[ it's hard to describe the whole scenario going on here, so i'm hoping everyone who reads will understand that and take it as it is!

i can't insert links in ffnet, so if you'd like an image reference of them all, please feel free to google up the 9's and i'll try to find a way to link a better image of the klaxotriplets at some point. ]

"Starting tomorrow, you will be part of a new squad."

The sound of his footsteps echoes just a little, but as he turns a corner, a short-lived shriek jolts him completely out of his thoughts. The girl who he's just surprised flinches back a couple of steps away, before covering her mouth and scampering off, pigtails nearly slapping him in the face from how close she was. He's staring, watching her run behind someone else only a few feet more in front of him, momentarily distracting him from the glower of a second pair of eyes. This other pair, bright red ones, stare through his irises.

Oh.

Somehow, his eyes haven't shut to protect him from this burning glare drying up his confidence in seconds. As if evaluating his brain, or examining his pride, or anything equally intrusive, the glaring continues. He is petrified to the spot, even if only out of shock, his attention refusing to leave, and his eyesight still stuck there. It doesn't have a physical cause, he can somewhat register- but if she's staring this intently, there's nothing on his face besides a dumbstruck expression, right?

The strange spell of connection splits him off as soon as she shuts her eyes with a huff. Exhaling his lost breath, the mystery girl turns around and walks off, painfully slowly. The steps are sharp, even if her eyes were sharper. The other girl with the pigtails behind her watches his lack of movement shyly for just a moment more, before hurrying to catch up.

Although he's still watching, his thoughts are busy swimming around to try to place who these two are. Red eyes aren't normal, let alone ones that dangerous. Mint-green hair isn't, either. No ordinary parasite could catch him this off guard with just a single glare, and...

In retrospect, he distinctly remembers a pair of horns poking out from above her forehead.

Horns...

Does that mean-

Arriving to the meeting room early, his confidence and self-esteem feel prepared. With a knack for leadership, understanding the key components of how team interactions make or break the overall synergy, holding tight to the rules but with enough room to develop skills and a niche in the squad dynamic- he feels comfortable, and feels fully prepared to lead a new squad. Although there's bound to be an adjustment period, learning about each member of the new team won't take long at all.

But, the moment the doors slide apart, his confidence evaporates completely.

First, he's not early at all.

Second, everyone seated in the room has strange, unusual hair colors.

Third, those burning red eyes immediately find him.

Fourth, that pair of eyes does, indeed, have horns.

Fifth, there are two other pairs of eyes with horns above them, one being the shyer pair from the night before.

Sixth... he's realized that not all parasites are expressly human.

"Alpha," the woman up front speaks, eerily chipper, "Please come introduce yourself."

For a solid two seconds, his feet don't move at all. Once they do, he starts down the steps, feeling a strange chill in the room, even though he's wearing a full uniform. Is it possible to feel cold like that? It doesn't help that he loses his balance when he forgot that the last step on this segment of stairs is, indeed, the last step. The handrail he catches himself on is helpful from stopping him from tripping completely, but... he's still mentally off-balance.

Still, he's a leader. He'll be fine. He finishes the last set of steps down to the supervisor much more carefully, deep breaths all the way.

"My codename is... " he greets with a raised hand, bringing up a friendly smile, "Alpha."

The nickname feels so heavy on his tongue, and the performance anxiety hardly stops despite his relaxed greeting.

"As a new squad, there's plenty to do to get to know each other. A lot of room for adjusting, and a lot of work to become familiar. But- I'm hopeful that, once that's done, we can work together and surpass ourselves.

I look forward to meeting each one of you. Let's work hard, come together as a collective unit, and ensure humanity's continued survival on a greater scale."

Once he has finished his impromptu speech, he realizes there's a lot he wishes he'd said differently. It's a lot of oversight he'd rather have avoided by preparation ahead of time. However, doubting it now would remove his confident facade.

"Thank you, Alpha. You may sit down with the others now." He does.

Their supervisor nods once, the smile on her face not changing at all. It's mildly unnerving.

"I am 007," she holds her hands together by her thighs, bowing slightly. "Or, less formally, Nana. I'll be acting as the squad's supervisor. Please bring up any concerns or questions you have to myself, or Alpha."

There's a hand immediately shooting into the air from a different green-haired girl. "What are we in a new squad for?"

"This is an experimental squad." Nana doesn't miss a beat. "APE is seeking a team of exemplary parasites to act under their direct orders."

A collective gasp echoes, and one of them whistled appreciatively.

"For this purpose, you have been given codenames, in addition to your code number - please refer to each other by the codename. We will be testing each pair's compatibility, shifting partners to find the highest scores. There will be challenges, which we expect full effort to overcome them, and more. This is, in essence, an opportunity to better serve Papa and the council. Please treat it as such."

Another parasite, a blue-haired boy, hums under his breath. A red-head boy yawns, while the previous green-haired girl elbows him. Alpha distinctly hears him tell her to relax, while the girl frowns.

The tallest one, a purple haired boy, raises his hand halfway. "What are we going to do in the new squad? It'll be different, right?"

Nana tilts her head slightly, her smile finally faltering, even if only for a moment. "The duties will be similar, but with more freedom in how to accomplish them. The missions will be larger in scale than in normal squads."

Although the purple boy opens his mouth to say something, the green girl hops to her feet. "Oh, oh, will we get to meet Papa?!"

"With excellent performance, yes. You will be reporting to Papa directly if your test squad achieves desired results."

"... but what if we don't?" the blue boy asks, hesitantly.

The green girl looked so excited, grinning ear-to-ear, but she sinks when she hears the question.

"You'll most likely be sent back to your original squads, unless Papa decides otherwise... you'd do well to avoid that." Nana's answer doesn't help the mood of the room as it sinks further.

Alpha doesn't know what to make of that, either- there's a lot at stake here. Whatever the duties will be, he doesn't know much about them. He has to lead this entire squad of parasites he's never met, three of them the spitting image of those terrifying rumors, one with eyes that already seared a hole into his mind-

Nana speaks up again, though. "That is all. You are dismissed for today. Please make use of the day to prepare for your first mission." She bows again, leaving the room quietly while the third horned girl warns the red and green pair, who are more-or-less bickering.

Alpha returns the stares of the peach-haired shy girl and the red-eyed horned girl, making his best sheepish and gentle grin while excusing himself. He wants to clear his head before coming back to socialize and introduce himself more casually.

(The pressure seems like it might never end... Papa himself is watching, and as the designated leader, Alpha feels completely overwhelmed... )

Their first mission is the very next day, and Alpha knows little about his squad beyond names and first impressions. His partner is the same shy girl he almost ran into, two nights before.

"I'm Eta," she says, soft and quiet, fidgeting in nervousness. Standing in front of him, she glances up to his face, the smallest smile spreading on her face. "It's nice to meet you up close, Alpha."

"It's a pleasure, Eta." He returns the smile, a polite bow in response. He extends his hand, naturally.

However, she lifts hers as Alpha bends one knee down, holding her wrist, pressing the lightest kiss to the back of her hand. Naturally, she gasps, high-pitched and loud, but doesn't pull her hand away until he lets it go. Although he intended to help Eta feel welcome, the way she flushes deeply and blinks widely up at him, he wonders if he only succeeded in scaring her.

Adding to the shame, that scathing red glare is back in the corner of his vision...

Zeta.

Once Alpha flicks his eyes in that direction, and only his eyes, he shivers outright. It's cold, and only being in the stamen suit doesn't exactly help.

The feeling passes quickly, though, while Eta's shy face grins instead. She grabs his wrist now, lacing her fingers through his own - her hands are just as warm as her smile. Although he still hasn't moved his gaze back from Zeta, Gamma elbows her, and Alpha has never felt as relieved as he does now.

"Let's go, Alpha," Eta tugs on his hand eagerly. Even though he feels nervousness creep back, even without Zeta's incredible glares, Eta doesn't even let go of his hand until they've both climbed into the Franxx. She's sweet, but... will she be strong?

Alpha slides into the seat above Eta while she lays herself down in front, the handles extending behind her. When Alpha reaches for the handles, his hands shiver and he forces himself to breathe, again. Is this it? If he fails, will he be discharged from the squad?

She glances back at him with that same shy smile, reminding him he's not alone. It doesn't do much else, unfortunately... he just isn't sure if the rumors about horned parasites are true. Eta's hesitance doesn't help, either.

Breathe.

As she lowers her head and the hood rises, she lights on her spine begin to glow, trailing down as quickly as ever, even though his sense of time feels like it's in slow-motion. She connects easily, her paracapacity at 110%. Alpha links his mind to the console too, but he's hesitating. His paracapacity hovers at 98% as the connection begins, even with his own unintentional reluctance.

The soft fuzz wraps around his panicking mind, invaded with even more intensity than Zeta's glares. It's warm, though, and he reminds himself that a new pistil means a new experience. He'll be alright. His budding trust knows it.

Fluffy heat continues and the connection completes, both of them resting at a full 120% shortly. Their Franxx moves unabated, and as he feels it flex its arms, Alpha's comfort continues. Step, step, step.

Zeta's already at the gate, tapping her foot while Gamma grumbles something unintelligible across the voice connections. Theta and Epsilon are taking their first steps too, and Delta is a bit nervous wiggling her fingers.

Nana's image appears on their screens. "Focus on your connections, not your allies," she warns, cutting off the rest of the squadmates' voices, even though they're still visible.

"Eta... ?"

"Yes?"

Her image on the right side of the screen appears a lot more expressive than his last partner had, even with the visor. Alpha momentarily stares at it in wonder, somehow sensing her shyness even more this way- and he understands.

"Do you feel me at all?" he asks, very cautiously, not sure what his words mean even if he understands what he's asking.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

Alpha's not sure, either, and pauses for a moment to think. "How do I feel?"

She hums, thinking as well. "Creamy, but with tiny bumps."

The words wouldn't make sense if they weren't connected, he thinks. "I see," he hums until the fuzzy sensation vibrates, questioning him expectantly until he replies. "You feel soft and warm."

It's not a great description, but Eta's happiness floods his mind afterward anyway.

Their Franxx flexes its fingers more as Alpha gives the controls a test, bringing the strength in its right arm higher. Eta lifts it accordingly, bending its elbow toward its face. The way she adjusts the movement to whatever strength he shifts it to feels smooth as butter. He notes how Eta's agreement to the smoothness transmits as soon as he thinks of it.

The three other standard Franxx units are at very different levels of functioning. Theta and Epsilon appear hesitant to walk further, Delta and Beta are a bit unbalanced, while Zeta and Gamma lean against the wall just inside the door.

Eta refocuses him on their own connection again to let the others figure it out, somehow soothing him manually. They're both quiet, relaxing in the comfortable connection, only slightly paying attention to the other units now.

However, communications turn on again once the full group is gathered at the gate with stable connections. Obviously, the first thing that happens is someone speaking.

"Let's gooooo, I'm bored!"

"Delta," Beta's deep voice warns her, "Patience."

She mumbles something, naturally, but listens to him while Zeta snickers. "You won't be bored in a minute."

Gamma, too, snorts, but gets a response of Delta's usual annoyance. "Hey! I know that! I'm just saying."

Theta sighs, off to the side, and Alpha completely agrees. Their bickering might last forever, so Eta nudges Alpha to issue the order to open the gate. "Alright, let's get moving. Be ready for the Klaxosaurs."

This, of course, is met with two gleeful cheers, a pleased grunt, two hums of acknowledgement, and a 'woohoo'.

"Let's head out."