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 Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:18 pm
His first mission was burned in his memory. Wilson didn’t know what the other trainees’ first mission had entailed, but the Sahara mission had certainly shaken some of them up as well. He sat, plopped in the middle of a training field with Gramps propped up next to him. It was an unusual sight, but not particularly interesting, to see a young man sitting next to a tank-cannon hybrid—especially when he was smack dab in a training field. He was probably resting.
But maybe he was resting for a bit too long. If weapons could move, Gramps would’ve nudged Wilson in the side. [Youngin’, it’s time to get moving.] His tone was quiet, gentler than Wilson expected it to be, but he guessed it was because Gramps was taking it easy on him. [Don’t be so glum. You’re a hunter now, and you’ve got to get with the program.] Wilson frowned, leaning over to snatch up the gasmask. Its green lenses stared up at him, reminding Wilson of his time as Delta Twelve. The Strays—that’s what they were called, right?—were well past the examination on the island, but for him it had only been a few days. Usually the mask didn’t unsettle him, but staring at it for too long reminded him of unpleasant memories.
Wilson shook his head. Mask in one hand, he rose to his feet and plastered on a smile. “’kay then, Gramps. What do you wanna do, then? Another failed attempt at a training course? Maybe seek out another Hatchling to spar with?” He didn’t know why the name stuck, but right now it seemed like a fitting title.
He swung the tank over his shoulders like a backpack, the cannon extensions uselessly dangling.
[What about the youngin’ over there?] Where?
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 2:31 pm
Sweat dripped down Davey's neck as he worked with the training dummies at one end of the field. His work during the last group mission had been hit-or-miss as best - sometimes great, sometimes utterly pathetic. That wasn't something he could tolerate in himself. Ever since they'd returned from the battle with the giant beast (he refused to call her Aria, even in his mind), Davey had thrown himself back into training. Next time he'd do better.
Azrael didn't seem to mind. He filled Davey's head with 'helpful' critique on the Hunter's fighting, but seemed happy enough about the training itself. It meant he got to be out in his proper form and the full focus of Davey's attention, after all. It wasn't such a hardship.
When another Hunter had arrived, Davey had spared the guy a glance. He wasn't bothering Davey, though, just hanging out in the middle of the field and apparently talking to his weapon. Davey shrugged and went back to attacking the dummies.
... The only problem was, the dummies weren't a good indication of skill. They didn't dodge or move or fight back. It wasn't exactly good preparation for the next time he faced any monsters from Halloweentown.
Plus he couldn't wipe away the annoying trails of sweat down his neck when his only hand was occupied with Azrael. The sword got even bitchier if Davey kept summoning and de-summoning him.
The dummy's FEAR barrier fell. Davey made a last killing strike, then stepped back. He breathed deeply, letting his sword arm hang at his side. He thrust down, the first half foot of the blade piercing the earth. Davey let go, Azrael sticking up like a parody of a certain sword in a certain stone.
Azrael squawked. ~What in the nine hells-!?~
Ignoring him, Davey tipped back the hood of his sleeveless top and finally, finally wiped the back of his neck. "It's too bloody hot for this," he grumbled. Even without his Hunter uniform in place, Davey tended towards hoodies, trying to hide his eyes from the others. They didn't do much to combat the rumour that he was a mean, crazy b*****d. But it just wasn't any good to work out in. Maybe he needed to speak to someone in charge about finding even more light-weight clothes for himself.
~I won't stand for this! Davey, pick me up at once! You dirty heathen worm.~
"Quit bitching," Davey sighed. "You said not to stick you back as a tag every time I need a free hand."
~Then need a free hand LESS,~ the sword illogically insisted. ~This is undignified! Ugh, of all the Hunters, of course I ended up with the stupid cripple...~
Green eyes narrowed. A heavy boot kicked the blade where it connected with the earth. Davey voice was a low growl as he warned, "Watch your mouth."
Azrael went silent. His presence in Davey's mind shrank in on itself a little. There were a few moments of silence before a sulky yet honestly contrite, ~Sorry, Davey,~ emerged. There were some buttons even Azrael (usually) knew better than to press.
Davey sighed, then pulled Azrael free. He wiped the blade carefully against his cargo pants to remove the clumps of dirt refusing to fall free. Turning his attention back to the dummies, he said, "This is just not a challenge."
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:08 pm
[Youngin’, do you have a decent pair of eyes?! Over there!] Moments like this made Wilson wish why weapon partners couldn’t just into some tangible, physical body or at least have some other method to tell Wilson which direction there was, but eventually his gaze settled on the person he assumed Dabir was referring to. It was a man, the hood of his jacket pulled up to obscure the top of his face, including his eyes, but the notable thing about him was his lack of an arm. Wilson’s eyes were drawn to the stub where an arm had been, parts of the bandages soaked in red. What the hell had happened to him?
Frowning, Wilson hesitated. [What’re you waiting for?] His arm…what happened to it? [For Jack’s sake, is that what’s holding you up?! You know, back in my day when we—] Wilson began to panic. When Gramps went on and on about his old days he just wouldn’t stop yapping. I’m going! I’m going! It’s totally fine, Gramps.
A few steps forward and Wilson opted to hold onto the cannons rather than let them bounce against his legs or have the small blades drag against the ground. He watched the other trainee—now that he was staring at him, hadn’t he also been at the Sahara mission?—kick his weapon, shrinking Wilson’s confidence. Gramps, he doesn’t look like he’s in a good mood so why don’t we— His weapon wheezed angrily and the Death hunter reluctantly walked on.
By the time Wilson was within hearing range, he managed to hear Davey’s words and his expression brightened somewhat. Oh, so maybe he would be up for a spar after all! “Gramps and I were wondering—“ He lifted up the cannons. “—would you like to spar with us?” Then he dropped one, letting it clunk against the grass as he brought out a hand. “I think I’ve seen you once or twice, but I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced yet. My name’s Wilson.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:54 pm
Davey was actually glad for the interruption. He turned as the other Hunter approached, body language fairly welcoming for once. Hell, it was hard to even classify it as an 'interruption' when he'd just concluded that the solo workout was doing nothing for him.
"Yeah? That'd be cool." With his hoodie back, Davey's slightly-wild eyes were revealed. The look of appraisal he gave Wilson, trying to judge the other Hunter's srength might not be the most reassuring. Despite that, though, Davey stuck Azrael back in the ground (ignoring the outraged ~Oi! We just discussed this!~) and held out his hand.
"Davey." It was almost identical to a name he'd gone by before, back on a VR island. It wasn't the only familiar thing. Davey cocked his head to one side. "Have we met before? Your voice sounds kind of familiar."
~ I hate you, Davey. Pick me back up, Davey. C'moooon. You aren't man enough to leave me here! Pick me uuuuuup--!~
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:43 pm
Wilson kept smiling, but Davey’s eyes clearly unsettled him. He’s totally fine in the head, right? Those eyes are just me, right? [Nope.] Lovely… Davey’s attempt to assess Wilson’s strength did little to calm the death hunter. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Thankfully, once Davey held out his hand Wilson’s smile relaxed as he gladly shook the other man’s hand. “Davey, huh?” He became contemplative as the name rang a distant bell in his head. Had he heard the name before?
“Uh, no. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before, but come to think of it…you sound a bit familiar too.” Wilson raked his brain for possible answers to this particular conundrum. A place where they didn’t see each other, but still heard each other. What kind of place was that?
“Oh wait! You’re one of the trainees that woke up before us, right?” ‘Us’ referring to the ‘Hatchlings.’ “Were we part of the same exam? Delta Twelve. I’m Delta Twelve. Does that sound familiar?” Wilson seemed hopeful. After recalling the moments of the other trainees finding their color-coded comrades as soon as they had woken up, he sort of hoped that he could also find someone he had met during the test.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:42 pm
Delta Twelve... Davey recalled the ID, with vague recollections of the guy. Huh. He gave Wilson a once-over look. He slowly answered, "About time another Delta woke up. I was beginning to think we were the unluckiest squad."
It made Davey wish that he'd spent more time with the Deltas. Unfortunately, being picked for the Dark Cove early and then going on to join the 'Reaper' side meant he hadn't really made any close allies among his own team. Theven - Jude - was probably the strongest bond he'd made during the test.
"I was Delta Seven," he told Wilson with a shrug. The other Delta might not remember him. Or, since the newest round of trainees had just awoken, maybe the test felt like it was just yesterday to them.
"Congrats on waking up." So many still hadn't. Maybe they never would. Surely Caelius would eventually go hunting (ha!) for new recruits in the normal world again, administering a new test to a new batch and slowly forgetting about the old.
On that depressing thought, Davey decided maybe it was time to get back to business. "You mentioned a spar?" He pulled Azrael back out of the ground and scraped the dort off on his leg again. (Azrael, meanwhile, alternated between grudging words of thanks and yet more insults for doing it in the first [actually second] place.)
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Syusaki rolled 1 20-sided dice:
19
Total: 19 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 5:29 pm
[ rolling for initiative ]
Again, Davey stared at Wilson, giving him a once-over. Unlike last time, this didn’t unsettle him as much. He could have imagined it, but there was something familiar about the other trainee’s voice and the familiarity was enough for Wilson. The wild eyes didn’t bother him nor did the missing arm unnerve him. He laughed softly. “Are you the only other Delta that woke up, then?” While he attempted to sound casual, there was a hint of disappointment in his tone as he thought of the other Deltas he had worked with.
In a split second, Wilson’s expression shifted from sullen to excitement. “Delta Seven!” He had been tempted to wrap his arms around the other man—his arms were already outstretched, but he didn’t know if Davey would take the hug very well. Mouth open, he lifted one outstretched arm and awkwardly pointed at him. “You! Yeah, I remember you. What happened to you? After going to that cove, I mean.” Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. It must’ve been old news to Davey while the memories were still clear in his own mind, but he couldn’t forget yet.
“Ah. Yeah, I did. I figure a spar would be more interesting than hitting some dummies than repeatedly doing courses, you know?” He started to walk backwards, creating a decent gap between them. “You think it would be fine to spar here or do we need to move somewhere else?”
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kalindara rolled 1 20-sided dice:
10
Total: 10 (1-20)
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:02 pm
Davey's mouth pulled into a frown for a moment at the mention of the cove, but it disappeared quickly. It didn't matter as much now as it had back then. "Oh, I died in the cove," he said, shrugging his good shoulder. "Didn't last, though. The head 'Reaper' - actually one of our bosses, Caelius - recruited me to their side to help test the other candidates."
Of course, it had also been a test for Davey as well.
"When that was done, I died again, same as everyone else. And then I woke up." The double-edged sword. Chosen, passed the test. And suddenly disabled, thanks to a problem with Davey's pod (or that was Dr H's excuse anyway).
The frown returned. "Yeah, seems like the Deltas didn't do too well - it's just you and me so far." It was a bit of downer. Not that Davey'd been close to many of the Deltas, but it seemed the majority of trainees were Alphas (or Phoenix, as they called themselves) or Betas - so much for the other squads with only a smattering of survivors.
The change of topic back to sparring was a welcome one. "We should be fine here. If someone else wants to use the dummies, they'll ask us to move." But for now the training field was empty apart from the two of them.
(( Rolling for initiative. ))
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Syusaki rolled 2 8-sided dice:
3, 4
Total: 7 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:36 pm
He gawked at Davey. Died? Davey had died, but here he was casually brushing it off—sure, he was standing all well and fine minus one limb, but still. [Yes, Youngin’, because you haven’t died either.] Wilson frowned when he could sense the sarcasm in Gramps’ words. “Reaper?” A hooded figure with a glowing scythe came to mind. Suddenly things clicked and he was sorely tempted to smack himself in the face for not forging the connection sooner. “Oh! I see. Wait, you helped test other candidates? So did you wear those hoods and stuff, too?” The discovery piqued Wilson’s interest. “What exactly did you do?”
Wilson winced. Died twice? Ouch. That must’ve sucked.
“Just you and me? That’s a real shame.” His shoulders visibly slumped. He had spent the majority of his examination with other Deltas, although he did recall meeting a couple others from other teams, especially during the chasm crossing, but he hadn’t really talked to them. Too busy trying to stay alive and all that jazz.
He nodded before pulling his mask over his face. It took him a brief second to check if it was snug and comfortable. Wilson picked up the cannons. “Okay. Uh. Guess I’ll go first?” He ran forward, and once he was within range he swung. It had seemed like a decent idea, except Wilson had briefly forgotten that Davey was—ahem—missing an arm on one side. The blades only managed to scrape his sides. [Are you blind or what? Really, Youngin’. We need to work on this--] A bit busy!;;;;
HP: 40/40
Damage: 1
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kalindara rolled 2 8-sided dice:
5, 3
Total: 8 (2-16)
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:16 pm
"Yeah, I had a hooded cloak and some glowing purple daggers. It was pretty cool," Davey said with a nod. And a much better disguise to fool the monsters with than their current coats. Maybe they'd need to swap back to the more 'traditional' disguises next mission - the monsters seemed to all recognise them on sight these days.
The question about how Davey had tested the others had him giving a one-shouldered shrug. "Show up, ask them to do some fairly stupid stuff for a useless piece of jewellery and see how the behave. It got pretty 'Lord of the Flies'." Which Davey couldn't really judge anyone else for, since he had been one of the first to embrace the idea of ganging up and offing someone else. It hadn't worked out too well for him initially, but he'd woken up and others hadn't, so the end result was worth it.
It was a shame about the other Deltas, but it was out of their hands. "The other trainees aren't so bad. Most of them. Okay, some. Some of them."
Davey was great at this whole reassurance thing, wasn't he?
The scratch from Wilson and his weapon was easy to ignore. Davey returned the favour, aiming for an arm (at least Wilson had two to choose from). It wasn't his best strike, a glancing blow at best.
HP: 39/40
Damage: 8 - 6 = 2
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Syusaki rolled 2 8-sided dice:
4, 2
Total: 6 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:53 pm
The mention of purple daggers caught his attention. “Purple daggers? Wait, you…?” Something registered in his mind and he snapped his fingers when he made the connection. “So were you—“ Wilson clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t know how Davey would react to what he was about to say, but he could definitely see potential for some awkwardness. It was probably better to keep mum about it. Whatever had happened during the examination was in the past now. They were both alive and awake. That was what mattered in the end.
“Oh wow. You really put me at ease with your words.” He rolled his eyes, but Wilson wasn’t too unsettled about it. Whoever the other trainees were he would find a way to work with them somehow, right…?
He attempted to make another swing, but Davey managed to move quicker. “Woah—“ The less experienced trainee managed to dodge most of it, but ended up clumsily stumbling backwards in the process. Wilson held out his arms to balance him. The last thing on his mind was trying to squeeze in another blow. He was trying not to fall over. Losing his balance would not end very well for him!
HP: 38/40
Damage: 0
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kalindara rolled 2 8-sided dice:
8, 1
Total: 9 (2-16)
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:45 pm
"You good?" Davey gave the other trainee a chance to regain his footing. 'Fair' really had no place in a spar, but Wilson was clearly one of the 'newbies' and Davey was willing to cut them a bit of slack. Depending on hos long they'd actually been out of the pods, they might not be used to having a physical body again, let alone trying to fight in one.
Well, maybe Davey was only 'okay', not 'nice'. When he'd judged it long enough, he darted back in, spinning on his heel as he slashed out with Azrael like he was trying to slice open Wilson's belly. It was early enough into the duel that shields were still almost completely up - Wilson wasn't actually in any danger. Davey just liked to test out his moves while there wasn't any danger to himself.
As it turned out, it was more a gentle scoring than any kind of deep slice. Ah well. Something for Davey to work on some more. At least he hadn't missed - that set Azrael off like crazy and the Bitchblade was already in a mood today.
HP: 39/40
Damage: 9 - 6 = 3
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Syusaki rolled 2 8-sided dice:
2, 2
Total: 4 (2-16)
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:10 pm
Wilson teetered for a couple more seconds before he regained control of his balance. He nodded. “Yeah, thanks.” Although he attempted to adjust his mask, the trainee realized that the cannons over his hands made the task quite difficult. He quickly abandoned the endeavor. “Definitely not used to this,” he sighed, shaking his head. How long had it been again? A few days? Probably a week, actually. Getting used to moving around after so long was easy enough, but learning to fight with a weapon—a pretty darn peculiar one at that—was another thing altogether for him.
[Wilbert.] It’s Wilson. Gramps’ biting tone cut through the trainee’s thoughts just as Davey whipped out his sword. He was lucky enough to take a step back and escaped with a light blow. Wilson dug his back foot into the ground and lunged forward, brandishing the blades on his cannons for a stab.
Hopefully. Not so much.
HP: 35/40
Damage: 0
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