Routine Medical Screening (open)

[Anonymous]

Seth slept really well the night he returned back to the barracks. His only thing that annoyed him was waking up in the morning for a battalion eight mile run. He did his usual routine afterwards. Shaving, showering, and putting on his BDU's and boots. The Platoon sargeant assembled his men into a formation and marched them over to the medical clinic for a routine screening.

Seth was not very fond of that either. The wait time in lines was terrible. But after a couple of hours he went into the doctors office. The first thing he noticed was the old crusty captain was gone and replaced with a young women. Seth wondered how she got officer rank so quickly.

The intial process was straightforward enough. Bloodwork samples, medical questions, vaccine shots. But what he looked forward to was the all famouse grab and cough. The women in uniform told him to drop his pants. Seth was more then happy to oblige.

"So" Seth asked with a smile. As she grabbed the goods. "You enjoy your job so UGH" His face wrinkled up in pain at the sharp squeeze he got. "Dont be fresh with me. Im tired and not in the mood. Cough soldier" She said with venom in her voice. Seth complied seeing as he was in little position to negotiate. He pulled up his pants and waited silently for the captain to finish his paperwork. He took the file with a yank and left.

"Next" Seth said as he left the room. Atakai was there and gave the thumbsup. Seth returned the gesture and said as he walked away. "tell her she has a hot ass, You wont be disapointed". Atakai would sadly follow his teamleaders advice and learn just how much of a buddy fucker he can be.

It took half the day doing all the stations. But at last Seth arrived at the final station. He handed the files to doctors in lab coats and took of his BDU blouse top to lie on a table with a strange metal wand device hanging over him. He knew the deal having done it in the past.

The doctors were in a observation room watching seth through camera feeds or the glass window. The room with the table seth was on lacked anything intresting. It was bare and white except for the scanning device. The lead doctor spoke through a intercom so Seth could hear him in the room. "Starting scan now. Please stay as still as possible sargeant Granby. It will be over shortly.

Seth took a deep breath and swallowed hard as he saw the metal scanning wand over him start to slowly move back and forth over him scanning for any physical irregularitys in his body. That was of course including his brain.

The scanning device detected irregular brainwave spikes and it stopped moving. A alarm sounded loudly in the room and Seth sat up to see a thick containment door slam shut over the only entrance into the room. Fear took hold as he did not know what was going on. He had a idea. But everything turned dramatic so suddenly he could not help it.

He hopped off the metal table to stand in front of the observation room window waving his good and cybernetic hands. "HEY! Let me out of here! What the hell!" He could see the the lead doctor paying no notice as he was speaking to someone on a phone. "Hey assholes! Are you deaf!"

Seth stopped his attempts to get the doctors attention as he heard a faint hissing sound. He stood dumfounded to just listen for a second before it hit him. "Aw fuck me...." Seth muttered.

Are they trying to kill me? He thought. Though he was loyal to his government a stronger emotion took hold. Self preservation. The room was built to hold physchics. But not so much someone with a military grade cybernetic forearm. Putting his left hand into a fist he started punching the glass. The doctors just grinned at first until the telltale cracks started appearing in the observation window.

Seth struck away at the glass until his body started feeling weak and tired from breathing in the gas. He gave the window one more good strike before holding his head and swayed in his steps trying to stay up. The confused soldier went to his knees and reached out to the window with a hand and fell down face first out cold.

[Anonymous]

Cheeks puffed out quickly and a rush of air burst through her lips. Another candidate. Another late one.  Seiteki Tora, the blue-black haired mutt of many different demonic humanoids had all but glanced at her newest additions name. Seth. Another candidate with a four-lettered name. Well, at least they weren’t the same letters, Seiteki looked at the room where he was staying. A name. Bah, screw it.

At first glance if through a window, Seiteki Tora, with her eyes downcast, looked a little like a techno-punk. Wavy black hair littered with blue streaks fell to the middle of her back, carefully obscuring her pointed ears. Today she wore a long sleeved black shirt with a V neck, showing off a few of her more faded scars across her neck and chest. Placing her lower lip between her teeth Seiteki huffed silently and opened the door to the holding cell.

Only problem subjects were put here. So Seiteki made sure to keep a tight mental shield around her before she looked down at the body slumped over on the ground. Poor guy. Sorta. Seiteki lightly nudged him with her boot then haunched down and sat on her heels, resting her elbows on her knees.

At first glance, Seiteki looked damn creepy. Blue eyes, almost seeming like they glowed in dimmer light. Aside from her eyes, large gray wings grew from her back, soft looking, almost nice enough to cuddle or curl up under. “Wakey wakey, Seth.” A light smile was on her lips and she tilted her head, sending out a gentle tendril- kind of like a psychic poke- to wake her newest friend.

Normal first day. Sort of. Seiteki stood up again and moved to stand in the doorway, wings half open to block his view and slow him down should Seth wake up and freak out. Seiteki didn’t exactly look like an angel and the gray wings made one think of that possibility even less. “C’mooon, wake up, I have to show around and get back to work and… bah.” Her hand rested on her hip and she tapped her foot on the ground.

”Grunt when you wake up.” A heavy sigh and Seiteki glanced at the paper in her hand. Military. Recent psychic. Twenty-four. Funny arm; she’d have to watch out for that.

[Anonymous]

Seth was in a deep dreamless slumber. He almost never dreamed, trapped in the black void around him. Not aware of existance or the passing of time. But he felt something touch him. It was a strange feeling and it started to raise his awareness drawing him back to the world.

His foot twitched a little. The new arrival was finally waking, though slowly. Seth opened up his eyes and was greeted by blurry vision. It slowly started to focus and he saw he was in a different room then the one he last remembered. The tangle of slurred words that came out of his mouth were undesipherable except for one at the end. "Alive?"

The gases effects were wearing off. He would live, but would be weak and confused for a few minutes. Seth slowly rolled over and attempted to get up only to fall back down. His legs were not quite ready to cooperate. But seth bended the weak muscles to his will and stood up leaning his shoulder against a wall to help him stand.

He looked around and finally noticed he was not alone. A women who's age he could not even begin to guess was standing in front of a door. Her hair was black with blue streaks in it. She wore a long black sleeve shirt. He could not get further then that as his eyes drifted to the grey wings behind her.

Seth had seen many races in his military service. But that was something new. Speaking weakly seth said. "As I'm still breathing I guess you all did not want to kill me back at the clinic. But why in the hell did you all have to lock me in and gas the room. I would have went if you all had just asked."

Seth lowered his gaze to the ground and closed his tired eyes to rub them with his cybernetic hand. "Where am I? What time is it?" He lowered his hand to open up his eyes. "And where is the smoking area, I need to go burn" With that said he reached into his BDU pocket to fish out the reds he wanted.

Much to his grief, the pack in his pocket was gone. "No, matter" he thought as he pushed on his cybernetic arm to open up a very small compartment revealing another pack of smokes. Seth opened up the reds to put one in his mouth and offered some to the women. "The names Seth, May I inquire yours ma'am"

"I mean no offense when I say this..... But I want to go back to my unit. Im not impressed with how you all treated me. I dont even treat my privates like that. It makes me wonder how you treat your own. I think I would be of better service to Aedolis back at my old outfit"

Seth would have to learn that there was no choice in this matter.

[Anonymous]

Ah, Sleeping beauty was waking up. Seiteki smiled lightly and folded her arms across her chest, wings closing slightly. Her eyes watched him intently, watching the fabric of his clothing stetch and fold over his limbs. “I had nothing to do with that one. You’re in the hell now…” Seiteki pursed her lips and lift an eyebrow, “ though apparently you threw quite the fit and had to be gassed before they brought you here.” A smile spread out on her face and she shifted her weight and watched him. If only all the candidates were adults and military buffs. A quiet sigh and she mirrored his motion and put a hand over her eyes, keeping her other senses open should he want to pounce and kill her.

Smoking? Blegh!

“Eh, ‘fraid you’re gonna have to kick the habit,” Sir? Mister? ” Boyo.” He was about Gabriel's age, and time-line wise, she was older than Gabriel, so, boyo worked. Seiteki ran a hand through her hair and let her hand drop to her side so she could stick a thumb through a belt-loop. Seth. Okay so, that just confirmed it even more. This was Seth.

Seth was psychic.

And he was in hell… Well, the ATC… But hell was as good a name as the next.

“I know your name.” Seiteki waved her other hand with all of his personal information on it, she hadn’t bothered going past the first few lines, she wasn’t all that nosy. “My name is Seiteki.” She said before lifting her eyebrows and listening to his little blurb of criticism towards how she treated him. Okay, so she could have not nudged him with her boot.

“Well, Seth, I hate to break this to you… But you’re a bottom feeder now.  I don’t want to treat you like a sucker fish, so I’m gonna treat you like a guy I just met who was sleeping on the floor that I have to train for the next three years.” Seiteki offered him a smile and tilted her head, the feathers on her gray wings puffing out slightly with mild irritation and she took a breath and then side stepped to make room for him to pass her. “ I treat my own like family. That’s what we are. One big happy dysfunctional family. Oh…” Seiteki trailed off before walking over to him and gently tapping his chest with a knuckle.

“You’re a candidate, I’m your pilot mentor, the ATC is something we call hell, be a good boy and you’ll graduate on time, eh? I can be your friend or your worst enemy, it’s totally up to you.”

A bright smile and she turned around and headed towards the door, lowering a wing so she could look over her shoulder at him. “Lets show you around shall we?”

[Anonymous]

Seth started to stretch his body and limbs to return his mucles strength as he listened to her only throwing his two cents in after some sentences. "Oh great, basic training all over again. I aint no damn wet nosed cherry" He was stretching his good arm now feeling the uniform go taunt against him as the mucles bulged a little.

"Well what did they expect locking me in there with alarms going off. I thought they were going to kill me" Its common sense not to spook a vet like me. Seth kicked out his left foot now to make it straight at a downward angle, his right knee lowered to make the uncomfortable stretch easier. His arm reached out to grab hold of his boot toe.

He let out a small laugh at her suggestion to quit his smoking. With the laugh the cigerette almost fell out of his mouth. "Not going to happen. I can still run like a champ and max out the army PT Test. It does nothing to hinder me doing my job" Seth switched to his other leg now.

Seth remained quiet and remembered that pilot he met yesterday at the mention of family. "You sound alot like that Kat women I met yesterday. I guess it must be true. I like her, she's a good person. Hope all you pilots are like that or else I'm gonna be pissed" He always pictured pilots like generals. Always in the rear safe from harms way while they sent soldiers like him to there deaths without ever losing any sleep over it. To him they were no better then the none infantry Pog's. Seth did not look forward to taking orders from people who never saw combat a day in there life. Him, a seasoned soldier with 7 years on the belt taking orders from a pog. He found it hilarious, yet sad at the same time.

He stood back up fully stretched now and smiled as Seiteki tapped a nuckle against his chest. Seth found the name intresting. It sounded exotic. He wondered if it had a meaning.

Seth crossed his arms a let out a wistle at what she said. "Three years? Damn thats a long time of training. Eh, I dont think it should be too hard. Not unless there classrooms involved." And you dont have to worry about me tainting your name." I think I can be a good boy provided nobody pushes me to a bad point. He put a thumb against his chest and boasted with pride. "Ive gotten the good conduct medal two times in row!" Each medal was awarded every three years provided the soldier never got in any serious trouble in the three year timeline. Something few ever got as soldiers were..... well, natural trouble makers in there free time.

Seth tilted his head side to side to make a sick series of pops. "Alright then, I think Im limber enough to move again." He took a few weak steps towards his new mentor to test his legs. Good enough.

[Anonymous]

Wet nosed cherry.

That sounded like a cute word for a puppy.

Seiteki wasn’t sure if there’s been a case like this before. A military soldier being pulled out of the ranks to become the eldest candidate. Frowning slightly as she watched him, shaking her head at him when he refused to even listen to her about not smoking. “Ah huh, I’m going to hide those on you if you don’t cut it down then. Those will be…” Seiteki tilted her head and tapped a finger against her chin, “A treat.” What a weird treat. Here, you’ve been a good candidate, have a smoke.

Since Seth projected his thoughts so wonderfully, Seiteki watched them play out the pilots to be a lazy bunch. Poor guy when he gets put through the axis point… Won’t be expecting that… Or being on the front lines out in space. Or riding a demanding dragon. Assuming he’d pass. “Aww, you shouldn’t think so badly of Pilots. Three fourths of us don’t even want to be here. You’re lucky in that sense, you were already serving Aedolis, but now you get… A promotion in a manner of speaking.”  Seiteki rose an eyebrow and then pursed her lips.

“Yes, my name has a meaning, no I don’t know what language it is. Yes it’s three years. Mostly the first stage is physical training the last ones are you studying and learning everything there is to learn about the brain and to boost your psychic abilities. Candidates who don’t pass are sent to be test subjects in TRIM.” Seiteki turned to eye Seth up and down, her hands on her hips now and her wings folded tightly to her back. “You’ll probably pass though, provided you get better with your brain-powers, eh? You project like a slide-show, Buddy.”

A smile spread out on her lips and Seiteki rolled her eyes good naturedly when he prodded himself and went on about getting medals. “Good boy. I’ll rub your belly later.” Hmm, chewing on her lip Seiteki frowned and then left the room to wait for him before they went to… Where ever. “Okay, Seth, I’m pretty sure I can get you out of having to do school over again, take some tests to make sure you know the stuff and we can get onto playing with your brain and seeing what you can do. You’re a little behind, but most of the candidates are teenagers anyway so technically you're ahead of them.”

Hmmm… “Dragons, cafeteria or your dorm room? Yes, you have a dorm room, yes you’ll probably have to share it.”

[Anonymous]

Seth was caught of guard as she started talking again. He sighed. "I guess I should learn not to think about things with you all nosing around in my skull" It was a good thing he realized that fact because he was starting to wonder how this women looked without her cloths. Seth quickly threw that out of his thoughts.

He shook his head an sucked his teeth at the subject of studying. "Ah, that might be a problem. Ever since joining the infantry I have not used any of the stuff I learned in school. Still remember the basics" He shrugged. "All that stuff if overated anyway, all you need to know is the basics to get by. Though I guess knowing more couldn not hurt"Seth hoped that saying about teaching old dog tricks was not true. Because he was very set in his ways. And Seth knew it.

"I just might take you up on that offer" He replyed slyly about the belly rub. Once more having to throw the dirty thoughts out his head. Seth followed his mentor out smiling and thinking all the while things might not be so bad. That smile dispeared pretty quick at the mention of dragons.

"Uh, Im not particularly fond of the dragon idea" Seth was pretty much saying he was scared of them without doing it openly. "Im not very hungry.... yet anyway. If its not to much trouble how the dorms?" He took the smoke out his mouth to sigh and hide it away in his arm again. He would burn one later. Seth did not want to give the other pilots the idea that she was a "joe hugger". At least that is what infantry guys call leaders who treat there soldiers to nicely. Something he was called alot by other NCO's.

[Anonymous]

“Hey!” Seiteki rose her hands defensively, “I don’t nose around, your brain is like a radio station and I can’t help but hear.” The woman would pretend she didn’t hear anything about wanting to see her naked, her body was too much like a map that lead to no where. Years of fighting and war after war left her body very likely to one big scar. A few could be seen already on the bits of chest she had exposed, normally she was in big sweaters, too hot for that today though.

“Well, you’ll have to recap. As a pilot you’ll have to be sound in body and mind.” Seiteki eyed him up and down and flashed a grin, “You seem to be okay in the body part but your brain is mushy.” His retort to her belly rub comment made Seiteki open her mouth and just stare, he was bold wasn’t he? Seiteki was rather glad she got this one, poor guy would have gotten face smashed by anyone else… Except maybe Gabriel, but she couldn’t see him training someone his age. “Down boy.” Seiteki tweaked an eyebrow and then began down the hallway towards the dorms.

“The ATC is like one giant white maze. Everything looks the same but you’ll eventually map it all out in your head and you’ll be fine.” Seiteki folded his personal info into a square and stuffed it in her back pocket, opening her wings and waving them slightly, the inside of the building an inappropriate place to open her wings completely.  “Ah, you were a soldier, right. So you should already know most of your way around? Just not the candidate levels.” A nod and Seiteki folded her wings with a snap and began to walk down the hall.

“After you see your dorm, We’re going to go eat or meet the dragons.” Seiteki offered a smile to her newest candidate, “ The dragons aren’t as scary as you think.” Whiro was down right goofy, he loved ‘Little One’s’ as he called them, which was everyone younger than him.

Which was just about everyone.

[Anonymous]

Seth was getting the impression from his mentor that he 'really' needed to control his thoughts. All good and well to seth, if only he knew how. Whenever he got the chance Seth planned on finding out just how. Her comment on his mind being soft did not bother him. She put it nicely compared to others in the past. Seth regretted what he said after recieving the look of pure shock. He sighed remembering he no longer held the rank and respect he use to have. And thus, no right in talking to her as a equal.

He gave a salute and said in a polite manner. "Yes ma'am, Forgive my arrogance, I was out of line" No..... he was just a private once more. All the years of work down the drain in a single day. Seth listened  silantly to her describe the base as a maze. He gave no remark to just follow Seiteki contemplating wether he should act like a private now that he was treated like one.

Seth wondered now if regular army joes outranked him at least until he passed training. It all seemed like maybe part of the training process to break people down and build them up as the pilots want them. Yeah, that seemed more like the reasonable answer to seth.

Seth gave a simple emotionless reply to his mentors comments on what to do after. "Whatever you think best ma'am". Seth followed silently on her left side, one step behind. As was military regulation when walking with a superior. At least in the army anyway. He was not to sure on the rules and regulations here.

"I wonder if all my stuff in my old barracks has been moved to my new dorm?" He wondered while still trying his best to not be a beacon for any pilot to pick up.

[Anonymous]

A frown drew over her face at the sudden change of… Pace.

The last thing Seiteki wanted was to be treated like anything more than a helper of sorts, so she turned around grabbed his shoulders to stop him and patted her hands against his chest to get his attention, assuming she didn’t already have it. “Okay, cut the ‘ma’am’ crap. You’re a grown man, and even if you were a solider before, you’re just a candidate here. I’m Seiteki, not ‘ma’am’ that makes me feel old.” She rapped on his chest again with a knuckle and looked up at him. He wasn’t too much taller than her but, the few inches he had still made her have to look up at him from so close a distance.

“I’m sorry about invading your privacy and picking up stray thoughts, if you want to day dream about screwing my brains out, you do that, just… I dunno… Wink or make a funny hand movement so I put my shields up.”  Seiteki tilted her head and smiled at him, huffing slightly at his sudden change of attitude. It annoyed her, he was being such a… A… A jerk. “If you want to keep most of what you think of from playing out like a radio show, you have to … Envision more than anything that you’re brain is a ball and whatever is inside of it can’t get out. That includes thoughts. So, practice that while we head towards your dorm.”

The winged woman moved to walk beside him, a hand moving up to press against his back to get him moving again while she walked, her wings fluffed up at his grumpy attitude and her annoyance at being treated different. “First thing you’re going to learn here is that it’s not as… High strung as you seem to think. We probably should be but… We’re the top of the food-chain so we generally act and train how we see fit.”

Then her eyebrows drew downwards and she glared off to the side before she gave him a pat on the back and put her hands in her pockets. “We’re almost to your dorm, so, now, you are going to meet my dragon today, the sooner you get used to them the better. Though it’s your choice how soon, you can take a nap if you like then go for lunch and then meet Whiro, or you can meet whiro, eat some lunch then take a nap. Or we can go there now and you can crash until tomorrow. Your choice. Call me ma’am and I’ll mentally choke you.” A bright smile and Seiteki turned down another hall and adjusted her wings again.  

The gray feathered things were like a mood ring, fluffy when irritated, moving a lot when she was feeling awkward or nervous, open to make herself seem bigger and more scary, and just plain pretty looking when she was feeling 'normal'.

[Anonymous]

Still lost in his thoughts looking at the ground Seth found he was grabbed by the shoulder. His eyes went up to meet his mentors where she started to let him have it. Seth was ill prepared to give any answer after he got the advice on how to block out people. He just opened up a mouth as if to say something and closed it. Seths eyes went to the side as if thinking what to say. There was nothing to be said accept.

"Alright Seiteki" Afterwards he felt a encouraging push to get his feet going again. Before he caught up to Seiteki he saw her wings fluff up. Seth tilted his head. He found it facinating. He figured it must be mood related. Now beside her seth appologized. "Sorry Seiteki for getting all butthurt. Just being thrown into this new environment has rattled my cage a bit. Ill straightnen out when I get use to it"

He went silant somehow knowing she was one of the kinder pilots. "And thanks for not remming my ass up back there. I know you could have, and Im damn lucky you dident" He made a mental note to be cautious around other pilots or just plain avoid them. he did not want his good arm to be ripped off and end up like his left.


"Lets go see this Whiro. Probably best to just knock it out now" He would have prefered to just have procrastinated until it was unavoidable. But he remembered a old military saying. "True courage is the overcoming of fear, not absense of it, for only a fool fears nothing"

OCC: Blah! Muse low

[Anonymous]

Happily, Seiteki clapped her hands together and veered off in the other direction towards the dragon quarters.  The pilot kept a firm grip on the bigger mans bicep and dragged him along with her, keeping her wings closed and off to the side so she didn’t whack him. Wouldn’t be nice to smack the poor fellow in the face with some feathers now would it? No, not at all. “Eh? No problem, I guess. I’m not a violent pilot, the only time that I’ll ever actually hurt you on purpose would be if you pose a threat to me or any of my other candidates – you’ll meet them eventually.”

The thought of June and Seth getting a long made Seiteki snort, purely entertained. June; the kid from one of the outskirts cities, and Seth; the military buff. Ah… Seiteki would have to keep a close eye on June, keep him from jumping off the ATC again. Little brat. They walked for a while and Seiteki prattled off random bits of information about what he would have to learn. “So I’m assuming that you’ve never really given any thought to candidates.”

A few more turns and she began again, “ For the first six months of your being picked up as a candidate you’re a gracie. You can fail and there’s no worry about you being sent off to TRIM. After that, you and I will do our best to keep you here so you can become a pilot.” As far as Seiteki knew the worst thing that happened in the normal military was they just… Got kicked out. Maybe the occasional public flogging to keep fear in the hearts of man. Nah.

“This is going to be worse than any military training you’ve gone through. You’re lucky, you’ve already got the body, just quit the smoking and you’ll likely pass with flying colours,” Seiteki looked over her shoulder and eyed him again, three nearly grown men… boys? For candidates, and one was even half a dragon. What a crop this year.

“Anyway… Um… Don’t fail… Because if you fail, you die.” Seiteki nodded and took another turn, her hand still on his arm. “This program isn’t nice. This will be more brutal than anything you’ve done. Candidates get crippled by their mentors to get a point across, from what I know, one of the pilots smashed a boys legs with a sledgehammer to prove a point to the rest of the orientation class.” The winged woman stopped and pushed her hair over her shoulder and looked at the man. “You’re a grown man. You’re in the military; I don’t think you’ll talk back or out of line. Just be careful and watch what you say around other Pilots until you get a feel for their boundaries.”

A bright smile, like she hadn’t just delivered news that it was possible he could get his hands broken for making a funny signal to another pilot and she hooked her arm around his and dragged him off again.

[Anonymous]

Seth watched as Seiteki clapped her hands and take his arm to lead him. He did not mind really. This was a part of the base he never saw before. He listened as a good student should and said. "I look forward to meeting the others. I hope I dont ever hurt anyone not deserving" With his uncontrolled abillitys. Seth had his doubts.

Seth continued to let Seiteki lead him on and looked around at the evironment around him. The facilitys on this part of the base definetly were better looking then what he was use to. "Not really" He replyed to his mentors question. "Up until now I always just thought the voices in my head were early signs of going senile. So that is what you call pups around here? Gracies... Seth found it hard to believe the training here would be worse then some he has gone through.

"I dunno about that" Was his reply. Though said respectfully. "The worst I ever went through was SF training. But I broke my leg on the last day and was medically washed out" He still hated it how he failed. He was given the option of being recyled after his leg mended. But Seth felt to lazy to even bother starting it all over from scratch again.

"But if you say so then it must be" He was finally learning to listen to Seiteki now instead of saying no like the smoking suggestion. Seth certainly did not want to fail and 'die' as his mentor so bluntly put it. So advice from her from now on would be treated by him like words from a scholar.

Seth took the time now while he could to think of a game plan on how to act around his mentors dragon or the others that happened to be around as he immaged the great beasts stayed together somewhere.

He remembered being taught a little of them by his leaders should ever fate be so cruel as to put him around one. The voice of his squad leader clear in his mind. "Though Dragons are like us, diverse in personality and demeanor. There is one thing they all share. Vanity, and the love of good tales and riddles. They are vain creatures, be sure to speak pretty words and compliment them. Should you have something pretty and shiny be sure to offer it as a gift. Never has there been a dragon that turned a blind eye to such things. If there is one thing you must never do. It is to tell a tale or riddle to a dragon. For the scaled beasts do love them so and will not let you leave for many hours until they grow bored with you and what you have to say."

[Anonymous]

“Pilots don’t mess with candidate stuff. But if you hut any of my other candidates you’re not getting off easy.” Seiteki said softly before moving away and putting her hands in her pockets. They walked a while longer before entering a massive room. Massive didn’t begin to explain how large the place was, it was just… Really big.

Seiteki put her fingers to her lips and gave a sharp whistle. A deep rumbling voice entered their minds, and Seiteki rolled her eyes and put her hands to her hips. Whiro.

Tiki-Torch! And a youngling!, the dragon said who was slowly sashaying his way towards the pair from the seemingly endless room. He was at least thirty-feet tall, his eyes white and his paws ending in metal talons, tubes and wires hung around his neck and connected to various places on his large lithe body.

”This is Whiro.” The dragon lowered his head and took a deep sniff of the man, then recoiled and made a huffing noise. He smells like burning, the dragon stated, before laying down and resting his large head on his half metal paws, his wings tucked up against his body. “Whiro, this is Seth. Oldest candidate, kinda like you, too…” Seiteki smiled at Seth before flicking the fake arm with her forefinger.

Whiro huffed again and looked at the man with one large eye.

He should clean my to- “No. No. I’ll do it later. We’re not making him clean those. Anyway, what do you think of Whiro, Seth? He’s…” Seiteki walked over to her dragon and rubbed his nose. “He’s weird.”

[Anonymous]

Seth gave a weak nervous laugh. "he he, point well taken Seiteki" He followed her for a few more minutes until they entered a large room. Large was a understatement considering its size. Seeing as there were no pilots or candidets around for that matter. Seth took the time for that long desired smoke. Closing his eyes as he inhaled savoring the sense of calm that overtook him. It might be detrimental of health. But as long as it kept his nerves calm seth really did not give a damn.

The ex soldier opened his eyes as his mentor gave a sharp wistle. A strong voice entered his mind and Seth started to grow nervouse as a dragon came towards them to stop. Seth looked up and his lower jaw dropped. The lit cigerette fell out his mouth to hit the ground. "whoa" Seth said in awe. He did not notice the metal parts of the great beast. For his gaze was firmly fixed on Whiro's very visible sharp teeth.

As the dragon lowered its head to sniff at him it took all of seths willpower not to back away. He did not want to insult this powerful, yet mejestic beast. As Whiro lyed down seth started to actually examine the dragon. Like him, some of its body parts were replaced by metal.

The fear drained away slowly as curiosity took hold of seth. He remained quiet until the dragons voice could be heard in his head. Seth raised a eyebrow out of confusion to look to Seiteki. He took the chance to practice speaking telepathy with her by picturing it almost like a tendril reaching out to her.

"He wants me to clean his what?" Seth gave a smile and sincere answer to Seiteki. "I like him. Wierd is good. How boring the world would be if everyone was the same" Seth looked at his cybernetic left arm then to the dragons metal claws. "Did you lose yours in battle?" Seth inquired. He saw no other reason why really. But better safe to ask then assume.

Seth just realized his cigerette was still burning on the ground and stepped on it to snuff out its life and slowly went alongside Whiro to get a better look. He was a powerful creature indeed. Power and buetiful by natures standing. He started to wonder why people made them out to be so bad. Even more so he started to wonder why this place seemed familiar to him.

He started to look around him examining the inner structures features. "I dont know why, but this place seems familiar to me" By now he had completely circled Whiro having finished his inspection. "Such incredible creatures." he said to no one in particular. Seth started to notice other dragons starting to move about and slowly got a little closer to his mentor and her dragon. His uneasyness of dragon kind would not easily be destroyed. But for now. Whiro seemed the exception.