9208/Learning Under the Big Tree

Learning Under the Big Tree
Date of Scene:	21 December 2021
Location:	Queens Giant Garden
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Bando George, Gilgamesh, Gwen Stacy

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Bando George has posed:
    Bando just won't shut up about Gil. He ranted about all of the exploits he was told about probably longer than Gwen needed to hear about them, insisting that she should come with him to learn how to be an ultimate ninja warrior. Or kung fu master, or something. A good fighter at least! He wouldn't quit until she agreed to join him. A good way to help reset her mind from all of the anxiety ridden stuff with her dad, he reasoned.

    "Okay, so there was like a big tree, we're supposed to meet him at," he explains, his church logo on his gray sweatshirt, and not at all matching...some kind of blue sweatpants. His phone tugs at the left side of his sweat pants, and he tightens the cord to keep them from sagging.

    "It's so cold!" he says. "I shoulda brought a coat or something."

Gilgamesh has posed:
The big tree here is a draw for some folks. Like Gil. He loves old things, after all. They remind him of himself, probably. And the giant tree is pretty old at over 350 birthdays.

The grill cook has found a small, grassy open area near the tree's garden and set up some stuff there. There's a big picnic basket off to the side and a duffel bag with a bunch of gear in it.

He's also dressed for exercising in a black sweatsuit and sneakers, though he's also wearing a knit hat and gloves. The cold doesn't seem to bother him, however, as he digs into the duffel to pull out a few jump ropes. As he grabs them he catches the sound of Bando complaining about the cold and looks over, letting out a loud whistle to try to get his attention while waving a hand in the air, "Over here!"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
It's all very doubtful for Gwen. She knows how Bando likes to make a good story, and often the truth gets skewed in the way. Or it becomes a Bando-truth. But eventually she -does- relent to accompany Bando over to the park. "You know I have gone to meet a sensei once. I learned how to throw a punch ..., somewhat." it had been sort of an accomplishment. She still couldn't throw a good punch at this point in time even after all the years she had become Ghost Spider. It was all in the reflexes, baby! No fighting prowess....

"A big tree. In Queens garden?" Gwen purses her lips to a line at Bando. A sigh later and she tells him, "You are lucky I know this garden like the back of my hand." she does! Queens born and all that.

Yoga pants wrap her legs, along with a warm fluffy coat about her torso, hands in pockets. "Want mine?" she suggests, then a glance to the voice. "There's the tree. And your friend?" she looks between the duo then raises her hand to greet Gilgamesh while approaching. "Hello."

Bando George has posed:
    "Yeah!" Bando answers Gwen, giving Gilgamesh a wave. "Hey! We made it!" he declares the obvious. "I'm sure we'll warm up when we start learning all the fighting stuff." He throws a few punches that...well, they are average for a teenager. Competent enough that he'd probably hold his own in a fight with someone his age, but hardly anything impressive. He changes the approach, heading toward him. "Okay, we're here, Gil, this is Gwen, Gwen, Gil, the super ancient warrior master that I told you about. He can probably take on Batman." He shifts to Gil. "Do you think you could take on Batman?"

Gilgamesh has posed:
"How do you do?" Gil asks Gwen with a smile, looking between her and Bando for a moment before he offers the pair some jump ropes. "We'll use these to warm up a bit, then we'll stretch out."

"I've only heard of Batman, never met the guy," he says with a little bit of a chuckle. "From what I understand he and I have similar motivations so I doubt we'd ever fight. I don't think there's anybody on the planet with more combat experience than me, aside possibly from my brother, however."

He takes his jump rope and asks, "You two know how to use these? It's pretty simple, helps build coordination and gets the muscles warm pretty quickly. I did a bunch of research into warm ups and stretching since I haven't trained warriors in a few hundred years and I want this to be as safe as possible."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen's blue eyes narrow briefly at Bando as he starts going full-throttle and shakes her head a touch to herself. "Bando just gets too ahead of himself sometimes. You will have to forgive him." she smiles up to Gil and extends one hand for an handshake ...., which means she gets a jump rope. "Good to meet you. And not one to lose time, is it?" a faint grin on her expression.

As Gil then goes about talking of his combat experience that has Gwen lifting a brow, a look to Bando, then back to Gil, "Okay, so what's the story here?" she inquires of the two of them. Is she doubting that this man with his grill and jumping ropes is a being with hundred of years of experience? Maybe!

Because spider-bitten people with spider powers are totally normal, amirite?

"But yea, these I know." About the ropes. She swings them on one hand, flipping one end to her other hand and then starts doing some jump-ups with the rope. Yep, she looks pretty slick while doing those.

Bando George has posed:
    "Yeah, jump ropes? I think everyone knows how to use a jump rope." Bando takes the other one, and with far less grace than Gwen, starts to throw it over his head, jumping over it with...well, he makes it over at least. He jumps five or six times before missing, and starts again.
    "Wait, you have a brother who is older than you?" Bando asks, assuming so since his brother has more experience. He starts the jump rope again, missing on the first jump. Okay, starting again.

Gilgamesh has posed:
"I tend to be pretty serious when it comes to training," Gil says with a little chuckle. "I'll try to tone it down a bit, but I worry about the safety of my students, especially in times as strange and dangerous as these."

The Eternal shrugs, "I'm really old. Over fifty thousand years old. I'm from a species called the Eternals and I've been on Earth most of my existence. Spent a lot of time protecting the planet and humanity, then a bunch more time supporting ideas I believed in by serving in various militaries. I'm a big fan of democracy so I ended up serving in both Athens and Rome. I figure I'll help folks today by superheroing around in my free time."

His own jump rope is held loosely in his hand until he moves over to give himself a little space and starts jumping. He's not doing anything fancy with it, just bouncing up and down in a manner that would get his blood pumping if he were human. He's definitely coordinated, though.

"We're about the same age, actually, I just don't really know how he spent his time for the last couple millenia. Until recently it had been a while without us seeing one another," Gil explains to Bando as he jumps. "Anyway, we'll do the jump rope for a couple minutes and then I've got a print out of stretches we should do."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"According to my last trainer I wasn't a total klutz when throwing a punch anymore. But I needed hard training. Which ..., I haven't done. So, I am guessing I might just be back to the basics." Gwen admits with a small raise of her shoulders. All this while she continues to jump over the rope as if it was second nature. Really, is she an olympic athlete or what? Not missing a beat and talking as if she was simply lounging somewhere!

It's only when Gil shares about being as old as he is that she stops. A look to Bando. "Can you tell me again how you two met?" she asks the young man. There's still some doubt about the veracity of it all but the man seems to be talking in an honest manner at least. "And uh, it's not every day that someone goes and tells us that they are a few millenia old..." yes, she is quite skeptical.

"But color me curious. The Eternals?" it doesn't sound like she has heard of them before. At all.

Bando George has posed:
    "That's so crazy, you haven't seen him for like thousands of years?" Bando asks. "You really should keep track of him better. Family is important!" That's right, life lessons from the teenager. He jumps back in time again, glancing over at Gwen's far more competent jumping. He tries to mimic her effortless manuever, failing. His legs do far more work as he jumps to make sure he clears the jumprope, but he's managing passably.

Gilgamesh has posed:
"There aren't many Eternals," Gil tells Gwen with a shrug as he stops his straightforward rope jumping. "We were created by a nearly omnipotent race long ago to protect worlds with sapient life on them from various threats. I've been on Earth almost my whole existence, pretty much. I refer to the other Eternals, at least the ones I'm in touch with, as my siblings."

"It's good that you can throw a punch! I'll teach you two a couple of simple strikes today and how and where to apply them. Mostly to buy yourselves time to escape from a close encounter."

Bando gets a shrug, "We're in touch now. He's actually the guy who talked me into trying the superhero thing."

He pauses then, "How much time do you two have to train today, by the way? I can go for a while, I brought nunchaku and tonfas to mess with as well, but those might have to wait."

Changing the subject a little he says, "We met at a diner I was working at. Some people with fish powers tried to rob the joint. I swapped out my apron for my uniform and did some flying around and tossing people and stuff. Bando seems to have a good heart and wants to learn how to fight, so I figured I'd make some time to train him. Also, I brought sandwiches, soup, Gatorade, water, bread, cheese and some veggies if we get hungry."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
When Gil reveals that Bando is the one responsible for getting him into superheroics that makes Gwen look at Bando, "Is he now?" she lets out a chuckle. Typical Bando. "You seem to have accepted this pretty easily, Bando. How long have you two known each other?" there's perhaps a protective undertone to the young woman's voice. Maybe she doesn't fully believe Gil's story just yet. Because who would believe there are thousand year old beings living among us!?

"And I should have most of the afternoon free. Then dinner at the parents." a glance to Bando, "Father is going to spend Christmas at home, he's been released from the hospital." a faint smile on her lips.

When Gil speaks of flying around and tossing people it makes Gwen furrow her brows, but eventually she nods. "A cook and a superhero. Well, be still my beating heart.." she teases in a good-humored chuckle before she resumes her jumps. "It's all about finding the rhythm, Bando." she then advises the young man, "Not thinking about the jumps, just doing it."

Bando George has posed:
    "I am just doing it!" Bando contests. He's definitely thinking about the jumps. "I got-" he misses a jump. "I'm off for Christmas break, so I got a while as well. Your dad is out of the hospital!?" Bando lights up. "That's great! How is he doing?"

    He starts his jumping again. "I told you he was pretty epic," he mentions to Gwen aside. "We're gonna be the strongest fighters in the world pretty soon." Perhaps that's a little ambitious of an expectation.

Gilgamesh has posed:
"I'm glad your dad is getting to spend the holidays with you," Gil says to Gwen with a smile as he heads back to his duffel to produce a couple of pages that are stapled together. As Bando does his thing Gil peruses the print outs, nodding a bit, "Once your blood is flowing and you're nice and warm we can do our stretches and then I'll pull out the strike pads."

"I don't know about being the strongest fighters in the world, but we'll make sure you can hold your own."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"He's been pretty quiet about all that happened. I need to figure out a way to approach him without .., you know.., revealing who I am." Gwen says, letting out a sigh, "A work in progress, but we can talk about that later. I am just glad he will be home a bit at least." she keeps going on those jumps for a while until she lets out a slow exhale. Limbs are indeed starting to warm up!

Stopping, the ropes are put aside, "You didn't tell me had fifty thousand years, Bando." a look back to Gil, "You look very ..., down to earth for someone who would be that age.." she comments, twisting her torso from side to side as she continues her warm up. She's fit! She knows warm-ups!

"I will be fine with just learning a bit of self-defense, honestly. I know I am not a natural.." she admits. Even a spider knows their limitations!

Bando George has posed:
    "What do you mean not a natural?" Bando says with an incredulous frown at Gwen. "You're like, amazing. I don't even know how to fight at all." He tosses the jump rope aside, and bends over for a toe touch, stretching out his muscles.

    "I know, he's pretty dope, and he makes great chili. Like, the best chili. You New Yorkers don't even know!" He points at Gil. "Probably his best superpower."

Gilgamesh has posed:
"I try to be a down to Earth kind of guy," Gil says to Gwen with a chuckle. "I've tried the other side of things, too, but I prefer getting the chance to know people on a personal level and see how things are for people without vast wealth and power and all that crap."

He joins in the stretching, looking back at his papers occasionally.

"I'm a world class chef in addition to being a superhero," he explains with a grin. "I've been trying to become the best for the last five hundred years, traveling the world learning how to prepare the best foods."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"There's a difference between being athletic and knowing how to fight, fight Bando." Gwen says over to the young man with a slight shake of her head. "You will see when we get to the training. But hey, no training no improvement so let's get to it." she finishes up her own stretches too. Touching toes, then to one side, then the other. Yes, very supple and bendy. Nothing to complain about there.

"And so, a cook too." That has Gwen taptapping on her chin with her fingers, "Alright, I will bite. What's the dish you believe you can do best?" she asks Gil, curiosity on her expression.

Now that she is done with the stretchings she lifts her arms, up on her tiptoes before relaxing. "I am sure it will be the chili for Bando." a grin on her expression.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando is flexible, but not nearly as such as Gwen, pulling his foot back behind him, and then the other, and shaking it out. "The chili is good, but it's the only thing I've ever had by him," he admits. He punches the air a little. "Okay, so what do we learn to do first, suplex? Backflip kick like in the movies?" Definitely beyond his skill. "Oh man, the tonfas, you brought them?"

Gilgamesh has posed:
"My best dish? Very tough question," Gil replies to Gwen before he pauses to think for a few seconds. "I think it may be Bearnaise sauce served over a fine cut of steak." Then he grins, "I pan sear steak in butter most of the time. Only time I really grill steak any more is if I've got a lot of sides and stuff to grill up with it."

"Some day I'll cook you two up a proper meal, fit for kings. Having been a king I can vouch for my own cooking."

He looks at Bando and smiles softly, "The first thing we learn is how to fall! If you can't fall properly you'll get hurt in training and we can't have that." The grill cook bounces slightly on his feet and looks around, then nods, "Watch closely as I explain what to do."