Welcome to Gaia! ::

Most people thought it would never happen, but Oliver was finally settling into a shaky routine. Minipets, infirmary duties, he was beginning to accept with only occasional bouts of distress, and even when he was randomly handed off to other hunters for random jobs he barely flinched at all. Even the scarier ones made to 'babysit' him were not so bad as long as he was diligent and didn't stammer too much. Besides, every now and again he got a familiar face.

Today he had completed his routine tasks, and having nothing in need of his assistance, the lab staff sent him along to the infirmary. Where there were also no jobs that needed to be done by a Life trainee that hadn't already been done, or had someone assigned. So the infirmary staff did much the same, passing him off to Lex.

And that's how Oliver came to be waiting outside the infirmary building, struggling with intermingled feelings of happiness and horror. Lex was friendly enough but the whole 'being thrown into the ocean and attacked by monsters' thing last time had left a huge impact on the teen. He could only hope they were not going diving again.

Oliver couldn't help but smile back even as the sudden hand on the back nearly knocked him sideways. Despite having been awake for so long he did have a rather 'podling' vibe about him, like he was still not yet ready to come out of his shell. At times he was like a shy puppy that would lick your fingers, but only if you approached him slowly.

At Lex's words, Oliver seemed to slouch with relief. No more diving. His timid little heart could not take another round of that so soon. "Um, y-you didn't have any work for me?" He asked, unconsciously rubbing at the shoulder that was hit. That was usually how it went, he got passed along, until someone found him something to do. In a way, the work was how he defined himself and his new life, even more so than his free time activities. When he had a job to do, he had a way to channel all that nervous energy.

"Skills, ah..." The kid frowned and stared down at the totem of his weapon hung around his neck. The large tooth felt cold against his chest. "I-I am still, uh... n-no good at fighting..."

Oliver had once spent a couple hours on Google Translate taking English sentences, translating them into various languages, and then back into English for sheer amusement. He nodded. Things really did get garbled in the process. But it made him wonder, what exactly did Lex do when it came to work, if he was talking about translating?

The kid shot Lex a hesitant look, but began to head towards the training field anyway. Why did he have to mention sparring? "A-are you sure, there's no work?"

It wasn't just lack of skill that held Oliver back, but it was also a lack of commitment to the action. It was one thing swinging an axe at a dummy. But to aim at another person, even knowing they had a FEAR shield protecting them, he was as likely to balk as land a successful hit. The kid who could sit for hours on end killing zombies in video games was simply too gentle for real violence.

Oliver blushed, partly from the familiarity implied by the hair-ruffling, and party because Lex apparently knew he was Jack's coffee gopher. It wasn't exactly the most respectable position he had found himself in, but it did make things slightly more comfortable in the labs. He made more mistakes when he could feel daggers being glared at his back.

He didn't bother to take his coat or scarf off when they arrived on the training ground, possibly because he was too busy fidgeting with the end of the scarf. "Um, yeah... I-I have, b-but it's... I-I'm not..." Oliver wasn't able to finish any of those half-sentences, but after another second of fidgeting he reluctantly summoned Jökul.

The large spine-like axe seemed a bit too large for such a timid teen, but at least it seemed comfortable in his hands.

Oliver knew the moment the gun was pointed in his direction that this had been a bad idea. The first shot stung as it blew past one shoulder, but he was quick to take heed of the older hunter's lesson.

He yelped and scrambled backwards, barely avoiding the second shot. Although his natural instinct was to retreat, it would only give Lex the advantage with his long-range weapon. Whenever he thought logically about fighting tactics, Oliver knew he had to dodge and still move towards his opponent. That was the only way he could make use of the weapon's strength, and he had certainly played enough video games to understand the limitations of a large axe. But it was hard to think clearly when the rest of his mind was telling him to just get out of there as fast as he could.

It was all he could do to just keep ahead of the bullets. One struck the ground behind him, one he was unable to dodge as he ran, but he had learned one lesson and the next shot was just barely deflected using the large blade of his axe.

Jökul was silent in his mind, but Oliver could feel his presence. He did like a fight after all. Unfortunately the activity could only be called target practice if he didn't get close enough!

Oliver darted away from the shots at his feet, but although it was an awkward dodge, he managed to slightly close the gap between the two of them. His heart was beating wildly, and when Lex shouted he whirled around as though about to simply run away.

But then the axe was cutting horizontally through the air, Oliver's frightened twirl continuing around with enough momentum to give the blade a decent swing. Holding it with one hand, arm outstretched, the axe covered a wider sweep than using a two-handed grip as the kid finally stepped towards his opponent.

The swing that had finally managed to clip his opponent was also the swing he would most regret not five seconds later. The momentum of the axe pulled him off balance, and when he saw Lex take aim once more, he couldn't bring his axe up to block fast enough, nor could he dodge.

Next thing he knew he was on the ground, gasping for breath. The blow had knocked the wind right out of him. A little voice in his head told him to just stay down, it said he could just lie there, and no more harm would come to him. But Oliver knew that wasn't the sort of world he lived in anymore. He had to at least try to put up a fight.

He rolled off his back and scrambled to his feet, once again using the speed of his movements to bring the axe swinging around. This time he was able to control the tail end of the swing, bringing it back into a defensive position with only a mild stagger.