Worm Gets Beat Up By Two Ogres

[Colonel Worm]

Night. Or maybe it's twilight? Anyway, the crowds at Funderland have dissipated. The park is closed.

The door to the High Striker, however, stands open. Light pours out, a yellow rectangle cast upon the ground, stretching off into the gloom. An invitation.

Cigarette smoke escapes through the door as well, gray tendrils briefly visible in the illumination streaming from within.

Music is thumping away inside. Loud.

Worm's obviously there and waiting. Excited for his guests and a night of getting smacked around by the two biggest dudes in the Freehold.

[Liam Gelt]

Liam ducks into the entrance of the High Striker, dressed in sweat pants, a jacket, and a large-sized undershirt. It's been a while since he's been here, but he remembers the area where the Summers had set up a food fight; another where they'd set up a gladiatorial arena. He'd been a bartender then, providing a more relaxed option for partygoers. Today, he'd be...what was it folks called it? Throwing hands?

In a friendly avenue, of course.

Liam waves to Worm. The Ogre has a 16-pack of Gatorade under one massive arm a duffel bag over his opposite shoulder. "Nice ambience, Worm. Got a soundtrack for us today? He sets the duffel bag down along with the Gatorade, then offers his hand for a handshake. "Thanks for setting this up. I've been looking for a way to stretch some muscles without the threat of death or poisoned facial scars." He motions to the duffel bag. "I've got towels in there, along with some oranges, trail mix, and a Goblin Fruit or two in case somebody needs a pick-me-up."

[Gerrit]

Gerrit was a bit late - he stood outside the High Striker, listened to the manic music thumping from the inside, and thought. There was the worry that giving in to this would lead him down the inevitable path of becoming someone who hurt people for fun. But Colonel Worm is here to prevent this - or suffer the consequences. True, but what if the Wyrd had differing opinions on what was morally sound? And what about Liam? Did they have to tell the Spring what was also going on?
On the other hand: he didn't lead a sheltered normal life anymore, so he needed to defend himself. And not be a pushover anymore.

The Stonebones dug his hands deeper into the pockets of his black hoodie and entered. Liam was already there, alongside the host himself. "Hello Colonel Worm, Liam. How are you?" He looked for a place to put down his backpack and got out a bottle of water and a dark gray towel. Apparently the Gargantuan planned on staying here longer.. or he simply had a metabolism with way different needs than Gerrit. The Onyx looked at Liam's equipment with neutral expression, then shrugged ever so slightly and went towards Colonel Worm. "I'm ready." He should treat this like ripping off a band-aid: just do it.

[Colonel Worm]

When Liam enters, Worm is...doing pushups? A cigarette burning away on the edge of a beer can set next to him on the ground.

He's wearing only a pair of (very snug) gym shorts. Black. His red flesh is covered in a patchwork of scars. He's already glistening with sweat. At Liam's approach, the Goblin pops up. The air kaleidoscopes with heat shimmer around him. Steps over his own duffle, which is on the ground between them.

"Liam! My bud! Welcome!" He throws his arms out. "Now put that shit down and give me a hug."

Whether or not they hug it out, the Goblin continues (buoyant as ever): "No music where we're going, pal." He waggles a brow. "But we can catch some tunes when we're done if you want? Good looking out on the trail mix by the way. And the Gatorade."

That's when Gerrit shows up. "G! 'Course you're ready--born that way!" Once again, he holds out his arms. Grinning like a madman. "You want some Worm-love, my man?"

As before, hug or no, Worm will continue on at that same level of enthusiasm: "Ok, before we get a move on, let me ask you: either of ya'll thrown many punches?" With rolling gait, he walks back to the cigarette and beer. Plucks the former off the latter, drains the last of the beer. Takes one last drag. Drops the butt into the can and gives it shake. Picks up his bag.

Listening all the while to their responses.

[Liam Gelt]

Liam accepts the hug from Worm, bending down to pat the Goblin on the back. Worm may smell pine sap from the closeness to the Spring's Mantle carried by an ephemeral breeze swirling around the Giant's limbs. "How have you been? Doing warmups?" He espies the scars on the Goblin and figures they must've come from using blades solo. He doubts there would be anyone, Mundy or Lost, foolish enough to try and corner a Summer on his home turf.

"Hey, Gerrit!" Liam waves to his fellow Ogre, "I brought some extra drinks and snacks just in case." Gerrit seemed...happy to see them. Must be a Winter thing?

"Um, a couple of times when I was younger." Liam thinks back to his pre-Arcadia days, as hazy as they seem. "Mostly I just pick people up or shove them out of the way. And I never got a chance to punch Branchel." His expression sours a bit when he thinks of the massive, froglike Hob the last Hedge Patrol had fought. "That's part of the reason why I've wanted to learn. I might need to throw a bit more weight around if more threats like Branchel decide to tresspass."

[Gerrit]

Gerrit doesn't as much accept the hug as he lets it happen. Truth was that most touches hurt him, but he also feels kind of obligated to not deny Worm the well-meant offer. I wonder if all the scars mean that he's hurting constantly too. That would certainly go with the self-destructive tendencies the Wizened showed. "Thanks for the provisions, but I think I'm good." He couldn't help but think that Liam's caring personality was just bound to be taken advantage of soon, but that was a lesson everyone had to learn for themselves.

Now, Worm's question was a lot. Answering honestly would go too deep into 'self-pity' and 'therapy' territory, so Gerrit kept it short and factual. "I've been on the receiving end a few times. Never really much cared for dishing out." A shrug. "But I've started learning some basic sequences of boxing, for what it's worth." Punching inanimate objects seemed to go okay. "We're using pads to hit each other, right?"

[Colonel Worm]

Liam is always a welcome sight. Worm has a soft spot in his heart for the Tree Dude. They've seen shit together. That's a bond.

"I'm fantastic, bud. 100%," two thumbs up. "Warm ups? Oh, I guess? I don't know. Just keeping busy." A grin.

"Well picking up and shoving is always a good place to start. Hopefully, it doesn't go beyond that." Lots of folks would think twice when a guy as huge as Liam gives them the ol' heave-ho. Though not everyone has that much sense. Worm, for instance. "But we'll be training on the assumption that, at some point, it will."

Attention turns to Gerrit: "Nothing wrong with that. Throwing down's not for everybody." Worm can recognize that. Even if it's definitely for him. "Still, like I said to this guy, we're going to assume that you're going to run into trouble eventually. So, whether you want to or not..." he shrugs. Better be ready.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Pads. Sure. They're waiting for us." Worm starts walking further into the Striker, duffel in tow. Calls behind him: "C'mon boys!" Eventually he reaches a door, propped up against one of the barricade structures that repeat throughout space. The door has a hole in it. Gerrit will recognize it from his last visit.

Worm makes a few, furtive gestures with his free hand, his mantle flares, and voila, the door opens before them. They walk through it and into another world, a broad expanse of hard-packed black dirt. An unforgiving sun. Supplies scattered here and there. A pile of bamboo poles that have been hacked to bits is at the edge of the clearing. Off to one side is a small garden of sand and rock. It is falling into ruin.

Worm sets his duffel down next to a pile of headgear, striking pads, body pads, and boxing gloves previously deposited for this occasion.

"Welcome to the Summer hollow," he says with a grin. "It's not much, but it's the dojo. Come and grab some gear." He bends over and grabs two striking pads. Fits them onto his hand. "We'll start with looking at your form."

[Liam Gelt]

As Worm leads the two Ogres into the Summer Hollow, Liam can't help but feel a sense of reverence. This was a sacred space, and Worm's hospitality meant a lot to him. And, from host to host, Liam was by no means disappointed. "This is a nice Hollow, Worm. Very...different?...Sunny." He's sure that the Summers found it comfortable, even if he didn't think he'd like the lack of shade. Diana might complain about the heat, if she ever had the chance to grow limbs and visit.

He sets his duffel bags back down and takes a look at the gear. Amazingly, it looks like the Goblin found gloves to accommodate Liam's big hands. He puts them on, his branchlike fingers still carrying enough muscle to curl into a fist. "Form eh? All right, I'll go first."

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-27 23:54:04	Liam Gelt rolls 7 to Strike Out (Str + Brawl + All Out) (10 Again)	6, 3, 7, 6, 10, 3, 5, 7	1 success

Liam winds up almost like a cartoon character, arm circling round a couple of rotations before it shoots out, impacting Worm's pads. He tries putting some extra weight behind it, but ends up sacrificing power for accuracy. "Okay, how was that?"

He steps back, awaiting Worm's critique and Gerrit's attempt.

Not sure of DEF involved, so suxx can be taken from right

[Aeolus]

Colonel Worm was right of course. Sometimes you couldn't help but have trouble find you. And that was the kind of thinking he had to associate with this - there will be times where he had to dish out a little violence to prevent worse harm. For better or worse, this wasn't the 'mundane' world anymore, where proper authorities could deal with your problems or you could deescalate situations.

As if to prove the point the Wizened opened the Gate (has his Mantle changed lately?) to the Hollow and Gerrit felt his blood run cold. Last time he was here he wasn't exactly at the best mental place. Today was different though, right?
The Stonebones steeled himself and crossed the threshold, water and towel in hand.

Yeah, he remembered this place. Although seeing the stone garden like this made him angry, quicker and more intensely than he had anticipated. He put down his stuff next to the other equipment - although he put a little more force behind it than necessary - and cleared his throat with a wet ripping sound. Liam wanted to go first? All right with Gerrit.

He watched the Gargantuan in his almost comical attempt of striking CW's pads. Was he taking this serious at all? Or maybe the Spring was really inexperienced when it came to that. And maybe you're being overly critical and bitter. "I think that was not bad." Although his voice sounded a bit forced, he really needed to not let his anger for Ram's disappearance ride him out now.
He needed to focus. So he grabbed some gloves and put them on, slowly, methodically.

Then he stepped up to Colonel Worm. Forget that you're hitting a person. Forget that you're mad. He took the stance he had been training on, raised his hands and narrowed his eyes.
No, maybe he shouldn't forget his anger. Maybe he needed to use it.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-29 08:32:13	Gerrit rolls 5 to strike the pad (Str 3 + Brawl 2) (10 Again)	2, 7, 2, 10, 8, 4	2 successes

He only tried a precise 1-2 combination. He didn't want to be flashy, nor did he try to do much damage. This was a Summer assessing their form, so that's what Gerrit was going to give him. After that he took a step back again and waited.

[Colonel Worm]

Liam's swing is fucking hilarious. Worm is grinning ear to ear, in a good-natured way. He feels no need to mock the Ogre. He just likes cartoons is all.

Gerrit is much more polished. It's clear he's been practicing. He gives the Stonebones a nod and a wink, acknowledging the show of technique without calling it out explicitly. He knows that G isn't one for making a show of himself.

"OK, bud," he says to Liam first. "I like your style, but we're going to start with basics. And that means how you hold your body and how you throw the punch. The wind up? It's cool. But not necessary. Unnecessary can get you hurt. Killed." And Worm's not gonna let that happen.

Walking around the Gargantuan, the Goblin touches him here and there (the shoulder, the hand, the waist, the leg) as he speaks: "First thing's first, it you're a righty, your left shoulder should face the opponent like this," adjusting the giant. "Stand with legs shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, left foot turned to point toward your opponent. Make loose fists, and hold your right hand by your chin, left hand down in front of your face. Chin down, eyes up."

He turns to Gerrit, "You've got a little more training under your belt G, so let's see you take up the same stance. Right here next to Liam." Without further direction.

Worm steps back to look at both of them, like an art critic taking in a painting.

For the hand-pad work, I propose the brawl rolls are to gauge execution, not cause damage. The better you roll, the better you punch. For assuming the stance, why don't y'all both roll Intelligence + Brawl to see how well you can follow the instructions Worm's just given.