010 [Action, OTA] Evening training

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

[Bulla's in the Training Center getting in a good workout. Rather than focusing on strength, today her focus is on speed and endurance. They're both useful for combat, and much less hazardous than her previous regiment of seeing how far she could launch grats with punches or kicks.

At the moment, Bulla's sprinting through the training center. Periodically, she'll abruptly leap up mid-run into a spinning kick and follow up with a combination of punches and kicks before bursting back into a run.

Someone should probably insist that she pause and have a drink of water soon.]

Comments

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Hmm...well, there's Rinoa, the Commander, Seifer, and a little girl with green hair...so a few people.

I specialized in martial arts instead.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

Girl with green hair? [This is news to her. She must hunt this person down and find out what she does.]

Oh, martial arts are all right, but there are no triggers to pull! [She's teasing, honestly!]

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Yeah...she's younger. I don't know how old, but probably no older than twelve. I'm not in her classes, but I've seen her in the Training Center before with a gunblade.

[Bulla laughs.]

I'll stick with throwing punches. I hit pretty hard.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

[Not that wanting to punch things is any evidence of it -- martial arts were a class here too, after all -- but...]

Are you from off-world, then?

[It's the hair.]

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

What gave me away?

[Bulla tosses her hair over her shoulder. She's well aware of what makes her stand out.]

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

Call it a hunch. [She smiles, glad that Bulla didn't seem to be mad.] Did you already know how to fight when you came here, then?

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

[The only time Bulla got offended by references to her hair was when she was rudely asked if the carpet matched the curtains. She knows it stands out.]

I had some training...dad didn't push me nearly as hard as he pushed my big brother, though.

[She smiles fondly.]

My dad's one of the strongest martial artists in my world. He's tied for first place with his rival and best friend.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

[...Seifer?]

Okay. You didn't have any obvious martial arts weapons, so I figured you must have some knowledge if you came here before you could do things like Junction to Strength and all.

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

[Bulla looks a little sheepish.]

I hardly ever junction anything, to be honest. I'm not very good with it or with magic.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

Really? Why not?

[Again, she's baffled by the people here! She's a physical fighter and she knows it, but she can't imagine not working hard to master the aspects of being a SeeD that really MADE a SeeD in the first place!]

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

[Bulla looks a little sheepish.]

Part of it is pride, part of it is me wanting to avoid memory loss, and part of it is me just being confused by it. If I don't pass the SeeD exam, I'm definitely going to re-take the magic class.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

I suppose the memory loss part is understandable...

[It bothers her a little too, honestly, the one true downside to everything that she can see. That's why as soon as she'd learned about that part, she'd started keeping a diary.]

But why's it confusing?

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

I can never remember how to do it correctly. It probably doesn't help that I always have a lot of things on the go.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not that hard! [At least, not for her it isn't.] But really as long as you can do some basic paramagic and know how to Junction, you can get by as a physical type. At least that's what I've read.

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Physical type's a good way of describing me...I know I don't look like it, but I can lift the heaviest weights in the weight room without junctioning.

I can do the basics. I'd just rather rely on my fists and personality.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

But a good Junction is always helpful in case someone comes after you with a Sleep spell! You can't hit anyone if you're dozing!

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. Well, I've got some time to brush up on it before I have to take the SeeD exam.

[She and Rinoa had been helping each other, and her improvement in magic using was largely due to Rinoa.]

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

I'm still learning it. You know what you should do? Act like you're teaching me! I can pick up some things from you and they say you always learn the most about something when you're teaching it.

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Okay...hm.

[Bulla takes a moment to think. She's been at this for a year, now. She should be able to explain at least the basics.]

Well, you can junction for strength, magic, or health, first of all. If you junction for magic, you can draw more from monsters you fight.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

So it seems like the best thing to do would be to Junction for that first, so as to get more!

[She knows it's not quite that simple; she's playing along.]

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. There's advantages and disadvantages to everything you junction. So it's a good idea to know what your own strengths and weaknesses are before junctioning.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a gunblade specialist, so a physical type! But I need to be good at all aspects of being a SeeD. So what would you recommend?

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Um...junction for magic, since as a physical type, you're already more likely to be a little physically stronger than the magic specialists. You could junction for strength if you wanted, but if you want to be balanced, junctioning for magic would be better.

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

What if we don't have enough GFs to give everyone a lot of Junction choices? Is it better to balance a team or be specialized?

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

Well, you can balance the team if everyone has different specialties.