Pilot Candidate Festival (Open)

[Rhi-Rhi]

Arrow nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice rang loud and clear in her mind, and her head swiveled as she searched in vain for its source. Of course, that was impossible since no one was actually speaking until...

I’m gunna eat you! I’m gunna bite you and crush you and eat you up for dinner!

Her attention snapped right onto the snake-girl next to her and she blanched, eyes ridiculously wide. She'd dealt with her share of bullies and had been able to fend off a fair few, but she was completely out of her element here--not to mention that girl looked like she could carry out every word she'd "said". With a start, Arrow quickly averted her gaze and hunched her shoulders. She really wanted to change seats but dared not move; she didn't want to bring any attention onto herself if she could help it.

When the girl in front of her stood up and glared at the non-snake woman next to her, Arrow's mouth dropped open. Oh no. She gaped up at her as she went off on her tangent, telling off most of the people in the room. She was going to get in trouble. You didn't do stuff like that in a high school classroom without getting sent to the principal's, so what would they do here? Was she nuts?! Still, right now the instructors seemed distracted by the two fleeing students, so...might as well use this opportunity.

Arrow shot a fleeting glance over at the snake-girl, suddenly feeling very exposed with Phenyo no longer in front of her, and she quickly rose to her feet and scrambled into the empty desk on Alaina's other side. She was now farther from the door than she wanted to be, but she at least now had a shield between her and the chick that wanted to crush and eat her. That was her immediete concern. The Pilots were her second. The locked door was third, but if she thought too much about that then she'd probably have a panic attack. It wasn't that she was claustrophobic; she'd hidden in plenty of small spaces. It was that she didn't like her escape routes being cut off.

So that's Roman... she thought, staring over at the man and forgetting that staring was rude. Thank goodness Phenyo had pointed him out, because that had been gnawing at her for a while, and now she knew. That lessened her stress a little, because not knowing was half of it. He didn't seem too bad.

Not yet. She shifted down in her seat and looked over to Val. It was never a good sign when a teacher called you to the front to "help teach". Arrow resumed chewing on her thumbnail.

Val, meanwhile, had stopped with his nose just inches from the door, blinking in confusion, the sound of the lock still ringing in his ears. Locked in. But...he'd basically just been told he could leave! An icy chill began to work its way down his spine but he ignored it and instead shot the Phenyo girl behind him a smug look. Hah. Yeah, right, she talked big like she knew it all but she was just as stuck as he was. He allowed himself that small satisfaction because it made this disappointment sting a little less.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. Val rolled his eyes and turned around to face Roman, arms crossing over his chest in imitation of the Pilot. Talk about tenacious. Why couldn't someone else help teach the damned class? All the same, it was obvious that he wouldn't be getting out of here unless he just sucked it up and did it, so he let out a long sigh and gave a little shrug. "Right...fine, whatever. You win." He shouldered past Phenyo roughly and strode toward the two Pilots, finally stopping between the two as told and slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants.

While he may have looked the picture of confidence with his back straight and his head up, the truth was he was a little nervous--which was exactly why he'd avoided doing this in the first place. Locked in and made to stand at the front of the class next to the guy that had smacked him. That didn't bode well with him, but...well, what was the worst that could happen? Just teach the stupid class, right. Worst that could happen is he looks like an idiot because he doesn't know a thing about this stupid psychic...stuff. Whatever. He could deal with that. Wasn't like the other brats knew any more than he did.

"There. So look, if I help teach this stupid class, then can I leave?" he asked, ignoring Dyerlich and keeping his eyes on Roman.

[Anonymous]

Whoa.

This chick was having a major freak out. Awesome.

The little goody, goody girl hadn’t even said anything, and here’s purple chick…uh…Phenyo…going off her nut about her repeating stuff. What a freak.

Alright….perhaps her calling anyone else a freak was a tad harsh. But oh well.

Then the random fit turned, most unexpectedly, on Chica. Her hair tended to have something of a personality of its own, and when Phenyo threatened it, the snakes shrunk back to hide behind Chica’s head, while Chica herself was wide eyed with a mix of shock and barely contained rage.

How dare this girl yell at her? The urge to just slap the bitch was incredible. In fact, the only thing that saved Phenyo was the fact that she then turned on that guy….whatever his name was. That successfully diffused her momentary anger, replacing it with dark enjoyment once again.

The sound of the doors locking didn’t actually bother her all that much really. There was no way there were going to be allowed to leave anyway, hell, the door being locked didn’t really change anything.

 The pilots’ reaction to Phenyo’s outburst was disturbing. They didn’t yell. They didn’t even threaten. An animal that knew it was weak would make a big display to scare off threats, but these pilots….they knew they were superior, and they didn’t need to make a big show.

She didn’t even realise the girl, Archer, had moved until she glanced at her and found only an empty desk. Heh, she’d apparently got the message. Playing with people was fun.

The girlie was staring at Roman weirdly. Maybe she had a little crush eh? Chica could see that he was…something of a pretty man. Far too many limbs for her taste, but he didn’t have an unattractive face. Silly little girl, getting all cow-eyed for teacher. That’s how Chica saw it anyway.

Chica watched her then look at the guy in trouble, with what she interpreted as jealousy, over the attention he was getting. Not good attention of course, but some people thought any attention was good attention. Not Chica. No. Definitely not. She certainly didn’t do things just to get a reaction.

She leaned forward and stared at Archer to get the girls attention. When she caught her eye, she flicked her head towards Roman, puckered her lips and made a kissing motion, and then poked her tongue out.

Yeah, that should get the message across. It didn’t really occur to her to use her mind again.

She smirked, thoroughly enjoying teasing the little girl, who was obviously the youngest in the class.

[Anonymous]

"Look, I have a name. I am not "Dyerlich" girl. My name is Phenyo, and we get it," she lifted an arm to point a Roman. "His name is Roman Roses, or something like that, and he's Pilot Royal. Stop repeating it, it's really annoying."

Yep. That was a fun pick. Alaina blinked. For a moment, she wondered what it must look like. Phenyo had flipped out impulsively, and for all intents and purposes out of nowhere. Slowly but surely, Alaina's face managed a weak smile, the kind usually offered to fiendishly annoying children. She glanced down at the glowing datapad in her lap, speaking absently.

"Please. I haven't said a word since the instructors showed up."

But congratulations on taking a walk through my head, she added silently, still smiling. Can't blame the girl, really; it's probably what she would have done too. As for the other students, perhaps they'd be perceptive enough to see what was going on. If they weren't, well... then it would just make Phenyo look bad.

Something caught her eye on the side of the room. The locking mechanism crouching on the door blinked red, and she saw Val stop in his tracks. She felt a smooth, resounding vibration in the air as the lock snapped into place. They were locked in.

Great...

That was the other thing she worried about when she arrived at the ATC. The freedom afforded most Aedolis citizens was not given to members of the military, and until this batch of Candidates became Pilots they were pretty much out of luck. The Network owned them. The hierarchical system owned them. And now that the doors were locked, the two Pilots pretty much owned them too.

She looked back to the datapad, which was now displaying an email in its Virtual Communication Network browser.

"There has been a slight change of plans. You were originally assigned to Pilot Gabriel and Dragon Siren, but according to our records the Pilot has been deployed on a tour of duty offworld. He will return to Earth in a few days, but until then we would like you to become acquainted with our Candidate protocol. Report to Room 118 as soon as you receive this message for initi-"

Alaina closed the window. She already knew everything the message would tell her, and in any case she had better things to do. More interesting things, anyway. Things that probably wouldn't fit the profile of the model student.

Command line initialized.

localhost>info localhost
Candidate Datapad 28 (cand28 located on subnet 'candidates')
localhost>lookup gateway candidates
Coordinator for subnet 'candidates' found, stored as string "gateway".
localhost>connect gateway rterm
Connection established via VCN Remote Terminal.
candidates>ldir

Listing directory contents...
[candidates.txt]
[subnet.ini]
Done.

Alaina did this for fun. It had become something of a hobby ever since she took a basic computing class in high school. Something about the unchartedness of a new portion of the VCN intrigued her. She didn't expect to find a list of the Candidates' names, but there it was, sitting on the server that connected their datapads.

Sweet.

As the last of the names scrolled down the screen, it dawned on Alaina that perhaps a military training facility was not the safest place from which to "explore" the guts of the VCN. Quickly, she closed the command line and looked up at the two instructors. Smiling blankly, she began to repeat the mantra. It might annoy Phenyo, but if she spent all her time tapping into Alaina's consciousness she probably deserved it.

Roman Rosales... Pilot Royal...

[Anonymous]

A visible twitch was in Phenyos eyebrow, snapping a glance towards the Sweet Heart. "Thank any gods you haven't. The volume of your thoughts alone is more than enough." With that said to Alaina, or now known as Sweet Heart, all sneering necessary, she changed the object of her attention. After gaining some pleasure from seeing Chicas hair slither back in fear, as inappropriate as it was, Phenyo had to crack a smile.

 Rolling her eyes towards the ceiling, she sneered towards the pilots. Well, her little plan hadn't worked on getting the heat off of Val, so she offered him a small smile. "Don't cry." She muttered to him when he moved to walk past her after the door locked. Dyerlich had managed to unlock the door the other day, but it probably had to do with that Dragon of his. Stupid... Dragons. Well, no, Lartech seemed like a big cuddly cat. Stupid Pilots. That worked better. Suited her better.

Taking a steady breath, Phenyo closed her eyes and took steady steps to the very front of the classroom, sitting down in the desk closest to the pair of pilots, obviously trying to draw attention away from the quiet ones. Like Col and Arrow, which seemed to have been working. She hadn't seen Dyerlich cast more than a glance towards them and that made Phenyo feel at least a little better, kick up enough attention and Chica and, Phenyo huffed, Alaina would be in the clear too. More so than all of them were now.

Poor Val though.

Plan fell through the floor. At least everyone else would learn what not to do? She'd get beaten after class was done, Val would... Phenyo had no idea what was in it for Val. Even if he was a bit of a brat, he seemed to have just a little too much pride, and being chastised in front of an entire class, if you could call five people a class. Either way, they'd all see it. Hopefully he wouldn't get his ribs broken. That'd suck.

Too irritated and annoyed to really pick up anything around her, including any snide mental comments from other lovely students. She set her green eyes on Roman, staring at him. Her eyes occasionally flicking towards Dyerlich, the tall bastard.

"Okay, all interested bodies are watching, Mr.Roses. Care to carry on with the class?"

The faster this was over with, the faster she could get the hell out of here. There was no point to her being here, she wasn't even from Aedolis, she wasn't even from this damn solar system! The last thing she wanted to do was be in a military section for a country she didn't even know, and from what she'd seen, was full of sheep. Even the black sheep had their own group, and they exactly what the other sheep did, Phenyo would willingly step into a room full of broken glass before turning into some mindless puppet for these freaks to play with.

Of course, she could always pretend.

Pretending was fun.

[Tally]

"Daddy?" Rather unexpectedly that brought a sudden, uncontrollable laughter up in Roman and he had to turn and cough into his hand a couple of times to get himself together again before he could answer Dyerlich.  "Must be your valiant paternal nature.  You want I should start calling you Dad?"

As Val approached, Roman removed the coffee cup from on top of the desk and placed it underneath in anticipation of what was to come.  No sense spilling perfectly good coffee.

"Oh," he said with a little laugh, "I imagine you'll most certainly have to leave after this."  Not in the manner Val wished, though.  For someone with corporate experience in the eat-or-be-eaten business world of Aedolis, the kid had a charming naiveté.  Someone more intuitive, more adept at reading body language, might have noticed the narrowing of Roman's eyes and the anticipatory nature of his smile and been wary.

Roman turned from Val to the rest of the students.  "For anyone who hasn't caught it yet, I am Pilot Royal Roman Rosales.  Over the next few days you will come to understand exactly what is expected of you, but I will tell you this.  One thing you must never do is disobey a direct order from a Pilot."  He grinned and clapped Val on the shoulder.  "As candidate Val did.  Now, I don't expect him to come in here on his second day already knowing this.  That would be unreasonable.  Which is why I'm going to give him a second chance."

He looked at Val now.  His voice lowered and the harmless, casual teacher act was falling away, replaced by an unmistakable smugness as he got up in Val's personal space, using his height and build to physically intimidate.  "I don't want any candidate feeling powerless.  The truth is, you all control your own fates here.  Your actions dictate your future.  They dictate if you will be rewarded...or disciplined.  In a few moments, I am going to give you another direct order, Val.  And what you chose to do after that will determine your fate.  If you choose to disobey that order, you will invite on yourself the consequences.  That is one of the foundations of the candidate program.  And when you receive this next order, I want you to try and master your knee-jerk reaction and ask yourself if you really want to face the alternative.  And no, I will not tell you what the alternative is. Now, that having been said..."  His grin returned, predatory.  "Strip."

Even though the command was not aimed at him, even with all the attention in the room focused elsewhere, Col felt his heart hammering in his chest.  Just do it, he prayed.  It's a trick, just do it.  Roman was giving Val a command he knew the candidate would never obey.   Surely Val could see that.  He had to.

[Anonymous]

Dyerlich could only scowl at Roman as the laughter was brought up. However, no one would have seen it, they only would have seen Dyerlich looking at him and squinting slightly. It was the cowl, always was the cowl. He wore it because he liked it, but he was never able to really get expressions across to anyone. Smiles, grins, frowns, they were all hidden from the world. I did raise you till you were eighteen didn't I? I think it might be appropriate if you did. Dyerlich shot back, though, it was hard to say if he was teasing or just a bit annoyed.

Dyerlich couldn't wait for this. There was going to be so much fun now! He could always trust his brightest student to come through for him.

While the little stunts had been going on, Dyerlich was careful to watch the happenings of the class, and the thoughts of the students. There were so many interesting ones. Some of Phenyo caught his attention, he would discuss that with her later. However, Chica was a little interesting.

She seemed to be...he wasn't even sure how to put it. She seemed to want to be tough. A discussion would be had later with Roman about a few things as well. However, right now Roman had some things that he had to do it seemed. Some rather interesting things. Like punish the rather loud mouthed Val then.

Dyerlich watched idly at what came next. ah hah hah. Right. Make Val strip. This was just too obvious wasn't it? He knew exactly what was happening at this point. If he couldn't see a trap coming, then well...the boy was going to learn what happened when he disobeyed an order from a pilot. How dense could he be for that matter? Think of it.

He just told him not to disobey a Pilot.

Yet he felt like this damned kid was just going to do that. It was going to be a nice meal though. Roman knew what he was doing. He liked his little speech too actually. It was very true to the program. He didn't punish his own students unless they asked for it. Sometimes they really...really asked for it. That was their fault. However he would also reward them if he needed to. He was not unreasonable after all.

Just, he wasn't really sure how to reward people all that much. Not his strong point sadly. That reminded him though.

His eyes looked to Phenyo as he reached his mind out to hers. He didn't want any of the other candidates listening in on this. Don't act surprised. Don't do anything. Just sit there and watch. You and I will need to have a discussion Phenyo. So please don't go bolting out of the room after class ends. He was asking nicely. Being big and bull headed didn't work all that much, so hopefully this might help instead. Hopefully. Now he could go back to watching Val and Roman. Ah, this would be so nice.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Arrow could feel eyes on her, and after a moment she peeled her own eyes off Roman and turned her head--to see the snake-girl staring at her. She squeaked before she could help it and jerked back in her chair, back thunking against the seat. Why was she looking at her?! Why did she keep staring?! What had she ever done to her to make her want to eat her and crush her?! That was when Chica did it. Flicked her head toward Roman...and made the kissy face.

Huh?!

A vivid blush spread from Arrow's cheeks all the way up to the tips of her ears and she shook her head vigorously, mouthing the words "what?" and then "no way!" alternatively. How did snakey get that idea, that she was hot for teacher? What the heck? Granted, Arrow had had her little crushes on teachers before, like in elementary school on her math teacher, but all the girls had crushed on him, too. So what?! It wasn't a big deal, it was just silly school girl stuff! And she wasn't crushing on Roman. He...he acted kind of cool like her old math teacher, he was kind of handsome once you got past the insomniac look, but no way!

Aiming a frown at Chica, Arrow twisted her body in her seat so her back was just about facing the snake-girl and leaned one elbow on her desk, chin propped on her hand. Her face was still flushed, but whatever Snakey thought she was just trying to pay attention to the lesson.

Val stiffened when he was clapped on the shoulder, and it was then that he finally sensed the coming trainwreck. Oh shit. Right, by "help teach the class" what this Roman guy really meant was "I'm going to use you as an example of what not to do", though what the fuck had he done wrong in the first place? The other Pilot had come in guns a-blazing and slapped him for no reason whatsoever, and Roman had basically told him he could leave after that, if not exactly in those words. It was close enough for him, though, it was Roman's fault for being vague. He shifted a little, a nervous action, and looked up at Roman warily.

A second chance, eh?

Even Val, imperceptive as he was, saw the shift in Roman and it took him completely off guard. He hadn't been too worried before. All right, so he was in trouble. Big whoop, wouldn't be the first time, he'd gotten detention before for smart mouthing teachers and crap and Roman seemed pretty reasonable and easy going. Wasn't like he could really do anything, anyway. But then Roman's voice lowered and he was looming over him, unexpectedly menacing, and Val shrank back before he could check himself, shrugging uncomfortably as his personal bubble was invaded. He took a step backwards and averted his eyes for a moment before looking back up at him when he addressed him directly again. As much as he was trying to uphold his signature confident, cocky air it was starting to slip away as he realized, more and more, that he really was in a situation that he had very little control over. Even he could only fool himself for so long.

Still he managed an indifferent shrug and a small nod as Roman explained, rolling his eyes in a "yeah, yeah, let's get this over with" sort of way. Fine. Just do the stupid order then, Val. He could do that, he wasn't stupid enough to put his hand on a hot stove twice and he really didn't want to find out what the alternative was so he could "empower" himself by following some stupid little--

"Strip."

Silence followed the order. Even Val's mind, which was normally quite loud, went completely blank. Val stared up at Roman, eyebrows arched and eyes wide in a mixture of shock and indignation as his mind processed the command, processed the predatory grin that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. For a second he thought he'd heard Roman wrong, that he was just kidding because that couldn't possibly be it and if it was a joke then hah hah, that was a pretty good one.

Then he realized the joke was on him, and he exploded.

"What the fuck are you, some kinda pervert?!" Val shouted, recoiling. So much for knee-jerk reactions. "Fuck no, faggot! That's sexual harassment! You can't order that!"

Arrow clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in a nervous giggle that was anything but amused. She hadn't been here long, but even she knew this couldn't end well.

[Anonymous]

Oh gods! The girl was getting so flustered, it was excellent!

Chica couldn’t remember the last time anyone had reacted this well to her teasing. If the blushing weren’t enough, the frantic attempts at denial certainly made it. She actually cared that Chica thought she was eyeballing the teacher.

When she looked away Chica collapsed onto the desk, trying not to laugh and struggling for breath from the sheer effort. What an absolute….a total….well, there was no word for what that girlie was! It was unbelievable. She seemed so young and naive. Maybe she could tell the kid about the birds and the bees sometime, freak her out good.

While her head was on the table, Chica’s hair was sticking up and watching what was going on at the front of the room. Chica completely missed the order, and it was only when one of her snakes came down and nudged her that she lifted her head and started paying attention again.

He had to what!?

Oh, this was just awesome!

She was going to laugh so freaking hard when that guy had to get naked. She’d laugh and point and wiggle her pinkie and oh what fun shall be had.

But…of course he had to go and ruin her fun. Not that watching someone yell wasn’t a bit fun. And the guy did have a point, Roman looked like he was turning out to be a bit of a boy chaser. A meat grinder. A turd burglar.

She made herself stop down that line of thought before it just got really icky.

She giggled too, not the nervous, girlie giggle that Archer was suppressing, but rather a hissing giggle from behind teeth bared in a snide grin. Pretty boy was gunna get his arse handed to him somehow, and she could not wait to watch.

((Sorry bout the shortness, am a bit busy at the moment))

[Anonymous]

Whoa-ho-ho.

Strip? As in...

Get naked? Phenyo was about to open her big mouth, which would have put her hand on a hot stove for a third time, when she heard Dyerlich asking almost nicely for her to not do anything. Strip. Huh. If she hadn't gotten naked twice in front of her own pilot over the two days she'd suffered with him, she would have been as horrified as Val seemed to be. What the hell was that funny writhing noise? A peek over her shoulder showed it to be Chica, The Snake Thing. Rolling her eyes towards the ceiling she shook her head and turned her eyes to Roman.

That smile suited him oh so well. Predatory, if Val had looked younger it would have been a 'Predatory Child Rapist' grin. Now it was just a 'Predatory Boy Rapist' grin. Or that of a sneaky cat who just got his prize, Phenyo never could tell the difference between the two, just a happy gay man or a happy cat man?  Maybe even a happy gay cat man. Ha, eat that Dyerlich. You're friends with a happy gay cat man. No wait, a Happy Gay Catman Rapist.

All the giggling made her sit up and look over her shoulder again. What the hell? Poor kid refused to get naked, so Phenyo could only assume he'd get something removed, and the two girls behind her were giggling. Well, Arrow had the grace to cover her mouth, but the Snake-Girl was hissing. Putting on a confused face, she rubbed at her neck, pulling the uniform back down again, damn thing was making the healing words so damn itchy.

The hissing thing was pretty annoying, so she shot Chica another glare, aiming her leer at the snake heads. "You should giggle when you get a few of those heads of yours removed. I bet it feels really nice." She said smiling slightly, before poking out her tongue and turning back around to, like Dyerlich asked her too, stare blankly at Roman and Val.

He never said about turning around and harassing the snakey candidate. He just said to sit there and watch. Sorta. Phenyo was glazing over a few details, nothing too important. Besides, she was a newbie! The only person who'd look bad from her freaking out or maybe even doing something stupid and heroic  -- Unlikely -- would be Dyerlich. She almost smiled, but quickly looked down at her desk.

Time to look bored and detached.

Slowly, Phenyo leaned back against the chair, one foot up on her knee and the other flat on the ground. Arms crossed over her chest, careful to hide at least one hand under her arm incase she needed to clench a fist. Wouldn't want anyone to see that. Breathing through her nose, she than began to watch boredly, her lips pulled into a thin line and her eyes hooded and.. Well... Bored looking.

[Anonymous]

"Strip."

Alaina knew what was going on immediately. It was so obvious, and Val still didn't get it. The military owned him now. Among other things, they owned Val's body... and Roman wanted to know how quickly he would adapt to the fact. Stupid, stupid boy.

The instructor didn't seem like a rapist or even an asshole trying to humiliate Val in front of the class. It was just a test, like everything else in this place. In front of the only people who could possibly be your friends from now on, strip. In front of the people who will probably be your enemies soon, strip. There were so many reasons not to. The instructors wanted to know that their wishes were the first priority in Val's mind.

Alaina looked away. She felt sorry for him, nothing more. He was a prick, for sure, but they'd singled him out. Apparently, he wasn't taking it well. He started yelling. He started making poor choices. Alaina planted her face in her palm when she heard him start to curse at Roman. At some point, every one of them would have to strip... or read someone's deepest thoughts... or fire a gun in cold blood... just another loyalty test.

The other kids were laughing, and Alaina could barely hide her disgust. Stupid, stupid. Of course it was entirely possible that one of them might be in the front of the class, but that wasn't the only thing. Alaina was absolutely sure that each and every one of them would join Val in the ranks of humility within the near future. The military would insist on cohesion.

Alaina couldn't bring herself to feel good about it. There was no feeling of revenge or even relief. The military owned them both, and Val's predicament actually made her empathize with him. She didn't have to think too hard about it. Slowly, she looked up at the boy, gave him a long stare, and made her first attempt at telepathy in earnest.

"Do what the man says, kid."

[Tally]

Roman couldn't help himself.  The thoughts flying between Arrow and Chica regarding him were too tempting to pass up, and just to make the girl's life a little more interesting he turned his head and gave Arrow a wink.  Sixteen years old.  A little young...but not too young for his taste.

As Arrow would likely hear among the ATC gossip, Roman had a reputation for making his way through the attractive female candidates, and he had every intention of making her worry about it.  He'd get to her eventually.  Hell, he had years to take advantage of the girls in this room.  Er...well maybe not the snake.  He wasn't even sure how that would work mechanically, and he just plain wasn't into scales.

But he was getting distracted.

His expression was pleasant as he brought one hand up to the back of Val's neck in a touch that was at first soft, almost a caress.  But it was only to provide leverage.  Without warning, he slugged Val square in the stomach.  He didn't give the kid a chance to recover and shoved him backwards onto the desk and clamped a hand over his throat.  "Savage," he snapped.

Col shot to his feet, face pale.

"Get his arms, I want him laid out on top of the desk."  And Col rushed forward and around to the other side of the desk to grapple at Val's arms.  Shit, he weren't gonna fall into the same trap.  Roman wanted him to hold the other candidate down, that's what he'd do, and to hell with Val.  Better him than Col, who had been down this road already and never wanted to go down it again.  He'd had his awakening, what Roman called his 'motivator'.  So maybe this would be Val's motivator, and whatever it was it was his own stupid fault.

"Pilot Dyerlich," Roman said.  "If you would help me get him properly situated and then hold his ankles?"  The desk was six and a half feet long, big enough to stretch Val across the surface with only his feet hanging off the end.  Roman's eyes flicked to the corner, where a small closet was set inconspicuously into the wall.  Over the years he had accumulated a number of useful items in there for use in just this kind of situation.  It was hardly an unprecedented event, him needing to make a very clear and memorable point during orientation.  Sometimes the candidates just got it.  Sometimes they needed to be educated.

He would educate Val today.

[Anonymous]

Dyerlich just acted unobservant, and very bored. That's all he had to do at this time. No one was really talking, they were all...using their thoughts. It was interesting actually. None of them were really using their telepathy, but all of them were reading each other's minds and then just...how to put it? Thinking a response but not sending it. That was actually good, it would be excellent practise for them. This was something they should get used to anyway.

Dyerlich could already tell trouble was brewing between them. It would be fun however. Ah. There it was. Val just snapped. Oh yes, Roman could order anything he wanted really. Just like Dyerlich could. Heh.

He wasn't as free with his orders however. But this was just a test anyway. Dyerlich watched snake girl, Chica for a few minutes. Hm. Funny. She however was going to be fun to discipline. Having to be careful about not getting her goggles off. Oh now there was an idea. I do hope that Kota figures to bolt those goggles right to the Gorgon's skull. That particular thought was shot out to Roman, thinking it was a delightful idea. He would need to bring that up with her if he saw her.

At least Phenyo was behaving. Mostly. He caught her little...upset with Chica but...she could do what she wanted in that regards. It wasn't her fault was it? She was being egged on..sort of. She had even listened to him though. That was a strange thing to see. Maybe the please had worked.

Dyerlich looked up at Roman and smirked a little. "Aw, you said my name." Dyerlich stood up, right to his full height, looming over the five foot, nine inch tall boy. "This is going to be fun Val. And it's all on your head. Idiot child." His arms were longer than most people's, and he stooped a little as he grabbed onto Val's legs suddenly. Dyerlich grew his fingers out suddenly, the claws which slowly piercing into the boy's skin. Heh.

"Here we go." He helped Col get Val onto the desk, that is before he crouched somewhat. It was a quick movement, his arms coming up and then suddenly bringing down his elbows. Everyone would have heard and seen it. The spikes went straight through the ankles, pinning them to the table, and even so, the spikes when into the table, splintering the wood. Dyerlich had sent them in a little angled, allowing him to rest his chin on the palm of his hands.

"I'd say old friend that Val isn't going anywhere." Dyerlich commented idly as he shot a look to his old candidate before looking back to Val's face. He was pretty sure this hurt a lot. He could get his legs repaired. They had a top notch medical facility after all. He still couldn't wait to see what Roman had planned. Already he was feeding off all this hate, all this suffering, pain, all of it was just one big meal for him.

And it was delicious.

[Rhi-Rhi]

If Arrow had been embarrassed before, she cold have died right then and there when Roman turned his head and winked at her. As it was, she just about swallowed her tongue and her face became unbearably hot as the dreaded realization popped into her head: He can probably hear everything I'm thinking. Gah! He can probably hear that, too! Crap! How do you stop thinking?! Uhh, Pilot Royal Roman Roses, yeah, hi, if you're listening right now I...I don't really...you know, no offense but the snake-girl's wrong...oh jeez, I should stop thinking now...sorry!

Pointedly looking anywhere but at Roman now, she sank down further in her seat as though hoping the chair would develop a gaping mouth and swallow her whole before she dug her own hole any deeper. Oh dear...he'd totally gotten the wrong message, and right now she found herself hating the snake-girl. A lot. This was so awkward.

But she'd soon forget that little embarrassment ever happened.

Do what the man says, kid.

The words entered his mind too late, but even if they'd come sooner he had already made his choice and there was no turning back now. Val didn't even have time to properly register the message or feel alarm at the caress of Roman's hand before the man's fist slammed into his stomach. Pain and nausea exploded in his middle and for a moment he couldn't breathe. The world tilted oddly, and it was only when his back and head thunked against a hard surface and Roman snapped orders that he even realized where the hell he was--and that Roman had him pinned by the throat. Oh fuck. He tried to form words to take it all back, tried to pry Roman's hand off him, but his body only convulsed in a fit of coughing, not at all recovered from that blow.

He was recovered at least enough to try and struggle, and when Savage came to take his arms, panic began to overpower the pain and discomfort and he stared up at his peer's pale face with wide eyes as though willing him not to do this. Right now it didn't matter if he was some lower caste brat or not. Heart hammering in his chest and blood rushing in his ears, he tried to resist but found his arms pinned, too, and then Dyerlich was there and going for his legs. Fuck! He aimed a hard kick at the bastard, but he took hold of him with with little issue and Val felt something sharp start to slice into his skin. His breath caught and he yelped, and the panic intensified when he found himself firmly restrained. Oh God, they couldn't be serious! They couldn't do this, whatever this was!

"W-wait! Stop, I take it back! I'll do the damned stripping!" he gasped. He'd give them a fucking strip tease if they'd let him go!

Too late for that. He saw Dyerlich raise his arms and bring them down, and he heard the sickening sound of cracking bone, parting flesh, and the thud of something sharp embedding itself in something hard, felt the vibration of it travel through the desk. Someone was screaming, raw and wordless, and the world seemed to phase out of view as white-hot pain ripped through his ankles. He didn't realize for a few seconds that the scream was his own.

In the back of his mind, somewhere distant and far away, the words "don't cry" popped into his head unexpectedly. Phenyo's words. He hadn't thought anything of them at the time but as the pain shot through him, as his own sharp cry echoed in his ears, the words exploded into his head. Don't cry. Suddenly he understood, and suddenly her behavior made sense, the way she'd been stiffly walking, the carved words, she'd been here. But it was a bit too late for advice like that; he could feel the hot tears rolling down the sides of his face, hear his ragged gasps and whimpers as he sucked in air and choked on pain, and he writhed on the table, head tossed back, back arched, and eyes clenched shut. A hiccupping sob tore free, and he clamped his teeth together stubbornly even as his body shuddered.

Don't fucking cry!

"Fucking assholes!" he cried, voice thick and throat tight, choking the words out. He was trying to be strong, trying to tough it out and not give any fucker here the satisfaction of having something to laugh about, but his voice trembled and his breath hitched on another convulsive sob.

Arrow felt sick, and she buried her face in her hands and looked away, facing more toward Alaina. Her own pulse was racing, her hands felt clammy and shaky, and her stomach had twisted itself into a tight ball of nerves. She wanted to leave, feeling like she really needed to excuse herself to the restroom so she could empty her stomach, but she swallowed hard and held it all in and focused on not drawing attention to herself.

That could have been her up there. That could have been any of them. And bad mouth or not, did that really deserve getting...getting.. .

Arrow pressed her hands tighter to her mouth and took a deep, shaky breath. She didn't want to be here. These people were monsters.

And this had pretty much solidified the fact that, no, she was not hot for teacher. At all.

[Anonymous]

For the second time today Chica was suddenly quiet, and her hair was cowering behind her as best it could. She poked her tongue out in response. It wasn’t like she was doing it on bloody purpose. They just did that. No need to be rude.

That said, of all the people in this room, that chit that raised her hand, Archer, the mouthy boy, and the quiet one that she’d barely even noticed, Phenyo with her snide remarks and cocky attitude was most certainly the most appealing person to Chica. Nothing better than a good adversary.

She grinned again when she caught the wink Roman sent at Archer and then watched the girls’ reaction. Oh yes, hot for teacher indeed.

Now, while Chica had quietly, or perhaps not so quietly judging by Phenyo’s little comments, been looking forward to watching the kid get what was coming to him, she had expected something a little more…normal. The punch wasn’t unexpected, or even how he was held down on the table. It looked like he was going to have a normal beating. Well…perhaps not entirely normal in modern schools, but there were still places where that sort of thing went on.

But the moment Dyerlich, which was the big guys name apparently, sent some sort of…elbow spikes through the boys legs, well, that was a little bit of a shock.

Fucking…wow. These guys were serious. Phenyo’s comments about cutting off her hair were suddenly more real. They might actually do that to her. That was worse than cutting off a finger or stabbing someone through both ankles and impaling them to a desk. That was like…like….like cutting out her eyes!

She didn’t panic. Now wasn’t the time for panic. Chica prided herself on a highly analytical brain that didn’t succumb to panic. She hadn’t always been big after all, and a small snake-girl tends to take a lot of punishment from bigger not-snake-girls, so she was rather good at stifling her fear to think clearly.

They’d given the boy a choice. That was a good sign. The choice meant that this served a purpose, rather than just being sadistic. The lesson was clear enough, you do what they tell you, or you suffer for it. Far better to be naked than tortured. So the principal was simple, she did what she was told by the pilots. If she did what she was told, she would hopefully get off with the lesser of two evils. Failure to complete a set task would probably also, logically, result in similar treatment. So she had to pass everything. Well…that obviously wasn’t going to happen. But if she was prepared for it, punishment wouldn’t be as bad. Theoretically.

She put on her blankest face. The face she put on when people were beating her up. It was a face that reflected utter internal calm. She had to be calm, if she wasn’t calm, people got hurt. Her hair had a poisonous bite, so getting angry could mean death. And death was messy and hard to explain.

She looked straight at the boy, but let her eyes glaze over and go out of focus. Just don’t pay it any attention.

[Anonymous]

"Get his arms, I want him laid out on top of the desk."

Roman barked orders at the candidate who arrived with him, and together they lifted Val onto the table. He protested, but they held him down with uncomfortable ease. The other instructor, who'd kept completely still until now, stepped forward and extended his hands over the boy. Alaina couldn't even see the man's face through the cowl, but she knew he was smiling.

She looked away, staring down at the datapad. There was a sickening crunch and she knew Val's legs had been splintered. She knew if she looked up, she would see pieces of bone, the boy lying prone on Roman's desk, two bloody spikes attached to the cowled instructor's elbows. Alaina didn't look up. She felt the scene anyway. It appeared over and over again in her mind, like an instant replay on the Haviah Sports Network. It was perhaps the most crystal-clear psychic image she'd ever seen.

Alaina's eyes began to water and her vision blurred. It was a sign of weakness in front of hard military men, but she couldn't help it. At the same time, she knew it was important to think very carefully about the situation. There would be orders in the future far less reasonable than the one given Val... and Alaina knew that the others in the room would be much more willing to accept them now. The Pilots were smart, and they were also not messing around. It confirmed her suspicions that the program was aimed to desensitize, to take away the inhibitions of the civilian and introduce new ones. The fear of disobeying an order, for instance.

She had been prepared to follow orders from the first minute. Hell, if she were in Val's place, she probably would have stripped. But now she had a different fear... she was scared that she'd be tortured, even if she did everything they asked of her. Being around here long enough must make you at least a little sadistic. Where were the lessons? Where were the psychic training programs? There was nothing but fear to see, at least so far. We get it. Orders are orders, and disloyalty is pain.

Alaina dried her eyes hurriedly and tilted her head up, staring blankly at the results of their sickening first lesson. Wouldn't do to look like a weak civilian, or they'd try to beat it out of her. Gazing at Val's bloody figure was difficult, and she found herself trying to look away. The girl next to her was breathing heavily, obviously as disturbed as Alaina by the proceedings. That was good to know. At least she wasn't alone.

[Anonymous]

What would be a good look for this situation? Content boredom? Just a hint of interest? Perhaps a perked eyebrow and a small twitch to a corner of her lips. The first bout of her 'boredom' was ruined when Mr.Roses winked at Arrow, already having a budding Older Sister outlook towards the girl, Phenyo shot him a nasty glare with a very obvious frown, she didn't care if he saw it or not, but it made her feel better. Sick fuck. she mentally snarled at him before turning her attention back to Val.

Through out most of the ordeal, Val getting punched and thrown back onto the desk, Col standing up like a kicked puppy to follow his masters orders, Phenyo leaned back, looking bored but intrigued. Just the way she figured her pilot would want her to look. Look detached and emotionless, a good front for her racing heart and earnest want to help him get out of this.

Of course the spikes surprised her. Phenyo didn't remember those being on Dyerlich, but her eyes didn't even flick away when she heard and saw him drive them through the boys ankles. Shifted a little to get a little more comfy, sure, but her face didn't change except for a bit of a frown. The screaming hurt her ears. Pretend to be as heartless as they want you to be and you'll do fine. You could check up on him later, with or without permission. You couldn't check up on him if you're in the infirmary too.

Hell, maybe even give him a hug.

Phenyo tilted her chin up and sat up a little higher, trying to look him in the face, maybe he just needed eye contact with someone calm, stare at someone so he had something else to focus on besides the fact that he had two spikes through his ankles and the punishment hadn't even started yet. Of course it probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a try. Phenyo had a good idea that everyone else was pulling the same card she was, look carefully detached but feel horrible inside. It was a good front, even though Phenyo knew that the second this was over she'd probably get up and start barking at them again.

Unfortunately for these pilots, and very possibly herself, Phenyo was very slow when it came to learning lessons. Put her hand on a hot stove twice, mouth off the wrong person four times, irritated the scary pokey pilot more than enough. No lessons yet.

Blinking slowly, letting her eyes flicker to Dyerlichs covered face. Would he be smiling? Delighting in the poor boys pain and agony? Did he actually expect her to listen any better after he was done torturing someone else? Phenyo knew he fed on negative emotions, she didn't even feed on them and she could simply feel it radiating off of Val. A pang of pride rang out in her chest when he swore at them. Sure it was a bad move, but don't let them know they've broken you, don't let them begin to think they've torn you.

Letting out a slow breath, she shifted again, resting her arm back onto the desk behind her and resting her head on her hand, blinking boredly and making a bored face, idly playing with her hair. Of course she was watching, she was paying attention, she was giving reactions they wanted.

Just like she was told to.

Because dammit if she wasn't going to give Val a hug if he survived this lovely little class. Fuck Dyerlich and his chat, she knew what he was going to say, and she had a feeling that she'd get to meet his spikes soon enough, might as well do it while she was mostly whole. The hugging that is.

[Tally]

As soon as Col and Dyerlich had a hold of Val, Roman released his throat and stepped back, watching the struggle and directing them until Val had been situated to his liking.  And there it was, exactly what he'd been expecting.  Val backpedaling, asking for another chance to obey.  Good.  Roman loved these moments, when they were reduced to begging.  That's when you knew you were getting to the heart of them.  "You made your choice," was all he said in response.

Roman paused to hunker down and take a sip from his coffee cup.  So glad he'd anticipated Val's response and set it down there.  "That'd be one solution," he said to Dyerlich in response to the comment regarding Chica.  "Might be easier and less risky to just gouge her eyes out, though.  Not like it would be the first time."  There had been blind Pilots before.  If Chica had it in her, she'd make it through even with both her eyes gone.

Ignoring all the psychic chatter flying around, including Phenyo's comment—he had an idea how to fix that one and without even laying a hand on her—Roman stood back up and sauntered over to the closet.  Inside were all kinds of things, an eclectic gathering of useful items.  Branding irons, chains and ropes of various lengths, needles and thread, potato peelers...it looked almost like any junk closet.  The light inside was broken and Roman had to rummage around, tossing things here and there, to find what he was looking for.  And find it he did.  In pulling a box of fish hooks down off a shelf, the thing he was looking for fell to the ground with an enormous crash.  He had to leap out of the way to avoid it falling on his foot.  Wouldn't that have just been the ultimate poetic irony?

He picked up the sledgehammer and walked out with it.

As Roman came into Val's line of sight he was all smiles, the large hammer resting against one shoulder.  He even did the kid a favor and, using an opposing thoughtwave frequency, interrupted the flow of signals from Val's nociceptors to his brain.  It would cut off most of the pain for as long as Roman held it.  He wanted Val alert and lucid and fully appreciative of the situation before the hammer fell.

"This," he said, "is a very exciting moment for you, candidate Mynatt.  Because you are learning something.  You are shedding ignorance and that is an incredible thing.  Your illusions might be shattered along with your body."  His eyes flickered to Col and he hefted the hammer in both hands.  "This will be your motivator."

Col's position, leaning all his weight upon Val's upper arms, forced him to look the other candidate square in the face.  His own felt cold and pale, but he couldn't turn away.  He was transfixed, staring into Val's eyes, dark hair falling around his face and his lips slightly parted in disbelief of where he was, what he was doing.   He felt like...he should say something.  Something encouraging-like.  Anything.

But he was struck dumb, and couldn't stop imaging himself up there.

[Anonymous]

Dyerlich almost laughed at the idea of gouging her eyes out. True, there had been blind pilots, there had been deaf and mute pilots before, but he wasn't so sure taking the woman's eyes would be all that good of an idea. You sure that would be smart? The poor creature is going to have enough trouble completing the physical training with the snake parts, adding her being blind, might as well toss her right to TRIM. His idea just was safer, it kept people from turning to stone, or her using herself as a weapon if she got really scared.

Dyerlich tossed a look over his shoulder to the closet that was just filled with...well there were so many things in there, things that Roman had just acquired over the years no doubt. They were...innocent things really. Things you wouldn't expect to be hurt with, at least not in the military. Try to go easy on Phenyo...she's...ugh. Got a mouth on her. He would discipline her of course, but he didn't want Roman to go ahead and do that all for him. He had such plans already!

Dyerlich let an eyebrow raise up as he saw the sledge hammer approach in the hands of Roman. Alright. This would not be a happy day for Val. This would be...interesting. Dyerlich didn't feel sorry for Val, but he did seem...rather sorry that Val's pain had disappeared suddenly. No more...suffering, no more negative emotions...nothing.

They would return however, Roman was just being...most people would call this sadistic really.

Maybe even illegal, but as Pilots, this was well within their right.

Dyerlich almost wanted to say it was going to hammer in some information for Candidate Mynatt, but really that would have been in bad taste. He didn't have the best sense of humour out there did he? It was probably best that he not say anything out loud. Instead he focused more on the candidates, on their little chatter.

Phenyo's little comments were starting to annoy him. She wasn't going to go anywhere. He might have to borrow some chains from that closet but she would have a chat with him, and that was the plan. She could go and visit Val in the infirmary after ward. She was wrong though, she wouldn't meet his spikes, and she had no idea what he was going to say.

Next time he misbehaves, you should dump the fish hooks on the ground and make him roll in them. Not by will, take over the cortex that controls motor functions and use him like a puppet. The fish hooks looked a little rusted and just so alone, it wasn't fair to keep them all in a box and not use them.

He didn't see Roman as a fisherman anyway.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Roman had vanished out of his line of vision but Val could hear him doing...something. There were various crashing sounds coming from somewhere in the room and each one made him gasp and jump. It might not have been so bad if he could tell what he was doing--well, not any worse, at least--but no matter how he twisted it didn't improve the view, and pain made it nigh impossible to move or even think. Every little movement just made it feel like the spikes were tearing at him more, and it was effort enough to keep his teeth clamped together and his shuddering cries muffled. It wasn't very successful, but fuck if he wasn't trying when all he wanted to do was scream.

The larger crash made him jolt violently, and Col could probably feel his body trembling. He wouldn't be surprised if people could hear his heart beating frantically.

It didn't get much better when Roman finally walked back into sight carrying a fucking SLEDGEHAMMER and smiling oh so cheerfully.

Val went stock still and stared at the hammer, eyes wide and face white, breath coming out in shallow, quick pants. His stomach lurched sickeningly and his head swam. The pain had abruptly sank to bearable levels, a dull throb as opposed to excruciating agony, but Val hardly even noticed at that point as his blood went cold even as beads of sweat gathered along his skin. He couldn't be serious. He was insane. But his already pierced ankles told him that he was, and he had no reason to believe the man was ever joking about anything.

Exciting moment? Shedding ignorance? Because he was getting tortured?! The only thing he was shedding right now was blood! Val shook his head, silently pleading with Roman not to do it since his throat had seized up on him. He couldn't. He couldn't do this. He couldn't!

Roman hefted the hammer, and Val flipped bravery the bird.

"You're crazy! You're fucking crazy!" Val sobbed, yanking hard at his arms, but they were held down fast and he could hardly move them, much less his body given the way he was stretched out. Still he thrashed in earnest then, not caring it it tore his ankles more because it would be worse anyway if he didn't get away. For the first time since Roman returned, Val tore his eyes away from the hammer and stared up at the only person around him who could possibly help him right now, eyes wild with panic as they locked onto Col's. "Let go! Let go, please!" he begged, tears falling freely and body shivering. "I'm sorry! I'm fucking sorry! Please, I'll do it! Please!"

Arrow closed her eyes tight and brought her hands up close to her ears, wanting to cover them, wanting to make everything go away. She didn't want to see it or hear it when the hammer did fall. She may not have been the one up there, but cold dread gripped her all the same and tears fell silently down her cheeks. She felt like she was going to throw up, and she'd already had to swallow down bile twice.

And she felt like an utter coward for just sitting there as it happened, but no one else was moving, either. And she felt sick thinking that one day she might be the one up there--or the one helping.

She wasn't sure which would be worse.

Cracking an eye open, she briefly scanned the room for the nearest trash can and took a deep breath. She might need it.

[Anonymous]

As it turned out, fear wasn’t the strongest emotion Chica had to fight. The anger that begin to bubble in the pits of her stomaches threatened to consume her entirely. She closed her eyes and ground her teeth. Couldn’t get angry. Mustn’t kill anyone.

Oh gods.

Then Roman pulled out a sledgehammer. That was…it was just too far. She hated dickhead teachers, and she hated bullies….though she sort of was one herself in some ways…

This guy was both, and it tore her up.

She didn’t care, she didn’t! She didn’t give a rats about the boy or whatever happened to him. Better him than me right?

She planted her elbows on the desk, grabbing fistfuls of her hair to hold up her hanging head. This was just sick, he was he was talking was sick. She felt sick.

Why didn’t that Savage guy do something? Why didn’t he let go? Why didn’t someone do something? She couldn’t talk, sitting there like a coward. Doing nothing, just like everyone else.

But she couldn’t do anything. He was a freaking pilot! If she acted it would be useless anyway, not like she could do anything to make him stop. She was rather strong when it came to telekinesis, though she did lack proper control, but against a pilot….he’d probably brush her off like a bug. And after that…she’d be the one lying on that table next.

It would seem however that, no matter how hard she fought it, Chica did care. Perhaps not over the guy himself, but the principal of it. She wasn’t prone to doing selfless things, but she also had little control over her abilities when she was mad. And what a rage it was that came out, completely against her will.

Whenever she did something telekinetically she tended to imagine it like hands coming out of her head. She could see them, sort of. It wasn’t like seeing, more like the way you can feel your own arm even if you can’t see it.

Right then, in her minds eye, two very large arms sprouted from her brain. They shot forward, their speed only limited by the speed at which her mind could imagine them moving, intent on knocking Col away and stopping that hammer.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to!” Chica screamed as they did, eyes wide and her nails digging into the desk where she’d grabbed it in her sudden fear. Oh gods, she was going to die. They were going to kill her.