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"Give me a minute!" A male voice called back from further in, muffled by distance and several rooms. A minute passed. Then two. A loud clatter could be heard from behind the doors followed by colorful swearing for precisely seventeen seconds before another loud thump announced the arrival of silence.

At last a door on the other side of the room swung open as Lance wheeled his way into the main Lounge area, one hand holding the door open while he used his other hand to wheel himself further into the room. The door swung shut behind him as he lifted the towel around his neck, rubbing it against his still wet cheek. "Mornin," he greeted, looking at Molly curiously. "Who're you and what do you want?"

Lance stared. He did a double-take. "Er," he began, one hand holding the towel up to his cheek. It was held there for a moment before he dropped it in favor of running a hand through his still damp hair. "Molly, huh? I guess you're one of the new rec- wait. Wait a second, I've got this." He shifted in his seat, reaching into his pants pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it, scanning the list. "Ah! Here we go. Molly with an 'i' at the end, right?" Apparently even with her nickname, nobody could spell that right either.

"Either way," he began, folding the piece of paper and using it to point at her. "Rule one: keep your coat on. You never know when you'll get called out on mission, and the coat is what separates you from the civs. Next time you come here, bring your coat all right? And scarf, too. They may be a hassle, but scarves are handy to have as a bandage in a pinch."

Lance glanced at the trainee, looking her up and down doubtfully. "And what's this about a lance weapon? Aren't you a little too fresh for runic weapon training?"

In Lance's eyes, just about everyone was new. He didn't get out much, choosing to isolate himself with his broken pride. How long ago was it when he came here to these rooms? He couldn't remember; didn't want to remember. He was fine with the monitors and books, trying in vain to grasp concepts that were required of other divisions. It was unlikely he would ever go on a mission again, unless the very bottom of the barrel needed to be scraped.

But that was a different subject for another day.

For now he nodded towards Molly, leaning forward on his chair in interest as she explained her weapon. "Do you now? Let me see! Summon your weapon, and show me your stance."

Lance stared. Slowly, he put the pillow back onto the couch. It was his original intention to throw it at the trainee to see what she would do: would it be blocked? Speared? By the looks of things and considering his luck, he would probably throw it in such a way that caused the girl to hit the pillow aside and break something.

"Hm," Lance began, wheeling forward to come closer and examine her from different angles. "So. That would be an effective way to club something," he began, "Except the pointy end of your lance is all the way up there." He even lifted his hand to point upwards, helpfully indicating the direction. "Have you sparred against someone else yet?"

William? Large axe? Lance looked blank. While he was able to see just about all of the island through the camera network, sound was something he wasn't keen on. Not all cameras had sound, and not all rooms were properly bugged. Then again, it wouldn't surprise him if another division already wiretapped all the rooms in Deus and kept the knowledge they gleaned for themselves. Lance had his money on the Death division for that.

Lance openly winced. "That's... a start," he ventured slowly. "The lance is a pointed weapon. You'll inflict more damage by being able to jab at your opponent. Like... think medieval." Lance raised his hands and gestured, "Y'know, middle ages with knights? They did a thing called jousting where they basically leveled a lance at each other while riding horses in an attempt to knock someone down. That's what the lance is good for. We're the ones who knock people down and back. Sometimes if you're lucky you can even pin things in place. Right now, though..."

He reached out and tapped the side of Molly's lance. "The lance is pretty big, so your center of gravity is about... there," He pointed up towards the top of the serrated guard on the lance, at the base of the spiral. "And as such, your arms can and will get tired if you hold it like that. What you wanna do is bend your knees like th-" Lance cut himself off, his expression freezing on his face. Idiot.

The man took a deep breath, letting go of the armrest on his wheelchair. He would not be lifting himself out of that chair today, or any other day. "You will want to bend your knees slightly, and try to keep your ankles lined up with your hips. Think of standing as if you're about to swing a baseball bat. Your stance will prevent you from getting pushed around."

"When you go to jab with your lance," he continued, "You'll want to make sure that your side is facing your opponent. I don't think you're ready to handle the lance with one hand, so you'll need to be able to use both hands. By standing with your side towards your opponent, you'll also give them less of a target to hit. When it comes time to attack them, you'll step back a bit with the foot that is closest to the opponent. You'll then take a step towards them with your swing. This will give you a bigger bang for your buck."

Lance wheeled back, away from her. "Okay, let's practice. Position yourself so that you won't hit anything, and take a few practice jabs. This is a basic thrust attack."

Lance ignored her question about his well being. According to the health charts and checkups he was healthy. There wasn't anything physically wrong or ailing him at the moment. But he wasn't alright. He kept his gaze raised, focused on Molly's form and her lance. He refused to look down at himself, ignoring his own folly.

The older hunter leaned back in his chair and watched, wincing when she stumbled. "Be careful not to over-extend your range. While the lance is a long weapon, you can end up on your face if you're not careful. If you ever do kiss the pavement, get up. Whenever you're in a battle, if you're not on your feet you're in danger." Lance jerked a thumb at his chest, adding, "Trust me."

He pressed on, "You're getting the basic idea. When you get a chance, head over to the training field and practice jabbing a training dummy. You'll want to practice throwing your weight behind your thrusts, then gain practice controlling it. The amount of weight you throw behind your thrusts will vary the amount of impact and damage you can do." Lance considered, adding, "After that, try attacking the air again too. It'll be good to learn how to recover if you over-step and fall. Trust me, you'll miss at some point. The more you get used to it, the faster you can counter-attack."

"Now though... Think fast!" Lance's arm rose and swept out towards Molly, his weapon materializing in his hands. His lance was slimmer than Molly's, more streamlined with its ebony core and swirling red-orange runes. That didn't stop it from heading towards Molly, however.

CLANG!

"Good! Very good!" Lance's voice rose above the sound of ringing metal as he drew his weapon back. "That's how you want to block. Considering how long our weapons are, we can protect a large portion of our body. The only downside?" He reached out with his lance, lightly tapping against Molly's. "Look at how you're positioned. You can't really poke someone from there, right?"

He held his weapon in one hand as he wheeled to one side, his wheelchair positioned next to Molly. "In that case, you can whack'em instead. Watch." He held his lance up, diagonally as she held her's. The weapon then swept down diagonally until it was resting perpendicular to the floor, facing straight ahead. "The most impact and damage from our weapons comes from the point. You don't want to bash too much -- that can weaken the shaft, and before you know it your weapon has a crack that'll lead to it breaking. Weapons can repair themselves, but it takes time."

Lance shrugged. "Anyway, while you should try to avoid bashing it doesn't mean you can't use it every once in awhile. Ever been on the Shadow Run course?"

He tucked his lance next to his side as he moved forward, placing distance between himself and the trainee. "The Shadow Run is the course Sun trainees use to train. In it, you're mobbed by shadows and need to fight your way through. If you've been on the Mist course, it's just like the first part except longer and... well. More dangerous, I guess?" He shrugged.

"Anyway, when you're surrounded you can do what's called a sweep. Watch." Lance lifted his weapon into the "guard" position diagonally across his chest before he swept it down and to the side in a curve. "I can't really do it that well due to my chair, but you can spin your torso to increase the area in front of you. When you get stronger, you can do this to clear a path in case you get blocked. You follow?"

Lance paused, glancing over at her. "What training courses have you done, by the way?"