So.. you want to be a Cadet? [Event :: Night :: Slow Topic]

The darkness is said to bring out many things and shift them to its liking.

This city was perhaps the best example of such a thing -- The day time hours making it seem innocent and safe while the darkness unveiled the sinister creatures that lurked in the shadows of the day. During the night time, the Cadets were said to move out while the never sleeping city amused itself with fun and games. The majority remained safe while a few held up the city, but it seemed like tonight, that the few were about to be expanded…or so a little bird had whispered to him.

It was this little tidbit of information that had drawn out the usually hidden being simply known as the Phantom by the few that were aware of his existence. Unlike the cadets who were out in the open doing the big things, the Phantom as his named implied was a being that did smaller jobs from the shadows. The game was fun, but the masked man was always interested in bigger games than the one he currently played. So when he heard of this event, the man naturally showed up amongst the potentials that also wished to be Cadets. Like always he remained hidden until the time was right.

When they were allowed to move forward to be seen by the Queen, the man would follow the crowd in and once they were in the imposing room, he would take note of various things. Unfamiliar faces near where the royalty rested, whispers of potential growth for the city, and finally the familiar faces that poked out in the crowd around him.

It was all very interesting indeed, but the man remained focus all the same. When given instruction on what to do by the strange woman the little bird had warned him about, the Phantom would remain still for a bit before moving pass the people gathered and kneeling as commanded. He would keep his masked face lowered as he spoke.

“I am called Phantom and nothing more, Your Majesty. I have admired the work of the Cadets from afar for years as I have performed my own duties. I have often wondered if I could turn my small duties into something larger to better serve this city and yourself. So with that intent, I have come to attempt to join ranks of Class 0, Your Highness,”  the man behind the mask would say. His voice was confident, yet humble and surprisingly audible despite the fact he wore a mask that hid the details of who he was.

Note:

Even though the cadets were nice and friendly, save from the brat of course, Athena couldn't help but feel unease. She was standing among the royals, the absolute elite of their society was there and soon she would join their ranks. The girl closed her eyes and pictured herself clothed with the most expensive gown and decorated with fancy jewels not given to her for a few photos for a magazine but purchased from her to use as she pleased. She was born for that kind of life and would stop at nothing to achieve it.

When the woman with no name spoke to them Athena's images of her glamorous future seized. She wanted to earn some favor among them and daydreaming was awful for first impressions. The order the woman gave them was simple and yet Athena knew that she had to put all her charm and acting talent to appear as impressive as possible.

Athena curtsy gracefully before she spoke without raising her head as a sign of respect. "My name is Athena Griva, your royal majesty. As a child I experienced the grim events that almost tore our beloved city apart, I had failed to protect my dearest friend back then because of my weakness. However, by joining the ranks of the cadets I will be able to protect your interests and through them this entire city." Even though her justification for joining class 0 was false her intend was sincere. Only by becoming one of them Athena could see herself and her family elevated.

Strength:

Achelle stood where she was, arms behind her back, one hand held in the other with her legs spaced shoulder width apart. She stayed staring ahead, quiet and unmoving as the nameless woman dug her heel into "Phantom's" head. Was this guy for real? Wearing a mask and offering an alias here of all places?

The worst part about this was she missed her turn to properly introduce herself to the Queen and her court before this fiasco happened, sweat beaded across her brow and a few drops slid down the back of her neck as she tried to keep her composure as rigid and militarily proper as her father had drilled into her. She'll... she'll just have to wait for her opportunity to properly introduce herself again later. If she was allowed a later, this nameless woman seemed far stronger and stricter then most members of the Queen's court she was told about by her father.

Despite being bowed, the man under the mask was highly aware of what was happening around him. He was aware of the young lady that came next and made her introduction. He recognized the name and her way of speaking from earlier. Just like then, she had put back on her charms to impress the audience; however, whether it would work this round was questionable, but even so perhaps what she did was a bit more safer than what he had done. While he had obeyed to a degree, some would probably wonder if the other was trying to pull one over the on the Queen.  

You see secrecy has its prices, especially deeply rooted secrecy such as his. You see he was comfortable with the persona he hid behind that left him confident and feeling safe. So he had stayed hidden with perhaps a vague awareness it might get him in trouble down the road, but harmed? No, the young man was not prepared for such a direct bite.

As he kept his eyes lowered and his head bowed, he did hear movement and only lifted his eyes enough to see the shoes of the blue haired woman coming towards him…and what happened next? The direct bite that was mentioned before. As her heel came down upon the back of his head, the young man went down with the pressure, the only instinct he had was to place his hands out either side of him to somewhat cushion the crash with the ground. While his head was still pressed down uncomfortably, the woman who had attacked him could probably notice three things. If she was observant.

One the only sound of pain he let out was a barely audible grunt that held back the usual scream or yelp that could follow such a move. Secondly, despite the fact that she was indeed stronger and the young man did indeed get pressed to the ground, there was the slightest hint of resistance against the bottom of her foot. He wasn’t trying to get back up, but it seemed he didn’t exactly want to have a crushed face either. While he knew without a doubt he could not beat her if push came to shove, the small show of strength and perhaps a hint of determination underneath the submission to his punishment, suggested he was not a pushover in the long run. Thirdly, he was not trembling or crying about this ordeal despite it being before many people. His fear was kept under wrap by strict control despite the danger. He faced the danger head on and took the punishment for errors made. He had room to learn…even if his deceit in this case was caused unintentionally due to habits he had built over time to keep this life and his other separated.

Remaining pressed to the floor by the unforgiving heel, he bared the burden as he heard the words spoken and then the words she directed towards the girl. It seemed that her charm did not work as well this time and so much like him had gotten her in a bit of trouble. After words were passed and a question asked, there came a moment of silence only broken by the light sound of restrained pain from the young man being pinned down.

Only when the queen spoke was that terrible pressure and pain released. When questioned, he would sit up enough to answer the Queen, the pain and slightly dizziness caused from the pressure still keeping him down for the moment.  Even so he managed to keep his thoughts straight through it all.

“I mean no disrespect… to Your Majesty due to the habits I have built over time. My intention was not to hide from you, but rather from eyes that know my own face too well. It was the only way I knew how to perform other duties without being discovered or bothered. The other purpose of this mask…is to mimic the Terrorists. If I look like one, then perhaps if given a chance, it will be easier to get close to them and in turn capture them before they realize their error in trusting me. I have kept up the habit up and experimented with it for so long that, I have become to comfortable with the mask. Too comfortable it would seem. Please forgive me and allow me to try this again,” he would say and then if allowed, he would move a hand to his mask and do the one thing he did not wish to do in a crowd of people he did not trust – reveal himself; however, for the Queen, he would do this as a way to offer his sincerest apologies for the error and to honor the respect he had for the woman.

Keeping his eyes down cast and his position bowed, he would let her see him for who he was, even if he was a little banged up due to the smashing from earlier. As he let himself be exposed, he would give his name.

“My name is Haru, Your Majesty,”he would say his words remaining humble and calm, despite the splitting headache he had right about now. Despite being punished before others he would not flush or show discomfort at what had occurred as his focus and calmness remained. Yes, he may have had a few things to learn still, but at least this showed he was a quick learner....

Le Strength:

Le Weakness:

Despite the nameless woman's cruelty to the man next to her Athena maintained her composure, even when the woman addressed her she didn't answer, although drops of sweat caressed her pale cheek, one wrong answer and the woman's heel would find it's next target on her head, talking back to that woman or going against her wishes must be something very few dared to do.

When the Queen spoke Athena understood why Nameless was following her orders, she couldn't exactly put her finger to it but their rulers had an aura of nobility around her, the way she spoke and moved served as clear indicators to those who might be unaware of her position that she "owned" everyone and everything in this room. For a moment the girl even question the Queen's humanity, after all could such a creature of such grace and strength be human? She quickly discarded the idea, the Queen probably had similar powers to the cadets and through it she must have appeared so divine.

Speaking of divinity one must always reply when a deity asks a question or else she might find herself under the deity's bodyguard's boot. "Your majesty... Athena began putting all her finesse and charisma at use "lying to you serves no purpose and that is why I feel inclined to speak the truth. I am terrified of what might happen to me should I fail to pass your test, who wouldn't? However, to back down will only cause me regret as I will spend the rest of my life wondering what would happen if I had taken that risk. Life our glorious city is already dangerous, terrorists threaten the very foundation of our society, insulting our customs , and putting the lives of our beloved in danger with their reckless behavior. Even if I wanted to I can't back down... should I fail then I trust your trusty bodyguard will cut me down before I can cause any harm." At that point the girl shifted her gaze from the Queen to the nameless woman. No doubt she would even enjoy it if she got the chance to her hands bloody.

The masked man seemed to behave and obeyed the Queen's orders by removing his mask, the person behind it was someone Athena least expected. Faces, the idol she had seen during the morning assembly. For such a successful man he was foolish.

Achelle, in a moment of muscle memory, snapped her ankles together, one hand down to her side and the other up to her brow. A salute, as her father has drilled into her as literally second nature and instint when someone of higher authority even looked at her sternly.

"Ma'a. Yes, ma'am" She barked at the nameless authority, before turning to the Queen and bowing deeply at the waist.

"Your Imperial Majesty," she stated, still bowed at the waist, "I am Achelle Walker, daughter of Alexesei Walker, a Cadet under the command of your government." She said, still bowed. "I wish to join Class Zero and the Cadets to follow in his footsteps and protect the city and it's peoples from the threats of demons and terrorists alike." She said, while still bowing. "It is as simple as that."

After he had answered and removed his mask, he felt a chill run down his spine coming from the direction the Queen sat. She was watching him….Did he perhaps make another mistake…? An uncomfortable thought considering what might happen if the Body Guard came at him again…

However, no pain came this time. No this time it was questions. To her words, Haru would consider how to answer that for just a second before responding back.

“Mask or no mask,” he would begin and then taking a small risk, he would look up at her.


“Isolation is the only thing I know, Your Majesty. I cannot say if it is a better option when nothing has come to change its presence in my life,” he would state. His words were calm and steady, his serious eyes holding no lie. He would only meet her gaze for a second before lowering his eyes once more as he nodded at her last words not surprised in the least about her knowledge of his full name. “As you command, Your Highness.”

From there, he would fall silent once more as the Queen addressed those gathered. What he heard shocked him. He did not expect such mercy after his offense. While his face did not show it, he would bow a bit lower to the woman as a way of showing his thanks to her. She honestly didn’t realize just how happy he was at the point. Even so he kept his face blank of inward feelings. He would not forget the kindness nor the lesson taught today.

Haru would remain silent as the girl next to him spoke. While her ways could rub him the wrong way in some regards in this particular instance he could respect her as he heard her words. Well, well. Perhaps there was more to the young lady than he first thought, but even so words alone would prove nothing for either of them. Like the girl said, if they could not pass the test given, they were best wiped out now lest they turn into something far worse. Regardless of this development, the young man would remain focused even more so when few seconds after making his observation the Queen would speak and indeed give them the chance they sought.

He would listen to the movement as the Queen came closer, and only looked up a bit when he took note of a brief pause. The Prince was holding goblets and what was being poured in it was….

Haru would take the goblet offered with his left hand before pausing to look down at the liquid in the goblet. This was the Queen’s blood and while he understood what was being asked of him…his mind was rebelling against the idea of drinking blood period. It was seemed wrong on many levels and his mind was screaming at him not to do this through the headache he currently had. Maybe at one point he would’ve listened to that screaming voice, but not today. The young man pushed away the voice and moved the cup to his lips.

He would get the liquid down somehow, the taste surprisingly not as bad as he thought it would be. Even so, he wasn’t looking forward to doing that again anytime soon as he placed the goblet off to the side for now. He wasn’t sure why that was necessary, but thankfully his stomach kept it down for now…

Athena didn't reply, there wasn't anything left to say she only stared at the goblet the prince carried, the ritual that followed reminded her a scene from a horror book she once read though seeing a person filling a goblet with their own blood was far more gruesome that she imagined. The Queen's wound closed as fast as it had been inflicted, a fact that made Athena once again question the matriarch's humanity, nevertheless it was too late to leave now the nameless woman would probably kill her in cold blood should she refuse to drink from the goblet.

Athena didn't drink the blood right away, she spent a moment staring at her reflection on the dark liquid. She noticed that her image faded as the entire goblet vibrated due to her hands shaking, she had to drink the blood of another person the very notion of this was disgusting enough to turn the girl's stomach. She closed her eyes and sipped the blood as fast as she could trying to convince herself that she was just tasting a milkshake.

A really bad milkshake as it turned out. The taste of iron filled her mouth and even though it wasn't revolting she had to place her arm on her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting. After several deep breaths Athena could be certain that the liquid was going to remain inside her she wiped the tears which had began to form on her eyes moment ago and placed the goblet on the ground.

There seemed to be only one rule for Cadets. Obey and nothing more. It was a concept that perhaps Haru naturally did not get along with or maybe his bad luck was simply a reflection on his ways as a person. Did it make him dumb? No. Rebellious and hard headed? No. His intentions weren’t to insult or harm, but rather he was simply one to take the initiative or perhaps over think matters.

It simply placed him differently on the board than the average person. Now was this bad? Well, it depended on the viewer and in this case it was the Queen. Perhaps if it was anyone else except her or the people gathered here, the process of what happened wouldn’t have been so bad. Perhaps not being prone to follow all the rules to a T wouldn’t have hit so hard, but alas. This was not the case.

He was in a very restrictive position and while this might work for some, it also pull out flaws on others exposing weaknesses unlike anything else. And yet did the young man wallow or feel depressed about it all? Maybe a small part of him did, but for the most part that piece of him was being overridden by frustration not with the end results, but rather himself and the way he simply worked.

He couldn’t change himself to work differently just like that and perhaps there were some things that weren’t meant to be changed. He understood this and in turn took whatever hard knocks he would get from this process. If anything the ability to take all the falls and still get back up and try again would reveal that despite it all, the young man was strong willed or perhaps stubborn. He was determined to do well…even if in the beginning he would fall or get hurt. Maybe pain was just bound to be his partner here, but even still he had the potential to be taught many things and left himself open to correction. He would learn, but fully lose himself to whatever was happening here? No. He would remain himself making one wonder if he could really succeed in this line of work or if perhaps his nature would work against him causing him to rebel or perhaps go insane. Who knew what time had yet to tell? If he survived this madness...he would take a much needed break to recover when it was allowed.

For now, let's deal with error two: drinking when handed a drink by the Queen. This particular error was stopped in a different way. Instead of being stomped or something painful like that, as the young man went to move the goblet to his lips, he would find a firm grip on his arm that stopped him. Out of habit he would look up into the eyes of the young man that had stopped him.

As he heard the words spoken, his eyes would lower as he shook his head no. No. No she did not command it and now it was going to be docked against him. Right…However, this time around he wasn’t alone in the boat. Athena had seemed to do the same. Heh…it seemed luck was turning its back on both of them today.

When he was released, he would simply hold the goblet and wait this time as his eyes went to observing the blood. When the Queen was done dealing with the last member and returned to her throne, the command to drink was given. And so for the first time since getting here, he simply obeyed the command. He drank the blood…even if his mind was rebelling against it. He was prepared for a gag reflex, but surprisingly the liquid was sweet and went down easily enough. Or so one would think; however, the blood was far from easy to get down.

The taste was sweet, but as soon as it began to go down pain unlike any other seized him grabbing him by throat as it began to choke the very life out of him. The goblet fell to the ground as he began to cough trying to regain air, but failing to do so. As if choking wasn’t enough that same pain flowed into his mind replacing the throb from the earlier stomp with something indescribable. It was unbearable making him want to claw out of his own skin as something within attempted to drive him right off the edge.

He could see the blood red eyes watching him from darkness that was all around. Red eyes and a malicious grin.

“Do you regret your choice?” the voice whispered to him. “Want to die yet?”

This thing that taunted him and leered at him. Sought to devour him. It was terrifying to say the least, but just as it seemed that thing would get the best of him something like lightning, shot across the darkness striking that thing down. The thing hissed in pain and the face faded as in its place something else formed.

It was a humanoid creature dressed in black and gold armor with golden wings that seemed to glow where there was no light. Unlike the darkness before, this being was calm. Its presence was soothing as it watched him before raising an armored hand offering for him to take it and so he did…

All this happened in a matter of seconds as in the real world the only thing that seemed to happen was that he slowly began to recover from a rather nasty coughing spell and a headache unlike any other. As his body functions returned to normal and breathing would become more normal, the young man would sit up a bit, his eyes becoming steely as he glanced around the room with eyes that saw things differently than before. He was awake and aware of the other within, but the question was: now that he could see the truth, what awaited him now?

She was stupid! Why did she had to act with such carelessness at that critical moment. Athena was certain she had made a good impression to the court, or at least the best out of the three candidates. Instead she decided to flush all her hard work down the toilet by attempting to drink the Queen's blood without first given permission. "Pardon me your majesty. We meant no disrespect." Was the only thing she said, a long speech would only make her look even worse.

The royal blood didn't taste as bad as Athena expected, in fact it's sweet taste was almost to the girl's liking. However, even the idea of consuming blood was enough placebo to cause her face to cringe as the sipped the liquid.

They say that ignorance is a bliss and Athena was about to realize how true that statement was. Everything started so suddenly the girl barely had time to react, the pain cause her to drop the goblet so she could hold her head, she felt it would be torn apart if she didn't apply enough pressure. Only once the pain faded Athena was able to feel the effect of the royal blood. She had walked inside a girl but she would leave a woman, able to see past the subtle lies their society was build upon and with a new awakened power inside of her. A smile formed on her red lips, she had survived the ritual, she was going to become a cadet. The entire world was soon going to love her.

Achelle straightened and wordlessly accepted the goblet. She noticed as she was handling it with her hands, that the other two tried drinking without permission.

Damned Civilians.

She waited. The cup held in her right hand, with her left resting, palm up and open under the base, as one who will drink from a chalice should be holding the vessel. She took a second to look down at the crimson liquid, she's seen blood before, her father would come home some days covered in it, but this liquid felt different. Maybe it was the pedigree of the person who bled it, or maybe it was mixed with magic, or it could be blended with daemonic properties... But that was all aside the point when she, and the other two were ordered to drink it.

The taste confused her as the liquid touched her lips. It was sweet, not coppery as one would expect blood to taste. But the sweetness turned quickly in her throat. Her eyes widened as a hand reached up to clutch at her throat. She felt as if someone threw a lit match down her throat as she fought to take a breath, but also forced herself to not cough. Her hand slowly slid up her face as it migrated along with the pain, till her hand was on her forehead, as the pain was now threatening to split her head in two...

That was until...

She had known his life was hard, it was hard before the cataclysm, it was harder after. He would come home at odd time at night, or sometimes he'd disappear for days on end... But, he always came home. Weary, injured, tired and sore, and still he came home, and still he went out, each day, every day. He had to protect them. His family, no, his world. She only knew an inkling of the weight and pain that rested on his shoulders and tore at his back. And still knowing that, she chased after him, she sought the same strength he had, to protect her family, to protect her world, to protect the lives she wanted to never see extinguished. She wanted the force of will, the hardened, fierce determination, to see the hardships of the world around Endymion, to face the ugly side of the world that they must live in... But she wanted more then just that, she also wanted the power to protect her father. To let him come home, and not have to leave again. And even now, as she felt the power in the blood she drank tear apart the facade she had held to this day, she knew she was going to get this power...

And she couldn't be happier.