White and Blue (Eryka/Gozai)

The clatter of wood on wood would resound through the area, interspersed with huffs and hisses. The albino was breathing rather heavily as he backed up from the wooden training dummy. He would wait for a few seconds, before rushing forward again, delivering a clumsy rush of blow with a wooden training baton.

Anyone who actually knew a thing about fighting could see that he had barely a clue as to what he was doing, merely swinging wildly. Beads of sweat ran down his pale forehead, causing a few strands of hair to cling to his skin. He would resume beating at the dummy in short flurries for some time.

After a while though, he would walk over to one of the benches by the wall, sitting down and grabbing a water bottle that had been set down there. Pausing momentarily, he would then take a long drink from the bottom, before pouring a small amount of the water onto his head, not seeming to care as the water streamed down, staining both the white t-shirt and grey sweatpants.

"Fuck... This is getting me nowhere..." He hissed under his breath, frustration clear in his voice, before taking another sip of water. The pale skin around his wrists were beginning to show signs of bruising, from where he'd manage to get hit by the dummy during some poorly thought-out swings.

More than a few members of class Zero were trained in how to kick ass and take names. Some where good at it others decidedly less so but one Cadet who definitely knew what they were doing was Eryka. Lying on a weight lifting bench, she was pumping iron (literally too on account of her metallic arm) her breathing heavy but orderly as she lifted the weight up and down.

The two handed dumbbell had honestly once been beyond her ability but that was no longer the case. Ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine, one hundred. With one final push Eryka finished her reps, lifted the dumbbell up and rested it on the bench's stand. The amputee sat her, her amputated limb's scarring on display due to the black tank top she wore, and looked around the training area.

Her eyes rested on Gozai and she sighed, displeased with how utterly terrible he was at fighting. Still, his own weakness was not Eryka's problem to solve. The amputee simply rose from the bench and grabbed a bottle from the floor next to it. She would walk back to a locker, drinking from the bottle which just so happened to result in her walking past a certain inept visitor to the training area.

His breathing was beginning to slow down. His courier job meant he at least had decent endurance, but he still wasn't used to exertion in such sudden spurts. His gaze drifted across the training hall as he let his body rest, until his eyes fell upon a female, walking past him. The hell was up with her arm, was that a prosthesis? Oh yeah, she was the one he'd seen pumping iron. Gozai had to admit, impressive. "And here I thought I'd been through hell. Guess I should consider myself lucky I still have all my bits attached. He spoke aloud, those his tone devoid of the usual snark that it oh so often carried when he wasn't putting up the facade of being a decent person.

"Considering where we are, you're probably one off the Cadets too?" The albino then proceeded to ask, now turning his gaze to follow her.

"It's just a missing arm." Eryka shot a disinterested look towards Gozai, yellow eyes staring at him before looking back at her locker. With a rather dexterous series of movements, her prosthetic unlocked the numerical padlock holding the locker shut and opened it up removing a leather riding suit, gloves and motorbike helmet from its depths.

"You have to be a Cadet to use these facilities." A stupid question. Had this boy, whoever he was, actually stopped and thought about things he would know Eryka was a Cadet. Non-Cadets weren't allowed to use Class Zero's facilities. Oh well. Many people were inefficient with their time and it seemed Gozai was one of them. The amputee would just have to deal with it wouldn't she?

Just a missing arm? Just? Gozai kept a cool face, but internally he could only wonder how she could be so... Calm about it. He'd take one more swig of his water, before closing the bottle, and picking up his faux-baton.

he albino stood up, and approached the training dummy again. "Not a fan of small talk? I can relate, most people just aren't worth the bother of talking to, much less having a serious conversation with." He'd say, a small smirk on his face. He then rushed at the dummy, releasing another clumsy and reckless flurry with the stick. He'd back away after a few seconds, slightly rubbing his wrist with his other hand. "Or am I perhaps one of those people to you?"

Eryka was annoyed as she breathed heavily, sincerely wishing this stupid boy would just...shut up. His deductive reasoning was terrible, he was inefficient but worst of all? For a Cadet he was a terrible fighter. The amputee was well aware not every member of the Cadets served in a front line position but they all knew how to defend themselves to a certain degree. Every member of any military or police force world wide knew how to do that regardless of what their role actually was.

Was Gozai one of those people? Yes, yes he was. Eryka silently watched him as he returned to the training dummy and made a total utter fool of himself. His blows were clumsy, his attacks went too far, he was putting in too much energy, his stance was terrible and his balance was UTTERLY ATROCIOUS. Yep. Gozai was definitely one of those people. Eryka sighed to herself, out her belongings back inside the locker, locked it and then walked over to Gozai.

"Yes you are. Your stance is awful, your balance terrible, your blows are clumsy. Try a stance like this." Eryka pushed Gozai to the side and took his place in front of the dummy. One leg was ahead of the other, with the back leg rotated twenty five degrees clockwise. The purpose of this stance was to ensure balance which was very important when fighting. What made punches, Eryka's specialty, so effective was twisting the full force of your body's musculature and that required a lot of balance.

"Humans have very good balance on account of our arms being shorter than other apes. This balance allows us to punch and throw things with a significant amount of force behind it. A stance like mine takes advantage of this allowing one to punch hard while avoiding being pushed over." To demonstrate, Eryka threw a punch with her organic arm which impacted against the dummy. Unlike Gozai's ineffective flailing, Eryka's punch was a lot more controlled only going as far as it needed to. Over extending when it came to one's offensive attacks was a great way to waste energy; one of human's best advantages was their superior stamina after all.

He wasn't expecting to be pushed aside, and while her berating his training attempts did not sit well with parts of his brain, he soundly ignored the calls for his pride to reassert itself. This woman could probably snap him in half like a twig if she wanted to, so he didn't want to give her justification to do so. "Brutally honest? I like that." He noted offhandedly, while observing the stance she was showing off, his gaze repeatedly shifting from her feet to his own as he shimmied his feet about to mimic her instruction.

He actually flinched a bit when she threw the punch at the dummy. Yeah, that was a lot more control, as much as he did hate to acknowledge the superiority of someone else. He would reposition his fingers on the wooden baton, before tightening his grip on it. The albino then did a few slow swings, trying to figure a way of swinging that best benefited from this different stance. After a few of these swings at thin air, he took a few steps to the next training dummy over, took the instructed stance again, briefly looking down at his feet to make sure it was more or less.

Gozai then drew a breath, and swung. There was a clack of wood on wood, as the baton struck the dummy, but it was closer to the handle then it was to the tip of the baton. He'd placed himself a similar distance away as the female, and he immediately realized he'd forgotten to account for the different reach of the baton compared to her fist. He grunted in frustration, before sliding his feet back a bit, and swinging again, the resulting clack from the impact having a much sharper tone to it.

"Shut up. Your meaningless drivel is annoying." Stating the obvious always irritated Eryka. It was a waste of time and quite frankly? It made you seem like an idiot. Eryka knew she was "brutally honest" as Gozai put it. He knew she was brutally honest so what benefit did him stating that have? None whatsoever. She hated the inefficient, the slow and the dull witted. Time was a finite resource and with all finite things, you should strive to squeeze as much value out of it as possible.

Eryka took a step back, hanging around for a few moments to observe Gozai. At first she was disappointed that the boy hadn't readjusted for the stance and the effect that had on his weapon's range but then he did exactly that. Good; so he wasn't totally brain-dead at least...or so she thought. Sadly, when Gozai lashed out at the training dummy his stance had been disturbed, his back foot ending up in the wrong place as a result of his shuffling. Eryka decided that a more practical demonstration of proper balance was in ordered.

The amputee reached out with her organic arm's palm and attempted to push, firmly, against Gozai's chest. It took very little force but so long as Eryka's palm pressed against the boy's chest, he would find his balance going and his entire body beginning to fall over. He would need to readjust his feet pretty swiftly or he would find himself falling on his ass, literally.

"When you shuffled your feet back, you disrupted your stance. All the physical strength in the world is meaningless without balance." There was a tone of irritation to Eryka's voice as she scowled at Gozai, yellow eyes boring through his entire being. Eryka was not happy with him. Not at all.

Wow, harsh. Well, at least she meant business. He wasn't expecting the touch to his chest, and he had time enough to give the other cadet a glance before he was being pushed. "Wha-" He had time to try and speak in protest, before he was falling. The albino tucked his chin to his chest. but didn't end up falling all the way onto his back, merely ending up on his ass.

He returned the gaze she was giving, suppressing the urge to call er out for that, or protest in some way. But he'd soon divert his eyes, and stood back up. Gozai didn't even bother saying anything, imagining it'd only add to the sense of frustration coming off her. Instead he took up his stance again, briefly looking at his feet and trying to get it close to what the other had shown, this time at the appropriate distance. Then he would raise up his baton, and strike the dummy again.

"Point in effect. Pay attention to your stance." Gozai hadn't asked her for any lessons and she had no further reason to stick around. The amputee turned to leave, returning to her locker and yet again removing her belongings. She slipped her boots off, pulled her riding suit over her body and placed her boots back onto her feet. She took the padlock with her, as it did belong to her, and placed her helmet over her head, pulling the visor down. Unless anything else happened she would leave the training area and hop onto her bike, riding into town.

He kept striking at the dummy, even as the other seemed to leave, emptying the locker her belongings had been in. Another stirke sent a clack through the room. "Hey." Gozai spoke aloud, though not seizing his continuing strikes. "I imagine you don't care, but thanks." And another hard wooden clack. And another. He didn't break his gaze away from the dummy as he spoke. But he felt that he should offer a word or two of gratitude, it was rare enough for him to do so.