More Painful Than It Looks.

[Anonymous]

Carefully, Rhys wiped the blood from his lip before moving his knuckles to the little water fountain. While they ached and were red, a tiny cut was on one of his knuckles, they weren’t covered in his blood. He gave a smirk before hissing, it tugged at the newly ripped skin on his lip and turning his face into a frown. Well that sucked. Rhys pushed his wet hand through his hair before thumbing his lip. Stupid little punk. Think a stage 2 would have better sense than to pick a fight with a stage four.

Rhys was pretty sure he broke the kids nose with the way it’d been bleeding.

Then his fingers went numb, and his vision went cloudy. “Oh, no.” Was all Rhys got out of his mouth before his fist connected with the wall in an attempt to fight back the vision that was slowly crawling through his head. To anyone else it’d look like he was fighting off invisible men, Rhys fell to his knees, his hand leaving a smear of blood on the wall before his body tipped backwards and his eyes rolled into his head. A strangled noise left his throat before his teeth clamped down and he stopped breathing, simply making choking sounds.

Most people would think it was a seizure of some kind, but a knowledgeable pilot would know it for what it is. Or Finaa. Maybe Shiloh. Rhys was in his tight muscled seizure for almost a full minute before his body relaxed and lay on the ground a panting sweating mess.

[shinigamikitsune]

There was some paper work that he should be doing, but it wasn't due for a little while. Besides, it was boring as hell. For the time being, Smash Cat had decided to go check out the candidates on his own. It was amusing to see how they scurried around, trying not to get TRIM'd, or working their way to the top of the food chain. Ah how he missed those days... though he would never want to be back. Being a Pilot wasn't what he had planned on being, but it did have it's perks. Plus if he made sure that he stayed at Cardinal level, then he could continue to work with his band.

Ah, Paradox, probably one of the few things that kept him going during those long lonely nights. Though a little ping of sadness filled him when he thought about Tao and Jas. He allowed it to linger a moment before pushing it aside. He didn't need his dragon to start making snide remarks about him being soft again.

It seemed that most of the candidates were involved with classes at the moment. Pity, he was hoping to catch him in the hallways. Smash Cat was about to give up when he first sensed the familure sensation given off during a vision, before he heard the sounds of the person suffering through it.

It's a nearby candidate. Stage 4. Rapture rumbled through his mind.

Of course it's a candidate.... Poor kid's probably in pain. He responded, though heard the dragon mentally snorting about the candidate being in pain. Smash decided to ignore him for the moment.

Smash rounded the corner, and saw the candidate starting to collapse. He moved quickly and caught the young male before he hit the floor.

[Anonymous]

The feeling of a floor bouncing against his head was a feeling he was really, really glad he didn’t have to experience this time. His fingers moved up to grab at forearms and he just stayed still and panted for a good few minutes, his eyes squeezed shut again and he felt himself whimper a little before he pressed his face against whatever it was that caught him. Fuck his head hurt.

Rhys moved to put his feet under himself before he sank to the floor, his hands pressed to the ground and his legs looking uncomfortable. They probably were, but right now, he was just glad to be out of the vision. There was falling, someone was falling, and stairs. That’s about it. All he could remember, Rhys would have to keep his ear open for news about the stairs.

When he finally caught his breath, with his head still throbbing he looked up at the person who caught him, quickly moving to stand up and giving the Pilot (Oh shit, a Pilot) and salute and then sitting back down, pressing his hand to his head. “Sorry Pilot,” He paused and tried to remember this ones name, “Smash Cat.” Rhys winced and stuck out his tongue, going cross eyed trying to look at it.

Chewed off the sides, almost, they were bleeding and he could feel it. Fucking visions. “Fuck I hate being a precog. Other people get cool skills like pyrokinesis and cool stuff, but me? I get seizures and useless visions about stairs.” Rhys rubbed at his head again, choosing to ignore his headache and he stood up with a heavy sigh. “Can I help you Pilot Smash Cat or are you just wandering around?”

[shinigamikitsune]

Smash allowed the candidate to do his thing, knowing how bad visions could be. The best thing that he could do for the moment was to allow the youngling to ride out the vision, then come back to himself.

It didn't seem to take long before the young male was aware of himself, and stopped using Smash for support. He had to give a half cocked grin, that even in pain, this candidate had the mind to salute him properly, and even remember who he was. Which was pretty good, since he doubted they had ever met before.

He crouched down in front of...

His name is Rhys Argel Rapture supplied for him, when Smash couldn't think of a name.

"I don't know, being a precog isn't all that bad... even if visions of stairs can be frustrating, it's better then a lot of other things," he joking in a soft voice.

Smash had a theory about visions and why they hurt so much. He believed that there was some higher being out there, perhaps even a deity, who was bored one day, and decided to have some fun. So he took images from different bits of time, mixed them all together, then forced them into some poor saps mind. That's why it hurt so much, and what he believed.... even if Rapture laughed at his theory.

Seeing that Rhys wasn't too bad off, as far as after effects go, he pulled out his bottle of special painkillers, and a bottle of water and offered them to the youngling. "Take some of these. They'll help with the vision pain better then anything else you're allowed access to right now, Candidate Rhys."

He hated the formality that was to be used. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't need for it, if he was off duty... which for the moment he was.

"No need to be so formal right now. I just thought I would come down and check out the potentials, see how they were doing... and I just happened to stumble across the one at the top of the list."

[Anonymous]

His head throbbed and he was swallowing constantly, the full feeling at the back of his throat, like his tongue was getting thicker. Rhys pushed a hand through his hair, wishing for Shiloh or Finaa to be here, they’d be around for more visions than he could count. He’d just stop randomly and start to convulse and eventually they all figured out what to do. Normally he’d shuffle off to the nearest bathroom and puke his guts out but the best looking thing right now was a window.

Rhys eyed it before looking back at Smash Cat with green yellow eyes. After the salute he sat back down with his head between his knees and his hands on his neck. Trembling still. He hated visions, hated how wasted they made him feel. For nothing. He was always so frustrated by what his visions were trying to tell him and his head hurt and Rhys swallowed before looking up.

Graciously he took the bottle of water and the painkillers, throwing them back with a large gulp of water before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. His lips wet from the water he held it out before he stood up to his full height. Which was a few inches shy of Smash Cats. Pursing his lips he pressed a hand against his head and stretched, the uniform top riding up a little to show off his lower stomach.

His last growth spurt had left the uniform small enough to ride up, but not small enough to warrant a new uniform. Oh well. “Top of the list?” Rhys shook his head, wiping the last bits of sweat from his forehead and rolling his shoulders, everything started to ache after how tense he’d been. “I’m the worst precog. I’m only tough physically, have to be to be useful. Good aim too.” He pretend to shoot a gun and made a sound effect to go along with it, “Precog could use some work though.”

A moments pause, “Are you that pilot that has that band?”

[shinigamikitsune]

"The visions a precog get are not usually something that they can control," he said softly. "Many times they will seem pointless or so messed up that it's hard to get anything useful from them. However, there are the rare times that something useful comes from them, even if it doesn't seem that way to you. Which makes you valuable to the dragons." He gave a shrug, then motioned for the candidate to follow him. Smash knew that Rhys would probably want to head someplace dark and cool. He knew that he always preferred such places after a vision.

"Being physically tough is a good thing. You'll find that most precogs that have visions hit them randomly will have developed too be tougher, so that they can be more useful. While those precogs that are able to summon visions at will tend to be more frail, since they know that they will be useful, even if they aren't physically. You won't find many of the second ones around here." He thought about it for a moment. "Actually, once you become a Pilot, there will then be three precogs."

Smash gave a little chuckle, he'd noticed how Rhys's shirt rode up on him. It probably wouldn't be much longer and he wouldn't fit it anymore. He had to admit that the boy did have a nice body on him.

With a nod, he answered the question. "Yeah. Paradox... even if it's on haitus for the time being. It's hard to have a band when the rest of your members are dead." He'd tried looking for new members, but he was having a hard time replacing them so soon. The pain of loosing Jas and Tao still hurt way too much. The weird part, is that he still didn't know how he had managed to escape the fire at the club.

[Anonymous]

Those words were music to his ears. Once you become a Pilot. Rhys could taste it on his tongue and he licked his lips unconciously. Pilot. That week of leave would be worth the past years of hell on Earth. Rhys loved the ATC, he loved being a candidate, he loved the idea of being able to shoot anyone for whatever reason he could come up with that seemed plausible. Still, being on edge constantly, having to have his hackles up.

It got tiring.

Rhys didn’t exactly enjoy being an asshole. Well, he did on occasion. Wasn’t exactly a trait he aimed for constantly though. It was easier to be himself around Pilots he supposed, he wasn’t allowed to be snarky around them. Wasn’t allowed to mouth off or piss them off because that got him into trouble.

He cleared his throat and took another drink out of the water bottle, licking the rip before chewing on the hard plastic of the opening. Of course the bottle went down and he looked at Smash Cat, his face went a little older and he sincerely felt bad for mentioning his band. “Two are... They...” Rhys looked off to the side, he’d be crushed of Finaa or Shiloh died. He had set himself up to expect it one day, of course, they were Pilots.

But Smash Cats friends were civilians. “I’m sorry. I was unaware of... That.” While he knew of the band, music wasn’t something high on Rhys likes list. Too opinionated. Too constant. Rhys wasn’t a fan of loud noises and music was usually very full of loud noises. He cleared his throat and turned away, walking to the stairway. It was usually quiet there during classes. Quiet and cooler than the hallways.  “Wanna follow me here? This place always makes me feel a little better. We can... chat. Or something.”

Rhys couldn’t think of a time he’s ever casually talked with a Pilot that wasn’t Shiloh, but there was a first for everything.

[shinigamikitsune]

Smash Cat nodded some, "Thank you, and it's alright... I'm still... adjusting..." that was the only thing he could think to say to Rhys at the moment about his fallen band mates. Not without saying far more then he wanted to, or what the candidate truly cared about. Besides, at this moment he was more interested in finding out more about Rhys.

"Sure, there's nothing really better that I should be doing at the moment," he chuckled faintly. Rapture snorting in his mind... a gentle reminder that he still had a deadline on that paperwork.

[Anonymous]

Rhys looked over his shoulder and gave a shrug. Nothing better to do? What a load of...  Lies. Of course the pilot was busy. That’s what pilots did! They were... Busy people. Rhys shook his head at his own wonderful logic before he wandered to the stairs.

“So. Just felt like hanging out?” Rhys said quietly, his voice still echoed though. He let his head rest against the cool wall before he closed his eyes and sighed. His head hurt. While the seizure had been average, the vision was lacking so that meant his headache wasn’t a migraine, which was great news for him. The cool tile was a nice way to pretend that his head didn’t hurt anymore.

A moment of suspicion. “You weren’t looking for me were you?”

[shinigamikitsune]

He nodded with a grin, "Well, yeah. Paperwork gets boring after a while... and as long as it's all handed in on time, then it's all good." After all, one could only do paperwork for so long before their brain felt as though it was breaking, and they needed time away from it to do something else.

"I wasn't looking for you in particular, I just came around to see how all the little new candidates are doing... and to see what faces I might be seeing as Pilots soon. Course I ended up coming at a time when most of the brats were in class, it seems." He gave a little shrug. "I was about to head back and finish my paperwork, when I felt the familuar sensation that comes during a vision... though it was faint, since it wasn't happening to me."

[Anonymous]

Rhys rose his eyebrows and his eyes wend wide. This pilot felt HIS vision?  That was awesome. Rhys looked down at his fingers and pressed the tips together, they still tingled a little and he winced after a moment before sighing. “Well, it’s good that you weren’t looking for me.” Rhys commented quietly, “I’m almost afraid of the mentor I’ve been assigned to. Never had one, which I’m sort of proud of.”

He pushed a hand through his hair before closing his eyes and rubbing his eyeballs, “Can I confide in you Pilot Smash?” Rhys smiled slightly, it’d been a long while since he’d been afraid of a Pilot. There were the higher up ones that he’d never met. A few Royals. The pilots he’d only heard of were a tad intimidating. But he was bigger than them probably. He was going to be working with them.

Rhys took a breath. “Hey, you should know lots of stuff. Can you check for who my new mentor is?”

[shinigamikitsune]

Smash moved to sit on the steps of the stair well, just casually watching Rhys for the time being. "Yeah, I've some of the mentors out there can be rather scary," he said with a light chuckle. "I never much liked that idea of pushing candidates to work harder through the use of fear. Sure it might work for some, but I can only imagine the mental breakage that would cause... leaving us with more of the same once they become Pilots. If any Pilot tells you that they're perfectly sane, they're lying. All of them have some sort of... well let's say 'flaw'. Some more so then others."

It was better to tell this kid now, if he hadn't realized it already, then to let him find out on his own. "Then there are those who are better at hiding it then others. They tend to be the friendly ones, or those higher up." Smash shrugged then, and moved onto focusing on the kid again.

"So what is it that you want to confide in me?" Which was his way of saying that the kid could. "Let me just check with Rapture to see if he'll tell me who this mentor is. If it's just being assigned to you now, then it's most likely because they would have made it somebody who could help you with your visions."

[Anonymous]

Rhys leaned back and then eyed Smash Cat. “Ah.... Nothing.” He gave a hand wave, “maybe I’ll tell you later.” He smiled and then closed his eyes while he rested his head to the side of the wall, breathing slowly.

He hadn’t thought about the mentor for the visions part. Hm. Rhys eyed Smash Cat after he opened his eyes. “Maybe. Hopefully. That’s all I need to do. Get my visions under control and... I’ll be golden.” He laughed quietly. Rhys stared at Smash for a moment, “You seem like a decent guy. Ask your dragon who my mentor is, should be good.” He was aware of maybe one or two precog Pilots. One looked like a woman and wasn’t allowed near candidates and the other one was...

This pilot.

Surely there were a few more. Precognitive abilities couldn’t be that rare.

[shinigamikitsune]

With a nod, he chuckled softly, "Alright... whenever you feel like telling me, I'll be easy enough to get a hold of." He paused to rummage through some of his pockets, and pulled out a granola bar to hand to Rhys. "I'm not sure about you, but I know that once the nausea caused by the visions passes, I really need to eat something, then maybe go have a nap."

Smash paused for a moment as he asked Rapture to look into who was the new mentor for the kid. It didn't take long for him to receive the answer, and he didn't look impressed at all.

Why wasn't I informed of this before? he asked his dragon.

It was really a need to know sort of thing.... came back the amused reply. Though before Smash could retort to it, Rapture added more. And now you know.

With a shake of his head, Smash Cat just sighed, and muttered something about dragons under his breath.

"Found out who your new mentor is, though it seems that one of the higher ups decided to choose the mentor for you... which isn't really a bad thing in this case. Seems as though they figured that I was the precog best suited to mentor you."

[Anonymous]

Rhys smiled slightly before he lifted his head and turned towards Smash, taking the flood slowly before he opened it and bit it. He wasn’t a huge fan of them, but food was food and while he felt sick he hadn’t had time for breakfast or lunch so this was the next best thing. Something in his stomach would be good, even though it only made him feel a little worse with how fast he scarfed it down. He tipped the bottle of water back and took a few chugs before he breathed slowly and closed his eyes again.

Of course Smash spoke and his eye popped open.

This guy?

This guy was Rhys’s mentor. “You are?” He wasn’t exactly keen on trying to remember his visions. All precogs were different. But maybe they could figure it out together. As far as Rhys knew he was very accurate but the pay off was bad. Considering he was still sporting an awful headache and all he saw was some stairs. Rhys looked ahead of himself, staring at the flight leading up. Hm. Too bad he hadn’t seen which floor it was on.

“I suppose that’s pretty cool.” Rhys gave Smash a sidelong glance, “Better than a few mentors I’ve seen. I’m a little glad I was too much of a pain in the ass before now.” He smirked and then closed his eyes again. “When are we going to do a lesson? Head ache or no headache? I haven’t really found my focus. That thing that sends me into visions. Sometimes they’re random but if I’m really freaked out about being caught doing something I go into tweak mode, too.”  Supplying this information seemed suitable, considering this strange looking man was going to be his mentor.

[shinigamikitsune]

"Yeah... I suppose it is..." there was something in the back of his mind telling him that Pilots weren't assigned to candidates. That the Pilot put in a request to mentor a specific candidate... but he couldn't remember doing it. Either way, it didn't really matter now, since he was this kid's mentor, and he was rather okay with that. Rhys was strong and motivated enough to make sure that he was still useful in one way or another, which Smash felt was a good thing.

"Being a precog, there's really no set way to have scheduled lessons for it, since either you have a vision, or you don't. Most of the time, when you don't have a trigger, it's hard to tell when you'll have one until they actually hit." He said, thinking carefully about it. "For the time being, I would say work on trying to remember as much of each vision as you can. Keep a notepad on you so that you can write what you remember down right away. Even if it isn't much, like a detail or two, sometimes reading those things later on can trigger a memory of what the vision was about."

Smash Cat paused, and took out his bottle of painkillers and handed them over to Rhys. "Take these for now, and I'll talk to Pilot Sterling about issuing you your own prescription within the next day or two. Just make sure you only use them for after a vision, and not for any other type of pain."