Ok, hey, I'm back!! Hope you had had/having a great time, and enjoy!!
I don't own, blah blah blah!!
*~*~*
Fiona awoke to the sight of the floor, very early morning sunlight, and Reece towering over her.
"What the hell.........Reece?"
"Get up, we're not allowed into breakfast until you get your uniform."
"Uniform?"
"Yeah, hurry, breakfast closes at seven thirty, and there's the lot of items to choose from."
"Seven thirty........what's the time?"
"Six forty-five, so hurry!!"
"Six........night."
With that, Fiona attempted to get back onto her bed, but instantly stopped at Reece's words of,
"If you go back to sleep, when you next wake up, you'll be in the shower, and remember, there's no hot water."
Instantly, Fiona was up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
*~*
"So, in here, we have,"
Flinging open the door, Reece shoved Fiona inside.
"The uniform selection."
It appeared to be the library, but instead of books, the shelves were lined with .......boxes.
At the back, where Reece led Fiona, there was seven people, and after the oldest quickly talked to Reece, two others, the guy and girl about thirteen, directed them to some rows that had each item in each different colour.
"Your allowed ten different items, and three of each ten, so either three blue tops, or the black, red and the blue one or whatever."
*~*
At breakfast, Fiona was wearing black gloves, with no fingers, and the patch over her knuckles and the back of her hand cut out, the tight black top, with 3/4 sleeves that flared just below the elbow, and guys black baggy pants.
Her belt was red, with yellow stitching, so she wore her new bandanna, that she had brought with her, that was yellow with red stitching. She wasn't aloud to have footwear yet, she hadn't earnt it, but after confirming it with Reece, Fiona had donned some ankle length red socks, completing her outfit.
(her hair was in two pigtails under her bandanna)
Looking around, still trying to wake up, Fiona saw lots of people, some girls she recognised, but none of the guys were familiar, as she hadn't met them yet, but that guy two tables across.....he looked familiar......that green hair.......the way he half-slouched.......
"O'Connel?"
The guy swivelled around, saw Fiona, and grinned sheepishly.
"Fiona, right? We've got the class together........?"
"Science, yeah, I sit behind you. Wow, when did you get here?"
"Twelve days ago, and, uh, sorry about the few weeks ago in class........"
//~//~//~//
Fiona half listened as the teacher droned on about some sort of chemical, spending half her concentration on what she was doing, pouring liquids together with Moonbay into glass vials, and the rest of her concentration was being used on.......eavesdropping to the two guys in front of her.
"Just tell the teacher....."
"No! I can fix it, I think!"
The green haired guy on the left sighed, and watched apprehensively as the blonde guy did something, and then Fiona heard the,
"Huh! Told you it was-"
Bang!
"-fine."
There wasn't much of the noise, but there was the sort of steam coming from the two guys, and the blonde seemed to have hurt his hand.
Laughing along with Moonbay, Fiona shut up when the teacher approached, telling the blonde to go to the nurses office, and then he started yelling,
"O'Connel!! What did you think you were doing?!"
"It, it wasn't me sir, he-"
"Don't you blame it on him!! Get out of here, O'Connel, I'm sure the principal will be glad to meet you!!"
That wasn't right! The guy, O'Connel, hadn't done anything!!
"Sir,"
Surprised at herself for speaking up, Fiona swallowed hard, and continued,
"He didn't do anything, the other guy, he did something, and this guy, O'Connel, he said to tell you, but the other guy thought he could fix it-"
"Did I ask for your opinion?! Get out of here, O'Connel!! And you, Lynette?! Just because you were put up the grade doesn't mean I can't punish you!! Detention, after school."
Great.
That's what you get for being helpful.
Detention.
//~//~//~//
Giggling at the memory, Fiona grinned at him.
"Don't worry, I was already in detention from Hiltz, didn't remember to check my sights alignment or some crap like that. Oh well, at least there's no Hiltz here, or stupid simulations!!"
O'Connel grinned at her, the picture of an evil grin forming,
"Your right, there isn't simulations, we use real Zoids, and real battles."
"Real?! When?! I checked my schedule....."
"Saturday and Sunday, and you'll start in the command wolf."
"Co......command wolf?"
Choking on the words, Fiona stared at him.
"Yeah, I wasn't up to that before, but now I'm in the Pteris. Seems I have the knack for flying Zoids."
"Wow. They don't let you *near* the simulation Ziods like that, let alone *real* ones!!"
"That's what I like about this place, they treat us fair, no matter what your age. You start off in the beginners like the six year old would, not matter how old you are."
"Cool. No age groups?"
"Nope. Your in groups with those of your abilities. You should be used to being with different ages, but I'm still not used to this six-year old in my kick boxing group......"
They're conversation kept going, but was cut off by Reece dragging Fiona away.
"Come ON!! You've got five minuets to be ready for your sword class!!!"
"Uh, I am, aren't I?"
Reece shrugged, and led Fiona away to her first class.
*~*
"And those of you on forging yours, go, those of you on staffs, line up with the partner."
Listening to the teachers instructions, Fiona had no idea what they meant.
"Ah, are you 1763?"
"Oh, um,"
Thinking hard about what the number was that she'd be referred to by the teachers, Fiona nodded.
"You're with me, I'll just start the others off, and then get you started."
Nodding mutely, Fiona watched as her classmates extracted wooden staffs from lockers at the teachers commands, and after he spent five minutes drumming the beat of blocks and attacks into them, (one, high, two mid, three low, trade! One high, two mid, three low, trade!), he turned to Fiona.
"Alright, grab the staff from one of the bins down the back, it'll be yours until it breaks or you advance, so pick well."
Examining them, she turned to the teacher.
"Excuse me, Sir, but how can I tell what one is right if I don't even know what to look for?"
He grinned, and explained the finer details, then added,
"But if your in the street fight, it's not like there'll be loads of sizes to choose from, so don't get to comfortable. Actually......if I changed the sticks around now and then........"
He ended up rambling to himself in thought, so Fiona selected the stick about her height, and the comfortable weight for her, then turned back.
"Sir?"
"Huh?"
Looking at her, he snapped out of his thoughts.
"Right. Now, this is how your stance should be, no, left leg there......."
For the next ten minuets, Fiona worked on her stance, then her posture, then she had the levels exampled to her, (one high, two mid, three low, trade!)
Shakily, Fiona raised her staff to block the teachers gentle hits, and in turn, learnt how to attack safely, not leaving her side unprotected as she leant in to cause damage.
After about half an hour of this, the doors swung open, distracting Fiona, and as she turned to look, she earnt herself the rap in her side.
"Ow....."
"Never let your attention wander. Take five, I need to talk."
Nodding, Fiona slowly walked over to her water bottle, sculling most of it from early morning exhaustion, then glanced around to see who had earnt her the whack.
'Raven....? What's he doing here?'
The teacher saw her watching, and grinned briefly at Raven before signalling her to join them.
"1763, this is Raven, Raven-"
"Yes, we know each other."
"Right, well, as I need to tend to the other losers here,"
He grinned as the eavesdroppers squealed at the indignity of his remark,
"Then stop listening and you wont hear me!"
There was the bit of laughter, and the few 'ow's from those that had forgotten to block.
"Anyway, while I tend to them, Raven will partner you, and show you how the true pro works, I'm sure."
Raven merely nodded at her, then silently proceeded to where Fiona had been before, holding the staff up in the attack position.
"Mirror me."
Going through the same attacks and techniques, Fiona wondered if she'd ever get used to it, then concentrated as Raven started the whole, (one high, two mid, three low,) but he did it the new amount of times each round, keeping Fiona at the need to be aware.
When the bell went at 9.00am, Fiona sighed, sliding down the wall, squirting the last of her water into her parched mouth.
Thorn startled her when she asked,
"Raven likes you, you know him or something?"
Glancing up at the older girl, Fiona sighed, fighting to stay awake.
"Uh, what do you mean, 'likes me'?"
"He went easy on you!"
"Easy?!"
"He didn't hit hard, he went slowly, he let you take breaks, you were aloud time to correct your stance, normally he just keeps going, no matter what."
"Why would he go easy on me?"
"I dunno, you his friend or something?"
" 'tis to early. Yeah, we went, er, go, er, went to the same school. But we never really were *friends*, we just......knew each other? Does that help?"
"Not really. Have you ever talked to him?"
"Uh.......yeah, he rang me and asked if we could talk, so we did. Hang on how'd he get my number?"
"Does Reece know it?"
".....yeah?"
"There you go. He probably asked her for it. So, what'd you two talk about?"
"Oh just some stuff about Karl and, yeah."
"Karl........?"
"Shoebultz."
"You know *Karl*?!"
"Yeah..........we're going out."
Thorn's face lit up, and from then on, it was like her and Fiona had been best friends forever.
"So what's Raven doing here?"
"Don't you know? He's our leader boss person."
"So why was he training with me?"
"He likes to stay with every low candidate, mostly,"
Smirking she added,
"The weak ones,"
Normally, Fiona would have taken offence to that, but she couldn't be stuffed.
"Why?"
"Dunno, guess it's to help, 'cause while whoever he partners isn't allowed hot food, neither is he."
They both shuddered at the thought of doing that voluntarily.
A slightly longer bell then the other sounded, signalling that the food for morning tea was now provided.
Thorn jumped to her feet, hauling Fiona up behind her.
"Come on! They've got delicious food!"
*~*
The cafeteria was crawling with people, all seeming to want food, as the long line like the snake nearly made it out the door, at least the hundred people all waiting.
Entering, Fiona found herself dragged to the back of the line, next to Reice.
"So, what've you been up to today, Reice?"
"Oh, you know, catching up with old friends, that sort of stuff."
When her part of the line got to the food, Fiona was amazed.
The selection was mostly different types of rolls, mainly the foot long each.
Fiona was amazed with the amount of food her friends took, at least of roll each.
She couldn't eat that much for morning tea! Lunch, maybe, but that was just to much!!!
"Hey!"
Turning, she saw O'Connel
"Hey, tell me, is this the bad joke, or am I expected to eat all of this?"
He just grinned at her, selecting himself the roll.
Grabbing the small chicken roll, Fiona followed him, then headed towards where Thorn was sitting.
"Hey!"
Whirling around when O'Connel grabbed her arm, she waited for an explanation.
"Sorry!"
He grinned cheesily at her, forcing her to break the smile.
"Ah, nobody told you?"
"Told me what?"
"That for morning tea, lunch, and dinner, you have to sit with your level, so you can't sit over there."
"Huh?"
Sighing, he explained the whole thing to her."
"Oh, I get it, the people that have finished training or are teachers get those five tables, the ones with hot water get those ten, those other ten are for hot food people, trust me, you don't want to sit near them, they like to tease, and these last ten are for us, trainees with no credits to our names."
Looking at the said tables, Fiona waited for O'Connel to confirm her recount, then noticed the certain grey haired guy sitting at one about five metres away, one of the trainees tables.
"What's Raven doing there?"
As O'Connel went to answer this, it became apparent Raven himself had heard, because as he lifted his gaze to Fiona's, he replied.
"Surely they've all told you by now?"
"Raven, I'm sorry,"
"Just sit."
Obeying, Fiona indicated for O'Connel to sit as well, then noticed that the whole cafeteria had become eerily silent.
Ignoring it, she began to eat, as were the two guys, after O'Connel remembered to sit, but eventually the looks in their direction and whispers of, 'new girl' and 'Raven', got to her, forcing her to put her hardly touched roll down, and sigh.
"Alright, what's with everybody here?And as to before, been told what?"
Raven smirked in what could be taken as the sad or 'how ironic' smirk, or Fiona did at least,
"That I do everything the same as my 'newest' candidate, so whenever I can I just,"
Shrugging, Raven appeared to have no reason to join the new members.
"I dunno, I just do, and they,"
Indicating the whole room, Raven continued,
"Can't believe I'm talking."
"Why can't they believe your talking to me? Is it forbidden or something?"
"No, I only talk when there's the need. It's most likely they've never seen me talk before."
"Huh, sounds like you. Don't you have to make speeches and stuff?"
This earnt two snorts, one from O'Connel and one from Raven.
"Yeah, how's this sound, 'Hi. Have fun, work hard, bye' "
Fiona stared.
"Your joking?"
Raven snorted again, and added,
"It was going to be 'Hi', but Reece,"
He shot an evil glare in her general direction,
"Decided that was snobbish, and made up the rest for me. Like I'd say that voluntarily."
"So you don't talk to them, why?"
He shrugged, then added with the smirk,
"Why bother? They're just these annoying learners."
"Raven! That wasn't nice!!"
"So?"
"So?!"
Fiona echoed him in the stunned tone, then stood, picking her roll up.
"Come on, O'Connel, we're going to sit with people that care about others feelings!"
"Sit down."
Fiona turned to find Raven grinning at her, and then he kicked her chair out for her from under the table, making her smile.
"Why?"
Pretending to be oblivious to his actions, Fiona grinned when he sighed.
"I'm sorry, alright? Would you just, sit down?"
Battering her lashes at him with exaggerated acceptance, Fiona slid back into the seat, still aware that the whole cafeteria was watching and listening.
They talked about mindless topics, until it was five minuets from bell, and people started to leave so that they could be ready.
"So, what've you guys got next?"
Trying to remember what she had, Fiona glanced at O'Connel, who replied duly,
"Archery. You?"
"Uh.........kick boxing. What's so bad about archery?"
"Nothing, if you can hit the target."
Smiling softly for him, Fiona turned to Raven.
"What've you got?"
He smirked, and replied,
"Guess I've got kick boxing."
"What? You gunna start stalking me now or something?"
"Now, why would that be the bad thing?"
She threw her arms up in despair.
"I just can't get away from him!!"
They left, fully aware that everybody in the cafeteria had been silent, watching and listening to them.
*~*
By lunchtime, O'Connel found Fiona draped over the chair, incoherently mumbling.
"What?"
She didn't even open her eyes to see who it was, only managed to mumble,
"Food,"
As she continued to mumble, O'Connel sighed, then fetched her the large roll, chicken like she had had before.
Without the word, she grabbed it from him, and started to eat it as fast as possible.
"Told you to eat your morning tea."
He smiled ruefully as she took the time to flash an evil glare at him, before resuming the consumption of the roll.
They sat in silence until Raven arrived, with Fiona on her second roll.
Raven laughed when he saw the wrappers around Fiona, and as Fiona started to make the rude gesture at Raven, she accidentally started to choke on her food.
By the time she'd regained her breathe, Raven laughed so bad he started to get tears in his eyes, and he gasped,
"Shame!"
Poking her tongue out at him, then rolling her eyes, Fiona wondered once again why the whole cafeteria was still watching them
'Surely they've gotten over it by now? That was this morning!'
Reice copied her peers, eating in near silence, but unlike them, when she was done, she rose from her seat, nodded at Thorn, and proceeded over to Fiona.
"Come."
Putting her hand on the startled girls chair, Reice nodded her head towards the door.
"We've got some stuff to do."
Shrugging slowly, Fiona rose, only just able to.
Reice led her outside, where they found Thorn, who had made the belly-flop onto the small trampoline.
Looking around, Reice settled herself onto the swing in the small area that had used to be the playground, and was now just the place to hang out.
After careful consideration, Fiona made the jump up the side of the slide, landing quite comfortably in the middle of it.
"Alright, spill."
Confused, she glanced down at Reice, who was staring intently at her.
"Spill what?"
Reice sighed, and closed her eyes, gently swinging back and forth, her short sleeved top getting the bit dirty from the rust.
"I've known Raven for his whole life, about seventeen years, and he's never said that much to me, or anyone else when I was around, since we were about ten. I'm his sister for Christ's sake!"
"Wow."
"Wow's right. So how'd you get him to talk? He's never said one word to me! Apart from speeches, that's the first time I've heard him talk!"
Fiona turned to Thorn, disbelievingly,
"Never?"
"Never."
"Huh. I dunno, he knows you better, and for longer, Reice, so why talk to me? I mean, yeah, I was in his class at school, but that's nothing, he's hardly ever talked to me,"
"Oh, that park thing, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
Glancing at Reice, Fiona saw the bitter smile overcome her features,
"When he asked me to start training you before your recruiting, well, that was one of the few times he's said anything to me voluntarily."
"For real?"
"Real."
Fiona was startled, why would Raven talk to her, if he wasn't supposed to talk to anybody?
All three of them stayed there, deep in thought, Fiona absentmindedly humming the nonsense tune under her breath until the bell went.
*~*
The rest of that day consisted of archery, beginners lessons in ways of the gang, the break to get cleaned up, then study, (language), for Fiona, and by dinner, she was completely exhausted.
Her arms ached from holding the bow and string into position for an hour and the half during archery, she was yet to actually let loose an arrow, her head was spinning from information, and then her hands hurt from all the typing in language.
Letting her aching body sink gratefully onto her bed, Fiona noticed that what had seemed like the stiff bed was now silk like bliss to her body.
"Knock knock,"
Lifting her head slightly, Fiona muttered something like the response to Thorn, who was smirking at her from the doorway.
"Come, young lady, we have dinner, and then we need to see what you're going to wear."
'wear to what, bed?'
"What...?"
Making the mistake of letting her eyes close again, Fiona was still only half surprised by the feeling of Thorn pulling her up.
"Urgh..."
"Come on, that's no way to act! Go, have the nice cold shower, wake up, we'll get some dinner, then get you ready."
"Cold shower?"
Popping one eye open at Thorn, Fiona made the mistake of sitting back down on the nice, soft, welcoming bed-
"Get up!"
Truly disappointed at being denied the wonderful bed again, Fiona made her way to the nice COLD shower.
"Thorn?"
Yelling to Thorn, who was heard to answer from Fiona's room, Fiona wondered what she had meant, but more importantly,
"Do you have hot water?"
Laughing, she answered,
"No, I went for hot food, why?"
"Damn, I need the hot shower!!!"
Laughing again, Thorn told Fiona to hurry up, and that when she was done to meet her in her room.
"Your room?"
"Yeah, where Reice first took you, I'll be waiting, 'k?"
"Sweet!"
*~*
Fiona knocked on the door, then opened it when she heard,
"It's open!"
Entering the room, Fiona was surprised to see Thorn, well, dressed like the slut.
"Uh, Thorn, what's with the clothes?"
She looked at herself, then laughed mildly.
"Don't worry, I'm like, one of the gang's many sluts, apart from I only dress like it, I'm not the *true* slut, like some........."
"Right, but why are you dressed like that anyway?"
"Oh, shit, I forgot to tell you!"
Fiona waited for Thorn to explain herself, watching as Thorn seemed to gather her thoughts together.
"Right, well, every night, there's the party, and unless it says something different on the notice-board, then it's still on, open to anyone, and your coming to tonight's one, as it's for people from this place only, no outsiders, so that's about half the normal people."
"Outsiders?"
"People in the gang, or friends, that aren't here to train or whatever. Anyway, we've got to get you ready. Now, did you bring any other clothes, or will we have to get you some of my stuff?"
"Well, I was kinda hoping for something like this, so I packed some stuff, it's not that great, but it'll have to do..."
*~*
Well, how'd you like that?
Hopefully you did!!
I don't own, blah blah blah!!
*~*~*
Fiona awoke to the sight of the floor, very early morning sunlight, and Reece towering over her.
"What the hell.........Reece?"
"Get up, we're not allowed into breakfast until you get your uniform."
"Uniform?"
"Yeah, hurry, breakfast closes at seven thirty, and there's the lot of items to choose from."
"Seven thirty........what's the time?"
"Six forty-five, so hurry!!"
"Six........night."
With that, Fiona attempted to get back onto her bed, but instantly stopped at Reece's words of,
"If you go back to sleep, when you next wake up, you'll be in the shower, and remember, there's no hot water."
Instantly, Fiona was up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
*~*
"So, in here, we have,"
Flinging open the door, Reece shoved Fiona inside.
"The uniform selection."
It appeared to be the library, but instead of books, the shelves were lined with .......boxes.
At the back, where Reece led Fiona, there was seven people, and after the oldest quickly talked to Reece, two others, the guy and girl about thirteen, directed them to some rows that had each item in each different colour.
"Your allowed ten different items, and three of each ten, so either three blue tops, or the black, red and the blue one or whatever."
*~*
At breakfast, Fiona was wearing black gloves, with no fingers, and the patch over her knuckles and the back of her hand cut out, the tight black top, with 3/4 sleeves that flared just below the elbow, and guys black baggy pants.
Her belt was red, with yellow stitching, so she wore her new bandanna, that she had brought with her, that was yellow with red stitching. She wasn't aloud to have footwear yet, she hadn't earnt it, but after confirming it with Reece, Fiona had donned some ankle length red socks, completing her outfit.
(her hair was in two pigtails under her bandanna)
Looking around, still trying to wake up, Fiona saw lots of people, some girls she recognised, but none of the guys were familiar, as she hadn't met them yet, but that guy two tables across.....he looked familiar......that green hair.......the way he half-slouched.......
"O'Connel?"
The guy swivelled around, saw Fiona, and grinned sheepishly.
"Fiona, right? We've got the class together........?"
"Science, yeah, I sit behind you. Wow, when did you get here?"
"Twelve days ago, and, uh, sorry about the few weeks ago in class........"
//~//~//~//
Fiona half listened as the teacher droned on about some sort of chemical, spending half her concentration on what she was doing, pouring liquids together with Moonbay into glass vials, and the rest of her concentration was being used on.......eavesdropping to the two guys in front of her.
"Just tell the teacher....."
"No! I can fix it, I think!"
The green haired guy on the left sighed, and watched apprehensively as the blonde guy did something, and then Fiona heard the,
"Huh! Told you it was-"
Bang!
"-fine."
There wasn't much of the noise, but there was the sort of steam coming from the two guys, and the blonde seemed to have hurt his hand.
Laughing along with Moonbay, Fiona shut up when the teacher approached, telling the blonde to go to the nurses office, and then he started yelling,
"O'Connel!! What did you think you were doing?!"
"It, it wasn't me sir, he-"
"Don't you blame it on him!! Get out of here, O'Connel, I'm sure the principal will be glad to meet you!!"
That wasn't right! The guy, O'Connel, hadn't done anything!!
"Sir,"
Surprised at herself for speaking up, Fiona swallowed hard, and continued,
"He didn't do anything, the other guy, he did something, and this guy, O'Connel, he said to tell you, but the other guy thought he could fix it-"
"Did I ask for your opinion?! Get out of here, O'Connel!! And you, Lynette?! Just because you were put up the grade doesn't mean I can't punish you!! Detention, after school."
Great.
That's what you get for being helpful.
Detention.
//~//~//~//
Giggling at the memory, Fiona grinned at him.
"Don't worry, I was already in detention from Hiltz, didn't remember to check my sights alignment or some crap like that. Oh well, at least there's no Hiltz here, or stupid simulations!!"
O'Connel grinned at her, the picture of an evil grin forming,
"Your right, there isn't simulations, we use real Zoids, and real battles."
"Real?! When?! I checked my schedule....."
"Saturday and Sunday, and you'll start in the command wolf."
"Co......command wolf?"
Choking on the words, Fiona stared at him.
"Yeah, I wasn't up to that before, but now I'm in the Pteris. Seems I have the knack for flying Zoids."
"Wow. They don't let you *near* the simulation Ziods like that, let alone *real* ones!!"
"That's what I like about this place, they treat us fair, no matter what your age. You start off in the beginners like the six year old would, not matter how old you are."
"Cool. No age groups?"
"Nope. Your in groups with those of your abilities. You should be used to being with different ages, but I'm still not used to this six-year old in my kick boxing group......"
They're conversation kept going, but was cut off by Reece dragging Fiona away.
"Come ON!! You've got five minuets to be ready for your sword class!!!"
"Uh, I am, aren't I?"
Reece shrugged, and led Fiona away to her first class.
*~*
"And those of you on forging yours, go, those of you on staffs, line up with the partner."
Listening to the teachers instructions, Fiona had no idea what they meant.
"Ah, are you 1763?"
"Oh, um,"
Thinking hard about what the number was that she'd be referred to by the teachers, Fiona nodded.
"You're with me, I'll just start the others off, and then get you started."
Nodding mutely, Fiona watched as her classmates extracted wooden staffs from lockers at the teachers commands, and after he spent five minutes drumming the beat of blocks and attacks into them, (one, high, two mid, three low, trade! One high, two mid, three low, trade!), he turned to Fiona.
"Alright, grab the staff from one of the bins down the back, it'll be yours until it breaks or you advance, so pick well."
Examining them, she turned to the teacher.
"Excuse me, Sir, but how can I tell what one is right if I don't even know what to look for?"
He grinned, and explained the finer details, then added,
"But if your in the street fight, it's not like there'll be loads of sizes to choose from, so don't get to comfortable. Actually......if I changed the sticks around now and then........"
He ended up rambling to himself in thought, so Fiona selected the stick about her height, and the comfortable weight for her, then turned back.
"Sir?"
"Huh?"
Looking at her, he snapped out of his thoughts.
"Right. Now, this is how your stance should be, no, left leg there......."
For the next ten minuets, Fiona worked on her stance, then her posture, then she had the levels exampled to her, (one high, two mid, three low, trade!)
Shakily, Fiona raised her staff to block the teachers gentle hits, and in turn, learnt how to attack safely, not leaving her side unprotected as she leant in to cause damage.
After about half an hour of this, the doors swung open, distracting Fiona, and as she turned to look, she earnt herself the rap in her side.
"Ow....."
"Never let your attention wander. Take five, I need to talk."
Nodding, Fiona slowly walked over to her water bottle, sculling most of it from early morning exhaustion, then glanced around to see who had earnt her the whack.
'Raven....? What's he doing here?'
The teacher saw her watching, and grinned briefly at Raven before signalling her to join them.
"1763, this is Raven, Raven-"
"Yes, we know each other."
"Right, well, as I need to tend to the other losers here,"
He grinned as the eavesdroppers squealed at the indignity of his remark,
"Then stop listening and you wont hear me!"
There was the bit of laughter, and the few 'ow's from those that had forgotten to block.
"Anyway, while I tend to them, Raven will partner you, and show you how the true pro works, I'm sure."
Raven merely nodded at her, then silently proceeded to where Fiona had been before, holding the staff up in the attack position.
"Mirror me."
Going through the same attacks and techniques, Fiona wondered if she'd ever get used to it, then concentrated as Raven started the whole, (one high, two mid, three low,) but he did it the new amount of times each round, keeping Fiona at the need to be aware.
When the bell went at 9.00am, Fiona sighed, sliding down the wall, squirting the last of her water into her parched mouth.
Thorn startled her when she asked,
"Raven likes you, you know him or something?"
Glancing up at the older girl, Fiona sighed, fighting to stay awake.
"Uh, what do you mean, 'likes me'?"
"He went easy on you!"
"Easy?!"
"He didn't hit hard, he went slowly, he let you take breaks, you were aloud time to correct your stance, normally he just keeps going, no matter what."
"Why would he go easy on me?"
"I dunno, you his friend or something?"
" 'tis to early. Yeah, we went, er, go, er, went to the same school. But we never really were *friends*, we just......knew each other? Does that help?"
"Not really. Have you ever talked to him?"
"Uh.......yeah, he rang me and asked if we could talk, so we did. Hang on how'd he get my number?"
"Does Reece know it?"
".....yeah?"
"There you go. He probably asked her for it. So, what'd you two talk about?"
"Oh just some stuff about Karl and, yeah."
"Karl........?"
"Shoebultz."
"You know *Karl*?!"
"Yeah..........we're going out."
Thorn's face lit up, and from then on, it was like her and Fiona had been best friends forever.
"So what's Raven doing here?"
"Don't you know? He's our leader boss person."
"So why was he training with me?"
"He likes to stay with every low candidate, mostly,"
Smirking she added,
"The weak ones,"
Normally, Fiona would have taken offence to that, but she couldn't be stuffed.
"Why?"
"Dunno, guess it's to help, 'cause while whoever he partners isn't allowed hot food, neither is he."
They both shuddered at the thought of doing that voluntarily.
A slightly longer bell then the other sounded, signalling that the food for morning tea was now provided.
Thorn jumped to her feet, hauling Fiona up behind her.
"Come on! They've got delicious food!"
*~*
The cafeteria was crawling with people, all seeming to want food, as the long line like the snake nearly made it out the door, at least the hundred people all waiting.
Entering, Fiona found herself dragged to the back of the line, next to Reice.
"So, what've you been up to today, Reice?"
"Oh, you know, catching up with old friends, that sort of stuff."
When her part of the line got to the food, Fiona was amazed.
The selection was mostly different types of rolls, mainly the foot long each.
Fiona was amazed with the amount of food her friends took, at least of roll each.
She couldn't eat that much for morning tea! Lunch, maybe, but that was just to much!!!
"Hey!"
Turning, she saw O'Connel
"Hey, tell me, is this the bad joke, or am I expected to eat all of this?"
He just grinned at her, selecting himself the roll.
Grabbing the small chicken roll, Fiona followed him, then headed towards where Thorn was sitting.
"Hey!"
Whirling around when O'Connel grabbed her arm, she waited for an explanation.
"Sorry!"
He grinned cheesily at her, forcing her to break the smile.
"Ah, nobody told you?"
"Told me what?"
"That for morning tea, lunch, and dinner, you have to sit with your level, so you can't sit over there."
"Huh?"
Sighing, he explained the whole thing to her."
"Oh, I get it, the people that have finished training or are teachers get those five tables, the ones with hot water get those ten, those other ten are for hot food people, trust me, you don't want to sit near them, they like to tease, and these last ten are for us, trainees with no credits to our names."
Looking at the said tables, Fiona waited for O'Connel to confirm her recount, then noticed the certain grey haired guy sitting at one about five metres away, one of the trainees tables.
"What's Raven doing there?"
As O'Connel went to answer this, it became apparent Raven himself had heard, because as he lifted his gaze to Fiona's, he replied.
"Surely they've all told you by now?"
"Raven, I'm sorry,"
"Just sit."
Obeying, Fiona indicated for O'Connel to sit as well, then noticed that the whole cafeteria had become eerily silent.
Ignoring it, she began to eat, as were the two guys, after O'Connel remembered to sit, but eventually the looks in their direction and whispers of, 'new girl' and 'Raven', got to her, forcing her to put her hardly touched roll down, and sigh.
"Alright, what's with everybody here?And as to before, been told what?"
Raven smirked in what could be taken as the sad or 'how ironic' smirk, or Fiona did at least,
"That I do everything the same as my 'newest' candidate, so whenever I can I just,"
Shrugging, Raven appeared to have no reason to join the new members.
"I dunno, I just do, and they,"
Indicating the whole room, Raven continued,
"Can't believe I'm talking."
"Why can't they believe your talking to me? Is it forbidden or something?"
"No, I only talk when there's the need. It's most likely they've never seen me talk before."
"Huh, sounds like you. Don't you have to make speeches and stuff?"
This earnt two snorts, one from O'Connel and one from Raven.
"Yeah, how's this sound, 'Hi. Have fun, work hard, bye' "
Fiona stared.
"Your joking?"
Raven snorted again, and added,
"It was going to be 'Hi', but Reece,"
He shot an evil glare in her general direction,
"Decided that was snobbish, and made up the rest for me. Like I'd say that voluntarily."
"So you don't talk to them, why?"
He shrugged, then added with the smirk,
"Why bother? They're just these annoying learners."
"Raven! That wasn't nice!!"
"So?"
"So?!"
Fiona echoed him in the stunned tone, then stood, picking her roll up.
"Come on, O'Connel, we're going to sit with people that care about others feelings!"
"Sit down."
Fiona turned to find Raven grinning at her, and then he kicked her chair out for her from under the table, making her smile.
"Why?"
Pretending to be oblivious to his actions, Fiona grinned when he sighed.
"I'm sorry, alright? Would you just, sit down?"
Battering her lashes at him with exaggerated acceptance, Fiona slid back into the seat, still aware that the whole cafeteria was watching and listening.
They talked about mindless topics, until it was five minuets from bell, and people started to leave so that they could be ready.
"So, what've you guys got next?"
Trying to remember what she had, Fiona glanced at O'Connel, who replied duly,
"Archery. You?"
"Uh.........kick boxing. What's so bad about archery?"
"Nothing, if you can hit the target."
Smiling softly for him, Fiona turned to Raven.
"What've you got?"
He smirked, and replied,
"Guess I've got kick boxing."
"What? You gunna start stalking me now or something?"
"Now, why would that be the bad thing?"
She threw her arms up in despair.
"I just can't get away from him!!"
They left, fully aware that everybody in the cafeteria had been silent, watching and listening to them.
*~*
By lunchtime, O'Connel found Fiona draped over the chair, incoherently mumbling.
"What?"
She didn't even open her eyes to see who it was, only managed to mumble,
"Food,"
As she continued to mumble, O'Connel sighed, then fetched her the large roll, chicken like she had had before.
Without the word, she grabbed it from him, and started to eat it as fast as possible.
"Told you to eat your morning tea."
He smiled ruefully as she took the time to flash an evil glare at him, before resuming the consumption of the roll.
They sat in silence until Raven arrived, with Fiona on her second roll.
Raven laughed when he saw the wrappers around Fiona, and as Fiona started to make the rude gesture at Raven, she accidentally started to choke on her food.
By the time she'd regained her breathe, Raven laughed so bad he started to get tears in his eyes, and he gasped,
"Shame!"
Poking her tongue out at him, then rolling her eyes, Fiona wondered once again why the whole cafeteria was still watching them
'Surely they've gotten over it by now? That was this morning!'
Reice copied her peers, eating in near silence, but unlike them, when she was done, she rose from her seat, nodded at Thorn, and proceeded over to Fiona.
"Come."
Putting her hand on the startled girls chair, Reice nodded her head towards the door.
"We've got some stuff to do."
Shrugging slowly, Fiona rose, only just able to.
Reice led her outside, where they found Thorn, who had made the belly-flop onto the small trampoline.
Looking around, Reice settled herself onto the swing in the small area that had used to be the playground, and was now just the place to hang out.
After careful consideration, Fiona made the jump up the side of the slide, landing quite comfortably in the middle of it.
"Alright, spill."
Confused, she glanced down at Reice, who was staring intently at her.
"Spill what?"
Reice sighed, and closed her eyes, gently swinging back and forth, her short sleeved top getting the bit dirty from the rust.
"I've known Raven for his whole life, about seventeen years, and he's never said that much to me, or anyone else when I was around, since we were about ten. I'm his sister for Christ's sake!"
"Wow."
"Wow's right. So how'd you get him to talk? He's never said one word to me! Apart from speeches, that's the first time I've heard him talk!"
Fiona turned to Thorn, disbelievingly,
"Never?"
"Never."
"Huh. I dunno, he knows you better, and for longer, Reice, so why talk to me? I mean, yeah, I was in his class at school, but that's nothing, he's hardly ever talked to me,"
"Oh, that park thing, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
Glancing at Reice, Fiona saw the bitter smile overcome her features,
"When he asked me to start training you before your recruiting, well, that was one of the few times he's said anything to me voluntarily."
"For real?"
"Real."
Fiona was startled, why would Raven talk to her, if he wasn't supposed to talk to anybody?
All three of them stayed there, deep in thought, Fiona absentmindedly humming the nonsense tune under her breath until the bell went.
*~*
The rest of that day consisted of archery, beginners lessons in ways of the gang, the break to get cleaned up, then study, (language), for Fiona, and by dinner, she was completely exhausted.
Her arms ached from holding the bow and string into position for an hour and the half during archery, she was yet to actually let loose an arrow, her head was spinning from information, and then her hands hurt from all the typing in language.
Letting her aching body sink gratefully onto her bed, Fiona noticed that what had seemed like the stiff bed was now silk like bliss to her body.
"Knock knock,"
Lifting her head slightly, Fiona muttered something like the response to Thorn, who was smirking at her from the doorway.
"Come, young lady, we have dinner, and then we need to see what you're going to wear."
'wear to what, bed?'
"What...?"
Making the mistake of letting her eyes close again, Fiona was still only half surprised by the feeling of Thorn pulling her up.
"Urgh..."
"Come on, that's no way to act! Go, have the nice cold shower, wake up, we'll get some dinner, then get you ready."
"Cold shower?"
Popping one eye open at Thorn, Fiona made the mistake of sitting back down on the nice, soft, welcoming bed-
"Get up!"
Truly disappointed at being denied the wonderful bed again, Fiona made her way to the nice COLD shower.
"Thorn?"
Yelling to Thorn, who was heard to answer from Fiona's room, Fiona wondered what she had meant, but more importantly,
"Do you have hot water?"
Laughing, she answered,
"No, I went for hot food, why?"
"Damn, I need the hot shower!!!"
Laughing again, Thorn told Fiona to hurry up, and that when she was done to meet her in her room.
"Your room?"
"Yeah, where Reice first took you, I'll be waiting, 'k?"
"Sweet!"
*~*
Fiona knocked on the door, then opened it when she heard,
"It's open!"
Entering the room, Fiona was surprised to see Thorn, well, dressed like the slut.
"Uh, Thorn, what's with the clothes?"
She looked at herself, then laughed mildly.
"Don't worry, I'm like, one of the gang's many sluts, apart from I only dress like it, I'm not the *true* slut, like some........."
"Right, but why are you dressed like that anyway?"
"Oh, shit, I forgot to tell you!"
Fiona waited for Thorn to explain herself, watching as Thorn seemed to gather her thoughts together.
"Right, well, every night, there's the party, and unless it says something different on the notice-board, then it's still on, open to anyone, and your coming to tonight's one, as it's for people from this place only, no outsiders, so that's about half the normal people."
"Outsiders?"
"People in the gang, or friends, that aren't here to train or whatever. Anyway, we've got to get you ready. Now, did you bring any other clothes, or will we have to get you some of my stuff?"
"Well, I was kinda hoping for something like this, so I packed some stuff, it's not that great, but it'll have to do..."
*~*
Well, how'd you like that?
Hopefully you did!!