a/n: Gwin and two actual canon NPCs go on a quick mission to clear some local indigen.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft; party advice from Team Xenomeme.

The bald man with the scar marring his face had entered the Interceptor's hangout without a greeting. Now he stood in front of Gwin with something that might be called impatience but was probably repressed fury. A visibly frightened young woman lurked behind him. "You. Evans. With me."

Gwin suppressed a yelp and scrambled to his feet. "I was just sitting down for a snack..."

"Now. I need a third for a mission. Hop to it, kid."

Gwin grabbed his ground weapons, thankful that he'd cleaned them before he'd left the skell garage. He tried to make conversation. "So, Wolf, uh, what's the deal and why..."

"Interceptor mission, so I need one of you guys. Neither Satie or me could sign for it, so I promised Eleonora I'd grab someone from your division. Move." Satie must have been the terrified young Harrier trailing a respectful distance behind Wolf. She waved surreptitiously, a little finger wiggle that clearly she hoped Wolf wouldn't notice. Wolf had already stomped out of the area before Gwin could respond.

Gwin had to sprint to catch up, even though his weapons only needed to be snapped into place. "We grabbing our skells?" he panted when he reached the moving pair.

"No. Satie doesn't have one, and I'm not wasting time grabbing mine."

"But mine..."

"No." Wolf stopped. "It's low level road clearance, just outside the gate. If you can't handle ovis on foot, I don't know what to say." Wolf frowned and his face went from menacing to demonic. "I do know what to say, but I'm gonna give you a break. You good? Or you want to be an embarrassment?"

"I'm good," squeaked Gwin. Something less than respect flickered on Satie's face. Gwin still did not reject the hopeful idea of asking her out for coffee when they finished the mission.

At the end of the metal ramp that marked the edge of New Los Angeles proper, Wolf stopped again. "The mission is to clear the area here and to the north for a construction project. That means everything. Low level, high level, it all needs to go. Lot of aerial enemies; Satie, I'm leaving them to you, but let us know if you want backup. Gwin and I will focus on the ground enemy."

It was a weird mission. Gwin was embarrassed to be fighting docile armored sheep and oversized mosquitoes, and yet Wolf's grim presence made the mission feel weighty. Gwin blasted and swung, blasted and swung, and felt utterly graceless. Wolf had the same weapon layout as Gwin, but when he lifted his long sword, it was to carve a path of devastation. Gwin slapped an ovis on the butt, managing to clip its fluffy tail, and resolved to improve his skills at the next opportunity.

Around the corner from the main path were bigger enemies. The creatures were still fairly weak, but the team couldn't work separately when fighting something that would overtop a skell. Satie's hesitancy extended to the battlefield; a shower of shots should have been streaming out of her psycho launchers, and she should have been bouncing around with her beam sabre, but after each action she'd pull back, take a worried look at Wolf, then visibly steel herself to act again. During the last strikes against a stretchy gooey lepyx, she even holstered her weapons before the creature was down. Gwin wouldn't have minded except that a curious juvenile simius joined the fight moments later, and it was a scramble to tackle both enemies. Wolf looked grim when it was over, and Gwin felt sorry for Satie, and a little more hopeful. Maybe she'd appreciate some nice sympathy over coffee when this was done.

Wolf swelled up, his chest getting broader, ready to read poor Satie the riot act, completely tear her up. Nothing happened. He exhaled, pointed to Satie's sword, and said, "You picked up that back flip from Barret?"

Satie was rattling by that point. "Um, yes, um, yes I did, kind of. We, uh, we copy him sometimes, uh..."

"You don't have the weight to make it work like he does, so you'll have to up your speed to get the same damage. I know that makes aiming harder, but if you keep at the biggest, nearest appendage, aim isn't as big a problem. A contradiction, isn't it? Staying put and moving fast at the same time. Let's see you try that. Next time, show me how many hits you can get in a sequence."

Satie blinked at Wolf. Gwin gaped. This was not the trainer notorious for literally beating knowledge into his students. Wolf looked at them in exasperation. "Come on. More stuff to kill. I'm in no rush to get back home, where I suspect the wife and boy are still throwing insults at each other, but maybe you guys want dinner someday."

a/n: I feel sorry for Prone parents because I suspect adolescence is hard on Prone males. Yes, the wife is Miss Duna Valdileo; it is not like I am not painfully obvious about it. I wrote this because I have personally wanted to scream all day, but if Wolf can control himself, so can I.

Big thank you to the Xenomeme board, who gave me great advice for Satie's weapons and a lot of what Wolf says on how best to fight.

Next up: whoops still don't have prompts. Drop me an idea as a comment and something could happen. Promise or threat?