Welcome to Gaia! ::

It felt to Peyton as if the entire island was in a perpetual state of waiting, and the longer it carried on, the harder it was to coop. Life went on, things had, for the most part, returned to normal so far as daily habits were concerned, but it wasn't the same. They went through the motions, got on with their lives, but the sun hanging high in the sky and the distinct lack of fog, however pretty, were a constant reminder that tragedy had struck Deus, and that they were hanging on by a thread with the shields down and the power out.

Unfortunately that didn't mean anyone got a break. Life went on, roles were filled, jobs were done.

Today was no different. Peyton left her room like she did everyday, shrugging into her coat as she made her way down the hall towards the doors that would lead her out into the sun. She had always been an advocate of vigorous training, but with the mounting threat of some unknown attack weighing on her she'd taken to frequenting the training fields at what was probably an unhealthy rate.

It was her job. She was a front line soldier, and people depended on her.

It was also a distraction, and distractions were a god send at the moment. Anything to keep the mind of the fact that they didn't know what the ******** was going on or what was being done about it.

If Trainee A leaves her dorm at 10:45, and Train B leaves his at 10:47 heading in the opposite direction...

Pale eyes twitched up at the unfamiliar figure walking down the hall in her direction, then narrowed curiously as she realized what she was looking at. A hunter, taller then her, in a billowy coat and..

<Is that a visor?>

It looked like one, kind of. It reminded her of the front partition of a motorcycle helmet, and she actually came to a stop as she continued to stare. Having moved around a lot she'd seen her fair share of interesting things, up to, and including, shadowy things that went bump in the night. But never in 18 years had she ever seen anything quite like that.

Weird things, unfortunately, weren't that weird. Weird clothing choices on the other hand, those were another story. There had been that one guy in the sarong from the cruise, and now this.

The visor had been enough to distract from the tattoos, at least initially, but she noticed now and her gaze followed the patterns downward until she realized the darkness covering his chest wasn't a shirt, as she had originally assumed, but bare skin. That... Was actually kind of neat.

<Short stack, you're staring. And standing in the middle of the hall like a weirdo.>

Color washed over her cheeks and she dropped her gaze, cursing under her breath.

Peyton didn't embarrass easy, but once that first flush darkened tanned cheeks the color seemed determined to stick around. When Solomon stopped beside her to inspect the ground at her feet the rosy tint darkened before she stepped back and scrubbed at her cheek with the back of her hand as if she could rub the heat away. "No, I'm fine."

Warrick gave a an unhelpful snicker in her mind, she did her best to ignore it.

Up close it was easy to see the detail in the dark tattoos that climbed up his throat and spread along his jaw, and she spared them another thoughtful look before forcing her lavender gaze upward. It was hard to be sure with his face covered, but she would have bet money on the fact that she had never seen the person standing in front of her before. That probably meant he was new. Probably.

Sticking her hand out, the petite Sun smiled. "I'm Peyton, and your new." It wasn't a question. The flush was fading under the rise of general self confidence. She might not have had much experience dealing with men, but she'd been a hunter long enough to feel competent at her role, and that pride bubbled up easily to chase everything else away.

Ha, knew it. Her grin brightened as he confirmed his rookie statues, and she squeezed his hand back before he reclaimed it. She was a small thing, but she shook hands the way you were supposed to. Firm and confident. "Solomon, nice to meet you."

<Neat name..> Peyton agreed.

The dainty Sun's head tilted to the side as her new acquaintance grimaced, but she made a soft 'oh' of understanding as he inquired about the voices. "Yeah, we've all got them. It's our partner, our weapon. They can communicate with us through our minds. Did you get someone chatty?" Peyton still figured she'd lucked out. Warrick didn't usually interfere too much into her daily life besides the odd sarcastic comment.

She gave one of her thumb rings a spin, pale eyes flicking from Solomon's ears, to his throat, to his hands. "So what sort of weapon did you get?"

<Kid seems a little on the off side.> Warrick drawled, snicking under his breath as Sol scratched at the visor before lifting it to get at his actual nose. It had Peyton's brows arching as she watched him. The brief glimpse of his face she caught wasn't enough for her to really see much, so he was still mostly a mystery to her.

Except his eyes. She was pretty sure she'd seen green eyes.

She blinked as he referred to his weapon as a 'they', and she dropped her gaze to the bracers when he touched them. "You haven't summoned your weapon yet?" It had been one of the first things she'd done, though Warrick had shown himself off before forming the twin bands of gold that circled her thumbs. "Aren't you curious?"

Her lips pursed, and she glanced down the hall towards the doors that lead out of the dorms. It was early in the day, but with the power out it never really get bright in the halls anymore. "Let's go outside. I'll show you mine if you show me your's." Her head jerked in the direction of the exit, lips split in a grin.

Another blink, and pale eyes narrowed ever so slightly as Peyton's head cocked to one side. "You've got two voices in there?" That was new. So far as she knew you only got one partner, so did that mean his partner was a split personality?

"They can't do anything by talk at you unless you stick them in a golem, which isn't even an option at the moment because the powers out." Stepping around him, she lead the way to the doors, holding one open when she got there. "Fresh air never hurt though."

When they were both outside she hopped down the stairs before turning on her heel and holding her hands out, palms facing him. "See the rings? That's Warrick." With a grin summoned the spiked knuckledusters, fingers curling over the think bands of metal. "And this is his true form."

<Show off.>

You love it. Warrick laughed.

"You're turn, Sol. Show me what you got." Her hands dropped to her sides, but she didn't desummon War into his totem form just yet.

Small hands, knuckledusters included, came to rest on thin hips. "Nice, I figured you'd be duel wielding, what with the two voices." She supposed she should feel lucky that she only had the one sarcastic demon to deal with. Warrick snorted, Peyton laughed inwardly at him.

She backtracked a bit, answering the question he'd asked before she'd showed off her weapon. "Golems are artificial bodies. There are multiple types, and each one serves a different purpose. Some of them operate for either training, or for infiltration. Others are pre-programmed, and I think those are only in the training courses." She brought her hands up so she could tick off the different types on her fingers, and Warrick returned to the simple gold bands once again. "There's also one that, like.. Your weapon pilots it, but it's them? Like they get the golem as a body, and it looks like them in whatever form they would have had when they were at their school." She didn't sound entirely sure of herself, but she hadn't really looked that into W type golems yet.

"It also gets them out of your head for however long they're in golem form." She pointed towards her wrist. "You both get this bracelet thing, and it's like a tether, but I hear the leash is pretty long." Vivid memories a certain kissing booth being over run by golems with no visible hunters came crashing down, and the flesh along the bridge of her nose pinched.

"I dunno.. " She frowned, having never really thought that far into it before. Her knowledge of Halloween was still fairly limited. She had stories and reports to go on, but she'd never been there herself. "Yeah, I guess? I know some of the hunters go on missions to a school in golems. They infiltrate and try to learn what's going on. Apparently all the monsters are in general "humanoid" form." She brought her hands up, adding air quotes.

Lips twisting thoughtfully, Peyton scratched at her cheek. "I don't think any of the weapons remember much of their lives before they were converted." That had been the general consensus on things, at least.

She nodded as he mentioned not inflicting his partner on anybody, then chuckled. "Aw, he can't be that bad. They're all pretty eccentric." It was hard to imagine what it would be like having a talkative partner, let alone one that seemed to have a duel personality and talked to itself as well as it's hunter.