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“KONICHI-WAA!” Hollered Jasper “How is it going!! Are we ready to see me creamed?” He grinned hugely like a Cheshire cat, spinning his double ended weapon in an arc like he was spinning a tremendously long baton.

“Seriously though, how’s it going? Are you excited, I’m excited! Just don’t tell Cami till we’re done ok? She’ll kick my a** for coming out TO get my a** kicked!” He laughed and grinned. “Maybe don’t tell Shu either okay?”

Finn winced inwardly at the practical scream that carried through the air and across the sand towards him. He recognized Jasper's voice and enthusiasm from when they had battled one of those sand beasts with Dakota, but even knowing just what to expect, the shouted greeting was still quite grating, and Finn's teeth clenched tight in an effort not to make remark about how if Jasper really wanted to get creamed, he could meet up with Finn later and....

No. Dirty thoughts needed to stop right there. This was meant to be serious business.

Also there was the appearance of a pretty lady to make this whole thing much more bearable. Finn offered each her and Jasper a smile in turn, though it was far from reaching the coldness of his eye. He waited until they were both settled down (impossible, as it seemed they were both really excited about this for some reason), before speaking.

"Jasper." He nodded to the man, "And...Finley, right. I'm Finn, an intermediate trainee in the moon division. You're both here because you responded to the advertisement that I put up in the cafeteria, and while I barely know either of you, I am now being forced to trust you just as much as you're going to to have to trust me, understand?" He lifted his eyebrows at them both before continuing.

"Because out here, there is nothing to save you from becoming severely injured should your shield break. Your weapons will still heal you, given time, but it is a far stretch even for them to be able to bring you back from death. There is a real risk here of things going wrong if you aren't careful." He took a minute to pause then, reaching up to the industrial piercing in his ear and removing it, before in a flash of magenta, his lance rested in a gloved hand.

To Finley, he said. "It is only different once your shield breaks. On the training field, you wont retain any serious injury because of the buffer. Here, there is no buffer to save you, and once your shield is down, you will become injured just as easily as you would if you were still just a regular human." Was that straight forward enough? He hoped so, because he didn't feel like repeating himself.

"As a precaution, I'll defend you both twice each, to get a charge on my own weapon. You two, however, are not allowed to use charges. If you do use a charge, I will terminate this exercise immediately and report you to Edith." Which he hoped he wouldn't have to do, because he'd surely get in s**t along with whoever broke the rules.

Now taking his time to have good look at both of them, he had a moment to wonder at why so many people were voluntarily signing up for what would end in an injury, whether it be life threatening or a few simple cuts and bruises. Shrugging it off mentally as people being a bunch of masochists, he then gestured at them both.

"You may start whenever you're ready. I'll jump in when I've decided who I'd rather defend first."

"Yessir!" Finley gave a jaunty salute to Finn. "Trust exercises are ace!"

She made an effort to listen seriously to the rest of his speech though, well aware that this was outside her comfort zone and any elaboration he could give would serve her well.

Once Finn was done talking she gave a sharp nod to show that she understood - although the gesture was perhaps somewhat diminished by the happy beam she couldn't quite keep off of her face.

"I'll try to be serious too, and stay focused - that's probably the main thing for me. But it shouldn't be a problem because fighting is fun! And fun things are always easier to stay focused on, right?" She turned her grin on Jasper, bouncing slightly on her feet in anticipation. "Ohh, and you guys are both in Moon? That's neat! I'm Mist, myself. Is Moon nice to be in? I'm sure you'll learn to be great at taking hits, don't worry! Oh! Right, and who goes first? In the fight, I mean."

“Oh yeah HER!” Jasper exclaimed, though if he was just Bullshitting or not was, surprisingly hard to tell even with the abundantly enthusiastic forehead-palming action.

“I swear, I’m geek enough to remember issue numbers for Batman but when it comes to real people.” He shook his head and held up his hands. “Got a good memory for faces though!”


“I’ll be careful, do I look like I’m not careful? Actually…don’t answer that, I’ll be careful of THEM, that counts right? I’m Moon, I’m supposed to learn to roll with the punches right?” He grinned hugely again.