Welcome to Gaia! ::

Usually, when a special class was being held there was a formal notice or announcement several days prior. It wasn’t as if there was a lack of regular classes -- there was always some high ranking hunter working on something if any cared to look. Most of the time, however, hunters not scheduled on a mission were either training for a potential mission, doing research, or slacking off.

This time there was no formal announcement. There was only a piece of paper attached to a bulletin board. It didn’t contain any fancy font. No bolding, no comic sans, no papyrus or anything of the sort. It simply read:



Any that bothered to read the cryptic message and follow the directions would discover that, no, it was not a secret message for another person. It was Aria, last seen in Halloween and giving out the assignments. With her were several strange and colorful... were those cardboard cut-outs?

“Good, some of you showed up. No matter,” Aria said without preamble. “This is going to be a learning experience. If you do not wish to learn, then begone. If for some reason you are not carrying your weapon, then begone from my sight. You should never, ever be separated from your weapon.”

“The rest of you. Do you have your weapon? Good.” Aria uncrossed her arms. “Then we shall begin. I am in need of a volunteer.”




((TRAINING ORP:

Please only post if your hunter has underwent the Initiation Ceremony. If your hunter has not yet done this, please do so BEFORE you enter this ORP. You will need your weapon.

In addition, I will need to GM the volunteer slightly. If you are uncomfortable with this, please do not volunteer.))

Candace had spent all of her time..studying. Shut up, don't judge her. And when she wasn't studying she was playing her music as loudly as she was able to and trying to figure out how the hell one fights when your weapon is on your feet. How did one fight? Well, with a lot of trial and error. Lots of attempted handstands, modified dance moves, and falling on her face. It was great. No really. It was awesome.

What a load of bullshit.

Is there no one who can help you? Atropos did sound genuinely concerned, but Candace had a feeling that was because her wielder was failing at using her properly. What weapon liked being misused? An odd question to ask but it worked when said weapon was sentient. She honestly had no idea if anyone could help her aside from one of the instructors. Maybe Aria? She was the head of the Mist hunters, after all. She could go to her, right? She had been walking with a new ice pack when she saw the note on the board.

...Oh? Well! This was different! Candace tossed the ice pack aside and hurried to her room to change, absolutely refusing to be late. Candace had a bad history with being late. Never again.

She was putting her rings on as she walked out onto the field and looked around, spotting Aria first. Oh, what a coincidence! She'd just been about to go find her, too! But what were those? Was this..target practice? Ugh! Was she giving them guns?

She had raised her hand to offer up as a volunteer for Aria but Gale got it first, glancing the kid's way and raising a brow. Oh well. Let someone else handle one of the instructor's tasks, then.

Bix had only JUST discovered the bulletin board today. He'd also examined the whole board before he'd seen the vague note. He wasn't that serious and gung ho about the thing but he glanced idly at his phone's clock. It was 1pm... RIGHT NOW.

Well s**t he may as well go if it was happening now! The albino hunter turned and booked it for the field. He arrived just as Gale volunteered and he stopped, throwing his hands on his knees as he panted heavily. Of course then he noticed it was Aria. Super hawt supervisor Aria.

Bix threw himself back upright and struggled to not look like he was dying of exhaustion. As cool as he could, he gave her a nod, and everyone else, and a "Yo Gale. You got this.." with one of those cool guy finger guns.

Patheeeeetic... Mina's disappointment pinged about in his brain.

Jerry was filled with resolve as he marched his way to the meeting, his hand firmly clenching the whistle around his neck. When he had seen the notice, he knew this was exactly what he needed. Roar had, surprisingly, agreed, although it was more than likely so he wouldn't be stuck in his ridiculous penny whistle form and would be presented with an opportunity to do something more.

And besides, the Howler grumbled internally, perhaps Mr. Collins would prove to be less useless than he seemed. Maybe. Probably not. Regardless, hopefully it would involve something more rigorous than jumping jacks.

"HI! HI! I hope I'm not late!" The man was panting as he hurried to join the group, just in time to hear the word "volunteer" and before Roar could protest, his hand was already up, "I'd love to help-" Only to lower when it seemed the kid had beat him to it. No matter, he was excited all the same. He was still smiling as he hurried to Jordan's side, giving him a pat on the shoulder, "I'm glad to see you've got your head, Sir! Ahahahaha..."

The nerdy hunter's eyes lit up as he took in the sight of the massive hammer on the boy's shoulder, giving a whistle of approval, "So that is your weapon! It's very impressive! I haven't seen anyone else's yet-" He glanced around to see who else had summoned their "partner" before lifting up the whistle that hung from his neck proudly, "This is mine! Er... well- Er, Roar? If you could? Thank you!"

Positively beaming, the whistle gave an ominous low noise before expanding in a short burst of light. Jerry wobbled under the weight of the thing before hefting it up onto his shoulder as well, only to hiss as one of the spines scratched his cheek. "Hey, watch it!"

You watch it, Jerr-bear. The massive weapon snorted, and the hunter flushed, hefting it down to lean on it instead. He supposed that was why they had included gloves with his uniform, at least. He instantly regretted telling the weapon about the cute nick-name that pretty girl had given him. At least no one else could hear it.

Jerry cleared his throat, "I've ah... never fired so much as a beebee gun, ahahaha... I figured I could use all the training I could get."

"Nice," Jordan said, impressed, and gave the spined bazooka a long look. "Roar, huh." He laughed a little. "I'm just glad that large blunt objects are fairly self-explanatory."

There's a degree of finesse involved, Ferros grumbled.

"I know, it doesn't mean we don't need plenty of training," Jordan said, mostly to Ferros. He nodded at Jerry. "We can talk later - ought to listen for now." He took a quick glance around to see who else was here, interested to see the weapons accompanying each trainee, then looked back to Aria and Gale.

"Right you are, sir-" Jerry started, but fumbled, dropping Roar clumsily as the woman on the edge of his mind's voice called out to him. He stooped immediately to scoop the snarling, indignant weapon up again, hefting it under his arm as he straightened his glasses, his voice cracking in his nervousness, "Ah! M-miss Candace! Hello! Ah... I... I see you're doing well? You look um. Er! Well!" He managed, face flushing before glancing down at the beastly-faced weapon in his arms, "Er, thank you! Um! Oh! This is Jordan, I ah... I'm not sure if you've met, but he's a good friend and this is Roar, he's a bit of a pain but I think we'll do very well, honestly and I've never been much of a weapons man really but perhaps the overcompensation of artillery will do me good and um you look very nice in your uniform and I'll be very happy to try this out on those out on those breasts- BEASTS I mean Beasts ahahahahaha um!" He squeaked.

You are quite the ladies man, huh. Came Roar's helpful retort in the back of his head.

Candace chuckled and smiled. "Just Candace is fine, you don't need the Miss. And yes, I am doing much better now. It's nice to be back in a proper body, eh kitty cat?" She teased with a wink, though she tilted her head a bit and looked rather curious as he started to melt like a love-struck teenage boy. Was he okay? He hadn't been quite this bad last time they met. "Ah...thanks..." Candace looked Jordan's way, looking increasingly amused by how flustered Jerry was, and took the offered hand to give it a shake before releasing it. "Not formally, but I've seen you around. Nice to meet you, Jordan. E10." And Jerry just...kept talking. She listened, of course. As much of a spaz as he was it was somewhat endearing. It made her want to pet his head and coo like he was some kind of adorable puppy.

"Well I was never really a wea--" Candace stopped. eyes wide as she just stared at Jerry. Did he just..?

AHAHAHA! HAHA! OH MY JACK! HAHA! HE TOTALLY SAID IT! PFFFFFFFTAHAHA! Atropos cackled and it was infectious, though Candace was trying very hard not to embarrass him. But oh god...

"Y..you want to try your bazooka on my breasts?" Candace snorted, her voice shaky as she tried desperately to hold back the impending laughing. She put a hand over her mouth and pursed her lips. Her shoulders shook. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Can't do it. Can't...hold it...in! "HAHA! Oh, Jerry! You're so cute!" She laughed, trying to keep as calm as she could so as not to completely humiliate him.