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Messages - Bunbun
21
« on: October 08, 2017, 04:33:22 pm »
QUICK STATS
Name
Zeiss Pepper
Age
81
Gender
Male/Hermaphrodite
Species
Kitsuni
Ethnicity
Aedolian
Height
5'6"
Occupation
Pilot Royal, Commander of the Merydia Sirens
Residence
Merydia
IN-DEPTH STUFF
Physical Description
Zeiss is... well, he's a Kitsuni! Which means that, while his overall body shape is mostly humanoid, there are several features adorning it that are much more fox-like in nature. Among the most obvious of these features would be the furry ears sticking out from his head and the twin tails that trail behind him, which appear to constantly be rearranging themselves and even getting slightly twisted up on occasion. He's not a "true" male as far as Kitsuni are concerned, which may have contributed to his build and facial features being seemingly equally as delicate and sleek as they are powerful. Warmer colours are rather prominent across his body, which is rather typical of fire-generating Kitsuni- his ears, tails, hair, and even his irises all share similar shades of red, orange, and brown, mostly culminating in a warm auburn. His hair length and style can vary greatly depending on what his job demands, but he personally prefers to keep it a bit longer and spike it up in the front.
Despite being a Pilot who specializes in combat, and having been one for many years, Zeiss' body is completely devoid of scars and blemishes, or at least any that are clearly visible under normal circumstances. He's gotta look good for the people, after all; it wouldn't do to look like anything other than complete perfection, considering his position.
Personality
Probably Zeiss' strongest personality trait, and the one that contributes the most to him being a powerful leader, is his nigh unshakable composure. Cracking under pressure is something that simply doesn't happen to him (or at least, not that anyone knows about), and he's upset by something, it can be incredibly difficult to tell for anyone who isn't a trained empath. The way his squad operates in combat doesn't allow for many mistakes or deviations from its predetermined strategy, so remaining calm and collected under stressful circumstances is a very important quality for him to have.
Of course, the rest of his squad also needs to be able to stick to the plan, and he expects them to follow orders when they are given- insubordination is taken very seriously, and he isn't at all afraid to go full stern-Pilot-mode on someone if they don't understand that. That being said, he also has a more playful side to him, and that's the side that you'll probably be more likely to see as long as you haven't done something to tick him off. He doesn't particularly enjoy getting angry with people, after all. He also quite enjoys being the centre of attention, which isn't exactly much of a surprise.
Magic/Abilities
Telepathy and Pyrokinesis, two abilities that are not at all surprising for him to possess considering the fact that he's a Kitsuni. His telepathy is very well practiced and able to project clearly over a fairly large area, which comes in handy when delivering orders to his squamates in a combat scenario. His control of pyrokinesis is also excellent, which is only compounded by the fact that his body literally generates fire. This is a species trait which cannot be turned off, and as a result his body is constantly warm to the touch.
totally makes for great hugs by the way :DDD
Relationships
Hauteclere- A mostly-organic-red-scaley dragon, adorned with several curvy horns sticking out at various points on his body, most notably around his head. The horns themselves sport a golden colour, and he makes sure that, along with his scales, they are constantly kept nice and sparkly. He thinks very highly of himself, and while he is well aware of the authority he has over Zeiss, the two of them are fairly friendly with each other.
History
Like most other Kitsuni, Zeiss grew up among the rather mob-like family that makes up the Kitsuni community in Aurora. He had quite the desire for attention and praise in his younger days, and when it became clear that he was capable of developing his psionics further than most other Kitsuni, he had a bit of a tough time trying to keep it hidden- after all who wouldn't want to show off their cool fiery powers? So of course, despite his family's best efforts to keep the full potential of his abilities hidden from the Pilots and Dragons, it was eventually discovered that he was indeed strong enough of a psychic to become a Pilot, and a few days later he was off to the ATC.
Truth be told, he wasn't really sure what to think about the whole ordeal at first. Being separated from his family was understandably rather upsetting, but the promise of greatness that came with being a Pilot was also rather tempting. In any case, he wasn't going to be making anybody happy if he ended up getting trimmed, and so he decided that it would be for the best to put all of his effort towards graduating. And sure enough, after a few years of living through the constant struggle that was Candidacy, Zeiss was picked by Hauteclere and became a full-fledged Pilot.
The decision to move to Merydia was mostly Hauteclere's- he couldn't really risk the conflict of interest that might arise from being in close proximity to the Kitsuni community in Aurora, who had a fair amount of distrust for Pilots. It simply wouldn't do for Zeiss to reconsider where his loyalties lied, so keeping him in a city that was a fair ways away from Aurora seemed like the right call. The young Pilot didn't mind this too much at first, though. Being a Pilot was pretty awesome, and in a few years, he'd become a bit of a local celebrity.
However, as the years went by and he climbed up the ranks, the fame and attention that came with being a Pilot became less and less important to him. He didn't strive to be noticed nearly as much as he did when he was younger, and he started to miss the sense of belonging that came with being part of a close family. Fortunately, in the years following the war, he got his chance to feel something like that once again. Newer squads that were formed partially for the appeal of PR were beginning to pop up, and given that he was a local hero of sorts, along with the fact that he had proven his competence during the war, led to him becoming the very first Commander of the Merydia Sirens. Of course, the squad isn't a perfect replacement for his family, but he figures it's a good enough replacement if he can't patch things up with the folks back home.
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22
« on: September 27, 2017, 03:03:04 pm »
Matt's initial reaction to Vanessa snapping him out of his thoughts was admittedly pretty scary, and if she didn't know him better, she probably would have expected him to lash out. If his expression alone didn't give away the fact that he was less than pleased with her at the moment, then his emotions were certainly making it abundantly clear. She tensed up for a moment there, but relaxed pretty quickly when she realized he wasn't really angry with her.
He was right, though- even if Vanessa hadn't completely mastered her empathy yet, it was an uphill battle to hide emotions from her. Even as they sat there and he was trying everything he could to convince himself that everything was okay, it was clear to her how Matt really felt. He was hurting, and she was determined to help him deal with that in any way she could.
"I hope you don't feel like you have to hide your emotions, Matt. Anybody would be upset after getting news like that, and... I don't think it'll start getting better if you try to hold it all in. And I want to help you through those emotions. We all do."
If Vanessa had been a slightly more confident person, she probably would have put an arm or a wing around him or something (well, height differences aside), but she didn't want to risk making him any more uncomfortable than he already was. Instead, she opted for something she'd experienced other empaths doing on a few occasions- projection. Radiating calmness tended to be pretty effective in helping to deal with strong emotions, so she figured it was it least worth a shot. It wasn't something that she had much practice with, though, and once again she began to tense up as she attempted to get the whole projection thing to work.
"So. Are you, uh, are you sure you're not hungry? I mean, you should probably eat something. I can't imagine that drills are very pleasant on an empty stomach."
23
« on: September 24, 2017, 04:00:42 pm »
"Well, it's more of a curse than a blessing, if you ask me. I never really thought it was asshole-ish to get annoyed with someone if they're bothering you, especially when you're making it pretty clear that you don't want to deal with them. But maybe I'm just weird." It was no secret that Lorraine's personality tended to clash with Aedolian culture as a whole, so it wasn't necessarily incorrect to stick that label on her. Then again, being around people could literally give her headaches, but that was another issue entirely.
When Grisham offered the cigar to her, her reaction made it fairly clearly that she wasn't in any rush to try it... although that was probably obvious from the start. Even when she finally did take it from him, the way she inspected it and held it at a distance made it seem like she was examining some sort of alien artifact- and to her, she might as well have been.
She got the feeling that Grisham wasn't going to leave it alone until she'd tried it at least once, though, so it would probably be easiest to just get it over with. Just kinda... bite down on that end and inhale the smoke, right? Right. Hopefully. Except that she only felt more uncomfortable when she put the damn thing in her mouth, and breathing in the smoke just felt terrible. She removed the cigar almost immediately after she'd put it in, and coughed into her elbow a couple times before handing it back to Grisham.
"...yeah, I don't think I'm going to start smoking any time soon. I don't really get what you guys see in it. I guess it does taste kinda like cherry though. Y'know. For whatever that's worth."
She waited for him to take his torture device back, then allowed her hands to rest on the table. She could really use some food now, or at least something to wash the taste out of her mouth.
"So. Food. I was thinking something that's quick and simple, so it won't take us too long to eat. Maybe burgers, if that's alright."
24
« on: September 11, 2017, 07:16:35 pm »
Meatloaf day. Sigh. Vanessa had never been a huge fan of the food they served in the cafeteria- which was an opinion that seemed to be shared by most of the other Candidates- but of course there wasn't actually anything she could do about it. She supposed not every day could be pizza party day, after all. Might as well try to enjoy what she was given, because running drills or trying to study on an empty stomach didn't tend to work out too well.
She wasn't planning on spending any more time in the cafeteria than was necessary, though, nor was she paying much attention to the conversations of the countless surrounding Candidates. Most of her attention was focused on just getting through the food set in front of her so that she could be finished earlier. The majority of the background noise was drowned out by her headphones, connected to an mp3 player resting in one of her pockets. Both of them were gifts; the headphones were provided by Aspen (or, more accurately, her sister) while the player had been given to her by her mentor. Funny how things worked out that way.
The headphones must have made her look a little strange, or at least more strange than usual. They had sections that pointed out in an imitation of cat ears, and Vanessa had made sure to the extra mile with the look, attaching some bits of red felt to the sections in order to make them look nice and fluffy. Combined with her wings, the girl was almost starting to look like some sort of chimera, an amalgamation of all different kinds of animals. Some people thought it was cute, others found it to be a bit odd, but nobody really said anything directly to her about it. Bullying was much less of a problem now that she was Stage 3.
Quickly finishing off the rest of her meatloaf, Vanessa got up from the table and, for once, actually took a moment to take in her surroundings. As could be expected from so many people, there was no shortage of emotions radiating throughout the room, but there was one in particular that seemed to stand out among the others. Something like... disgust? She scanned the room in an attempt to zero in on the source of the emotion, eventually locking on to a lone figure in the corner.
Matt. He definitely hadn't been himself lately, not that she could blame him. Most people would be pretty distressed if something happened to their parents, regardless of how strained that relationship might be. She knew that he sometimes acted like it didn't bother him, pretended to be happy for everyone else's sake, but it wasn't easy to keep your true feelings hidden from an empath. It bothered her that she couldn't do much for him other than offer hugs and a shoulder to cry on, but she certainly wasn't going to leave him there all by himself. Sliding the headphones from her ears and allowing them to rest around her neck, she made her way over to Matt and quietly took a seat next to him.
"...don't feel much like eating, huh? I can understand that, what with...everything that's happened. How are you holding up? I know this kind of thing can't be easy to work through."
25
« on: September 10, 2017, 07:35:47 pm »
Whatever it takes.
While Vanessa realized that those words were probably meant to be supportive, they also succeeded in stirring up some... less than pleasant thoughts. She'd heard a few stories of Pilots going to rather extreme measures when it came to interacting with Candidates- even witnessed a few of them unfolding in person- so the prospect of doing "whatever it took" in order to succeed made her a little nervous. Subconsciously, her wings began to fold inwards, eventually coming to rest against her arms.
Of course, Alec didn't exactly seem like the type of Pilot who would employ terror tactics in order to get her to do what he wanted, especially not after he went out of his way to get her something like this. Seeing as he'd given his permission to open it, Vanessa wasted no time in removing the shiny new device from its packaging and figuring out how it worked. For a while she just sat there and scrolled through it, checking out everything it had to offer before finally setting it back on the table. Probably shouldn't keep Alec waiting too long, especially since he'd gone out of his way to help her.
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. To be honest, I'm glad to know that I have someone on my side for once. Stage two can start to feel pretty lonely sometimes. As for getting to know each other... well, uh, here I am. I guess I've never really been in this room before, but, it's not really how I imagined it to be, I guess? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. I'm just used to things being a little more formal."
26
« on: August 26, 2017, 06:38:05 pm »
QUICK STATS
Name
Jaime McLeod
Age
22
Gender
Male
Species
Human
Ethnicity
Aedolian
Height
6'0"
Occupation
Pilot Cardinal (CO, member of the Adstreia Hellions)
Residence
Adstreia
IN-DEPTH STUFF
Physical Description
Personality
Emotions are not Jaime's strong suit- he has a hard time picking up other people's emotions unless they're being displayed pretty blatantly, and he rarely shows any form of strong emotion himself. He's never been any good at lying or faking emotions, either. The best way to communicate with him is to be perfectly clear and say exactly what you mean, because there's a pretty good chance he'll just end up getting confused otherwise. It is not uncommon for him to end up answering rhetorical questions or to take a sarcastic comment seriously.
That being said, if you are blunt with him, then he'll be perfectly happy to follow orders exactly as they are given to him. Yes, exactly. He has an incredible memory, so it's very rare to have to tell him something more than once. Just don't be surprised if you tell him to do something silly and he actually goes through with it. There are, of course, some exceptions to this- While Jaime is definitely odd, he's not an idiot, and he's not going to do anything that will obviously get him in trouble.
Jaime is a perfectionist when it comes to things he really cares about, and it is not uncommon for him to do the same thing for hours on end if he is determined to improve upon it. He will work on a problem until he falls asleep if that's what it takes, then immediately get right back to it once he wakes up. While he may seem rather dull and flat a lot of the time, he can instantly becomes much more expressive and energetic when it comes to subjects he's passionate about.
Magic/Abilities
Jaime's psionic abilities are rather basic, but he's practiced and talented enough with them to make them useful in their own right. Telepathy is no problem for him, being able to communicate over long distances and even with multiple people without much effort. His telekinesis is fairly powerful, being capable of applying significantly more force than his physical strength can. Being very practiced with this, he's learned many ways to effectively apply his telekinesis. For example, he could move objects that he would have no chance of budging otherwise, or making an opponent topple under an invisible force and keeping them pinned to the ground. He can even use it on himself to a certain extent.
Relationships
- His father, mother, and sister, all of whom live in Adstreia for one reason or another. They might not all live in the same household, but the family bond is still strong among them, and they visit each other pretty frequently. He has a bit of a friendly rivalry with his sister, which has its roots from back when they were both children.
Faust- A rather large black feathered dragon, covered in several places with metal plates. The plates run along his body, legs, and tail, but his wings seem to be fully organic. He isn't exactly ambitious and, for the most part, is perfectly fine with allowing Jaime to make his own decisions (provided they aren't insane or treasonous, of course). He does find it entertaining to tease his Pilot occasionally, though.
History
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27
« on: August 24, 2017, 11:56:32 pm »
Grisham finally showing up was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it meant that she didn't have to stand around waiting like an idiot anymore, but on the other hand, he was definitely a lot more well-known than Lorraine was. If her presence alone wasn't enough to attract the attention of onlookers, then another Pilot showing up- and a rather popular one at that- was definitely going to turn a few heads. She could already tell that people were going to start blowing this thing out of proportion, because apparently there was no such thing as two people just hanging out and spending time together. People liked to dream, she supposed.
Lorraine usually wore sunglasses out in public in order to make herself seem less approachable, but she removed them and tucked them away when she saw Grisham approaching, revealing the ever-shifting purple eyes that not many people got the chance to see in person. He was someone that she actually planned on interacting with, after all, so it made little sense to wear them around him.
"Hey, Grisham. I've been waiting for a little while, but it probably seemed longer than it actually was. People don't know how to mind their own business, apparently. But whatever, you're here now, so we might as well get started. Grab some food first, right? I'm pretty sure that's what the plan was."
She nodded towards a nearby booth, taking a seat in it and waiting for Grisham to do the same. For a little while she just stared at him, taking note of the cigar in his mouth. That was one of the things that she'd learned about him from the chat, or at least one of the more believable things. That Grisham smoked. A lot. A lot more than what was healthy, anyways.
"You weren't lying about the whole smoking thing, huh? I'll be honest, I can't really see the appeal behind it. It must taste terrible."
28
« on: August 23, 2017, 10:49:51 pm »
"Well... I think the idea is that they don't want to spend too much time on a single Candidate when they're not sure if they're going to pass. Like you said. Don't want to be wasting any time and effort, right? Or maybe having people figure this kind of stuff out for themselves is supposed to help toughen them up. I mean... I know that's kind of a theme when it comes to Stage 2. Not everyone's going to make it through."
It was a harsh truth, and one that Vanessa still had a hard time accepting. She liked to think that she and all of her friends would eventually succeed and go on to become Pilots, but the reality was that any one of them could suddenly vanish one day without explanation, never to be seen or heard from again. Subjected to horrible experiments until they either succumbed to them or were no longer needed. It was a sickening thought, and not one that particularly improved her mood.
What did improve her mood, however, was the sight of the gift that Alec had suddenly presented her with. Her eyes lit up as he set it on the desk in front of him, and she leaned forwards in her chair a little while she pulled it closer towards herself. Still in the box. She was honestly pretty surprised that Alec would go out of his way to get her something like this before they'd even met, but she was grateful nonetheless.
"Oh! Uh, thank you! I'll make sure to put it to good use. Promise!"
By the way she was eyeing the package (and probably from how much she was projecting) it was pretty clear that she wanted to open it as soon as possible, but she didn't want to be perceived as rude, especially so soon after she'd met her mentor. Instead, she allowed her hands to rest next to the box as her fingers drummed idly on the desk.
"Sooooo. Any other tips on how to do the whole self-calming thing? Or do you think we should move on to something else? I could proooobably think of some more questions. If you want."
29
« on: August 23, 2017, 03:09:56 pm »
Thankfully, Aspen appeared to be feeling a little better, which was a huge relief to Vanessa. It was in her best interest to make sure that everyone was feeling comfortable, partly because she simply wanted everyone to be happy, and also because anything that the other candidates felt would eventually start affecting her. Plus, using her abilities to put other people in a better mood was good practice for her. Empathy wasn't exactly something you could practice by yourself, so taking this chance to work on it was probably a good idea.
That being said, she was definitely going to try to have fun at this party, too. Not much point in showing up to a party if you weren't going to... well, party. So, when Aspen invited her to go and grab some pizza, Vanessa happily went along with her. For a few moments, she just kinda stared at the pizza and took it all in- the sight, the smell, everything. Real pizza. It was like something out of a dream, and she half expected to wake up from it at any moment, but nope. Pizza was still there.
The presence of a towering being snapped her out of her thoughts, and she nearly let out a squeak as she took in the full size of the person who was now standing next to her. Garza. Gods, this guy could probably lift her with one hand without breaking a sweat. The sheer size of him was honestly a little scary, but as far as she could tell, he had no intention of hurting her. No reason to get freaked out, then.
"Oh! Uh, hey there! Sorry, I'll be outta your way in a second. After all, I couldn't possibly deny someone pizza, especially if it's calling to them. Yeah."
With that, she quickly turned around and grabbed a slice before slipping out from the gathering crowd. She really didn't want to get squished in there, which was certainly a possibility when most of the people present were more than capable of plowing straight through her. Afterwards, she went to take a seat in one of the front chairs- probably wouldn't be able to see a damn thing in the back- and promptly turned around to check on the person behind her, resting her arms on the back of the chair. Candidate Matthew Wright. She couldn't really tell for sure, but he seemed to be feeling a little down.
"Heya, Matt. Is something the matter? You're looking a little... bummed out."
30
« on: August 19, 2017, 12:19:22 am »
Alec's comments on how easily Vanessa was projecting her emotions really made her think for a moment. Usually when she considered the usefulness of her psionics, her ability to pick up on emotions was the first thing that came to mind, but she supposed that the ability to project (or not project, as the case may be) had its own uses, provided she could get the hang of controlling it. She could potentially make people feel all sorts of things, anything from complete calm to utter debilitating fear. While it would be up to her Dragon in the end to decide how exactly she could make the best use of her empathy, it would probably be for the best if she mastered every aspect of it- that way, there would be a greater chance of a Dragon finding her useful and choosing her once she reached Stage 5. It was definitely something to keep in mind for the future.
"Understood. To be honest, I'm not all that experienced when it comes to controlling projections, but I guess that's what mentors are for, right? Maybe you can help me work on that sometimes. I take it you're pretty good at that kind of stuff if you can do it on command."
Now... onto the subject of self-calming. It was another one of those things that Vanessa hadn't really thought too much about, as she usually had enough to worry about with other people's emotions. Her own feelings almost seemed to take a back seat sometimes, which probably wasn't a good thing in all honesty.
"Um... I'm not sure that I have any of those, actually. Usually I just kinda keep it all balled up and wait for it to go away when I fall asleep or something. Either that or find someone to talk to and hope they're in a better mood than me. Self-calming techniques aren't exactly part of the curriculum, so I've never really been taught how to do any of them."
31
« on: August 18, 2017, 04:31:07 pm »
The fact that Kranath also seemed to have an interest in rebuilding the race of dragons- actual dragons- painted him in a slightly more favourable light, at least to Axia. There was finally something that the both of them could agree on, and for a moment she actually considered the possibility of working together with him in order to potentially save their species. That was, of course, until she considered what repopulation might entail. The thought of possibly doing... that with him was sickening to her, but seeing as she had yet to hear him out completely, she tried not to get too pissed off at him.
"...well. Don't get any funny ideas, Kranath. You can talk about rebuilding all you want, but that doesn't mean I'm anywhere close to trusting you."
Kranath's sudden change in his gaze did go some way towards calming Axia down, but probably not for the reason he was expecting. The glowing red eyes reminded her quite a bit of Marakai's, and considering her last memory of him was finding him dead on the ground... needless to say, it was dredging up some traumatic experiences. Well, at least now she could stand to look Kranath in the eye again.
"You can't just change the past, Kranath. Even if you did manage to repopulate enough for dragons to be as abundant as they once were, there's no way of changing Aedolis back to the way it was. It's all sorts of messed up, both the planet itself and everything that lives on it. There's nothing you can do to change the Dragons back to normal, and the people there are so brainwashed it's ridiculous. The place is beyond saving, believe me."
She held his gaze until his eye closed, looking him over for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and allowing her arms to drop to her sides.
"...fine. Out with it. What exactly were you planning on, and why do you need me for it?"
32
« on: August 17, 2017, 05:10:16 pm »
Honestly, Lorraine really hated the whole 'celebrity' aspect of being a Pilot sometimes. It was damn near impossible to step foot out in public without seeing your face plastered everywhere. Then, of course, there was the fact that you were almost bound to be recognized by somebody, and eventually you ended up surrounded by a bunch of idiots staring at you and asking you to sign things. The best way she'd found to deal with this was simply to keep walking and pretend everyone else didn't exist, but that was rather difficult to do in this particular scenario. She was supposed to be meeting Grisham at this stupid restaurant, but he sure seemed to be taking his sweet time.
Thankfully, she was one of the lesser known Pilots, at least to the public eye. That was partly to do with her not being too highly ranked, but mostly because she simply didn't show up in public very often. It made the whole experience slightly less agonizing for her, but of course there were still a few people who recognized her. Her signature pout was enough to deter most people from approaching, but occasionally some little kid who didn't know any better would give her a big doofy smile before their parents hurriedly dragged them along.
Gods. What on earth was the point of her coming out here, again? To relieve stress, apparently? Yeah, right. How the hell was she supposed to be relaxed when she knew very well that the asshole responsible for injuring Pilot Echo Rook was still out there somewhere? For all she knew, they had already come across their next victim, and here she was just standing around doing nothing. To be fair, it wasn't like she could do anything at this point without any orders, and considering what happened to Cinnamon, she probably wasn't going to be getting those any time soon. That didn't really make her feel any better about it, though.
It didn't help that Grisham had yet to show up, either. Lorraine checked her com for what must have been the hundredth time to make sure she had the details correct- correct time, yes, correct time, yep- and yet the Pilot Royal was nowhere to be seen. From what she'd seen and heard, the guy was definitely a bit odd, but it wasn't until now that she'd begun to suspect that he might just be screwing with her. Maybe he didn't actually have any intention of showing up, and she was just wasting her time by waiting around for him... or maybe she was just being paranoid.
At any rate, she was probably going to go insane if she heard one more "thank you for your service" from another random civilian. At this point, she wanted nothing more than to go back to her apartment and just play with Reyn or something, but... maybe she would wait just five more minutes. Five more minutes, just in case Grisham did decide to show. Because she really didn't want to have come all the way out here for no reason.
33
« on: August 14, 2017, 10:57:34 pm »
Right. Alec it was, then. As far as Vanessa was concerned, anything that made her new mentor seem more familiar to her and less like one of those more nightmarish Pilots she'd heard horror stories about was more than welcome. She'd much rather think of the person on the other side of the table as a friend than simply someone who held power over her. He was, of course, her superior, but hopefully that didn't have to be the only thing that defined their relationship.
That being said, the way Alec was looking at her at the moment told her that he was... less than impressed with her so far. It very well might have caused her to start tensing up again, but something else kept her from freaking out too much. She'd definitely felt this sensation before, and recently, too; it was the type of calm she only felt when it was radiating from someone else. Another empath.
If Alec was expecting her to fail, then there would be little point in keeping her calm so that she could keep her thoughts straight. No, they both wanted her to graduate, and if her mentor was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen, then she owed it to him to give it her all as well.
"Alec... I want to be a Pilot. I really do, and not just because what happens when you fail the program. I... well, I'm not really sure about it yet, but I think I want to be like you when I graduate. Helping people through their toughest times. Making them feel better. But I won't be able to do any of that if I let myself fail. And I... I made a promise to someone a little while ago. That I was going to do whatever I could in order to succeed. And I have no intention of going back on that promise, so you don't have to worry about me 'half-assing' anything."
It was clear that what the Pilot said had resonated with Vanessa, and along with her already being pretty wound up in the first place, it resulted in her coming off a little more aggressive than she'd intended. Her voice had risen quite a bit over the course of her response, but she quickly dialled it back to the quieter levels she'd displayed earlier.
"...sorry about that. I got a little more worked up than I expected."
34
« on: August 13, 2017, 11:50:13 pm »
The way he nonchalantly took care of the blood and went right back to smiling down at her almost made Axia want to start unleashing hell on him once again. Combined with the way his wounds had effortlessly healed themselves, his demeanour made it almost as if she'd never even started hitting him in the first place. Well, minus the small pile of teeth that had built up in the ground.
She knew there was no point in going at him anymore, though. It wasn't going to accomplish anything other than wearing herself down, and whatever satisfaction she got from inflicting pain on Kranath was overshadowed by how useless her blows ultimately turned out to be. She did, however, tighten her grip on his chest, scrunching up the fabric of his suit as her hand balled up into a fist.
"Well, you got your wish. Here I am, Kranath. Take a reeeaaaaal good look. I hope it was worth coming all the way out here."
Finally releasing her grip on him, Axia gave the other dragon a shove that, unfortunately, wasn't nearly as effective as she wanted it to be. Her arms, now unoccupied, folded over each other as she turned her head away from Kranath. She couldn't bear to stare into that piercing red gaze for too long.
"...Marakai's the one who told me about you. And taught me how to do... this," she explained, unfolding her arms and gesturing with them before returning them to their original position. "Of course, that was a long time ago. Before you did him in. And honestly, I find it hard to believe that you feel sorry about the deaths of so many when you're the one responsible for them."
35
« on: August 11, 2017, 11:12:52 pm »
The first few seconds that passed after Pilot Noble Holding opened the door was one of the most terrifying moments Vanessa had experienced in a while. She hadn't even said a word or stepped foot in his office yet, but apparently she'd already managed to piss him off. Not only that, but he was just kinda... standing there. Waiting for something. Her mind raced as she tried to think of an appropriate reason for her lateness (if it could even be called that), but after a few seconds, the only thing she managed to squeak out was a simple "...no, sir".
He continued to look down at her with that scary look on his face, though, and briefly Vanessa began to wonder if she was supposed to break down and burst into tears or something. It was a little strange, though; while the Pilot was giving her a rather terrifying glare and he certainly sounded pretty angry with her, her empathy wasn't actually reacting to him very much. She hadn't realized it at first, but she wasn't picking up on any anger, or at least not anywhere near the amount that would be appropriate for the look he was giving her. That meant that either her empathy needed a lot more work than she had originally thought, or that he wasn't actually mad at her.
Fortunately for her, the latter turned out to be true. The whole thing was just a little act in order to get her to squirm a little. It wasn't an entirely new experience for her- Stage 2 could be pretty rough sometimes- but she was used to this kind of thing coming from other Candidates. It was entirely different to have it coming from a Pilot.
Despite the fact that she wasn't actually in trouble, the girl was still pretty shaken up about the whole thing. If it wasn't obvious by the look on her face alone, then Alec's empathy would almost certainly pick up on it. She really didn't want to see what would happen when he actually angry, though, so she gave him a hesitant little nod before stepping into his office.
The inside of the Pilot Noble's office was, well, not exactly how Vanessa had imagined it. It felt a lot more casual than she was expecting, and it was clear that he had put a fair amount of effort towards personalizing it. Now wasn't really the time to be thinking about that, though.
Making her way over to the chair she'd been directed towards, the Candidate took a seat, frowned slightly, then slid forward a little in order to allow her wings some room. Probably not the best idea to crush them against a chair of all things. It was just one of those things she'd learned to get used to.
"Well, um... I know I'm supposed to refer to you as Pilot Noble Alec Holding, but I guess not all Pilots like that. And I guess it's for the best to figure this kind of stuff out now if we're going to be seeing each other a lot, so... do you have a preference?"
36
« on: August 11, 2017, 04:02:54 pm »
Her barrage of punches went on for a few minutes, showing no signs of letting up until either Kranath was unconscious or until she was physically unable to continue. In fact, her punches were actually increasing in power at first; her hands were slowly beginning to shift towards their natural draconic form, gaining more mass by the second as her scales attempted to grow back to their natural size. Her nails sharpened themselves into claws, and along with the her jagged scales, they must have been doing almost as much damage as the pure force behind her attacks.
And yet, as much as she could feel and see the impact that her attacks were having on the other dragon's body, she didn't appear to be making much progress. He was barely flinching despite literally having his bones broken, and no matter how much she tore into him, the damage simply undid itself within the span of a few seconds. It was shaping up to be a hopeless battle, and deep down, Axia had suspected that this was the case from the start. She'd never been nearly as powerful as most of the other dragons she'd come across back in the day, especially those with abilities like Kranath.
Eventually, Axia felt herself beginning to tire, and her punches began to lose the driving force that made them so devastating. Swinging around dragon claws was significantly more difficult than just fists, and the fact that her efforts were apparently being wasted wasn't exactly keeping her motivated. She could always try using her magic, but she didn't really want to kill him... not yet, anyways. Probably wasn't worth the risk of getting kicked off of the Cancer.
Deciding that continuing with her assault was ultimately a waste of her energy, Axia allowed her hands to revert back to their humanoid form, but not before throwing a couple more punches for good measure. She let one of her hands rest on Kranath's chest after it landed the final blow, using him as a support while she caught her breath.
"You... you. What the hell do you want?"
She looked up into his eyes (er, eye) and gave him the most intense death glare she was capable of before continuing.
"Well? Got tired of waiting for so long? Did you decide that today was a good day to get out there and murder more dragons? Huh?"
37
« on: August 10, 2017, 10:31:10 pm »
Getting an official page from a Pilot was always... well, scary. The alert that came from the communicator could be pretty damn startling, and you could never be sure whether or not you were in huge trouble. Luckily for Vanessa, it didn't appear that she was in trouble this time around- in fact, she was being assigned to a mentor!
Of course, having a mentor wasn't always a good thing, or at least that's what she'd heard. There was always a chance that you got assigned to someone who wasn't afraid to make your life hell, who cared about little else other than making sure only the strongest of Candidates made it through the program. Ones that were perfectly willing to turn you into an emotionless shell of a person as long as you did your job.
She decided not to think about that, though, both because it was pretty unpleasant and because it simply wasn't very likely to happen in this case. While she hadn't personally met with Pilot Noble Alec Holding, she hadn't heard anything bad about him, which was a good sign. He was a counsellor, after all, so it was pretty safe to say that terrorizing Candidates probably wasn't how he operated.
...come to think of it, she did recall his name coming up somewhat recently, but couldn't quite remember when. Oh, well. Probably wasn't that important.
In any case, while she was pretty damn nervous to finally be meeting her mentor for the first time, Vanessa was also excited about the whole thing. She'd have to improve her control over her empathy at some point if she wanted any hope of graduating, and having someone who could help her with more specific techniques would go a long way towards achieving that. Making a good first impression was important if she wanted any of that to happen, though, so it was probably for the best if she made it to this appointment on time.
---
True to her word, Vanessa soon found herself standing at the door to Alec's office. She didn't want to wait there too long due to the potential risk of earning the ire of her new mentor, but there was still that one thing at the back of her mind that was bothering her...
...crap. Now she remembered. Pilot Noble Holding was the guy from the picture that was sent to Aspen (and subsequently forwarded to the rest of the Candidates in the chat) a little while ago. Something about him having a thing for Aspen's sister. Definitely not appropriate to bring up on her first meeting with him, or on any meeting, really. She did whatever she could to push those mental images aside for the time being, because things could get awkward real fast if she started projecting them.
Alright. Enough stalling, she decided. Holding was going to start getting suspicious if she wasted too much time out here, and she was just going to end up getting more worked up the longer she waited. Summoning forth all of her courage, she gave the door a few solid knocks before taking a small step back and gazing into the doorway with anticipation.
38
« on: August 10, 2017, 06:49:55 pm »
Bzzt.
A sudden alert coming from her phone tore Vanessa's attention away from the massive textbook in front of her, interrupting what she had intended to be a rather intense studying session. It was strange- she'd set her status to "do not disturb" temporarily so she wouldn't get millions of alerts from the Candidate chat while she was trying to work- and for a second she wondered if she'd done something to get herself in trouble. Panicking slightly, she went for her phone and checked her messages... only to find a reminder she'd set for herself a while earlier.
Oh, crap. The party! She must've let it slip her mind while she was busy studying. That didn't exactly leave her very much time to get ready. Or any time, really. She didn't bother spending any time trying to make herself look pretty, just kinda shoved her books to the corner of her desk and bolted out of her room. She couldn't afford to be late!
When she arrived at the entrance to the room a few minutes later, the first thing she noticed was the emotions radiating from a few of the other candidates. Aspen appeared to be on the verge of a panic attack, and Viktor was practically boiling over with rage. Then, of course, there was Vaughan; Vanessa was familiar with the effect he tended to have on others, and even if it was completely unintentional, she appreciated it nonetheless. It was probably going to make this party a whole lot easier for her. She made sure to give him a shy little wave as she stepped into the room.
The second thing she noticed was how, well, big everyone seemed to be. She knew she was a little on the shorter size, but a good majority of the people present dwarfed her in comparison. It almost felt as if she could sneak off now and nobody would notice, but there was hardly any reason to do that... not at the moment, at least.
Okay... what to do first? Well, she could go grab a slice of pizza, but Aspen looked like she could faint at any second if she didn't get some help. Taking a moment to steel herself for the sea of emotion she was about to walk into, she made her way over to the other girl and put on her best smile.
"Aspen! What did I miss? You look like you've seen a ghost."
39
« on: August 09, 2017, 11:27:28 pm »
Sometimes, seeing some really messed up things was just part of the job when it came to being a Seeker. There were plenty of criminals out there who posed a threat to the safety and security of Aedolis, and a good number of them didn't particularly care much for subtlety. While being repeatedly exposed to those sorts of things did make it easier to keep calm during a situation like this, you never really became completely numb to it.
So, when Lorraine had been on her way back to Haviah earlier that night and that image of an incapacitated Cinna suddenly showed up in the Pilot chat, it was safe to say that she was more than a little surprised. It was almost surreal to see him in such a state, and for a good few seconds she just stared at the image before it was promptly deleted by one of the higher-ups.
To tell the truth, she wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing. From the way the message was structured, it was pretty obvious that it was supposed to be a taunt of some sort... but why? What did the attacker have to gain by alerting a bunch of Pilots to their presence? Was it a trap of some sort, or did they just want to piss off some Pilots? Because if it was the latter, well, it was doing its job pretty well.
She couldn't let this person- whoever they were- get away with this. She was going to do whatever she could to get to the bottom of this, and thankfully, her phone went off again a few minutes later with an alert summoning her to the Seeker department. It looked like she wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.
---
Lorraine's fingers tapped restlessly against the conference room's table, waiting for the other Seekers to show up so that they could get on with the meeting. There was only one other person there at the moment- Pilot Noble Darrin Rogers- and they'd hardly said a word to each other from the moment she'd arrived. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing; it gave her a few minutes to clear her head and make sure all of her things were in order.
The approaching heartbeats of two more people alerted her to the presence of the other Seekers, and she looked up to see the familiar faces of Lufti and, much to her surprise, Jon. Last she'd heard of Jon, he had been reassigned to Ministry, so she certainly hadn't been expecting him to show up at a time like this. This was no time to be asking questions unrelated to the case, though, so instead she simply nodded as he took a seat next to her. Judging by the look on his face, however, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't notice her at all.
She decided to remain silent as Rogers briefed them on their roles, making sure that all of her mental energy was being used to fully understand the case and her assignment. Thankfully, her job involved actually getting out there and searching; she'd never been great at sitting in one place, and her psionics couldn't really be used to their full potential unless she was out in the field.
Lorraine figured it went without saying that she would report to Pilot Noble Kiers as soon as possible, so instead she simply followed quietly as the other two made their way towards the elevator. It was only after they'd gotten into the elevator and waited in silence for a few seconds when she finally spoke up.
"...Jon. Lufti. It's, uh, it's good to see you two again... although the circumstances are less than ideal. Good luck with your assignments. Let's get to the bottom of this."
Her gaze shifted between the two, and she gave another nod before leaning slightly against one of the elevator walls and crossing her arms.
40
« on: August 09, 2017, 07:50:21 pm »
Sometimes she wondered how everything would have turned out if she'd just stayed on Aedolis. Perhaps nobody would ever have found out about what she was hiding, and she could have lived a fairly comfortable life without having to leave the place she once called home. Maybe she would eventually have been caught, twisted and transformed into one of those damned Aedolian Dragons, a single piece of the hive mind that ruled the planet with an iron fist. Hell, she might have even been killed in an attempt to resist the rampant assimilation of whatever biological dragons remained.
It was probably for the best that she had decided to leave when she did. While her humanoid form didn't necessarily give away the fact that she was, in fact, a dragon, it was also pretty obvious that she wasn't human. She couldn't risk being turned into a biomechanical Dragon, not when she was one of the only remaining dragons capable of reproducing... and that was assuming that there were still others out there somewhere. For all Axia knew, she was the only thing keeping her species from being doomed to extinction. Staying away from Aedolis was a small price to pay for the chance to preserve her species.
To tell the truth, though, staying on the space station Cancer most of the time wasn't actually all that bad. Sure, a lot of the technology on the ship was falling apart and the station was home to more than a few shady characters, but that just meant that she got more opportunities to tinker with stuff... and most of the people around here didn't exactly pose much of a threat to her. She'd made quite a few friends and business partners over the years, and every day the place started to feel just a little bit more like home.
Today, though, something definitely felt a little off. At first, it was a scent- a scent so distinctive, so powerful, that it could only possibly belong to one thing.
A dragon.
That couldn't be true, though, right? A dragon just shows up one day out of nowhere unannounced? Of course, to be fair, that was pretty much the same as what happened with her, but she still found it hard to believe. The only way she could know for sure was to go check for herself, which was exactly what she ended up doing- wandering the halls of Cancer, attempting to locate the source of the scent.
Sure enough, the scent only continued to grow stronger as Axia made her way to where she figured it was coming from. However, as she grew nearer, another sensation began to wash over her- one of uncertainty and dread. It was a feeling she knew she had experienced before, and when she finally locked eyes with the other dragon, she immediately knew why. She knew who this was.
Kranath Trin. Ancient dragon. Necromancer.
Mass murderer.
A small voice in the back of her head screamed at her to run, to do whatever it took to get the hell out of there, but it was nothing in comparison to her overwhelming desire to cave this guy's face in.
So that's what she did. Just kinda... walked up to him and started swinging, not particularly caring which part of his body she was hitting as long as she hit something.
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