In need of assistance ((Open!!))

She had been claimed, by the goddess of dance no less. Andreana was still in shock about the whole thing. The present Terpsichore had given her was also mind blowing. Just by grasping the coin in her fist she could summon a lyre or even a powerful sound wave. It was beyond her wildest dreams. Back home she had basically begged her father for a Pontic lyre, this was even better. Though the coin felt very sensitive. Andreana could pick up the coin with her two fingers no problem, she was afraid she'd grasp it in her pocket making the lyre appear and rip basically the whole pocket, or even worse in her opinion, the music notes would end up face down in her palm and that sonic wave her mother warned her about would ring from her pocket and and do some serious damage. Andreana just made a mental note to be extra careful when handling it as she slipped the coin into her pocket.

Though it was a great gift and basically awesome to use in battle, it wouldnt protect her throughly. What Andreana really needed was a weapon. Her first visit was... Interesting to say the least. Andreana told herself it was going to be different this time because this time; she actually knew what weapon she wanted. It was more a matter of making/finding one. Especially since she couldn't recall seeing anyone with the particular weapon she wanted. Anyways, it would still be a different experience just looking for a weapon.

On that thought, Andreana headed towards the armory.

She had no clue where to being. Even with a weapon in mind there was such a wide selection it almost seemed hard to just choose one weapon. A small rapier type of sword had always seemed cool in Andreana's opinion. Even the bow wasn't a half bad weapon to use. In her mind it seemed only logical to stick with a bow but she didn't really want to have a huge weapon that required a huge pouch for ammo. What Andreana really wanted was a slingshot. It was small, could still pack a punch without murdering a monster, and was way more portable the a bow and quiver of arrows in Andreana's opinion. Though a slingshot sounded nice Andreana had a small fear of running out ammo. She had even thought of a weapon for that too.

On top of wanting a slingshot Andreana wanted a rapier sort of weapon. It would be light enough for her to use and pretty long so she wouldn't have to be that close to her opponent. The only problem Andreana knew what she wanted, not how to get it or even how to use either. Browsing a wrack of swords she only hoped someone would come sooner or later...

Life was not looking up for the big burly street fighter that was known as Meatcleaver. He was not happy now that he found himself in a camp full of children of the Gods. Even less so knowing he was one of them. He didn't mind having a Godly parent, he didn't mind killing people but in the end it all ended up messy. He still hadn't found Clove but then again, she seemed to have disappeared around the same time some kids went on a quest to break her and her boyfriend up. As if the news she had a boyfriend of sorts wasn't bad enough yet, they also said that some other guy (the should-be quest leader) fancied Clove. That morning, when Meatcleaver had woken in the forest (as if he could sleep in a cabin full of kids without accidently killing one of them), he'd grabbed his sword and headed toward the arena and armory. He had passed through the Arena and went through the armory to find a bronze sword. He'd be a little less of a threat to mortals with one of those.

Meatcleaver had realised one thing when he'd arrived at camp, he'd reached a turning point in his life. He'd fought because he had to, it was compulsive and he couldn't help himself. Even before his father had been brutally murdered, the boy had loved all sorts of misschief. Throwing pebbles into windows, ringing the doorbell and running away or just wrecking the playground so it wasn't a fun place for the other kids anymore. Meatcleaver had never been a good kid, always getting in fights. No, people never seemed to like him much, unless they were like him. His gaze ran over the armory as he stepped in. He grabbed the first sword he saw that was slightly balanced and went over to the test dummy to see if this one was.. something for him to use. Quick, ferocious and lethal with every single movement, Meatcleaver lost himself in the battle for a moment. He saw but one grown man, and that was the man who'd murdered his father. Not one day in his life had he regretted hunting the man down and killing him. It had been the best memory before he'd started living with Johnnyboy and Glamour, only to have the gang completed later.

As what was left of the dummy lay on the ground, Meatcleaver's mad eyes turned to the rest of the room again. He'd worked himself up and looked like he'd been running for a while. Either that or fighting. He noticed a younger girl and figured he could try socialising for once. He wasn't too good at that. He walked up to the girl and picked up a spear from close by. Taking it off the rack with a smile (naturally reminded of Johnnyboy) he turned to the girl. "What are you looking for?" He asked, trying not to sound like he was going to kill her. He wasn't going to, after all. "If you need to practise with a sword, I can handle them fairly well." He said modestly. He honestly wasn't trying to be intimidating but he was tall, muscled and an expert with a sword so he guessed his attempts were wasted. No matter, he'd see about her reaction before he stopped trying completely.

Andreana's head jerked up from her train of thought when she heard someone else enter. He grabbed a sword and started hacking at a dummy. Andreana's eyes grew wide and her eye brows knit together as she slowly turned back to look at the array of swords in front of her. Was this what fighting was like? Just senselessly mauling enemies to death? Andreana started to have second thoughts about coming but just as she turned to leave that feeling of desperation and not being able to do anything arose. Deciding maybe it was for the better she turned on her heel and started to look for a rapier of sorts.

"What are you looking for?" The simple words surprised Andreana causing her to jump in his direction rather then turn. In his hand he held a spear but even with a smile Andreana couldn't help but feel small. It was like 6th grade all over again staring up at some burly 8th grader. Lars was tall but there was something about him that was welcoming, maybe because she knew him rather well now. Pushing the confusion aside Andreana put a meak smile on her face.

"Well I was searching for a rapier type sword... Something lightweight." She let him know. "If you need to practise with a sword, I can handle them fairly well." he said with a tone of modesty. It seemed most people were good with swords at this camp but Andreana didnt say anything.

"Practice wouldn't be bad," She flashed another smile. "I'm Andreana by the way, daughter of Terpsichore." she introduced herself only giving her first name. Long titles bothered her sometimes. Picking up a small sword from the rack Andreana let it almost hang in her hand, unhappy with it's weight she shook her head and placed it back on the wrack.

Meatcleaver watched the young girl who seemed to be intimidated. Well, it was something that he had expected so it wasn’t like he was disappointed or had his feelings hurt. Not that Meatcleaver had much in the sense of feelings in the first place but that’s not the point. He listened as the girl wanted something lightweight. He snorted. “Take the blade you can wield without too much trouble but don’t go for lightweight unless you’re extremely agile. Lightweight is all about the slice and dice, making your enemies slowly bleed out on you. If you prefer a quicker kill you need a heavier blade. You don’t gave to set too much strength to that to make a proper hit as it’s a lot harder to stop once it starts swinging. Get a few deep gashes in your opponent and the fight will be easier and over before you know it. No such luck with the lightweights.” He said carelessly as he at first struck a few blows with the sword he’d picked up and after that introduced the rapier. Small but clean cuts. With an intricate swing at the neck he sliced the throat of the dummy. “Unless ofcourse, you can aim for the neck.” He finished and offered the girl the handles of two swords. One light rapier and a heavier blade he was sure she could carry around with her.

Meatcleaver gave a faint smile at the introduction. “Nice to meet you, daughter of Terpsichore. You could try being a little more careful about handing your name out that freely.” He said with a laugh. After she picked herself one of the two weapons he threw the other one aside and picked his own blade up again. “Now, for practise. I’m going to teach you self defence because unless you have eternal stamina, offence is useless. If you can’t defend yourself you’re not much good in a fight. Those who say offense is the best defence are idiots who lose their heads in a good and proper fight. You need to know what you’re up against. You need to be prepared. You need to remember that you own sword is just as dangerous to you as that of your opponent. If your grip is loose, they’ll find a way to put your own sword in your body.” Meatcleaver said. He didn’t care if he was scaring the girl. If she wanted to practise she needed to learn the dangers of playing with sharp and pointed pieces of steel (or bronze for that matter). “If you are ready, say it and I will start with some basic attacks. If I could have killed you, I’ll be honest and mention it. If you know what kills you, you might learn faster.” He said with a negligent shrug. It didn’t matter much but Andreana was in for a large amount of luck or a huge amount of trouble. And no matter which it turned out to be, it was easy to trace it back to Meatcleaver. He didn’t intent to harm the girl but his control was good enough to show her. He could stop his blades before they did damage, or turn them so it would be a minor hit with the flat side. Cold metal against skin proved his point best after all.

For a moment, Meatcleaver considered introducing himself but he didn't think his nickname inspired much faith and he's almost forgotten his real name. Not that it mattered much, he wasn't one to interact in the first place. Fighting was his thing, he left the diplomatics to Johnnyboy, along with the social contacts. During those times Meatcleaver usually sat in a corner, watching the display and watching the scene while sharpening his weaponry. It annoyed Johnnyboy most of the time. It seemed that politics didn't go too well when somebody else was already sounding like he prepared for an execution. Nothing to worry about! Just a minor problem. On that point, Johnnyboy had no equal when it came to talking. Or at least, none he'd met.

The guy snorted at Andreana's statement of wanting a lightweight sword. “Take the blade you can wield without too much trouble but don’t go for lightweight unless you’re extremely agile. Lightweight is all about the slice and dice, making your enemies slowly bleed out on you. If you prefer a quicker kill you need a heavier blade. You don’t gave to set too much strength to that to make a proper hit as it’s a lot harder to stop once it starts swinging. Get a few deep gashes in your opponent and the fight will be easier and over before you know it. No such luck with the lightweights.”

Andreana almost jumped back in surprise. Not that she should've been surprised but actually thinking hurting, let alone killing an opponent almost seemed a little scary. She didn't really want to kill anything. Andreana just didn't want to feel helpless in battle.

“Unless ofcourse, you can aim for the neck.” the guy said picking up a rapier and swinging at the dummy, slashing its neck like he just said. He turned around and handed Andreana one rapier and one regular sword just heavy enough for her to hold. Andreana liked the grip of the rapier but she felt like she was holding almost nothing. The other blade was defiantly wider and heavier which actually wasn't as bad as she thought. Though, it was still a little too much for her tastes. Maybe something in between would suffice?

Andreana introduced herself, not wanting to be a stranger to this guy anymore. “Nice to meet you, daughter of Terpsichore. You could try being a little more careful about handing your name out that freely.” he said with a laugh. Andreana gave a smile smile in return not sure what to say. Andreana noticed he didn't give his own name but she shrugged it off and decided not to pry. Putting down the two swords Andreana picked up another like the in between one she had thought of. It wasn't exactly in between the two swords perfectly it was still better then a skinny stick or a heavy textbook.  

“Now, for practise. I’m going to teach you self defence because unless you have eternal stamina, offence is useless. If you can’t defend yourself you’re not much good in a fight. Those who say offense is the best defence are idiots who lose their heads in a good and proper fight. You need to know what you’re up against. You need to be prepared. You need to remember that you own sword is just as dangerous to you as that of your opponent. If your grip is loose, they’ll find a way to put your own sword in your body.” 

Andreana nodded rather slowly as if trying to process the words. At least he was going to teach her defense, Andreana wanted nothing to do with killing besides that time in the woods. That was a matter of protecting someone else besides herself. Defense was the way she wanted to go.

“If you are ready, say it and I will start with some basic attacks. If I could have killed you, I’ll be honest and mention it. If you know what kills you, you might learn faster.”

Andreana was almost frozen. She would probably look like an idiot trying to use a sword. In the end it didn't seem to matter since she was learning. Not knowing what sword to pick up had made it clear this was only about her first time really in the armory. Andreana came to the conclusion that she would end up with cuts and bruises everywhere but they couldn't be as bad as the gash she had gotten in her leg. Hoping her emotions wouldn't fly out in tears after the first drop of blood Andreana finally found some courage to speak.

"Okay, I'm ready." she said trying to stay confident. Truthfully, Andreana didn't feel ready at all. 

((Teehee, didn’t expect such cruelty?))

Meatcleaver had watched the girl carefully during his entire lecture and it was easy to see she wasn’t a fighter. She would never live and breathe the fight the way he and his friends did. Not all of them enjoyed the kill but all of them could fight unlike any other. Each their own style, rhythm and speed but when you put those together, you had a pretty lethal combination to fight, no matter how big your group was. It wasn’t a pretty sight to see your opponents fall like leaves on a tree but as long as you were the survivor, did you really have a reason to complain? It was just the way Meatcleaver viewed things and he doubted this girl would often get into fights that resulted in death and destruction. The only thing she’d fight were the monsters and Meatcleaver didn’t think that was her thing.

It was at that moment that Meatcleaver formed a new idea. The idea that maybe the reason the gang had been formed wasn’t to rule the streets (although that was still a fun hobby) but maybe, just maybe, they’d been created to fight the monsters that roamed the streets. They could still hunt and kill but in a more useful manner. Make the streets safer and perhaps regain that sliver of humanity they seemed to lack most of the time. He’d have to talk to his friends about that. Maybe they could change their lives, a little.

He shrugged as the girl, looking anything but ready, claimed she was ready. Meatcleaver grabbed his own sword a little tighter. No matter how sweet and innocent this girl looked, he wasn’t going to let his guard down, ever. He started with a blow that couldn’t be more obvious, but at the same time had nearly all his force behind it (and that was quite a lot with Meatcleaver). The girl was most likely to try and block it, which wasn’t the best option. Ah well, she’d learn that fast enough. After his swing Meatcleaver stepped back. “Just a little warning. No matter how tempting it is, never make an obvious attack. When you know you’re facing a good swordsman, don’t be fooled by beginner mistakes. They only look like they’re making them. Fall in their trap and you’re dead.” Meatcleaver said and carelessly twirled his blade around in his hand. He’d used the trick so many times that he could recognise and counter it perfectly.

He readied himself for another attack, his eyes narrowing as he analysed every tiny movement the girl made. Meatcleaver was prepared for anything but he was not the kind of teacher that only taught his students. If he took on a student he made sure he knew everything about their style of fighting. The way people moved always betrayed certain moves they tried to hide and Meatcleaver picked those up so he could use them in case his student tried to kill him. Dispite the distrust and the obvious path toward an extremely short life, Meatcleaver was satisfied. Not happy though, the young killer was never really happy. Usually, he was contend, which was the closest to true happiness he’d gotten since his father had been murdered. He’d felt satisfaction at the revenge but never happiness. He himself couldn’t care less though, as long as he could live with his own actions and lifestyle he was content. That was all he wanted, to be satisfied with the life he had, no matter how messed up it was.