daybreakacademy | [January]

Entry tags:

the witch: dragon marked for death

[January]

Who: Katida and anyone.
What: doing some noodling (A), assignments and chill (B), wildcard (C)
Where: Mythril Cage (A), Lumière 2F (B), anywhere (C)
When: early/mid-January
Warnings: To be added if anything comes up.

A: (Mythril Cage)
[Not out of any particular need to test her abilities, but more to know what the facility itself is like, early in the month of January, Katida can be found in the Cage on multiple occasions. Most of these visits end up with her practicing what she knows anyway, and one visit in particular sees her trying a certain test devised by a certain professor and finding it uncomfortably awkward for how she can't rely on any sort of power in it.

After she's done with each of these sessions, she lingers around for a little while, before eventually leaving to either return to the dorms or go to her next class, depending on what time it is. Time permitting, though, she could find herself being roped into another student's session instead, or at the very least approached for some conversation.]

B: (Lumière, 2nd Floor)
[After her visits to the Cage or her classes, she returns to the dorms looking to have some time mostly to herself, either in her room or in the common room on the second floor. A lot of this time is spent basically laser-focused on any assignments she was given earlier in the day, but occasionally, she's simply just there, instead, slowly working her way through a slice of apple pie and taking the time to relax a bit.]

C: (wildcard)
[Got your own ideas? Hit me up on the game's Discord or just go for it.]

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[Though Gunvolt has slowed down just how much he was pushing himself after the New Year, training and exercise was still part of his life. He felt better when doing it, and in ways, it kept him focused and clear. On his way to run one of his normal programs, he walked through the cage, catching the end of one of the runs Katida took through a rather infamous tests.

When she came out, he greeted her.]

Hey. Was that your first time through Project Nefarious Occupant? That was a good run.

[Having had some time over the past couple weeks to get accustomed to being here, she's gotten somewhat-used to being around people on the regular. She still tends to be hesitant when it comes to interacting with them, though, especially when it's someone she hasn't yet met, so it's a moment before she answers.]

It probably could have been better. [While some things had her at a legitimate disadvantage for one reason or another, there were parts that she's sure she should have had less trouble with than she did due to past experiences.]

Maybe, but that test is legendarily hard. Not all of us are like Rex, who is a force of nature.

[He shook his head a little at that, looking over at the high score table. Rex still had the fastest time somehow, and it wasn't even close. ...Though a name he hadn't seen much of was up high too.

"Leon S. Kennedy?" Who was that?]

Name's Gunvolt. What gave you trouble in there, anyway? I didn't see the whole run.

Katida. [Gunvolt is an odd-sounding name, but it won't be questioned; she simply gives her own name in exchange.]

Aside from devices that I'm not familiar with? I've dealt with undead and monsters before, but being unable to do so there was... [It was an experience.]

It's harrowing for a lot of people their first time, when they're used to having their powers at their back. Ends up being a rude awakening for a lot of people. Especially some of those snotty, spoiled Mage family kids.

[There were a lot of those who managed to 'die' against some of the earliest enemies in the labyrinth.]

What devices gave you trouble in there? Might be able to help you with that.

[Though she's a Mage herself, Katida takes no offense at what she just heard, because fortunately for GV's choice of words, the Clan wasn't a Mage family, but rather a group of people with all sorts of different skills united by a singular origin. She just happened to have had an interest in magic and found people who had been willing to teach her what they could despite said origin.

When Gunvolt asks his question, she thinks for a moment, trying to decide what in particular had been the most trouble for her, before she settles on—] All of them.

[She's pretty sure that she would be able to discern what does what and how it works and all of that, but, having been under pressure via being pursued by things that wanted to eat her face—with her lacking her usual means of dealing with threats—meant she hadn't really had the time to commit to figuring stuff out.]

[The boy blinks, and pauses for a moment. ...Okay, that's not the strangest thing he's heard by a long shot. But it does complicate matters a bit.]

Okay, fair enough. You're definitely from the Outlands then? Not a problem.

We'll start with the weapons that Professor Valvatorez included in there. He gave you a knife to start out with. Don't bother with it. It's a last resort weapon at best. Unless you're Rex, and that's all he used like some kind of madman. Did you find the handgun in the Red Book in the lounge?

...Wait, back up. Have you ever used a gun before?

That's what it's called? [That would probably be a no.]

Well, you found it, at least. That's good. Lot of people overlooked it because they didn't take the time to examine it. Anyway, that thing is one of the better weapons you'll find in the simulation early on. There's a sword hidden behind one of the wardrobes on the East Side bedrooms too, if that's more your speed. I still wouldn't really recommend it, though. Means you gotta get close to things that are probably stronger than most people, so unless you have the technique you'll probably just get hurt.

[Either way, he shook his head a bit, realizing he was getting ahead of himself.]

I was actually heading over to the range. If you're interested, I can show you how to use one. It'll help you get through that test, if you ever take it again.

[It's at this point that Katida's "hat" wakes up; her having taken the test, with how it brings participants down to levels roughly equivalent to ordinary humans, had forced it into something of a dormant state, and unlike how it normally just stares ahead at whatever, it actually looks mildly annoyed and squishes itself down over Katida's face in protest.

She barely even waits a moment before she reaches up to it and gives it a hard shove to force it back into its usual position.

Once she's sure that it won't be trying that again, she lowers her hand and returns her attention to Gunvolt.]

Regardless of the test itself, that would probably be in my best interest. [There will be times where the things she already knows won't help her, she figures.]

[Gunvolt watches, watches as that hat flumps down over the girl's face, as if communicating some kind of unknown annoyance to her. He wasn't sure if it was intentional, or just the hat flopping over on its own, the cloth maybe not as stable as it looked.

Maybe. Then again, it seems a little too deliberate for a hat to do that.]

Hat's got a bit of an attitude, huh?

[He shook his head a little, though, playing it off as something that wasn't a big deal.]

Well, either way, I'll teach you. Come on, let's go. The range has some training weapons that'll be good for a first timer like yourself.

[He makes his way toward the Cage's shooting range, signing in and moving into one of the bays there. There weren't a ton of students who typically used firearms here, so there wasn't a lot of company, other than one or two members of Daybreak staff that might typically use them. He quickly signed out a loaner training pistol from one of the armories, and returned to his bay with Katida, resting the gun on the counter, the barrel pointed downrange. He brought another, simple wooden mockup with him too.]

All right, first thing's first. This thing can't actually hurt anyone, but it's important to get the basics down. First rule, never point that end at something you're not willing to shoot. Like you wouldn't point a loaded crossbow or drawn bow at someone, same principle applies. Always assume it's loaded and could fire.

[Gunvolt handed her the non-functioning wooden model, while drawing his own Dart Leader.]

Now then, hold the weapon like this. [He demonstrated a proper grip and position, step by step, keeping the Dart Leader pointed down range, even if it was powered off.] Any questions so far?

He's more than a little annoyed at how that test worked.

[Though Katida answers the question, Gunvolt continues on as though the apparent protest isn't really something needs to be addressed, so she just leaves it at that and follows along until they reach the range.

For this initial part of it, she's content with just listening, and the mention of bows helps to get the point across; she's never touched a bow herself, but she's seen people both human and not wield the things and understands very well that aiming one at someone is an implicit threat, having been on the receiving end of said threat at various times before.

When she's handed the wooden model, she turns it over in both hands a few times to look it over, before holding it in her right hand and very closely imitating the way Gunvolt holds the Dart Leader. The girl's rather good at following instructions and examples; she had to be, with how things were for her before she ended up here.

Were there any questions?] None so far.

Good, good. So, the way this thing works is a lot like certain crossbows, where they have a trigger, where your index finger goes. [He gestures with his own weapon, showing where one's finger should curl in before bringing it back outside where the trigger guard is.] Never leave your finger in there. Considering that's how the weapon fires, you don't want to touch that until you're ready. Good safety involves keeping it out like this.

Next, a lot of these things have several different controls. Stuff like a safety, a magazine release, that kind of thing. One bit at a time. First thing's first: a safety is something that you have to release to allow the trigger to be pulled so you can shoot the weapon. In the case of the thing you've got there, it's that little switch by your thumb. Push it downward, and that should let you pull the trigger. Keep the model pointed downrange, and try pulling it. Thing should probably give you a click.

[He'd wait for her to give it a try, before nodding a little.]

Seems simple so far, but trust me when I say, it's nowhere as easy as it seems when you're holding the real thing. Next, pinch that little clip at the bottom of the handle, and pull out the thing in the grip.

[When she does that, a dummy wooden magazine would slide out of the model, empty.]

Take a guess what that might be for?

[She might've found some of the handgun magazines scattered around the testing grounds, and the wooden demonstration version looked a lot like them.]

[Katida keeps following Gunvolt's instructions almost exactly to the letter. When the wooden mag comes out, she looks it over for a moment, considering it along with what she's been told so far. He'd said that the weapon worked a lot like a crossbow, but there initially hadn't appeared to be any means of safely loading it in order to actually use it.]

Hm. A container for the things it uses for its projectiles.

[He nods, a bright smile on his face.]

Great answer. That's right. Different guns work in slightly different ways, but the broad strokes can be very similar. That's called a "magazine," though a lot of people call them "clips." The former's correct, the second is more a common misconception, but you'll know what it is if someone says it. Those things hold the cartridges, or "bullets" that are fired from the gun itself. You gotta keep track how many you have in your head, or you can eject it to check. Different guns will have different magazine capacities and types of bullets they'll fire, but they'll usually tell you on the gun what you need to know in the markings.

[He pointed to the slide of the model, which indicated a caliber number. Probably matching the very one in the simulation.]

So, with all that being said, put that magazine back into the gun, and pull the top slide back toward you. That would ready a cartridge to fire if your gun was empty when you reloaded. Once you do that, play around with that model a bit more to get a feel for everything. Better to it with that.

Once you're done looking it over and asking questions, we'll use the one that you can actually fire. ...Though that one just shoots a very low power light beam to get the feel. Those too are harmless, but they're good enough.

[Gunvolt holstered his own weapon with the demonstration done, and leaned back against the side of the bay.]

Academy rules. Unless you're certified by an instructor to handle the real things, you can only use those. And I'm not technically an official instructor yet, so you'll probably need to go through it all again if you're serious, but what I'm teaching you should be good enough for Professor Valvatorez's test.

[ Hornet is cleaning her weapon meticulously during the end of one training session; it's of no concern to her who goes in and out, when she's focused on her task like this.

She does look up when she realises this girl is the very same one who she continues to pass in the dormitories - and one that she's inexplicably on edge around, more than usual. Hmm. ]

You are my neighbour, are you not? [ Straight to the point as usual. ]

[Katida has seen Hornet around multiple times in the past couple weeks, though the two have never spoken on any of those occasions. There's been no pressing need to, and she's had an impression that Hornet didn't really want to anyway, which she finds perfectly understandable because to her that's completely normal; it's how most people in Remlia had been with her for years.

So, hearing Hornet actually speak to her now causes her to pause and look over.]

That's correct. [She has an idea of what the next question might be, so to save the time of having to ask it...] My name is Katida.

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[January]

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