Remnants of the Earth
INTO THE PAST => Flashback Threads => Aedolis FBs => Topic started by: Anonymous on June 29, 2008, 01:11:33 am
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The ATC was a strange, cold place. Alaric was used to the small, tight knit community back home. He had always known he was going to end up here, he had been born with the third eye after all, and that meant physic powers.
But he hadn't realized how lonely it would be. He seemed to be having poor luck meeting people. And when he did meet them, they quickly got weirded out by him and didn't seem to want to hang out anymore. Which made Alaric sad. And he was still trying to fully work out gender. He had always known that other races had it, he just hadn't had to deal with it as much.
The tall, skinny very alien looking candidate sat at a table, the half he was sitting at was quite empty, while the surrounding area was quite full. He gave a small sigh, pushing at his food. It wasn't too big a deal. He just...needed to make other friends. There were lots of people here after all.
Yes. Positive thoughts. He brightened a bit, doing his best to smile at his fries. He would figure out the differences in genders and it would all work out! He had figured out he was a he, at least he thought so anyway. No one had corrected him much on that.
-
"Hey, mind if I sit here?"
Across the table from Alaric a shaggy blonde-haired boy stood, having sidled on up while the skinny alien was busy staring at his fries. He didn't wait for Alaric to reply; he just set his tray down with a clatter of silverware and slid into his seat, smiling brightly and tapping the end of his straw on the table to get it out of the paper. "I'll move if you really don't want me here, but you looked glum. Whatcha doing over here by yourself? Seems pretty lonely."
Which was exactly why he'd been attracted to the other kid to begin with.
If there was one thing Gabriel could never stand, it was lonely people. You know, those people that just sat off by themselves looking sad, like they wished someone would only take the time to say hi to them, or even the ones that looked like they'd rip off the face of the first person who did speak to them. It was sad. Always broke his heart. Probably because he'd always been such a freakin' extrovert, the type that would talk to a complete stranger in a grocery store line just because. What could he say? He just genuinely liked people (most of 'em) and he'd go out of his mind if he ever had to be alone like that.
So when he'd seen some skinny kid sitting by himself at a table...yeah. Why go sit with the kids in the crowd? They already had someone.
"So!" Gabriel pulled the pickles off his cheeseburger so he could eat those first, flicking off some of the onions while he was at it. "You new here, too? Well, no kidding, duh, you are, you got the green stripes. Cool, so am I!" he said, touching the collar of his own uniform which bore the same green stripes that proclaimed him as a 'gracie'. "Whatcha think of it here so far--oh! Right right, I'm Gabriel by the way. Feel free to call me Gabe, Gabby, whatever! Nicknames are fun--s'long as they're nice nicknames. Ahem. What's your name--whoa!"
It was right about then that Gabriel actually took the time to get a good look at the other kid's face. Alright, it had been obvious before that he wasn't human, what with the blue skin and tail and nifty ears and stuff, and Gabriel was cool with that. Wasn't the first non-human he'd been around, y'know? But a third eye, too? Gabriel stared, green eyes humorously wide, and then gave a broad grin.
"Dude...your eyes are so cool. Third eye. Whoa. Can you like...move that separate from your other eyes...?"
-
At the sound of someone's voice made Alaric look up, startled. It was some bright, smiling blond boy who was already plunking his tray one the table. Alaric returned his smile, his pale face lighting up, "No no! Please stay! I am glad you came over." His voice was lightly accented, though it was hard to place where it was from.
Alaric was the perfect candidate for Gabriel. He was radiating loneliness, and it didn't even take a physic to tell that. The sight of the other boy...Alaric paused, frowning slightly as he stared intently at Gabriel's chest. He tended to default to boy as that was what gender he went by. But he should make sure. And Alaric had worked out that girls had breasts and boys didn't. And Gabriel didn't seem to have any.
But watching him eat his burger made Alaric's smile get wider. It was rather interesting and the boy was just so perky and cheerful it was hard to not be in his presence. "Gabby. That is a good name. It fits you. I am Alaric."
The whoa made the smile fade and Alaric felt a jolt of panic. Gabriel was going to think he was weird and leave. He had hardly even gotten to speak to him...
As Gabriel started going on about his extra eye he relaxed slightly, his smile coming back, "Ah. Yes. Not many of my kind have them. It means we are going to be physics." So he had always known he was going to be a pilot. But that didn't make it any easier to find himself in the ATC, "And sadly, it doesn't move at all. I don't really see normally out of it."
Then the smile faded again and Alaric sighed. He was already liking the cheerful blond and he didn't want to grow more attached then he already was to him just to have him leave later, "I have both a penis and a vagina. Everyone of my race does."
Now the look and the disgust and the name calling could start.
-
"Well, nice to meetcha, Alaric!" Gabriel said, smiling as his name was complimented. Heh, that had to be a first. It was a pretty common name, right? But he guessed it fit, especially the nickname Gabby. At first he'd loathed it because it sounded like a girl's name, but after a while he'd accepted it.
He could agree with it. He was pretty gabby, he'd admit it. Proud of it, too.
"Haha, so you got a literal third eye! That's so cool! Sucks you can't see out of it though. I bet that'd be trippy. Kinda like being a fly or something." Gabriel rubbed at his own forehead. It kind of sucked, too, though. That meant Alaric stood out like a sore thumb when it came to psychic-ness so he didn't even have a chance, didn't have the novelty of trying to hide it or blame any weird occurances on random chance. Gabriel had been able to get away with that for a while since he looked, well, normal, and he sure as heck hadn't been keen on the idea of getting sent here.
But here he was, and he just had to deal with tha--HUH?
That was when Alaric made his random announcement. Very, very, very random, TMI announcement, and it made all other thoughts come to a screeching halt.
"Neh...? Wh...what...?" Gabriel just stared at Alaric, eyebrows raised and mouth dropped open. His eyes were humorously large. Did he just...did he honestly just say that? How...how did you respond to an announcement like that? Tell him he also had a penis, but that he sort of lacked the vagina? Pat him on the shoulder and tell him, 'that's nice'? Back away very slowly? Correct him and let him know that, generally, you just didn't go around proclaiming what genitals you owned?
Gabriel didn't even care that he had both sets of genitals. Not his business, right? Plus it wasn't like he judged people on that. Don't ask, don't tell or something like that, what they had going on downstairs was just...who cared?
His cheeks felt hot and he just knew he was blushing, but after a moment of silent staring he cleared his throat, popped a fry into his mouth, chewed and swallowed to buy time, and then gave an awkward smile. "Uh, that's...wow. That's like...best of both worlds?" he offered with a lopsided grin. He didn't want to seem mean or rude or anything, but he was seriously at a loss for words. "Um...huh! And you manage to come out of your room? Jeez, some of the guys around here, they had that and they'd never stop--never mind. Well, anyway, I got a penis. Just, er, so we're clear on that I guess?" Gabriel blinked a few times and scratched the back of his neck, still fairly shell-shocked. This felt like kindergarten or something.
Right. Topic change time!
"So! Alaric!" He beamed across the table at him. What to say, what to say...especially after that. "Made any friends here yet? I hear that's what'll keep ya sane here. 'Cause like...the Pilots...yeah. Met any of 'em yet? Dunno about you, but they give me the creeps. Buncha self important...people." He rolled his eyes and took a bite of cheeseburger. "No way I'm turning out like them."
-
Alaric shook his head, "I can see out of it. It's just, well, it isn't a normal vision. I can see different things with it." He shrugged helplessly, not really sure how to describe it any more then he knew how to try and explain color to a blind man.
Alaric didn't really mind having to be sent here. He had always known this was what it was going to be. And it was a big step for him, breaking out of his caste. He could go far as a pilot. The only people who would outrank him were other pilots. But it might have been nice to have done something else with his life.
He watched Gabriel turn red and sputter at Alaric's announcement of his genitalia. It was normally something he didn't feel he needed to share with people right of the bat. But he was tired of making friends with someone to just have them freak out later. So Gabriel got stuck with the over share.
Glancing back at his food he waited for Gabriel to pick up his tray and leave. He didn't seem the type to make fun of him for it at least. When Gabriel continued to awkwardly sputter, Alaric lifted his head to watch him. He couldn't help but grin slightly at his discomfort, "I can't have sex with myself. My penis doesn't bend that way. And I figured you only had one. But the penis is fun."
"I haven't met my mentor yet. I'm a little afraid too. They all seem so...cold." Alaric was starting to feel hope. That he could make a friend, "And....no. Not so much with making friends. Most people freak out about me having both."
He nibbled lightly of a fry before hesitantly asking, "Do you play video games at all?" He had found a really fun on recently where you played demon hunters and had to travel through areas killing demons and collecting parts to get new items.
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"Bwuh? That's not...I don't..." Gabriel shoved another fry in his mouth to distract himself so he didn't end up banging his head against the table in utter incredulity--because that would have meant a face-plant right into his burger and ketchup and discarded onions. Besides, he didn't want to be mean...but at the same time, he could sort of see why maybe Alaric didn't exactly have a crowd swarming over him. If Gabriel were a different person, he would have fled right then and there from the over-share, but he'd hung out with stranger folks. One of his best friends back home had a tendency for TMI but she was an awesome chick, geeky like him though you'd never tell from her preppy clothes.
He just...really didn't need to know the details of her monthly cycles, is all. For some reason she felt like she could just go on and on about it to him. Something about how he wasn't like other guys and was really easy to talk to. He got that a lot--and sometimes it sucked.
Like now.
"That's...well, alright then. Uh. Thanks?" he finally said for lack of anything better, still befuddled over why he needed to know that. It was the sort of thing you'd tell a date, not someone you'd just met. But soon enough and the subject had passed, Gabriel was over it (was it sad that he was kind of used to it?) and Gabriel frowned. Well. Now it made sense why Alaric would tell him, he guessed, if other people freaked.
"Yeah, me neither and I'm not to keen on meeting him or her, but...I wouldn't be scared." He offered up a cheerful smile, hiding the fact that, honestly, he was scared too and hoping he wasn't doing any accidental projecting--like he could even control it to begin with. He was just used to being the brave one that comforted everyone else. Probably came from having a little sister, always patching up her owies when she fell off her bike or telling her bedtime stories when she woke up from a nightmare. Parents couldn't do it all, they worked long hours.
So just like at home where he hid his fear at seeing Rachel run crying up to him with a gaping, bleeding wound on her knee because he didn't want to freak her out more than she already was, he'd hide his fear here, too.
And he'd hide the little pang he felt at thinking of home. He missed them already. He hoped he'd be able to visit or at least write or call. This wasn't a prison...right?
"You'll do fine. Anyone with three eyes has got to pass with flying colors and I wouldn't expect any less! You got one up on the the rest of us. Other people are probably just jealous and stupid."
With a shrug, he focused on finishing his burger, listening to Alaric speak--and then he perked up immedietely, setting the burger down. "Do I? Hell yeah! What games do you like? I like RPGs and combat ones the most and--oh! Have you played that new one? Devil May Care? Where you're a demon hunter? It's pretty badass!"
-
Alaric really didn't tend to over share that much, but Gabriel was kind of funny when he got all flustered and at least this meant it was out of the way. If he hadn't been currently depressed over it, Gabriel probably would have been spared the TMI. But as it was, Gabriel came at a bad time.
Grinning at the other boy Alaric shook his head, "Don't worry. I'll stop talking about it now. I don't normally bring that up in the first 5 minutes." He pushed a fry around in the ketchup on his plate, "Just...figured it's easier to have someone get weirded out and avoid me before we got to be friends."
It was nice to know that someone as confident as Gabriel was worried about meeting the mentors as well, "Just because I have a third eye doesn't mean I can pass all the tests. I hope I can, I'm worried about all the physical training though." Alaric was not very muscular. He was a bit of a late bloomer and his race tended to go slower through puberty then humans did, so he was scrawny and gangly looking, "Though I bet you'll pass with flying colors. You'll charm you way through."
He was pretty sure that people weren't jealous of him, though maybe. Having a third eye was rare and important among his race, so maybe that was the same with people. But Gabriel's excited reply to his question drove all other thoughts away. Someone else who liked games! "Me too! I love the ones with good stories and good graphics! I haven't played that one yet! I'm trying to beat Spirit Caliber 5 first. It's amazing!" He was talking rapidly, his hands making excited motions in the air.
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"Pffft, don't sweat the physical stuff. You seen some of the people around here? I think the whole point of the physical training stuff is, well, to shape us up anyway." Gabriel gave a little shrug and glanced down at his own skinny arms. The most muscle he had on him was probably in his hands, he decided, from mashing buttons playing video games, and the only reason he could think of that he managed to keep slim was because of a good metabolism and his own hyperactivity. Good thing, too, 'cause he sure loved junk food.
"I don't think they'd expect us to come in here knowing what to do or being all buff. They're here to teach us, so you'll do fine and you'll pass because you'll rock their socks. And I'll pass 'cause, yeah, I am charming aren't I?" he said with a broad smile and a wink. Hoo boy, hopefully the higher ups agreed with Alaric's prediction because that would be nice and make a lot of the stress go away. The alternative to passing, after all, was TRIM, and that just wasn't an option. He hoped.
He was too young to be a guinea pig...but he wouldn't worry about that now. He'd worry about that and missing his family and friends when he was alone and not trying to cheer someone else up.
Gabriel smiled as he listened to Alaric talk, watching his excited gestures and trying not to laugh. It was kinda cute how he'd gone from downtrodden and alienated to animated and open just like that, and all it had taken was a kind gesture and a moment of his time. He found that tended to be true of most people, no matter how introverted; it was amazing how easily you could get them to open up. Made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"HAH! I already beat that one!" Gabriel boasted, sitting back in his seat and grinning smugly. "Beat it in the first three days I got it! Woulda beat it faster but I had school. I was working on unlocking all the characters and getting the secret ending but..." He frowned and gave a little jerk of his head, gesturing to the whole of the ATC. "This happened. Getting tossed here. I was so close! Stupid frickin' Pilots, I swear, they can't leave well enough alone and I wish they'd all just drop--! Er...sorry."
Gabriel gave a discreet little cough and dropped the fry he'd been gesturing with like it was a knife, which was also quite squished now since he'd been squeezing the potato out of it. He nudged it under the table with the toe of his shoe and wiped the fry grease off on the leg of his uniform pants. "So..."
-
"I suppose so. Though...." Alaric was about as scrawny as Gabriel was, all long limbs and no mass and being so tall only made it seem even more so, "I'm not exactly in shape currently." Alaric was still finishing up his races puberty, his body still rapidly growing. Which meant he wasn't keeping a lot of weight on.
"It's good they aren't expecting us to be buff. That would be a big pile of disappointment with most of the candidates I think. I just...I donno." Alaric gave a small laugh, "Man, how do you seem so relaxed about everything? I'm scared shitless."
The blond boy just seemed like nothing fazed him and it boggled Alaric's mind. He did not want to mess this all up and end up in TRIM. He didn't like torture and big poky needles. Alaric's mental image of TRIM always had some sadistic nurse with some comically large syringe.
"I'm almost done with it. I've been trying to unlock everything as I go." Alaric grinned, excited and so very happy there was someone here who shared him love of video games. He tended to be much more extroverted then Gabriel had found him, but having been unable to make friends at ATC had really started to wear on him. It was hard to stay positive all the time, "I just unlocked the girl from Tenant Evil. She was not easy man. Let me tell you."
Alaric looked a little sad at Gabriel's sudden outburst. He really wasn't sure what was worse, growing up knowing your whole life that one day you were going to develop powers and end up here wither you wanted too or not, or getting snatched out of your life and stuck here. They both kind of sucked.
"Yeah. I know that feeling. Don't feel sorry." Alaric glanced around, not wanting to have a Pilot suddenly walk up behind him or anything, "So....um....I like kittens."
-
It wasn't a Pilot who came up suddenly behind Alaric, but another candidate. A hand shoved Alaric's head down into his tray of food and with a laugh Cross Letendre settled into the seat next to him. The yellow stripes upon his collar and cuffs marked him as a stage four candidate. He was more broadly built than either of the gracies—he ought to be, after having completed the majority of the training program—and his dark brown hair was tucked neatly behind one ear and hung down to his shoulders. He propped his chin on one hand, reaching over to gank one of Alaric's fries and pop it in him mouth.
"You already are a big pile of disappointment, Al." Cross grinned pleasantly and stole another fry. "Try not to let it rub off on any of the decent candidates, ey? Some of them actually stand a chance." He ruffled Alaric's hair roughly then slid the kid's drink over for himself.
At stage four, Cross was in the midst of perfecting his psychic abilities, and who better to practice on than a couple of gracies? He leaped right into Alaric's mind and started rummaging around in there, making no effort hide his presence or ease the entry. He'd much rather the little herm freak feel it. While he was in there he picked up the other gracie's name.
Gabriel Tierney. A tech geek. Another hopeless loser. The Pilots were really scraping off of the bottom lately. A good looking kid, though. The Pilots would eat him alive.
But at least this one was normal. No third eyes and hopefully no dick where there shouldn't be one. Scrawny, though. Basic training would either tear him to pieces or build something stronger out of him. Alaric, Cross suspected, would snap like a twig under the pressure of the program. He had a hundred credits riding on it, and not just Alaric, either. Betting on the new kids was big business among fours and fives, and Cross had half a dozen running wagers on which of them would make it to stage three and which would get sold off to Thanatos.
After learning a bit more about Tierney, he'd add another bet to the pot.
To that end, Cross turned his smile on Gabriel and turned his thoughts to Gabriel's mind, poking around at his surface thoughts, his fears about the candidate program, his preoccupation with video games. At the same time he kept his own blocks up, lest they get it into their cute little newbie heads to try the same on him. He'd not met a gracie yet with enough power or control to get around a trained psychic's mid-level blocks.
"Cross Letendre," he said, holding out a hand to Gabriel. "Candidate, stage four. I'm Al's very good friend don't ya know. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm guessing you're a guy, but around here it's hard to know. Never can tell what you're getting."
-
Gabriel, glad for the topic change, had opened his mouth and was about to say he liked kittens too and wished he'd been allowed a pet when, WHAM, Alaric face-planted in his food. No, not face-planted. Shoved. Stunned, Gabriel stared with wide green eyes, a fry half raised to his mouth, as an older kid slid into the seat next to Alaric and across from him. The guy's build and the stripes of color gave him away as a candidate further down the stages than they were, but he hadn't yet remembered what colors represented what stage--save for the gracie ones, of course.
Didn't matter what stage he was at, though. The guy had just shoved Alaric into his plate, insulted him, and now he was stealing his food? After shoving him? The shock slowly melted away and he shut his mouth with a soft click of teeth, letting the fry fall back onto his plate. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, and after he'd just gone and cheered Alaric up! He hadn't known Alaric very long, only a few minutes really, but he'd already decided he liked him. Already Alaric had gained the title of 'friend' in Gabriel's mind, whether he wanted it or not (and it looked like he did).
This new kid?
Was messing with his friend.
Gritting his teeth and flashing what could pass for a smile at the new kid, he unfolded his unused napkin and passed it wordlessly to Alaric so he could clean up his face. His head was throbbing with what Gabriel assumed was a blossoming headache, but he didn't think anything of the cause except that this new kid's attitude was behind it. He could feel his blood boiling, pulse pounding in his ears, and he felt his hands shaking as he flexed his fingers on the table, popping his knuckles. He made friends with a lot of people, including people other cliques might consider 'undesireable', but he knew Cross' type and he couldn't stand them. His own friends, even he himself, had been subjected to his type more times than he could count.
After a while, Gabriel had stopped putting up with the bullshit and he'd learned it was best to deal with it right away than to just hope it'd go away. Not just for his sake, but for other people. Whatever. He could take a beating as long as he could make a statement in the process and he was so over being a pushover.
When Cross pretended to be all friendly-like and extended his hand, his steadily building temper finally snapped.
Gabriel slapped both hands down on the table and stood up, glaring down at the punk. He may not have been built but he was fairly tall at five foot nine and at seventeen years of age he was still growing. "For cereal? Wow! I didn't know 'very close friend' was code for 'giant jackass with bigger compensation issues', Cross-dresser," he snapped, saying the first thing that sprang to mind--as he usually did.
"But I guess you'd know all about never knowing what you're getting since you've probably surprised your fair share yourself! Now stop stalking Alaric, you creep! He already said he isn't interested in your freaky foot fetishes and leaving graphic love letters under his door is not endearing, it's perverted! That crap isn't even physically possible!"
He yelled that last part, loud and clear for the whole cafeteria to hear.
-
Finally. Damned paper work was done. So much of it, just to train a candidate, they knew he was able to do it, he knew he was able to do it, but because he was still such a fresh pilot, the scars from when his dragon chose him still ached on his chest, the scars on his face from his candidate days still felt tender. It’d been so long since they were fresh, but he healed so slowly. The scars were hardly attractive, pink and painful looking.
They didn’t hurt though. So they didn’t bother Remi, and his wife still loved him, so that hardly bothered him, too.
Now that the paper work was done, he could finally go and see his candidate. Alaric, the file read, seventeen, humanoid. Humanoid. Didn’t have a name for his species then, hmm, this would be interesting, cautions read something about claws and there was a note to be careful about his forehead. Okay. Remi wished they’d put pictures on the files, or at least a picture on this file, but he’d know Alaric when he saw him.
Hmm, it was around lunch time so Remi whisked off to the cafeteria first, his lower lip safely tucked in his mouth. A quick glance down at his left hand, the shiny new wedding ring on his ring finger winked at him, and he smirked slightly. Pilots were scary. Other candidates weren’t, and he knew there were some late bloomers.
Remi would pose as a candidate until Alaric didn’t see him as a scary threat. A bright smile covered his tanned face and he quickly removed the wedding ring and put it into his shirt pocket. No uniform for him, he could pretend he was rebelling. Yeah, the guy with scars on his face, sunflower yellow hair, pupiless pink eyes was rebelling via. no uniform. Classic.
Opening one of the many doors to the cafeteria, Remi walked into a very interesting scene. A rather strange boy was getting shoved by another candidate – one down the road, obviously, the air the kid held around him was just screaming ‘I’m better than you, punks.’ And then a smaller one, tall, not quite Remi’s six feet, but tall for a gracie, or just old… Either or.
The things that fell out of that kids mouth had Remi snorfling.
Bad Pilot conduct, but Remi always liked seeing bullies being put in their place. A pleasant smile was on his scar covered face and he slapped his own hands on the table and leaned in, giving them all a look, his own shields up so Cross wouldn’t be able to pick anything out of his head. Gabriel, the blonde, Remi looked at him before turning towards the interesting looking one.
Ah, so that was Alaric. Remi lifted a pale eyebrow, casting his pastel pink eyes on Alaric. “I’m afraid you’ll have to get used to bullies… Or just beat them up… I don’t think Pilots get into candidate squabbles, though you might get a nice one who’ll teach you how to keep them off of you.” Remi tilted his head slightly and pursed his lips before looking at Cross, “You look strong, who’s your mentor?”
Add a compliment and a question and they usually presented themselves with bounds of information about how great they were.
-
One minute he was grinning and laughing with Gabriel, starting to feel better then he had in weeks, then suddenly he was making close personal friends with his french fries. It took Alaric a moment to realize what the hell had just happened, then he heard his voice. The alien lifted his head out of the plate, shaking it to get some of the large bits of food off. Ketchup had gotten into his pale white hair, leaving a bright smear of red.
Taking the napkin from Gabriel, Alaric didn't meet the blond boys eyes. He could feel his cheeks turning from pale white to a pale blue as he blushed. He didn't really want his new friend, which he already considered Gabriel, to see him getting picked on like this.
Cross got a death glare from Alaric and he shied away from the hair ruffling, though he wasn't able to avoid the contact all together. A low growl, a rich sound no human throat could replicate escaped his throat, his lips pulling back just a little.
Then his expression flickered to pain, lifting his hand to clasp it over his third eye. The stupid bully was as awkward and clumsy in Alaric's mind as Alaric guessed he was in the bedroom. He hoped the shithead found that thought, "Fuck you Cross. Don't touch me."
He watched Cross hold his hand out to Gabriel and the sharp claws on his left hand tensed, digging deeply into the metal on the tables. There wasn't a whole lot Alaric could do about Cross, as he really couldn't take him in a normal fight. He could probably rip the huge kids throat out, but that wasn't something Alaric really wanted to do. He hated the guy, but not that much.
The last thing Alaric had expected to happen was Gabriel to stand up and start shouting....thing. Really....funny things. The alien's lips twisted up into a smile, his expression a cross between surprise and amusement. Though his body tensed, ready to grab at Cross if he tried to go after Gabriel.
Another boy, a blond like Gabriel, though a much brighter blond with nasty looking scars along his face arrived. Alaric couldn't be all that surprised as they seemed to have gotten the attention of most of the cafeteria. Nothing like the prospect of a good fight.
"I wont get punished for fighting then?" Alaric wasn't sure if it was the best idea to trust the new guy, he could be saying that just to get them to fight and he was far to tightly shielding for Alaric to read anything, and his aura wasn't telling him anything, the shields blocking that as well. But, well, after what was just yelled, Cross was probably going to hurt someone to save face. And Alaric didn't want it to be Gabriel.
He stood up, towering over everyone else there.at 6'2" already and still growing. His race tended to keep growing until they were into their 30's. He growled again, that low, strange sound, his pale eyes narrowing at Cross. Just in case the new guy was totally lying, Alaric would like to have Cross throw the first punch, "Just fuck off freak. Neither Gabriel or I have any desire to sleep with you."
Alaric really wished he was more intimidating looking. He was tall, yeah, but he was all wiry muscle, not having caught up with his height yet. And he just really hoped that Gabriel would stay out of the fight and let Alaric be the one who got beat to a pulp.
-
Cross broke out in a grin as Gabriel lost his cool. He listened, unresponsive and just smiling up at him. The kid had balls. Cross felt in him the tense excitement that came of encountering a truly engaging challenge. The ones who fought back were always the best.
A pair of hands slapped the table. Cross's eyes slid from Gabriel to see Remi there, and he half rose to salute the Pilot before catching himself and settling back into his seat. What was this, now? The Pilot was out of uniform, not strange in itself, but he'd just asked Cross a question he should already know the answer to.
Cross held Remi's gaze, deciding if he wanted to out the Pilot or play along.
Ah, what the hell? Why not? He wanted to see where Remi was going with this anyway, and what his interest in the two gracies was. "Don't got one," he said, shrugging. "Never needed a mentor. Guess I'm just that good, eh?"
He leaned back from the table and looked around at all the watching faces. The tables around them had gone silent. Every pair of eyes he looked into lowered themselves to the ground or slid from his gaze. No one laughed at him. No one would dare.
Cross turned back to Gabriel and Alaric. Where they were standing, he remained seated. Where they were emotional, he remained calm. "You see?" He waved a hand at the surrounding tables. "They all have some common sense. They know I'm days away from making stage five, and after that it's just a few formalities away from becoming a Pilot. They're thinking of their futures, as you should be." Their futures...and their pasts. No few of them had been on the receiving end of Cross's bad regard and didn't want to find themselves there again.
Smiling in a friendly way, he added quietly to Gabriel, "And if you were any kind of smart, kid, you'd watch your mouth around me. Let me lay it out. I can make things real easy for you, or I can make things very, very difficult. In fact, I'm gonna be nice since you're new. I'm gonna give you some free advice. If you wanna succeed in this place, try to stay away from Cremepuff here." Cross jerked his head at the hermy. "Gotta watch who your friends are in this place. Al is a failure y'see. He'll get trimmed after second stage. You don't wanna get friendly with anyone going through that revolving door. He'll just pull you down with him."
Cross gave Gabriel a sweeping up-and-down look, and he put a little bite into his smile. "Oh yeah, one more thing. See, unfortunately, I now have to waste my valuable time to educate you, seein' as I'd be doing you a disservice if I let you think you could get away with shit like this around me. I promise you: before the day's out, you will be apologizing to me."
Not here though, and not now. Not when they were asking for it. Cross Letendre did nothing save on his own timetable. He would decide when and where Al and Gabriel paid for their transgressions.
Half the fun was taking them by surprise.
-
It was only when Alaric stood up that Gabriel realized just how tall he was, and it was also then that he actually noticed the other kid's claws. Maybe it was the growl that did it. Alaric was skinny and all, but whatever race he was he sure didn't sound meek, and now it was two against one. Cross was still a candidate; they could take him together if Cross wanted to take this further.
He was still glaring down at Cross when someone slapped the table, and his heart just about punched out his his chest before he looked and realized it was another candidate, out of uniform--which seemed kind of nuts, but oh well. Gabriel had other things to worry about right now, like whether or not this new guy was a friend of Cross', maybe. Just like Cross talked big, this kid was obviously trying to act big if he thought the Pilots would let him break dress code, and if they were friends...
Gabriel swallowed, looking from Remi to Cross and sizing them both up, both older than them, Cross a more advanced candidate which probably meant his friend was, too. He hoped they wouldn't break any bones.
Thankfully, he wasn't a friend and it just looked like he wanted to be nosy. Wasn't anything unusual about that; Gabriel could feel dozens of eyes on their table, the cafeteria gone eerily silent, but until just then he'd been too focused on Cross to notice it. He felt his cheeks go hot, face coloring, but only squared his shoulders and stood up straighter. He had just yelled a bunch of crazy stuff at Cross, after all.
"I don't need some Pilot to teach me how to keep bullies off me," Gabriel growled, hating the way Cross was just grinning at him, like the cat that got the cream, canary, and some catnip. He looked too calm, too pleased, just sitting there like that. What Stage was he in, anyway? "I've never taken shit from retarded asshole Cross-dressers, and I'm not gonna start."
He wasn't so sure he felt as bold as he was talking, though. It was different back home, where bullies could only overpower you if they were stronger, bigger, faster, or in a group. But he'd heard all about what a psychic could do with just their minds, and you didn't need brute strength for that. Cross was a Pilot Candidate, older than him, further along, and when Cross started to go on about how he didn't even need a mentor, and that he was just days away from Stage Five, Gabriel felt an uncomfortable sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Oh shit...
Someone smarter than him would have backed down right about then for self-preservation's sake. Pride kept Gabriel standing. If he backed down now, Cross would just think he could trample all over him and his friends and everything he'd said in Alaric's defense, all those years of building up his nerve so he wouldn't take crap from people like this, would be for nothing. He didn't want to be one of those kids that shrank back whenever the bastard looked at him--even if it did mean this was probably going to hurt. A lot.
"Why don't you take your own advice and stay away from us?" Gabriel snapped, eyes locking on Cross'. "Lead by example, yeah? Or go bug someone your own age. How old are you? And you're picking on gracies? And you're gonna be a Pilot soon? Either you're delusional or gonna be a really craptacular one if you're only a match for untrained gracies! Maybe you don't got a mentor 'cause they all know you suck!"
He took a deep breath, still seething and willing his hands to stop trembling, but anger put the needed steel in his spine. "You don't scare me. You're no Pilot."
-
Interested, Remi watched the trio. Cross being the typical big bully, Gabriel defending his new friend, and Alaric looking fairly intimidating. It was mostly the claws. And that eye. The bright blond pilot watched his candidate with interest, mentally wincing at the blonde-gracies tongue and words. He’d have to clean up his act fast once he met his mentor. Pastel pink eyes drifted back towards Cross and he smirked a little, stage five. There was still a ways away between stage five and being a pilot, like meeting your dragon.
Then the Cross fellow went and dissed his candidate. No way in hell would his first candidate fail and be trimmed. No way. “Hey, shouldn’t you look into who’s gonna train him first? I mean, Cross, you of all people should know that with the right training even the worse of the candidates can get their act together and pass with flying colours.” Remi smiled pleasantly and then sighed quietly when Gabriel started up again.
Yup, a lot of work.
At least he was being all chivalrous instead of just a brat. Cross was an asshole, he knew it, the pilots knew it, the candidates knew it. Remi was sure that no matter what happened, Cross would never really change. Maybe get a little more serious, but never really change. The Pilot rolled his eyes and leaned against the table, his eyes on Alaric again before snapping towards Gabriel.
“Not all pilots are scary. Though, Gabriel, you should watch your mouth around grumps like him,” Remi jerked his thumb towards Cross, “He will, and can, make your life a living hell. “ Putting his hands in his pockets, Remi walked behind Cross and gave him a pat on the shoulder, “ I know hermaphrodites make you nervous, but you should never say that around Khuno, yeah? It’ll turn you into ribbons, it’s sensitive about that kind of stuff, so when you’re getting to know the dragons, stay away from mine.” Remi winked and then moved towards Alaric.
And sighed.
A candidate. A young child, who was two inches taller than he was. “C’mon, boyos, save the fighting for when you can actually fight. Do it when you’re pilots. Cut lips and broken bones hurt, and when you get them out of training we make you keep ‘em as long as possible unless it interferes with work.” Remi flashed an grin towards the two gracies before eyeing Alaric up and down. A little weird looking.
Okay, really weird looking. Not a crème puff though, Remi had probably been more of a crème puff than Alaric would ever be. Sure as hell didn’t have claws, a third eye, and two inches taller than he is now. Crossing his arms over his chest, Remi took a few steps back, leaned against a table off to the side and watched.
He’d break the horrible news to Alaric later. The funny looking ‘candidate’ was actually a pilot, and the pilot was assigned to Alaric, Gabriel would have it the worst though, Remi was pretty sure he knew who that kid would get. It made him wince to think about it.
Pilots were scary.
-
This was rapidly getting out of hand. Alaric did not like this. While he might look and sound somewhat scary, Alaric wasn't really all that much of a fighter. And he really wasn't sure what to do. And while he really liked that Gabriel was standing up for him, the blond was getting them deeper into trouble.
Though Cross was making it very easy to get angry at him. Though a small part of Alaric was starting to wonder if the older candidate was right. That hanging out with Alaric was going to hurt Gabriel's chances of graduating. The blatant insults did cause the alien's eyes to narrow, all three of them.
The older candidate seemed to be ignoring Alaric though. Which he didn't like. He was quite tempted just to punch him right in his smug face and take the subsequent beating like a man. Well, by man he really meant curling into a ball and protecting his head.
The new candidate managed to derail Alaric's train of thought with the startling announcement that he was actually a Pilot. With a dragon that was a Hermaphrodite. To which Alaric made the suave and witty reply of, "Bwah?"
-
Amazingly, Gabriel didn't back down as Cross had expected. If anything, the more Cross pushed him the harder he wanted to push back. Hm. That was good to know. Although that kind of stubbornness was going come back to bite the gracie in the ass if he didn't learn to bow out when he was ahead.
Cross still remained seated, and some of the conversation in the cafeteria started up again. He really didn't want to get into a big thing at the moment. He'd just get a few more cheap jabs in for the hell of it.
'Course if one of them touched him he'd be on them so fast...
But the herm was just a pussy and Gabriel was looking like he was all talk. Lame insults and attempts at saving face and blah, blah, blah. Whatever. It was nothing Cross hadn't heard before. He helped himself to a few of Gabriel's fries while the gracie was running at the mouth, then waved to a friend he saw across the cafeteria. He checked the time on the wall clock. Ah good, he still had an hour before he had to be at one of the psyche rooms. At stage four, most of his schedule consisted of grueling psychic work, some of it so basic it drove him to near hysteria with boredom, but the Pilots were insistent that every candidate get a firm foundation to build on. To qualify as a Pilot you had to be able to run the simple stuff on automatic, without even thinking about it.
Sounded like Gabriel was wrapping it up. Cross reengaged, blinking up at him. "Hm? Sorry I missed most of that."
He very purposefully and pointedly did not look at Alaric or speak to him, just to aggravate him further. Sometimes they just made it so easy.
Remi he was wary of though. With the Pilot masquerading as a candidate, Cross wasn't quite sure how to act toward him. That hand on his shoulder irked him and he shrugged uncomfortably. What he really wanted was to brush Remi's hand off his shoulder but that was the kind of thing that could get you punishment detail, and he wasn't in the mood for extra work. You just didn't get physical with a Pilot, not if you valued your time or your candidacy.
One of the many lessons Gabriel and the creme puff would learn along the way.
Cross didn't even have a gripe with Remi beyond the Pilot spoiling his fun. The two gracies were safe from him for now and he was about to say so when Remi went and gave himself away. Cross did a double take. He wanted to facepalm on behalf of the Pilot, who could have dragged out the illusion much longer if he'd bothered to try. Oh well. There was still amusement to be had.
Cross propped his chin on one fist and looked at Remi. "Speaking of Pilots, sir, might you know who will be mentoring our promising young candidates here?"
One of his favorite hobbies was to fill gracies' heads with lies about their mentors and freak them out. That one never got old.
-
Gabriel took a deep breath and opened his mouth, fully prepared to repeat everything just out of spite and tell Cross to leave his fries alone, but then the other candidate spoke.
He knew his name.
That surprised him at first until he remembered, duh, psychics, and Cross had gotten his name just as easily. Sure Gabriel was a psychic, too, but that was going to take some getting used to--he'd never been around other psychics, and here he was swimming in them. He frowned at the candidate, mouth drawn in a grim line, because damn if he wasn't already aware of the fact that he'd dug himself a rather deep hole. Possibly six feet deep. He was trying not to think about that, but with Cross no longer laying on the insults and with him pausing long enough for everything to sink in, some of the anger receded enough for him to feel the horror over what he'd just gotten himself into.
Challenging someone who wasn't far off from being a Pilot. And he was stuck here for like four years.
Oh crap...
Green eyes wide and locked on Cross as he finally started to stress over Cross' "promise", he vaguely heard the other candidate rambling on about hermaphrodites and someone named Khuno and dragons and his dragon and--wait. His dragon?
Gabriel's attention snapped from Cross to the Pilot behind him, and the color drained from his face. He smiled awkwardly, body stiff, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Whoa, wait, back up. You got a dragon? Um, hehe, maybe I just didn't ar-tee-eff-em, y'know, read the farkin' manual, buuut...I thought only Pilots had dragons?" His smile broadened, his heart thumped a little faster. "You're...not a Pilot, are you...?"
But it wasn't a joke like he'd been hoping for. Cross called him "sir", and Alaric looked just as surprised as he did. The nervous smile faded and he scanned both Cross and Alaric one final time before looking back at Remi, went a little paler when it fully registered, and then quickly flashed the man a sloppy salute for lack of knowing what the hell he should do in a situation like this. "Heh! Kidding, sir!" he said curtly and dropped back down into his chair so he could stare at his cold food.
Oh shit! As if things couldn't get worse. And here he'd been dissing Pilots not minutes before he'd come by. Had he heard that? Ack, never mind hearing, had he caught any of his thoughts? That revelation sobered him completely, and between Cross' promise and a full-blown Pilot popping up, Gabriel kind of wanted to just sink into the floor. He hadn't even thought of Pilots masquerading as candidates. What if some even dressed up in candidate uniforms? Gyah!
Since sinking into the floor wasn't an option he sank down into his seat, hunched his shoulders, and listened glumly because he was all out of bravado for the moment. Mentors. Right. One of those psychos was going to be his mentor. Ack! Not psycho! He quickly amended his thoughts, just in case a Pilot was listening in on them.
Right. Pilots were totally cool and not creepy.
On the bright side, at least Cross wouldn't beat them up in front of a Pilot, right?
-
Oh... Crap.
A quick face and Remi looked towards Cross, who must figure him to be a moron. Cover was blown, but it was better this way. Hearing them bad talk Pilots was making him feel a little bad about his profession. The blonde pilot moved his hands up and he played with the wedding ring on his finger then Cross spoke and asked him who these boys mentors might be. Should he say? Remi pushed his hair off his face, careful not to push it behind his ear since those were just as interesting looking as his chest and face.
“As far as I know, Alaric’s is rather... Scary to look at. Horrible temper, fangs, claws... Seven arms.” Remi looked off to the side, eyeing any odd candidates and making a scary pilot out of them. “Three wings.” He turned towards the candidates and smiled again, his white teeth along with his pink eyes and yellow hair made his head the brightest part of his body. The Pilot gave a curt nod towards Cross and then blinked and tilted his head, “If I remember correctly, Alarics mentor also eats candidates who piss him off.” The pilot smiled towards cross and pat him on the shoulder, “You should stay away from him too, eh?”
He leaned on the table, his gaze on Gabriel. The pastel pink eyes were unnerving enough, but their entire lack of pupil probably made his gaze all the more creepy for someone fresh into the ATC. “Your mentor...” Remi licked his lower lip, thinking, who was it? Roman? Maybe, Remi wasn’t entirely sure at the moment, he’d been too excited about his own. “Your mentor is actually fairly scary. But don’t worry, either of you, most of the pilots are only hard-ass jackasses to toughen you up for the... well.. Life after ATC.” Remi frowned slightly and looked towards Cross, “However, others will take you on to make your life a living hell.”
Remi smiled towards the two and stood back up, his hands moving to his pockets and he looked around again. “I’m sorry for making you two uncomfortable. I’m Remi, I’m a Pilot Echo which is a step above what most pilots are.” His left hand hung at his side and his thumb played with his wedding ring, he cleared his throat and then looked at Alaric. Weighing his options. Yeah...
The comment on how scary his pilot was probably scared the crap out of him, better to tell the truth than make the weird blue boy crap his pants. “Alaric? I lied about your mentor, it isn’t a seven armed, three winged, kid eater.” Remi smiled a bright smile and lifted his left hand to wag his fingers in a lazy wave. “I am. Your mentor, that is.”
Hopefully he was less scary than a monster.
-
Alaric was starting to lose his temper at Cross. His lips started to pull back in a snarl, revealing rather long and pointed canine teeth, growling softly. It was so very very tempting to just punch the older candidate in the face, see how well he could ignore him then.
But that wasn't a very smart plan. And then the bright blond Pilot startled him again, with his over the top story about what Alaric's mentor would be like. The fangs and claws part didn't really faze Alaric, that was normal for him. And by the 7 arms and 3 wings, Alaric was looking rather skeptical. Sure...he could be telling the truth, bit that just seemed stupid.
Deciding to take a leaf from Cross's book, Alaric decided to ignore the bully, his three eyes focusing on Remi, "You are kidding, right?" Through his comments about Gabriel's mentor were starting to make him worry about his friend. He really didn't want to see the guy hurt or failed. And Remi actually sounded believable when he talked about Roman. He glanced over at Gabriel, not sure what to say. He didn't want Gabriel to look weak in front of Cross, so reassuring him didn't seem quite right.
To be honest, Alaric was quite unsure what to do right then. Things had gotten really out of hand very fast. Remi saying his name pulled the candidate out of his confused thoughts and he started paying attention again.
Oh.
Shit.
This was his mentor? Alaric's pale skin went a little paler and he swallowed, unsure what to say to that, "Oh...you are?" That was at least better then the monster he had been describing, "It's a pleasure to meet you..."
Well, that sounded lame, but Alaric wasn't sure what else to say. He just hoped he wasn't going to get in a lot of trouble for this stuff later. This was really not how he had wanted to make his first impression on his mentor.
-
An odd sound caught Cross's attention. Alaric, he realized. Alaric growling.
He served the hermy a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye.
"Go ahead," he telepathed to Alaric. "Do something about it."
Cross could scarcely remember what it had been like to be a gracie, afraid to even look at someone the wrong way, cringing every time he bumped shoulders with someone in a hallway. He'd grown out of that real quick. Been beaten out of it, rather. There had been a time when he'd been getting into fights daily. And he'd found he enjoyed the high of winning those fights, of dominating. Intimidation did most of the work for him these days, but he still wasn't afraid of getting physical, not with anyone, and he was prepared to brawl it out with both these gracies right here and now, and right in front of Remi too.
Remi. That condescending pat on the should might have gotten him a snarky remark if Cross were less in control of himself. But he caught Remi's meaning, and it infuriated him that he had to listen to it. Power was his motivator, as Rosales would have said. He wanted to be above all these bastards. Yeah, Remi too. All of them. He had his eye on no less than the Imperial position itself, where there would be no one but the dragons to dictate his future.
But for now he kept the bitterness off of his face and out of his head and gave Remi a nod. He knew how to play this candidate game. "Maybe I should, Pilot Talbotte."
As Alaric now had hit new mentor to occupy him, Cross looked back across the table at Tierney and decided to answer the his thoughts just to mess with him.
"Don't be so sure about that," he said, staring right at Gabriel. "The Pilots, they don't care what we do to each other, so long as we don't do any permanent physical damage. No killing. No maiming either. That's for the Pilots to do, and believe me they will. I've seen candidates without limbs, without tongues. Candidates missing eyes and digits and teeth. But that's just the physical stuff. That's all transient. It's the mental and emotional maiming they excel at."
This wasn't gracie torment. This was just reality. It could hit you like a brick no matter what caste you came from. The Pilots by and large didn't hold to the idea of easing candidates into their new life. It was all or nothing, right from the start. Cross had always figured they did that to cull the unsuitable—the weak, the mentally unstable, the plain inept— with as much efficiency as possible.
"Which isn't to say you got nothing to worry about from other candidates."
He smiled.
"Just means we have to be inventive."
-
No sooner had Gabriel processed that this was Alaric's mentor, not some scary, freaky monster (and Gabriel had been far less skeptical about that possibility than Alaric) when Cross's voice filled his head. He jumped in surprise, eyes darting from Remi to Cross, and went pale when he realized Cross was answering one of his thoughts.
Which meant he'd probably heard everything.
While Alaric and Remi--who didn't seem all that bad anymore, since he had an obvious sense of humor and had even apologized for scaring them--talked, Gabriel locked eyes on Cross and felt his stomach do flip-flops. His words sent a shiver down his spine. Candidates missing limbs? Maiming? Did the Pilots kill candidates? Cross had worded that kind of vaguely and his mind took it and ran with it, imagination working on overdrive. Swallowing hard, he slowly looked over at Remi--Pilot Talbotte--who seemed relatively nice, and was greeted with an image of the Pilot cheerfully sawing off Alaric's arm.
Was he serious?
Gabriel looked back at Cross, caught between wanting to believe the older candidate was just trying to scare him and taking his word at face value, and then he looked beyond Cross at the candidates mulling about the cafeteria. Yep, scanning for limbless candidates. He spotted one girl that was limping pretty badly, shuddered, and promptly looked back at Cross and rubbed at his arm. He didn't want to get an arm sawed off...or tongue sliced out...maybe his tongue most of all, he liked talking, but both would frickin' hurt and bleed and--
And he didn't know what Cross was on about. He'd take the emotional maiming over losing an arm and teeth and fingers and tongue! Transient? Losing an arm wasn't transient!
Wait, what does transient mean?
No time to think further on it because that was when Cross made those last cryptic statements, smiling in that way that, to Gabriel, said he meant it and enjoyed it.
His blood chilled and he licked his lips nervously, reminded all too clearly of Cross' promise. He could do anything but kill or permanently maim, and that left a lot of options. Realizing that he was holding his breath, frozen in place, he exhaled slowly and met Cross' smile with one of his own, doing his best to feign confidence even if it was already way too late for that. His body language gave him away.
"That's...that's good to know," he answered out loud, and rubbed his palms on his uniform pants. They had grown clammy. "Creativity's good! I took art too. Wasn't very good. I draw cool stick figures though. Made a neat animation once for the 'net and--yeah, it was neat, kinda sucky though. Uh...er...hey, Pilot Talbotte?" He swiveled in his seat to look at Remi, tearing his eyes away from Cross even though he wanted to watch him like you watched a dangerous animal.
"Can I ask a question?" Whether he wanted him to or not, he was asking anyway. "Do you know anything about the dorms? Like, ah, where me 'n' Alaric are? And where they are...? The dorms, I mean. Our rooms." He smiled and shot a cautious glance over at Cross.
Between the Pilot and the other candidate, Cross scared him the most, and while he was faced with an overwhelming urge to get away now...regardless of what Cross had said, about Pilots doing nothing, he did feel safe in the man's presence. He wouldn't split until the Pilot left them alone with Cross--but it didn't hurt to plan ahead. Know where the dorms are, and he could flee with Alaric to theirs where they could hole themselves up until the next day.
Sounded like a good plan to him.
-
Remi gave Cross a look and kept his lips thin. He hadn’t heard Cross’s voice to Gabriel, but he could hear Gabriel like he was reading a book and Remi rolled his eyes slightly. Eye brows shot up and his mouth opened slightly when he too, got the image of himself sawing off Alarics arm. Personal thoughts, but Remi still turned towards Cross and gave him a sound smack in the back of his head, just ‘cause he could. A sign of dominance. Not really. More of a ‘ I wanted their attention but took it away’ smack.
“I’m not impressed, save it for when I’m not here.” Remi smiled at Cross and then turned back to Gabriel and Alaric. “Your dorms?” Remi frowned for a moment and closed his eyes, sending a quiet thought to Khuno to check it for him. He had a good idea of what they wanted to do, so Remi would help them out. He gave a small smile opened his eyes and told them their dorm room number.
“It was nice meeting you Alaric.” Remi smiled and reached over to ruffle his new candiates hair, doing it to Gabriel, too. “You’ll see little of me at this stage, but once you’re into stage 2 we’ll probably work together a lot more often.” The half fae turned towards Gabriel, smiling again, “ And if you’re with Alaric often, I’ll see a lot of you, too.”
Remi took a few steps backwards and looked around for a moment. “ Remember, if you can stand up to it, do it, as long as it’s not a Pilot. A lot of being a candidate is knowing when to keep your trap shut and back down and when to puff out your feathers and freak the shit out of whoever’s giving you trouble.” Remi waved goodbye before walking off, his hands in his pockets and a lump of worry in his throat.
He wasn’t about to coddle Alaric, but he’d be a helping hand and a good guide. Alaric was going to have a very tough time as a candidate. Gabriel too. But they’d make it. They seemed to have an innate ability, and if Gabriel was who Remi thought he was from this brief meeting he’d get through to and be mostly intact.
Everyone lost something when they became a pilot.
-
Alaric was going to ignore Cross's taunt. He wasn't afraid to get physical, not by a long shot. He was bigger then the other candidate, and probably stronger, but Alaric was pretty sure that he wasn't going to win a fight. But, really, Alaric would just rather not deal with it if he didn't have too. He wasn't quite angry enough to lash out at Cross.
And the shock of meeting his mentor had rather cooled much of that anger. He glanced over at Gabe when he asked about dorm rooms. He wouldn't mind getting away from the crowded cafeteria. They had attracted a few looks, people waiting and probably hoping a fight would start.
Though if Cross didn't leave Gabriel alone, there might still be one. He gave a short nod to Remi, "Thank you sir. I appreciate the advice." He looked down at his tray, his ruined food smeared across it. Bits of it still clung to his long braid.
If someone wanted to pick on him, that was alright. He was fine with that, and slowly growing used to it. And while he had no idea what Cross was doing to Gabriel, he could see his new friend starting to get a little panicked, his fear easy to sense. And that made Alaric not happy.
This was going to end up hurting him a lot more then it was going to hurt Cross. But damn would it feel good. Moving fast and smoothly, Alaric gripped the tray and then swung it hard at Cross's head.
-
"Ow!" Cross clutched the back of his head and suppressed his natural impulse to get up in Remi's face and give back what he'd got.
He mastered the snarl that wanted to break out on his face. "Yes sir, Pilot Talbotte," he said, only the tone that he said it in made it sound more like fuck you. It was hard to take Remi seriously when he'd been a candidate not too long ago. He might have been a Pilot in title, but the respect Cross held for other Pilots just wasn't there with Remi. Maybe it would develop later, maybe not. He'd play the part until he made Pilot, then he'd climb the ranks until he never had to call anyone 'sir' ever again.
Conversation returned at the tables around them as Remi walked away. Looked like the situation had been defused. Cross waited until the sound of Remi's footsteps receded then said, "I recognize your room number, Gabriel. That's Temple Rosales's room. Bad luck, man. That kid's a psycho. See this black eye?" Cross turned his head so Gabriel could get a look at the fading bruise around his left eye. "He gave that to me. Not for any reason, just went crazy in the hall one day. Put five candidates in the hospital before they stopped him. He's a freakin' lunatic. I hope you sleep light."
He might have said more, but an impulsive thought from Alaric's mind alerted him to the attack an instant before it happened. He raised a hand to shield his face and the tray crashed into it. Pain, but not crippling. As he toppled backward he took Alaric with him, dragged him to the floor and got on top of him, pinned the clawed hand to the tile with a weight of telekinesis and held the other with his own.
Then he drove his fist into Alaric's face. Then again, and again.
The cafeteria erupted. No fight within these walls ever stayed contained. A tussle between two became a mob and suddenly Cross and Alaric were surrounded by pumping fists and stomping feet and faces screaming, jeering, cheering. Like a spark to gasoline their violence triggered a cafeteria-wide brawl. Food and utensils went flying. Telekinesis speared through the air—the clumsy, dangerous attacks of half-trained candidates.
Even as he wailed on Alaric's face, Cross sought out Sabela and Raley in the mental confusion and called them to him.
-
Gabriel ducked his head when his hair was ruffled and then watched Remi as he left, blinking slowly. Puff out your feathers? His eyes slid back over to Cross, who he imagined was the one with the puffed feathers here because he was sure doing a good job of freaking him the hell out.
Alone with him again. Even though they were in a crowded cafeteria, it still felt like they were alone. But now he had his dorm number. Perfect. Now once they got the chance they could esca--
Oh shit.
Gabriel stared at Cross, at the fading bruise around his eye. "In...in the hospital?" Five candidates? And this guy was his roommate? Suddenly escaping to the dorms didn't seem like such a hot idea and Gabriel swallowed hard against a lump in his throat. No. Freakin'. Way. Caught between Cross's promise and a psycho-violent roomie...
He sank back in his seat, blood gone cold. He had to sleep there. In a room. With a crazy guy. A crazy guy that put people in the hospital for no reason whatsoever. He must be really big, muscly...maybe bald with a goatee. Or one of those dark and creepy silent kids that dressed all in black and never said anything until they exploded one day and mowed everyone down. Except everyone here dressed in gray. Gabriel shuddered and looked sideways out into the cafeteria, wondering which one it was, if this Temple guy was even in the cafeteria at all.
"Uh...shouldn't he be in solitary confinement or something--can you change rooms? You really didn't do anythi--"
Thwack!
He turned just in time to see Cross and Alaric crashing to the ground, and for a few seconds things seemed eerily dreamlike.
Until Cross started smashing Alaric's face.
"Al! Hey! Get the fuck off him!" The cafeteria exploded into chaos, and Gabriel was up on his feet with the rest of them, but instead of joining them he did something he knew was epically stupid, which he knew he was going to wind up paying for later--or sooner. Something he knew he had to do now while the shocked anger of seeing his new friend's face bloodied was still anger and hadn't yet evolved into fear and self preservation. The mob swarmed, but he shoved through the circle.
He threw himself onto Cross's back and hooked one arm around his neck in a sloppy choke-hold, yanking backwards, then slammed his other fist into Cross's ribs as hard as he could. "Get off!" he yelled over the noise and punched him again, other arm squeezing tight and hanging on for dear life. Was he still scared to death of getting his ass beat? Oh yeah. But he wasn't letting him wail on Alaric without giving some of it back and he sure as hell wasn't letting Alaric deal with this alone.
They'd only just met, but Gabriel felt connected. He was his friend, the only one he had here so far in this twisted place, friends went down swinging together, and fuck if Cross hadn't picked on him and scared them both enough already.
Might as well puff out his feathers now. He was tired of cringing.
That and he didn't want to look like a coward after what Alaric had just done.
-
Things hadn't really gone as Alaric had planned. Well, more how he had expected it to go. But he had it planned going much more successfully in his head. The tall alien was fit and very strong, and while he had hunted animals before, Alaric had never been in many fights.
Cross's swift and brutal response took him by surprise and he fell back hard. Pain exploded in his face, his pale blueish white blood splattering all over him and Cross as the older candidates fist connected with his nose. Spitting and snarling, Alaric's hips and body jerked, trying to throw Cross off of him. Adrenaline pumped through him, helping dull the pain and raw terror gave him an extra burst of strength.
Across the cafeteria, Sabela glanced up at the commotion. Leave it to Cross. All that testosterone fulled posturing with the candidates. Not surprising that a fight happened. She wasn't all that worried about who was going to win. She pushed her long blond hair over her shoulder, calming standing as the place erupted into violence and flung food, "Really. Food fights are so gross."
But Cross wanted her and Raley and Sabela was fine with that. Probably meant something interesting or he wanted help. Never having been more then an average psychic, Sabela had found it easy to learn to control hers. She was still rough, but blocking hurled food wasn't hard as she moved throw the crowd.
Of all the things she had expected, Cross beating on that freaky looking gracie she had heard about with some blond kid latched onto his back was not what she had been thinking.
With Gabe grabbing onto Cross, Alaric gave another thrash, dislodging Cross from him, his face battered and covered in his own blood. His clawed hand was still pinned down, but that didn't stop him from doing his best to kick the shit out of Cross, spitting blood out of his mouth.
Sabela moved fast, grabbing Gabriel in a much better choke-hold then he had one Cross, her arm squeezing tightly as her knee slammed hard into the boys back, right where his kidney's were, several times in a row, "Don't even think about it!"
-
An arm wrapped around Cross's throat and forced him to rear back. Cross's awareness splintered and dipped briefly in and out of the minds of everyone around him, like a dozen bees flitting from flower to flower. He looked upon a stained glass reality, fragmented into its individual pieces yet forming a comprehensible picture. Among the shards he saw who was choking him.
Tierney. At least the kid had the balls to jump into the fray, for all the good it would do him. Sabela was coming up on his six, another piece of the shifting mosaic in Cross's mind. He shielded his torso and took the blows from Alaric's feet with a raised forearm and bided his time until Sabela engaged Tierney.
The moment he heard her voice he dug his thumb into the pressure point behind his opponent's elbow and the moment the arm seized up he launched to his feet.
Slamming telekinesis down on Alaric's legs and other arm, Cross sprang to the side and kicked him in the ribs. He pulled back and drove his foot into the gracie's side again, with even more force, but before he could get another kick in, arms locked around him from behind, hauling him away from Alaric. In the same instant, a weak telekinetic shear swept aside the force holding down Alaric's arms but wasn't strong enough to free his legs on its own.
-
Before Gabriel could get another punch in, pain made his arm seize up and Cross broke loose. He didn't even have a chance to get his bearings before someone grabbed him from behind and locked him into a choke hold that took his breath away.
Everything after that was a haze of mind-numbing agony.
Gabriel went down after the first blow and the next few ensured he was staying down for a good long while. His vision reeled and for a brief moment he must have blacked out, but not long enough to escape the assault. Vaguely, he was aware of a feminine voice but he couldn't focus on the words or anything else beyond trying to curl up and away from the crippling pain, nor was he coherent enough to even choke out the word stop!--much less anything else beyond sobbing moans.
He could think it, though. Barely. And only between fragmented thoughts and panic that maybe he was dying because ohmyfuckinggodsthatHURT.
-
Sabela stepped away from Gabriel's prone body, standing up and brushing her pants off. Really. Boys were so stupid. She smiled down at the boy and brushed a strand of blond hair back over her shoulder, "You really shouldn't pick fights with your betters."
Her attention was pulled away when someone grabbed Cross, pulling him away from Alaric. Her eyes widened when she saw it was Raley, but she quickly controlled her expression. He probably had some plan and she wasn't getting in the way of it.
For all he struggled under Cross, Alaric couldn't dislodge him. His face was a mass of pain, blood everywhere from what was probably a broken nose. He couldn't see Gabriel anymore and he didn't know what had happened to him.
Then suddenly Cross was off him, but before he could lunge away, his body was locked down. Snarling, he tried to push against the telekinesis. His own psychic's were too new for him to even think to use them.
Then pain exploded in his side and he wasn't trying to get away anymore. Making a strangled pain sound, Alaric tried to curl up instead, protect his weak spots as more kicks connected with his ribs.
Someone grabbed Cross, pulling him off and the alien could suddenly move his body again. His legs were still stuck, but it was enough for Alaric to curl up with a ragged sob, clutching his torso. Every movement felt like fire and he was sure something was broken. Everything hurt too much to even see who it was that had rescued him.
-
Cross struggled, earnestly. It was Raley that dragged him away from Alaric and he didn't have to hold back with Raley, or put up the pretense of a fight. The fight was real. Raley knew his shit, was damn good at getting the upper hand in a fight and had always excelled at making the split second decisions you had to make in combat. More than that, he never hesitated. Other candidates had to be taught to throw away their habits of second guessing themselves. Raley had never been in that habit to begin with.
So Cross struggled, and Raley laid into him with just as much ferocity. Then a voice yelled over the din.
"CANDIDATES FALL IN! PILOT CANDIDATES FALL IN!"
Cross recognized that voice, and Raley must have as well because he disengaged at the same time, both of them stepping back to glare at each other with hands raised, palms out. Most of the candidates did the same, and went scrambling to get into formation. The stupid ones couldn't get their heads out of the fight and kept on, blind with that savage ecstasy you only got from raw violence. The lights flickered, and the same voice boomed out again.
"CANDIDATES FALL IN!"
Lyre. Cross didn't want that sadistic mental case zeroing in on him, so he lifted the telekinesis holding Alaric down and fell in to the forming line, at attention. Raley—bless his black, soulless heart for ever coming up with this con—helpfully leaned down to whisper urgently at Alaric and Gabriel.
"Hey, come on. You guys gotta get up now. You can do it. But you gotta get up now. You have to follow orders."
-
Gabriel was vaguely aware of the commotion all around him and that girl taunting him, but he couldn't bring himself to care or even try to pay attention. He was down for the count and quite content staying put--because at the moment he couldn't even begin to consider moving. Pain radiated from his lower back and through his stomach and he stayed curled up in a ball, shoulders shaking with sobs.
Man, he felt awesome.
A voice was booming orders then, and then there was another voice, closer--and kinder--urging him to get up, to follow orders.
Get up? Follow orders?!
He had to be kidding.
Gabriel shook his head weakly, then regretted it when the world swam and his stomach churned, and he grit his teeth and swallowed to try and keep everything down. It was all he could manage at the moment; he didn't think he was capable of using his words just then, much less getting up. Every time he moved, sharp pain shot through him like an electric jolt, leaving him gasping, and it was an effort just to keep from puking. Yeah. Right. Get up. Sure thing. He'd love to.
He'd get right on that.
-
The sound of that voice, booming across the cafeteria had Sabela instantly jumping away from Gabriel, falling into line. There was no way she wanted to give that man a reason to notice her. He gave her the creeps.
Ah. It all clicked for Sabela as she watched Raley lean over and whisper to the little retards on the ground. This. Would be fun. Those poor babies were in for a surprise.
Alaric heard the voice, but it hardly registered. He couldn't move his torso enough to stand without white hot fire running through him. He wasn't used to pain like this. And it hurt. He just shook his head when the boy leaned down, whispering to him, "I can't get up."
-
Raley couldn't wait any longer. Through shuffling candidates he caught a glimpse of black and dark gray—a Pilot's uniform. If he wasted any more time trying to help the gracies up, he'd be targeted himself. He shot Alaric a sympathetic look and jumped back into line between Cross and Sabela.
The last of the candidates fell in, save two, who had apparently not disengaged fast enough for Lyre because he'd laid one out on the floor already and had the other by the hair. He pulled the kid down and slammed her face into the tile. Blood from her broken nose splattered on the floor when he yanked her head back up.
"Candidate, why did you disobey a direct order?"
She sniffed back blood and sputtered an answer that Cross couldn't hear. Lyre let her go. "Get yourselves to a medic, Candidates."
He noticed Gabriel and Alaric then, and approached them. Where he walked, the lights above flickered. Short, only around 5'7", he nevertheless managed to make Cross nervous. It was the vacant expression. Lyre always looked checked out, like he was a dimension or two removed from reality and couldn't have given two shits if the whole world burned around him. The cold metal implants at his temples didn't help the impression.
-
Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck
Whereas before there had been only mind-freezing agony, the sight of a Pilot bashing in faces was enough to thaw Gabriel' brain enough to let raw panic flood in.
And now he was coming toward them.
Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck
Fighting back nausea, Gabriel slid his hands under himself and pushed up, and immediately knives of pain stabbed him in the side and cut through his middle, making him choke on a sob. He managed to get up onto his hands and knees, but when he tried to raise up more that same searing pain dug into him and doubled him right back over. Oh fuck. He couldn't do this...but if he didn't? His stomach clenched in fear and he tried again, but only ended up crying out and curling back in on himself, breath coming in labored pants.
It hurt too much...
-
Alaric felt panic set in when he saw the man moving through the crowd. He didn't recognize him, but he wasn't stupid. He was powerful and scary and Alaric needed to not be on the floor. Struggling to sit up, Alaric gave a low hiss, pain ripping through him.
He could do this. He needed to do this. Clenching his teeth, Alaric managed to get himself to his hands and knees. But the man was getting closer and Alaric was shaking and pale. He wasn't used to pain like this, didn't know how to work through it.
-
Before Lyre could reach them, another Pilot paced down the line and stopped in front of the two pitiful gracies. Rosales, the new Director. Cross didn't know what to think of him yet, save that the man had one massive stick up his ass. He'd never seen him smile, nor seen him out of uniform even once. He had the same midnight black hair as his douchey little brother.
"Candidates, do you need a medic?" Rosales looked from Gabriel to Alaric amid sidelong glances from the gathered candidates. Subtle glances, or they'd catch shit for eyeballing a Pilot. When the Pilots were in this kind of mood, any little thing could set them off.
Lyre stopped and stared at the back of Rosales's head with this dead look in his eyes. Then he dragged his eyes away and paced down the lines of candidates, probably looking for something he could nail somebody with.
-
For a few moments, Gabriel couldn't speak. Pain and fear locked the words inside him as he stared up at the new Pilot, uncertain as to if this was a trap. But at least it wasn't the other one, the one that had laid out two candidates for not moving fast enough and who made the lights flicker and who scared Gabriel far more than this one did. The one that might still come back this way when he finished inspecting the other end.
That thought prompted him to push past the pain and force out a somewhat coherent answer about as much as genuinely needing a medic did.
"Y...ye..." he managed to wheeze after several failed attempts that came out as coughs rather than words.
-
Sabela made sure to keep her eyes front and avoided looking at the Pilots. The Imperial was just creepy and she was glad he was walking away. The man was just not right.
The dark haired one, he was pretty cute though. Like his brother, though, secretly, Sabela thought Temple was much better looking. But she kept that thought to herself.
Alaric just stayed on his hands and knees, unable to go any higher than that. He nodded as well, "Ye...s, s-sir." Everything hurt and he was painfully aware they had just been singled out by some Pilot that could kill them easily with his mind.
-
"Letendre, Sade."
The two of them stepped forward, belting out a strong, simultaneous "Sir!"
"Help these two to the infirmary." Cross could feel Rosales looking at him. He locked his eyes on a point on the far wall and resisted the reflex that made him want to stare back at the man. "And make sure they make it there safely."
"Sir!"
Cross bent to pull one of Gabriel's arms around his shoulders, and Raley did the same for Alaric. As they helped the two gracies up and started to make their slow way out, Rosales spoke again, his voice raised to carry over the whole cafeteria.
"Candidates! Since you have so much extra energy we will find a more appropriate channel for you to expend it. You have all lost your rec time for the next month. Stage Ones and Stage Twos will see myself and Pilot Hamilton for additional hand-to-hand combat training. Stage Threes and Fours will see Pilot Lyre for a instruction on withstanding torture techniques."
Cross groaned under his breath, too low for the Pilots to hear.
-
Gabriel groaned when he was lifted and he leaned his full weight on Cross, in too much pain to care who's shoulder he was leaning against. Later, he'd probably despise Cross a little more for it, but for now he had no pride to speak of so he stumbled along, biting back pained grunts.
But he wasn't so out of it that he didn't catch Rosale's announcement, and he paled. An instruction on withstanding torture techniques?! What kinda lecture did that involve? A demonstration?
He lifted his head a little and managed to ask, under his breath, "Is he serious?"
-
Alaric hissed in pain as Raley helped him stand. Every movement sent waves of pain through him as his cracked ribs shifted. It made it hard to focus as Roman spoke, though the alien forced himself to pay attention.
Combat training? With him? He had no idea who Pilot Hamilton was, but if he was anything like Rosales, he didn't want to meet him. And he had to be kidding with that torture thing. There was just no way.
-
Cross kept his mouth shut until they were out of eyesight and earshot of the Pilots in the cafeteria. He really wanted to curse and give Rosales a dirty look but that would only have gotten him into more trouble. And shit. Torture instruction class with Lyre. Wouldn't that be fantastic. His stomach twisted all up just thinking about it. It wasn't that Lyre was a sadist. He didn't get pleasure from hurting people. He didn't get pleasure from anything. He was miserable and liked to bring everyone else down into misery with him.
"He's fucking serious." Thank the gods the infirmary wasn't far. Dragging a gracie around like this was a waste of his time. He didn't even like this gracie.
"You guys don't have it so bad," Raley added. "I mean, losing your rec time, that sucks, but hand-to-hand can be all right if you like to fight. Rosales and Hamilton are good instructors, too."
"Stop kissing their asses. They're not even here." Cross glared at Raley, and the other candidate returned the challenge. They would have stared each other down if they didn't have Alaric and Gabriel to support. Made it hard to get into a fighting mood when they were burdened with a couple of injured.
-
Aaand he was serious. Gabriel gave a painful shudder, brain conjuring up all sorts of colorful images of how, exactly, one would teach a class like that. Alright, so...maybe the hand-to-hand wasn't so bad, comparatively speaking...
Even more disturbing than the whole torture thing was perhaps the fact that neither Cross nor the other guy seemed too bothered by this.
But he didn't want to think about that. It just made him feel even sicker, and he was trying hard not to puke all over Cross's shoes.
"Uhn...hey...by the way, thanks," he managed to get out, glancing toward Raley. He coughed and his head rolled against Cross's shoulder, but he hurt too much to care. "Steppin' in like that."
-
Alaric was glad he at least got the nice one to lean against. Gabe had to cling to the very asshole that got them into this mess. He looked over at Raley, trying to smile, "Yeah, thanks for the help man. And uh...yeah. Learning to fight will be handy."
Next time Cross was a tool, he could kick his ass.
-
"No problem." Raley smiled over at Gabriel, which turned into a frown for Cross. "Some candidates are real dicks."
"It's good to get that first trip to the medic out of the way," Cross said. He gave Gabriel a nasty grin. "The first of many."
"Is it your ribs?" Raley asked Alaric. "Don't worry, he'll catch deep shit if he makes you miss drills."
-
Gabriel shuddered at Cross' words. Riiight, yeah, avoiding this one like the plague. he was obviously psycho or something. Issues up the wazoo and stuff.
"Did your dad not hug you enough or something?" he mumbled under his breath.
-
"I think so. Feels like they are broken." Alaric had been kicked by struggling prey a few times growing up that broken ribs weren't entirely knew to him, "Thanks man. For the help."
-
Raley's eyes flicked to Cross, who stopped suddenly, scowling. He drove Gabriel up against a wall, arm on his throat. Just in case Alaric got some crazy idea of helping, Raley grabbed onto him and shook his head at him. This was one encounter he needed to stay out of.
"You're new and you don't know, so listen you little shit," Cross said. "I'm only giving you this warning once. My father died in service to this country, and I don't care if I end up killing you and getting trimmed over it, but that is the last time you bring him up to use against me in any way."
Cross let Gabriel breath again, and held him up with a hand clenched in his hair. "Do. You. Get it?"
-
Pain exploded in Gabriel's back where Sabela had already kneed the shit out of him and it drove the air from his lungs. When he tried to suck in another breath, Cross's arm was pressed against his throat, cutting it off. Eyes wide and heart pounding, Gabriel choked, grasped weakly at Cross's arm, and tried to pry him off, but it was no use.
It was hard to pay attention to anything (much less care about it) when he was busy panicking, but when Cross finally eased up and he could gulp in air, he was quick to nod shakily. Well. Nod as well as he could when someone had a fistful of his hair.
"S-sorry," he rasped out, coughing.
And asshole or not, he...kinda was. He hadn't meant to insult anyone's dead parent. He hated the guy, he was willing to hurl insults with the best of them, but...he wasn't willing to go that low, and the news surprised him.
-
Alaric had jerked forward when Cross had shoved Gabe against the wall, though his knee buckled and he went down onto one, his broken ribs sending pain shooting up his torso. He was about to say something when Cross spoke.
Well...shit.
That...was a little different. Alaric wasn't going to let him beat up Gabe again, but it seemed like the threatening was all that was going to happen. Struggling back to his feet with Raley's help, he curled one arm around his stomach, "Uh...are we...almost there yet?"
-
Cross jerked Gabriel along by the arm. He had to beat this in to the new kids sometimes, occasionally to some of the not-so-new kids. He didn't like making this point more than once. He'd break something on Gabriel next time.
"Yeah, we're close." Raley helped Alaric along and pointed to a glass door up ahead. "That's it."
-
"Ow, ow, ow! Jerk..." Gabriel groaned, because the jerking was not helping. His whole body hurt, he felt nauseous, and it strangely felt kind of like he'd been kicked in the 'nads even though he'd been hit in the back. What the hell.
But he stumbled along, and only sheer force of will and the promise of painkillers kept him going. He kind of just wanted to pass out. That door was like the most beautiful thing he'd seen right then.
-
Alaric could have kissed Raley at that moment, for showing him that door. His side kept shooting sharp pains through him. He wanted nothing more then to lay down and never move again. It didn't hurt so much when he didn't move.
-
Inside, a young man in a white lab coat sat flipping through a magazine. He didn't look up or even pause as they all fumbled into the room. Cross waited a few seconds before rolling his eyes and pulling Gabriel over to deposit him on the nearest exam table. His babysitting duties were now blessedly over. "Here, sit."
Raley did the same with Alaric, but with considerably more care. He helped him onto the next table over. The guy with the magazine—so far as he could see, the only other person there—was still ignoring them. He gave Alaric a shrug.
-
Gabriel grunted something that could have been a 'thanks' as Cross showed him the table. Thanks for being a dickface, more like, but he'd give him some credit for getting him here. It was an effort to get up on the table, but it was a relief once he did, because it meant no more moving. Gabriel promptly curled up, though it was pretty difficult to find a comfortable position. For a few moments he stayed like that, waiting for the pain to fade to a manageable level or for him to get his bearings. The pain never faded, but the pause at least gave him a moment to process everything a little more lucidly.
He and Alaric were injured, Alaric was even more fucked up than he was, and...no one was doing anything?
Some douche in a labcoat was just...reading his magazine?
"Um...is that a doctor?"
-
"Thanks man." Alaric gave Raley a shaky smile, glad that not every older candidate was a total assface. Getting onto the table had him biting down hard enough on his lip for his fangs to tear it open, but that was better than screaming.
When Gabe spoke, he glanced over, sweating from the effort of having walked with broken ribs, then climbed onto a table, "Uh, I donno."
-
"That is not a doctor," the young man said. He flipped on to another illuminating article, this one on a weight loss diet that focused on citrus as the keystone to burning fat. "But it is a close approximation of one."
Cross exited with disgusted sigh. He'd had his share of dealing with that one and his task was over. Raley hedged, glancing between the two other candidates.
"You guys really okay? I mean, not the injuries, but are you okay okay?"
-
"Uh..." Okay, yeah, Gabriel was too out of it for this. So instead he focused on Raley and gave a little shrug. "Define 'okay'."
-
"Ask me later." Alaric really didn't think he could give much thought to that question at the moment. There was way too much physical pain.
-
Raley gave a sigh. "I better go then. I'll find you guys later."
After Raley left, the doctor finally showed himself, sweeping in from beyond a curtain cutting off the second half of the room. He had a clipboard in hand and barely gave the two candidates a glance on his way out. "I think you can handle this one, August."
And August flipped another page in his magazine. "I'm high again, you should probably take care of it."
But the doctor was already gone, leaving his resident to at last place the magazine aside and see to the candidates. He waggled his fingers, a soft green fire flaring around them. "So. Which of you hurts the worst?"
-
Blearily, Gabriel nodded toward Alaric. While he felt like utter shit, Alaric looked it; his face had gotten bashed in bad and he looked downright scary right now, and the other candidate had been going at him hardcore. Gabriel wasn't bleeding and, well...he felt a little responsible for what had gone down. Him and his big fat mouth. Maybe if he hadn't said anything, the dick would've gotten bored and left.
But he'd never been good at that. He was just good at realizing it was a bad idea after the consequences got dropped on him.
But this doctor also was not exactly filling him with confidence. Lifting his head, he gave him a worried look, dark skin a little paler than usual.
"Uhh...you're high? I want the other guy."
-
"Uh...what?" Alaric eyed the guys hands, not really wanting to be put in the care of someone who was high, "Is there anyone else?"
-
"Oh certainly, I'll just have one of these invisible doctors treat you, shall I?"
He'd managed to unnerve them. Adorable! It gave him a reason to smile as he tilted Alaric's face this way and that, examining the bruising. He lifted his shirt up to get a look at his torso. "What brought you both here?"
-
"Some asshole bullies," Gabriel mumbled. He didn't really want to give the specifics, that he'd been taken out by a girl. Alaric had a better story; he'd at least put up a fight and he'd admit, it had been pretty sweet seeing him take out the older candidate with a lunch tray.
That made him smile a little through the pain, even if it looked more like a grimace. "But it's okay, they got torture training now or something. Alaric hit one with a lunch tray. Um, you know what you're doing, right?"
Yeah, the memory was nice, but not quite nice enough to not be worried about the high doctor. Or doctor's assistant. Whatever he was!
-
"Uh, yeah. That." Alaric flinched a little when his shirt was lifted, glancing away, "So, um, just yeah. It hurts to breathe. Or move my torso much."
-
"Oh my, no. I'm just a graduate student. Budget cuts and all that. They save the real doctors for the stage fours." August quieted down so he could grab the stethoscope and listen to a bit of the alien's breathing. A scan of the candidate's wrist gave him a name and a schedule of drills and classes, which he altered with a medic's code.
"Well, Candidate Efft...Eh...Candida te Alaric. You've definitely got some broken ribs. You'll be off to a slow start this week. No drills, only classes for the next three days, and I'm scheduling you to come see me for approval before you start any of the physical work."
-
"Uh...Eftwyrd, sir. It's a bit tricky." Alaric's heart was bigger than most humans and was a little odd to listen too, "Uh...yes. Sir. Um, just so I can make sure I get the right person, who are you exactly? Sir."
-
Gabriel watched the exchange in silent horror. Medical student. Doctors were saved for Stage 4. Budget cuts.
He couldn't be serious.