Find Jace, to spar!

Alright, it's time to jam! You find Jace quickly, because he wasn't exactly hiding{if FindClassmateB == True} (unlike SOME people you know....){endif}. {if@ SeenJace == True}He's already kitted out in his gear, the metal plate over his heart with those leather straps, and he's fiddling around with the crossbow bolts as you run up to him.{else}He's already in his equipment, so you actually get to have a good look at it! His weapon's just a crossbow, and his armour is a bunch of padded leather straps that hold a sheet of metal plate over the left side of his chest. He's also got a leather satchel slung on his shoulder, and it looks like that's where he keeps the crossbow bolts, which he's fiddling around with as you run up to him.{endif}{if@ Weapon == 2} It's harder than you'd like, since you're lugging around your Sledgeaxe, but that'll all be worth it when you smash him with it! In a friendly way.{elseif Weapon == 1} When you get close, you slow down into a walk and try to spin your batons around in your fingers to look menacing, but just end up dropping them.{elseif Weapon == 3} You attach your shield to your arm as you run, and the jingling of loose bullets in your pocket makes you pretty hard to miss, but that's good! Because it'll be pretty hard for you to mi- wait, take two: because you won't miss either! Eh, needs practice. Luckily, you're about to get it!{endif}

"Oh, hey, you came!" Jace looks quite pleased as you reach him in the open grass of the Courtyard. "Alright, I got permission for us to use the pool room. We'll have to be careful not to fall in{if Weapon == 3}, and it'll be a bit dark since we'll have to draw the bulletproof curtains{endif}, but it should still be good to get a feel for our new kit."

Sounds good to you! You're so so super pumped to actually be getting a chance to test out your stuff so early. Now, since you're still a beginner, you're not expecting too much of yourself. It'd be unfair to compare you starting out to some professional who finished learning years ago. You only expect yourself to not get hit and to be the undisputed winner. Easy peasy!

The two of you make your way over to the pool room. It's a twenty five metre pool in a big room with windows for walls, and as you walk in there's a set of seats to your left for people who want to watch the pool. Maybe. Do people watch pools? Anyway, Jace makes his way over to the other side of the pool, fiddling around with some of his crossbow bolts still, and you stay on the entrance side{if Armour = 2}{else} so that you can slip on your armour{endif}. {if@ Armour == 1}It takes you a sec to yank it over your chest, since you have to put your arms up in the air for it, but then you're good! W-wait, no, that- that's backwards. Hang on, just another second....{elseif Armour == 2}You've already got your bracers on, and you wave your arms around a bit so that you can get in the flow of using them. It might be kinda hard to block a crossbow bolt with these....{if Weapon == 3} but you've got the shield to help you out a bit, too!{else} but you'll try!{endif}{elseif Armour == 3}Turns out it takes a while to get chainmail on, but hey! When you're finally done, and Jace stands back up from where he sat down and rested, you feel super duper safe! Your body's so impenetrable right now. Time to win in every category.{endif}

Well, just a little bit later you feel as ready as you're ever gonna be. You're shaking a bit from the nerves{if Weapon == 3} as you load the non-piercing impact bullets into your pepperbox{endif}, but that's a good thing! It means you're.... no, that's too hard a sell. But Jace is also ready from across the pool! So then, there's only one thing for you to do, isn't there?