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If there was one positive thing to be said about pod duty, it was that it had given Finn time to think. And read as well, really, but mostly to think. He had been doing a lot of that lately, the thinking thing, and while he had been slightly irked to have his studying time interrupted by the awakening of some new cannon fodder, the subsequent hours of pleasant alone time had done much to soothe his frazzled nerves. He thought that he was even beginning to feel a little bit better, itchy, sore shoulder and nightmares be damned.

When his shift was over, Finn had walked out of the labs with his book held in hand, with all intentions of heading to the infirmary to see if they might need any extra hands. He hadn't been scheduled to work that night, but he could see no harm in checking things out. However, the more he thought about it as he walked along, the more he decided against it. He had been spending enough time doing, and probably not enough time actually studying what he needed to know before he did anything.

With his decision made, he veered off course towards the library instead. He could finish his book and exchange it for a new one, and then perhaps check out the infirmary a few hours from now. Night shift wouldn't be so bad. It would keep him from having to go to sleep and experience a dream of being buried alive again.

He arrived at the library a few minutes later, a precursory glance landing on the opening chairs as he decided just where he should sit, but ultimately that gaze landed on somebody he had only just introduced to the world of Deus Ex that very day. He debated for only half a moment whether or not to approach, but then he did, seating himself in a chair across from the other man, a faint smile touching his lips as he looked at him with the same cold gaze as ever.

"Settled in already?" He asked, his voice rather monotone, as if he didn't really care but thought that he would ask anyways out of courtesy.

Sitting down across from the other man, asking him a question, it basically invited idle conversation, and for a moment Finn questioned his own motives here. He had come to read and learn, and yet he had chosen to sit here of all places. If he had to analyse this situation he had found himself in, there could really only be one conclusion that he could come to. He was lonely, but not lonely enough to face any of his so called friends. He craved just some small amount of company, if only for a few minutes or an hour, especially now that he seemed to have worked through some of the problems in his head. Not all of them, but some of them.

His shoulder suddenly twinged, and he reached up absently to scratch at it, gaze falling to the book in his other hand, and then back up again.

"I hope you don't plan on boring the monster's to death with facts." His smile became a smirk. "Tell me you've at least been out to the training field to practice with your weapon. You do realize that could be thrown out into a mission at any given moment, don't you?"

Finally, he lifted his book up, and opened it, flipping through the pages to where he last left off. "Gross Anatomy: The Big Picture." He replied, his voice falling to a mumble as he began to read.

Finn only half listened as he began to scan down the words on his current page, nodding his head slightly and letting out the odd. "Mmm." Sound as if he totally understood what the other guy was saying. When he got to the end of his little spiel however, adding on the strenuous activity bit, Finn glanced up, but didn't quite catch any subtle twitching up of the lips.

"Strenuous activity." He repeated, an eyebrow lifting. This guy was still talking about going out to the training field, right? "Look, not to rain on your ******** parade or anything, but do you have any idea how retarded that idea is?"

Zeke had gotten Finn's attention again, for now. "A game plan. Seriously." His voice had gone completely dry. "Tell me. What would be your game plan in this situation: You wake up in the desert. Moments after you awaken, everything starts going to s**t. People on every side of you are being drug down into the sand, disappearing, reappearing moments later with bugs moving under their skin, with bugs that are controlling their every movement, and soon, they're coming after you."

He paused for a moment, leveling Zeke with his hard gaze. "Or how about this: You are sent on a mission to decontaminate hunters who are infected with a virus that turns them into brainless, animalistic cannibals. The power goes out. Some of the contained infected escape and converge on the unsuspecting victims who are caught up in the total chaos and pandemonium. You can't see anything. You get bit." His shoulder began to itch, irritatingly so. "Now, you're infected as well, and only minutes away from trying to eat your own friends."

"Oh, no wait, this is a great one. You're standing on the beach, minding your own ******** business. Some of the life techs have decided to throw a small party. You've been there for maybe five minutes, when suddenly, something wraps around your ankle, and before you know it, you've been drug into the ocean and tossed into the gullet of some monstrous titan. You're still alive, of course, for some ******** up reason, just chilling in a pile of blue ooze in the monsters stomach, ooze that, hilariously enough, just happens to be poison!" Finn's face broke out into a smile at this, but it was a cold smile, devoid of any of the dry humor that he placed into any of his words.

"But you know what? I bet that book you're reading just has all of the answers. Please, continue to waste your time."

And back to his own book.

There was hardly ever a specific button to push when it came to Finn. He said whatever the ******** he wanted, whenever he wanted to ******** say it, though most were lucky enough that he barely paid them any mind. To him, so many people on the island were so inconsequential, to be treated with nothing but the purest indifference. The fact that he was talking to this man, this near complete stranger, at all, was the real mystery. What had drawn him to sit down so close to him? What had possessed him to open his mouth and say anything?

No, there was no button that Zeke had pressed, because Finn kept his buttons guarded behind empty smiles and cold stares, so that even when they were triggered, it would be nearly impossible for anybody to find out.

But that didn't mean that Finn didn't like to poke and prod for whatever might trigger somebody else. That didn't mean that, in some rare instances, he didn't take an interest in anybody outside of those select few that he dared to call his friends. Zeke was nobody to him, and yet still somebody that he wanted to get to know.

This was how Finn got to know somebody...which was unfortunate for anybody who managed to grab his attention.

When Zeke stood up, Finn's focus remained on his own book, a page flicked just a moment before a book was dropped on his lap.

He let out a mock sigh, before his eye rolled up ward, and a wicked smile curved his lips upward. Gathering up both books, the medical one was closed, and both were placed on top of each other on the table, as Finn stood up from his chair as well.

"Christ, I thought you'd never ask. Do you know where the training fields are, a*****e, or do you need me to find a leash and take you for a little walk around?" He caught up to the other man with ease and flashed him that cold grin, that twisted smile that continued to leave his gaze dead cold.

Handed him off was probably more accurately described as threw him to the wolves, but Finn wasn't there to correct him on every little thing.

As they moved out of the library and began making their way towards the field, Finn considered his question for a moment, usually preferring to just teach through experience than to actually have to explain things, though he had been known to do both at the same time on occasion.

"Oh, you know, it's all very technical, with a side of magical." He smiled, feeling like being particularily difficult.

In the near distance, the training field was looming.

"Well, if it's learning by doing," he gave into the valkyrie's demands as his boots hit the grass, twin axes filling his hands. "Then you won't mind if I get this s**t started."

Finn out ranked him, though even if he didn't the Moon had a hell of a lot more experience. It wasn't going to be a fair fight, but Ezekiel knew that going into it. If he could learn something from it, it'd be worth it.

He waited until the other man had summoned his weapon, then he was moving. Quick, but lacking any sort of experience where weapons were concerned(not to mention the whole 'swinging a deadly blade at a colleague' thing), his first strike wasn't quite as hard as it could have been. Not exactly hesitant, but cautious.

The blade came down in a slash across the shorter man's arm. He expected to see blood, when there was none a questioning, narrow-eyed look snapped up to Finn.


HP: 40
DMG: 3
CHG: 1/3

"Well that's good to know." Especially as the point of the lance came around and thrust in a quick stab at his stomach. He winced, expectant, but felt barely more than minor discomfort. It was incredibly weird, and features contoured in baffled lines as he jerked back and away from the other man's weapon. Thoughtful gave way to intrigue, and after a second a pleased grin was creeping into place. "And really ******** handy." Was that a sense of indestructibility? Just a bit.

Of course he wasn't quite cocky enough to believe it. He was a rookie on the island, a ******** greenhorn, and had little more than a clue as to what was going on, let alone what they were up against.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy the fact that he could take an alarming amount of damage now, and barely bat an eye. It was kind of amazing.

{Only because of me, boil. Do not be getting a big head.}

Yeah yeah, many thanks.

Still grinning, confidence bolstered, he rushed in, a little recklessly. The swing of an ax left him open on the side, but there was strength behind it now as the blade came down against the shorter man's shoulder.


HP: 39
DMG: 7
CHG: 1/3