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Dakota beamed at Lance, and just kept beaming and beaming. He was almost sparkly like. And look at this Lance, you had ladies EVERYWHERE. He really felt like he had a mist harem. Okay not really because Candace was his wife but it was a nice thought. "Congratulations work!" Because he knew Molly was thinking about it. Speaking of which...was Molly wearing....

"Hey..Hey when did you power up?" He pointed at her coat. At least he did until Lance yelled back at him.

He stood up as he was addressed and nodded, "Sorry sir!" He gave Molly a sheepish look before asking her quietly join him near the mist leader. He was use to just...telling Edith and giving her his folders. Either she said no or she said yes.

"Uh sorry, I thought we just..told you and you said yes or no or something." He took Molly to be his buffer before coming stand closer to Lance, realizing that the setting at least allowed CASUAL encounters instead of the formal ones like Moon. That was nice. Different but nice.

"Sorry. I'm not sure with division transferring if I lose my specialization role? I've trained a couple of teams for search and rescue missions, and they aren't limited to moon. If I could, I'd like to keep training others but it would cost, and not sure how you feel about uh..Moon using Mist money?" He scratched behind his neck, "You know....Sorry, I didn't mean to shout and stuff." He was looking at Molly for help here. He was the new kid on the block after all.

--

Noemi startled as another hunter was pelted with a ball, looking at a very pleased Lance and sank lower into her seat. Oh hell no she would never yell at a meeting. She won't do anything. Thin ice, thin ice.

"I remember --" A brief pause as Lance glanced away, shaking his head before facing Dakota again. "Nevermind. Considering you just showed up and you're still wearing a Moon coat, you've got a lot of balls to crash a meeting before waiting for the paperwork to finalize. When we get back, I'll be expecting a folder complete with your specialization details by the end of the week. What exactly do you do, what you've done, what you're doing now, what you expect to be doing. There are... other things that occupy my attention that take priority over what someone's specialty is in another division. You need to show me you're serious about becoming a Mist and prove to me that you're up for the specialization."

"Also?" Lance clapped a friendly hand on Dakota's shoulder as he leaned in close, voice dropping to a whisper. "Touch any other girl aside from Candace and your a** is grass, y'hear?"

He stood up straight and beamed at Molly, puffing out his chest. "Y'bet your daisies, little lady! It's good to be up and about, gotta worry less about these --" he raised his arms and flexed, "And more about these though." He slapped his legs as he spoke. "Good on you to be vouchin' for your friend here though. Do you have any other recommendations for him?"

Molly just kept staring with wide eyes and an open mouth at Lance. On his legs. It was...amazing! The hunter eventually snapped herself out of it though, because it was probably rude to stare at his legs when he was talking to her...and as much as she wanted to ask 'how'...maybe that was rude too. "A-ah...con...congratulations...? Sir...?" She asked, not certain if that was the right thing to say in this situation. She looked at Dakota briefly, for confirmation that she had said the right thing since he was reading her mind earlier. "I'm so happy for you though! I imagine this will make handling your weapon easier...?"

She gasped. "Ah, yes, right!" She clasped her hands over her stomach and nodded her head vigorously. "Recommendations! I think Dakota's proposal will fit very well in Mist and I can work with him closely since I'm focusing on safety...and I think Dakota coming from Moon is an added benefit! His training and experience as a Moon is a good solid base for this specialization and then applying it to Mist, since we focus on everything!" She paused. "...I have nothing but good things to say, sir, I swear it! I think he's one of the best hunters on Deus." She beamed, but she genuinely meant it.

She quickly sat herself down as soon as Noemi indicated that she was perfectly fine with her taking the chair, her cheeks glowing a faint pink when a nearby hunter jokingly reassured that the chair was not going to cause her any grievous bodily harm. "Nellie thinks it's okie really." Bringing her hands together to rest in her lap, she smiled kindly at Noemi and the other hunter who had addressed her. "It's Nellie's fault after all that Noemi's confused by the funny way Nellie speaks."

It wouldn't be the first time either. Noemi seemed really really nice compared to the many others she had encountered prior to being put into home schooling by her parents. She could see for herself so far that everyone seemed to get along really well with one another here and could only hope that with time she too would be able to find her place and fit in somehow.

Just as she was about to initiate another conversation with Noemi however, something landed squarely onto her lap and into her hands. A very very wet tennis ball that looked and smelled like it was drowned in a dog's slobber. Blinking a few times, she tilted her head to first look over at Lance then at the hunter who had taken the hit to his head and then at Noemi.

"... Nellie wonders if she's supposed to return this."

"Noemi has a point there. Nellie's still trying to get used to having Niffy in her head." Nellie admitted with a goofy smile, having almost cleanly forgotten about her partner and weapon with how quiet he was most of the time. Somewhere within her mind, she could hear a barely audible exasperated sigh from Niflheim at the butchering of his name into something cute which he certainly was far from though that was way back in the days before he became weaponised.

< Name's Niflheim pup. Niflheim. >

Oops. She would have to be more careful so that such lapses did not become a common occurrence in the future. Murmuring an apology in her mind to the grumpy male, Nellie held the ball out for the puppy dog to see if it would take it, only to have it nudge her hand playfully a few times to try to get her to toss it. "Noemi really thinks so?" She supposed that there wasn't any harm in giving Noemi's suggestion a shot, closing her fingers around the ball before tossing it in the direction of the forest with the puppy dog swiftly following in pursuit.

"Does Noemi think it will come back or return to its owner instead?"

Lance shrugged, then waved dismissively to Dakota. "All in all, next time? Wait for the paperwork to be complete before inviting yourself somewhere. I'm all for a party, but considering this is my private land?" He shook his head slowly, clapping an uncomfortable hand onto Dakota's shoulder. "You could have really, really screwed up big time son. I'd watch yourself if I were you."

The division leader removed his hand from Dakota, giving Molly a warm grin as he shrugged. "Thank you, Molly. It's good to be up and about again. Afïr and I have some old friends we need to get caught up on still, but that's nothin' to worry your pretty little head about."

He held up a hand as she praised Dakota. "All right, all right, I get it. I'll give the papers a look over. Don't forget that I need to finalize things on my end before you pick up a new coat, Dakota." A warning glance was thrown towards the former Moon Hunter.




At Before's look of horror, the other hunter gagged as she pressed her hand firmly against her lips. "Uggggh! How did you make it this far when you don't read the warning signs?!" She turned away, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths in an attempt to dispel the faint green tinge that paled her cheeks. "I-I don't think I want to know how you made it to being a hunter if you can't read the warning signs, ugh. Especially when we're right in the middle of a meeting..."



Finley throwing the ball was more than enough to cause the loose dog to bark and charge off after it, nearly bowling over a hunter in the process. The second tennis ball being thrown by Noemi caused the dog to suddenly change course and pursue this new ball.

A minute later the dog would emerge from the forest, tail wagging as it struggled to hold two tennis balls in its mouth. The dog wove its way through the crowd, stopping at Ro's to drop them both. The dog looked up at the hunter, tail wagging before its attention was side-lined by Arorangi eating food. The dog began to shift from paw to paw, torn between playing with the ball or begging for food.






Lance turned his attention to Finley when she approached, grinning. "Good to know someone else 'round here likes dogs. You're... Finley, right? I'm Lance, your division leader." He wiped his hand on his white hunter coat before holding it out for a quick handshake. "If you have any problems, please feel free to come see me."

"As far as dogs are concerned..." He shook his head. "Dogs and animals in general react very, very poorly to both Fear and Runic devices. It's not just misbehavior. Those two things can force mutations on and otherwise healthy dog. They're lucky if it outright kills them. If not, then..." Lance let out a deep breath. "All in all, don't ever consider bringing a pet or any animal onto Deus. It'll only end in heartbreak, y'hear?"

Lance gestured around them, indicating the area. "And before you get any ideas, this place took my mates and I eight years to pull together and build. We are looking into ways to better acclimate them -- dogs in particular -- and to use them for missions, but as it stands now they're just regular hunting dogs. We use them to get fresh meat and sell it to other island-bound hunters if they get a craving for deer, elk, or duck."

The division leader paused, adding, "And if you're interested in joining our operation we currently aren't looking for new recruits. Get your practice in and focus on forming a stronger bond with your weapon first, then consider other things."

For the most part Roland was done gawking at Lance, the hunter didn't seem to miss a beat or at all phased to be walking about so Roland simply didn't bring any more point to it. Instead he focused on the dog now prancing paw to paw before him, two balls dropped at his feet. Instead of going for the balls he crouched down to ruffle the dogs fur grinning from ear to ear at the impromptu friend.

"Who'sagooddoog?"

He picked up the first tennis ball wiggling it a bit, "You want it? You wana get the ball?" He stood up winging the first tennis ball off to the edge of the meeting, "Go get it!"

Pausing he only sighed a bit, "Man I never got to have a pet when I was kid... a dog at the beach would have been fun..." This idea of course quickly died as Lance explained what could happen to dogs brought onto the island.