i'm bigger than my body [open & closed]

[tanker]

who: John Proudtar + Shigeru Miyata, Minsu Oh, Cisco Ramon, and anyone
what: Catch-all
when: throughout march
where: various places, mainly the perimeter guard training grounds
warnings: none that I can think of! Will update if necessary



i. meditate (open to all)

[ Since putting his training offers out on the Quarantine network, John has been putting up dates and times and locations for 'classes' - he hates calling them as such, but if the shoe fits.

There's nothing special about the spot he's chosen - it's by the river, shadowed by some trees, pleasant and quiet. John's sitting straight on the ground, cross-legged, as he waits for any 'student' who might be interested in learning about meditation. He's prepared to fight stereotypes, remembering Lorna's reaction the first time she saw him practicing, how surprised she'd been, how long she'd teased him for it after.

John waits, until a few people are seated in front of him, before he says anything. ]

Before we start, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. The goal here is to get some tools for you to center yourself if you ever feel like control, or your sense of self is slipping. Meditation is what we make it out to be - contrary to popular belief, it isn't about sitting on a rock for days at a time, humming to yourself, although you're welcome to do that, if it works for you.

[ John smiles. This should be fun. ]

We're going to start much smaller, here.

ii. combat (open to all)

[ Come one, come all, whoever is interested in trying to test themselves against that mutant who can't get hurt. He'll take your punches and will try to give pointers wherever he can - he is, after all, an ex-Marine himself, and has seen combat situation more than once.

Depending on who's here to train and who's interested in helping, there are several stations set up in the Perimeter Guards training grounds - one, large and further away than the rest, for those who want to try out their powers but might struggle with control, or simply have a huge range. One for hand-to-hand combat, with dummies and training equipment strewn around. One for swordfighting - the weapons are blunt. John's walking around between the different stations, helping out wherever he can, and learning, himself - he's never held a sword before, after all.

Come and train, fight, help out, or whatever else you want to do! ]

iii. wildcard

[ Closed starters in comments! Find me at ellievolia if you want a specific starter, or just hmu with anything, I'm happy with basically anything. ]

Comments

closed to Shigeru

[tanker]

[ There was something about meeting up with Shigeru before they tried anything concrete. It as obvious in their previous conversation that Shigeru was terrified of his own abilities, and that was something that John had seen all too often, and it was as difficult to navigate as someone who took too much pleasure in the raw power.

So there was nothing planned but a sit down, a chat, an opportunity for them both to gauge the other and make sense of what their respective abilities were. It was just for John to assess, but also for Shigeru, who had no reason yet to trust John.

So, here he was, with two coffees in hand, waiting for the doctor to make it to the training grounds after his shift. An introductory session, if you will. Not that John was a therapist in any way, but -

He truly believed he could help. ]

[mysophobic]

[ Shigeru will be there a few minutes later than planned. A rather bad broken arm of some local keeping him for a few hours after his shift had ended. But he'll show up with a happy and content sort of expression when he finds John at the training grounds like they had discussed. ]

I'm sorry I'm a little! I-I got caught up in the hospital. John, right? It's nice to finally meet you in person!

[ He smiles a bit nervously. Not sure how this is going to go at all. When it came to his powers right now Shigeru was terrified of them, mostly due to the fact that he was slowly turning into something horrible and he had no way to prevent it. ]

[tanker]

[ John dismisses the apology, smiling bright as he motions for Shigeru to sit by him, offering him one of the coffees. ]

Don't worry about it. Nice to meet you, too, Shigeru.

[ It's obvious Shigeru's nervous, but John's stays relaxed, open as he can be. ]

So, how are you feeling today? That is, with your powers?

[mysophobic]

[ He'll smile back taking the offered cup but he doesn't exactly drink it just yet. He'll just sort of...let out a sigh. ]

It hasn't been too bad today. I did just come from work though and that always puts a strain on me.

[ With his phobia and his gate as well. ] Whenever I use my powers it...eats away at my gate and the worse my gate becomes the less control I have. But I use my powers to-t help people so it's a bit hard to really not use them.

closed to Minsu

[tanker]

[ The Coffee Shop. One original name, that is, John can't help but think with a smile, as he walks in. Not that he particularly cares, because the smell, when he steps into the coffee shop, is so intense and amazing that John's almost dizzy with it, taking a moment to close his eyes and breathe in.

He walks to the counter, thinking it must be Minsu behind the till, and leans to look at the displayed food, chewing for a second on the inside of his lip. ]

All right, what would you recommend to someone who hasn't had good coffee, nor any kind of pastries, in years?

[foxtrots]

[minsu sees that reaction in a lot of people who walk through the doors, especially when it's their first time here. he takes a little bit of personal pride in it. he makes good coffee, a skill that he learned and perfected over the course of many mornings. minsu came to appreciate the smell of good coffee himself, even if he's still not too fond of the taste.

the smile that he gives him, the interest in his eyes, it's a little more than professional courtesy. minsu genuinely likes working with the public.

though to be fair, he's only been doing it for, oh, about three weeks or so.]

Americano and an apple danish. [how very. american.] Have you been on a diet?

[his body is certainly impressive, but diets still make minsu feel a little sad.]

[tanker]

[ John reaches back to scratch the back of his head at the question, chuckling softly. It's not that he's ever wanted to be, but he'd gone from military rationed food to... more military rationed food, but rationed even tighter as the Underground grew in size, but the rations remained the same. ]

Kinda? But not so much by choice.

[ As Clarice had mentioned before, he could eat whatever he wanted, and his metabolism would do the work. Still, he was a cautious guy, and he didn't really indulge in much. ]

I worked somewhere where food was rationed, and we didn't really get to have this kind of indulgences.

closed to cisco

[tanker]

[ John has never, ever ever stepped in a lab like Moontech in his life. He's not the tech guy, preferring the outdoors to being confined in an enclosed space, which, obviously, doesn't make him the best person to be a researcher. It's just not in his blood, but it doesn't make the lab any less impressive as he walks in, hoping against hope that Cisco will actually remember their conversation.

He finds the man deep in his work, and waits for a while for Cisco to look up before walking over. ]

Cisco, right? I'm John - we had a talk, the night of your birthday. I just wanted to drop by and say thank you for that.

[ Cisco might not remember, but John does, very well. And their conversation led to John and Clarice talking things out, so John is very, very thankful. ]

And also, you told me I should come in and visit you at the lab any time, and I got curious what kind of facilities you got, here.

[franciscoramon]

[ The door to Cisco's workshop is always open, if he's there and not working on anything particularly volatile or dangerous. He gets a lot of drop-ins: people who are new and don't come from worlds with comparable technology to the Quarantine, people from the fire or police departments or Guard whose tech is malfunctioning, or who need their body armor adjusted, etc. He's never really been someone who minds interruption; he's all about making himself, and his knowledge, and the stuff he builds, accessible to whoever might be in need.

But today, though the door is open, he's got a big pair of headphones on, and he is absolutely jamming to some music as he works. He's making adjustments on some bit of code or another, which means his hands are flying across a keyboard, eyes locked to the computer screen as he powers through. It isn't until he looks up that Cisco even notices John standing there - and he does so with an unmistakable start. Not too bad of a shock, but enough to get his heart pounding.

He pulls the headphones off, not recognizing the guy, but John's introduction solves that bit of confusion. Cisco had only spoken to him by text, but he remembers that conversation. He'd talked to a lot of folks, that night, but John had been particularly memorable. ]

Hi! Yes, John, of course! Sorry, I hope you weren't standing there for ages. I was kinda in the zone, you know.

[ He smiles, friendly and a little apologetic. Cisco holds up one finger, a gesture to wait, and quickly saves his progress and shuts the computer down. He's about 80% that John is legit, and on the level, and just dropping by to check the place out, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. Cisco's very much a better safe than sorry kind of guy. ]

Yeah, absolutely! This is pretty much it, though.

[ Cisco gestures around him; the entire operation is contained in a single, very large room. There are long tables full of schematics, tools that need to be put away, half-built bits of tech, a few of laptops. The walls are lined with shelves and cabinets, full of even more schematics and sketches, with tech that he's built, with neatly-organized tubs full of components and raw materials. There are also sewing supplies, and some body armor full of pins that Cisco is clearly in the middle of adjusting. It is also clear, from the couch, mini-fridge, and overworked coffee pot off in one corner, that Cisco sometimes pulls very long hours in here.

All in all, the space is functional, but clearly everything is arranged for efficiency, rather than to look very impressive to a visitor. Recognizing that, Cisco explains: ]

Not a lot to look at, I know. Technically, I'm an independent contractor, I mean, this is kinda where I do my thing, no matter whose project I'm working on at the moment. Anybody who needs somethin' designed or built or researched can come to me.

[tanker]

[ Not a lot to look at, Cisco says like this is not the most tech John has seen in years. What he's used to is the few computers Sage collected over time, but her brain was the biggest component of it all - the Underground relayed on much more grass roots systems than what John was seeing here. ]

This is a lot more than what I'm used to. [ John replies, impressed, before leaning a hip against a table, still looking around, trying to guess what some of the things around can be. ]

I'm no tech guy - we still use flip phones with the Underground, but mainly because we have to keep using burners - but this is impressive. And you said you work with people with powers, too? You can help people who struggle with controlling theirs?

combat

[felinefox]

[Even with everything else going on at the moment, Shalimar still finds herself with restless energy to burn and where better than the training grounds of the place she supposes she can call her workplace.

While she trains, her focus is dedicated to what she's doing - save for the odd break where she hits the dummy a little too hard and knocks it off-centre, not something she's used to worrying about when back home the dojo took care of all of that for her.

Still, even her stamina pushes her to rest from time to time and she's taken to watching John as he spars with the other trainees. It doesn't go unnoticed that he takes everything thrown at him while barely breaking a sweat and she enjoys the determination it brings out in some of his opponents to push themselves harder.

She waits until he's done with his latest trainee before approaching, stretching a little as she stands.]

Well I can see why they've asked you to help out. Nothing like a real challenge to motivate someone into improving.

[Not that she's worried about that so much herself, but she is curious to see how she'd match up.]

[tanker]

[ There's a part of John that had forgotten exactly how fun this could be. Training, sparring, blocking blows and taking some without the fear that it could be the last day he's truly free. Fighting for the sake of improving, not just for survival. Sparring to help out, to round out techniques, to learn more - and not just because you have to.

He's noticed Shalimar out of the corner of his eye earlier, when she knocked down a dummy, and so inwardly noted - powers of some form, enhanced strength, definitely some quick reflexes. He's intrigued, because they haven't met before, and looking forward to seeing what she can do.

When she comes up to him, he wipes the sweat off of his face with the bottom of his shirt, smiling. ]

They didn't even ask, actually. Thought I'd try and volunteer my help, since I can take it.

[ He gives her a look, before offering his hand. ]

John Proudstar. Are you here looking to improve, or you just want to let out some steam?

[felinefox]

Very community-minded of you.

[Which she figures probably puts him in good stead with Quarantine, given the values they want to encourage in everyone.

She takes the offered hand willingly enough - never hurts to be friendly unless there's good reason not to be.]

Shalimar Fox. Mostly here to let off steam and see what the facilities are like here. Though even I'm not too proud to admit there's always room to improve.

[And at the very least, she's not about to let her skills get rusty.]

@ ii

[divaricate]

[Wanda only has some close-range fighting skills. Not a lot. She's more comfortable fighting from a distance where her powers help her out in that regard, but she's pretty new here, so she figures she should brush up on those lacking skills, so here she is trying some hand-to-hand combat on a dummy.

Oh god.

Her form is a hot mess, and on top of that she's holding her fists way wrong -- with her thumb tucked under her fingers, which is a bad idea considering that's a really great way to break one's thumb bone in half.

Help, John.]

[tanker]

[ Oh dear. It only takes one look at Wanda for John to rush over, holding his hands up as he does. ]

Hey, hey - [ Carefully, he steps close to her - not close enough to touch or anything, but clearly here to help, a smile on his face. ]

You want your thumbs outside of your fist if you're going to throw a punch. Keep it in, and you're liable to break it. Lay it against your knuckles. Also, careful with your wrist. You want to punch with your knuckles, not with the back of your hand. If you cut your wrist down like this - [ He demonstrates, holding his hand down, wrist bent as he moves his hand forward, ] - not only are you using your shoulder and back strength instead of your arm, but you can break your wrist. For a solid punch, you want your arm straight.

[ Holding his hands towards Wanda, John looks up at her, obvious that he'd looking to show her. ]

Can I?

[divaricate]

[That sounds like a lot. But she supposes it makes sense. She really is lucky with her powers, huh? She can more easily stand back and not have to do so much of this up close stuff. W h o o p s.

She adjusts her fist as suggested. That ... that looks better, yes.]

Sure. I clearly need some fine-tuning here. [Said with a nod and half smile.]

i

[wingedman]

[Sam drops by one of John's classes one day, quietly seating himself in the back of the group. Mostly, he's interested in seeing where this goes - he believes John knows what he's talking about, but he's curious about his teaching style. Sam hasn't done a whole lot of meditation himself, but he's familiar enough with the traditional process, so he just settles into a loose-limbed, relaxed seat and waits for instructions.]

[tanker]

[ John looks around, pretty satisfied with the turnout, and smiles when no one raises their voice, at first. They'll get there. ]

One of the things I hear a lot about meditation is that people don't think they can 'shut their brain off'.

[ Yes, he does do the air quotes. ] But the thing is, you don't have to. Have your thoughts, think them. They can be positive or negative, happy and sad. Just let them happen. But don't hang on to them. Focus on your body, and imagine the thoughts are clouds, that you're watching pass overhead.

[ He pauses - he keeps on speaking slowly, keeping his voice steady, rhythmic. ]

I'll guide you through a series of short exercises. Get yourself comfortable - if you lie down, put your feet on the ground, knees raised. Close your head, or don't, whatever you prefer. Let's start with breathing.

[wingedman]

[Sam makes it through the rest of the class easily, and he does feel more relaxed; last night had been one of those nights, where he'd been up running through Riverview before sunrise. He's still tired, but that's only to be expected. Once everything is done, he waits for the last few stragglers, then approaches John with a smile.]

Hey, I'm Sam. We talked on Friendr? Good to see you running these sessions.

i

[outofthinair]

Sure you don't want to change your mind about incense and a man bun, or taking your shirt off?

[ Clary grinned, unable to stop herself from a little teasing. She'd grown up in Brooklyn, so she'd watched the Hipsters take over and she'd seen some of the types she just knew had to attend meditation and yoga, if not teach it.

But John was definitely better than all of them, and probably a hell of a lot more interesting and grounded. She held up her hands to indicate it was her one and only joke before resettling into position.

Her own hair was pulled back and out of the way, some of her runes showing even with the sweater she wore over her tank top. But one shoulder had slid down and there was no hiding the runes on her neck. ]

[tanker]

One, we're outside, so incense would be a waste. Two, I wear my hair in a bun all the time. And three? Never on the first session.

[ He's smiling as he answers the questions, taking them for the tease that they are, and responding in kind. He gives her a critical look afterwards, still smiling, before resuming the actual talk of meditation. ]

Okay, so the main thing is - don't worry about your thoughts. Even if they're about my shirt - [ wink ] - the point of meditation is not to not think. It's to allow your thoughts to come, and pass. Not stay stuck on them. So whatever you're thinking through these exercises, let it happen, but also allow these thoughts to pass through. It might come back, but it doesn't matter. Just focus on your breathing.

[outofthinair]

[ She gave a salute in response to the wink. Hey, if the man was giving her permission to think about his shirt then she was going to allow that thought to come and go as directed. It wasn't like she'd touch.

It was the river she was more concerned about. It wasn't quite like the lake in Idris, but it was still pulling her mind back to the moment she had been taken from. To her father. To her brother. To Jace's body.

And at the mention of breathing she pushed out a breath through her nose and gave a nod. ]

See, told you you'd be good at this. Breathe in, breathe out, rinse and repeat? What if... Well, what if the environment isn't exactly conducive to letting the thoughts pass?

ii. combat

[aequoreal]

[ kaldur is still in the process of settling in, but having accepted work with the perimeter guard helps with the process in that it gives his days structure, in that it gives him something to do. it isn't the team he knows — but perhaps after everything he has done to gain his father's trust, to gain access to the light in order to learn of their plans and report back to nightwing, perhaps a new team that has not seen him (pretend to) kill one of their own is not such a bad idea.

so he is on the training grounds, first training alone but eventually finding him face to face with john, both of them with swords in their hands.

kaldur has the advantage here, perhaps: his waterbearers are close enough to swords that this is not something new to him. still, he circles john slowly at first, his movements measured and his gaze watchful. ]

[tanker]

[ Kaldur would definitely have the advantage - John's style of fighting usually only involves his fists, even if he is very handy with a gun, due to his training. He doesn't like them - he's seen enough while in Afghanistan not to want to use a gun ever again in his life, but he's still more comfortable with them than he is with a sword.

Still, he rolls his wrist, testing the balance of the blade and how it moves in his hand, smiling a little crookedly as Kaldur circles him, looking very watchful and serious. ]

You know this is not actually a duel to the death, right?

[aequoreal]

I am aware.

[ the question prompts something that is almost a smile from kaldur, too. he's always this serious about everything, but he isn't going to point out that it not being to the death is no reason not to take it seriously. he's been on a team with people like wally west for long enough to know that different kinds of people do things differently and not everyone shares his level of seriousness.

john rolls his wrist, testing the blade. a moment after he's finished the motion and settled back into a defensive stance, kaldur strikes. he doesn't put his full strength behind it. ]