Welcome to Gaia! ::

The recent days of being off the island working in Chicago trying to root out an out cropping of FEAR portals had taken a bit of a toll on the veteran moon hunter, glad to be back on the island. Cass was busy with her own missions and he looked forward to what he hoped would be their time off to just enjoy being home for a short while- perhaps use their days off to go play with Dove and Patrick. Thoughts filled with his wife and dogs, the man almost missed the sound of metal flying in the air and cursing coming from the training grounds.

It would normally be of no real concern, but he had time to spare, and whatever was being thrown must have been fairly large to cause the sharp metallic sound in the air. Walking towards the sound, he cocked an eyebrow as he saw a child throwing an axe that was very much not a throwing axe, he watched in silence for a while before he cleared his throat.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but, you doing alright?” He looked at her weapon of choice.
“Your actions are a bit-“ he chose his words carefully, “unconventional given the weapon’s design.”

Marcus's mouth gave a small uptick at her question, despite the curse.

"Well, I did axe if you wanted help, if only because you looked to be struggling slightly." The tiny smirk at his pun wouldn't leave his face though he sobered quickly enough.
"You're not wrong. Any item thrown can become a useful weapon, but it's a matter of how you throw it to maximize it's effectiveness. And while I'm no sun-" As was clear by the gold moon etched into his coat, "I do have a rather invested interest in making sure hunters don't go throwing their weapons and leaving themselves open to attack." For emphasis, he summoned his own weapon, lifting the scimitar before throwing it neatly at the dummy, hitting it in the torso.

"And now I'm defenseless and weaponless. Not a very brilliant strategy if I don't have a back up method you know? But given the right weapon..." Walking over he retrieved the blade, briskly walking from the target.
"It's a good skill to master when the weapon lends well to it."

"Hey now-" Marcus looked mock pained, a hand held over his chest. "Kinda cool? I worked very hard to make a show of my skills, is it too much to axe for a little appreciation here?" He was grinning, knowing full well his jokes were awful. Even Dis was scolding him in his head. He wasn't an old man, stop joking like one.

"But fair's fair, now my weapon is telling me to tone it down. Anyway, good shot, but now what?" He looked at her, expectant.
"I mean you hit the target and in battle It's probably limping. So... now it's spitting acid, or fire, or it's buddies are right up on you. How you going to get your weapon back?" It was an honest question, more casual than condescending, his arm hefting his blade over his shoulder, the other on his hip. He was watching, trying to think on how a tiny thing was managing such a large weapon with that level of dexterity. She was not unskilled by any means, just a bit in need of direction maybe?

"You've got the potential for a one hit wonder kill there, but if you miss or don't get it in that one throw-" He gave a small nod. Figuring she'd get the picture. A weaponless hunter was a dead one more often than not.
"You need a bit of fineness is all. I take it this is a pretty new tactic for you?"

Marcus laughed, finding the blunt nature a bit refreshing after having spent most of his past week in the field with his fellow jaded hunters. "That's fair I guess. But, it's always important to consider what skills you master and how you plan to use them. I learned how to cook meals not just to impress my wife, but because I knew there would be times when the island's cafeteria would be rationed, and being able to cook for her and myself with limited options would give us an advantage."

It wasn't a great explanation but-
"You should master this skill though, because in the end, it could save your life. Just a matter of how to maximize it's effectiveness, and going against targets or random shadowlings won't cut it." Technically, he shouldn't but, Marcus failed to see a point to allow a kid hunter practice against shadowlings or dummies when it would be nothing like what would be in field.

"How would you feel about some more real to life training?"

Marcus stared at the girl, wondering if he wasn't being clear enough.
"Well, yes?" He wasn't sure what there was to not understand. If she was going to learn to master this skill, she should learn to do it right after all. No sense in dying just to look cool.

"There isn't a point in training against that which offers no resistance or challenge aside from muscle memory and things like aim. You obviously can aim and throw it to an extent but a non moving target isn't a practical form of training. One hit takes out a shadowling, but what about a larger enemy, what then? What about multiple enemies? You need to set a goal, push the limitations before you."

Marcus gave her a small warning look of 'this isn't an excuse to do stupid s**t', "Within reason and with proper safeties of course."

Waving towards the jungle, he started walking towards it.
"There are a few outposts that need clearing out, and some have a larger variety of shadowlings you wont find in town. But if you feel like you are up for a little demolition work-" He smiled.
"We can always try to bring a few houses down."

Marcus laughed under his breath at the enthusiasm. Personally he found shadowling duty a bit of a chore, but then, for a kid it was probably fun when you were told you could take on a challenge, when normally you probably only got the little ones.

"Alright, jungle it is. Shall we be off?"

Leading Nick to the jugle was easy enough, what wasn't as easy was getting to the overgrown and underused outpost. The brush required a fair bit of slashing back with Desidero, much to the vampire's annoyance, but when they arrived it was clear something nearby had been around just before they arrived.

"Well." He looked at the overgrowth and then at Nick.

"At this point, as a moon, I SHOULD say we can fix this, but hell. I'd rather just rebuild it." He grinned.
"Care to show me your skills?"