Welcome to the War Games (OPEN)

[Anonymous]

They had cleared out a simulation room for the war games.  It stood empty, white-walled and brightly lit.  The chairs lining the walls in rows, theatre-like, gleamed white and silver.  Candidates would plug in through a live needle connected to the spinal cord.  Some of the gracies looked a little disconcerted at the prospect.  Most were already used to the procedure.  

Alesku arrived one or two minutes early, punctilious as always.  He wore a light blue Pilot's uniform, neatly pressed and buttoned.  His white-blond hair and beard, both in perfect order, shone almost invisibly against the general blankness.  He didn't smile at the Candidates, only nodded, pale blue eyes remote.  When the clock ticked to 0600 (they began the war games just after breakfast) he made his way purposefully to the empty center of the room and turned in a circle, catching each Candidate's eye.  He kept up a continual mental scan, ready to catch anyone whose mind began to wander.

"Silence and concentration while I am speaking, please.  Now.  Welcome, Candidates."  He inclined his head.  Some hadn't met him before.  He didn't get to spend much time in the ATC now that he'd become a Pilot Royal, not to mention a Seeker.  "I am Pilot Royal Alesku Macario."  

Alesku always spoke quietly, his words measured and very certain, as though he'd thought them over long beforehand.  He gave the Candidates a moment to absorb his introduction and braced his hands on his hips, looking around.  He kept shifting, an eye on as many Candidates as he could see at once.  At length, he gestured to the side of the room, where Alaric stood by.  "This is Pilot Echo Alaric Eftwyrd."   He pronounced the name with care.  "We have taken it upon ourselves to supervise the war game simulations.  I wish briefly to outline the rules and procedures for the simulation.  Those of you who have participated in the war games before will by now also, I hope, have learned the patience required to bear repetition."

Alesku's smile twitched almost invisibly at the corners of his mouth before he smoothed his lips into their more customary hard line.  "This is a stationary simulation, which means you'll be plugging in at the stations you're seated at right now.  The technicians, Pilot Eftwyrd, and myself can help you with the logistics.  Once you are 'inside' the simulation, you'll find yourselves at your team's base.  The object of the game is relatively simple, a capture-the-flag scenario.  Each team  protects some object, the identity of which is not known to the other.  Your team will win if you manage to capture that object and bring it back to your base, if you've managed to keep your own object there, as well.  Teams have been decided arbitrarily based on Stage.  To ensure a level playing field, within the simulation each of you will have access to simple telepathy and telekinesis.  No more, no less."

He cleared his throat and continued.  "Each of you will also be equipped with a standard-issue blaster.  We're allowing respawns this time, since you don't have access to shields.  Stage One Candidates get five 'lives', Stage Two, four, Stage Three, three, Stage Four, two, and Stage Five, one.  Be thrifty with your 'lives.'  We will be judging you based on your performance, and, needless to say, we can do very little of that if you are disqualified within ten minutes.  Respawns are a conceit you will not enjoy in reality.

"Now."  Alesku walked in a careful circle, surveying the Candidates present.  "The teams are as follows.  Team Host."  He glanced sidelong at the tall blue-skinned Pilot in the corner.  Alaric had decided on some slightly fanciful names.  Last year Alesku had gone with 'red' and 'blue,' but why not.  He mentally consulted Calliope to remind himself of the list, then recited, "Candidates Rhys Argel, Atara Kiràly, Romeo Everard, Val Mynatt, Alikhaara Ipfeiyi, Col Savage, Nika Argan, Devi Kilham, Akira Ryuugan, Clytemnestra Vix, and Sylvi Nix."  Alesku waited for the members of the team he'd indicated to take stock of each other, then continued.  "Team Alliance: Candidates Finaa al Jarn, Aries Frey, Sage Sander, Vaughan Liik, Arrow Archer, Delilah Mackie, Rachel Tierney, Crevan, Kyung Koroku, Absolon Kaskara, and Arkadi Riordan."

Team Host would appear in an abandoned munitions warehouse.  Team Alliance had a thick area of surrounding wood, also well-supplied with possibilities for makeshift weaponry.  He did not mention the mines that littered the area.  Some things would remain a surprise in-game.  

"One last word," Alesku said sharply, holding a hand up to maintain silence.  "Be aware of the conditions inside the game.  This is a precious opportunity to deal with natural terrain, and our programmers, Pilot Eftwyrd, and myself, have worked very hard to recreate a realistic landscape based on the Edani environment.  Be aware of heat, cold, and weather conditions.  And if you can, Candidates, treat the simulation as you would reality.  Yes.  It is a simulation.  Yes.  Your physical body will remain unhurt.  But this fact should impel you to undertake an extra burden of seriousness.  In real combat, the energy and alertness of fear, fear for your life, can be a great catalyst for thought.  In simulated combat you must often rely on a different sort of reason, a colder and more analytical kind.  It is my hope that when and if you are called upon to fight as Pilots, you will have a little of both--the impetus of mortal fear and the coldness of removed, reasonable calculation.  Make the effort.  Make it seriously.  This practice is valuable to you.  The terrain you will be experiencing was home in reality to many deaths, Aedolian and Edani, and bringing it to you has been costly.  Keep this in mind.

"I also urge you also to work cohesively with your teammates.  It has always" and there was cold metal in his voice, and the touch of his mind that he shared with all of the Candidates "displeased me that you fight so much amongst yourselves.  You should be allies.  Or," he added, with a rueful nod toward the team setup, "honorable enemies.  Squabbling and reasonless bickering demean you all."

Alesku ran a hand through his hair, smoothing a few flyaway strands into place, and let his hand slip down to stroke his beard and then fall to his side.  "Are there any questions?"  His eyes flicked toward the door.  There would be at least one latecomer, as always.  And, as always, he'd have to employ his own kind of discipline.  He looked back to the Candidates, reading what mental currents he comfortably could.  

It didn't surprise him that a few of them thought he lectured too much.

[Anonymous]

Lectured too much? An understatement Delilah was pretty damn sure. She just wanted to get jacked in and move on. She hadn't had the blessing of hooking in to play the War Games yet. She was pretty excited, she'd get to feel like she could fight with the other Candidates, honestly she may have even been dreaming about it. Some of them just deserved an attitude adjustment, a massive one. The feeling would probably just leaving her craving more.

Blood, she felt she'd been neglected lately in that regard. At least they had started to let her warm up her blood in a microwave. It never had the same taste as right out of the body though. She hated that, quite a bit. She figured that she could go after other Candidates bite them if she wanted to. Delilah was just positive she didn't want to go to TRIM for it. Being a Candidate might've sucked...a lot, but being a Pilot was better than being some egghead's experiment.

She listened to Alesku but it was hard to focus on his words, it was much easier to focus on him. The pulse of blood in his veins, the way his body looked. She sighed internally. She wasn't sure how she was going to ever learn anything when she was always hungry, always itching for the fix they'd never give her. She clenched her fists thinking about the taste, the high she didn't have. She wanted to growl and pounce, she even imagined it briefly as she looked at a couple of the Candidates.

She raised her hand when he finally got to the end.

"When do we start?" She smirked ready to get into the battlefield.

Crevan on the other hand was nervous, he had never gotten jacked in either. Plus he was utterly distracted by Devi. How could he pay attention to Alesku over Devi standing across the room, just being...Devi? She looked so cute, just...adorable. He wanted to grab her and run out of the room. That was the last thing he could do however, instead he had to get hooked into this War Game.

Maybe he would at least be on her team? Of course not. He frowned when he didn't hear his name on Team Host. How unfortunate, he didn't want to face her on the field of battle! He'd be too distracted by her being a girl, and more importantly a girl that he liked. Oh well, too bad gotta deal he supposed, though he didn't really want to.

He didn't know most of the people that were listed as being on his team. He'd seen them talking on the blog but that was about it. He had heard of Vaughn he remembered Devi mentioning him, he had been in a band or something like that? He had seen Delilah in a couple classes...but frankly she scared the shit out of him. He always expected her to jump out of nowhere and bite him or someone else. The other candidates names seemed familiar but he hadn't registered them in his mind quite yet. After this he probably would though.

A battle, it had been so long for him. Maybe he would feel more at home doing something dramatic and adrenaline pumping instead of reading books. He hoped anyway.

[Anonymous]

Not one to enjoy public speaking, and Alesku enjoying more then most, Alaric was quite pleased to let Alesku do the talking. He nodded when Alesku introduced him, paying more attention to the kids then to what his partner was saying. They were mostly alert and paying enough attention. Good. It would be interesting to see how they reacted to the games. Many of these kids had never seen the outdoors before. Not like this.

Devi was excited. This was something she was good at. A good brawl between candidates. She wasn't really used to using a blaster, but, well, that was okay. She was sure she could figure it all out. She used to play games like this all the time growing up, though she was now missing her black dye job. Vivid pink hair wasn't the best for sneaking around.

The names on her team were mostly familiar to her, but other then Alik, none were people she had interacted with much. And while she liked hanging out with the pretty boy, Alik was not her first choice of team mates. And it looked like Crevan was on the other team. Devi glanced around, locating the boy and gave him a bright smile. That was gonna be fun. Though the whole needle in the spine thing was....creepy. Devi wasn't looking forward to that.

Atara frowned as she heard the names called and she pouted, glancing over at Aries. She was going to be on the other team then her friend. That was going to suck. Though it would be interesting to go against her. And she was going to get to beat up on other candidates all she wanted. Though, last time they had done this, there had been a lot of crawling through mud which had sucked. Atara wasn't a huge fan of getting dirty, but she was a Stage 4 candidate. She could do it and do it well, she just didn't like it, "I have a question sir. Who are the leaders this year?"

Finaa slid her hand into the air, waiting for Alesku to acknowledge her before speaking, "Sir? I had a question. Will we have time to discuss plans before starting play, or will that all have to take place on the field?" Finaa didn't know a large number of her team mates or what they could do and it would be nice to get some time to talk to them, "Also, you mentioned psychic abilities, but what about physical ones? There are some of us that have beyond human abilities and will we have access to those?"

Nika wasn't really sure how he felt about all this. He was going to be allowed to kill people, but it was all pretend. No real blood was going to be set free. Seemed pointless. But there was no point in arguing. He wrinkled his nose, feeling the eye patch shift. Would he have both eyes in the simulation? That would be interesting. Oh well. Better put on a happy face and play along.