Afternoon Training (open)

Oliver jumped as he heard the familair slash of a weapon. Looking around, he saw no one. He was wandering the forest, looking for someone who now could only be described as gone. He sighed in defeat. She had left him years ago, he remembered it vividly. The love of his life, gone.

He was brought back to the world as he heard the slash again. He walked silently towards the source and gasped as he saw what was making it.

A man was wielding a pike in the clearing, and it looked like he knew how to use it. Oliver watched in amazement as he juggled the pine cones in the air before smashing them to the ground. He hadn't seen such technique since...well himself. He shifted in his viewing spot.

A twig snapped as he moved. Oliver winced at the suprisingly loud snap. There was no way the man couldn't have heard that.

Oops. This couldn't be good.

These were the thoughts running through Oliver's head as the man became to count. He was unarmed except for a small knife. This man had a pike and was a master of using it. While he was trying to figure out what to do, the man had reached four.

With no other choice, Oliver slowly stood from behind the push, with his hands in the air. "Ummmm...sorry to disturb you, I was just passing by...I'll be leaving now." he said as he began to turn around to walk away.

Oliver turned back around to face CP. He had to contain a laugh when the man said his name. "That's an...unique name." he said, trying to find a word that wouldn't offend the man. "Anyways, I'm Oliver Neal."

"So what are you doing out here, if you don't mind me asking. I don't see many people round here, much less master pike wielders." he said with a smile.

Oliver listened intently as CP explained what he was doing. He seemed to know what he was doing. He watched as CP retrieved his obviously much-used pike. Oliver walked into the clearing and stood in front of CP.

"You're very impressive, but what do you think of this?" he said as he grabbed the dagger from his belt and kicked a pinecone up to his hand. He knocked it into the air a few times with the flat side of the blade. On the third hit, he hit it harder so it flew higher into the air.

Readying the blade in his hand, he waited as the pinecone began its descent. When it was at the right height. Oliver whirled his arm forward and watched the blade spin through the air. It stuck clean into a tree nearby.

He walked over and removed the blade from the tree. Then he walked over to where he was previously standing and bended over. He came back up holding two equal halves of a cut pinecone and smiling.

OOC- You seem great to me, and I'm not just being nice. You use a variety a words, you're grammar is good, and you give enough details to work off of. I would never have noticed this was your first time. ;D

Oliver let out a small chuckle when CP began asking questions. "It's fine. And thanks." he said in reply as he picked up the food and popped it in his mouth. After swallowing he began talking again.

"Now, let's get to those questions. Firstly, I'm out here looking for someone I knew in what now seems like a lifetime ago. No offense, but I don't quite tell people about that stuff. Next, I'm from District 9 and I'm 23. And lastly, why not. I could use a few more friends."

Oliver gave him a big smile. He really liked CP. Something about him just matched his personality. He needed someone like that in his life.

"So, do you live in these woods? Or just come out here occassionally."

Oliver listened closely as CP talked about where he lived and the forest. Then he asked where he learned to do that with his knife. He got ready to tell him. Most people were very suprised when they learned about his past.

"Well I kind of taught myself. In...The Hunger Games." he forced himself to let it out. "I won when I was 16. Now I'm the male mentor for District 9. This old knife saved my life more times than I can count."

While he let CP take this in. He took the other glass and poured some orange juice. "Of course I'll spar with you. It would be an honor." he said.

Oliver looked down as CP asked him about that...part of it. It was something that haunted him to this day. He still had nightmares about killing the little girl that happened to stumble into his cave. He looked back up at CP.

"To be honest...I didn't handle it that well. The little girl that I killed...at the moment, I didn't think about it. Something just turned on in my brain, some part of my brain wanted me to kill. That part of my brain scares me to no end. I fight that part of my brain constantly. And before those stupid games, it was barely there. But afterwards, it started to take over." he said, letting it all out.

"It almost did fully take me over, but there was one person. One person who stopped it, who helped me get my brain under control. And now, with that person gone...it's coming back. I need that person back...I need her again." he had to fight off tears now. His wife, who left him after his son died in the Hunger Games.

"That's why I'm out here. That's who I'm looking for. Without her...I don't want to know what I'll become." he finished. He didn't know why he told CP all this. He had never told anybody this, let alone someone he met five minutes ago.