other students may also advise you!

The intent is to train on the proper use of several types of weapons and how to wield them effectively. It may also delve into how to most efficiently disable/neutralize/injure someone in a fight, depending on which teacher you wind up with.

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II. AGILITY

There is an open part of the field that has been roped off specifically for...tag! Rope bridges, mud pits, chest-high walls of rock, and even a large wall of ice (?!) dot the field to give people plenty of places to hide and run. (If you would like your own obstacle, feel free to comment to ask so we can make sure it’s within reason of what our characters could do.)

Participants will be provided with a waxy paint to put on their hands which will stain whatever person it comes in contact with with a very luminescent purple glitter. (It washes out, of course!) The last person standing will get a prize of…dubious worth.

Now get running!

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III. SURVIVAL

There’s two locations for this: the outdoor courtyard closest to the main citadel kitchen, and the kitchen itself.

For the outdoor location, bundles of tree branches and firewood are provided if needed, students are expected to start their own fire and cook wild game with what they foraged.

A - Foraging
Time for a field trip to the mountains and woods outside Achamoth! Students will be taught basic survival skills including: first aid without the use of magic, how to find and create shelter from natural terrain, how to identify and forage for food that is safe to eat, and how to create traps to catch wild game. Yes, you too can experience the joy of floor meat!

All foraged supplies can subsequently be used for Home Ec cooking lessons.

B - Home Ec
For the kitchen, there's a dedicated area where several Aions at once could attempt cooking with utensils and more elaborate ingredients. There are some servants keeping an eye out just in case and could be flagged down for help or assistance if requested/needed, but otherwise, Aions are free to make use of everything available to their own ends. Is this really useful for "training"? Cooking is a science that shapes and nourishes both body and soul, of course, it's important enough to have a part in the curriculum!

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IV. STRENGTH

Step up to the starting line with one partner. One person will carry the other across a small section of the course to the finish line at the opposite end. There are a few minor obstacles such as walls and puddles. Nothing that you have to put too much effort into getting around. The person who can see will guide the person carrying them to the finish line using only their voice. Try not to bump into anything.

If you feel *really* ambitious, extra weights will be provided. Or you can forgo the rules and carry two people (or more?). Your choice, really.

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V. REFRESHMENTS

For those who are not athletically inclined - or claim not to be athletically inclined - a large chunk of ice with refreshments dotted throughout awaits you on the sidelines. They will take a little effort to free them. Most will be freed with a little pull while others are completely encased in ice and may not be worth the effort.

Feel free to hand out refreshments, gossip about the participants, or scheme to your hearts' content.

Comments

III.

[gravings]

Alongside the kitchen staff is Gray with a look of identical, if not greater, look of worry on her face. Emet-Selch is behaving as if nothing's wrong, and his casual confidence is the single tenuous thread keeping Gray in line. For a few long seconds she jitters and shuffles her feet in place, her hands half-raised with a desire for action.

When it becomes clear that Emet-Selch has no intention of adding anything further to the pan, Gray breaks. She snatches up a handy bottle of cooking oil and runs to his side. She isn't quite panicked enough to start dousing the vegetables with oil herself to save them from scorching, but she insistently holds the bottle out to him.

"Ah — here!" She prays he'll take the hint...

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch looks down at his small 'helper'. He leers, but takes the bottle in hand all the same.

An obvious hint, but fine, he'll play along. "Yes, this should do." He says before pouring in a reasonable amount of oil.

He sets the bottle down and folds his arms. "I suppose that's all it needs?" There's something about his tone that is baiting, asking to be brought more.

[gravings]

She fidgets in distress, caught in the dilemma of having to tell him that there should be some seasoning (a.k.a. telling him what to do) and scurrying away and letting him live in ignorant bliss (a.k.a. beautiful passive safety). In the end, she caves under the pressure of the law of cooking and scuttles aside so that she can retrieve a couple small tins of salt and pepper that the cooking team has brought along.

"Um, these too!" She thrusts the tins out at him without managing to spill any of their contents, leaving him (perhaps unwisely) to decide on how much he wants to put in.

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch makes an acknowledging 'Mmm' noise and takes both containers in hand. He sprinkles a suspiciously competent amount of seasoning on the vegetables in the pan. It's almost as though he has an idea of what he is doing but is unwilling to seek anything out for himself in such a large and unwieldy kitchen.

"Would you like some?" He offers politely.

[gravings]

Gray looks between him and his pan with a small amount of confusion, followed by mild suspicion as she wonders if he's just very lazy or very lucky with his ability to eyeball amounts of seasoning. Either way, she feels a bit silly and a bit much like she's being teased.

"... Yes," she mumbles, looking like she'd like to board an elevator straight into the ground. Behind her, the cooking staff look like they feel a bit sorry for her.

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch gives her a faint smirk. It is plain to see that what he makes is below par at best. "Though I appreciate your polite repartee, you need not suffer for the sake of graciousness." He reaches forward and smothers the cooking flame.

"Shall we find you something worth eating?"

[gravings]

She looks back up with yet more confusion. His vegetables look... a tiny bit scorched, but they're still (probably) edible. It seems like a waste to just toss them. For lack of any other opinions to lean on, she glances toward the cooking staff uncertainly. Though she's an Aion, there are enough people on the staff who seem to understand that she's also a shy and awkward teen in need of help, and they give her exaggerated nods of encouragement. Someone will eat the reject food... probably.

"Okay," she says, giving in to peer pressure. "Did you have something in mind?" Also, aren't they supposed to be survival training??

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch glances at the nearby kitchen staff. They busily prepare food and one of them walks by with a tray of bite-sized fish Hors d'oeuvre. "Ah." He scoops up the tray in a single graceful movement and sets it down in front of Gray - Much to the chagrin of the servant. "This will do nicely." He says optimistically.

"I know our assignment was to cook using the supplies we gathered, but there is nothing that requires us to suffer its taste." So he picks up the little morsel and snacks away!

[gravings]

Gray looks very much like someone has poked the back of her neck with an ice cube as she watches Emet-Selch poach an entire tray of hors d'oeuvres. It strikes her all of a sudden that he is a shameless rascal.

She isn't really sure what she should do -- if she should apologize to the staff or if she should politely make herself complicit in his crime. In the end, she indecisively does both. She dips sympathetically toward the staff before delicately plucking up an hors d'oeuvre for herself. Emet-Selch did tell her to act according to her station, but she can't help feeling for the little people.

"Mr. Emet-Selch," she begins slowly, "I can really tell that you lived... a high-class life before." That's about as diplomatic as she can be.

[lachtara]

"Oh?" He asks simply, allowing her time to explain. "Is that a polite way to voice your disapproval?"

Her words before have not been forgotten - that she lived a life similar to a retainer and would likely relate more to those around them than to others in their Aion collective.

[gravings]

She flounders a little at his question, a small start and a blink. She takes an extra second to respond, a sure sign that she's trying once again to be polite. But she says eventually with gentle firmness, "Training time is training time. We should do our best to learn while we're here. And... we should try not to waste any ingredients."

There's a lot of hard work that goes into growing vegetables, after all.

[lachtara]

Oh, was she not expecting such a question?

Emet-Selch gives her a quiet smile of approval with her pushback. "Very well." Then, he takes two plates from the stack of nearby dishware and puts two helpings of his terrible food on them. One is offered to her and he takes the other. A reward for her 'assertiveness'.

"Then let us both suffer." He takes a bite and makes a noise of disapproval. It's actually not that bad (aside from a few burned spots) but one can not help his pickiness.

[gravings]

She really should've seen this coming... but she doesn't protest as she watches in slow motion as he retrieves two plates and serves up his suspect cooking. Before she picks up her fork, she reflexively signs the cross and mumbles a "Thank you for this blessing." She doesn't complain either as she gives the modestly scorched food a taste, then continues to eat everything on her plate at an even pace. Maybe the real blessing is that her capacity for punishment is high.

"Mr. Emet-Selch... You seem to be enjoying this." That is, their suffering, but mostly her suffering.

[lachtara]

"I'm simply doing as asked." He says, knowing all too well what she's implying.

"That aside, how have you found our training sessions today? I've yet to hear any meaningful ways that it can be improved and I would be interested in hearing your opinion." It lets her know that her words are being heard - something that could be invaluable to someone who lived a life as a 'retainer'.

[gravings]

The more professional tone of his question seems to come from left field, but as is her wont, she readily follows him there. She puts a pause on her plate's progress so that she can seriously consider her answer.

"It's a little unconventional compared to what I'm used to. I might even say it's a bit too friendly," she says with perhaps unexpected bluntness. "I think strict training is most effective. Anything less might be more recreational than useful for survival."

Not naming names, but certain people really do need taskmasters to stay on track...

[lachtara]

"'Strict training' such as?" May as well give her space to follow through with explaining the suggstions.

[gravings]

"Such as... a boot camp." Though she gets the feeling that Emet-Selch wouldn't like that kind of training for himself. But he does seem like he might enjoy being a cheeky overlord.

[lachtara]

"Mmm." He nods deeply in agreement while his mouth is full of this debatable green called food. "We will have more training sessions in the future. Perhaps we can do that with our next meeting." When they were more willing to be pushed.

He sighs faintly in reminisce. "T'would bring back memories of times in the barracks." As he has spent his own time as a soldier.

[gravings]

Barracks... That isn't a word she's heard often. It's almost exotic to someone with little to no exposure to military life. "Were you a soldier?" She really can't imagine him in a uniform running around and getting yelled at.