melodiesoflife | Learning the Art of Jobs

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Learning the Art of Jobs

WHO: Rukia Kuchiki, Angeal Hewley, Yuffie Kisaragi, OPEN
WHAT: Not wanting to remain unskilled in the use of her new jobs, Rukia heads to the training school to begin instruction. She meets Angeal. She might also meet others, in separate threads.
WHEN: September 16, 2015 - Afternoon
WHERE: Aqures Ixen - Training School
NOTES: Rukia's going to be training in both Ninja and Red Mage. Anyone willing to lend her a hand is welcome. ...Or you can just point and laugh at her, that's cool too.

Rukia examined her crystal thoroughly, carefully. She was cautious in handling it, unsure of what might happen were the crystal to break due to unexpected carelessness. It seemed sturdy, however.

"So the job I am equipped with now is that of the Ninja," she murmured, resting a knuckle thoughtfully on her chin. "And the other is a Red Mage. Interesting." She turned the crystal in her slender fingers, searching for some sort of lever or switch, something to activate the device, but could find nothing. "So if I want to become a Red Mage, will it affect my clothing? How does it work?"

It was a mystery, and one she could not easily unravel. So, she placed the crystal back in the folds of her black robes with a quiet sigh of frustration. She would learn later. For now, she needed to see how much of her shinigami training she still retained. Drawing forth the katana, she examined the blade shrewdly. It was not Sode no Shirayuki; she knew her own zanpakutou like the back of her hand. The connection between them was deep, almost sacred, and she did not like being without her weapon.

Nonetheless, this would do. It was scaled to suit her smaller stature, and well-balanced. She slid into her initial stance, grasping the hilt with both hands to level the point at an invisible foe before her. A breath. A shift of her weight. A twist of her sandal, and she darted forward swift and silent. She swung the katana and pivoted, her movements careful and graceful.

After a few moments, she relaxed her posture, satisfied. She could still move as she once had, although she was aware that her physical strength had diminished. It would be easier to gauge her true capabilities against a more experienced partner, however, and she lifted her head to look around. Perhaps there was someone on the grounds who would be willing to assist.

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Yuffie was a little disappointed at Rukia's refusal. Truthfully it worked and a lot faster than other means but she wasn't going to press the matter. She assumed that Rukia was like Sephiroth, someone with powers who was suddenly downgraded. It was a little different when you were normal all the time and relied on crystals or materia for magic.

Her head tilted to the side while a light sigh left her lips. "Alright. I'm good with either. What's your weapon of choice? I'm most practiced with throwing blades, throwing stars, my large shuriken, katana and things like that." It's obvious that she came from a ninja village considering the rang of weapons.

"Bow's and arrows too but not as much." She didn't really pay attention during those lessons.

"We are able to choose our weapons?" This was news to Rukia, who'd only ever fought with a katana. Chappopo had told her that they usually came equipped with the basic weapon used by a certain job class. But Rukia hadn't known she could use more than that.

She looked down at her sword and drew it, but didn't levy it at Yuffie. "This is all I possess at the moment. I suppose this is what I must choose."

But if she were supposed to train and learn how to utilize other weapons, then she had best start training.

Yuffie just gave her a quick nod. "Yeah, it depends on what job you got. I'm going to guess Ninja, in which case you can use everything I just mentioned." Yuffie's grin widens into a cocky smile.

"I'm the greatest ninja out there." Which means she's also a pretty great teacher.

The princess walked forward until she stood next to Rukia. She didn't have a katana on her but the practice area had some wooden swords so for now Yuffie would use that. If they chose to spar Yuffie would still have the advantage because of her skills and mastery of the job. Except the point was to train, not to just fight.

"Okay, what style do you already know? You should be able to remember it and we can build off that."

Since Rukia doubted a wooden sword could withstand a hard swing from her katana, she followed Yuffie and picked up a practice weapon as well. It appeared she had more training to do, if she were to be fully proficient in everything she had access to now.

She turned the wooden sword in her hands, testing the balance, before putting it away and picking up another. She had to find something that felt comfortable, and she had a good eye for quality in that regard at the very least.

"The shinigami combat style," she replied, giving her sword two light swings with one hand. "I've sparred with members of my squad one on one, and engaged in battle with opponents that were essentially person-sized. But most of our training was focused on how to take down large evil spirits, called Hollows."

Yufffie didn't really care what Rukia practiced with. This world was weird when it came to weapons and abilities. She was at least used to something like the jobs with materia.

"So looking for a weak point I guess? Big opponent?" She watched Rukia curiously. "Get into your stance and let me see."

Yuffie had an idea of what they'd need to review first. "Monsters here are a little different but not by much. Everything takes a different type of strategy which you just learn by going out there and fighting. Fighting people is a little different." She couldn't help but wonder if Rukia was used to killing people. She knew that some weren't and it was an important detail.

Rukia nodded. 'Big' didn't even begin to describe the majority of Hollows that she'd fought. As for people? The Arrancars were people-like, enough that Rukia considered them as much despite their monstrous tendencies.

But as for killing average people, then no. Soul Reapers only guided their souls, they didn't divest them from their living bodies.

"Quite so," she agreed. As Yuffie wished to see Rukia's stance for measuring up a Hollow, she did just that. Her knees were slightly bent, indicating that she was ready to leap the very second something came at her. She grasped her sword's hilt comfortably in both hands. She definitely looked like she had more than a few lifetimes of experience as a fighter, to say the least.

Yuffie hoped that Rukia didn't mind killing people. She had a history of teaching people who had bleeding hearts to fight and in one instance it got Yuffie shot. She didn't really like it.

She hummed walking in a circle around Rukia. "Looks good but you should even out your weight a little more. You won't be fighting big things but you'll be using your speed so you want to be firm but also most fast." Yuffie had a feeling that she could knock Rukia over if she got close enough.

"You might be faster than the things you fought before but that isn't the case here. The annoying part of these jobs is that there is always someone faster than you. If you are fighting off against someone with the same job mastered and only one equipped. They will be faster. It's a little odd how it works."

She was welcome to try, but the assumption would be entirely incorrect. She might have looked tiny and delicate, but Rukia was a seasoned fighter. Even if her strength, dexterity, and speed had all been changed, she knew the basics of combat intrinsically.

"Odd...yes. And frustrating," Rukia admitted. She didn't like the idea of going through the humiliation of being a novice once again, but there was little choice. The harder she trained, the sooner she could move past that handicap.

"I was told that my other job allows me to cast spells. How do I access this job to do so?"

"Depends on the job. I can tell you have ninja. Do you have something else equipped too?" Jobs would mix in an odd way and if Rukia had a mage job equipped it meant that her defense was very low.

Yuffie just watched Rukia for a moment. "You should still remember forms and things you've done before. Your physical abilities have just changed. You'll be slower or weaker or for some reason be able to take more hits. It really depends and because we can mix and match things skills will change accordingly."

It was a lot like materia.

Samurai was probably a closer estimate to Rukia's combat capabilities, rather than ninja, but the two were aligned closely enough that she was able to hold her own with the job.

"Red Mage," Rukia replied. She had as of yet to actually cast any of the spells she had access to, however. If she had to have a Mage class, at least that was the one allowing her a greater defense and offense physically speaking.

As for taking hits, she nodded slowly. "Yes. I was informed that I would be able to sustain far less damage as a Ninja."

Yuffie nodded. "We'll you don't wear armor for one." Which made it obvious that a knife will be able to do more damage than if Rukia was decked out in gear. She continued to walk around the girl inspecting her, it's clear that she carried herself well but Yuffie was a seasoned fighter too. She knew that having the forms down wouldn't help if she was too slow to execute it.

"Red mage. Okay, so you can cast fire, water, lighting and blizzard?" She wasn't sure because she had never had it but she was used to casting magic. "It's not to hard. Say the element you want and try and feel it. I usually hold out my weapon to help channel it." Of course that's with the materia in the weapon.

"Why not try it."

"Just the element?" That was a surprise. Of course, for someone who was used to casting spells by reciting extremely long incantations, it was a drastic difference to cut it down to just one word.

Rukia relaxed her sword arm, considering. Of the four elemental spells she could access, 'water' was probably the one least likely to cause any incidental damage. What was the worst that could happen, a person gets wet?

She turned to the side, careful to face away from Yuffie just to be on the safe side, and thrust her sword forward. "Water!"

The energy surged inside of her. She could feel it, sliding cool and tingling from her mind to her chest, spilling down her arms and into her fingers. She could shift it, she realized, and gathered the energy into her left hand. A soft blue light pooled within the cage of her flexed fingers. The spell was ready, waiting to be unleashed. Rukia obliged, thrusting out her palm, and an orb of water collided fiercely with the ground.

Rukia flexed her fingers. "So I did not have to change to a Red Mage to cast a spell?" She could have been casting all of this time!

Yuffie shook her head. "You already have it equipped but realize that this is weaker than someone who just has red mage and nothing else." Yuffie didn't know all the details herself but they were able to access both jobs. It took more time to switch between the two than it did if you stayed with one but they were both there and accessible.

She hoped she was making sense because it wasn't easy to explain without just fighting or testing things out. Yuffie discovered most things through trial and error.

"Make sense?"

Rukia pointed at herself, suddenly far more excited. "Then this means I would be allowed to equip armor as well! Hmmm...nothing too restrictive, I wouldn't want to hamper my speed, but an extra layer of defense would be incredibly beneficial..."

She was already starting to strategize, it seemed. She'd thought it was only one class or the other. If both are combined, then she can be far more effective in her choices of equipment and ability modifications.

"I don't think Ninja or Red mage has the armor you are thinking of but you can ask your moogle." Yuffie's own clothes are close to what she wears from home and Mooshoo has gotten all of them together for her. It's a lot easier than shopping anyway.

"Do you like armor?"

The ninja princess likes wearing things where she can move around and armor didn't lend itself well to that.

"I cannot say. I've never had the occasion to wear it before," Rukia admitted. It didn't seem like it would be all that comfortable, particularly as she preferred to wear loose-fitting and flowing clothing.

She raised her hand and waved away the matter. "But it is inconsequential. The longer I remain standing in battle, the more valuable I am to my allies. I have no desire to burden those who would fight beside me."

Yuffie hummed at that. "That's at least good." She's run into people who made fights harder just by being there. A lot of heroes seemed to like to do that and it annoyed Yuffie to no end.

The young princess put her arms behind her head with a grin. "Looks like you just need to spar and get used to your abilities. Want too? I can dodge whatever you toss at me." Mostly because she had time mage which was perhaps the only job that let you dodge magical attacks.

Now that was an offer that Rukia could hardly refuse. She smiled, inclining her head slightly. "I would be happy to spar together." She wasn't so sure she should be using her spells, particularly as they had the potential to do some real damage that a wooden sword would never inflict. Bruises were one thing, burns entirely another.

"The sooner I can grow accustomed to moving in this body, the better. I thank you."

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Learning the Art of Jobs

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