2024-01-30: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work?

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<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    The other day, Dias and Rena went to speak with Allen about the Team Rocket attack on Salva. (Dias may have gone less-than-fully-willingly, but he went, and that's what counts.) The end result of that discussion was Dias and Rena offering to round up their friends and clear out the monsters in the depths of the Salva Mines, where there's a mithril vein that can't be safely mined due to said monsters.
    
    Then, when the two of them had went back to the inn, Rena had brought up the teamwork training they've been doing, and pointed out that it'd be a great idea to extend that to the latest members of their group. Dias had not really been in a position to refuse, considering he'd been the one to suggest the extermination and getting people together for it in the first place.
    
    And so the five of them pass the sign in the Salva Mines reading 'DANGER - DRAGON WITHIN!'. Dias gives it a cursory glance before remarking, "They ought to take that down if there isn't a dragon here anymore."
    
    here have of course been monsters along the way too, but they're *so* weak that they literally ran away at the sight of the party. That's even with some (all?) of them having put on weighted armor to aid in the training, since it's not much of an opportunity to train teamwork if any one of them can just cut a monster in half or blow it up with one move.
    
    Further into the mines, significantly stronger monsters lurk... 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

DANGER - DRAGON WITHIN!
 
"Well. I wouldn't say it's actually dealt with either."
 
Rena says thinking of Creepy and Weepy attached to Ashton. "This is still their home. So maybe-"
 
Rena takes out her artist's brush, and getting a dab of red paint, begins painting over it. Crossing out the WITHIN to. Then writing a Disclaimer under it.
 
potential DANGER - empty DRAGON LAIR!
Former Residents on Leave for Medical Reasons!
They could come back!
 
"There! Now it's been properly updated."
 
Rena's into the training herself, even buckling weights on her wrists and around her ankles. "Now remember Mister Hesiod, Grace, keep the spells and charge on that ARM low power. We're trying to give Dias and Claude time to learn how to move in Sync to support us and each other."
 
Yes, it's that episode.
 
Dias.
Claude.
 
Fight Like You Want to Win!

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius reads the sign, hand to his forehead, and is hoping this isn't the result of some unforeseen misadventure with Hiro and Ruby and their lot. He wasn't around for the Salva incident back then when Claude and Rena first took off on their adventure, and seemed to have run into some strange yet dearly important business involving land eels along the way when Team Rocket attacked. (Ethius has never explained the eel fascination or incidents involving them and he's not starting now.)
 
     "...That is an appreciable notice," he says of Rena's handy adjustment to the sign. He can't keep his hand up to his face long because of the wrist weights. (He tried to weasel out of it with the note that he first grew up on a planet of slightly higher Gs than what's considered 'the standard,' which would explain why his physical acumen relative to other sorcerers is quite good, but... that's still a weaselly excuse which didn't work!)
 
     "Of course, Miss Rena," Ethius nods along. "Though I must profess some small concern about the amount of green clouds left behind by those trying to flee."
 
     Come to think of it, almost every hostile creature in this part of Filgaia has been leaving behind green clouds every time they come close. A sign of how strong they are triggering some unknown defense mechanism, or...? Well, he can only speculate. 

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Dealt with. Well, there's one way it was sort of dealt with...

Claude doesn't like to talk about that.

Claude would rather talk about handling these monsters, about teamwork, or about the heavy weights in his jacket at the moment. Really, anything other than Ashton Anchors. And so he does! "Right," Claude says of what Rena says. "We can make a better team if we practice."

It's interesting that Ethius is from a higher-gravity world though. He'd talk about that, too.

"Let's just not get caught in any clouds, green or otherwise, right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Grace had been... a little pouty about having to go back to Filgaia already. She *liked* Nede. At least she'd been able to load Bea's storage compartment up with snacks- as Rena's attempts at getting her to eat more normal home cooked meals had not yet really borne fruit.

    But teamwork practice was a good suggestion, honestly. Grace had never really worked with others in a big group. So this should be an interesting experience. When they get to the cave, Grace blinks widely at the mention of a dragon-

    Then deflates a little as Dias says it's gone. "Awww. I wanted to see a dragon. That would have been rad..." She lets out an exaggeratd sigh as Rena updates the sigh. "I guess it's better to make sure no one else is disappointed."

    The request to keep it low power, though... "...Uh, sure. I think I can do that?" She looks a little awkward, as her hand falls to the boxes in the holsters on her hips. "...I guess we'll uh. We'll see! I'll focus on not hitting you guys, I guess!" She pauses. "....I mean I can definitely do that, Momma tends to get in close when she fights."

    Still, she's sticking closer to Rena in the formation- even if she's.... accepted Ethius isn't going to kill her probably, she's still a little wary of them. And Dias and Claude are clearly on point. "...that is, if anything decides to stay and fight ever, ugh." 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    Dias stops when Rena edits the sign with red paint and a brush and watches. When she's done, he can't help but utter a faint 'heh' of a chuckle. It's just so... Rena.
    
    As are her instructions. Dias glances at Claude himself. Rena had also told him about Ashton, so he at least doesn't need to ask.
    
    "Don't worry about those. It's normal," Dias tells Ethius, which might say a lot about how often he sees those green clouds himself. Then, to Claude and the others as well as Ethius, he adds, "Just cut through them and it's fine."
    
    Grace laments the lack of dragon. "Apparently it's still around. Rena could tell you more about it, though," he says, which would explain the nature of Rena's sign-change.
    
    As the group traverses deeper into the Dragon's Lair, they pass under a wooden bridge... and just ahead, several goopy monstrosities just jam-packed with teeth begin to bob towards them. Gerels. *These* ones aren't running away--in fact, they look quite happy to get into a tussle.
    
    "Here they come," Dias states, red eyes hardening as his hand goes to Swallowblade's hilt. "Claude."
    
    That's about as much warning as he gives to his fellow front-liner before he draws his blade in a flash of motion, from which erupts a line of aerial energy. "Air Slash!!"
    
    (The double Air Slash is practically their signature joint move at this point.) 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

"I'm glad you think so!" She beams at Ethius, trying not to think too hard of a world in which Creepy and Weepy just DETACH from Ashton and come back.
 
It feels like that wouldn't end well for lots of people.
 
(Probably Ashton too.)
 
Rena looks at Grace, stops, and Dias indicates that she can tell her more- "Well the dragon now looks like-"
 
Rena takes out her sketchbook, and a pencil, and quickly starts sketching out a Chibi-Ashton, with Creepy, and Weepy on his shoulders.
 
Each appropriately labeled.
 
"There you go."
 
Why does a brief like, sketch, still make Ashton look so pitiable? There's something about the vibe.
 
Rena does look briefly alarmed at what Grace says about how she thinks she can shoot into a melee and not hit them, but then she course corrects. Rena looks relieved. "Alright!"
 
When the monsters COME! The goopy ones, Rena tells Claude and Dias, "Okay, as you move together, I'm gonna gradually increase your speed, so you also have time to get used to moving in synch with my support spells in effect."
 
Rena this time, for example, puts it on Dias, "Dias! Haste!" And the symbological spell speeds up his footwork and sword arm.
 
She doesn't intend to do this EVERY battle, certainly, but mixing it up for various battle situations seems key.
 
She then asks Ethius, "Mister Hesiod, lets talk support. What kind of supportive symbology do you have? I know there's not any healing, outside of Nede..."
 
Rena seems destined to be on that duty, no matter how much Claude spams Sword of Life! VICTORY!
 
But-! She's fine with that! She just wants to know everything they can do.
 
Also because she's not one to actually stay in the backlines forever, she does move up to punch an extra slime that split off another one.
 
Repeatedly>

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "Yes, I believe that would be ideal," he says to Claude, even if he has steadily become more acclimated to the ones that keep leaving behind blue clouds. And that he'd rather not test the red ones. (Moving on...)
 
     "It is true, Miss Grace - I, normally wouldn't volunteer this information," he clears his throat, "that dragons, and dragon-analogues, are common in mythologies across many societies as awe-inspiring entities." So he's not surprised at her infatuation. And that it's also on him if Grace and her mother escape back to a life and crime and use this information to con locals into taking resources, but that's an extreme case.
 
     Rena's sketch of 'the dragon(s)' undercuts Ethius' assertion. Even he might question it, looking upon this mock-up of Ashton. Nonetheless...
 
     They approach danger. Dias takes point and calls the shots. Ethius draws his quarterstaff, though he's at relative distance, given that Dias and Claude are sturdier than he is as he watches the Gerels meet their dedicated melee combatants head-on.
 
     "I... lack direct 'support' Symbology, Miss Rena," he says with a bit of humility. "The closest to that would be means in which to disable technological sensors, weapons, and constructs." Gerel is not any of these things. "...I could clear the air of any dangerous particulate matter with Dust Compress if it becomes a concern, which... it might, in these underground environs."
 
     "...Yes," he catches himself as Rena takes off into the fray, starting to gesticulate and chant for a lower-yield electrical spell. "Sparkler!" He calls at the end of the Symbological spellcasting ritual, bright flashing electrical lights forming about a Gerel trying to flank Claude. 

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude at least has every intention of going back to Nede when they finish taking care of things--but Ignas is important to them, and there are things here that matter too, even if they aren't directly relevant to Rena's origins or the search for ways to deal with the Ten Wise Men.

"...Dragons are usually either really scary-powerful or totally overrated," Claude admits.

But low power! It's a good approach.

And...

"Right, Dias." Claude, too, draws in a flash of motion, distinct from Dias's style but done in sync with his. "Air Slash!"

Claude does not spam VICTORY!! this time. Not yet, at least.

Claude has not looked at the sketch. It's fine.

"Sounds like you're on offense duty with us!" Claude says to Ethius. "We'll keep the enemies off you so you can cast!"

He turns and smacks the Gerel to finish it off!!

"Or you can take care of the ones on me, heh..." 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    "Kinda gross though," Grace comments, making a face of disgust. "How do you even cut a cloud, anyway? That doesn't seem like how it works..."

    She blinks at the picture of the strange pathetic man and his dragon backpack. "...so, wait, Dragons are like.... symbiotes? Parasites?" She seems a touch concerned. "That's. Uh. I was expecting something big, with like, wings and fire breath and a golden hoard and a vendetta against masked heroes."

    Human media has permeated Tetrageniot society a lot over the millenia. If not... entirely accurately. She nods at Ethius. "Yeah. We had stories about dragons even where I grew up." She looks around the mine, a little wistfully. "Gosh, I used to play around in places like this all the time as a kid. Usually the tunnels that were already mined out, though. Malva was on the way out even when we moved there." A brief pause.

    "No one's working this place right now though, right? We're not gonna, like, run into workers, right?" She *did* say her mother had taken up a mining job, after all...

    "O-overrated!?" Grace looks momentarily appalled. "They're cool! And big and strong and some of them are your friend!" ....What *has* Grace been watching.

    And then the Gerels turn up and Grace makes an even worse face. "Ugh, never mind, those are gross." In a swift movement she grabs the guns at her hips and they reconfigure into pistols and then combine into a rifle with seemingly no input from Grace, like they respond to her intent more than anything else. She lines up her sights and-

    Just fires a single focused blast at the one Dias and Claude are lining up against. Did she... did she forget already? She's already spinning towards the next one, aiming another charged shot. Teamwork! 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    Dias once again observes Rena's illustration prowess.
    
    "He looks like a wet cat," he comments. Hardly befitting the 'awe-inspiring entities' attached to his back... not that they look all that impressive either, honestly. Not like that. Claude weighs in on this matter, and Dias asks, "Which ones are they?"
    
    And to Grace: "The monsters are inside the cloud. Cut the cloud, you cut the monsters." Then: "No," he tells her curtly of workers. The monsters here are too strong, so they haven't been able to mine here--but he doesn't specify all that. In his mind, 'no' is a complete sentence.
    
    Gerels--and more and more Gerels, as they begin to split--advance on the group. Sure enough, Dias and Claude nail the twin Air Slash--it would be sad if they didn't, considering they've been doing this one for a while now--while Rena casts Haste on Dias and Ethius casts a lightning spell. Grace opens fire on the twin Air Slashed Gerel, somewhat redundantly, as it's reduced to ash... but at least it does keep it from splitting off?
    
    Claude says they'll keep the monsters off Ethius so he can cast, and Dias nods curtly. As Claude finishes off the Gerel that Ethius had shocked, Dias dashes forward on Hasted feet to flash his blade against a split-off Gerel as it bobs forward. Grace's charged shot doesn't quite finish off the last--but that's what Rena and her Fists Of Fury are for.
    
    Soon, the tunnels are empty once more.
    
    "Hnh. Could've been better," Dias decrees as he casts the gore off his blade with a sharp sideways swipe, then sheathes it smoothly.
    
    Always positive, this one! 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

Rena almost reflexively says 'Dias' at his comment, but then she looks at her drawing again, really looks and...
 
"... He really does."
 
Honestly that explains why Rena felt inclined to work with him early on.
 
She always did have a thing for cute animals in need.

"Well it was much bigger before Creepy and Weepy fused with Ashton?"
 
Rena replies sheepishly to both Grace's expectation of a BIGGER!
 
"I don't think Creepy and Weepy have a vendetta against Masked Heroes? I'll have to check on that one." Rena considers, "Next time I see them, I'll just broach the subject with, 'Hey Creepy, what do you think about that intrepid Masked Hero, Mystere?'"
 
Rena herself doesn't weigh in on the scary-powerful or totally overrated. Ashton was taking them both on by himself and she doesn't want to hurt their feelings by the brutal evaluation of their 'power levels'.
 
Ethius explains he has no support symbology, and Rena nods, "It's a shame Celine isn't here for you to collaborate."
 
She doesn't seem surprised, or offended, or anything by his lack thereof. But given that his Symbology is tattooed on, perhaps that says something...
 
"Alright. It sounds like from your past history you've worked with other groups before, but perhaps not this closely?"
 
Rena gives him a 'correct me if I'm wrong' look, "So it feels like it's teamwork training too for all of you, getting good at all of us defending you when you're under pressure, and us learning your spells well enough that we don't put you in the position of someone- moving into them."
 
As they dispatch the monsters, Rena smiles at Claude and raises a hand, "High five!" But then Dias- 'Could've been better'. "Well sure! That's why we're here."
 
Rena smiles at him, "Let's hear some of that Dias constructive criticism. Where can we improve?" Didn't SHE twist his arm into this?
 
Then again, perhaps she simply trusts Dias' analytical instincts in combat that much.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "Right," Ethius confirms with Claude's assertion as he prepares to segue into other spells. In so far as his casting technique goes, he's at the top-most percentile of the Federation in terms of speed and accuracy. How this compares to the Nedians who are blessed with innate mastery... well, he holds up. He was able to do damage even against the dedicated shield of the Ten Wise Men, Metatron.
 
     In other times, he would have admonished Grace for the use of her ARM weapon, but this is a team exercise of a theoretical emergency situation. "It is good you elected to be thorough," he says to Grace as an aside, "now that we see the target here can split into multiples." Ethius does have a Gerel Pokemon and it might be a little upsetting to the fellow within the Pokeball, but there's a clear divide between a Gerel born and raised in an environment of harmonious cooperation and ones of a deeply hostile, struggling, unhealthy environment.
 
     "...I will endeavor to be a bit more concise with explanations where I can," he offers to the 'could have been better,' hand to his forehead. "This is not my first language, and some of the cross-communications tools I was trained on required additional words for accuracy. It's... force of habit."
 
     As Rena mentions about working with other groups, he nods. "That is correct. I've worked extensively with the Caravan Kinship, and a few other brief ventures." He leaves out the part where he was once part of a dedicated papal assassination group so he could stop the flow of gunsmoke ARMs from flooding Glenwood, which... he failed at, but by all accounts Cardinal Forton would've been done for whether or not he was present.
 
     "In the future I'll provide graphs of my effective ranges and angles. Due to the covert nature of my work, for the most part friendly fire incidents should be at minimum within a specified range, which... yes. I will sketch." 

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"He was basically a wet cat," Claude says with a sigh. And then to Grace, "I think dragons are mostly really cool! That one just kind of brings down the average." Of course he likes dragons, he has dragon moves!

But these are gross.

The tunnels being empty again... "I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10," Claude says. "But we're here to learn to do better, right?"

He's got the same idea s Rena. But Claude likewise trusts Dias's instincts. "If we learn to anticipate one another, then we'll spend less time guessing what the others will do," he continues for his part.

Concise. Hmmm...

"The CaraKin is pretty good at teamwork," Claude reflects. "I'm not sure how I like just 'minimizing' friendly fire, but..." He laughs a little. "I'll appreciate the graphs, jokes aside." 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    "Yeah, cutting's not so much my thing." Grace responds, her tone somewhat dry. Still, she seems to relax at the 'no'. "Oh thank goodness. That makes it easier." Another pause. "...so, does this place like.... still have active veins? Or is it mined out? I don't wanna, like, accidentally screw over the workers cause we're fighting too recklessly against something strong, y'know?"

    "...Creepy and Weepy, really? That's really killing the vibe, gotta say. They look kinda cute, though." Still, that seems to be the end of her interest in the dragons for now. Or dragon. Whatever their deal is.

    'Could have been better' is kind of a damning statement. "I thought we did pretty good." She says, with a little huff. "Like, it's not like any of them got to us or anything." Similarly, she puffs up a bit at Ethius's compliment.

    And then Ethius starts talking about graphs and angles and sketches and she rolls all three of her eyes. "This isn't an elaborate score, this is fighting together! Can't you go off vibes instead of a three hour slideshow?" She rests her ARM on her shoulder. Ethius can discourage it's use all he likes, but it's the only weapon she's got. Claude being on board with graphs only annoys her more. "Come on, you can't rely on that in the heat of the moment! It's about, like, instinct right? Knowing how each other is gonna act so you don't have to spend time thinking! You know, some brief outlines, a regroup spot, and all that." 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    It says a lot that Rena *and* Claude agree without reservation on Dias's blunt assessment.
    
    If Dias and Ashton ever meet face-to-face, it's probably going to go embarrassingly for the twin swordsman. But then again, that's probably true no matter what.
    
    "There are. We're here to kill the monsters so the workers can get to them," Dias tells Grace. It turns out more questions is the key to more information; who would have thought? (He does silently mark a point in her favor for being considerate of the workers, though. It's better than he can do, in his opinion.)
    
    But then Rena encourages him to share more constructive criticism. Dias eyes her. "I'm not exactly used to fighting with a team myself. Like you said, that's why we're here," he points out. "But if I had to pin down specifics..."
    
    He frowns over at Grace. "If you were going to join fire with anyone, it should've been Ethius. *He* doesn't need to worry about avoiding your shots."
    
    (A little unfair, since Grace didn't end up hitting him or Claude, but she *did* say she was going to avoid hitting them, and it was a little close there.)
    
    Then he looks at Rena and Ethius. "The time to discuss what kind of spells the other can and can't use is before the fight starts." Ethius weighs in, and Dias gives him a curt nod. "Being more succinct would help."
    
    And then at Claude. "You were fine."
    
    High praise! But Claude really does have good input. It's a solid summary he gives of what they're aiming to accomplish.
    
    Grace pushes back. Dias fixes her with a stare. "You don't think there's better than 'pretty good'?"
    
    He shakes his head slightly on the argument on sketches vs. instinct, but doesn't weigh in. That's fundamentally an argument on how best to cooperate on the battlefield. He's definitely not the expert there. 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

Grace says it's really killing the vibe and-
 
"Um, I named them." There's a beat and she brightens up- "Yeah! Exactly right. They felt like they needed cute names."
 
Crisis averted? FOR NOW! She didn't realize she was infringing on pop culture dragons GALAXY WIDE!

Once upon a time Rena thought Ethius was a man of few words. Then she got to know him!
 
When he mentions graphs, Rena still has a polite smile, but indeed as Grace puts it...
 
"I don't think they'd be unhelpful, but I think everyone in the group is a different kind of learner. Most of us seem to learn by doing."
 
Which is perhaps her diplomatic translation of what Grace says. Claude rates them 7 out of 10.
 
"Not bad! When you and I fight together you usually give us an 8, so in a larger group not used to working together..."
 
Then Dias offers the constructive criticism and- on the spell discussion-! "That's fair. In the future we'll coordinate that beforehand." Rena decides for group harmony to not say she was doing it now to avoid the...
 
...graphs.
 
She's sure they'd be helpful, but also, she's never exactly learned to fight by graphs.
 
"I think we'll get there." She eventually says, "We're going to need to be better than pretty good to take on the Ten Wise Men."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "7 out of 10 as in... seven, average, or five, average?" Ethius asks of Claude. This is a scale that has always confused him. (The far-flung Pangalactic Federation future still has not really nailed that down for sure, as of yet. Society remains an ever-evolving concept!)
 
     "'Zero' is minimizing, yes."
 
     "There does appear to still be an active town around the mine, so there must still be some veins of valuable material." Geology isn't explicitly his primary field of expertise, though sometimes with things he has to destroy he has to give very careful consideration to how any remnants might show up years down the line. (This is the lingering haunt of Demetrioi's destruction, for him.)
 
     "In fairness, Miss Grace," he says to her desire for 'vibes' and just 'knowing how each other is gonna act,' "most of my line of work is predicated on... not expecting that I'm simply not a mere ruffian or other local constructed stereotype of such." After all, that's how he almost got her in her attempt to rob a bank.
 
     "Yes." He replies to the request for brevity succinctly. ...Is that humor? Maybe it is.
 
     To look upon Ethius, he might be less 'a man of few words' and more 'a man who has had few opportunities to speak at length about things he does know and wants to say,' with a dash of 'clumsy second language padding for accuracy and emphasis.' That may explain why his manner of speaking has always seemed a little weird and off, compared to the more natural-sounding Claude.
 
     They'll need to be better than 'pretty good,' it's emphasized, in order to defeat - not just survive - defeat the Ten Wise Men. The people of Energy Nede insisted they wanted outside help and new methods in which to combat those who otherwise stood at the paragon of their understanding and development.
 
     He's not sure where one might lead that train of thought, in the moment. 

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"It's still being mined," Claude confirms for Grace. "So we want to be careful not to cause any trouble beyond taking out the monsters."

The names... yes, Rena is responsible for those...

Dias says Claude was fine, and Claude looks pretty happy about that. He knows not to make a big deal of it, but he smiles anyway. "Thanks."

"Average being five," Claude confirms for Ethius, and then nods to Rena. "Yeah! I think we can improve, but we've got a good baseline. But Rena's right. We need more than 'pretty good.'"

Grace though... "I think vibes are important," he agrees, "But if you practice good habits those turn into vibes when you get to the battlefield." Pause. "But maybe a more active approach suits the group, yeah."

'Yes' is pretty funny.

"Heh... Zero is pretty minimal. I'll take it." 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Dias and Claude confirm the mine is still active, and nods. "Well, as long as we're out of here before they start and we don't go buy the worker dorms, I'm good."

    As Dias critiques her choice of targets, Grace looks away. "Look, front and center there was the biggest danger, right?" It's not exactly a good defence of her strategy. "And they split, so like, don't you wanna take them down before they do that?"

    Grace you absolutely did not know they did that before then, don't pretend like you did.

    Thankfully, Rena is busy mitigating Grace offending the rest of the group. "I mean... I'll take pretty good as long as we come out of it alive." She says, still defensive. "And it was our first try!" As Rena talks about coordinating beforehand, Grace sighs and reholsters her ARM. "Besides it's not like I see you doling out strategy before you start stabbing, Mr. Broody."

    She scratches her cheek. "Well, look, some of us aren't the low profile types, okay? And like... monsters aren't gonna fall for the unassuming thug gimmick, are there? Nor are those ten weird strong dudes. They've already kinda got our number, right?" Grace starts to pace, before looking to Claude. "Alright then. You're the one with the training in this stuff, right?" Her three eyes fix on Claude, giving her an unfair edge on eye contact. "You wanna get us making good habits, tell us what those are." She sighs. "Just, y'know, don't go expecting me to get up at the crack of dawn to make my bed or anything." 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    'Yes,' Ethius replies. Humor or not, Dias smirks.
    
    "Good," he replies, and leaves it at that. Maybe a little counter-joke? Dias has been known to have a sense of humor from time to time. Rena can attest!
    
    Grace makes several points. Some of them are rooted in bullshit, but none of them are entirely without merit. Dias shrugs a little. "Fair," he says, in particular of his own lack of coordination beforehand. (At least he's not offended.) At the same time, her defensiveness is painfully obvious to him, as is her lack of interest in improving--in being good enough instead of great. Dias fully agrees with Rena and Claude that they need to be better than 'pretty good' to beat the Ten Wise Men, and with that attitude, he's not certain that any amount of good habit-building will help.
    
    But that has apparently become Claude's problem, so he keeps his opinions to himself this time. As long as she's at least good enough to not drag him down, whether Grace improves or not isn't his problem.
    
    (...and thus Dias silently demonstrates his *own* problems, still.)
    
    "Keep it brief," he tells Claude, of explaining what they should do to Grace. "We've got a lot of ground left to cover still."
    
    And indeed, once Claude's given some pointers on what Grace should do, Dias will move on--with or without the group.
    
    ...Old habits are hard to break, it seems. But at least he doesn't move so fast that he leaves them behind.
    
    At the very least, there'll be plenty of monsters for them all to practice cooperative combat on before the day is done. 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

Rena can attest that he's been known to tell a dry joke. She can also attest that when they were younger he's shown his sense of humor in ways where she hurt her sides laughing.
 
She doesn't though, she just grins at the counterjoke.
 
Ethius speaks of his line of work, "So you're saying, you're a professional."
 
Rena does actually consider all of this, everyone in this group is so different. How does one get everyone working together in that sense?
 
Rena looks at Grace as she makes her own counter points. "I mean he didn't but, Dias and Claude have fought in battles together before. And against each other. So they're familiar at least with each other's moves." She notes, "We're just trying to improve our mutual teamwork."
 
Rena hasn't laughed at Dias being called Mister Broody. She knows why he's so broody. All the same she's now considering naming a Pokemon... Broody.
 
Grace however solicits mutual advice from Claude and Rena does take some time considering the issue, "Hmm."
 
Rena, takes the time thinking about the problem of how to make Grace work with the party and... "Hey Grace, what type of shows did you like to watch?"
 
She eventually asks, not interrupting Claude there. She knows Filgaia has TV in some places, mostly Veruni territory, and was introduced to the concept on Nede further, but-
 
Perhaps it's key, in that way, to working this problem.

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"Nah, there's no need for us to stick around that long," Claude confirms for Grace. She does seem to be getting kind of defensive... but before Claude can worry too much about that, she gives him an 'in' to discuss it in a more productive way.

"Heh." Claude shakes his head. "No, there's no need for the full military in this group." keep it brief...

"Keep our weapons in order; keep an eye out for where each of us is on the battlefield. That last one's the biggest--situational awareness keeps us all safer, and lets us work a lot more closely together. Then, we just... find what works, and practice it until it's second nature."

"...I haven't always acted on good habits," he admits, thinking of how he got to Filgaia in the first place, "But we don't need to start doing pushups to work well together."

The question interests him, too--maybe if they can learn what Grace likes, they can think of how to motivate her...

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

 Being 'good enough' has perhaps been one of Grace's biggest flaws. Good enough to get by, good enough to survive. It was something her mother would sometimes comment on. The only area she's really shined in her life was piloting and electronics.

    Fighting, meanwhile, has tended to be a thing you do when you're not good enough at the running and stealth and escaping stuff.

    Still, the response of 'fair' gets her to raise her right eyebrow. That's all he has to say? Fine, whatever.

    Rena talks about Claude and Dias fighting each other, though, and she gets... fidgety. "Wait wait wait you're not saying like... we do duels or something, right?" Her glance shifts nervously to Dias, then back to Rena. "Cause. Uh. No way I'm picking a fight with him. If Momma taught me one thing, you see a guy with an expression like Dias wears all the time, you don't fight 'em you stay out of their way and hope they're not looking at you." Dias is right there, Grace!

    "Like... Claude maybe I've got a shot against, but I don't know if I can turn these things down enough for a practice match, y'know? And it's not like I can just practice with those black powder things." Honestly, non-lethal ARMs duels are probably... not very common at all.

    Claude gives out his tactical advice, and Grace nods. "Well, keeping track of all of you won't be that hard for me," she says with a touch of arrogance. "Unless we're in, like, some crowded nightmare but I can't say I'm hype to step onto battlefields." She lets out a breath of relief when Claude does say no pushups. "Oh good, cause strength training isn't my thing."

    Fortunately, Rena asks a distracting question. "Uh, well. I like MegaTetra alot as a kid," she says, not bothering to explain what it is. "And we got a bunch of Human TV while we were travelling, and I watched the Harlegand story so much that I could quote the whole thing from memory." There's a pause. "Oh, and I watched Top Score every week, of course."

    Ethius or Claude might recognize it- Top Score is a show made for Bounty Hunters in Federation space, running stories on the Federation's most wanted.

    "Plus there's a bunch of stuff I'd dip in and out of, you watch a lot of different local TV when you're travelling..."

    She can keep going like this for a while, unless interrupted by local monsters.

    Some of them might be praying for the monsters, after a while.

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    As he walks off, Dias tells Grace matter-of-fact, "Don't worry. Dueling you would be a waste of my time."
    
    That's... reassuring??
    
    Still, Dias's jerkishness aside, the group does clear out the Dragon's Lair eventually. No doubt more monsters will spawn and this area will be overrun again in time, but for now, it'll be safe for the miners to mine.
    
    And maybe the five of them have gained a little teamwork proficiency with each other, too.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    (Ethius' relative silence in this last pose round is how you know he's an optional character, totes)

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