It was not to say Lavinia Falcone was defenseless. Far from it, a judge in Siracusa is at risk of their life constantly, and so she too had often learned skills in order to deter danger or eliminate it from her path should it come to cross it. That being said, there is difference in defending against an assassination or retributive murder and actual warfare and open combat. Whereas one can know who a target is and where the perpetrators may come from, the other deals with chaos so wild that their life could be forfeit in a matter of accidents.

And though she was tasked with working in the HR department, and notably in their legal department alongside Deszcz, therein lines the always present danger every time she sees a squad of operators come back from a mission. Some tired, some haggard, some injured, and some unmoving much to the anger and sadness of their closest. Lavinia was no fool in thinking just because she was away from Siracusa, her life on board this pharmaceutical company was any more safer.

This was not an insult to Rhode Island, but more declaration. The thought of her life in danger at Rhodes felt… Different than as a judge. Perhaps it was because rather than by assassination or retribution, it was in service to a cause that was meant to help not to muddle or dirty. Along its path was sin, but it cut through it as best as it could.

And so she needed to prepare for when the blade that cut through sin needed her to wield it.

The" fweet" of a whistle signaled an end of the running and many of those who partook collapsed to their knees or even more seriously, onto their side coughing retching and breathing hard. Lavinia wasn't one of those, she found herself lucky one of her daily Siracusan routines was jogging early in the morning, as the sun peaked out and the bakeries began to make kneed their dough and light their ovens. That practice followed her to Rhode Island, but now she didn't need to have a random disjointed path every morning.

"Gah… I… Water!" Deszcz was beside her, glasses askew from exhaustion and pawing at the artificial grass trying to find some sort of purchase or grip. A bottle was rolled towards her which she gleefully scrambled towards and cracked it open. Greedily she began to drink it like golden ichor had been deposited, or the beer from two weeks ago.

"You're getting better Deszcz!" Zofia Nearl praised the woman who gave her a thumbs up tiredly from the ground. The ol—the seasoned trainer turned towards Lavinia, who while hunched over on her knees, remained standing with a defiant look in her eyes.

It had been two weeks since the Welcoming celebration, and a week since the return of one of the other Nearls on the Rhode Island landship. Margaret and Maria were still on their own missions, but Zofia's had returned without much of a hitch. The vandals that had tried to take over a farm being quickly found but also helped the displaced Ursan refugees had taken a bit when a small catastrophe had forced them to bunker down, but there were no casualties and the once vandals had relocated to a small Columbian town in desperate need of farm hands which the Ursus citizens gleefully took up.

Thusly Zofia had returned to her previous occupation at Rhode Island, an operations wellness and physical trainer alongside Dobermann and and the warrior monk known as Saga. Lavinia had previously met the woman before, she had been part of her's and Leontuzzo's onboard meeting alongside Deszcz, the Doctor, and Amiya. In truth Zofia was the first of the Nearl… clan? Family? Some of the terms seemed ubiquitous to a Siracusan, but different when used by others.

And Zofia seemed to be as bright as her two niec- cousins. A friendly smile of a beautiful woman had easily made the onboarding process easier for her, especially when it came to the knowledge of how they'd use her experience in law to aid the infected. It was a surprise to be sure that she'd use her education in such a way, but a welcome one. When they spoke of actual combat, or rather the threat of combat considering the circumstances of how their work would tend to face resistance, it was Zofia who had offered to get Lavinia fit for combat readiness.

It had to be a week and a half later, as the aforementioned mission took up more of Zofia time than expected, but also a week of getting comfortable being on Rhodes Island. Her legal paperwork was easy to walk into, having help for one was nice, a Siracusan judge works alone and even when she was still an up and comer prosecutor she would often work alone. Deszcz had become a fast friend and coworker, although it was probably due to the fact they were the two who were the first in Rhode Island's legal department. They had been given ample space, time, and resources to get their department righted, a lot of papers and printer ink being first and foremost.

But now that Zofia had returned, Lavinia's combat readiness assessment/readiness could begin and Deszcz's could resume. The latter not exactly thrilled with that aspect, but after being reminded by Lavinia about how she did sign the contract in regards to mandatory physical training, Deszcz relented (and also realized how she couldn't use legal illiteracy to get away from many things anymore).

"As for you Lavinia, it looks like physically, you're prepared." This was coupled with a slap to Lavinia's rear much to the surprised yelp that came from her. "But being physically fit isn't enough to be considered "combat ready". It seems that Lavinia is gonna go on ahead of you, alongside the little ones over here."

"Buzz off!" Despite his labored panting Stich Canvas, otherwise known as his alias Minimalist, was able to give a pointed glare at the taller woman. The other "little one" Xiao Hei barely looked tired at all. "I'm slotted-gah-slotted as a caster. Why-hah-am I meant to do physical training?" A demure grin graced Zofia's features.

"Oh, my cute kouhai," she pinched his cheek and he quickly slapped her hand off. "Just because a caster isn't meant to be doing any heavy lifting, doesn't mean that a Caster WON'T end up doing some heavy lifting. Besides these arms look like they could do more than lift pencils."

"Although," Zofia trailed off, "specialized weapons and combat readiness training is meant to focus more on your own particular arts or capabilities. Casters and most Supporters have their own training to do with. As for Lavinia, I had thought you would be in the Guard deployment, but it seems you'll be going with-"

"Heya Zofia!" Lavinia looked to see a woman in a Rhodes Island jumper, a large metal shield on one arm held almost lackadaisical despite its large size. "Is this my new recruit?"

"Lavinia, this Makayla designation Dur-Nar. Makayla this Lavinia, designation Penance." Lavinia wiped her hand off of sweat before extending it to shake Makayla's hand. Instead of a handshake, Makayla wrapped the girl up in a strong hug squeezing her.

"No need to be so formal girl, welcome to the Defender family!" Lavinia was dropped back on her feet a little unsteady. "Come with me to meet some of the others!"

Are… Are all Rhode Island trainers so touchy? Lavinia shook herself a little as she steadied herself back on her feet. She noticed that Makayla had started to walk and quickly caught up to her.

"You felt pretty solidly built, did you have previous combat experience before?"

"Uh, no. Wait, no, no actual combat experience."

"Anything involving conflict then? I know the bare bones of what happened in Siracusa, and kinda wished I took part, but anything from before would be applicable as well." Lavinia thought for a bit. Lips pursed thoughtfully, the idea of recollecting the past by request felt... odd.

"There was an incident involving a planned court room assassination?"

"Oh?" There was an air of interest there from her. "Tell me more."

"It was…" A troubled look came on Lavinia's face, one that Makayla picked up.

"If its too much—"

"No its… Discretion and obfuscation was something I had gotten used to. Never talking about incidents was somewhat of a norm." Lavinia's face twisted into a sardonic smile. "I was proceeding over a case of low ranking mafioso family. They had been a well-known hitman with a lot of connected friends including the Don of their own family. They were a weak link in an attempt of another family to try and take out a key piece of their organization. In an effort to garner judicial sympathy from the jurors, they brought their children and wife with them to court as a testament of their character…"

"As you can see, Signor Alonzo is a family man. These heinous crimes are beyond his purview."

"Objection! The Signor's family life has no bearing on the crimes of murder!"

"Order. Signor Leandro, you are REQUIRED to wait for me to rule on your objection before you can submit your rebuttal. As for now, the jurors are to ignore what Signor Leandro said."

"Your honor!"

"Not another word Signor, we follow the court of Law here. We have rules and proceed—"

"Roy Demarco, you've become a liability!"

"Your honor get down!"

"The Hitman's family had decided that he had gotten too careless and looked to eliminate the link, ordered from their Don himself. They had thought to get rid of the children and as many witnesses as they could, including myself. I used my arts to create a barrier to absorb their bolts before responding."

The two had reached the locker room, the one that Lavinia had claimed for the day cracked open to reveal her three pieces of judicial equipment as a judge. The large golden chained hammer, though at the time ceremonial it's weight and use had been one to establish order in another way. The golden left arm gauntlet of a judge, which was perhaps one of the only pieces of personal protection given to the judges of Siracusa for what little it did. It was attached to a legend of the two scales of worth, one arm being that of the law and the other retribution. The final piece being her arts catalyst, or rather the only few things which seemed to be attuned to her arts itself. The first being the closest thing she had to a personal keepsake, a golden scale. The other being the Siracusan code of laws which was often used by other judges and luckily seemed to be attuned well to her arts.

"When I was growing up, I saw my arts as a means to guard myself. Its use there was convenience, and it never hurt to have more protection in Siracusa. I didn't have any sort of formal training, but that day I found I could at least use it to protect others if only by standing in front of them."

"Hmm, do you mind if I test out its strength?" Makayla pulled out a baton from her side, the black metal rod glowing a dull purple in her hand.

"Be my guest." Without even hesitating, the Defender trainer swung her baton at Lavinia's direction. Purple lightning flashing before imploding upon impacting the barrier. The barrier itself glowed sharper around Lavinia, almost looking tangible and opaque on the area where Makayla swung her club. A little bit of strain showed on Lavinia face before Makyla swung again, and the same impact and rejection happened. A third time and a third reaction.

"Phew," Makayla whistled before motioning Lavinia to deactivate her arts. The barrier fell away and Lavinia herself felt a tinged more tired afterwards. "So your shield is your arts. Well, this'll make your training a lot more specialized, but at the very least SOME more muscle training won't be bad still. You look pretty tired after three hits, we gotta get you stronger girl!" As if to emphasize her point, the Vulpo tapped her rather impressive bicep. She gestured Lavinia to follow her once more after the former judge got her other equipment situated.

"Aside from that experience, have you had any other instances of using your arts in conflict before?"

"Other instances would simply be crimes of opportunity done to me. Muggings or court retributions, but none as dramatic as that event." She didn't voice that the family that failed to eliminate all witnesses was themselves quickly eliminated once Bernardo Bellone had heard what had transpired. Nor how her judicial chambers in particular had more than the average number of Siracusan bailiffs after that incident.

"Your arts are gonna make you a unique Defender operator, but you're actually not the first person whose main defense is arts based." Lavinia blinked at Makayla's announcement.

Just how extensive is Rhode Island's network?

The practice field was different than the training field. Whereas the training field was indoors and held only a track and fake grass field, the practice field was on one of the more expansive. A retractable roof was a necessity for certain arts applications, and that was what this field was meant to be for. It was also larger to account for an application field for individuals to practice their arts under safe supervision, a shooting range for Snipers, as well as a large morphological field for specific scenario practices; urban warfare, open field, crowd/riot control, etc.

There was quite a crowd on the field, not in number but by character. Lavinia recognized some of them by name, some by reputation, and others were a complete mystery to her, but no doubt had been with Rhodes longer than her considering her circumstances.

There was also quite the array of weapons and "shields" as well. She saw large blocky shields, some smaller round ones, there was a door?, and some of the "Defenders" lacked a shield. There were large operators as well as small, though Lavinia's own estimates the Ursus girl could most likely be one of the strongest ones here.

And they all looked at her after Makayla whistled loud enough to draw their attention. All eyes looking straight at her.

"This is Lavinia, call sign "Penance". She's a new defender, with her arts being her shield." A chorus of different sorts of hellos were given by those in attendance, varying levels of enthusiasm amongst them all as well. "For the time being, we'll be preparing to run some joint exercises with Zofia and the Guard group. So, everyone get warmed up and geared up."

"Joint exercise?" Lavinia blinked as she saw the others begin to gather up or put on more specialized equipment.

"Well, its difficult being a Defender, without some sort of objective to defend you know," Makayla laughed. "Often, we run our practices alongside the other groups in order to work team cooperation and coordination. Sometimes there will be combat operator scrimmages where all Rhode Island operators will be allotted into makeshift squads for a company wide "war game". That one gets some real attention."

"And today?"

"Just simple group practice with the guards. I'm sorry we won't be able to get much done individually. Your arts application seems very applicable to the person, but still very raw in terms of the field." Lavinia shrugged, somewhat expecting that answer. She could count the amount on one hand the number of times she's even used it in serious situations.

"Although," Makayla continued. "I could probably pair you up with Mudrock and a guard who's got some similar properties to your arts that aren't Blemi or Nearl." Lavinia felt something connect in her head, but the thought never formed fully. "So for today it'll be good for you to observe Mudrock as she'll probably be the best person for you to learn finer arts control from."

"Uh, who is this… Mudrock?" Makayla laughed at her question before getting really close to her. "Oooh, I want you to guess, which one Mudrock is!" Lavinia quirked an eyebrow but turned her head to look. She saw several individuals. The Forte boy was strapping a shield on his arm and tied his shoe, he didn't look like a "Mudrock". She spotted Mlynar's roommate, Czerny with a rather orante looking shield with what appeared to be piano keys and harp strings attached, he was certainly not "Mudrock". The closest she could think was the rather imposing looking woman with hard eyes and an even harder looking body as she effortlessly lifted the large shield.

"Instructor Dur-nar, the soils said you called for me several times. Was there something you need?" A soft voice approached them, a pale Sarkaz women with hair even paler than her skin and eyes a dark red. "I had no time to put on my training gear but I brought my hammer if you want me to also partake in traing today… Even if I almost sent Operator Flint to the medical bay last time."

"Mhm! I definitely want you to take part in training today, but instead of using this thing," Makayla slaps the head of the sledgehammer playfully, "we'll have you focus on using your arts as a way to guard you and your partner." Lavinia blinked looking at the Sarkaz woman. This was Mudrock?... Rhode Island was truly full of surprise.

"Ooh, also this is Lavinia or Penance. She'll be shadowing you because her arts had a similar quality to you."

"You can hear the spirits of the soil and earth?" A concerned look flashed on Lavinia's face before she looked towards Makyla who had already left with a thumbs up.

"Uh… No, but my arts have a barrier quantity to it. It's, um, a defensive based arts." Lavinia left out some of the specifics but instead simply concentrated to cast a barrier. The thin brass like cover appeared in front of her that Mudrock knocked against with her hand. Quickly she pulled her hand back, shaking it as a likewise barrier of dirt fell from the Sarkaz' hand.

"Interesting… Whereas the soil provides a barrier for me. Yours is… Different but the same. Where you given arts teaching?" Lavinia shook her head.

"Everything I've learned is self taught. My… father, said my arts protected me from my death. He never said what it was, but I've had it help protect against bolts and explosions." Mudrock nodded sagely, lifting her hand up.

"Instructor Dur-Nar was correct in asking me to help you I think, but also not." The answer was cryptic. Lavinia certainly did not feel like it was helpful. "Your arts seem instinctual, but you yourself cannot form it in a way to provide help to anyone but yourself, correct?" Lavinia nodded once more, still piecing together what Mudrock was trying to say."

"Can you cast your arts in other ways?" At this Lavinia shook her head. "Then it's only been as a barrier, have you attempted to do more with it?" Another shake of her head. "Out of a lack of need, a lack of desire, or something more?" At this Lavinia only reacted with silence. Much like the nature in which her arts are cast, she had never really thought about the possibilities of what it could do. Especially in her old life, she never had any desire to hurt people, yet it seemed she still ended up in that fate regardless.

"We'll work on future applications later, but it looks like the Guard operators have arrived." Lavinia turned as Mudrock pointed at the Defenders and Guards already intermingled. "My partner is already here as well." Lavinia looked confused before a rather pointed Feline approached them.

"Hmm? The Bernardo family's leashed pet?" Penance's glare grew dark as she stared at Broca of the Chiave gang. Out of pure instinct the two barred their teeth as each other, a show of Siracusan… honor so to speak.

"Oh… Oh dear…" Mudrock looked between the two of them with a dawning realization. "You two do not like each other."