11580/Training in the Box

Training in the Box
Date of Scene:	02 June 2020
Location:	The Magic Box, Sunnydale
Synopsis:	Buffy introduces Duncan to her training room.
Cast of Characters:	Buffy Summers, Duncan MacLeod, Phantasm (Drago)

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Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers is working overtime at the Magic Box again, although this time she is searching for ingredients for her own spell. It's a pity that Willow isn't around to help her out, but that's okay, she could do with a bit more reading.

Of course it's been a long day and a busy one at that. For those who don't already know, she's one of the folks that Giles hired to help out at the store when he's busy elsewhere, which is often.

So here she is, running around, cleaning up and gathering some last minute ingredients for her own spell (and of course paying for them) while she finishes up with last minute orders.

Let's just hope no late night stragglers come in at the last possible moment..

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     Of course there is a last minute straggler. You work with the public. It's a given. Granted this straggler probably isn't terribly interested in magic components, but you never know. Duncan looks around the area once, curious to say the least and closes the door behind him.

     After a moment of quick looking around the room he spies the one he's looking for and makes his way towards where you are working, but leaving a comfortable space,"Good evening." he offers to warn her of his presence if she hasn't noticed him by now. Probably the Slayer has, but the immortal is pratcially Native American despite being born in Scotland.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers peers around and softly sighs as she sees a late night straggler. Because of ourse there is one. Drawing a deep breath, she quietly steps back to the counter and nods and smiles to him. "Hello, welcome to the Magic Box! How can I help....Oh!" she blinks, recognizing him from one of their two very brief meetings.

"It's Duncan, right? Nick's friend..How's it going?" To be honest, she was in a hurry both times she met him, so she doesn't know much about him, other than he's..Well, Nick's friend. Annnd, apparently he likes coffee. And that's about it.

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     There is a hint of a smile as you start to go into the Magic Box spiel. Once you realize who is there he nods,"Duncan it is. Duncan MacLeod. Our mutual friend thought I might catch you here tonight and maybe you'd be willing to train for a while." The thing about him, he's straight forward.

     "While I never judge a book by the cover, I have to admit I am not really sure why he thought this would be the place..." he looks back towards you and shrugs,"...but life is nothing if not lived. If you don't have the time I will be on my way and make sure you don't draw a legitimate customer at the last minute."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smirks. "Heh, funny, name sounds familar. Are you like, an actor of some action movie or something..?" or maybe she's confusing him with someone else, who knows? She smiles and nods. "Welcome to my humble abode, Duncan." she grins and shrugs, "Okaay, so it's not exactly mine, I'm just watching it for a friend..Who admittedly is way more knowledgable about magic than I am. But I'm still learning. What brings you here today?"

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     "Not that I recall." he admits with a smile, shaking his head. He glances back over the room again and looks to Buffy again,"I have to say it is an interesting place." He considers and tells you,"I've been training with Nick of late and he suggested I come by here to see you."

     He looks over the place again and back to her,"He suggested I might find you a solid training partner." He speaks in a stage whisper,"I think he wants you to throw me around a little bit. Probably he would love to watch, but he wouldn't admit it."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers nods slowly. "Ahh, you're helping him with his escrima training? That's cool. He's pretty talented with those weapons.." she does seem a bit taken aback with the 'throwing around' bit though, and blinks a couple times. "Um, well, I'd rather not cause any broken bones or anything..But I could always use another training partner. I take it you've got some sort of martial arts training or similar?"

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     "I've been training him in hand to hand. I taught him a few Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do tactics to add to his own tool box." he explains. A smile and he replies,"I'd rather you not cause me any broken bones either, but things happen. I've trained with those styles as well jiu jitsu and judo." There is a well rounded and there is really needs a date and a night off.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers oohs, "Interesting, guess he's really dedicated now." she arches a curious brow at him. "Soo what, are you a professional martial artist? Or you just do that sort of thing for fun? Excuse me a minute or two, it's pretty late and I do need to close shop.."

She peers at her watch for a moment, realizing the store will be closing in a couple of minutes, and she starts to put away some supplies, locking up the more expensive ones, flipping on the closed sign in the front and locking the door..

"Sooo, I guess Nick has told you about our little training room in the back too, hmm?"

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     "Professionally? I am an antiques dealer." he tells you with a shrug,"I suppose I could be a professional martial artist if I wanted, but I have never really thought about it. I quit counting black belt degrees a long time ago." Understatement.
     He nods as you go to close things down and waits for you to get done. Looking around the room he tells you,"I can't say that he did. I surmised if we were training here there would have to be something."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smirks. "Ohh really?" she raises a curious brow at that. "Soo, guess you're pretty tough to beat. I'm dying to see just *how* tough." Buffy continues to fuss about the store for several more minutes, pulling out the cash and counting it.

"Soo, where'd you learn to fight? You must have had a heck of a teacher by the sounds of it." she makes casual conversation as she works. "Oh yeah, this place is a lot bigger than it looks. Got a couple of back rooms, and a training room, although these days it's bound to get more crowded with all the training we do back there.."

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     "There comes a time when the belt colors lose much value." he tells you,"A black belt can be more trouble than it's worth sometimes. There's really only one belt rank I might aspire to, but there are far too many people dedicated to it for me to achieve it." He laughs softly and tells you,"Tough enough, but there is more to it than that. Somtimes you have to know when to not meet the opponent head on. The best defense is not to be there."

     Duncan lets you lead him wherever and replies,"I have spend some time in Japan as well as learning here in the States." The back rooms about have to be opposite the front door, so he looks that way,"You don't have cameras back there so you and Nick can watch later while eating popcorn do you?" he teases lightly.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers hmms. "Is that so? I guess I wouldn't know, I mean..Technically, I have no official belt ranking, since my 'sensei' was basically the equivalent of Mister Miyagi. Or something." she makes a face. "Soo what's this belt rank you aspire to? I mean how many degrees of black belt are there, seriously?"

She finishes closing up and leads him to the back rooms. There are not that many really. There's a washroom, an office or two, and a couple steps leading downstairs to the surprisingly big training room in the basement.

Of course it's all locked up, but the lighting's pretty good and it's surprising full of tons of useful equipment, like punching backs, vaulting horse, a wall full of weapons, mats, climbing ropes, a target wall...All sorts of stuff.

"And here we are! Feel free to look around."

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     Walking down the stairs he chuckles softly and tells you,"There are ways to test, but I'd have to have a general idea what you Myagi taught you." He pauses as he enters the room and raises a brow,"Impressive. Reminds me of my basement back in Vancouver." he admits. To the question of the belt he genuinely laughs, mostly at himself,"There is only one red belt in jiu jitsu. It's not something I will ever achieve, so like I said. It's just something to aspire to. Keeps you young."

     Hundreds of years old or not, the room fascinates him in its way. He doesn't touch any weapons for now, but he does take time to examine them closely,"Some of these are....very old." he muses softly,"I'd have to study them for a bit to be sure."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Why yes. It appears all locked up. And yet the sounds of a third figure coming in are apparent. Oh no! Is the place being robbed?

"Buffy? You in?" Why no. Based from the voice it is not a robber and instead a wild Drago that appears!

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers tenses slightly, sensing someone near and peers around. The familiar voice though causes her to relax and she smirks, "Heh Nick, where you hiding?" she glances back to Duncan, nodding. "It's cozy and not perfect but it's a good place for practicing." she shrugs, "Yeah, guess my er...Mentor likes to collect medieval weapons. Of course I'm an expert in all forms of unarmed and most armed combat!" the last part is exclaimed proudly, perhaps a bit too overly confident.

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     The voice gets a raise of the brow from Duncan as he glances around. He doesn't let it occupy his attention too long though, the weapons are more intersting and Nick will turn up sooner or later. He looks at one of the weapons and nods,"Authentic."

     He looks back to Buffy and nods,"It is always good to have a chance to meet with and train with such an expert." Duncan replies back. For his part he's pretty humble in his sound, but there might be a purpose behind that. There usually is.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
There's a creak at the top of the steps as Nick simply starts down to the basement level where the others are located. As Nick comes into view he doesn't appear dressed for a workout. His attire is pretty much normal, but favoring the darker solid colors today. The knitcap has been switched out with a ballcap for the summer months.

"Not hiding. Just took a shortcut which got me closer than I expected."

Reaching the bottom and making his way in to the training room, he pauses, looking over to the Highlander. "Oh- Hey Duncan."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers chuckles, "Well, for a sec there I thought you might.." she pauses, glancing at Duncan and just shrugs, best not to reveal his powers in front of someone she doesn't know that well. "So what brings you here Nick? How goes the escrima training? I know you'd mentioned finding a new mentor.."

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     Duncan looks back towards the steps and the arrival of Nick. He smirks at him a little bit,"Hello Nick. It's good to see you." See. There is Nick. Turned up just like that. He doesn't really seem to have a clue about any powers really. He lets the two catch up a moment and looks back at one of the other toys Buffy has hanging on the wall.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"It's now Nick's moment to tense up a bit as Buffy starts down her initial sentence, only to give a slight smile as she aborts the topic with a shrug. The smile is short lived though as the reason for the visit "Just fitting it in where I can." Nick replies, glancing towards Duncan at the mention of the mentor, "Well, I saw him fight. So when he mentioned that he does lessons, how could I ignore the opportunity?"

He looks back to Buffy, "When you have the chance I'd like to talk to you about Katsumi. Doesn't have to be right this second but..."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers grins, "Heh, yeah, Duncan here seems to be a martial arts expert though I haven't actually sparred with him yet, but I'm dying to put that to the test." she nods to Duncan, "See anything you like? You're free to borrow, though don't think Giles would be happy if I start giving stuff away." yeah Nick was a special case, either because she knows him better or she never used those sticks any way.

Mention if Katsumi causes her to quirk a curious brow, frowning slightly, "Everything okay? Was just showing Duncan my practice room but maybe we can talk later?"

Duncan MacLeod has posed:
     A soft laugh and Duncan comments,"I am starting to think the both of you are banking on me getting knocked on my back." he muses and doesn't seem too concerned either way,"It's how we learn. By how many times we get knocked down."

     He studies the weapons a moment longer and shakes his head,"I appreciate the offer, but I will pass. I don't borrow weapons as a rule nor do I lend them out. An old friend told me once I was in love with my weapons and wouldn't cheat on them."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick considers, the situation before nodding to Buffy's response. "Yeah. We can talk later about that."

Hearing Duncan's assessment, the smile starts to return as he shakes his head. "Hey, I'm not banking on either of you getting knocked down. I'm actually curious to see how it plays out." He pauses, "Although I might want to get a safe distance away before you two start. No telling what or who is going to get thrown."