Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aria narrowed her eyes as Gale immediately volunteered. “So eager, hm? Very well. Come stand here, in front of me.” She gestured, indicating the spot. “Materialize your weapon as well. No, not you – just our volunteer here. Now the lot of you shut up and pay attention.” A glare was shot at Jerry, Jordan, and Leon.

She clapped a hand on Gale’s shoulder, her annoyed tone clipping her words short. “Some of you have already completed your first mission in enemy territory. Some of you were more successful than others.” A lie; the instructor did not even bother checking to see who completed her assignment and who didn’t. She was too busy attending to something else to stand around and collect pets.

“Now. What if...” Her tone dropped. A malicious grin twitched at the corner of her lip. “Now what if... something was to have happened? Observe.” Within the blink of an eye the mist leader snatched at something on her belt, the hiss of metal ringing out before she plunged a knife into the side of Gale’s neck.

“Which of you can tell me what is wrong with this picture?” Aria asked. There was a... definite lack of blood, for starters. “Feel free to ask our volunteer here questions.”

Cass nearly shrieked, managing to clamp both of her hands over her mouth in time to keep from getting too noisy about what it was she just saw. Oh her ******** hell, Aria was going to kill people - this would have been her if she'd not managed to complete that mission she'd been given! Oh ********, oh ********, oh ********, oh fu-

Wait.

...
.....

He's not bleeding. Nicodemus suggested helpfully, but Cass had noticed it too, her brows slowly furrowing together as she watched for longer.
..
... Still not bleeding....still on his feet. She looked to Aria for an explanation, but the woman gave none. That was..well..uhh.... not a big problem, she guessed, but Cass finally pried her hands from over her mouth to ask the first question that had popped into her head;

"He's...not dead..." was her first observation, an obvious one, but it sounded more like a shocked awe statement than her trying to deduce something special. "d-Does it hurt?" she inquired to Gale.

The Boxer merely shut his trap and steeled his face after getting scolded by Aria. It was like all the instructors knew he was chatting and just wanted him to be the quiet fighter that punches things and never says a word. Nevertheless, he gave her a nod of the head and continued to pay attention.

He didn't even bat an eye when she stabbed Gabe in the neck. "He seems fine enough, for someone that just got fatally wounded." he replied blankly. After running around and seeing creatures and death on a battlefield, this was just... ok. Instead of the standard question that Jordan and Cass was asking, he decided to take it a step further. "So how do you feel Gale?"

And least he had a new mental note to add; Don't volunteer for anything until a will is written.

There was a soft glow of white light as the silver banded ring on Gale's left index finger shone brightly, dematerializing only to be replaced by the long, white sniper rifle as Gale stepped towards Aria, a feeling of slight apprehension nagging at him. He wasn't quite certain that volunteering himself for a demonstration with a woman who clearly did things a very specific way, but either way there was no backing out of it now. And he was rather determined to learn properly.

Except that out of all of things Gale had expected, getting stabbed was really not one of them.

He gave an audible gasp, nearly dropping his rifle as his eyes widened, but it was more from shock than anything else, waiting for the inevitable spurt of blood that would slowly drain away his life, the darkening of his vision, fading into nothing blackness.

...nothing happened. Gale blinked, momentarily nonplussed. His eyes flickered downwards to peer awkwardly at his neck, just in case he'd imagined it.

Nope. Still there, the handle protruding out from his throat at an odd angle.

<< ...well that was unexpected. >> came Jinhai's voice, sounding, if anything else, slightly amused - the first time Gale had ever heard his rifle be so.

"Er," he said, casting a glance over at the glasses wearing hunter, who he didn't know, and Bix's friend Cass. "No, actually it...doesn't hurt at all."

Which was very strange. That, and the fact he was still alive. He was sure he looked quite odd standing there with a knife sticking out of the side of his neck.

His gaze flickered towards the dark haired hunter. What was his name again? Oh yes, Leon; he'd heard someone mention it before. Gale gave a small shrug. "It feels a little...y'know, weird. Kinda wrong, but other than that, I don't feel any different at all."

Their reactions were weighed and judged. The reactions of some of the hunters were met with approval. Some with disappointment, others with a faint quirk of an eyebrow.

“Observe,” she said simply, reaching out to yank the knife out. Then she stabbed Gale again, angling it so that it stuck this time through his heart. “There are no marks. In fact, I don’t think Gale can feel anything.” She pulled the knife out again, holding it up. The blade was clean.

But not for long. Aria took one of Gale’s hands and pressed the tip of the knife against a finger. This time it did hurt: a short, sharp sting followed by a bead of blood. “Hm, looks like the knife is sharp,” she announced, letting go of his hand. “Now, we could waste time here by letting you all guess and make up theories about it, but let me cut to the chase and simply tell you what is going on.”

“Those of you who have been “studying” with video games,” Aria began, using her hands to sarcastically air-quote the word studying with the mild enthusiasm one usually reserved for scraping bubblegum off of the undersides of desks. “Would have noticed a similarity to that of many video games. A character is shot, but they still stand. Another is sliced with a sword, but no limbs cut off. This is all during “battle” mind you, not the cut scenes.” And there went the air-quotes again.

“It is all thanks to Fear. The same thing the golems you used last mission.” She twirled her knife idly, stopping and making a slashing motion with it. When her arm reached her side, she was no longer holding a knife. Aria raised her flamethower, patting it affectionately. “Your weapons can manipulate some of that. It is an instinctual, knee-jerk reaction for a weapon to extend a... shield, if you will, around its wielder. After all, if you die there’s no telling where it will wind up.”

“This shield, however, is not infinite. If I were to continue to attack Gale, the shield would wear out and we would be short one cadet. Your shield can only last so long. Because you are new cadets, I advise against trying out what I did to Gale here. Speaking of, thank you for volunteering.” She dismissed Gale before continuing.

“For now, you will not be able to detect this shield. This requires training. This will come... eventually,” she guessed, offering a shrug. “Some people catch on quickly, others progress slowly. For now, I will instruct you with how to... charge your weapon.”

Aria gestured to the cardboard cutouts next to her. “These have been charged with Fear. In order to gather Fear, you must attack. Your weapon will know how to do this.” She paused, listening to a voice only she could hear. “Yes, exactly. To them, it will be like... feeding. Spread out, claim a cardboard cutout. Aim, and strike.”

“Some of your attacks will miss. Others will seem like they have had no effect, even if your attacks DO hit. Fear has a... natural resilience. Your weapons also attack using Fear. If it does not work, try again. Stop when you have made a successful strike three times. Your weapon will let you know if you have been successful or not.”

The mist hunter paused, then gave an irritated sigh. “Did that go over some of your heads? Let me put it this way: when you feel threatened, you enter combat. When in combat, you cannot be harmed until your health points reach a certain point. Then you start to feel pain. Once the shield is gone, then you are at risk of death. When fighting, some of your attacks can hit for zero damage. You got it? Good.”



(( OOC OMG IT’S COMBAT TRAINING TIMEEEE:

Roll two, eight sided dice. That’s 2d8 for your tabletop players out there!

Subtract 6 from the total. If you have any remainder, you hit for that amount of damage. If you have zero or less than, your attack did one of the following:
- You missed. Completely.
- Your attack hit, but it was pathetically weak and hit for 0 damage.
- Your opponent dodged.
- Your opponent successfully blocked.
- You successfully screwed something up which prevented you from attacking.

Mix it up! Don’t do the same thing over and over and over again -- that’s borrrring.

When you’ve managed to hit the target three times, your weapon will feel... alive. Excited. Full. Ecstatic. Wild. Aggressive. What does this mean? It means wait for the next GM post. : D


LATE? It’s okay! Just assume you’ve been here the entire time! ))

Candace watched with interest as now Aria stabbed at Gale's heart, not out of any malicious feeling but pure curiosity. Even a stab to the heart did nothing. She was fascinated, especially when it was confirmed the dagger could actually cut. Strangely enough the explanation made plenty of sense. So it hadn't been too far off of Candace to compare that test to a video game when trying to cope with the knowledge that they may have had to kill others around them. A lot of good that had done her, eh?

Atropos was giggling with excitement, squealing and babbling in Candace's head as Aria went on to tell them about what Fear had to do with their weapons. She looked down at her rings. Huh...well then! That was certainly interesting. So they were basically living a video game. It was almost too strange to actually think seriously. But she'd try it...after...the people with the guns. Such as Jerry. Bazookas were dangerous, and he was a little guy! Could he handle it? Who cares about him? Come oooon! Come oooooon! Summon me and go kick some cardboard a**! Hurry up! Candace frowned at the rings and sighed. The purple glow of the rings intensified and moved, falling to her feet and materializing into the two scythes she wore as boots on her feet. Atropos gave a cheer.

"After you, Jerr-bear." Mostly because she didn't want to accidentally get hit with a bazooka. Candace crossed her arms across her chest and waited, watching Jerry position and line himself up to shoot the bazooka off. She pulled her headphones up and turned her music on. High. Bazookas were loud, she didn't know how loud this one would be all things considered. It'd be best to drown it out with her music. He looked at her again and she waved, wincing as he shot off the bazooka and went tumbling back from the recoil. Ohhh that looked like it hurt. But when a bit of cardboard went flying she laughed with him and clapped. "Good job! Think I'll try now.." Candace took a moment to shuffle through her music until she found a song she liked before she took off, running at the cardboard figures.

She jumped once she felt she was close enough and stuck out one of her legs, managing to slice one of the blades right through the edge of one of the cardboard figures. She stumbled to the ground behind it and nearly lost her balance as she turned to see what she'd done.

HAHAAAAAA! That was great! Do it again! Do it again! DO IT AGAIN! Atropos cackled. Candace laughed.

"Gimme a second. I'm not used to having targets." She looked up to see if Gale or Jerry were readying their guns yet.

((Hit 1: 11 - 6 = 5 Damage!))

Bix rubbed his chin as Aria explained their shields. He also met Gale's eyes when their instructor mentioned video games and a smirk spread across his face. As soon they were given the go ahead he half jogged so he was next to Gale. He wordlessly watched his friend's first shot and let out a low whistle.

"Oooooo that's a pretty gun Gale!" He also couldn't help but oggle Candace. She had those short shorts and those legs and those shoes........ OH and she was older than the other girls! That was a bonus.

There's someone much sexier you should be paying attention to... a purr in his head snapped him out of it and he seemed to blush out of nowhere. I am staaaarving darling. My dear dear snowflake.. please let me come out and plaaaay.

Bix nodded, once again silent, and opened a small leather pouch on his belt. When his hand came out he was clutching 5 red marbles. He carefully held four of them in his fingers and closed his eyes. With a burst of light his bow appeared, the marbles now large red orbs surrounded by beautiful white feathers. The fifth marble remained clutched in his free hand.

Mina let out a satisfied sigh in his head as she was released and her wielder did take a moment to admire his own weapon. There was a strange look in his eye but he seemed to blink out of it.

"Nice huh?" he directed the comment at Gale but in his head his weapon was fussing. She wanted to go.. go go go.. right now.

Bix's limited experience with a bow helped a bit. His form may have been sloppy but it was accurate enough. The red marble in his fingers, when pressed to the bow, formed an arrow as he pulled it back. The arrow seemed to be red energy so ammo shouldn't be a problem. He did his best to line up the shot and when he released it (closing his eyes for a split second) the projectile buzzed through the air, embedding in the cutout....

.... right in it's balls.

The shot seemed to tear away that particular chunk of the target and then the energy arrow disappeared, leaving only the damage in it's wake.

"Err... yay?!"

[[ T1 Damage: 5 ]]