Welcome to Gaia! ::

Al was verrry familiar with the condition his 'new' room was in when he acquired it. But he was not about to tell this guy that. He bobbed his head at the question about this being his first mission, then very quickly backed up when he leaned in at him. His eyes grew to the size of golf balls and about as white as them too.

Al wasn't sure who or what was going to kill him, but he was certain one way or another he wasn't coming back from this mission. "Y...y... c... cool..."

He was not aware that he was bringing Rep or Ceres... or possibly Harrison too such joy.

"I wouldn't say cool. Unless you're talking body temperature. Once your shield's down, kkkkk." Harrison swiped a finger across his throat.

He looked over at Rep appraisingly.

"I'll spare you what's under my shirt. ...You teach this kid a defense stance yet?"

Al stared. Yup. He was ********. So ********. If Rep could almost have guts spill out, he was going to definitely see some of his own at some point during this. But then Rep offered an out... his help. Al nodded wildly in agreement, "Yessir."

Then Harrison harped up and he answered just as agreeably, "Yessir." Apparently cool was not a word he could use anymore. At least not to describe something that is c--- nice.

He might not have been able to laugh but Rep couldn't help the massive toothy grin that had taken up residence on his face. Winding up Al was too much ******** fun and just the stress relief he needed to take his mind off of the impending mission.

"Naw. You've seen me defending. I'm pretty ******** shite at it. I taught him attacking and charges. I'm no a moon." There was a moment where he regretted saying that, acutely reminded that he wasn't a Sun either any more, he had no right to be teaching people offence.

Whatever smartarse comments he'd been lining up died before he could say them. "Ace and Ceres know their defending, listen to them." he said to Al before withdrawing quietly back to his mug.

She stood up and moved towards Harrison. "Listen to Harrison more, he has a lot more practice than i do...There is no shame in picking your battles either, but sometimes they will be picked for you. Sometimes its better to just put up your guard. Mostly if there are multiple enemies." It was something she learned the hard way, she was a firm believer in the best defense is a good offense... but that was only such case in some instances, others it was better to just defend only.

She shrugged at him too, moving next to the fellow moon hunter with a nod.

"Personally, i use my weapon to do a lot of my defending." Not everyone was blessed with a sword that could double as a shield though. "Redirecting attacks using them sometimes works, but other times you need to put up your fists." She brought her fists up as harrison did, pushing her elbows out and making her forearms parallel with her body. "A good idea is to guard your center too... most of the vital stuff is there after all, and while fear shields are great, use them while you can, they can drop if you take too much." Unspoken went the knowhow of what happens when your shields are down...

Somewhere in the room Gale still sat, casually sipping tea from his mug.

Wash had been halfheartedly trying to wolf down a meal when the two death hunters had burst their way into the cafeteria.

The predictable chaos that ensued had him settling for just gulping down a lukewarm coffee and people-watching instead. He felt strangely disconnected with Sasha off-island - he hadn't realized it, but she was the main reason he'd interacted with anyone lately. It left awkward and off-balance, and he huddled at his table alone, uncertain and silent.

Rep watched the demonstration intently from where he sat, the mug not as deep as he would have liked as he ran out of the calming elixir that was hot chocolate. He set down the mug morosely and pushed it away from him. Defence was always such a real thing, a reminder that the s**t they fought could often devour a man's shield in no ******** time at all, that all the defence in the world was only equally as good as the offense backing it up.

"Offense is only one half of a coin." he said, looking at the table, as if he had no place giving his opinions. "What Ace is saying is that tactical defending can stall an opponent, can give valuable openings. Sun relies on Moon to keep them alive long enough to kill the enemy and Moon relies on Sun to kill it before their defence runs out. Its a ticking countdown till death and both sides have to pull equally to win. Death tend to be hard to hit, tactical clever and give the upper hand. Life keep people alive and swing the odds in favour but you like, need to be aware of all these things on a battlefield, no man is their division. Its about ******** teamwork. Mist should know that most, since they need to spot those gaps in a fight and fill them." He made a face. "I'm rambling and s**t, but that's how I see it. Defence is another tool and don't let anyone ever tell you its just for moons."

He snorted, not even caring he'd gone into self righteous rant mode. "I was Sun but even I don't think a good offence is the best defence. I think that's a lot of ******** bollocks. I could fight my ******** heart out till I died and I'd never beat someone with a solid mastery of the ******** battlefield. People who attack all the time blindly trying to nuke out the clock are just stupid kids button mashing and hoping for beginners luck."

Al got a wry smile though. "Your willingness to learn s**t'll let you go far, wee man."