New Meaning to Broken Arms (Cole/open)

[Arthur McAllister]

Arthur was thoroughly pumped up to be getting his first dose of this training stuff. He'd been at camp for 4 days and stilll hadn't done anything but sit around. Apparently since he had neglected the memo about the schedule on the back of his door, he'd been missing out but hten again no one had told him there was a schedule. There were two people in his cabin and Chloe didn't seem to be following the thing very well either so he didn't feel too bad.

The guy whose class he'd been missing had showed up to get on his case around the campfire the day before so Arthur was exceedingly prepared to show the guy that he had discipline and wasn't shirking this new BS life style. He apparently was in need of training so he could rescue his mother and he was going to get all they had to offer and get it quick. He'd been taught a few self defense techniques throughout his few years and had been in more than his fair share of playground brawls so he was no stranger to fighting, not to mention he'd been wrestling for the past two years and was the quarterback on the junior varsity football team at his high school. He knew how to fight and how train and took direction well and he'd learned how to take a hit with the best of them.

He'd spent a good portion of the following night staring at the glittering polished blade of a gladius he'd been issued by Mr. Ryans. The thing was a serious reminder that all of this was real. Fire breathing monsters and floating rocks aside, his past week had felt sort of normal but honestly, what person in their right mind handed a 15 year old boy a sharpened sword. That sort of thing was dangerous because everyone, 15 year old boys included, knew that teenage boys were stupid and did dangerous stuff. Giving live weaponry to teens swasn't a very good joke so this had to be serious.

The short blade was as light as a feather to arthur though he was just starting to realize that he might not exactly be a good measure of weight anymore. Everything had been feeling feather light the last couple of days and after his half sister Chloe, picked him up and hefted him one handed sideways, he was starting to wonder if he was, for lack of a better word, stronger. Like a lot stronger. He'd been pushing the idea out of his head as much as possible because despite how cool it was to be half god and have super powers, he wanted nothing more than to have it all be a dream or some cruel elaborate joke ready to get televised. Why couldn't he just be normal?

Sighing, to himself he continued his limbering regimen of varied stretches, loosening his muscles and getting ready for some, what he hoped was going to be vigorous physical activity. Working out, he found had a calming effect on him. Helped clear his head so he liked it. Most people were exhausted after football or wrestling practice but he'd discovered that it felt envigorating to him.

Standing up after getting himself all loosened up he looked around for someone else to join him and found himself disappointed to be standing alone in a strange place. Again. He supposed there was nothing left but to wait, so he set off on a jog around the sandy pit while he waited.

[Cole Ryans]

It never ceased to amaze him on the ignorance and idiocy of teenagers. Sometimes Cole wondered if they didn’t teach reading any more. The schedual was clearly on the back of the zeus boy’s cabin door. And it seemed that he would have to get onto Arthurs sister as well. Neither one of them bothered to show up. It was the butt crack of dawn and cole made his way down to the arena. He grabbed something to eat before whisteling for his rotwiler, Ares to follow him. The dog gave a happy bark and bounded after his master. Originally they were working dogs that were bred in the days of the romans. It was fitting for him to own such a magnificent creature. But then the romans used them for war. Ares was a war dog, not a pet. Cole tossed a piece of toast into the fire in the mess hall before going on down to the arena.

Cole pushed the office door open and sat down in his chair. He needed to review some paperwork and finish the class schedule to be placed upon chiron’s desk by night fall. After a few reviews of medical charges that wouldn’t be making it to class today, cole stopped as he saw a bouncing head of blond hair jog by. It was that Arthur boy, the son of zeus. He didn’t show favoritisim of the big three kids, many of them got on his nerves with their holier-than-thou sort of attitude. He would fix them good in practice. But the boy needed training none the less. Cole pulled his shirt off and pulled on his tank top. The chainmail went over his standered issued legion armor. The leather bracers went over his wrists, covering up his SPQR tattoo. That would be hard to explain to someone later on down the line if they had seen it. He shoved his favored gladius into its sheath, his dagger into the sheath on his back. Cole grabbed his rounded shield and spear, his favored pilum. Then in a single hand, he hefted up the heavy trunk. Its contents were various pieces of bronze armor in varying sizes. They sufficed till some of his trainees were able to get their own done by the Hephaestus kids.

Cole easily tossed the trunk into the arena. There was a huge puff of dust and sand flew every where from where the trunk landed. “Get your ass over here!” Cole called to the jogging zeus boy. He unlocked the trunk and kicked it over, spilling the contents into the sand. “See if any of these fit. It will do till you can get your own armor.” After that comment, Cole started setting up the straw dummies. He was a tad eager to see what this zeus boy could really do. Other than basic battle instincts, this kid probably didn’t have much. Even the big three kids started like that. It was what made everyone equal in the beginning. Some children weren’t cut out for combat, that was understandable. But they had a basic knowledge and the ability to defend themselves if the need ever arose. Cole enjoied training those who took to combat like the way that ducks take to water.

After finishing up with the training dummies, cole motioned for Arthur to come over. “Just start wailing on it. I want to see what sort of base you have for combat.” Cole instructed as he pulled out his own longsword and took a few practice strokes as he squared off with his own combat dummy, going through legion drills and basic manuvers to warm up his muscles. His dog, Ares, barked as he happily started to chew at the leg of another straw dummy. The rotwiler tore one of them to shreds before feeling content to sit there and chew on the stick that was left. “That’s my good dog!” Cole said as he rubbed the rotwiler behind his ears.

[Arthur McAllister]

The blond was almost too lost in thought to notice when Cole made his entrance to the fighting grounds, but the thud and plume of dust was difficult to ignore. He was already on his way over to the man when he was beckoned in the most gruff stereotypical sort of way. On one hand it made Arthur feel a pang of homesickness because it reminded him of his coaches from school but on the other, the guy was pissing him off ordering him around. He wasn't a 5 year old or a dog and he didn't enjoy being treated like one but he wasn't that offended and let his perturbedness subside as dusty worn bronze armor pieces fell into the light of day.

"Uh...how do I know what's going to fit or not? Do they come with labels? like small medium or large what? Or is it more of a know my measurements sort of thing?" he asked squatting down and poking a few of the pieces off of each other so he could take a better look at the protective gear.

The stuff was dented and scratched up pretty good from obvious use, but that was pretty good. That meant the stuff served its purpose and was sturdy enough to keep his insides on the inside. Not wanting to look like a total idiot he picked out a good sized breastplate that looked sort of around the size of his shoulder pads at school and tried to slip it over his head. It was a tight fit but with a bit of pressure, he managed to get it on, loosening the straps along the side.

From there he retrieved his gladius and came back over, holding the blade in an underhanded sort of way, like an oversized knife. It seemed appropriate until he started using the thing after all. He began to realize that he was feeling sort of anxious, not necessarily nervous but jittery and wound up. There was something about this whole procedure, like some perverse foreplay.

And then there was Cole. The guy wasn't being as judgmental as Artie expected him to be. Maybe he was a better instructor than he lead on.

Nodding as he was given his directions to just batter the dummie, the teen flipped the blade around like he'd done it hundreds of times before, making it seem effortless. It just felt right and not as awkward as he thought it might. Then again every little boy grows up wishing he were a knight at the round table or a hero fending off dragons and the like so it wasn't like he'd never fantasized about this kind of thing. He'd just never thought his dreams would come true and he couldn't stop thinking about how stupid he must've been as a little kid to want this.

His eyes drifted from first the man before him as he pierced the dummie he chose easily with his sword then over to the burly beast who accompanied him as it tore the limbs right off of it's own man sized chew toy.

Not wanting to be left out of the fun Arthur stepped forward bending his knees, left leg in front right leg behind, presenting a slimmer profile to the front of the dummie, gladius in his right hand as he gave a simple flourish with his wrist and rotated on his left foot and stepped in with is right and brought the short sword down in a diagonal slash, cleaving the straw creation in two from shoulder to where a hip would've been with a single blow. The blade felt a little clumsy during the stroke but dried plant matter provided little resistance to the wedge he was working with. Without stopping however, he shifted his weight and turned his wrist slightly and brought it horizontally across the remainder of the dummie's torso, creating a third piece of stick and straw before he brought his elbow back and dropped his shoulder low and came upwards with the point of the sword and punctured through the groin and lifted what was left of the dummie off the ground with ease, the blade of his weapon buried to the hilt in straw guts and through the center wooden shaft holding the thing together like a spine.

"Crap dammit," he cursed under his breath as he shook his hand from side to side trying to dislodge his weapon but the dissected dummie was thoroughly impaled. He turned the weighty thing around and tried to shake it off, stabbing at the ground shortly to little avail before he awkwardly used one foot to kick the thing off of the sword.

Unsure whether what he'd done was what he was supposed to be aiming for, the son of Zeus turned to look at his teacher apprehensively.

"Uh...how was that? Or did you want me to move on to a new dummie?"

[Cole Ryans]

Cole walked over and adjusted the straps a bit tighter around the zeus boy's breast plate. "You need to keep it tight. the tighter it is, the less holes in your defense." Cole instructed as he went about tightening the other pieces of armor. "For you I'd say splint mail or fully body plate." Cole circled around him once more. He nodded. "For now that will do." Cole crossed his arms. "I'd mostly say splint mail. It will give you mobility and good protection." Cole nodded as he gave arthur another look over. "This will do for now. but your next stop after here should be the forge."

Then the boy laid into the target dummy. Cole analyzed his style as he skewered the first dummy. "Hmm." Cole circled around him once more. "You are too contained in your style, but at the same time you need more control. Lets try this." Cole picked up a long sword from the rack along the side of the arena wall. He then grabbed one like it. He handed the long sword over to the kid. "Alright Arthur, try this. Longsword out front and short sword back like this." Cole bent his elbow, bringing his longsword up front with his gladius in the back. Assuming the perfect stance for Arthur to mimic. "This is a balanced stance that allows your defense to become your offence. You parry and block with your longsword, like this, it keeps you at a distance from your opponant. Then you can quickly come up and make short work of him like this." Cole feined a block of the sword, spinning to quickly close the gap between him and the dummy, then stabbing him under the armpit with the gladius.

"We will move on, there's a few hundred of these. Now try a few moves with both the long sword and gladius. Or if you would prefer, I can get you a shield if you are inclined to that method." Cole motioned at the walls. Weapon racks and shields lined the walls. "It is a bit traditional, but still effective." Cole sheathed the longsword and gladius to his waist. He then picked up a rather large greatsword. With a single hand Cole hefted up the greatsword with ease and then picke up a huge heavy two handed mace before going to town on another dummy.

Cole actually broke out in a sweat as he swung and bashed with the two handed weapons. It was a special technique he had perfected over the years, but had no real drive to teach it to anyone. Maybe he could teach it to this kid without having much problem. But only if this kid had the right drive and discipline. He would see by the time this practice was over.

[Arthur McAllister]

Arthur couldn't help but tense up every time this guy prowled his way around him. Like a lion. That was it. It was like he was getting stalked and the guy was looking for the perfect spot to pounce on. It was unsettling to say the least but he wasn't exactly sure how to ask him to stop doing it.

Swapping the gladius into his left hand, he took the longsword and held it up, turning it over a few times studying the shaft of sharpened metal. It felt good in his hand as he gave it a slight flourish before mimicking Cole's battle stance.

"Isn't the long sword supposed to be slower than the short sword though? Why isn't this the other way around? Like doesn't the bigger sword do more damage?" he asked as he tried brandishing the long sword about, making quick jabs with the shorter one every once in a while, trying to get a feel for the motions.

He made a face as he was told he had a style. He was completely unaware that he HAD a style, then again he also didn't know what the comment to improve upon where he was meant. Contained? Was he not swinging wide enough or something and what did he mean more control? Was he putting too much weight behind his swings? What the hell was he talking about?

"Uh ok then." Arthur replied, his mild confusion coming out in his voice as he stepped towards the next dummy.

Assuming the suggested stance, he eyed the mock person for a few seconds before he rotated and let out a short shout, bringing the gladius upwards in an uppercut like slice through the middle of the straw and stuffing. The speed and force of his swing brought the thing off of the ground a few feet where it fell back to the earth. He took the advice and didn't slow his step, moving to the next dummy, stepping nimbly past the downed practice device and spinning quickly he whirled and brought the long sword to bear, feigning a defense maneuver, he brought the longer blade, across the torso and quickly followed with a plunging blow with gladius, retracting his blade by flinging the dummy off of the end of his short sword, it flew into another dummy taking both to the dusty ground as he moved to two more dispatching both in short order using either blade interchangeably before he stopped moving and with a mighty overhand throw, hurled the smaller blade at the dummy he had simply knocked over previously, the blade stuck all the way through the exposed head.

Now to be honest, Arthur wasn't sure what had possessed him to throw the sword but it had just felt natural. It seemed a better idea to make sure all of his 'opponents' were dispatched but walking all the way back to skewer that one seemed slow and inefficient. Plus he wasn't suddenly unarmed or anything.

"Sorry, I think I got carried away there.But that felt...I don't know how to describe it. Better? I liked it better than the one sword thing I think," he said looking back towards Cole and his large, oversized weapons. Dude looked badass the blond thought as he nonchalantly wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow as he trekked back over to retrieve the gladius from his pretend assailant.

Trouble was though that the sword was once again stuck , but this time it had embedded itself in the earth somehow but it provided little resistance once Arthur put more effort behind his tug. The weapon and the head came back up together and turning it sideways, the reason why was pretty obvious.

"Oh shit I am so sorry. I don't know what happened Shit I said shit. I mean uh... sorry. I just. I'll stop talking let's go with that." he said holding the sword and head up, the bent blade obvious to anyone with working eyes. Sure there were countless replacements but, well, they were community property. He was convinced he was definitely going to find himself in some sort of trouble over this. He was nervous and this place was new to him and here he was breaking things. He wondered if he was expected to pay cash to replace the thing or something. Did these guys even take cash or just the little golden drachma things?

Ten minutes and already messing up. Coach would've had him running laps already if he was back home.

[Joshua Rogers]

Josh needed some training, well to reming some of his old training, he had a clue of the god who killed his family, but first he would have to go to the outside, that was never safe, not with those agents out there looking for demigods all the time, and they knew him!

He walked to the Arena hoping it to be deserted, but when he got there, he heard some grunts and the sound of a sword cutting the thin air. He was going to turn around and leave, he would come back during the night, he didn't fear the cold, so he would be fine. But then he got curious, he wanted to see who was training.

He got closer and leaned his back against one of the columns, he remembered the instructor very well, Cole had been his instructor back in the days when he just arrived the Camp. he was a very good fighter and swordsman, tough and cold, maybe as cold as he was, but josh knew that cole had a warm side, he didn't know why, but he just knew it.

He could still remember the first training sessions he had, he was a mess! He suffered a lot, he didn't even know how to hold a sword in his hands, but after a couple of months and thousands of blisters in his hands, he became a very good fighter, now when he was in danger, he could make a sword with ice as strong as the never melting ice of the poles and use it in an excellent way.

He looked at his hands and saw some of the marks and scars that those blisters left in his hands. Then he heard another grunt and looked up. The teen who was now training was mimicing some movements. He was really good. Josh looked at the teen, he hadn't talked to him yet, but he had seen him around in the Mess Hall. He knew he was son of one of the three magnificent ones, but didn't know who his father was for sure.

When the teen broke the weapon, Josh frowned, he didn't move, he acted as if he hadn't been shocked at all, but he was. He had only seen a couple of demigods being capable of that. He did it once, but it was winter, he used his power over the cold and his life was in danger, but not like that, not out of the blue!

((hope it's ok if I join ))

[Cole Ryans]

Cole once again closely watched Arthur, analyzing and studying the teens style with a watchful eye and a keen mind. It took a long time to learn his job, but it was something he was good at. There were few things that he was good at but this happened to be one of the super few things. He mumbled to himself as he leaned against his massive greatsword and watched. Control was what this kid needed but to teach this kid how to master the technique that cole had spent many years perfecting, it might work and it might not. The kid certaintly could use it and being the son of zeus, it would serve him well.

"Hmm let's try this. How physically strong are you? How much can you lift in each arm?" Cole inquired. Arthur had some prior athletic experience. Cole could see that with the way that the teen held himself and walked. "Let's try this. Something new to work on your control, not only that it will scare your enimies to boot. but before we work with actual weapons, you will work with practice weapons. just as heavy and just as hard, but not sharp till you learn this better." Cole stalked off into the arena office and came back with two huge wooden swords. Most people would only weild one in both hands. "One in each hand. It will be a bit uncomfortable at first, but it gets easier the more you work with it." Cole handed the heavy mock weapons to Arthur.

Cole nodded at his roommate as he wandered into the arena. Cole didn't have much of an opinion on the son of snow, just that there were many arguements about the thermostat in the room. Sure put the son of fire and the son of snow together in the same apartment. Either Chiron had a strange sense of humor or someone really had it out for him. But Josh was much younger then Cole was, but then again many people here were much younger then he was but none had the experience that he did. Cole twirled his great sword out of the sand with an easy pluck and flick of the wrist. "With these weapons it will both work up your strength plus teach you the control you need Arthur."

[glow=red,2,300]clue[/glow]


A lonely place,
The sea god’s smell,
A briney taste,
The ocean’s swell