balance_logs | [Open] Qombat Qlass with Uncle Qrow

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[Open] Qombat Qlass with Uncle Qrow

Who: [OPEN] Qrow Branwen (

blodsvorr) and anyone who wants to come to class
Where: Moon Base: the Academy, Dojo, & Arena
When: Throughout the month
What: Mingle post for combat class with Qrow! Tag teacher or form teams and pairs for lessons. Have fun!
Content Warning: References to someone trying to control their alcohol use/dependency to only partial success.

NETWORK POST

[On Saturday, a post is made to the network from username eight.span, Qrow Branwen. It reads as follows:]

So Schimmrigk isn’t coming back. Apparently, the guy enjoyed his sabbatical. That means I’m taking over combat classes. Show up or don’t, but for the love of whatever you buy into, make sure you’re ready for the next field mission. We’ve got shopkeepers and blacksmiths for weapons, and we’ve got the Academy and other Reclaimers for training. No one needs to go into the field unarmed this time.

If you're coming to my class, you should know I don’t do rubrics or homework. Don’t show up expecting any of that crud.

COURSE MATERIAL (i.e., mingle prompts)

So you want to get an education! Or maybe you just want to see how the hell Qrow got this job. Qrow’s educational practices can be described as "direct," at best. He follows the methods he knows from back home and is sticking to the philosophy of education that turned him into a Huntsman. That means all students are basically being trained the way he was trained at Beacon. Fun!

Some basic lessons:

WEAPON DESIGN: Design your weapon with Uncle Qrow! Weapons are, in the Remnant school of thought, a way of channeling your Aura, which is itself your soul. In other words, a weapon is an extension of who you are as a person. Thus, weapon design. Students are encouraged to come up with their own weapon, whether it be an axe that is also a blunderbuss, a scythe that is also a sniper rifle, or a revolver that is also a pistol. (Remnant likes guns.) You can also design a boring and normal weapon like a war hammer or a chainsaw. Whatever works! Qrow has experience with designing weapons, so he can help people figure their outs, but students are also free to discuss options with their peers.

Obviously, all weapons should be personalized. Paint it to match your colour scheme! Engrave some swirly lines on it! Come up with a symbol to represent your entire personality and slap that bad boy on your weapon! That’s what individuality means.

(Note that most normal weapons take 1 week for a blacksmith to craft, while weird combo weapons probably take longer, with a revolver-rapier set at 3 weeks. You may want to check with the mods to be sure of the time.)

WEAPON MAINTENANCE: The follow-up to weapon design. If you know how your weapon is structured, you can better maintain and even sometimes fix it. Whatever you made should, in theory, be able to last you your whole life if you take care of it properly. A person must always treat their weapon with respect. Qrow will not be letting any of his students fail to learn how to do everything they possibly can do to maintain a weapon in the field.

FIELD MEDICINE: How not to die when you're stabbed. These are all the basics of how to stop bleeding from a major artery or set a broken bone well enough that you can get back to base. Students get to practice on dummies, but more importantly, they get to practice on each other and themselves. Have fun pairing up and cutting off a friend's blood flow! (Not with actual broken bones or nicked arteries though, because Qrow doesn't believe in teaching methods as extreme as some people here.)

However, the majority of class time will be made up of the following two components:

COMBAT PRACTICE: The thing this course is supposed to be about. Sparring matches are mostly between students, although Qrow will also spar individually with every student to test their skills and abilities, so he can better help them going forward. There are also just drills and routines against dummies, targets, holographs, etc. There will be a lot of this. It's the point of being here. Well, sort of, because then there's the other thing Qrow wants to drill them on.

TEAM TRAINING: Making liberal use of simulators in the arena, this is a combination of terrain education (helping students learn how to handle different terrain, including how to use it to your advantage, avoid its dangers, and track a target through it), monster education, training in improvisational thinking, a crash course on field medicine, and, most importantly, general education in how to work things out and fight in teams. Groups are usually two or four people in size.

(Teams of four should follow the Remnant Team Naming Rule, which means an acronym from one initial of every team member that forms a word evocative of colour, with the team leader getting the first letter. Please make up stupid team names. I beg of you.)

Some training missions
Escape rooms
Obstacle Courses
Huntsman Missions: Missions modelled after the kind of missions that Huntsmen and Huntresses are assigned on Remnant, adapted to tasks they may encounter as Reclaimers.
search-and-retrieve (having to make your way through through monster-infested terrain, retrieve supplies or some random object, and come back)
escort (escorting another student through monster terrain. This student is given the choice to be helpful or to be ‘obliviously sabotaging’ with the rescue attempt. Qrow encourages the escorted student to have fun, because escort missions always suck, and so should the training for it.)
search-and-destroy (tracking down and destroying a monster’s nest)
perimeter defence/village security (holding an “inhabited” area against a monster attack or inclement weather)
bounty (tracking down and retrieving a wanted person alive. As with escort missions, the “wanted person” is a student, but this time, they get to actively and deliberately mess with the team sent in)

MISC. FACTS ABOUT CLASS

NO HOMEWORK EVER because he doesn’t want to grade it
Akechi, however, may assign some and grade it. Akechi is a weird kid. He isn't actually the TA, but he keeps acting like he is.
Generally it’s a non-standardized approach. He does better at one-on-one teaching than anything, so he avoids lectures like the plague and sets people off to work in teams and pairs while he moves between students to teach them all personally.
He ends up just keeping wrapped sandwiches and other foods in his desk to throw at children who have shown up without eating
He is notably softer with children than adults. For example, adults who have not eaten do not get free food from Qrow; they get told to leave and come back when they’re ready for combat.
He minces his curses in class even when it’s really obvious he wants to swear. There are too many children.
He is trying to be good, so he can frequently be spotted drinking from a coffee mug. A mug which he openly spikes in front of the class. But still. He’s trying.
He has literally never showed up for class on time, not even once. But at least he has never been more than fourteen minutes late?
The times he has shown up hungover have shown that being hungover has had literally no effect on his teaching or combat ability; he just pinches the bridge of his nose more and complains about noise without actually stopping people from being loud.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Nightmarish. Qrow opts to pour extra alcohol into his coffee, because "we'll get lucky" boy has arrived. (He realizes there is more to Komaeda than this, but it is still what stands out to him.) But AMBUSH. Gods. So a little extra whiskey and a drink, and then he can talk.]

Depends. Do you wanna learn?

Of course, this world seems to require it, and though so far I've somehow avoided any physical altercations, it will probably only be a matter of time.

[Inevitable really.]

I've only been in two situations before and I lost both of them. So, I'm not sure what kind of weapon that would suit me. I'm not physically strong, or particularly fast.

[At least that's something. Qrow leans back against his desk, putting aside his coffee mug so he can fold his arms.]

You can build both of those if you're willing to put in the work. [So it's not necessarily an impediment.] How's your agility?

I'm alright with video games?

Ah... and circuitry I suppose.

[Though he was pretty sure Qrow was talking more about running and such.]

I have no stamina though, so running and getting out of the way of things doesn't work out very well. Usually just standing still is good enough.

I'm more of a back row support type.

[Qrow does not know about Komaeda's unfortunate arrested development experiments, which makes him a little testy with this level of unhelpfulness.]

Yeah, that last part is what I meant. [Not video games. God.] Talk to me about your support skills.

I'm a cleric, so I can heal, I can get room and board pretty easily, and I can make people tell the truth.

Though, it's not hard to figure out when people lie anyway.

[Though that was all just stuff from this world.]

Back home I was good at taking care of people, I can clean, and I don't mind being a sacrifice for the group.

[He was also really manipulative and while brainwashed kidnapped a man and used him as a hostage to blackmail a serial killer to be used as his chess peice.]

But, I should probably not be too close to people, especially people fighting something difficult. I would worry too much that something might happen to them because of my presence....

[It's that last part that makes Qrow stop. The rest is filed away, information to toy with and decide—cleric is a support role, that's alright for a lack of combat skills, but he needs to have stamina to keep up, so training should focus on building speed and endurance—and then Komaeda says something... familiar. Qrow blinks. Frowns. Folds his arms.]

Why is that?

I'm the former Super High School Level Lucky Student.....

[He says it with a big sigh, as if it were a burden and that title somehow meant something.]

Bad luck brings good luck... people tend to be unlucky around me.

What?

[His voice is without breath. The kid sighs, and he calls himself lucky like Kaede calls herself talented at piano, like it's some kind of skill, and then—

Crows bring misfortune. Unwanted. A curse. All his life—

This guy. And he just said it?]

You're.... you're bad luck?

Probably.

At least, when good things happen to me. So, right now should be ok. Having your world supposedly destroyed and all your friends gone is pretty bad, so I doubt anything more should happen right now.

[Though Mikan did just recently show up and add the question, 'could people still arrive here unscathed?' but that was besides the point.]

I might say it's like the eye of a storm? At least, it's been said about me.

[Qrow puts his mug down. He takes out his flask. Then he realizes that all the kids are here, and he is trying, but this is—fuck.]

We'll—we'll figure something out. Don't worry about it.

[It's fight-or-flight kicking in, and Qrow's instincts have never failed to call for spread wings when it came to his own misfortune. And this is—what will this even do? If it's the two of them? He needs to tell Komaeda. What if they amplify each other's—it's not his Semblance, it's just something. Who knows what it is. This isn't safe. He knows nothing about Komaeda. He has no idea if he'll say anything about it. Fuck!]

I... need a word with you outside.

[He has no idea what that word might be, but he knows he cannot do this here in front of everyone else. So he's walking straight for the deserved between-classes hallways of the academy, and Komaeda can come or not.]

A word?

[He wasn't sure how to take that. Was there understanding? Or, had he said it in a weird way again. He felt Qrow had an understanding though, one even Hinata never could quite get until the end.

He doesn't wait, he follows, like an obedient student.]

Yes?

[The moment they're outside, Qrow stops. Leans back against a wall, flask uncapped and in hand. He looks at Komaeda.]

Tell me everything about how it works.

Everything?

[So he was being taken seriously at least. He looks down, he had never really just come out to explain before. Hinata had been the only one he had gone into depth about it all. His classmates... well, they experienced it first hand.]

My luck works in waves. Bad luck brings good luck. No matter what things will work out for me, but... the series of events needed to cause that... can be bad. Like the hypothetical thought experiment of, if you could wish for anything you wanted and the world would make it that way. What chain of events would be needed to execute your wish?

[He wasn't a child anymore... explaining things simply and from the beginning were best.]

An example, of the flow, I was once kidnapped by a serial killer when I was in middle school, that's pretty bad luck. When he found out there was no one to give a ransom, he threw me in a dumpster. But, while I was in the dumpster I found a winning lottery ticket for a lot of money. So that's good luck.

[But not quite all the way. His parents could come up later.]

Friends in school too, would have bad things happen to them, especially when good things happened to me. Even in grade school... the dog I loved got hit by a car right before finding out I would get to go on a vacation with my parents out of the country.

If things are too good, I sometimes think it wouldn't be surprising to find out someone close to me has died.

[It's horrible. It is almost comically horrible. Qrow's curse has always haunted him, but this? This is a cycle of extremes. It's a wheel of fortune, with heights matched by lows, and Qrow doesn't think that what Komaeda's describing means that the misfortune misses him.]

No control?

[Of course not. But he has to ask anyway.]

It's not a power, people don't have powers in my world. But, being careful can be helpful.

[Staying away from people, consider actions, try and make plans and go over them for any potential issues.

In the end things would always go how they wanted to though.]

Luck is chaotic. If one could control it they would be a god.

[He can't help himself; he laughs. And when he covers his face, it's to give himself that chance to breathe.]

A God, huh? Well...

[Qrow lowers his hand, and he looks at Komaeda.]

You can't control your luck, and neither can they. Bad luck's something they'll have to learn how to handle out on the field too. It sounds like it comes in cycles, so give me a heads up if you think we're on our way to something bad. Maybe we could drop down to Faerun and see if we can turn that misfortune against something that deserves it.

I don't know if anyone really deserves that.

[And looking back on what he knows now, it might have a long plan going that won't make anyone happy in the immediate.]

But I can say what I think, but, I don't know how reliable that would be.

[It was easier to have faith in, and to interpret it afterwards.]

You seem familiar with this sort of thing though.

[Agree to disagree on what people might deserve. There are, in Qrow's opinion, those for whom misfortune is a mercy after what they have done. He named his weapon Harbinger because he believed there were people who had earned what his misfortune brings.]

Some forecast is better than nothing.

[It will, at least, give them some chance to control it. For all that's worth.

When Komaeda pushes the point further, though, Qrow just glances down into his flask. The liquid is too dark to make out against the container, but he knows how much he has left from the weight of it.]

Yeah.

[That's all.]

Oh?

[This felt a bit unfair, there was not an equal amount of sharing going on.]

Do you bring misfortune?

[Putting their first meeting together with the current state, it was the first thing he decided to check off.]

What do you think?

[It isn't fair to be snappish like that, and Qrow knows it. He growls at his own shittiness, opting to drink from his flask rather than let anything else he's thinking come straight from his mouth.]

I don't like to talk about it, alright? It's my own business.

[He wanted to know how Komaeda's worked so he could manage it for the class. That doesn't mean he wants to say anything about his own. And he knows the hypocrisy in it, but he still just can't. He doesn't know Komaeda; he doesn't trust him. The idea of Komaeda telling people about his Semblance brings a flash of sharp, terrible memories. He doesn't want that here.

Komaeda's luck broke him one way. Qrow's has pushed him another. The drinking, the guardedness, the self-isolation—they're all symptoms, Qrow's own flawed way of coping with his curse and the life it brought him. A life controlled by guilt and grief and fear.]

It's a power. I can control it some. It isn't enough of a threat that I'm a danger to my students. So no one needs to know, got it?

If it is something that I have learned, it's that no one can truly handle things completely on their own.

[He and everyone in his class had learned that the hard way.]

The variables are different now, arent they?

[He could tell when someone was just trying to bury and hide.]

Also, it's rather unfair and rude to ask and not give in return. What if the two of us standing here causes an unimaginable consequence?

Well sorry for being rude.

[Like he doesn't know. Like he hasn't thought about it. A really petty part of him wants to tell Komaeda to just leave if he's so worried, but he can't do it. Because twenty years ago, someone looked at him, a cursed and unwanted child who had only ever known stealing and murder, and that person offered him a chance to be something more.

Qrow has fallen far since then. But he still wants to be the person Oz saw in him. The person Summer and Tai wanted on their team.]

Look. I don't know how our things are going to work together, and honestly, I'm not eager to find out. But I've got a range that mediates mine, so if I keep a certain distance most of the time, it should be manageable. [The range, naturally, is why Qrow frequently separates himself from others physically. He moves in to help students, sparring with them or giving tips, and then he puts that distance back. He's afraid to physically be near anyone else for long, even when he's teaching.] So if you're willing to play the odds, I can try to figure something out to help you. My recommendation would be building your speed and stamina to start while we work out a weapon that suits you.

I'm always willing to play the odds.

[He could work with this.]

But, stamina and speed might be a bit... well, I suppose on good days it should be alright. If I think about it, I've survived things I never should have.

[He wasnt ready to share the terminal illness just yet.]

Working together towards a goal will definitely work out alright.

[Last time, Komaeda's faith in things working out irritated him, rubbing him the wrong way in light of his own curse. This time, he understands it as something different. Instead of being angry, he just looks away and sighs.]

Not with my luck. Let's hope yours wins out.

[He drinks again, taking that moment to recalibrate. "On good days." So, that's an issue.]

Maybe a dexterity weapon with range, then? Daggers and darts would be throwing, although you'd also need to be able to handle close combat with the daggers. Whips give a variety of distance, but they require a lot of skill to master. They're also pretty damn brutal to use on human opponents, if that's an issue for you. They tend to cause a lot of pain when they're putting someone out of commission.

Edited 2019-01-07 07:12 (UTC)

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