3 ★ [video/text] [FIGHT CLUB]

[darkinferno]

[For those who haven't seen Dante in a while, he looks a little bit different when the camera clicks on. What was once white-blond hair has now gone pure silver, and his eyes, rather than going gray with the rest of the blues and greens of the world, are still the bright shade of aqua they'd turned back in April. For all his sarcasm about how Jim missed and took the wrong color from him, Dante knows he looks almost identical to the boy he's been remembering these past few months.]

All right. I know I'm not the only one who's been getting weird memories and abilities recently, but what I want to talk about today is this.

[He holds his hand up in front of him, and in a swirl of dark shadows, Soul Eater appears for him to take hold of, also still blue in all the right places.]

Weapons. A lot of people have ended up with them recently. Some of you might have gotten them in the mail, some of you have found them. But one thing's the same--whenever you get it, you know that it's yours.

There are a lot of us that are getting memories back of fighting, too. I don't know how many of you have given it a try, but when I tried to fight the way I had in those memories... it all started coming back to me. How to fight, how to defend... all of it.

So now we've got a bunch of people with weapons they barely know how to use, and a lot of us with memories of fighting but no way to test it out without risking that someone's gonna get hurt.

[He lets go of the sword and Soul Eater disappears back into the shadows.]

Last month, Retrospec managed to take us by surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting to wake up six inches tall or have to fight off spiders or cicadas. But it could happen again. We don't know what their end game is and we don't know what they're gonna throw at us next. And who knows? Maybe next time we won't have to fight. But with how many of us are remembering that sort of thing... I think it'd be a good idea for people to learn how to defend themselves, just in case.

Which brings me to the point of all this: I've been working with a few people and we're putting together network-wide training sessions. Tatsuo Kihara has been able to get us space at the Utsuki Dojo in Tisse on Sundays, 6 PM to midnight. We'll have wooden weapons to practice with so that nobody has to worry about accidentally shanking someone, and that way if you don't know if you did any fighting in the past, you can give it a shot and see if you remember anything. Both Doctors Trevelyan and Sutcliffe have said they'll be there when they can just in case anybody does take a shot too hard.

We've been working on finding people to teach different weapon styles like swords or spears or throwing knives so that you can try out all kinds of different thing.s Some people have offered to teach self-defense too, so even if you don't want to learn to fight offensively, you can at least learn how to defend yourself.

Our first session's going to be this coming Sunday the 18th. I'll be there right at 6:00. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Dante out!

A little bit later, he'll also make a text post to make sure he gets anyone who might not have watched the video. It's mostly the same information, but at the top he'll post the quick and dirty:]

Dante Rantanen 6/13 near Birch Hills

Retrospec Weapons/Self-Defense Training Sessions Utsuki Dojo in Tisse Sundays starting June 18, 6 PM to midnight

Comments

[cattack]

This is a very good idea.
You have my gratitude for it.
What kind of wooden weapons will be available? I have regained visions of fighting, but no sword yet.

[darkinferno]

we'll definitely have wooden swords to try out. i'm trying to see about practice spears or staves too, but i know we'll have swords

[destiny_key]

you look weird
not like weird weird but like different weird

[Of course that's what Sora latches on to here. That and Dante now looks much closer to the boy he's seen in his visions. He's pretty sure its connected.]

[darkinferno]

yeah

i know i do

what of it

[FIGHT HIM SORA......................]

[goen]

That sword design isn't too ergonomic, is it

[darkinferno]

what do you mean?

[u talkin' shit about his sword.........]

[lostapprentice]

so you started swinging that thing around and suddenly knew how to fight?

[the matrix parallels intensify.]

how do you even use something like that? as a bludgeon?

[darkinferno]

not this one, i sparred with a couple different people with wooden swords and fencing foils

it doesn't come back all at once, either, i've done a lot of practicing on my own

[His expression flattens when he's asked how to use the sword, though. It's a sword, not a club! Hang on, switching to video...]

No, it's a sword. Hang on, I'll show you.

[He takes a second to glance around for something he can use to demonstrate, finally moving off-camera and coming back with a large black umbrella.]

Watch.

[He tosses the umbrella up into the air, pulling Soul Eater from the shadows at the same time. His slice is one fluid motion as he catches its grip and cuts through the air, bisecting the umbrella as easily as if he'd cut a hot knife through butter.

The two pieces of the umbrella fall to the floor. Dante looks at them with satisfaction before dismissing the blade again, picking up the pieces, and showing them to the camera.]

See what I mean?

Voice

[mincingminuet]

I'll be there. No question about that. I got a weapon back, and I got a memory of learning how to use it. I'm no expert but I can probably help teach people how to fight with a spear.

At least the basics.

[darkinferno]

Good, I was hoping we'd find somebody with a spear who'd be willing to help teach. I know Minako's got one too, so there are at least two of you.

[vendettastool]

Will you be setting up something similar for gun skills?

I think all areas should be covered just in case.

[darkinferno]

i know how to shoot a gun, but i'm pretty sure they aren't my field of experience

that being said i'm pretty sure togusa's spending plenty of time at the shooting range, and pen raban's got some experience with them as well

if you wanna swing by on sunday night we can try and figure out how to take care of that, we don't have anything for people who might want to try archery either

[redarm]

wow.
this idea actually doesnt suck.

[High praise!!]

[darkinferno]

hey i'm capable of good ideas every once in a while

[feistytrader]

So, a couple of questions.
1. is there an fee
2. does that sword actually cut anything?

[darkinferno]

no fee, just show up

and see for yourself

[Should he have started out with the demonstration? People seem to be more focused on his sword than anything else. Huh.]

[splinten]

[he raises a hand. on video.]

How does that sword work?

[darkinferno]

Dude, it's not a classroom. You don't have to raise your hand.

What do you mean, how does it work? It's got a blade with a sharp edge that cuts through almost anything if I want it to. I've only found one thing it couldn't cut through so far.

[me_matey]

i aint got any special weapons but i can rumble with the best of em

sign me up homie ill go bare knuckle

[darkinferno]

keep in mind the goal of this ISN'T for people to walk away with black eyes, this isn't some skyler murden-like shit

but if you wanna teach people how to fight barehanded so they can defend themselves, that's probably a good idea

[He's already had to argue that it's not fight club multiple times, don't make him have to go through that again......]

[heroforall]

I would like to join in if that's okay.
I haven't gotten any weapons or remembered any hidden fighting abilities, but I'm curious to see what could happen if I tried.
Plus last month wasn't the greatest and it would be safer if we all knew how to defend ourselves.

[darkinferno]

yeah, that's fine

i had memories of fighting but it wasn't until i actually started trying to USE a sword that i started to remember how to do it

so who knows? it might work the same way for you

but being prepared if something like last month happens again is one of the big reasons i decided to push this

voice;

[seeker]

[Everyone's gone into "how does your weapon even work," so Alison will cut to the chase.]

Does anyone in this club have archery experience?

[darkinferno]

[Thanks, Alison, for not asking him yet again about his sword... he's had it for over a month now and seen it in memories before that, so he hadn't thought about it before drawing it for his post. If he'd realized it was going to get all the attention, maybe he wouldn't have used it.]

I don't know anyone with archery experience yet, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't anybody else with it.

Come on Sunday anyways. We can see if anyone has any experience then and figure out how to integrate it into our practice. Worst case scenario, we might have to see if there are any archery ranges in town.

[obscultator]

[Karl, similarly, is smart eniugh to skim upthread before bothering with the "how does that sword work" question, and files the video demonstrations away in the part of his mind reserved for things that make absolutely no sense but are clearly real so there's nothing to be gained by gibbering over it. That part of his mind is getting distressingly crowded these days.]

I agree, this is an excellent idea. Unfortunately I have a prior engagement and won't be able to make it this coming Sunday.

That said, do you know of anyone who might be available for some experimental sparing with swords at some point later this week? The prior engagement in question is a trip into the woods, so it might be prudent for our group to have as much metaphorical firepower as possible, just in case.

[darkinferno]

well we'll be there every sunday after too so if you can't come this sunday then try for the 25th

but if you want i can meet with you friday to try some stuff out. the woods are pretty safe, but it's not a bad idea to know what you're doing

[complementing]

aaahhh now I want to move the day we explore the woods so I can go to this...

but! I'll definitely make it to all the other Sundays instead!

[darkinferno]

yeah, don't worry about it, see what you can find in the woods

we'll be here

let me know if you guys find anything

[strawberrypunch]

If we didnt fight in our memories can we still learn?

[He hasn't gotten any visions to indicate his other self could, but it's starting to look like it may be wise to learn some form of self-defense anyway...]

[darkinferno]

yeah, for sure

one of the reasons we set this up was so that if something like last month happens again, nobody will get hurt because they can't defend themselves

[livingdeadgirl]

[guess who's commenting before she even gets to the end of the video]

oh my god that's the coolest sword I've ever seen

is...
is it a sword?

[darkinferno]

[You know what, you get a pass, because complimenting Soul Eater is always acceptable.

(Just go back and listen later on, he doesn't want to have to repeat himself multiple times...!)]

yeah it's a sword

last month when we were all tiny i summoned it for the first time

[ghostdrives]

You're quite the organizer, aren't you?

Good idea, Dante. You can count me in. I wouldn't know where else to practice if I wanted to.

Interesting choice of hair colour btw.

[darkinferno]

don't call it that

i'll see you there though

[Come on, don't make it look like he's doing something good.. he's starting a fight club! He's teaching people how to beat up on each other! He's not doing some useful service for the people on the network >:T!!!!]

not much of a choice. i woke up the same day blue and green disappeared and my hair had lost its color instead

i guess it could be worse