this is the end, friend!

Giving a relaxed sigh with the back pat, she nodded at Cynthia. “One more should be fine. Did you have something in mind?” As she was lead by the arm to their destination, Hakuno’s eyes widened s they reached the large machine labeled ‘Zombie Slayer’. “A gun game, I see! Right, you will shoot the zombies, and I’ll do my best to keep my eyes open for health and ammo.”

She had never seen a gun game or even a game with such level of graphics before, even if the kids who left the machine were commenting on how dated they were. Watching the demo play to get a feel for what the ammo and health pickups actually looked like. She was ready. She had this.

Holding Clair with a determined look as Cynthia put the stardust into the machine, Hakuno immediately was on the watch for ammo. Cries of “Health to your left!”, “Ammo to your right!”, “Reload in the corner” came out as Cynthia shot at wave after wave of zombie menace. Honestly, Hakuno felt at home in this kind of role, it reminded her of directing her Servant in combat or trying to manuvour the flow of the battlefield.

And the same way she didn’t fail her Servant, by god she wasn’t going to fail Cynthia. Those zombies were going down.

At first the game actually wasn’t too hard.  She attempted to use her marksmanship knowledge to help her keep them zombies in her sight, but the better she got the harder the AI became.  Since she didn’t have to keep her eyes on the ammo or the health packs it was easier to focus on the task at hand.

With their excellent team work, the pair managed to climb through the stages.  ‘Final Hoard’ flashed on the screen in all caps, and Cynthia looked down at her health bar.  “Uh oh, I don’t know if we’re going to make this one.”  They had half health and only one life yet.  “Well, if we’re going down, we’re going down kicking!”

Cynthia did some fast reloads on Hakuno’s command; the pair managed to survive until nearly the end, but the hoard overtook them and they died just before the end.  She clutched her chest and wiped away a single imaginary tear from her eye as the game ended.  “We died an honorable death Hakuno.  Impressive team work.”  The machine spit out a long line of tickets, which Cynthia ripped off and handed to her friend once again.

Nomi listened carefully, nodding. She wished she did have more information but honestly it could be nearly anyone. All kinds of different people attended slave auctions back in Reim, so there was no saying who it was or what they might be like. “Oh…um..I don’t really know much about them since I haven’t met them or even heard their name or what they look like actually.” 

She frowned a bit then, trying to find a way to explain. “Well it’s like…I was in one place yesterday waiting for someone to take me yeah? And then when I woke up I was here…well not here in this place but nearby in that motel thingy…so I know someone took me but I need to find out who or they might get mad..er that is lonely. Yeah?”

Eyes widening at this thought, as she’d never questioned her mother’s actions until she’d been abandoned and then when her mother had let her be taken by slave traders, aside from that she’d thought her mother knew everything. She certainly seemed to know everything. Could she have been wrong about this? 

“Are…are you sure you want me?” She asked timidly. “Wh..what if I end up bad like mama said I was….or if something bad happened to me…you’d be sad and..and then it’d be my fault…I’m..I’m sorry.” 

Wait why was she apologizing already? She did that too much, didn’t she? 

Cynthia didn’t quite understand what this girl was going on about, but she tried to be understanding.  She probably sounded just as deluded when she first got here.  And she was already used to taking care of herself!  Perhaps this girl was confusing events that happened before she came here with events happening now?  She gave her a small smile.  “If this person was supposed to pick you yesterday and you got here today, you probably won’t find them around.”

The girl’s apprehension at becoming Cynthia’s friend was certainly weird.  She was used to be rejecting her offers of friendship due to her, well, excitable attitude.  But for someone to put themselves down was entirely new to her, and she didn’t like it one bit.  Taking another stack of books, she moved to the shelf on the opposite side and began placing books there.

Hakuno was filled with adrenaline as she kept juggling the ball through the obstacles with Cynthia’s guidance, play getting faster and faster as she hit the ball at just the right point as it fell to maintain some of it’s prior speed. But yes, all good things come to an end and their final ball fell into the hole, things having gotten two fast for either of them to keep up with.

“Yeah, for a first time that was impressive. I don’t think I’ve even seen a pinball machine before, so…we did good.” Her voice showed clear exhaustion, but at the same time showing a higher level of excitement than when she had started. Not what she expected from a game so relatively antiqued.

Looking at the five tickets in Cynthia’s hand, then up at the other machines around the arcade, Hakuno gave a weary yet warm smile at Cynthia. “Do you want to keep going? I’ll let you take point, I’ll hold Clair. I need…a breather first either way.” It was probably for the better that Cynthia go next at whatever they chose; Hakuno was more experienced at strategy than being in the action herself, while Cynthia was a warrior.

An arcade warrior, wouldn’t that be a sight?

Cynthia patted Hakuno on the back.  “You seem awful tired.  But I say we try one more game and then see how we feel.”  Although with so many options, she wasn’t sure where to even start.  Maybe one that would be less tiring for her friend to watch.  She wrapped her arm around Hakuno’s shoulder and steered her away from the pinball machine.  There was a game nearby she was sort of interested in trying.

She led her friend to a large machine with the words ‘Zombie Slayer’ emblazoned across the front.  Cynthia had seen a few kids playing it before and got the gist of it.  “So, I guess I just use this...gun, thing, and shoot the zombies.”  They didn’t have guns where she was from, but she picked up the concept from watching TV shows.

“I’ll take care of the shooting, but I gotta focus.  I need you to tell me where health packs are, because I’m not going to bother looking around the screen for those.  My attention is completely on my enemies, so you just tell me where I can get health and ammo.”  She gave Hakuno a serious nod.

Chtholly opened her eyes in disbelief, assuming that she was just being lucky. But, really… To say that as a mere luck would be too much, seeing how the arrow hit the top of the target. She still couldn’t believe her sight, and what she had just done.

“I can’t believe it…”

She shouldn’t have been distracted too much over that. Cynthia was right. She shouldn’t close her eyes when she fired something. Or doing simply anything. It’s really a basic in battle, which Chtholly should have been aware of.

“Right.” She nodded when Cynthia asked her to try again. This time, the position was harder than before. Following Cynthia’s instruction, she spread her legs slightly farther than before, then tilted her arrow down.

Now she had to shoot at the center of the target, and before she released the arrow, she already had her doubts.

Nevertheless, she released the arrow, and this time she didn’t close her eyes. She had small expectation of it going straight to the center of the traget, but she had to try, anyway.

“Good!  Good!”  Cynthia cheered on Chtholly as she repositioned herself and lined up for another shot.  As the other girl let the arrow fly, she watched it whiz through the arrow and land right above the middle of the target.  She let out a loud whistle and clapped her hands.  “That was so good!  You did great!”

Cynthia skipped to the target and yanked the arrow out of it.  “You got it in pretty deep too!”  She brushed her fingers over the hole in the cloth and nodded.  It was super impressive for someone who had never really used a bow before.  After investigating the target for another moment she returned to Chtolly’s side.

“That was super impressive!  You did way better than I did when I first learned to shoot.  I lost so many arrows to the forest when I was training that they almost decided they didn’t want me to try anymore.  But you did really good!  Give yourself a pat on the back for that.”  She plopped into the grass and picked up the arrows they had used as well as a rock to begin sharpening the edges again.

For it being nearly the start of summer, the weather really did take a rather poor turn. Morgan had wanted to go out for a bit into town for some food, but once the rain clouds started to roll in, he had to bolt to one of the bus stops and wait underneath the cover for one of those vehicles to take him back home. It was a shame too, since he thought he could’ve made it before such things would happen. At least he had a book with him, although it being a tome, it was more just reciting and practicing. 

He hadn’t even realized someone else had come up next to him. He passed it off as a stranger until he heard his name. Within the span of a second, there was the shock and surprise of being called out, followed by being hugged, and then RECOGNIZING who it was! That having been Cynthia, Morgan was quick to awkwardly throw his arms right back around her. 

“ Cynthia?! I wasn’t even aware that was you next to me, you almost slipped by me! That would’ve been rather impertinent of me but I wasn’t even told of you being in the city! “ He let out a happy laugh as the two reunited, him finally being at a decent angle to hold her back. 

“ Well it’s the gods own luck we found each other! Although the weather doesn’t seem to particularly agree with us, I’m glad to see you in good health! How’ve you been thus far?! I haven’t been able to meet with many others as of late! “ 

“Aw, weather smeather.  It might as well be sunny outside now that I’ve seen you!  I’ve been good, school has been an absolute pain...I’m glad it’s almost over with.  I can’t believe how much stuff we didn’t learn in Ylisse that everyone else already knows about!”  Actually, that was a real thorn in her side.  She let out a small sigh.  “I have about five tutors that don’t even know what to do with me.”

Cynthia smiled.  “I’ve only met Laurent myself.  He told me you and Lucy were here, but I haven’t seen her around yet.”  She took her backpack off the ground and placed it in her lap, wrapping her arms around the now wet canvas bag.  “I haven’t had much time to go looking in all honesty!  What with work and school...it feels like we’re back in Ylisse with almost no downtime!  Minus Frederick’s cruel exercise routine.”

When there was no comment of her mention of cages, Nomi relaxed a little and followed the other with a small smile. This lady seemed nice enough, and if she was careful no one would have to know she was a slave and then she could find whoever brought her to this place and then everything would be good…she hoped. She was still a little worried, but there was no point focusing on that at the moment. 

When asked whether she was alone or not, Nomi drew a blank. Did she admit that she had no parents or try to lie about it? Thinking about it a moment, she decided if she did have a master somewhere in this place it would be best not to say she had parents and complicate things. 

“Oh…well…I’m here alone…but there’s someone who brought me here…to this city I mean…I haven’t met them yet though…or really know anything about them except they brought me here and I gotta find em! But…I’ve been waiting here in this nice booky place hoping they’d be able to find me here.” 

At the offer to be friends, Nomi’s eyes widened slightly; no one had asked her to be friends before. What did she do? What was she supposed to say? Aaaaaaah. She’s was panicking inside. 

Averting her gaze, she blushed a bit. “Oh…th..thank..thank you so much miss. But, but like, you don’t really want me do you? I’m not…I’m not very, very good really. Mama always said I was ugly and…and I’m so clingy and I’m always asking for things.” She pouted slightly. “I’m happy you’re so nice but…you’d be better off without me I think…” 

Someone brought her here?  That sounded suspicious, but perhaps she was reading into it too much.  She hadn’t heard about anyone being specifically called here before, but maybe she just hadn’t met enough people yet to know anything about it.  “Well, I’m sure they’ll show up eventually.”  Cynthia paused and picked up a stack of books, carefully sliding each into the correct slot.

“Although if you know anything more about them, then I’m sure I could help you contact them to make sure they get here.  I’d hate to have you wait around all day just for them to not show up.”  Even if they were a bookish person as the younger girl was implying, that wasn’t any guarantee that they were going to be here every day.

She noticed the other girl panic slightly out of the corner of her eye and huffed at her response.  What kind of mother called their child ugly?  Honestly!

Josen sighed. At least she was okay. “You probably shouldn’t be running in the library. Regardless of the amount of people around.” He couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, though.

“Why were you running around, if you don’t mind my asking? There’s not generally a reason to rush around a library.” He returned to his cart of books as he asked the question. Just because they were going to converse didn’t mean he couldn’t do his job.

Cynthia knew she shouldn’t be running, but there wasn’t else much to do right now.  “Why was I running?  Oh!  I was trying to beat my previous record for largest amount of books shelved in the shortest time.  I was about to beat it too...don’t worry about it; I’m sure I’ll be able to beat it some other time.”

That was more intense than she thought, but working together, they had managed to do quite well for the first attempt. They still ha two more attempts it seemed? Let’s see if they can do even better this time! Her hands steady on the buttons, her eyes doing their best to focus past the flashing lights and bright distractions….when she felt she was ready, she quickly moved one hand to pull the lever to fire the ball back into the frey. She was ready.

The ball bounced, fell, she hit it back up. It didn’t go as high as she’d like this time, but it still got around before falling back down. She gave the button a hard press and the paddle fired the ball back into the air. She waited for Cynthia’s word, then fired it again. This was…exhausting. But compared to commanding a battle or masterminding a duel, this wasn’t so bad was it?

One lucky hit managed to fire the ball at such an angle that it didn’t look like it’d ever come down. Even despite Cynthia’s warning, Hakuno dropped her guard and the ball fell right into the pit. “That…was my bad, sorry.”

They still had one more go this credit, at least?

“It’s okay, we can do this!”  They actually had a pretty good score.  Of course, it wasn’t anywhere near the high score, but that would clearly take practice!  They had one more chance to bump up their score one last time before their stardust was all used up.  Cynthia waited for Hakuno to launch the last ball back into play.

“Let’s do this.”  Watching the ball bounce its way through the various obstacles, Cynthia could feel a bead of sweat forming on her brow.  This was one of the most intense things she’d done for awhile now.  She helped Hakuno keep track of the ball and together they managed to keep it in play for much longer than the other two.

“You’re mistaken; I have exact same coping method as you do.” He smiled cheerfully, despite the cold refutation, as he looked over at her before returning to looking over the landscape and his drawing, realizing he’d misdrawn a branch, and going back to correct it.

“I once fought in a campaign to help a rebellion topple a nasty regime. The commander called me Quixote, because I was too idealistic even for a band of wide-eyed liberators. They saw how much I smiled and laughed through any gruesome act, and started calling me Calavera, their symbol of a festive death, and shortened it to Calaca at a time.” He stopped to look over once more. A satisfied huff and he went to sharpening the lines and adding in shading.

“It’s a great thing to be optimistic even in the most dire situations. You are a fixture that can ground others without letting them give into their despair. That’s a wonderful act. But it’s not always a good thing. My method of coping was taught by someone else, ‘laugh away the pain’. It sometimes ended to the point that such a delusion led to numbing myself from the situation, and bringing more ruin than good. That’s what is needed to be kept in mind: know your limits, and be sure how far is too far.”

“Though that’s not my personal approach. Do as I say, not as I do.”

Cynthia didn’t quite understand the nicknames he was referencing and imagined it would sound a lot more clever if she were from the same place he was.  As she listened to him speak she also watched him begin to shade.  The picture was coming together quite nicely and she was impressed he was able to focus on two things at once.  She let out a small sigh.

“Yeah, I guess I know my limits.  I wouldn’t say I ever numb myself to the situation, but sometimes I don’t take things as seriously as I should.  I try to, but sometimes it’s easier to focus on the good things rather than the bad.  You know?  We could be in a battle and I’ll just start thinking about the pie I’ll get to eat when we get to camp again and that keeps me going.  It’s silly, but it also keeps me from going crazy I guess.”  Cynthia shrugged.

me: gets back from con

me: remembers I never even made a post saying I was going to be gone.

“No, but it can do this,” Gary then lifted the Pokeball towards Umbreon. “Alright, Umbreon. Return.” He commanded then a red beam of light absorbed the Pokemon into the Pokeball. “At the start of a battle, we also do this,” He didn’t kiss his Pokeball but he knew he has faith on them. The brunette proceeded to throw the Pokeball into the air again and Umbreon materialized. His Pokeball returned on the Researcher’s hand.

“Comin’ from where I’m from, technology is more advanced and battle worthy. We compete using another type of Pokemon aside from Umbreon over here. Basic types are Water, Grass and Fire.” He said, he felt like a nerd by explaining too much but he doesn’t care. “Yes, there are many of us and it’s like a MMORPG where we are sorted into Trainer classes. There’s Breeder, Ranger, Watcher, Coordinator but I’m more of a retired Trainer now and I have become a Researcher.”

“Close enough, trainers can command their Pokemon into battling. Back from where I’m from, Pokemon League and Gyms existed.” He explained. “I could show you but Umbreon’s powers are limited here.”  Another thing he doesn’t like about the city is that the bosses stole his Pokemon away. “Also, this isn’t magic, it’s science.” Gary corrected.

Cynthia’s head was reeling with all the new information she was getting.  There sure was a lot to know about this po-kay-mon stuff.  Is this what it was like when she was explaining her own home to people?  Suddenly she understood all the flabbergasted looks she got.  His Umbreon disappearing and reappearing in a flash of light was amazing enough, but when he continued to describe the ‘types’ she was even more engrossed.

“Wo-o-o-o-ow!  That’s so cool!  My friends mom was doing some research on this ‘science’ stuff, but you guys already know so much!”  She still thought the po-kay-mon was magic, but then again people were fascinated that she had pegasi and wyverns where she was from.  There must have been lots of different species in all these places that were completely unique.

“Right? At least the abbreviation is cute. XO, that is. Isn’t that just downright adorable? Best part about being an executive officer.” He returned to adding the finishing touches to his sketch. “…Actually, the best part was the man I served under. A real wonderful man. Best commanding officer one could ask for. Also my late husband. But that’s a different story for a different time.” Another pause to erase a wayward line.

“I could see that. Most of what I learned regarding the field can easily be translated into your average camping skill. Aside from a few specializations, I’d say you know as much as I do if you’ve had to live for an extended amount of time in the wilderness. I was only made to learn how to do everything alone because I was meant to do solo ops most of the time.” He blew away the eraser shavings.

“You mean, krav maga and the like? They’re different martial arts. Pretty brutal ones, too. The type that is meant to incapacitate or kill in the quickest way possible. And intimidation certainly is important. Speak softly and carry a big stick, or lance in your case. Let your reputation precede you and do half the work for you. I was known as the Death Adder, in that way. A bit embarrassing to speak about now, actually…”

“It certainly wasn’t fun. Because it was training to withstand war. War is never a game.”

Cynthia was interested to learn more about these ‘martial arts’ this guy was talking about.  She made a mental note to look it up later.  It sounded similar to some training she’d seen people do, but she had a feeling it was a lot more lethal than that.  Especially this krav maga stuff.  She gave him a small smile and shrugged.

“It’s true war isn’t a game, but when that’s all you’ve known your whole life you have to look at the bright side.  Make training fun, talk to the villagers your staying with, learn how to turn any chore into a game.  Stuff like that; otherwise you’d go crazy.  Some people find my enthusiasm and cheerfulness to be inappropriate for a knight, but it’s more a coping thing than anything else.”

She looked over his shoulder at the drawing as she stretched out her legs, placing her hands in her lap.  “I think that if I wasn’t so chipper, some of my friends wouldn’t be able to handle war as well as they did.  I guess I’m a constant.”  Cynthia shrugged again.  She usually wasn’t so introspective, but it was nice to admit that she didn’t always want to be happy aloud.

Quietly, she followed the brunette, while looking at the line the other had drawn. For someone who had little to no experience about archery, she didn’t know for what purpose the line was there. However, she kept her questions to herself after she learned the basics of archery.

She received the bow and arrow, examined them for a moment, as if she was seeing things she had never seen before, until Cynthia asked whether she was right-handed or left-handed.

“I am right-handed.” She responded, as she took the bow from her right hand, to her left hand. She still barely had any idea, but she listened to Cynthia’s explanation, as she tried to form the basic shooting stance, following Cynthia.

“Uh, alright. I’ll try this.”

With her right hand, she carefully put the arrow on the notch, sometimes she checked whether or not she put it correctly at the spot Cynthia had carved. After casting her nervousness away, she pulled it back, putting her strength on her hand, and released the arrow.

Chtholly closed her eyes when she released it, so she didn’t know where it flew to. Apparently, it seemed to hit something, but she wasn’t sure either.

As Chtholly released the arrow, it whizzed through the air and managed to hit the very top of the target.  Cynthia clapped her hands together in excitement.  “Wow!  That’s really good for your first try!  Most people don’t even hit the target.”  She skipped off to retrieve the arrow before returning to the other girls side.  She inspected it for damage but luckily the shot was good and the arrow head was still in fine condition.

“You’re a natural at this!  Although you shouldn’t close your eyes when you fire.  You never know if someone fired back at you, so you need to be alert!  Not that it really matters now, since we’re not in a battle but...it’s good to keep in mind.  Let’s give it another go.”  She handed Chtholly another arrow and motioned for her to nock it as well.

She looked over the machine and put her hands over the controls, tapping them and watching as the paddles at the bottom flapped up and down. “It seems I need to hit the ball with these before it falls and hope I knock it into the other obstacles. Seems like simple enough fun, yes!”

She took the stardust and inserted it into the machine. As it lit up, all she needed to do was rev up the ball and… a thought occurred to her. With all the flashing lights and her inexperience, could she keep track of things on her own?

“Ah, Cynthia, could you help me keep track of the ball? We might do better if we work together again.” With this last second request, she released and the ball was off, knocking around the bumpers. It fell down to the paddles, she pushed the button and…

OK, nice first shot, it flew back up into the machine, knocking around the targets some more. Could they keep it up?

“Of course I can!  Together we can get a new high score!”  She eyed the current high score enviously.  Oh, that spot would be theirs soon enough.  As the ball bounced around, Cynthia tried to keep track of it with her eyes but it was actually a lot harder than she originally thought.  All the blinking was really distracting which was probably to make the game harder.

As the ball dropped to the bottom, Cynthia cheered when Hakuno managed to catch it before it fell between the paddles.  “So far so good.”  The silver ball bounced around some more bumpers before going inside a small tunnel which really boosted their score.  “Left!  To your left!”  She was all wound up again and could feel her heart beat increasing.

The ball bounced back into play again and continued to knock around the machine.  This was intense!  This also looked like a good game to increase hand-eye coordination.  If only they had this kind of stuff back home, training would’ve been a lot more fun.  As the ball rolled back towards the paddles at the bottom it seemed all was lost, as it was a straight shot down and the paddles wouldn’t be able to catch it.

Beaming, Nomi hastened to push the cart for this nice lady. The thing was really heavy for the small child, and she couldn’t reach the handle, but she managed it fairly well, if not going a tad slow for her liking. 

“Thank you so much miss! I was starting to feel a bit useless with nothing to do but wait.” She mused, huffing slightly as she pushed the cart along. “Back when I had a dad he used to say I needed to be more patient but after being in a cage for so long until today I’ve wanted to do something…” 

She stopped when she realized she’d said too much and laughed anxiously. “That is um..it felt like a cage…not doing anything….yeah.” 

Well she was in trouble. If they found out she was a slave would she still be allowed in the library? Granted she wasn’t daring to actually try and read any of the books, but still she was nervous. She liked it here and didn’t want to have to get punished or wait outside in the heat. 

“Oh, I understand that.  My friends think I have maybe just a bit too much energy to spare.”  Cynthia stopped and took a pile of books from the other girls cart and walked into an aisle, nodding with her head for the other to follow her.  “I get pretty bored when I have nothing to do myself.  Sometimes this place really doesn’t have much going on.”

Cynthia’s smile faltered for a moment when the girl mentioned her dad.  She was awful young to be here by herself.  That seems like a cruel twist of fate to pick such a small girl to end up here alone.  “Are you here alone?”  She said she was waiting for someone, but she’d yet to meet anyone who came with someone else.  As she shelved her last book she crouched down so that she was eye level with the other girl, her hands rested on her knees.

“Oh, it’s not like that was all the training I had. That one year in the wildernesses was only to teach me survival skills in case I ever had to live off the land in a given campaign. I had my drills and my spars. Three square hits to the jaw a day, your medic’s recommended daily amount.” As he started to fill in sharper lines and greater detail to the sketch, he paused for a moment to think.

“Haha, you’re right! I certainly don’t call to mind the burly warrior or the devoted soldier, do I?” he asked jokingly turning to her with a smile. “You don’t either, no. But looks can be deceiving, and deception is key in combat. Sun Tzu said that much, and he practically invented the art of war. Appearance holds no regard for skill, either.” Pegasus as a mount…?

“Why? Well, I had no personal wish to get stronger. It was just work, after all. I was picked up because I was made for it. Long story. I was part of a non-governmental organization whose purpose was to contract soldiers to help smaller rebellions and the like. Basically…a sellsword, but with guns.” He paused for a moment again. 

“Aside from survival training, I’m also trained in tracking, acute stalking, hunting and gathering, shelter construction, emergency medical training, weapons proficiency, marksmanship, tactical insertion and maneuvering, enemy resource procurement and reuse, info gathering, close-quarters combat scenarios. Though the last one was mostly MOUT. Err, military operations in urban terrain. Basically, fancy gibberish for fighting an enemy in the city. All the good stuff for upclose fighting, like learning judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, krav maga, and boxing.”

“…I think the last piece of information I could say is my rank was officially Second Division Executive Officer, Leviathan Security Forces. Something close to captain. A mouthful that was, wasn’t it? But it certainly is a good idea to learn as much as you can to be prepared. Safe or sorry.”

Cynthia took in the barrage of information with great interest.  The way he spoke so plainly about his past life as a...sellsword with guns was, well, captivating to say the least.  It reminded her of the stories she heard when she was younger, although clearly from a different time and place.  About 40% of those words made absolutely no sense to her, but she absorbed it regardless.

“Wow!  You sure had to learn a lot to become this...executive officer person.  I guess now that I think about it, I learned how to do a lot of that stuff too.  I mean, we had to since we were constantly moving around.  I guess it wasn’t formal training; it was mostly just helping everyone else set up camp while we waited for the next battle.”  Cynthia was definitely impressed though.  Since her training was informal she was sure that some of her skills would be no match to him.

“I have no idea what any of those words you said after upclose fighting were, but they sound intimidating.  Intimidation is pretty important in my opinion.  Kinda like how I don’t look that intimidating because I’m small and a girl, but you know after you spear the first guy in the chest the other guys start to back off a bit.”