Sort of Lost, Sort of Not Going That Direction. ((Open!))

[Anonymous]

'Was there really a need to be sneaky around here?' Vaughan though feeling less than sneaky, ' If they know what I'm doing anyway, why hide it?' He'd been here for little over a week, and because he wandered around so much, of course not taking note of where he was going. Vaughan had a pretty good sense of direction, of course that was because he relied on landmarks, and after halls and halls and door ways and halls and even more hall ways of white, gray and well.. White, it was hard to know where he was going.

It was amazing he'd been able to return to his dorm on time before he got hunted out and beaten for being out when he shouldn't be.

The spiky red haired youth felt rather bold today as he was walking around.

So he was looking at a kinky bondage magazine while wandering about. While he'd been a lead singer in a band, of course before he'd been found, they'd looked to Cables and Wires (Said kinky bondage magazine) for ideas. Now Vaughan was just looking at it to see people for their reaction. Some of them have been pretty entertaining so far.

One person nearly ran into a wall.

Hee.

Seventeen and already popular with underground music. They'd been so close to a break through, so many people knew about them already! Then a damn pilot had to come to a concert and bust him. Him. The lead singer. Now IF would have to reform it's music to blend in another singer. Unless they could find someone who sounded like him. Vaughan stared down at the page with a pair of girls doing interesting things to each other without seeing it. For a fairly popular and successful teenager, the only thing he let himself boast about was his voice.

He personally thought it was pretty damn awesome.

There was a nagging feeling at the back of his spikey red head. Then it hit him like a tonne of bricks.

He'd missed orientation. By a week.

Oh shit.

Amber eyes looked around for a moment before he wandered in one direction or another. The dirty magazine still presenting its risqué cover to the world. Hallway rather. If Vaughan knew where it was in the first place he'd have been more than happy to go, maybe. In all his wanderings he hadn't seen any other candidates. Or any pilots that payed specific attention to him, which was good! It meant he wouldn't get into huge trouble.

'Cause that would suck.

So, Vaughan in all his gray clad red-haired glory wandered around the hall ways, a bondage magazine in front of his face with his eyes on any people he'd be walking past. Luckily none of them had recognized him so far, not surprising, but their expressions were still priceless.

[Rhi-Rhi]

So, some candidate was walking around with porn.

Gabriel sighed and rolled his green eyes ceiling-ward. He hadn't even encountered the magazine first hand yet, but he could see the cover plain as day. Unfortunately. Sometimes out of sheer boredom he let down some of his mental blocks and extended his range so that he could pick up on the thoughts of those non-Pilots around him...and today those thoughts were apparently centered around porn. Go figure. That was one of the reasons he did this so rarely: it could give him a headache very quickly if he wasn't careful, getting bombarded with so many different thoughts and images and emotions all at once, but seeing as orientation was at least a week past, he figured it was safe enough to give it a go. By now, the kids should be fairly recovered from that trauma.

A sledgehammer. Good Gods, Romance. Made his knees ache just thinking about that. Hell, he still had scars from his own candidacy, but that was a new one.

A blushing, mousy-haired girl rushed by him, and another image flashed through his head. This time he saw more than just a magazine: red spikey hair and amber eyes peeking over the scandalous cover. Ohoho. Well if that kid didn't look familiar. Just his luck, too, because he was one of two reasons that he was wandering around the ATC, and the other reason had black hair.

Gabriel took a deep breath and stretched as he walked. Right. Time to get his mentoring mojo on.

It didn't take long to find him. Just follow the horrified and curious and shocked thoughts, pay attention to the surroundings he saw in the images he got, and track him down. Before long, he could 'feel' Vaughan's mind (it was familiar to him since he'd met him before), and when he turned a corner he saw him there, walking down the hall with his back to him. Perfect. Gabriel sauntered casually after him, confident he wouldn't turn around since he'd sound like just another person coming down the hall. When he was close enough he flicked Vaughan on the shoulder with a thread of telekinesis while rounding on him from the opposite side and tapping him on that shoulder with a finger.

"Hiiiii! Long time no see!" he greeted cheerfully, all smiles. "Vaughan, right? Well, duh, of course you're Vaughan, just testing you. Oh, oh, by the way, I never got a chance to tell you this but I'm really sorry I kinda ruined your life! Gotta say, though, you gave a killer final performance! Even if you didn't know it was your last performance but omigod it was awesome as if you knew--maybe psychically--it was the last time you'd ever sing with IF and wanted to make it memorable!" he gushed, moving so he was standing in front of Vaughan.

"At least it only sucked at the end, right? You're so awesome. Oh yeah! I'm glad I finally found you, because I have something really important to tell you. You know how you're a candidate and everything and I'm a Pilot? And you know how there's that mentoring program thing? Welp, I'm your mentor! Cool, huh? Also you should put that away. That's not really appropriate, we got youngsters here, y'know, you being one of 'em," He said suddenly, pointing at the magazine and frowning. Somehow he managed to completely switch gears effortlessly and all while barely taking a breath between words.

Nah, he wasn't excited.

Despite what he'd said--the part about him being a Pilot--Gabriel didn't really look the part. He was out of uniform and was instead dressed in a pair of jeans and a band shirt. An IF band shirt. Alright, so maybe he was just being downright cruel now, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Folding his arms over his chest, he looked Vaughan over from head to toe and purposely avoided looking at the magazine. "Still as short as I remember. Huh. Anyhoo! Back to business. I'd like to take the time to inform you that you're kind of in trouble, kiddo. Missing orientation and by a freakin' week if your thoughts are correct? Good Gods, not even I was that bad. But don't worry, I'll just inform your friendly neighborhood Director of Candidate Affairs, mister Pilot Rosales, later and I'm sure he'll be more than thrilled to fill you in on the details. Hammer it in your head. Ehehe...ahem. That was totally tasteless." He coughed. Right, right...where to start, what was he forgetting...oh duh.

"I'm Gabriel by the way. Gabriel Tierney, Pilot Echo, in case you've forgotten which you probably have. Welp, now that's taken care of, if you'd put that magazine away, we're gonna go find your partner so I can kill two birds with one stone. And if I'm going too fast, just tell me to slow down, will ya? I've had like...a lot of coffee. Any questions so far? How you liking hell so far? Oh, excuse me, the ATC."

Ahh, addiction. If he wasn't addicted to the Network, he was addicted to coffee.

[Anonymous]

Alaina wrapped her fingers around the styrofoam cup, turning the corner. That excuse for coffee they served in the cafeteria was ridiculously weak, which meant she had to drink it almost constantly to stay awake. Forget a good night's sleep; she doubted any of the Candidates had slept with both eyes closed since the sledgehammer incident. Roman scared her.

At least the intro-psych material had been interesting. Her mentor had sent her a few documents to study before his arrival, and they mainly focused on how the human brain worked. Alaina had wondered for a moment whether the same principles applied to the snake-girl, but resolved not to ask about it. She'd always hated smartasses, and it was troublesome how much she'd been acting like one over the past week.

Oh, no. No.

There he was, on the other end of the corridor. This was her chance. Candidate Liik himself, zipped into a gray jacket and holding... some sort of kinky... whatever. Alaina managed a bit of a smile in spite of herself. She was in love with Indigenous Fairy, and seeing one of her idols lost in the pages of a bondage mag was amusing, to say the least.

But ohgod... what do I say to him?

Next to Vaughan stood a man with unkempt blond hair wearing an IF shirt and holding a cup of the same depressing brew. Alaina hadn't seen him on the day of orientation, so maybe he wasn't part of their section. He was remarkably good-looking, too... she genuinely wondered who he was for a moment, but his next words came out of nowhere.

"I'm Gabriel by the way. Gabriel Tierney, Pilot Echo, in case you've forgotten."

Alaina's heart leapt up into her throat, completely choked for words. That would be her mentor, returning way sooner than she'd expected. He'd come across as a bit obnoxious in the emails. Alaina brushed a few strands of hair over her ears, pausing for a nervous moment in the hallway.

"...we're gonna go find your partner, so I can kill two birds with one stone."

Or one sledgehammer. Ugh. Taking a few steps forward, she emerged from the shuffling crowd and waved one hand tentatively in their direction, holding the coffee cup tightly in the other. Hopefully this wouldn't be as painful or awkward as orientation.

[Anonymous]

Like any good person. Vaughan looked over the shoulder that was tapped first, frowning when there was no one there then BAM. Blondie. All up in his face. And... Vaughan could only blink his amber eyes and stare and... Try not to laugh. This guy was hyped up on something, Vaughan was tempted to cover his goods just in case the random guy was going to do a grope and run.  Scary fangirls did that.

Oh.

It was him.

A quiet glare for a moment before his passive attitude washed it away and all the compliments about his last - woe - performance made him blush lightly, cough and look away. The bondage magazine in his hand was folded to the raunchiest page he could find, pointing it outwards for the hallways to see. Vaughan managed a quiet 'Thanks' to all the compliments about being awesome before he felt like wincing and running down the hall way. His mentor. This gushing fan was going to be his - HEY.

His eyes caught the picture on his mentors t-shirt. Not just any band. His band. Amber eyes glared up at Gabriel before he rolled them and cracked into a semi-polite, semi-cocky smile. "So, these youngesters, are you one of 'em?" Vaughan smiled again and looked down at the tasteful, yet horribly disturbing image on the page. "I'll have you know that if I can sing about it," Vaughan lifted the magazine to Gabriels face and tapped the page with the two ladies "I can look at it." Then he shrugged against and shook his head.

This guy was going to be his mentor. And Vaughan didn't get the hammer joke, he did how ever gasp half-heartedly at the short comment. "Yeah, yeah." He muttered before being babbled at. Again. Geeze, this guy just didn't stop! Vaughan could only smile and lift his black eyebrow. Gabriel Tierney. He knew it started with a G! Vaughan gave himself a mental pat on the back before he tucked the dirty magazine under his arm and put his hands into the pockets of his uniform. "Hell? Eh, it's white and cold at night and lonely." Vaughan poked his lower lip out in a faux pout before looking up.

There was a woman! And she was waving. Heeey.

Vaughan was a smart boy. Vaughan could put two and two together. A bright grin rippled across his face and he all but trotted towards her. He gave an evil cackle in his head before pulling the magazine out for this girl to see. Woman? Vaughan looked her up and down and frowned slightly. The gray uniform made it hard to tell, she looked like a woman but there was that cute lower face that made her look like a girl and... Vaughan shook his head and showed her the page on the opposite side from the ladies.

"You look artistic. Which is better..." Vaughan stood beside her and flipped the magazine back and forth, as an artistc, he found the lighting lovely. As a teenage boy, he found the pictures pretty dang sexy, too. "Ladies or lady?" He tilting his head for a moment before tucking it under his arm, closed this time and then smiled at her. "Sorry, I'm trying to irritate him. Told me to put it away so I had to show someone a picture before I did."  A quick shake of his head and he poked his tongue out towards Gabriel before smiling at the girl. Alaina.

Being psychic was pretty damn cool.

"I'm Vaughan. Ignore his shirt." Here was to hoping that he could just be another candidate! He already had a pilot gushing over his - As entertaining as flattering as it was - "It's not really me. I'm just a sexier look alike." All said with the same happy-ish experession.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Aww! He was blushing! Which was a much better sight than, y'know, the glare. Couldn't blame the kid if he hated him, though; he'd felt the exact same way when he'd been tossed into the program, and he had to admit that he couldn't have chosen a more bastardly way to wrangle Vaughan in. Not that he'd known when he'd gone to the concert that Vaughan was a psychic but yeah, the kid had every right to be pissed. Gabriel smiled back patiently and waved a hand dismissively, ignoring yet another glare. "Weeell, I guess that just depends on what you define as a young...ster...uh?"

WHAM. Lesbians in the face. Bondage-y dominatrix-y lesbians. It took Gabriel a second or two to register just what the hell was going on in the picture, green eyes wide and staring, before a blush darkened his cheeks as it all sank in. It was an effort not to recoil, though his shoulders jerked and he averted his eyes. "W-what the crap?!" he blurted, reaching out to swat the magazine away and out of his face, but Vaughan tucked it under his arm and he missed. Frowning, he let it slide. For now.

That magazine was so going.

He managed a sympathetic smile at Vaughan's description of the ATC, noting the kid didn't mention anything about crazy sadistic Pilots or bratty candidates. Maybe he'd just been lucky so far--oh right, missed orientation. That explained it. Shoot, how many classes had he missed, anyway? Candidates had to attend a lot of other classes, too; this mentoring deal was only a fun extra. His eyes narrowed a little as he looked Vaughan over, a little concerned for him already as he started to fall out of the role of adoring fan and into the role of a mentor. The kid was not starting out on the right foot here...

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but then he noticed Vaughan was looking beyond him so he followed his gaze and squinted a little as his eyes landed on a waving woman--and then he blinked in sudden recognition. Whoa! Alright, scratch hunting the other candidate down, this made things a lot easier. That perked him back up again.

"Ah, well speak of the devil! Heeey theeere!" Gabriel smiled cheerily and waved back enthusiastically, hailing Alaina on over. Poor dear looked so nervous, and considering the sledgehammer e-mail he'd gotten from her, he could understand why. But before Alaina could come to them, Vaughan was off, and Gabriel palmed his forehead when the kid trotted on over to, of course, show her the magazine. Good grief. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, he tossed back the rest of his coffee, threw it in a trash bin, and went to join the two.

"Right!" Gabriel said, coming up behind Vaughan and yanking the magazine out from under his arm. He rolled it up and lightly whacked Vaughan upside the head with it. "I think everyone's seen enough of that. Besides, you don't get porn 'til you're a fourty-year-old Pilot, kiddo. Unless Roman likes you. Then you get to be a star. But I digress. Kinda." He coughed and gave a final curious glance down at the magazine cover, made a face, and then sent the magazine floating off across the room to the nearest trash can. Then, clapping his hands together and smiling again, he looked at them both and pointedly ignored Vaughan's comment.

"So! Hiii! Alaina! You look so much better in person! Taller, too. Relax, don't look so nervous, I'm not gonna eatcha though I might steal your coffee if you don't chug it fast. Anyhoo...Alaina Elise, meet Vaughan Liik, Vaughan Liik, meet Alaina Elise, and everyone meet me, Gabriel Tierney. You can call me Gabriel, Gabe, Gabby, or Pilot Tierney if that makes you more comfy. I'm in Cant Echo, pretty low on the food chain but not the algae, more the bottom feeder. Great! Now that we're all acquainted, let's get walking and talking because I can't really stand still right now."

Gabriel slipped his hands into his pockets and started to lead the way, of which he had no real destination, and he continued on his spiel. "Now, first things first. No trying to irritate me," he said, tossing a look at Vaughan. "While making people paraplegics just isn't my style, as Alaina very well knows other Pilots won't hesitate to take out your knees for talking back. Respect! It's a biggie here. Be disrespectin' peeps, and you're gonna get gut. Not by me, per se, and it's common courtesy to leave the major disciplining to the mentor, so...anyhow, I'm not gonna bust any knees or nothin', but I'm not gonna go soft on you two, either. My job's to make Pilots outta you, whatever it takes. You may hate me by the time your four years is up, but I don't really care 'cause I'd prefer that over you guys getting vivisected at TRIM. Got it? Whatever scars you get, just think: it could be a looot worse."

Finally he paused and took a breath. "Okay! So before I go on another long-winded tirade, guys got any questions?"

[Anonymous]

Vaughan pushed something in her face. The lesbian bondage pictures again. Alaina wasn't really taken by surprise; after all, she'd spent enough time listening to Indigenous Fairy's lyrics not to be a little used to it. She didn't remember porn magazines being on the program's packing list, though. It was also kind of weird that he was talking to her about it, but she decided to call him on it.

"Mm. The angles for the model shot are well done. The other one's a bit... no comment."

Alaina raised an eyebrow as the magazine sailed swiftly into a trash can, then glanced up at her new mentor. Gabe Tierney, the one who would be teaching her and keeping her in line for the next few years. He was hyperactive, talking in short bursts, his hands shaking with caffeine and a sort of strange excitement that made Alaina wary.

"Thanks... Gabriel... I take it you know him already?"

With a somewhat forced smile, she raised the styrofoam cup to her lips and downed the rest of the coffee. Can't have him stealing that. There were notes all over the complex bulletin boards about how the beverage would no longer be served in the cafeteria. Cant Imperial orders, something about ensuring proper Pilot conduct. From tomorrow on, there would be a strict regimen of either unsweetened herbal tea or water. Alaina didn't exactly know what prompted the choice, but it was becoming increasingly likely that Gabriel had something to do with it. In any case, she was determined to get her fix while she still could.

"Um... yeah, Vaughan, you might want to watch those kneecaps. Life is pretty rough for us here, no joke. And I did know your name before he told me, surprise."

Alaina flashed him the hint of a grin and crushed the styrofoam cup in her fingers, tossing it into the trash can. The last of the coffee was gone and she didn't even mind; she was almost enjoying this. Her co-advisee was a singer from a band she'd actually heard of. Gabriel didn't seem like a power-abusing asshole when he spoke, which was more than could be said of the other Pilots she'd met. The caffeine prohibition would probably hit him hard, though, so she was completely prepared for that to change.

"No questions, Pilot Tierney."

[Anonymous]

Not being able to help himself, Vaughan stuck his tongue out at Gabriel when he said Alaina looked taller in person. Making more stabs at his 5'5" no doubt. Tall jerk. Amber eyes leered upwards towards their mentor. Of course he'd been pleased when Alaina played along with him and made an artistic comment on the lesbian porn. Vaughan knew as well as the next person that all it really was was lesbian porn. Thought it was nice to pretend that it held some artistic value made him feel less perverted when he looked at them.

Vaughan pursed his lips and looked between then two for a moment be while Gabriel introduced everyone to everyone. Feeling just a tad put out at getting his last dirty magazine taken away and floated over to the trash. Cool, Vaughan would have to play with telekineses one day. He knew he was fairly good with the whole telepathy thing, using it more than once to 'borrow' ideas from people, but his telekineses could use some work. Vaughan's brain floated full of images of a puppet play with voice throwing and telekineses. Scare the shit out of little children. Ooo, make books talk to them.

Snapping back to reality, Vaughan gave a wide eyed look at Gabriel. Questions? He had a question. Which flew out of his head. "...Kneecaps?" Vaughan looked down at his legs then back up at Alaina, a smooth black eyebrow high on his forehead in a silent question while pointing to his knees. "Kneecaps."  A solemn nod and Vaughan broke out of his momentary confusion. He'd rather not know about the whole kneecaps thing, gore made him squeamish.

Okay, real gore. Fake gore was fine, fake vomit was fine, real stuff? Ewwww. Gross.

Right! The question. Vaughan cleared his throat, and stuck his arms out, making some sort of ghetto finger motions while he talked. "I have a question, yo!" He moved his foot to the side and posed, shoulders up and hunched, his head tilted up so he looking up at Gabriel now. "C'nai call you P.Master Gabby, yo?" Some more hand movements and he was done, stood up normally and fixed his uniform before smiling and looking from his partner in crime and their immature mentor.

Er, very mature manly mentor.

Pfft.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel flashed Alaina a sheepish grin. "Hehe, yeah, we met before. I ruined his life," he answered simply, running a hand through his long blonde bangs. "Didn't mean to, honestly! I was at his last concert, see, then I realized, whoa, he's a psychic! So I got to meet him backstage afterwards and slap him with the news that, surprise, he's earned himself a one-way ticket straight into the fiery pits of hell. For the record, that wasn't fun for me, either. I don't like ruining lives, just part of the job sometimes, but he took it pretty well!" He clapped Vaughan on the shoulder and smiled.

Of course, he'd learned from a certain letter that Vaughan probably wasn't taking it as well as he acted, but he'd address that issue in private. No need to bring up something that could be potentially embarrassing to the kid in front of one of his peers, after all. At least not in the beginning. By the time they were Pilots--and they were going to become Pilots no matter what it took; he was not losing any of his candidates to TRIM--they'd all know each quite intimately.

On a platonic mental level.

He gave Alaina a sympathetic smile as she warned Vaughan to watch his kneecaps (also noting how quickly she consumed her coffee. Haha, always good to know anther addict) and then nodded when she said she had no questions. However, there was something troubling there. For one, the fact that Alaina even had to explain that to Vaughan was...strange. Everyone knew about that incident; the news had spread like wildfire and every gracie that had attended orientation would be quite familiar with it, too. Vaughan was a gracie. And he looked confused about it. So...judging by that, and judging by a quick little glance into the boy's head...

He'd missed orientation completely. Not good. Alaina he wasn't worried about; from the e-mails he'd exchanged with her she'd come across as studious, considering she'd asked for supplemental reading materials. Vaughan...

Gabriel's thoughts were interrupted, though, by the kid coming around and doing some crazy hand motions, and he raised an eyebrow and nodded for him to continue. And then promptly burst out laughing over what he asked. "Hah! Hey, I like that! P stands for Pilot, right?" Okay, so he'd cheated, he'd looked into his head for that one but no one had to know. "Go for it. Now, I've got a couple questions for the both of you."

He started to walk again, this time with a destination in mind, and he turned around and started walking backwards so he could talk their ears off as he went. "Alright, question one: how're you coming along in your studies? Alaina, I know I gave you a couple extra texts to work with in addition to the usual stuff. You gotten through any yet? Vaughan, you'll be receiving the same ones she got tonight, so that doesn't yet apply, but how you doing in class so far? You guys start Basic Training yet? Sorry, I should be more up to date but...just got back from war and all, lotsa craziness happening, head still hurts a bit, stuff like that. So fill me in! I'll also be wanting to glance over your school work. That's a big part of the program, y'know. It's not all psychic powahs, you gotta get ejuhmuhcated, too."

A deep breath and he glanced over his shoulder, quickly checking that he wasn't going to run into any people or trash cans--that'd be embarrassing--before he looked back and continued. "Question two: cafeteria or dragons? You guys had lunch yet? If not, we'll grab something quick and I can yack at you more. If so...well, Siren's been dying to meet you two. That's my dragon. Or rather, I'm his human."

[Anonymous]

"C'nai call you P.Master Gabby, yo?"

Beautiful. Alaina silently wished Vaughan weren't so blunt about voicing his thoughts. She waited for the hammer to drop, but it didn't. Apparently, her mentor was willing to take the comment in stride. He began wandering down the corridor, heading off towards what she could only hope wasn't a roomful of knives. After a moment or so, he asked whether she was hungry.

"I'm fine. I already ate."

Alaina had not already eaten, but thinking about the sledgehammer incident made her lose her appetite. Besides, she'd never seen the dragons before and yet it was obvious that they were the ones who actually ran the show. To meet one of them would be an interesting experience, and she was hoping for something to take her mind off that awful crunching sound. She paused for a moment, breathing deeply as she continued.

"As for my studies, I am partway through 101 Brains, the second text you sent me. Psych for Dummies was simple; it didn't go into too much detail, though I suppose it counts as a good introduction. I'm keeping up with the Basic Training assignments as well, no problem there."

There wasn't much more to say. The academics had been difficult, but Alaina didn't want to seem like a whiner. She followed Gabriel through the corridors somewhat blindly. The signs were obviously meant for those who knew the layout of the place already; they weren't very informative for a newcomer. They were headed vaguely towards the cafeteria; by necessity, Alaina remembered where that was. The harsh taste of coffee stuck in her mouth, and she swallowed once. This was going to be a painful week...

[Anonymous]

Phew, a laugh.

A quick sigh of relief and Vaughan tucked his hands into his pockets before looking over at Alaina, she looked… Worried. Silently he shook his head and smiled at Gabriel, “ Yup, Pilot Master Gabriel. It’s a pimpin’ name.” Vaughan winked widely towards their mentor and then made nudging motions with his elbow, “It suits you.” Then Gabriel went and ruined the moment by asking about school work. Bah.

Falling very quiet and putting his hands in his pockets, Vaughan offered up a polite smile and kept his mouth shut and his amber eyes on the ground. Generic uniform boots scuffed against the ground as he pretending to not pay attention to the older man.  Once Alaina was finished telling Gabriel, or now, P.Master Gabby, about what she’d done as far as classes went, Vaughan nodded numbly and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “ I’m fine too. I can catch something later, I’m used to eating at weird hours.” A bright smile and Vaughan licked his lips before watching awkwardly beside Alaina.

“Siren? Is he loud?” Vaughan smiled towards Gabriel and tilted his head not wincing in the slightest at his bad joke. “ Make funny hooting noises? What colour is he? Do we get to meet other dragons, too?”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Roman really put the fear of the Network into you, huh?" Gabriel commented as he lead the way, frowning. He could practically feel the tension radiating off of Alaina, and after brushing his mind briefly against hers, he could hardly blame her as he caught a glimpse of the Sledgehammer Incident. Nasty stuff. Still, he didn't want his candidates to be scared of him (and even Vaughan felt a little on edge), but that would take time and patience. You know, let them see that he actually wasn't a monster trying to make them slip up so he could beat them up.

Still couldn't blame them, though. He wasn't so far removed from his candidacy that he couldn't remember how terrified of the Pilots he'd been, but it was still a little awkward now that he was standing on the other side of the fence. At least Vaughan felt comfortable enough to be himself; honestly, he'd been most worried about him giving him problems, considering the circumstances.

Alaina didn't disappoint him. As he'd assumed, she'd made impressive progress with those two texts and he flashed her a congratulatory smile. "Good job! You're officially ahead of the game. The stuff I gave you was stuff we focus on mainly in Stage Two, and since I have no doubts that you'll make it to that stage, I figured I should give you a head start. Once you finish those, I'll give you some more difficult ones." She'd graduated with honors, after all, so the classroom portion would probably be a breeze. She could do with a challenge.

And if he could give her an edge, all the better. It was Stage Two that was the most grueling.

Vaughan's silence, on the other hand, didn't go unnoticed. A slacker back in high school himself and quite familiar with evasion tactics, Gabriel took the silence--and then change in subject--as proof of guilt. Ohgawd. Yeah. They'd be having a heart-to-heart after this, for sure.

For now, though, Gabriel pretended to fall for it. "Alright, then off to see Siren it is!" he announced with a grin, finally turning his back to them and walking normally when he almost did collide with a small group of gracies standing around chatting. Murmuring a hasty apology and shooing them off, he headed for the nearest lift and punched the up button.

"Anyway, I have no idea why he's named Siren," he said as he waited for the elevator to come. "But he can be loud, being a dragon and all. Maybe he has a good singing voice? I've never asked him. You can, if you want."

The elevator doors opened, and Gabriel guided Alaina and Vaughan inside, then entered a series of commands into the panel to take them up. He leaned back against the back wall as the elevator lurched upwards, grimacing at the sensation. He hated elevators. A lot. And it was an effort not to fidget, for he was secretly claustrophobic.

He filled the silence, though, to take his mind off the closed-in space. "You'll be meeting a lot of dragons--mainly in Stage Five, though. For now? Just Siren, unless someone else is hanging out with him. Now, Siren's a cool cat. He's really laid back, so don't be afraid of him; he won't hurt you and he loves kids." Gabriel paused and looked at Alaina, who was only a few years younger than him, before adding wryly, "All us humans are kids to him. Anyway, he doesn't mind being touched and just talk to him normally. If there's another dragon with him, though, go ahead and say hello but otherwise leave it alone. Unless it invites you over first. And, this goes without saying...be respectful. Ah, here we are!"

With a ding, the doors slid open and Gabriel stepped out first, placing a hand on one of the doors to keep it open for Alaina and Vaughan. They had reached the roof of the ATC, and from there, quite unlike the lower levels, the sky opened up above them, sunlight beaming down. Gabriel could remember the first time he'd seen the sky, and it had been an amazing experience...but right now he wasn't sure how much his candidates would be focusing on that as not twenty feet away sat a large, sleek white dragon, light reflecting off the scales and metallic parts. His wings were folded along his back, and as soon as he saw the new candidates he craned his long neck forward to get a better look.

"Everyone say hi to Siren!" Gabriel said as the dragon bared his six inch long teeth in what Gabriel recognized as a grin, but to someone who'd never met a dragon it probably looked like he wanted to eat them.

[Hope no one minds me movin' this forward, unless there was something anyone wanted to do back inside. In which case, poke me and I'll edit!]