Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was still a hubbub of noise, obstacles, and mild chaos to those not familiar with the layout, and Melody would have to be directed to Dawson by the foreman, at the back of the chapel with several others people working away on the mortar and brick wall. He was fanning himself with his hat and had smears on his old flannel shirt and face.

Noticing her belatedly, he slapped his cap on again and said, "Ah shoot, you didn' hafta come in n' getchaself messy in here, hon!" as he made his way over. "Ya shoulda texted me, I woulda met you outside."

"That you are!" he chuckled. "Shoulda seen the place earlier, it was a right mess."

Hollering at the others that he'd be out for a bit (one of whom responded back with a wolf whistle and a wiggle of their brows that caused some laughter), he escorted Melody out of the chapel. "So what kinda necklace are we talkin' here?" he asked, trying to clean himself up a little. "Like laser shootin' pendant or somethin'? 'Cause that'd be pretty neat."

"Chimera," he reminded her, trying to play it off since she seemed oblivious, and he was more than happy to avoid being teased some more.

Dawson watched the totem transform with raised brows. Sure, it was a necklace...ish...but she sort of forgot to mention the whole...s**t, what was it called. He snapped his fingers a few times before finally calling out, "Pauldron, right? Looks nasty--I mean, in a good way, with 'em spikes. You could shove someone right in the..."

Right, Melody probably wouldn't appreciate the imagery.

"So you ever use him in a spar or mission?" he asked. "That guy on twitter was goin' off, but it didn' sound like y'all actually did somethin'."

"Pauldron," he repeated. "Stormtroopers get different colored ones t'designate ranks in Star Wars, but errywhere else they're like an armor piece."

Melody was definitely new if she got to miss the explosions, then...Lucky her. But it was one thing to have a shield like him; at least there was maneuverability with that. With just a pauldron...

Dawson stroked his beard as he considered her weapon. "We're gonna hafta get creative," he mused aloud, wishing he could touch the weapon; he was a terribly tactile person. Syn belayed the idea immediately. "Now Meri had some points: you on Moon squad, so its yer job t'make sure whoever yer watchin' stays alive, whatever we end up doin'. The way yer boy's set up, it'll be easier t'do it defensively the way you wanna, though--not picking fights, I mean, not tha' any a'us do tha' fer the job description, but being able t'defend them while you do yer field medic thing."

Dawson gestured at the armored arm with a smile. "We're gonna officially call that yer good side."

Well, despite how garbled messages could get on Twitter, he got the feeling this Roland guy had been approaching the right problem from the wrong angle, maybe. Or had just been too aggressive about it.

< Or perhaps this one is too soft, > Syn noted disdainfully. < Lace rather than steel. >

His partner's musings almost made him miss what Melody was accusing him of. "Nonono, it was a joke!" Dawson said quickly. "Like when you take a photo, people always sayin' this side or tha', but you got armor on the one, so, like...yer good side, but fer....battle..."

He scratched under his cap sheepishly. Well, even comedic geniuses like him had their flops.

"I think what he was tryin' t'get at was that you gotta get used to handlin' yer weapon," he went on. "Sometimes a mission's gonna call on you to hit somethin' to protect someone else, yeah? N', well, in his defense, most weapons you can swing. So s'much as you might not like it, yer gonna hafta know how t'hit with that thing, if only so you can keep a nasty off yer partner or friend. Or at the very least fend off, know what m'sayin'?"

"A'course we are, honey. N' as a team, we gotta push each other t'be the best hunter we can be. Fer combat, that means we gotta practice with each other—sparring," Dawson added. "Doesn' mean actually fightin' with one another, but it's like when teams do a scrimmage, yeah? We practice with each other so we're ready fer the real deal."

After a pause, he asked, "What'd they tell you about this place, when you was gettin' recruited?"

"With Creedence, right?" He grinned. "Y'all had fun, I hope?" That was some pitch they had given her alright. Granted, it probably would have gotten his attention too...

"Well, how about we practice then, huh?" Dawson suggested. "Later on we could tr out a training course too, get you started on somethin' in yer interests. Runics r' pretty important t'have."