second; text

[eyeforaneye]

Who: Uchiha Sasuke+YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Huntress
When: Jan. 31

A few things.

There are a good number of fighters here or people otherwise trained in combat. I'm interested in observing people's abilities or training, or at least discussing what they can do. Spars could also be arranged if you want some exercise.

Secondly, I'll take recommendations for good literature available around here.

Finally, if you know how to knit or crochet then I'll offer you up to ten credits to watch you create something.

[ Yeah, this isn't weird. For anyone interested in action he'll be holed up in his room on the Huntress! ]

Comments

[theshabbiestofmen]

[He scowls at that flat little nothing; he's a wizard, not a brute, and they're trained for different things. He's good at what he does, it's just that what he does isn't . . . this.

Whatever. Bruised pride shoved aside, he writes down those exercises (squats, push-ups, sit-ups?? x 50).]

Fairly flexible by normal standards. I can run for a fairly decent amount of time, actually. [Thanks to Moony, anyway.]

[eyeforaneye]

[ Wizard vs. brute, round one. Force him into attempting basic charm spells and mock his failures in revenge. ]

Remember again that our worlds are very separate from one another. If you say 'normal standards' then I don't have an appropriate frame of reference for what that means, and 'fairly decent' falls under that same category. Are you willing to show me the lengths of your stamina now or should we schedule another time?

[theshabbiestofmen]

Oh, we might as well now.

[He remembers, suddenly, why he'd declined to try out for Quidditch years ago. Remus sighs and rubs his nose. Sasuke has the uncanny ability to make him feel both stupid and out of his depth without ever really trying; it's quite disconcerting.]

Push-ups . . . I should imagine I can't do any, so why don't we just skip that particular humiliation, hm? As for running . . .

[They don't have that much room here. Remus sucks on his teeth, glancing around, trying to think.]

I should imagine I could complete a mile in around fifteen minutes, if I truly pushed myself.

[eyeforaneye]

[ He takes a moment to do the conversion to kilometers in his head, already having come across a need to know it while here. ]

... if you want to learn, you need to be willing to push through what you call 'humiliation'. If you can't do a push-up, we'll rectify that. [ His tone is factual instead of mocking, not exactly known for his empathy but he can still try to remember what it was like when he himself was learning. ]

I'll aid you with your form. If you have trouble doing one now then it'll be harder for you to learn on your own when I've told you to do fifty.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[It makes sense, unfortunately, and Remus can find no cruelty in Sasuke's gaze, no eagerness to see Remus fail. He's stoic, but not nasty. So he nods and bites back his sigh as he gets to his knees.

God, he hopes nobody walks in.

Palms flat against the floor, body drawn out, toes pointed-- he can do one push-up, at least, can't he? He takes a breath and lifts himself up off the floor-- and oh, it turns out one is the absolute limit of his abilities, because even this is difficult. Fucking hell--]

[eyeforaneye]

...

[ He watches quietly for a moment or two before hunching down closer, eyebrow again quirked. ]

Hold that position; locking your knees will make it easier to maintain for a moment. [ As he reaches out, totally unashamedly placing his hand against Remus's lower back in order to push down to straighten his spine. Ass too high in the air, common rookie mistake. ]

Try to get accustomed to the muscle memory of this position. This is what you're aiming for.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[He stiffens for a moment, unused to anyone touching him like that-- but just as before, he moves willingly enough, bowing to Sasuke's superior experience. Knees locked, arse far lower than he'd thought, arms trembling a little from exertion.]

All right. How many-- [And he drops down, returning to a kneeling position.] --do you do a day? Out of curiosity.

[eyeforaneye]

For me there's no set limit. All that's important is that I do enough to retain my current level of fitness. [ He rolls one shoulder, still keeping a close eye on Remus and on any shudder of his muscles in order to pick out weaknesses. ]

Perhaps -- move your hands further apart -- about sixty for me. I've been increasing the number since I lost my arm in order to adjust to the changes.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Merlin.

[He murmurs that and returns to the proper stance, adjusting as Sasuke orders him. Hands further apart, now, and though his arms protest, he thinks he can feel the difference. Sturdier, just as when Sasuke had moved him while they were fighting. The man clearly knows what he's doing, even if he's brisk; he's intelligent, and Remus is as intrigued as he is irritated by that.]

I can't imagine . . . though I suppose you've built up to it. Sort of like magic, we don't do the really difficult spells until we've mastered the basics-- or any talent, I suppose.

[He's chattering now, which is really stupid, because he's breathless as he speaks-- but he can't help it. Part of it is to remind them both that Remus is competent in other areas; he's not some brainless idiot. He's just not good at this.]

[eyeforaneye]

Sixty isn't as excessive as you believe it to be. Your body is also capable of that in time.

[ From what Sasuke can see, anyway, when did his eyes go red. ]

Right now it isn't just a matter of training your muscles, it's also a matter of training your mind. It's unused to these motions and this specific kind of strain, something that will be overcome and alleviated with practice.

Even if you can't complete the push-up, you need to keep trying.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Understood.

[And he does understand, actually. It really is the same no matter what you're training to be: giving up when you're awful at something doesn't help. It's why he can now produce a Patronus, despite being utter shite at charms-- because he kept at it.

But that doesn't mean he wants to do all that now. Not in front of Sasuke. He sits back, letting his poor arms rest, and glances up.]

I--

[The sentence dies on his lips, and for a moment, Remus pauses.]

Your eyes have changed.

[It's not with horror that he speaks-- rather, his voice is quiet, waiting for an explanation.]

1/3

[eyeforaneye]

2/3

[eyeforaneye]

3/3

[eyeforaneye]

[ Nope, right back to black again as if nothing happened at all. ]

It saves me time. More importantly, I also want to see how you perform a squat and a sit-up. I don't have any weights to laden you with for the former, but it won't matter if I'm just judging the form for now.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Sorry, saves you time for what? I'll-- I'll do those, I can do a sit-up, I haven't any idea how to do a squat, but-- they were red. They were definitely red-- I thought you hadn't any magic!

[eyeforaneye]

... if you don't know how to do something then you should say so before just writing down what I've said and moving on, you know.

Regardless, it depends on what you term 'magic'.

[theshabbiestofmen]

I was going to ask once we'd moved on to them.

[Not at all the point, but he feels he has to defend himself.]

How do you define it, then?

[Since clearly he can't make assumptions!!]

[eyeforaneye]

This is off-topic. [ And he's such a severe and serious person that that bothers him, but after a moment he actually sighs softly and gives in. ]

I told you that I utilize chakra, which is a combination of my physical and mental energy. It is the source of energy for a number of my abilities, including the one that you just witnessed.

[theshabbiestofmen]

Which was?

[He doesn't write this down, but there's definitely a sense of all this information being put away. It's fascinating, and might explain why Sasuke is so strong despite being so slender.]

[eyeforaneye]

It's not actually something that you could emulate; it's a genetic ability. This isn't within the realm of things that I can teach you, you know.

[ Just to make that clear. ] Why are you so interested?

[theshabbiestofmen]

I know.

[He'd suspected, anyway. At the question, though, Remus shrugs.]

I like learning new things. And I find all the differences between us all-- the magic, the physical abilities, the changes between worlds and politics and social policies and expectations-- to be utterly fascinating. Don't you? I mean, perhaps not to the same degree, but-- I mean, how can you not find it interesting?

[eyeforaneye]

[ There's a moment of hesitation, but... ]

I find it interesting. [ Admittedly, though perhaps for different reasons. ]

... that ability is called the sharingan, which is a doujutsu -- or eye-based technique -- utilized by the Uchiha clan. What you saw was the basic form, but there are three others which require specific conditions to be met before they can be awakened: the mangekyou, the eternal mangekyou, and the rinnegan.

[theshabbiestofmen]

What conditions? And what is the end result hoped for? Some kind of . . . scanning ability?

[eyeforaneye]

[ ... ]

It allows me to see someone's energy. How powerful it is, its nature, that kind of thing. That, and it greatly enhances vision and allows me to copy observed physical movements.

[theshabbiestofmen]

[Fascinating.]

Dare I ask what you saw when you scanned me?