Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Nov 28, 2010 19:01:56 GMT -5
As Clipper bounds in, all sunshine and enthusiasm, Ultra Magnus manages a thin smile of his own. She really is so unlike the Micromasters he helped create; if he focuses on that, he can almost forget. If he just focuses on helping her, maybe he'll be that much closer to making it right. He once again crouches so he doesn't loom over her, resting an elbow on his bent knee and his other hand on his thigh.
"Well," he begins, and his praise is genuine even if it comes awkwardly to him, "you had a very clever idea that gave us a strong starting point. So… are you ready?"
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Nov 29, 2010 13:44:15 GMT -5
"I did?" she asks, surprised and pleased all at once. Ultra Magnus is so very kind and smart and generous to help her out like this! She' utterly oblivious to his inner turmoil, his inner torment, seeing only the brave warrior offering to assist her.
"Oh, I am! Yes, sir! I'll do my very best, Mister Magnus, sir!" she chirrups eagerly.
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Dec 4, 2010 10:25:57 GMT -5
"That's good to hear." Ultra Magnus nods, then pushes himself to his feet. "Hold still for a moment," he tells Clipper. "I've already been scanned in, but now the computer has to scan you." And if Clipper complies, a mapping beam will indeed give her a few sweeps from various angles. Once that's finished, the computer chirps.
Before Clipper's very wide optics resolves a holographic replica of her, exact to the smallest detail and scaled up to around Jazz's height.
"Acceptable?" Magnus looks at her expectantly.
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Dec 9, 2010 20:15:49 GMT -5
"Ooooooohhhhh..." she croons, nodding excitedly, giving a little squeak of amusement when her image duplicates the maneuver. "Wow! That's really neat!"
And now she proceeds to move around, twisting and turning and contorting herself, while watching her holographic doppleganger mirror every move she makes. "So," she asks, distracted, "will yours be my sized? Or that sized?" She nods to "herself".
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Dec 11, 2010 12:36:37 GMT -5
Magnus is getting better about keeping his smile in place despite the way Clipper's innocent fascination with her duplicate makes him want to call off the entire lesson. Wasn't having his Micromasters built as weapons of war bad enough? Now he's training a child to fight, too?
But he isn't the first Autobot to do such a thing; Holi learned his training from Autobots. Not that the circumstances make Magnus any better than whoever recruited the tiny captain.
"You'll work with a version of myself scaled to your size," Magnus explains. "And I'll work with this one. Since they'll match our movements, that should make the lesson a little easier. You understand?" He waits again for confirmation, patient and cautious of doing anything more without Clipper's understanding and agreement.
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Dec 13, 2010 13:46:50 GMT -5
If it makes Magnus feel any better, he isn't training her to fight. He's training her to defend herself. It's an important difference, as far as Clipper is concerned. She's not going to be a bargaining chip or dead weight again!
Clipper nods, and finally finishes playing with "herself" to turn that eager smile back up upon Ultra Magnus. "Yes, sir, Ultra Magnus, sir!" she replies. Hmm... it's going to be kinda confusing here in a real short bit, isn't it? Should she just look and speak to the small Magnus as if it were him? Or would that be rude? But if she looks at the Real Magnus, too much, she won't be able to keep up with her opponent!
Wow, this is a lot more complicated than she'd thought originally. Hopefully Ultra Magnus will understand that she isn't intending to be rude when she doesn't look at him, but at his copy?
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Dec 14, 2010 21:23:17 GMT -5
"Good. Now, hold position." Magnus adds the accompanying hand signal to his order before he takes a few steps back, leaving a large gap between himself and Clipper. He turns, checks on her one more time, then glances toward the ceiling. "Computer, begin simulation."
Clipper vanishes from his sight much as he should disappear from hers, leaving them both standing alone in an empty room. The walls are plain, painted a vaguely orange off-white to give them some character and broken periodically with vertical light panels, and the floor is bare and padded with something like a dense rubber mat. After a few moments, the undersized replica of Ultra Magnus appears in front of Clipper; at the same time, Clipper's replica appears in front of Ultra Magnus.
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Dec 27, 2010 20:35:37 GMT -5
Oh, now this is definitely much less confusing! And now, she won't be distracted by trying to watch two instructors at once!
"That's brilliant!" she replies happily, and then realizes that she probably sounds like a besotted schoolgirl, and not a serious trainee. She straightens up, cycling a deep vent, and tries to school her features into something more serious and aloof.
"Okay, I'm ready, Mister Ultra Magnus, sir."
ooc: feel free to time skip through any of the boring stuff, and pose Clipper however needed.
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Jan 7, 2011 0:39:14 GMT -5
Clipper is ready; Magnus still isn't entirely sure he is. Nevertheless, he reviews what he learned from the training sessions he's run with other Autobots and reviews the plan he laid out for this lesson in particular.
"First," he murmurs, "you need to understand the box." He pantomimes the shape in front of him, a box roughly as wide as his shoulders and extending the full forward reach of his arms. "This is the area you don't want to be in when an attacker comes at you; it's his strike zone. It won't be as easy for you, given the scale, but never forget your strike zone." He takes a step closer. "We'll start you learning blocks."
OOC: Gotcha. Likewise if it works out that way.
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Jan 17, 2011 20:59:24 GMT -5
Clipper studies what Magnus outlines, frowning with concentration. As he takes a step closer, though, she takes several steps back, her frown obviously turning inward as she sketches rough shapes in the air. Finally, she closes the distance between them and sighs.
"I'm so small, the box is sort of irrelevant, isn't it? By the time I'm in my strike zone, most opponents will have been in theirs a long time ago." That sort of sucks, actually. She's starting to hate very much being this small.
"Once you start teaching me some blocks, would it be possible to upscale your avatar a little to make it closer to realistic for me?" she asks, still frowning. "It's not going to do me any good to be ready to fight someone my size, if everyone I'm really going to be squaring off against is... not my size."
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Jan 21, 2011 12:11:58 GMT -5
Clipper makes an excellent point and Magnus waits her out before he holds up one hand again, gesturing for a moment of silence.
"Yes," he confirms, "they'll be well inside their strike zone before you have yours, but you're forgetting your advantages." He curls in all but his first finger. "You're significantly smaller. You're quick and agile, and therefore a more difficult target. Even for grappling. Diffusion involves redirecting a force applied against you, so at the very least, I imagine you could trip someone up nicely." He extends his second finger. "Most – there are always some exceptions, so don't let your guard down in an engagement, but most soldiers aren't trained for close combat these days. They can throw a punch, they can even brawl, but trained fighters are rare. Useless in some respects, really," he adds, tone both wryly amused and the slightest bit regretful. He adds a third finger to the count and goes on, "As I recall, the Decepticons do have some in the ranks around your size, so you may find yourself needing to remember your box someday."
He pauses here; she has a level head on her shoulders and is frighteningly sensible for someone who, he assumes, is the same age as Holi. He has to wonder if it's all that kind of him to coddle her, but he quickly puts that concern out of mind. She has no training; she's barely capable with a pistol and admitted as much. He has to go slowly and encourage her progress… rather like someone did for the gawky, uncertain Ultra Magnus did long, long ago.
"Don't worry about what might be," he says at length, trying to soften the advice with a bit of a smile. "It won't help you in the lessons. Now, let's continue."
OOC: Skip ahead soonish? Your post or my next one, maybe?
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Jan 21, 2011 21:56:13 GMT -5
Clipper listens to Ultra Magnus' reasoning with a growing sense of confidence. Of course he would have thought about all those things; he's smart like that. Plus, she couldn't have been the first person he's ever trained. Smallest, maybe, but good commanders know how to improvise, and he's supposed to be a really good commander, right? "Okay. The box," she finally replies, taking up her stance again and watching him closely. "The box is my strike zone. Okay." It's amazing how quickly time goes by when she lets herself get really absorbed into doing something. Especially when she's concentrating so hard to get everything just right. It's hard work, too, even if it doesn't look like it from the outside. It might just be her inexperience, but Ultra Magnus makes it seem so effortless and flowing and easy, and it's... not. It's harder than that, and takes so much concentration and control. Somehow, she doesn't think that it's just that she's so new to it. ooc: a little of both.
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on Jan 29, 2011 12:45:38 GMT -5
Like any trained form, Diffusion takes focus to learn; if Clipper had chosen, say, sharpshooting, it would be little different – merely concentration and focus toward another field. As much as it takes for her to absorb the lessons, it takes from Magnus to remember his student and restrain himself. It's easy to lose himself in the rhythm, in the flow of the forms, in the comfort of the familiar. Between keeping a firm hold on his own reins and ensuring he keeps the lesson at a pace that challenges Clipper without leaving her stymied, he loses track of the passage of time. He doesn't quite realise, either, how much lighter he feels when she gives him that wondrous little smile of accomplishment as she achieves another step forward in the lesson.
"You're… doing very well," he finally says during a pause to let her rest.
|
|
|
Post by Clipper on Apr 24, 2011 17:10:59 GMT -5
"You really think so?" she asks breathlessly as she sort of slumps a little in place. She doesn't remember the last time she's worked this hard! Well, not like this. Keeping the Governor all organized and his office running smooth had been hard work, but not like this. The Governor's office had been mostly mental and social, and this is mostly physical.
Mostly, but not all, by any means! There's so much mental in this Diffusion stuff. It's... combat, or rather, self-defense, but there's more than just that. It's in the head, too. She's surprised just how much thinking and balance and mental control is involved in this.
It's not really just a form, it's... like a philosophy, too. She can see a little how Mr. Ultra Magnus is always so calm, since he's so good at this. He must practice it a lot.
|
|
Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
|
Post by Ultra Magnus on May 1, 2011 20:20:06 GMT -5
"I do," Magnus says with a small but firm nod. "I won't lie when it comes to your lessons; glossing over your shortcomings and overinflating your achievements won't help you, and I won't do you that injustice." And perhaps he says the words a little too strongly, but he means them as a promise.
|
|