Time for a Beatdown, Gabe! (Rhichan!)

[Anonymous]

He was becoming a permanent fixture, wasn't he? As was now usual for him, he was slumped in one of the hard wooden chairs, long legs stretched out under the small table and pushing the other chair out of the way. Being that he always sat at one of the small two-person tables along the wall, his tendency to shove that other chair out of the way was a pretty clear indication he did not want company.

Not that it ever stopped a certain somebody.

Poking at the remnants of a rather large lunch, Kuno's two-toned eyes idly scanned the little pockets of people wandering about the cafeteria. The harsh artificial lights above their heads made all those dull gray candidate uniforms look even more uninteresting. Not that Kuno was ever all that big on fashion, but after having to stare at the same color day in and day out, it was like bleaching your eyes. And the place itself...the ATC...it was about as dreary as the teenagers and young adults forced to inhabit it.
Well, at least it meant he wouldn't get hassled very often.

Unless of course it was that certain somebody.

Running a hand through his short, ink black hair, Kuno allows his eyes to close as a sigh escaped him. He should probably be studying right now...God just the thought gives him a headache, eesh. If it weren't for the ridiculous schooling here, he'd have graduated by now. He wouldn't be stuck in the ATC with the Zombie-Uniform Army. He'd be a Pilot...not that the really aspires to it, but it's less of a hassle than being TRIM'd. The people he did his Candidacy with have already become Pilots.

A fact a certain somebody won't let him forget.

...Ugh. I wish that certain somebody didn't always seem able to find me...

[Rhi-Rhi]

Unfortunately for Kuno, that certain somebody found him.

Not that it took much to find the guy. Gabriel had already been just outside the cafeteria, having caught up with his sister on her way to grab some food and chatting it up. You know, just checking in, making sure Marshal wasn't molesting her or anything. The usual brotherly stuff. Eugh. Not much had changed between them, though--she still wasn't all that interested in hanging out with her geeky big brother and, after assuring him for the hundredth time that yes, yes, she was fiiine--and after he'd stolen a hug right in front of everyone, just to bug her--she escaped over to a small group of girls at one of the tables.

Time to continue the rounds while he was here: Kuno was next, and he knew just where to look.

It was lunch time after all, and Kuno liked to eat, so it was all a matter of finding which dark, lonely corner he'd skulked off to this time--or wall, rather. And oh, there were so many choices!

Not.

Gabriel spotted him from across the room, slumped over a two person table, poking at his food, and generally looking as anti-social as humanly possible. Aw, he'd even pushed the chair out of the way. He was really trying! Rolling his eyes, Gabriel strode across the room, a few younger candidates scuttling out of his way. Like all but a few formal occasions, he was out of the Pilot's uniform and in street clothes, but that was enough to mark him as an authority figure because if you weren't in a position of authority or it wasn't a free day, you were damned well in uniform or else. Especially with what he was wearing, all dark baggy pants with neon accents and decorative chains that jingled when he walked and a shirt that was stylishly tattered and patched back up.

Clown clothes, Roman called them.

He wished he knew how to do Remi's little disappearing trick, but since he didn't, he didn't even try to be sneaky. Instead Gabriel grabbed the chair Kuno had shoved out of the way and skidded it over to the side of the table before dropping down into it and resting his arms on the table.

"Heeey there mister Broody McGrumpypants," he greeted with a bright, cheery smile, leaning forward and tilting his head so he could peer at Kuno's face from an angle. An awkward angle, but Kuno was slumped over the table, so--crap, he leaned a little too far and dipped his side-bangs in leftover ketchup. Er. That was smooth, Gabe. Maybe Kuno wouldn't notice. It was all about acting like it didn't happen. "How's the social life?" He brushed his hair out of his face, smoothing the ketchup out of the tips in the process. Just had to be sly about it, that's all. He even waited a couple of seconds before he wiped his fingers off on a used napkin.

[Anonymous]

...I really have to figure out someplace to go where this guy can't find me. Unfortunately food was sort of a must for him...he got crabby as all hell without a decent meal in his belly on a fairly regular basis. Dammit, that makes the cafeteria a weak spot...I should just start taking my food and hiding somewhere, as ridiculous as that is.
With level, two toned eyes, Kuno simply stared back at Gabe as the guy did his very best to get on eye level with his slouched over form...managing to get his hair into ketchup in the process.
And yes, he did see it. Sorry Gabe, your ninja skills are lacking.
"Very smooth. And why the fuck does your clothing always make so much damned noise?"
Despite the harsh words, his tone was surprisingly level and even. And yes, he was quite aware Gabriel was a Pilot, and thus well above him in the pecking order, however...well, this was one of the bastards who'd graduated before him despite them both being in their Candidacy at about the same time. Thus Gabe got a fair amount of his usual form of speech - rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.
"My social life consists of you and the little blind girl that constantly runs into me when she's late to get somewhere. I don't count the Zombie-Uniform Army as part of my social triangle."
Can't be a circle when it consists of three people, right? Well it wasn't as if he even had to answer that question...Gabriel was well aware of his desire to be left alone (a point he seemed to take great delight in working against in his usual overly friendly and quite irritating fashion). The question was a bait, but he'd answered anyway because not answering would get him pestered even more by the overly cheerful Pilot sitting next to him. Again, gotta choose the lesser of two evils, even with both are a major hassle to deal with.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel grinned wickedly. "It makes noise because I'm so tough I don't even need to try and be stealthy! It's like a warning to my victims," he said with a casual wave of his hand before going back to finger-combing the ketchup out of his hair. Looked like Kuno had noticed, but maybe if he just kept playing it off as completely and totally normal, it'd be okay. "It's like by the time you hear me coming, it's too late! Something like that. So beware!"

Yeah, the truth was that he just liked wearing flashy stuff, always had and probably always would. It had been that way before candidacy, but his clothes had been decidedly more subdued then. Maybe it was all those years stuck wearing nothing but drab gray uniforms that made him go crazy, because nowadays he tended to avoid anything 'colorless'. Black, gray, white...those were all colors banned from his wardrobe unless they had something else more exciting to go with them.

Hey, when you were stuck wearing monochromes for years, you kind of never wanted to touch them again. Maybe it was like that whole 'sheltered child' syndrome: once you broke out into the real world, you went wild.

On that vein, hearing Kuno call it the Zombie-Uniform Army drew a sudden bark of laughter out of him. "Heh! Good description! But aw, hey, isn't Ellie part of the Zombie-Uniform Army? And..." He reached out and poked Kuno in the forehead. "Aren't you? You're wearing it, kiddo."

[Anonymous]

(Ages later...a post! Le gasp!)

Kuno just stared blankly at Gabriel as he explained his wardrobe choice, his face almost infuriatingly passive.
"....So you're a reverse-ninja then. A retarded reverse-ninja."
Deadpan as usual, his voice not fluctuating in the least. It really took a lot to get a rise out of him...which meant Gabe was dead-set on doing just that in most instances. It was like some strange sort of tug-of-war...see who would cave first, Gabe getting bored and leaving, or Kuno finally showing some emotion.
A twitch of the eyebrow was his only reaction to the laughter, though he's actually amused that Gabriel found it to be funny enough to laugh at. Truth be told, Kuno did have a full gambit of emotions...he was just next to impossible to read. How many people could interpret an eyebrow twitch to be amusement, after all?

At the poke to the forehead, a mild frown tugged the corners of his lips.
"We are unwilling participants. And don't call me kiddo."
He was well aware there was an age difference between them, but not enough to be called 'kiddo'. It rubbed him the wrong way. And he didn't consider Gabe so much of a 'friend' as to let it roll off him that easily. Quite frankly, Kuno didn't consider anybody in this place a friend...probably because his definition of 'friend' followed more along the lines of 'fellow gang member'. He had a different set of criteria then most people...he didn't like people because they liked him, or spoke to him often, or gave or did things for him. He liked them because he respected them, and could trust them to watch his back in a fight. And so far, there wasn't a single person around he felt met those criteria...or would even be willing to try, considering his rather ah...hands-on approach.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Oho, a reaction! Having interacted with Kuno a fair bit, Gabriel had come to interpret any signs of movement (even down to a twitch) as a good sign. Honestly, the kid complained about the 'zombie army' but he was about as zombie as it came, all stoic and stuff. Of course, Gabriel would never tell him that. It was more fun watching him act like he was somehow above all that.

All candidates believed that at some point or other. Gabriel had been no different, but in the end he'd submitted to the system like everyone else who didn't want to get trimmed.

Gabriel snorted and rolled his eyes at Kuno. "Oh, you're unwilling participants, hmm? Lemme ask ya something, kiddo..." Another quick poke in the head. "...How many kids here do you think are here and in uniform by choice?"

[Anonymous]

Kuno was unaware that his 'facial code' had been cracked by Gabe. Then again, with having known him as long as Gabe did, it was bound to happen eventually. Besides, despite Gabe's penchant for being a 'retarded reverse-ninja', the guy was pretty sharp. Kuno could at least see that much.
Though 90% of the time he still felt he was a retarded reverse-ninja.

Oh, it was on now. Kuno gave a full-on frown that time, sitting up to avoid being potentially poked a third time. His two toned eyes simmered with displeasure to match his expression, which for most people would be a rather frightening combination. But he knew Gabe wasn't particularly intimidated...well, not yet at least.
"I'd say only the stupid ones. And I think I made myself clear about the kiddo comment. I'd hate to accidentally break your finger on my forehead next time."
His voice was still quite even despite his words...and speaking of his words, he was actually doing quite well with not out-right threatening Gabe. Still a Pilot and all...though he was half expecting Gabe to pull that very 'Imma Pilot, Bitch' card on him in this little tiff they were having. That was what he hated...threats and punishment seemed to be the only way people acted around here. I'd much rather just trade blows to see if the other guy is even worth a damn, but not here...here it's all words and head games.

[Rhi-Rhi]

If Gabriel thought anything of the subtle threat, he didn't show it. Oh, sure, it was subtle and all but it was still grounds enough for action; Kuno was a Stage 3 candidate, and he was a Pilot Echo. At this stage, candidates could even be punished for their thoughts, as they were expected to be able to control them so thus insubordinate thoughts were treated as insubordinate words. If Kuno was behaving such with another other Pilot, he would be on his ass right about now.

But Gabriel only grinned. Kuno was his friend, or Gabriel considered him as much, and this was a casual interaction rather than a formal one. A little playful hazing never hurt anything--so long as Kuno could tell the difference between formal and informal interactions, and so long as he recognized when and with whom he could be snarky and when he had better shut his pie-hole. But even now there was a thin line between them that Gabriel was fully aware of, and friends or not, he couldn't let Kuno cross it, nor could he cross it himself. He owed it to the both of them not to.

Leaning forward as Kuno sat up straight, Gabriel laced his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands. "Oh yeah? Only the stupid ones, huh? That's a pretty narrow world view you've got there, kid," he said with a pleasant smile. What? He'd only said not to call him 'kiddo'. "Anyway, that wasn't really the point. Point is, you're not a special snowflake, Kuno-pie. You're part of the 'zombie army' too for the same reason a lot of kids here are."

[Anonymous]

Kuno didn't exactly 'think loudly' as it were, but he still wasn't so great at the whole 'mental shielding' thing either. His psychic powers, for better or for worse, were limited to the physical world, as odd as that may be. Burning things and freezing things...those were his powers. He was well aware of his weaknesses...though in the end, it was probably safer for everybody involved that his diligent mastery of pyro- and cryo-kinesis had not yet been applied to other psychic forms. When one considered his formidable self-control, the idea of such a mind being able to block others from entering, or even being able to rebuff other psychic attacks, the picture suddenly seemed a whole lot more daunting. Were that to happen, he might very well become something of a juggernaut...not that he aspired to such things. No, his only aspiration was to keep his secret ability from ever seeing the light of day again.

He was also very well aware of the line he wasn't to cross, as well as the fact he could get much closer to that line with Gabe than with other Pilots. He knew better than to push things like he was now. Not that he usually wanted to go to the trouble of doing so to begin with...and it wasn't as though any other Pilots went out of their way to talk to him like Gabe anyway. Although at the same time...Kuno might never consider Gabe a 'friend' as Gabe considered him to be without crossing that line at least once.

Another twitch, this time not of amusement but of annoyance. Kid was it now? Ugh...
"Only idiots would willingly jump into this pit of hell and you know it. And I have no desire to be a 'snowflake'."
And once again, despite his apparent annoyance, his voice was very flat with no inflection.
"Why the fuck are you lecturing me anyway? We were both here together, and despite being a Pilot now, you know all about the 'Zombie Uniform Army'. I choose not to associate with them, regardless of whether or not you feel I am part of the group. Most of them are different from me anyway."
Looking away with those sharp, two-toned eyes, he sighed and crossed his arms over his muscular chest. This is a hassle....I don't need to explain myself to you.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel couldn't help but roll his eyes skyward. Most of them are different from me, anyway. Wasn't that what everyone wanted to think, wanted to believe? That they were special, different, not like everyone else.

That was the one thing everyone had in common aside from breathing the same air and bleeding and dying.

"I also know about being a Pilot, which you don't. Not yet, anyway," Gabriel finally said. "And I know you have to drop that outlook if you wanna get anywhere. I'm not lecturing you, and I don't need you explaining anything, but the 'zombie army' are your peers and your future partners and the sooner you understand that, the better, because you're Stage 3 now and this 'me versus them' thing doesn't fly. You don't have to be everyone's friend, but you better start making some, dude."

Stage 3, the 'Team' stage...poor Kuno, it was probably going to be the hardest one for him. Gabriel had passed it with flying colors, but it always killed the loners.

Sometimes literally; refusal to be a team player could end in trimming.

"'Cause believe it or not, any of these guys could take a bullet for you one day--willingly."

[Anonymous]

Kuno couldn't help but catch Gabe rolling his eyes, as obvious as the gesture was. This is why Kuno could not accept Gabe as a friend...at least, one of the reasons. Same as everybody here, for all their amazing psychic abilities, the man did not and would not listen to a single damn thing coming out of his mouth. Kuno couldn't stand that.
With every word spoken by the Pilot, Kuno could feel the anger boiling up in him, which was a dangerous thing for him. But he did not start counting backward...not yet at least. He wanted this little bit of anger, he wanted to feel it, just a taste, to help fuel him, to drive him past his usual apathetic response and into a true reaction. It was dangerous, and perhaps it was like offering a pill to a recovered addict while expecting them not to become addicted again...but still he did it, feeling his blood pulse hotly in his veins.

And without much warning, Kuno stood to his full height, the chair skittling along the tile floor behind him with the force of his rising.
"I'm going to talk now, and for once I want you to listen."
A hush had fallen over the cafeteria, the few candidates left now looking at one another and wondering if it was worth it to stick around for this or not.
"I don't consider a person a friend just because they make a habit of pestering me at every available moment. I don't consider a person a friend simply because they talk to me on a regular basis either. Or because they do favors for me, or because they're nice, or any of that dribble that everyone else likes to base it on. None of that shit tells me that person will 'one day take a bullet for me willingly'. I only put trust in the people I know have the balls to back me up in a fight, and I only know that if I fight them myself: with fists, not with mindgames. You can call it barbaric, rough, simple, stupid...I don't really give a flying fuck, it's how I do it."
Staring at Gabe levelly with those two-toned eyes, feeling the heartbeat in his ears with the pressure of the blood running through him, he thought 'out loud' at Gabe specifically for just a moment.
I do this well aware of how much trouble I'm going to get into. A wolf can only lay quietly, pretending to be a dog, for so long.
"Get up. If you really want to help me 'make friendly' so much, then get up and take it like an ordinary man. And I swear if I hit you, you better hit me back and mean it, or I'm going to be pissed."
And I'll have to suffer the consequences without even getting a 'friend' out of the deal. That'd be fucking ridiculous, honestly.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Oh, for the love of...

Gabriel considered Kuno his friend. He had known the kid during his own candidacy--sure Kuno was way younger, but they still came into the program around the same time, and Gabriel had felt for him. Yeah, the kid could take care of himself in a fight, but that wasn't all there was to the program, or candidacy, or Pilot-hood. It was so much more than that, and Kuno didn't get it.

And now he would have to hand his ass to him, and hand it to him hard. Not only had he crossed a serious line, but he'd done it with an audience.

Gabriel let out a long sigh, but was in no rush to hop to his feet all hot-blooded with something to prove. He had nothing to prove here, and the last thing the other candidates needed to see was a Pilot being successfully baited. What he did here, he did because Kuno had overstepped his boundaries. Nothing more. And it had to show through his actions. This was less about Kuno, now, and more about everyone else.

"You're not special, kiddo, and the sooner you realize that, the better," he said, staring calmly up at him. "Don't you get it? No one cares about your trust issues. Everyone here has them. But if you wanna pass and become a Pilot, it's on you to build that bridge, get over it, and learn to trust your peers. Because when you're out in the field, there's no time for rituals or second-guessing, and you don't get to pick your partners or superiors. They tell you to leap? You leap and trust they know what they're doing. Don't? That's how people get killed."

Finally he rose to his feet and extended his telekinesis outward, and the tables and chairs around them skidded back several feet to create a wide, open circle that only he, Kuno, and their own table and chairs occupied. He motioned the candidates that hadn't already moved to get out of the way.

"Get in trouble? Kuno, you already are. It's me you should be worried about."

"All that said and done," he continued out loud, cracking his knuckles, "it's cute you think you can pick a fight with a Pilot, much less set the terms."

And then he lashed outward with a thought, flipping the table and chairs, food flying through the air, and sent them crashing at Kuno with force enough to cause some serious hurt, especially with those metal legs. And that was the plan. He didn't give Kuno a chance to dodge, for he followed that up by snapping at Kuno's legs and then clamping down to keep him rooted there.

Kuno may have wanted to fight hand to hand, fist to fist, fairly. But this wasn't about what he wanted. It was about the other candidates now, and he fully intended to give them a preemptive lesson in "don't be a dumbass".

And Kuno a lesson in humility.

[Anonymous]

He could pretty much tell as soon as Gabe began to speak that this was a lost cause. There was no point now, save whatever one Gabe felt like making. It was weird though, as for a moment Kuno almost felt like crying out of frustration at this entire thing. Fucking ridiculous...everyt hing about this place really was fucking ridiculous. People included.
No one cares? Isn't that part of the whole 'ooo friendship' thing? Funny he should mention that when he's the one always acting like they're already 'friends'. Ridiculous...ridicu lous x1000.

As Gabe stood and moved the tables and chairs aside with his telekinesis, Kuno simply began to count backward and let go of his anger. There was no point now, after all, no point at all. He let out a breath and visibly relaxed, his face passive yet...perhaps showing the most sorrow he had ever shown while here.
"I wasn't trying to pick a fight with a Pilot. I was trying to pick a fight with a man named Gabriel. But of course I got Pilot Echo Tierney instead. It was worth a shot though."

And then a table and chairs were hurled at him, and Kuno calmly closed his eyes and let them crash into his rather solid frame. He didn't exactly have a chance to fall backward properly though, as in the next instant his legs were hit with psychic power and he went to his knees awkwardly, locked in place.
The table clattered with a near deafening crash on the floor behind him, the chairs spinning along the floor to his other side, everything having hit him dead-on as he didn't exactly attempt to move or even block any of it.
So now he knelt there, arms at his sides, a bit of left over food on his person. He could feel bruises and welts forming on his chest, ribs, and stomach, his lip and eyebrow split and bleeding, his nose throbbing (pretty sure that was a chair leg that hit him), and a black eye already forming down over a cheek bone.
He sighed through his nose quietly and did not make the slightest attempt at fighting back - let Gabe save face and all that shit. He didn't really care any more.
He had learned his lesson, but it wasn't the one Gabe was trying to teach.
In this place, he'd never actually be able to trust a person. He'd just have to put on a straight face and jump through ridiculous loops set up by ridiculous people in a ridiculous world. One giant hassle he couldn't escape unless he died - and he owed his first and last true 'friends' at least the dignity of living on through his memory for as long as he could cling to life.
Kuno simply stared at Gabe with level two-toned eyes, unperturbed and unmoved, waiting for whatever else was coming with a straight face.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Kuno still didn't get it. Didn't get that Gabriel couldn't be his friend all the time--and couldn't be his friend right now, whatever convoluted idea of friendship Kuno had. He was a Pilot, and he had to act the part, and right now it was all about the spectacle.

He was on Kuno a second later. He grabbed a fistful of his hair and drove a knee into his kidneys, twice, to take him down, slammed his face into the floor, hard, to keep him there. Then he perched on top of him, knee firmly planted against his spine, hand still tangled in his hair, and leaned down to speak into his ear.

"Don't be stupid, Kuno," he growled, grinding the candidate's face into the ground. "You're a lot of things, but you're no dumbass so stop acting like one. Learn your place. Learn time and place, for that matter. And never, ever fucking do that again, not outside a sparring ring. You wanna get charged for assaulting a superior officer? Insubordination? I don't think so."

Finally he released him--both physically and psychically--and stood up, brushing off his hands. "I'll call a medic."

[Anonymous]

There was a strange letting-out of air from his lungs as that knee was driven into his kidneys, the breath knocked out of him and his eyes stinging with dampness. Then his face got friendly with the floor, and he was fairly certain at that point that his nose had been broken (not that it was anything new for him though). He breathed carefully through his mouth as Gabe perched atop him, his knee now digging into his spine. Still the candidate didn't make any obvious sounds of pain, and simply laid there placidly.

At the words in his ear, he did his best impression of a shrug, pinned as he was.
"Well, stupid things happen when I get pissed." He mumbled in reply, deadpan as usual. Of course, Gabriel didn't know just how true those words were. He was unapologetic, but he got the picture just as well.
He had no plans for a repeat performance, in any case.

Sitting up once released, he rubbed at his nose a bit gingerly. Hmm, maybe it wasn't broken after all...though he certainly was developing double-black eyes at this point.
"As long as you didn't rupture a kidney, and I'm fairly sure you didn't, I don't need a medic."
He'd had worse. In the grand scheme of all beatings he had taken, this one was actually relatively mild. Hurt like a bitch, but mild comparatively. Still, he had an inkling he wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter...since there was still that 'having to listen to him because he's a Pilot' thing and all...