There is a pattern here and I am seeing it (Shizzilicious)

[Anonymous]

Well....shit.

The teenage alien dropped her head against the wall and thought a few more swear words. This sucked. Hardcore. She was going to have to be a candidate. She should have listened to her mother. Her mother had warned her to keep her powers to herself. But nooooo. She just had to show off.

Though, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. There weren't a lot of options for her back home. And her options had narrowed after she had quit her gang. And she hadn't even finished school. So, yeah. Maybe this was a good thing. The stories she had heard were just people messin' around. They wouldn't really do that shit to people.

The girl relaxed a bit, one hand idly twirling a strand of bright pink hair. Yeah. This was going to be alright. She had gotten stuck with some paperwork and red tape, so she had missed orientation. And that wasn't so good. But she was good with people. She would make friends soon. That she wasn't so worried about.

Another sigh. She was supposed to get assigned a pilot, that was going to train her or something. Some loser teacher probably. How fucking lame. She hated school. But maybe they wouldn't be to boring. They were a pilot after all, and they were pretty badass.

At least, she figured they were. Pilots were quite a bit above her rather pathetically low caste. They were more like these vague things she was dimly aware existed above her, but had no real connection to her. Ah shit. What is she was stuck with a bunch of snobby upper caste kids? She didn't really care that much about the castes, but she didn't like it when people talked down to her because she was lower on the rankings then they were.

[Anonymous]

Oh this was just perfect. It had been twenty years since his last candidate, so perhaps he felt a little left out considering that everyone else was going through candidates. So now he was sort of making up for his loss. He believed he could, and so he was putting a burden on himself, but a rather enjoyable one. Down the road it would be more work but he could handle it easily. It gave him something to do instead of just lethargically moving about the citadel with little to do. Once in a while going out to catch someone being naughty but that was about it.

Now to find the room...

Ah.

This was fun to do. He stood by the door listening. Oh my. Loser teacher? Ah hah hah. She was really going all out with this. Lower caste and yet she was very uppity about the whole thing. That was cute.He listened, waiting for a good time to enter. It was a good time now though. He put his hand to the button but then stopped. Hm. Maybe...Heh heh. Yes.

My dearest Lartech, can you hear me? He wanted to have a bit of fun with this candidate. He had the perfect idea on how. Why would I not my little Dyerling? A slight twitch in his eye. Alright. He could handle that from Lartech. She was just being funny. Quirky even. Cut power to the room would you, and to the lights outside of it. But don't lock down the door, turn four of the servos on unlocked and just lock the other two down. Oh and put on that creepy siren. He asked her politely. The electricity was cut almost instantly, and there was darkness in the hallway. He could hear in her room a haunting wailing siren going off. On the count of three make the hallway lights flicker. He waited for that time. The hallway lights flickered and he grinned as he moved in front of the door now. He extended his powers out and began to move the door.

Metal gears scraped and screeched as the door opened, sparks flying from it as he did so. There he was, seven feet tall, cloaked in dark clothing, the lean and fit Pilot Dyerlich. Silver hair with golden speckles shined every time the lights flickered. Yellow eyes, hard in a glare with electric blue pupils blazing. He wore a grey cowl around his face, hiding everything from the nose down, covering his mouth from sight. His fingers were grown large into spikes that dug into the metal of the door frame as he pulled himself in. He must have looked like a demon of some sort as he stepped in. The door began to close shut. The only light now was from his eyes, which glowed slightly, and the flickering lights from the outside.

"Welcome to the Advanced Training Complex. I will be your mentor for the next three years...that is if you make it that long." His voice was deep and he made it sound creepy, almost hissing in a way as the lights slowly began to flicker on. He stepped forward, though the atmosphere was still eerie. Thankfully the emergency siren had gone off, but still lights were flickering both in the room and in the hallway. "I am Dyerlich Lockh, what might I call you my pretty little morsel?" His hand was on her chin, holding her up to stare him straight in the eyes.

[Anonymous]

When the lights went out, Devi jumped up in alarm, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. Then some horrible screaming siren started going off, causing the girl to jump and scream, her hands going up to her ears, trying to block it out.

The lights began to flicker, which gave her enough light to see the door and start to move toward it. Then she froze, her eyes going wide and her jaw dropping. Some sort of demon creature from her darkest nightmare was pulling itself into the room.

Devi stood there like a frightened animal, her mind shutting off with the raw terror of it. The fact that she managed to not wet herself was a fact she was going to be thankful for later. As the creature started to move closer, she seemed to snap out of the frozen state, quickly backing away from the monster.

In her haste she stumbled back into the chair she had been sitting in and fell backwards, legs tangling in the chair. A piercing scream followed as she landed on her butt. Kicking the chair away from her and at the creature, the candidate scrambled away, still screaming.

The monster was saying something. It took a moment for her fear filled mind to register this fact. Her screaming finally stopped, though her eyes were still wide with terror, "W-what?"

That....thing was her teacher? Not that she was that much more human looking. But she didn't look like something out of some fucked up horror movie. And had he just called her pretty? That...could not be good. But there were rules about stuff like that, right? And he didn't look like the type to have those kind of physical urges, right?

Her mind was having trouble dealing with the situation as a whole and was focusing on a smaller part of it. The part she could deal with.

"Ummm....My name? Devi....sir. Devi Kilham."

[Anonymous]

He was having too much fun with this. Perhaps in an earlier year...many...earli er years and a different universe where he didn't have to be a pilot, that's what Dyerlich was to be. A monster who invaded houses and dreams. Nightmares. Created terror so they could feed. Maybe. However this was just him having a bunch of fun with the new kid. Why? He was bored and it seemed such a hilarious thing to do.

The girl was really panicked. She had no idea what was happening. She fell back in her chair, getting tangled up in it before trying to kick it at him. He simply swiped it away with one hand like it was nothing. Luckily he had caught it with his claws and didn't damage his palm or anything. The screaming was nice. Familiar almost.

And the feelings in the air...ah...he was feasting well today.

It just made his skin and eyes glow all the more. Terror was a very good meal for him. A very delicious meal. He adored the taste of terror. Heh heh.

He was almost insulted but also a little proud that she believed he was from a horror movie. As for the physical urges though...well she would learn he got them, just not as frequent as most of the human male population. He just watched her intently, his hand still on her chin as he waited for a response from her. He could take the answer from her mind, but he wanted to hear the terror in her voice, the fear of what might happen. It was very good to hear.

"A pleasure Devi." His hand began to move to her neck slowly, grazing his nails along it before he reached her arm and pulled her up suddenly to her feet. "There are things you must adhere to while in the ATC. A pilot is your superior. You listen to them. Any of them. However, a Pilot will not discipline you, because that is up to ME personally." He told her, his voice still taking on that rather creepy tone as he held her there. "The first thing we must do, is get you in the proper attire. So you will strip down to underwear." Plus he had to mark her of course. That was the most important part. He took a step back, asking Lartech at the same time to give electricity back to the room. Slowly the lights flickered once...twice...and then stayed on completely. He could almost hear the electricity buzzing through the circuits as it resumed it's normal path. Perfect. Very perfect.

He moved to the locker in the room, getting from it a grey uniform. "Hurry up now." He wasn't a very impatient person but...he did want to scare her a little more. That comment about physical urges had gotten the gears working.

[Anonymous]

Devi's mind was whirling as she tried to take everything in. The adrenaline was starting to fade a bit. A person couldn't stay in that state of terror for very long, their minds couldn't handle it. Though when his hand gripped her chin she almost lost control of her bladder again.

She gave a small whimper, flinching back from him. This was not right. She had to have gotten something wrong somewhere. She was in the wrong room or something! This couldn't be allowed. But regardless, she was currently in the hands of a maniac. And he had just told her something.

There was another scream as he suddenly jerked her to her feet. Her arm hurt and she had to fight the instinct to kick him in the shins and jerk her arm away. It probably wouldn't work and would just piss him off. Instead she nodded, trying to focus.

Listen to pilots. Yes. Devi nodded, she could do this. She did not want to piss this...this thing off. It looked like it would happily eat her for breakfast. Then she froze, her dark skin flushing, her gold eyes going even wider with surprise, "My underwear!?" He wad kidding, right?

The girl glanced around, as if someone was going to suddenly come save her. There was no one. Just the crazy monster, holding some tacky uniform. The candidate shivered as she carefully started to strip, cursing the fact that her top acted as a bra, meaning she wasn't wearing one. And her underwear was white with red cherries on it. She would have worn something more covering and less cute if she had known someone was going to see them.

She clutched her arms to her chest, trying to cover herself as best she could. She did not like being mostly naked as it made her feel vulnerable at the best of times. She moved one arm away from her breasts to reach for the uniform he was still holding, her face flushed all the way back to her ears.

[Anonymous]

He had come so close too! Honestly, he was pretty sure that he would have gone down in some pilot record book for making his candidate piss themselves in the first ten seconds of meeting. Ah that would have been so great! Still, he would do for the almost record accomplishment he just made. She was lucky that he had remembered to actually pull his claws back into fingers before picking her up. That could have been disastrous actually. At least she was scared.

Very scared.

Still that fear was just delicious.

"Yes. The thing you wear under the clothes." It was like he was talking to a child. To him that was actually true too. At least he believed so. She was an alien obviously, so she could have lived a long time. Still. He considered himself ancient since he had been 'brewing' for thousands of years. Just now he was a physical embodiment of himself.

He waited for her, watching her as she got undressed. People would really start talking, since he did this for all of his candidates. She actually seemed to care. Though, she didn't have a bra on so...it made some sense to him. He could only smirk at what underwear she did have. Cherries. Interesting choice. He pulled the clothing from her grasp, shaking his head. "No, not yet my dear. You see...there is still one thing we must do." He told her as he walked around her to the bed. Time to just scare her a liiiiittle bit more. He took a seat on the bed, putting the clothing down on one side of him as he looked to her. "Sit." He commanded to her, pointing at his lap.

There was two things that could really happen now. She could refuse, and he could force her and punish her for not listening...or she would do it and she would receive no punishment. She'd only receive the one thing he did for all his candidates. Brand them. Carve his name into them with his claw. Standard for him really. All his candidates past and present had it. Some kept the mark too, and other got rid of the moment they were allowed to. Dyerlich planned for her shoulder. She'd have to keep a somewhat sultry look to her to keep it shown, having one shoulder shown at all times. It would really make it interesting to see how his candidate pulled it off.

All of them managed somehow though. They had to. He gave them no other choice.

[Anonymous]

The blush got darker and she made another awkward grab for the uniform, still trying to keep herself covered as best she could. The fear was still there, humming through out her body, but over it had settled a film of annoyance. Devi actually glared at the much larger man as she hunched inward, "You have to be kidding me? Give me the uniform."

Then her blush vanished as her skin paled as the monster spoke again. The anger vanished, replaced by fear, confusion and a hint of disgust. She didn't want to touch him, her skin still felt tainted from where his fingers had been on her chin. He was joking right?

She actually took a slight step back, looking ready to bolt. Not that she had anywhere to go wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy panties. But she didn't actually run, she just stared at the man, the muscles under the scar that ran across her face twitching lightly. They tended to do that when she was afraid.

Her mind raced, going through her options. Her eyes actually slid to the side, to where the chair lay on it's side, mangled by the monsters claws. For just a moment the image of throwing the chair at the creature and running like mad crossed her mind. But that still had the problem of being naked.

And he didn't look the type to wait for her to get dressed first. And Devi wasn't stupid and she was very, very afraid of the monster. So she swallowed, visions of what might be coming flashing through her mind at lightening speed, and slid very slowly closer to him. Her arms tightened around her chest as if that would some how ward off what was to come.

She then turned slowly, giving him her back. Scars crisscrossed the skin there and there was a tattoo that ran along her spine, a tribal looking design that disappeared into the top of her underwear. Then she gingerly lowered herself until her butt just barely rested on the edge of of the monsters knee, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

[Anonymous]

Demands from him was not smart. Already his mind formulated a correct punishment for such a thing. Later though. After he branded her. He simply held it above her head so she couldn't get it again. Heh heh. There was no humour, no joking, he was dead serious. She would do what he wanted, and if she tried to get around that...he'd ensure there was punishment. Plain and simple. He would have to explain that to her of course.

He kept a focused mind on her though. Careful to watch and listen. Thoughts of escape flitted in her mind. Hah. As if she could try that. The door was securely locked after all. She would run straight into a wall basically. Then it'd be like watching a rat trying to escape a sinking ship. It just wouldn't work out. Heh heh.

She would do what he ordered her to, just as a grunt should.

She would have to learn of course but...he would have so much fun making her learn these points. These points would make her learn her place, at the bottom of the totem pole for the time being. However finally he did just what he asked her to and he smiled. This was good. The punishment hadn't even begun yet!

His claw came up, but first his mind went to her, feeling around in her mind. Ah. Locking the muscles up. He tensed her muscles first, getting a good control of them before completely causing them to tighten and lock in place. "Don't worry. This is so you won't flinch or try and escape. I'd hate to have to pick another place to do this." And with that being said the claw started to dig into the flesh on her shoulder. Dyerlich. His name. Carved from the back of her shoulder to the front.

"This is my name, my brand. While you are my candidate you will keep this name shown at ALL times. In private you may hide it, but ONLY when you are with yourself. That is my rule. Failure to do so will get you in a lot of trouble." Now for the next part of all this. He slowly released her muscle control back to her own body and helped her up to a standing position, taking her to the bathroom attached to the room. Right in front of the toilet actually.

"Onto your knees now. I'm going to give you a lesson in an Old Earth Torture. This is called water boarding." He forced her to her knees instead of waiting for her. Grabbing a big handful of hair he suddenly forced her head into the toilet bowl. Now, thankfully do to so many medical breakthroughs, this water was safe to drink, and the amount of germs was about the same as the tap, if not less. The toilet of course was sparkling clean. As it should be. Not a speck or mess to mar the white surface.

She'd be able to feel him lurking in her mind. He was taking it to the extreme. To listen to her panic. She could hold her breath yes but...soon her lungs would give out, and she would start intaking water, starting to drown. This is for demanding of me, and for not doing what I told you exactly when I told you. When I say jump...oh you best start jumping. The military branch would have made her clean the place up with a toothbrush or something, but this was the Pilot Branch. Disobeying orders came with very strange but strict consequences.

He would wait for her brain to start losing oxygen, become deprived, and then he would pull her back to the real world, let her breathe...then back into the bowl.

It was going to be fun.

[Anonymous]

The girl had thought she had been sitting stiffly already, until she felt the monster invade her mind. She had enough ability to perfectly sense him, but no where near enough to stop him. Not that she would have dared to even try.

But as she started to panic as she felt her muscles lock down, struggling to get them to move again. She couldn't really help it, the primal part of her brain panicking at the thought of not being able to move. But it did her no good, her body just sat on the monster's knee, unmoving as he started to slice into her.

Pain shot through her and her futile struggles increased, her body still unresponsive. Her screams were muffled against her mouth, unable to open her jaw. But it didn't stop her from trying, the high pitched cries filling the room as the creature carved his name onto her shoulder.

Then he was finished and Devi could feel the warm blood sliding down her skin. It was warm and sticky and she just wanted to throw up. Which would not be good when she couldn't open her mouth.

The nightmare dragged her to her feet again, releasing his hold on her muscles. As soon as she was able, the candidate let out a strangled sob, her free hand reaching up to grab her bleeding shoulder, uncaring that her breasts her totally exposed now. She had other things distracting her from that.

Like the fact that he had shoved her in front of a toilet. Her eyes widened and she started to resist his force, not wanting to get shoved into the water. This would not be the first one she had had, but knowing the twisted creature that was forcing her head under the water it would be the worst.

The girl started to thrash as her body was denied air. She had been to panicked to suck in enough water to last for long. Her vivid pink hair made a bright contrast to the pale white bowl. Without meaning too, her mouth opened, releasing the carbon dioxide from her lungs and tried to breath the water in. Which didn't work very well.

Just as she was starting to black out, her hair was suddenly pulled up, her head coming free of the bowl. Devi coughed out water, tinged lightly with blood, struggling to gasp in more air. And then her head was shoved under the water again.

Her thrashing resumed, arms failing, trying to find something to hold onto, that might give her the leverage to push out of the water. But it was a pointless effort. She was no match for the monsters strength.

[Anonymous]

From all the pain and fear, Dyerlich actually had to stop feeding, he was full, nice and full really. It was a good kind of full. Not the kind that made you lethargic after ward. The kind that made you want to run around or just be energetic. It was the very good kind. Not the best meal in the world he had ever had but it was still a damn fine meal. And the way he had gotten it too...it had been a very interesting way. Heh heh.

She could struggle but he had a good hold on her. She had to know her place, and what would happen if she disobeyed him. He would explain to her why he did it of course. And it was so much more fun to do it with his mind than to let her hear the words from his lips. You listened when you were dying and someone was right in your brain explaining things to you.

It just added a strange satisfaction. One that people listened to VERY carefully.

Finally though Dyerlich let go of the girl and stood up. No need to be excessive. At least, he hoped he didn't have to. If he needed to be excessive, he could, and he would have so much fun with it too. He'd enjoy every agonizing moment of it. It would make her think twice. He already had a few punishments thought out anyway. The toilet one was just off the top of his head too! Imagine that!

"Now, let's get you dressed. Mostly. I'm assuming I'll have to fix your shoulder." That was him. From asshole to medic in just under a second. He was already back in the other room at the locker, getting the medical kit. Again, he broke and put away the molecular regenerator in his pocket. He would only let medics use these on his candidates, and only if they had to. He liked it when they had to get their skin stitched together. IT was a good experience.

"So hurry up. Get your pants on, but not your shirt or jacket. I need to clean and dress your wound after all. Wouldn't want you to dirty that uniform of yours." At least they had been smart enough to put three spare uniforms in here. His candidates tended to get rather dirty. Blood and grime usually. Or in this case water and blood. Not that unusual of course but still different from the normal at this point. You better not have passed out in the there child, or else I'll have to come in there and start drowning you while you're unconscious. Her subconcious and conscious could catch this message, in case she was awake. She would know he meant business.

[Anonymous]

And hearing that creatures voice in her brain made sure she wasn't going forget it anytime soon. It was going to be a long, long time before she was stupid enough to make a demand of the bastard.

When the nightmare finally let her go, Devi slung to the toilet bowl, gasping for air. Then she had to lean right back over the thing and she threw up. It was mostly water, mixed with blood and a bit of stomach acid.

She was trembling violently, crying softly as she emptied her stomach of all the water she had inhaled. Right then she was torn between fear, hatred and just wanting to die. This was not what she had been expecting. No one had told her this was what was going to happen. She had just been dragged from her home and sent off to some military academy. To be scared and abused by some twisted creature from the worst fairy tale ever.

After the almost drowning, the dull ache in her shoulder didn't seem to matter that much. The blood that was dripping down her chest to splatter on the white tiles didn't seem connected to her. As if it belonged to someone else.

At his command, Devi finally moved away from the bowl. She felt angry, embarrassed and used. And she hated that there wasn't a lot she could do about it. So she had a little trouble standing up, her legs not wanting to support her weight at first. But she managed to slid the pants over his legs and secure them around her waist.

The mental command spurred her to hurry and stumble into the other room, her uninjured arm awkwardly trying to cover her chest again, which was now laced with delicate trails of blood, some of them smeared from the encounter with the toilet.

"I'm here! I'm here! Shit." Devi flicked her head, tossing her sopping pink bangs, now a few shades darker from the water out of her face. She gave the monster a dark look, her golden eyes darker then they had been earlier.

[Anonymous]

No one really expected this sort of thing from the Pilots. Not from people who protected Aedolis. Heh, it was just a little bit of fun that they could have though, to help teach the candidates. It wasn't like school where there were boundaries and discipline rules in place. The rules were those of the pilots. And if they wanted to cut someone up, break a leg, pierce someone with a heated carbon rod then fire up the burners because they were going to do it.

Dyerlich looked over to her as she stumbled into the room. Ah right. Modesty and all that. "You don't have to cover yourself. I hold no sexual interest in you." He told her simply as he approached her. He began to rub something on the wound that might have stung it for a moment but would help to clean the wound. It was going to leave a scar of course, but she would live. "And I am not a monster. I am a Celestial Phantasm. Dyerlich Lockh. Try to keep up with that." He explained to her as he began to wrap her wound with bandage, taping it in place properly.

Honestly, some people. All the modesty they had, it was so endearing. Strange in a way.

"There. You'll heal." He put the medical kit away and tossed her the shirt and jacket. "Now let's get you dressed up again. Don't worry about showing the wound. Only when it has healed enough that it doesn't bleed is when you must show it." He told her as he moved to the door and unlocked it with a command to Lartech. It slid open. Though, there was a little bit of a whine from it. The two locked servos no doubt. Heh. He liked the large claw marks he left on the wall though. That would be a nice reminder to his candidate. She'd probably steer clear of the toilet for a while now.

Hm. Too early to get anything to eat.

However, a nice walk around the ATC to show her the grounds might be appropriate. "Let's go on a little tour! I'll show you where you'll pretty much be for the next three years." She would do well to pay attention of course. He'd show her what he could, like where she would eat, train, learn, and all that fun stuff. He'd also show her to the infirmary, which would no doubt be a good place to see. Just so she knows where to go incase she needed to.

[Anonymous]

The comment about not having to cover her filled the girl with mixed parts relief and stung pride. On one hand, the thought of the creature touching her, let alone in a sexual way made her skin crawl. The idea of actually having sex with him...it was almost enough to send her running back for the toilet. But no girl likes being told someone wasn't interested in her. Her chin lifted a notch as she lowered her arm, her cheeks going red.

She really didn't want to have to leave her beasts uncovered, but she had no idea if that comment had been a command or not. And she was not going to try and find out. She flinched away at his touch, unable to repress a small shudder of disgust as his touch on her shoulder. The salve stung and she gave a small hiss of pain, but managed to keep from flinching.

"You are a monster. Sir. What ever other name you go by." And for now, she really wasn't going to be thinking of him in any other way. That was what he was to her, that frightening monster that had torn open metal and carved into her skin. She would use his name out loud if he made her, but in her mind he was monster, creature, nightmare made flesh.

When he tossed the jacket and shirt at her, she clumsily caught them, her shoulder still sore. She was more then happy to pull the shirt on, quickly buttoning it over her naked breasts, relieved to no longer be naked in front of him. Even the thin layer of cloth was another barrier between him and her. The jacket quickly followed, shrugging that on as she hurried after him, making sure to stay as far away from the claw marks on the door as she could.

She might not like the creature much, but she would listen to him. She did her best to keep track of where he was taking her, though the stark corridors were a bit hard to tell apart. Hopefully there was a map she could get somewhere.

[Anonymous]

That's how it always was. They were just so beautiful that it was an insult that someone didn't get turned on. Ah those were the best. True he did get those feelings once in a while, but would he waste them on his candidates? Perhaps. It would be interesting to see. He had three now after all. All female. What were the odds of that anyway? He did want to see how much fun this could be, and if he could get all three of them to like each other. Teamwork was a key.

"I could show you a monster. I could show you creatures twisted from darkness and nightmares. But I am no monster. You WILL call me Dyerlich, and any other name but Sir will get you punished severely." He had given her the rules now. It was either she spoke his name or she would be filled with pain. Oh, that rhymed. Tat was good.

It was actually quite fun to think about. She believe he was a monster. A true devilish creature from the very pits of nightmare. That was almost an honour really. He smiled slightly at that thought. She would be surprised to see his other Candidates not fearing him...well...there was a lot of anger at least from the other two but...that he would need to work on. Or beat out of them. One of the two.

"I am not a difficult person to get along with Devi. My main job is to ensure that you survive the three years. That you hone your mental skills and your physical ones at that. To hope that when you step up to have your mind probed by the rest of the psychics, that you will be able to survive it and stay yourself." He explained to the girl as he suddenly put his arm about her shoulders and kept it there. He knew that she would hate that, but she would have to live with it.

He turned his focus to her for a moment. "Sometimes it requires psychological torture, or just plain physical beating. However, if you learn, all of that will just go away slowly." Until he could order her to eat a hot coal and still use her powers to strange a person. Mmm, that would actually be an interesting test...he'd have to devise one.

"Now. This is the messhall. I hope you paid attention for how to get here. You grab a tray, you get in line, and then you order food. Then...well I'm sure you get the idea. Right now it's empty because...well lunch was three hours ago." He wasn't the slightest bit hungry either since he had already had a snack not more than a few minutes ago. It was good stuff too, very delicious to say the least.

She was a good meal.

"Now, down that corridor will lead you to General Studies and Advanced Studies. Classrooms basically. That is where you will spend a lot of time, being taught how to fight, biology of different species, strategy and tactics, all that fun stuff." He wasn't sure if he'd be teaching any of the classes. Though he could probably teach fire arm safety with his eyes closed, still. He liked to be able to teach them hands on, like Strike Craft training and what not.

"Now, let's go this way. It takes us outside to see the training courses and the Air Ship Hanger."

[Anonymous]

The anger is Devi was a slow burn, hiding among the fear. She wasn't stupid, not about stuff like this. She was painfully aware that he was much stronger then she was and had all the power. So there was no point in throwing her rage at him. It would just get her hurt even more. And she was still skittish after almost getting drowned in a toilet bowl.

She nodded her head stiffly, her tone flat and angry, "Yes Sir." She still wasn't going to use his name. Not yet anyway. Something like his shouldn't have a name. "I'm sure you can show me monsters. I'm not doubting there are worse things then you. I'm just not currently stuck with them." Bastard was probably great friends with them.

She walked along with him, trying to keep track of it all. Then he was putting his arm around her. A flash of disgust and horror flowed across her features before she could stop it, quickly trying to make her expression blank. Not that it did a lot of good as one didn't have to have much physic power to feel the revulsion in the girls mind at the touch of his skin on hers.

When she was finally alone, she was scrubbing the hell out of every bit of skin that creature touched. But she carefully nodded her head, her vivid pink hair dripping water onto Dyerlich's arm, a twinge of fear passing though her as he spoke of what was going to happen to her.

Then she was saved by the messhall. She was used to these, though it had been a few years sense she had been to school, "I know how a messhallworks, Sir. But thank you for explaining it to me."

Devi was actually rather hungry, having thrown up the small amount of food she had eaten earlier, but she didn't think she could have eaten anything just then, even if someone had offered it.

"What are the training courses for?" Devi had actually almost no idea what it was the pilots did. Other then in a vague 'defend Aedolis from her enemies' kind of way. She hesitated, then ventured another question, "And...why? I mean....why do you have to do all this to me? To the candidates." What would she be doing the needed her that tough?

[Anonymous]

Heh, she was learning though. For the time being he wouldn't punish her for wayward thoughts. He forgot that it would be mean to do so, since they couldn't really control that right now, or put up a shield strong enough to stop him. Even then he could get that shield lowered and destroyed if he so chose to. She was getting it though, slowly. He was disappointed she wouldn't use his name, and that there was so much hate and anger in her mind. Not that he minded of course.

It made him smile.

He'd teach her that her mind wasn't a safe place to insult him.

"Just in case you didn't." He told her with a shrug. He didn't care. Maybe tonight he'd go ahead and erase those thoughts from her mind so she wouldn't know where the mess hall was. Oh that would be fun. He loved doing that sort of thing. She would learn that she should hold a civil tongue and civil thought when he was around. He'd have to explain that to her as well no doubt.

"You will learn how to master your psychic skills, how to fight, how to create strategies, tactics, about different species, weak points, how to fly ships, and then a dragon, how to command and how to pilot, to know the difference between shooting first and shooting some more and then if you've run out of bullets ask a question or to approach a situation with diplomacy and your weapon's holstered." He explained to her carefully. That didn't cover all of it but a nice deal of it really. "This is to toughen you up. You need to be strong, both mentally and physically to get you through this. At the end of the program is when all the pilots gang up on you and basically search your mind, probe every inch of it. It's very taxing on the person involved. Some go mad. Their minds break. And they are useless. I am trying to toughen you up to all of this." He was doing her a favour, he really was. Of course, most of the candidates were much too bullheaded to see this.

They would understand in time though.

"Now, I'd like to explain something vital to you my dear. I am a psychic. Your mind is an open book. A few things for you to understand. I have a name, and yes, I should have it too. I earned my name. I am a Celestial Phantasm, and I have lived for two hundred and thirteen years. Your life is nothing but a speck of dust to me, but so help me I am trying to make it so that speck of dust isn't wiped away quicker. Failing the Pilot Program usually gets you sent to TRIM. The horrors they can commit there pale to anything I could ever do to you here." But not by much of course. He could still do some rather terrible things of course. He wouldn't tell her this.

"And these first few days show a lot of what the outcome will be. So choose your thoughts and words carefully. Very...VERY carefully. And realize who I am to you. I am the man who can save you, who can help you through this program, and survive this. But only if you show me the proper respect and obedience." Granted using the word obedience was probably a bad idea, she had to understand. She was just a dog that he was trying to train.

[Anonymous]

Devi was still getting used to the fact that she was around other physics. That they could peer into her thoughts just as easily as she could read the minds of those around her back home. But she was going to learn to guard her thoughts if it killed her. Which it just might if she wasn't careful.

As the monster went over what was going to happen to her, Devi listened carefully. She had....really had no idea. Pilots had just seemed to be these larger then life heroes. Tales of the brutality and insanity didn't tend to travel far enough down to reach Devi's kind. Only the heroics and the pretty parts they wanted you to see.

"Oh." Her voice was small, her eyes watching the ground. That...did not sound fun. Devi wasn't a stranger to violence or fighting. But she had fought hard to get out of that life and now she was getting shoved back into it. Only much, much worse.

Despite her dislike of the whole situation, it didn't mean she was going to fail. She was not going to end up some lab rat. She was a candidate wither she liked it or not and she was going to kick ass at it.

She hoped anyway.

It wasn't really in Devi to cower in the face of adversity. Dyerlich scared her, but he was proving that he was only sort of insane. He didn't seem to inflict the punishments just for the hell of it. And that was something to work with. Devi just had to learn how to avoid setting him off. She could do this.

At his warning, the girl did her best to put her shields up. For being self taught and not really having many people to test them against, they were pretty good. Though against a trained physic, they were not much of a barrier.

"Alright. I get it. Though how am I supposed to help what I think?" She still wasn't using his name damn it. Devi took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. She was going to do this. She could get through. It was just like school, that was all. With just really bad results if you fucked up.

Though...she had gotten kicked out of school.

Shit.

[Anonymous]

Granted, a lot of stories about Pilots were perhaps exaggerated and not everyone got the full stories, but the general gist of it was there. Of course, no one ever told stories about the seven foot tall silver haired Pilot who could claw through people as easily as his dragon did. Nooo, it was always tales about the more human looking Pilots. Which was fine by Dyerlich, he didn't really want to have such a preceding reputation. It would ruin all the fun he could have terrorizing crooks and criminals. He'd rather be a surprise demon than a known phantom.

At least he knew his pupil could be counted on. Most of them were the types who wanted to show everyone what they could do. Granted, it was either pass or fail, and failing meant you'd lose all your freedom and go to TRIM. Passing meant you'd have the ultimate freedom.

He was impressed she knew how to shield her mind from the invading powers of others, but they weren't anything to him. However, he didn't break them, he didn't test them, he listened through them. Like putting your ear against glass, he could hear the surface thoughts, but the deeper thoughts would require him to probably circumvent her shields. Easily done but he didn't want to make it feel like she was completely useless in her powers.

"You're thinking with the outside part of your mind basically. Formed consciousness. Everything you're going to say, you're going to do, internal monologues, it's all there. What you want to learn to do is...think quietly almost. You're not going to think on the outside, but inside. There are other ways of going about it, and that's thinking in the silence. Imagine if you will all your thoughts surrounded by a thick layer of concrete. That's the layer of silence. You're still thinking, but you're thinking in silence." People were fooled by this tactic because all they could hear was the silence. If they dug around, they wouldn't realize that there was an inside to this technique, a layer beneath it of all the silence.

All they'd hear is the silence and perhaps natural instinctual thoughts. Hunger, lust, sadness, what they saw through their eyes, that sort of thing. Things not easily hidden. However, most of it was good enough distraction to keep them from trying to break through that layer of silence.

"It takes a bit of practise to really start hiding your thoughts under the silence, but you've thrown up a competent shield so I believe in time you'll master such a technique." Praise even. Praise to those who deserved it of course. He wasn't totally sadistic or cruel. He knew when to give praise and when to dole out punishments.

[Anonymous]

Devi wasn't going to do any boasting. That just seemed a bad idea. And she doubted it would serve much purpose. Though that wasn't to say Devi wasn't confident, because that would have been a lie. She just wasn't sure if the skills she did have were going to be of use here.

And Devi did want to learn. She was very much used to trial by fire, from running with her gang. Both could end in death if you fucked up. So she listened very carefully to the monster, her dark gold eyes watching him intently, making a mental note of everything he was telling her. He might be a nightmare, but he was her teacher and she was going to learn. And who better to teach her then something as twisted and deadly as he was.

It was rather strange to just be walking and talking to him like this. He had frightened her and tortured her just minutes ago. But now he was being, well, not nice but....cordial. Polite. And the fear was starting to fade. Not that she wasn't afraid of him, because she was, but it was fading into the simple knowledge that he could hurt her, and wouldn't hesitate to, but he wasn't sadistic about it. He didn't seem like he was going to do it for the fun of it. Which didn't seem to make sense to her when she tried to think on it, but it was no less true.

"I...think I get it." Devi spoke slowly, processing the information, her expression thoughtful. She concentrated, trying to create the wall in her mind. It helped her when she visualized things. Though she had the feeling that Dyerlich could tear apart the steel and concrete walls inside her head as easily as he had torn the walls of the room.

But the walls began to form in her mind. It was perfect, still rough around the edges, some of her thoughts and feelings still breaking past. But it would only get better with practice. But Devi had the idea now, and practice she would. She was surrounded by physics now and that meant she had to get better at shielding her mind.

"Um...I don't know if it matters, but I've always been pretty good at picking up....well...." She paused, trying to find the right words, "Memories from things. Remnants left on objects from the people who used them." She looked a little unsure if she should have brought that up or not.

[Anonymous]

He really did wish she didn't refer to him as 'the monster' even more so in her mind. He was far from anything like that. Mostly. Sure, he was very monstrous looking if you think about it...growing hands into claws, being so tall and strange looking but...he wasn't a monster.

Then again, he did view her as a snack.

That was sort of monster like wasn't it?

Dyerlich wasn't a simple sadist who wanted to torture people for no reason. He had his reasons. Plain and simple. IF you misbehaved and didn't do as you were told, you were corrected, with force or with mental trickery. It would probably be bad if he just decided to maim and hurt because he could. It would be easy for him after all. That wasn't something he wanted to do though. It would completely ruin all they were working up to then.

"Think hard now." He wanted to see if she really did get it though. Her blocks were...interesting but they weren't correct. He had said a layer of silence, she was still thinking walls and shields. Layers were more subtle. A wall was obvious. Walls were easy to circumvent though, he could break through them if he so chose to. He'd teach her more though.

"Yes, Impressions left on objects. That's an interesting gift to have, being able to pick up just the briefest of consciousness left on a certain object." Dyerlich explained to her with a small smile. It was really a rare gift, sometimes he could get the briefest of flashes, but only from things a psychic touched. He had tried to hone this ability many times before, but it just hadn't worked out the way he planned.

His gift layt elsewhere.

"I'll have to keep that mind. There are quite a few things that you might even be interested in seeing." Cultural relics he had found or purchased from places and tiems long forgotten. Hell, he even had his uniform from a hundred and fifty years ago or so. Ah, the stories that thing could tell no doubt.

Dyerlich brightened up slightly as they finally came to a door that led outside. He opened the door for her and led her out into the protected world. High above they could see the shield covering the ATC. "That building is the Air Hanger. I'll show you some of the tactical weapons that you might get the privilege of flying." At least, they would be trained in it. They would be using dragons of course, if they got that far. He hoped of course that she did. That all his candidates were able to pass, and to be Pilots. He would not have them die, or have them fail. That was out of the question.