6839/Arena Smash

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Arena Smash
Date of Scene: 08 July 2021
Location: Courtyard and Arena
Synopsis: Carol and Jennifer get a first hand look at Amazon warrior training, while Jenn gets to really dig in and smack sword and shields with CASSIE! SMASH! It's possible that fancy armor is being smithed for the two Avengers too.
Cast of Characters: Diana Prince, Jennifer Walters, Cassie Sandsmark, Carol Danvers




Diana Prince has posed:
The Arts Center is fully open now, with the public being given the chance to come to the museum-like facility and immerse themselves in the culture of the Amazons. It's been a popular place since it opened and the attendance was becoming almost like a bonafied tourist spot within Manhattan, especially since it is the summer months and tourism is at it's peak.

In the now, however, Diana has invited an honored guest to the Arena and made sure that only employees were allowed within the complex for the slotted timeframe. She didn't want Jenn's first visit here to be bogged down by onlookers and audience members. That would be rude!

Diana had met Jenn out in the foyer of the 3 story tall building and gave her a guided tour of the place before they eventually made their way out to the Arena. It's a grand structure, Diana explained it's roots were in the actual full sized Arena back on the island itself.

The Princess is dressed in her traditional armor, her lasso is at her side and her sword is on her back with a weapons track sitting off to the side of the sandy floor of the arena. The rack is loaded with all manner of armor and weapons of the island paradise culture that lives there-in.

"Well then, here we are." Diana says to Jenn with a grin. "Are you ready to dip your toes in to the combat of my people?" She asks with a smile. Her hair is tied back in to a braided pony tail that falls down behind her shoulders, but she still has her tiara on, golden and gleaming on the peak of her forehead, along with the rest of the armor set that adorns her body.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
"Boy am I ready," Jennifer says with anticipation, and she's dressed for the event. She's eschewed any kind of armor for workout gear. Tight shorts, trainers and a sports bra is all that she is wearing. Most clothes tend to hide exactly how well toned she is, but this outfit shows off her fitness.

She wanders to the weapons rack and looks at the selection available to her. "I don't know how to use any of these," she admits, finally picking up a decently sized sword. Getting a feel for its heft she takes a couple of practice swings before deciding that it will do. Over at the armor section she grins, picking up a round shield. "Now /this/ I know how to use." She straps it to her arm and turns to face Diana. "Okay. I'm ready as I'll ever be."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie is a frequent sight at the Arts Center, for reasons obvious and otherwise. Aside from being among the Amazon contingent herself, it's her mother Helena who essentially runs and operates the place, at least in the sense of managing all those little logistical and legal details that Man's World is so fond of, like doing their taxes. Her mom has a 'thing' for dreary, thankless work, or at least so Cassie would say! But it's also meant that, one way or another, her daughter spends a lot of time here, whether training in the off-hours, doing demonstrates with her Amazon sisters, or, much less excitingly, playing office gopher for her mom.

On some days, like this one, it's both! So after getting finished with some dreary task, she's come out to have some fun!

She comes out from the locker room, changing into a more athletic getup - pretty similar to Jennifer's, it turns out - from the school clothes she'd still been wearing for the office work. She knew Diana was here and had mentioned maybe having a guest stop by, but there weren't any details, so she's probably just expecting a general kind of workout. "Oh hey Di," she calls, ambling toward the arena and glancing from her to their guest. "And uh, hi! I'm Cassie."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana gives a grin to Jenn's choice of gladiator short sword and shield. "I approve." She says to the other woman. "Normally I would warn you of the initial fatigue and endurance drain of shiled training so quickly, but I do not think that is a concern fo ryou."

The Princess walks toward the rack and picks up a matching sword just like the one Jenn has, even though her own, longer bladed, sword is still mounted on her back. She stands near to Jenn and holds her new short blade up. "First and foremost you will want to focus on the reach that the weapon provides you, and you will want to make sure that you never extend yourself past the distance that the blade goes from your natural weight distribution.... otherwise, you will put yourself off balance, and open yourslef up to better counter attacks from your enemies." She pauses. "So yes, a few more practice swings should be good."

As Cassie arrives, Diana is stepping around to Jenn's other side to help her hold the shield a little better. "Here, raise this up..." She says pulling the shield up and subseqnelty keeping Jenn's forearm raised up toward her chest. "Your shield is your new skin, it will be worn close to your body to keep your arm as stable as possible and to reduce the open angles for attacks to get around it to your body behind it."

Diana turns her head to look over her shoulder, smiling to her friend. "Cassie, hello." She steps back from Jenn then. "This is Jennifer Walters, she's a member of the Avengers, a very well accomplished Lawyer and a good friend." She motions toward Cassie for Jenn. "This is Cassandra Sandsmark, a member of the Titans and our first Amazon not from the shores of Themyscira."

Introductions made!

Jennifer Walters has posed:
Jen takes instruction well, listening to Diana attentively and nodding along. When she's done explaining how to properly use a sword, she takes another couple of practice swing, including some that over extends herself so she can get a good feel of where her center of balance is and what it feels like to extend beyond that. This is good information.

She raises the shield up to her chest, nodding. "This is a lot like what Steve has told me about the shield," she says. If anybody would know how to wield a shield it would be him. With the shield up and in the proper position she takes another couple of swings with the sword, feeling for how having the shield properly set adjusts that center of balance.

Once done, and introductions are made, Jennifer tucks the sword under the shield arm to hold out a friendly hand to Cassie. "Hi, there, Cassie. I'm Jennifer. Diana's mentioned you to me a couple of times. Glad we can finally meet."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Also known as Wonder Girl!" A name which, under ANY other circumstances, Cassie would consider lame and corny. But it marks her association with the Wonder(tm) brand, so it's one she bears proudly, grinning as she tacks on that final bit of introduction.

On the sidelines, she does a bit of stretching, toe-touching, back arching, and lifting each arm over her body and toward the far side. She does it all from a position where she can watch the goings-on with some curiousity. "The Avengers, huh? Big leagues..." Donna would probably make some comment about just how well-established the Titans are, but as a fangirl turned hero in her own right, Cassie's Wonder-appreciation seems to extend to those top-tier squads like the Justice League and their avenging counterparts. "So what kinda badguys have you been tangling with lately? Or are you busy with that Law & Order stuff?" Like most people, her knowledge of the legal profession is shaped nearly entirely by TV dramas!

Then there's the training itself, which earns a particular little call-out: "Careful, you don't wanna get her started on Steves."

Diana Prince has posed:
With the two reacting to the introductions, Diana shows a small smirk to what Cassie's last words were there. "Ha ha." She says with a dry sarcasm as she walks to the rack and picks up an identical shield to what Jenn is holding.

"Here." She says as she hands the sword and shield to Cassie. "We will let you share some swings with our guest." She tells her sidekick.

It's then that Diana draws her sword off of her back and holds it in her right hand's grip. "I first met Captain Rogers in the 1940s. We were very quickly good friends. His shield work is masterful, but it is his own martial design, technically speaking. Try as I might, I was not able to get him to adapt a sword to it to balance out his performance... But--" She grins then. "He seems to have done well for himself in spite of that."

"His shield is much lighter than the warrior shields we wield too, which keeps him as agile as he is. But again, with as much strength as the three of us possess, the weight of the shields are not really a factor to worry about."

"Lets start with a simple pattern of attack swings, Cassie will block them...."

Diana will approach Jenn to stand on her left and teach her a set of three strikes, how to hold her shield while striking and how to keep the sword moving but the shield ready to defend in a moment's notice.

Once she feels Jenn is ready, she'll motion to Cassie. "Okay. Cassie, give her the go ahead when she is ready and we will run it a few times until it gets a bit faster and faster." The basics!

Jennifer Walters has posed:
"Mostly the Law & Order stuff recently," Jennifer admits. "I've been drafting an AI rights bill that I'm going to introduce to the state congress later this year. I'm hoping other states will adopt a bill like this and it'll go national."

She nods at Diana. "Yeah. His stance is a bit looser than yours, since it's an offensive weapon for him as well as defensive. It's going to take a bit to unlearn that," she admits.

She imitates the three stroke swing as best she can, slowly getting the hang of it. She curses to herself whenever her shield arm relaxes and goes back to the stance that Steve had taught her. That's giving her more trouble than the combo.

She keeps practicing until Cassie gives her the okay. She turns to her and asks, "How strong are you? I don't want to accidentally hurt you, but I also don't want to hold back too much."

Carol Danvers has posed:
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's Captain Marvel!

Well at least it isn't a reporters drone come to spy on Amazons training for TMZ. There are totally amazonian arrows for that sort of problem after all.

Carol despite being an Avenger and also part of one of the most advanced spy organizations (SWORD of course, what with SHIELD having issues) is running late.

Despite being able to fly at cosmic speeds.

She dips down from the sky though and touches down at the edge of the arena in the first row of seating. There is a gesture from her hands and the Captain Marvel suit transforms into casualwear. "Hey Jen and Diana and ... uh.. mini-Diana?"

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Looking every bit the typical college-aged young woman, those gladiator-esque armaments may look a little out of place in Cassie's hands. Take your pick in which way exactly: from the latter's towering height and overall physique, to the fact that she simply fits the Mediterranean aesthetic better, while Cassie looks like someone you'd meet getting a Strawberry funnel cake frappe at Starbucks. And yet, when her mentor presses her into the exercise, her familiarity with them is obvious. American Amazon, indeed.

Cracking her neck side to side, she takes a few strides to get into a position facing Jennifer, and when Diana indicates for her to take up a defensive stance, she snaps to the ready, like she's done the drill a thousand times. She has, in fact, missing out on a year of that oh-so normal life when her training first started. The pose is likely familiar, not unlike what Diana was first trying to teach in terms of holding the shield, with her body turned to profile, the shield help up but close-in against her shoulder, and her sword raised so that the tip menaces just above the metal rim. They rarely use these weapons in their daily heroics, given their more lethal purpose, but obviously they practice with them constantly, for those times when more serious threats loom.

"Ready," she announces, succinctly, less jokey now that they've started, although given that Jennifer has a follow-up question, she does supply an answer: "Well, my powers are from the same... source as Di's. I'm not as strong as her YET, but, you know, without a good workout I'm never gonna get there, right? Go on."

... except, well, another interruption, as Carol descends on the gathering. She doesn't leave her position, but grins behind the shield at the way she's referred to. "Sure, why not." Being compared to Diana is never something she minds!

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana does her very best to stay in contact with Carol, be it text messages, e-mails, or any other way or means the busy space-faring heroine can be kept in contact with. She would've fully been informed about this place, and had a standing invitation to it at any time. Carol was just one of those heroes, like even able to go to Themyscira whenever she might ask to go.

Of course, however, Diana's attention is on the two training and running through their exercises. Each time Jennifer completes a trio of attacks, Diana tells them both to reset and run it again. They do it four times, and after the fourth time Jenn seemed to be picking up the pace and confidence to go faster and faster.

When it's done, Diana looks to Carol and smiles to her across the distance from where they are in the sandy floor of the arena's center. "You're welcome to join us down here." Diana offers to the Captain.

Her eyes go back to Jennifer. "Now then, did you see Cassie's blocking techniques? You are both using center held shields, it means the shield has more agility at a cost of less control. Strapped shields are the counter to that, and once you have practiced with both you may decide you prefer one over the other. I prefer the center grip, myself."

"When you're ready, Jennifer, we will let Cassie start with attacks on you in the defensive position now." She grins to Cassie. "Slowly, at first, of course. These are not blunted swords. Even if our guest can likely take an edge better than most." She states with a pleased smile to Jenn.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
Jennifer grins when she sees her fellow Avenger come in for the landing. "Hey, Carol!" she calls out to her. "Come to see my butt getting kicked by Amazons?" She's under no illusions that when it comes to combat with weapons, she's at a severe disadvantage. But still, getting your butt kicked by Amazons is probably the best way to get your butt kicked.

She listens attentively, going through the drills again and again, occasionally stopping to watch Cassie go through them a couple of times to get a handle on how it's done correctly before picking it up again. When instructed on the different shield techniques Jennifer nods. "Yeah. I noticed that. It's taking some getting used to."

Jennifer nods, and drops into a defensive position, shield held at the ready. She chuckles at Diana, "Yeah, I'm more worried about my clothes than I am me. I should have brought my unstable molecule costume, but I've been wearing that forever and I wanted a change."

When she's ready, she starts blocking the blows that Cassie throws her way. One-two-three, One-two-three, getting into the rhythm of the form. When they speed up, Jen manages to keep up, but her blocks become increasingly sloppier, which is to be expected from somebody who is new to this kind of shieldwork.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"I definitely came to see you get your butt kicked by amazons Jen!" is called back with a grin.

To be honest Captain Marvel never asked about Themyscira, it might have to do with her schedule on and off world. That said she probably should ask sometime. She keeps hearing such good things about Themyscira. The Themysciran Arts center though she is definitely aware of and interested in.

She stays quiet for this initial sequence of training exchanges. Her head tilting a bit as Mini-Diana and Jennifer go through the drills Diana is putting them through. Tracking it very closely as she studies them both.

When it's done she nods to Diana and steps down from the first row of Arena seating, floating those steps she takes down and walking onto the arena floor proper. "Shields are interesting. I've used energy shields in the past when I was with Star Force... though the last time I used one was the costume party when I took Janet and dressed up as Steve." she missed the earlier Steve joke.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
The one thing that Cassie demonstrates usefully with a shield is how important it's positioning is: when Jen tries her attacks out, it's not really raw strength she uses, but careful technique, angling it so each incoming blow naturally inclines itself to slide across the metal and away, rather than delivering the full force of the blow. And when she steps forward to offer instruction in the other direction, she helpfully points that out:

"You never wanna just be taking it full on. Even if you're super strong, well, it's strain on your body you don't need, and more likely to damage the shield. Heck, with super-folks, there's a chance they punch through it. But if you've got good positioning, it'll bounce off regardless of that. Just simple physics." Amazon training aside, Cassie views things through the lens of someone raised in the modern world, so tidbits like that crop up, where she thinks about what they've taught her in modern ways. "So I'm gonna do the three strokes, left, right, middle, and each time you angle so it's easy for my attack to go down and away.

And then she does!

True to Diana's instruction (she's a mouthy sidekick, but a good one, when it comes to business!), her attacks are not super quick or made to evade her partner's defense, although rather so much as being done in slow motion, it's that she -exaggerates- the motions, making them grand and obvious with a more 'wind up' so it's easy to tell which way they're coming.

And the big (and pretty strong) swings result in a satisfying CLANG CLANG CLANG of metal-on-metal as they meet the waiting defense. Like she was saying earlier, they 'jar' more if poorly blocked, but glance away with less transfered impact if more accurately deflected.

Diana Prince has posed:
When Carol joins them down on the sand (imported from the island itself!), Diana offers the woman a soft smile and glance is given between she and Jennifer. "We can get you both fitted for some training armor if you would like?" She says with an expression of excited anticipation. She grins at thw they might think of this a moment later then before her eyes go back to Cassie.

She nods to what Cassie says. "Yes, precisely. There are many different forms and attacks, with varying defenses to counter them and the more you practice... the more you learn the muscle memory and can prepare for the attack, you will advance your ability to plan your counter. Like any skill, repetition is key, committment and consistency is everything."

She'll let Cassie guide the defensive practice and she'll note Jenn's grip on her shield getting a little looser the more the attacks come in. She glances to Carol and leans toward her. "You are next." She jokes with a small smirk before she sees the two finish up that series of strikes from Cassie's sword.

"Really, though, Jennifer, I would recommend trying out the basics of all the weapons we have here before you decide on what you like most. Truly too... you may decide your fists are what you like most. WE have several Amazon Warriors who rely on just that, and not a smithed weapon at all."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
While Cassie's strength pales in comparison to that of a Hulk's, it's still strong enough to give Jennifer something of a workout, and sweat starts beading on her forehead. She continues practicing her blocking with a fierce grin, clearly enjoying herself. When corrected by Cassie she nods, and adjusts accordingly. "Yeah. Hulks tend to just stand there and take anything coming at them." *clang-clang-clang* "But I'm not as durable as my cousin and there's plenty out there that can still hurt me, so this is good practice."

At the mention of getting fitted for armor, Jen's eyes light up. "Can we? That would be /awesome/." She sounds just like a little girl about to get the pony she wished for. The mental image of her in Amazonian battle armor flashes before her eyes and she gets this silly little grin on her face. Too bad that's distracting her from Cassie's swing and she nearly misses blocking one. "Woah!" She says, chiding herself.

"I don't think I've seen any Amazon hand to hand combat. Mostly shield and swords, or spears." She nods, "I definitely want to learn hand to hand from you all. I think that'll definitely benefit me on a more daily basis, but I also want to learn some weapon skills. You never know when you're going to need that.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol shifts her foot in the sand there letting her boot scuff and move it around. Interesting. When the amazons go all out for a training arena they really go all out. "I'm honestly surprised there isn't a manticore or something to spar with, this place looks awesome Diana."

She walks over to join Diana and watches the next shield sword exchange as it happens. "The kid is pretty good, that's Wondergirl right?" she knows it isn't Mini-Diana despite the earlier joke.

At the aside about being next well. "I'd be happy to anytime, but I don't want to interrupt Jen's lesson... she probably needs more practice with sword and board than I do." is that her being mindful of her friends visit, or a dig.

Honestly might be a bit of both.

"Shield and sword.. spears... I imagine they are exceptionally good at hand to hand. I imagine they use weapons though because why not use every tool at their disposal... and end threats that need ending."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"I've got a bit of a temper, so get like that too sometimes," Cassie confides in her very ragey partner, lowering her shield edge just enough to let another grin peek out at her partner. There's a reason she gets interest from a God the rest of the Amazons aren't too fond of. "And then Di scolds me afterward and I gotta do extra practice as punishment. Because yeah, while somes you CAN take the hits, well, it's usually easier going if you avoid 'em, keep control of the fight rather than letting it control you. They call it the 'Art of War,' yeah?"

CLANG.

"Yeah, like that. Can't get distracted, either!" Although Cassie herself is definitely a battle-chatterer.

Once they've finished the set pattern for the drill, she stands back and eases out of the more rigid combat stance. "They wrestle!" she blurts out to add to the ongoing discussion of Themysciran techniques. "And a whole bunch of other stuff. You can come up with a whole lot of interesting little tricks when you've been living on an island by yourself for a couple thousand years, occasionally beating up monsters." Of course, the true scope of the Amazon experience is something Cassie will always lack, that ageless perspective. Well, 'always.' Give her a couple thousand years to catch up, maybe.

As for the monsters? "Last time I was there we went hunting manticore in the woods."

With the pause in the training, she has time to finally turn and greet Carol properly as well. "Heh, that's me. Or just Cassie's fine. Nice t' meetcha."

Diana Prince has posed:
A nod is given to Carol about confirming Wonder Girl's title. "She is hard trained, dedicated, if a bit difficult to discern at times." She states with a sly grin.

The talk of Amazon armor for both of their guests has Diana grinning. She nods to Jenn specifically. "Of course. We have a forge here, which includes leatherworking and more. Of course, we cannot offer such things to /everyone/ who visits this place... but I think we can make an exception for the two of you. They will take measurements and offer you options for design and functionality, if you are so inclined. I would imagine it would take a few days to prepare them, but yes, if you would like... it certainly is something the both of you have earned."

Diana's own sword is held by its pommel in her hands in front of her, the tip aimed toward the ground. She smirks faintly at the Manticore talk. "The last thing I would want to endorse is a ppotential escape of a beast of that nature on this place. I am not sure our younger audience visitors would wish to see a creature like that come to harm either." She might be underestimating the blood lust of children!

"But." Diana continues. "Hand to ahnd is a big part of what we train in. Grappling is what many fights break down in to after all. Not every fight is as you see it in the movies, people make mistakes within the first minute of your average fight, maybe even the first thirty seconds, and then you are down to a grapple."

She spins her sword up and aroudn to slide it back in to the sheath on her back and gathers up a javelin from the rack that she plants the butt-end of in to the sand between her and Carol. "I'm a fan of tests of accuracy, throwing these at your enemies. I would recommend this for you too, Jennifer. A bit of Ranged might do you well in some moments."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
Jennifer chuckles at Cassie. "Yeah. Anger is more my cousin's department than mine, but I still get it from time to time. I've just learned how to control it better than he can. Maybe that's something I can teach you?"

"Wrestle?" she asks, blushing slightly because she remembers hearing that the ancient Greeks version of wrestling includes being oiled up and naked. "I... hm... yes. That could be fun, too!" But the thing that really gets her attention is, "Hunting monsters? Now /that/ sounds like a party to me."

"Only a few days?" she asks about the armor. "That's a pretty quick turnaround time. I'm going to have to think about what kind of design I'm going to want on it. I'll see them later today when we're done here to get my measurements." She grins at Diana, "I'm honored that you think that I've earned the right. This isn't any old thing."

She eyes the javelin. "Yeah. I'm definitely going to want training with that. I can't tell you how many times I've thrown a light pole or a tree at somebody like a javelin. My hit rate is.... eeennh" she says waggling her hand to indicate her mediocre success rate.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"I would of course accept the gift of armor of your people Diana, it would be an honor." she recognizes the importance of the offer and also gift giving. It would be rude to say no to it, even if her powers let her adapt her Kree space armor in a myriad of ways.

"I suppose you're right about the manticore. Wouldn't want to set the wrong example or impression. I knew that you all must battle them occasionally though." grinning at Cassie for the comfirmation.

"Ranged is great. You get more time before it turns into a grapple that way. I've seen Jen throw a tree.... she isn't being demure about it... she could definitely use the practice with a javalin." ah the sass.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"I'm sure Di would love you for it, if you could," Cassie quips about the would-be anger lessons. None of them are exactly THRILLED with that side of her.

She continues on about the monsters: "Sure, yeah. On the island, there's all kinds of mythi- well, what you would think of as creatures from Greek myth and legend, but, well, obviously they're not, right? Harpies nest in the cliffs, manticores in the woods, cyclopses in the hills, that kinda stuff! We took a bunch of my teamates and friends to the island, and joined on a hunt, but we had to call it short 'cause a different creature showed up and Donna didn't want to risk it." She rolls her eyes. "But there's a lot of them on the island, and the way the Amazons live, well, the hunting isn't just sport, we've got to keep the population down or they'll eventually start roaming into civilization. In a lot of ways, the island is paradise, but it's also a test, y'know?" In the last, her voice is a bit more solemn than her usual happy go lucky tone.

"It'd be hard to do it here," she agrees with Diana, however, laughing as she thinks through the idea. "My mom would have a fit about the liability insurance , probably."

They're on to javelins now, and Cassie has no argument to make that Diana hasn't, although she does echo Carol's point, being... somewhat familiar with the subject. "Throwing cars is great and all, but sometimes a little more precision is handy, or if you don't wanna rack up the collateral damage."

Wait... /if/?

Diana Prince has posed:
The chiding between Carol and Jenn has Diana grinning at them both before she nods her head softly and offers Jennifer the javelin she was holding. Cassie says it first but the Princess raises her dark brows and then nods to what her younger counterpart states. "Yes, the finer precision of one of these is far superior to... well, yes. We try to teach reducing collateral damage in the Justice League specifically. Yes we want to save the innocents of the cities that conflict breaks out in, but we also want to save the city itself... where possible."

A quick look is sent over the weapons that line the rack and table beside them before Diana looks back to the others. "Well then, now that Carol is here we can resume the tour, I believe." She looks to Jenn. "Consider what you would enjoy most though and we can setup a focus training for that.

Then between the three of them, "Maybe once we have our little gorup in proper attire and wielding the right weapons we can go on a hunt ourselves, back on the island..." She quirks one brow up then for a second before she grins at them. "Come on, lets show Carol around a bit."

She'll turn to lead them back out of the arena then and there.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
"Hey!" She calls out to Carol. "I'm not /that/ bad," she says with an exaggerated scowl, putting her hands on her hips. "Aw, who am I kidding. I never really expected to hit anybody. I just wanted to slow them down or force them to change position." She grins sheepishly at Diana and Cassie. "Yeah. Hulks tend to, uh, do a fair bit of collateral damage. I try to keep it to a minimum but... you know."

She wanders over to the weapon rack and looks over the weapons again, putting the sword away. And that's when she sees it: A large two handed maul. "Oooooooo," she says, picking it up in one hand. "Pretty! I'm going to give this one a try next time." She hefts it a few more times getting the feel of it before putting it, and the shield back.

Then it's the javelin's turn, taking it from Diana. It feels... small in her hands. "Man, it feels like I'm holding a toothpick," she says. "This will be good practice for self control."

She nods. "I think I want to start out training with a little bit of each weapon. Try to get a feel from what fits right for me, and then go from there." She puts the javelin back and goes to follow Diana to continue the tour of the rest of the facility. "Lead the way!

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Though, a tiny bit of collateral damage does keep Damage Control in business and justify everyone's supervillian premiums."

Is she kidding. She may be kidding. Maybe.

Regardless. She grins and looks around. "I would be keen on hunting a monster that needs hunting. Wouldn't want to hunt anything with a low population or endangered though." nto that she is worried about that. She figures the Amazons are about sustainable monster hunting after all.

"Tour time." she pauses though when Jen says she isn't that bad. "The maul is definitely your speed... boom bring the hammer down."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Hah, just like Caitlin," is Cassie's reaction when Jennifer seems drawn to the maul, glancing from her to Diana and back again. "... not surprising, really."

Then she looks over at Carol as they're still talking about the hunting. "Oh, don't worry, the island's practically lousy with Manticores. I was telling someone, the last time, that they're like deer are around here." While people do tend to think of deer as beautiful forest creatures and hunters as needlessly cruel sportsmen, the reality is that populations in New York and the surrounding states are so large that they often expand hunting seasons to control the population and reduce overcrowding, and the resulting starvation that can follow. But on top of that, there is the obvious fact that - just as Carol reasons - the Amazons have a particular sensitivity: "And Artemis is one of the most revered of the patrons, so yeah, it's all done humanely and, well... sacredly. You do it wrong and you're gonna have an angry goddess to answer to, and that ain't fun!"

As the extramarital spawn of a certain philandering deity, she may know a thing or two about how his wife feels about that kind of thing, for instance!

Since they're apparently done with the training, she goes to return the equipment she was using to the racks, and grabs a towel that she wraps under her neck before coming back to the group. "Where to, boss?!"