Training Daze

Posted on Tue Aug 6th, 2024 @ 6:09 by Phoebe Hunter & Claire Cavendish & Jonathan Monroe & Cameron Johnston & Kaylee Ashton BSc & Rebecca McMillen & Sarah Bright & Alastair Temple & Andrew Hallows & Penny Gardner

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Institute, Gymasium
Timeline: Monday, 25th of January, 1993
4372 words - 8.7 OF Standard Post Measure

This was something new for Andrew, he had trained people before, however not primarily unschooled people in the use of tactics and general self-defense. He had decided to split the groups between the teachers/Knights and students, to him it made the most sense as it might force people out of their safety/comfort zones. The other reasoning was the classes for the students would be more self-defense focused and less tactics and combat focused.

In preparation for the first class, he had put out a flyer requested that those attending arrived in gym/workout clothes as the classes would be a mix of both physical and mental training, he hoped those attending would be more comfortable this way. He had set up cones for sprints, tennis balls for hand-eye coordination. In light of how tough the training could and would be he had filled an igloo water container with cold water and set it on a table next to a stack of disposable cups. This group would be the first grouping so they were something of the test group to see how this would work and if he needed to set up things differently going forward.

While he was waiting for people to arrive, he was seated in a folding chair going over some files to better understand the powers of the people he would be training. It was nothing crazy in depth, simply basic information regarding each person at the school. He sat there in a simple pair of gray cross-trainers, black shorts (which thankfully covered the bullet wounds in his right thigh), and a gray tank top (which showed his muscle definition and various training scars).

The doors opened, letting the first arrival through. Rebecca showed up in what could best be described as 'gym clothes'. Grey sweatpants, sneakers, and a sports top all in the basic grey bland scheme. Mousey girl with mousey color scheme was a classic tale, and speaking of which, she didn't even feel the need to hide her tail in this outfit, in this company, in this place. Here she felt comfortable enough despite everything that was going on in the world. The final touch was her hair, pulled back in a simple pony tail.

Not that Rebecca's Tail Comfort was much of a metric, but it meant the world to her. "I was worried I was running behind. Looks like I'm the first one here." she offered, looking around, "Unless Al's in the rafters or something." she then gave a glance up, checking for musicians.

Sarah entered next, not far after Rebecca, but enough to have missed catching her in the hallway. She peeked in first, as if cautious about what she would find waiting for her in the gymnasium. She had so far not made much of an impression athletics-wise at Avalon, so it came as a surprise to her when she'd been 'invited' to participate in some training. The specifics had not been left out so Sarah sort of knew what was getting into, but at the moment she couldn't really see the point of her being there. As far as she was aware, her possibly mutant powers were still a secret to everyone but Claire, and she was still very much in the dark about the secret society stuff going on in the basement with many of the school's other faculty members.

Maybe they just wanted to teach her how to take a punch, just in case some of the local jerk-offs tried to take a swing at something besides her car. She could understand that. Sarah had taken a few punches before, but certainly not enough to consider herself well-versed in the art of street fighting. Would be worth a bit of hurt today to save herself from more pain later.

"Hey Becky." Sarah said as she entered the gym, trying to act like she hadn't been spotted peeking in a moment before. Like her colleague she too was at least appropriately dressed for the occasion, wearing a pair of Adidas soccer shorts and and a faded navy blue tee shirt with a big red B on the front, the symbol of her hometown baseball team--the Boston Red Sox. Of course her ever-present Converse chucks were also in attendance. Also like Rebecca her hair was stowed in a simple ponytail. Something strangely (though understandably) absent were her glasses frames, which she almost always wore, even though they didn't have lenses in them. She didn't really know whether or not she looked very different without them.

"Oh hey!" Rebecca smiled, waving over to Sarah as she arrived and made her presence known. "What's with the B?" she asked. By now, she'd be surprised if folks hadn't heard about her mutant talents. Guhh, she hated that word. Talent. Made it sound like a show. Though much like Sarah, the mousey blond had no clue what lurked down in the deep. "Good to see you, glad you signed up."

Alastair was the next person to enter. Not as a bird from the rafters, as one Rebecca McMillen perhaps expected, but simply walking in through the door. And as he did, one thing became abundantly clear: the tall, lanky, bushy-bearded musician just looked wrong without his over-the-top gothic Victorian inspired outfits. Sports shorts and matching loose fit t-shirt were just not his style. "G'afternoon, ladies, gentleman."

"Looking good there, Al'."

A clap on the back from behind was possibly unexpected enough to lend credence to the accusation that Cameron had covered the distance between the garage and the gym at a pace some might consider 'cheating'. It definitely didn't have anything to do with nearly forgetting where he was supposed to be, which also had nothing to do with the fact that he was still technically trying to dress himself properly for the task. Having just shrugged an arm through a torso-hugging training jersey prior to slipping past Alastair, Cam dropped for a second to tie a shoelace. By some small miracle, it had not caused him any grief on his mad dash to arrive on time.

Phoebe wandered in looking confused by the summons there. She was trying to work out without cheating how she was not going to give too much away about her role or anyone else's in the Knights as she noticed that not everyone there was part of the team. She raised an eyebrow at Cam but said nothing. She had considered bringing her sword but she was glad that she had reconsidered now. "Hello." She wore shorts and a baggy t-shirt with her long hair tied up in a high ponytail that she was looping into a bun.

Rebecca offered a little wave to Al and Cameron, then to Phoebe. A soft smile started to show, she had always wished to get out more, be more vocal, be more visible. "Hey." she returned Phoebe's greeting while her tail was in full happy swish swish mode. Twitchy tip and all. "Glad you could make it." she invited, not that it was HER party to invite people to but, she wanted to be social. Easiest way was to invite social in.

"Glad to be here," Al's rich baritone rumbled. A nod to all the newcomers too, as he looked around a bit semi forlorn. "Who are we missing?" he asked, finding a spot to sit down. He didn't have much of an idea what to expect really, considering everyone here had abilities and powers that would affect how they fought - even though he considered himself not a fighter whatsoever. Just what would a ten pound bird do in a fight, except drop rocks on people? And steal their hat?

The bee? What bee? Sarah initially thought with a bit of confusion. Thankfully she realized what Rebecca probably meant, before before she could look around for or ask about a bee that didn't exist. "Oh... the shirt?" She laughed a with a hint of self deprecation, though that likely highlighted her initial confusion more than anything else. "It's for Boston, my hometown. It's a baseball team, the Boston Red Sox." Technically Boston was neither her home nor was it a town. It was a city, and she was actually from Cambridge, an outlying suburb. She usually didn't get that specific though, as it just led to another set of misinterpretations. Why did everything in New England have to be named after everything in Old England?

"Hey guys." Sarah said to the others that had quickly filed in after her and Rebecca. She would admit it was a bit odd seeing everyone in their workout clothes, but she didn't really think anything of it. It probably would've been more remarkable to her if they'd shown up in their usual professional attire, even if the weirdly rational part of her thought that should make the most sense--best to train to fight in what you're most likely to be wearing when you have to fight. Sarah inwardly winced at what trying to fight in a skirt and high heels would look like. For the moment she was quite happy in her sneakers and gym shorts, thank you.

Uncharacteristically late, Claire opened the gym doors and stepped in. Dressed in a tight fitting gymnastics outfit that people had last seen parts of during her rendition of the Fame dance choreo. Her characteristic purple manes kept in what could only be described as the most immaculate bun. The only thing that gave away why this was was the fact that there were no bobbypins in the exact shade of purple she'd require to make them blend in. That wasn't the reason she was later than usual though. Ever since Halloween she had come to rely more and more on her abilities to get around the institute quickly. It took less effort, and it seemed that by using it more she built her stamina. She had realised, too late, however that she was very unfamiliar with the Institute's gymnasium, or indeed the hallway leading up to it. While there were several spots around Avalon she had committed to memory for ease of access, there wasn't really anything near the gym that she had felt was tactically necessary for her to remember. So she'd had to walk. Like a commoner. Yet she gave no indication of her tardiness, simply giving a greeting in the form of a nod and making her way towards the centre of the room where most of her colleagues seemed to be congealing.

"Well, if we're going to be working on teamwork today, I guess we should all work on our timing, huh?" Jonathan remarked, finally speaking up from a quiet spot in the corner having slipped in a few minutes before; as much as someone in a blue vest and with bright blue hair could 'sneak'. "The Knights are all here, I guess we're just missing the round table."

Andrew had chosen to remain silent as his fellow Knights, teachers and staff arrived. He knew for a fact that there was speculation as to what he was calling everyone together for. He knew of one person, maybe two who had a general idea as to this, that being Claire and possible Phoebe.

He recognized only a few of the people assembled, he had seen the others around, however those he knew were Alastair, Rebecca, Phoebe and Claire. He noticed that the Physics teacher hadn't arrived yet, so while he waited his pulled a notepad out and was writing down how each person interacted. His plan was simply split people into groups of at most five for the self-defense and combat, and then the tactics courses will be the larger group as a whole.

Knowing how his fellow staff members interacted with each other would make that which he planned to instruct them on much easier. Today's training was more to see where each person was physically, this would dictate to him how to split the groups up.

"Are they?" Phoebe asked looking around innocently. No one outside of the Knights knew she was one of them let alone the leader and she wanted to keep it that way. She needed to protect the teachers who were not members of the group as well as the students. Not everyone wanted to fight for a better future, some people did not have those abilities or mentality and she could not blame them.

"Bunch of pawns, maybe," Cameron quipped.

Claire had wanted to comment something innocuous like 'Knights? Just because we live in a castle?' but also knew that the existence of the Quantum Knights was something of a public secret. Of course not everything knew about them, and those outside of the squad that knew, weren't always sure about the identities, but the Head Teacher herself, for one, would never be able to deny her involvement in the group. For one, how else would they be able to have a hangar under the loch, but perhaps more importantly, who else would be the purple skinned vigilante with a half mask? She she opted to simply talk over it. "What do you have in store for us, Mister Hallows?"

"Wasn't one of the knights a werewolf or something?" Rebecca asked. "Wouldn't that be just a treat, if the one story everyone keeps telling over and over again was actually about mutants like us?" she giggled. "I mean, they had all these crazy powers and magic. Wouldn't that be something..." the mousey blonde giggled, but then Claire brought up an excellent point as she turned her attention to Hallows.

"I'm pretty sure I'm a bit of a local cryptid in some areas," Al piped up, his baritone resonant. "The large raven that steals people's hats," Beat. "... Which I might have done in moderation. From time to time."

It seemed like now was the time to get things started. "For those of you who haven't met me yet, I am Andrew Hallows, the new Physical Education teacher. Due to my previous experience, Miss Cavendish has asked that I teach everyone tactics and self-defense in light of the recent changes in Mutant Law." He moved to the center of the group, from where he had been watching from. "This is to better facilitate the protection of the students here as well as our own wellbeing."

"In answer to Claire's question, the purpose for today is to see where everyone is skillwise. What will happen is a series of tests regarding basic fitness, hand-eye coordination and agility. This will allow me to see where every is and help me to decide which three groups people fall under."

He smiled, but it wasn't the sort of smile that had any jovialness behind it. Andrew was on a roll now and he was trying to show the same emotions that a former drill sergeant had shown when he first joined the Royal Army. "The stress will come later."

Phoebe glanced at Claire for a split second and really hoped she knew what she was doing putting the Knights and the rest of the teachers together. It was going to be hard enough to pretend she did not know what she was doing for the most part but to make sure the rest of her team knew to play it cool too.

Sarah at least had the decency to look embarrassed after Hallow's introduction silenced the small talk, so that they could get to the task at hand. It was like high school all over again, when she'd routinely been the one left holding the bag.... or rather, the one with the last smart-assed comment that dominated the silence just as the teacher called the class to attention.

"Varsity team tryouts!" She'd nearly exclaimed, striking a cheerleader's pose as her colleagues also commented their thoughts on the rumored Knights. She'd never heard the other teachers talk about them, but the students did. Some even claimed to have been down in the restricted sub-levels. The librarian wasn't one to indulge in speculation one way or the other, but there were definitely faculty members there who had the kind of confidence, skill-set and reputation that a so-called 'Knight' would have.

If it was not evident before, it was clear now that Sarah was probably not one of them. Not when the last comment she'd left hanging in the air for all to hear was "So if I'm a Knight, do I have to wear spandex?" She very much wanted to start training so that she could try and punch something hard enough to give the others something else to think about her besides vanity.

"You might look ok in spandex," Al offered, before shuddering in horror. "Me, however~"

"You just have to believe, Alberto." With both hands perched on his hips, Cameron had leaned heavily into comic distraction, having already swapped a look with Claire that told him everything he needed to know about the need for deflection and discretion in equal measure. "If you can pull off those shorts, you'll...well, cause enough of a distraction for the rest of us to get away at least."

"I never tried out for Varsity. Didn't seem fair. Also, tail." Rebecca commented with a giggle. "Alright then coach, what's the plan."

"I have not heard varsity mentioned in a very long time," Phoebe commented thoughtfully as if it were to herself. She had grown up in America but had given up her citizenship after realising just how little America cared for her after the experience of her aunt being killed and no one in America wanting to take care of 13-year-old her.

Bursting in through the door, Kaylee was about to turn toward the locker room to change when she noticed the group and froze. She had forgotten about the training session she was told about the other day and had gone for a walk along the loch instead. It wasn’t until her pager reminded her about the session that she even remembered it was on. Giving a nervous smile, Kaylee gave them a slight wave, “hi, sorry for my tardiness”

He suppressed the inclination to scowl at the Doctor showing up late. "Now that we are all here, I will go over everything, and trust me, I will be doing everything with you as well." This was something he had learned from his time in the military, even though he was the trainer he would be taking part as well.

"The cones you see are set up for sprints. 25 Meters each way, one repetition is equal to from the start here." He pointed out the staring line and back from the other set of cones. The next part is Hand-eye coordination, utilizing tennis balls. Essentially, nothing more then toss and catch. Each of these will be without use of your individual powers. The final part is light sparring to see where each is at physically."

He looked over the assembled group for any questions.

As the instructions were quite straight forward Claire simply made her way over to the starting line of the sprint and stretched her muscles slightly waiting for everyone else to fall in line. She knew already she wasn't going to be the fastest person there, she relied heavily on her powers to get from one place to the next. She was good in tight spaces, and changing directions, but sprinting in straight lines wasn't her forte.

Rebecca took her place on the start line, a big stretch that went from her toes to her tail, all the way up to her fingertips. Don't use your powers. Right, like being small could really be the strategy here. Maybe she could hitch a ride on Al in flight and win the competition as a team? No, this wasn't a competition, more of an exhibition. A show. A demonstration. So the rules were don't use your paws to scramble around the turn cause you'll scratch the floor, and don't do the race as a shrinky dink because it's the fifty meter dash, not the 5 mile Iditarod. Or whatever that dog sled race was called. The only advantage she'd really have was her tail as a counterweight for the turn around. But considering this wasn't a competition of powers, she'd just as likely throw her hip out swinging around that cone. Oh this was going to be fun.

She did a few pre-run stretches. "I'll have you know, Coach, field mice are dangerous in short bursts." she joked.

Al bit back a comment about how they were tasty, too. He knew from experience. With a soft chuckle the music teacher took up a position next to Rebecca, remaining otherwise silent. He figured he'd do ok at this test; knowing that he had moderately better reflexes than most, though he wasn't sure whether that was because of his mutation or not.

Quietly slipping off to the changing rooms, Kaylee quickly got into her gym clothes, dropped her bag off to one side of the gym and hurried to join the others. Her outfit consisted of a pair of light blue tracksuit pants with white runners and a white shirt sleeve top. Spotting Jon in the group, she walked over to stand beside him, “wanna bet who’ll cross the finish line first?” She whispered to him.

Sarah put on a brave face, even though she was kind of dreading this training session. Maybe she wasn't the only one trying to deflect any insight into her nervousness with humor, or maybe not. Maybe the others were just naturally humorous. As she joined the others Sarah looked down at her sneakers and realized that they weren't properly tied. She kept them loose-laced, so that she could just slip them on and off without having to bother with tying them. Come to think of it, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd tied them. At least the act of drawing the shoelaces tight and securing them with a new knot had some semblance of a calming effect on her nerves. Though Sarah usually did well with individual artistic sports like ballet, ice- and roller skating and skateboarding, anything that put her directly at odds with other people in close proximity was way out of her comfort zone. Competitive activities rarely ever brought out the best in her, and sometimes it was all she could manage to keep in the worst.

With both hands still on his hips, Cameron viewed the course with dubious speculation. On the one hand, there was always room for close-counters coordination, since his powers at a natural, untrained level lent themselves best to wide open spaces that were very rarely guaranteed when it came to self-defense. Since smashing through the Duke's wall to evade a personally gift-wrapped bullet with his name on it, Cam had invested a decent amount of his personal training time to manoeuvring at increased speed in tight places. There would come a time where involving others would become a sensible evolution but packed into the gym like this, with none of them able to utilise their own powers, didn't seem the best place to broach that. Hell, he'd have to invest a decent amount of concentration just to run normally, at the end of which, he wasn't even likely to break a sweat. Glancing around to see if anyone else had noticed the distinct lack of handicap, the speedster decided to do the only sensible thing one could do in such a situation.

He raised his hand. "Uh, excuse me, sir?"

While everyone was getting ready to begin, Penny slipped into the gym as quietly as possible, standing at the back of the gathered teachers. She wore the same comfy black leggings and plimsoles she would wear for physical theatre rehearsals, but had switched out the ever present turtle neck for a tank top and had braided her wild mop of hair. The clothing choice had been conscious, it was in case she needed to generate a little flash, however it left her feeling decidedly out of her element. Not wanting to interrupt the flow of the session, she simply hung back. In truth she wasn’t even sure she could be of much use, her only combat training was all for stage and that was about keeping you ‘opponent’ unharmed. She had been torn between attending and simply holing up to work on props, but in the end guilt had forced her into attendance. Just because she wasn’t good at something, didn’t mean she shouldn’t try.

Phoebe nodded at the other woman as she joined in quietly at the back. There was no need to make a scene or fuss and the woman could appreciate that from someone. Others might not have noticed, but the Knights Leader was on edge thanks to everyone around her who could blow any of her team mates cover.

"Yes, Cameron?" He had to wonder what the resident speedster was about to ask.

Andrew watched as each of the faculty took there places within the cones. Sprinting had not been his thing when it came to training, he had always been more of a long distance runner. Endurance and stamina was a very important part of martial arts training. He moved forward and took his place near one of the edges, pulling out a stopwatch, he prepared to get things started.

"This is not a competition, I want to stress this, the purpose for this is to see where each person is. That said don't hold back, but also remember no use of your powers." He expected this to take around 20 seconds as on average a straight 50m sprint without turning around was 8 seconds for the average adult. Though with the cone it would likely add several seconds to the times. His top time for this without cones averaged around 6 seconds.

With a flick of his thumb he started the stopwatch, "And go." This is where the tough part would start, the training, the sweat and even possibly tears. Andrew wasn't going to hold back, if Claire wanted him to train the school, he would do just that.