Fantasy Iron Clad - Red Phase [IC] (Closed)

[The Black Knight]

Some recruits thought that joining Iron Wing Academy was like joining an orchestra or band, where all they do is practice. They forgot that IWA was a military academy, and when it came to physical fitness, IWA tended to experience the most washouts. Despite having selected candidates with the unique ability of sound power, not all sound power candidates were created equal and Iron Wing needed the best musicians and warriors Earth had to offer.

The candidates were in red phase. The very first and the hardest phase of their training where they learned the basic skills required of a soldier pilot. It was no surprise that Wolfgang was the main instructor during this phase. When it came to tough, no one would question that Wolfgang was a pain. The recruits were disturbed from their sleep at 0400 and required to line up in the Training Room.

Squadron 2, Hysteria, was already there with a mixed group. Aurielle (Synth User), Linnaeus (Bassist), Rory (Rapper), and Mauve (Singer) looked half-awake, while Edel (Guitarist) and Talia (Drummer) seemed unphased. Talia was stretching on the green Astro turf, while Mauve was literally curled up sleeping on her side. Rory was seated and staring off into space; Aurielle was trying to stretch with Talia but head bobbing; and Linnaeus looked like he might have been asleep while standing.

The fitness uniform was simple, unisex, and conservative. A gray, moisture-wicking T-shirt with black shorts with built-in spandex. Wolfgang hadn’t arrived yet, which gave the Squadrons ten minutes to arrive and warm up.

GM Note: Make your introductions and feel free to get acquainted with your rivals. We will be starting the fitness test next GM post, and I hope you all have fun rolling.

Tagging: Haze- Uasal Megilagor II-CinderRadcliff-II GrieveWriter Monday

 

[Uasal]

Name: Clair O'Reilly
Rank: Recruit
Position: Lead Guitar
Location: Training Room
Tag: Open to interactions, The Black Knight

Clair was fond of her sleep, even more so fond of rest in general, so when she was rustled from her slumber at four in the morning she did not take it well. Moaning and groaning the new recruit snaked her way out of her bed and lazily went about dressing herself in the fitness uniform as instructed. Taking a few minutes to brush her teeth and the like the woman finally appeared in the common room with a set of blue headphones in hand, eyes practically fighting to stay open alongside her slow body motions and clear lack of focus. Regardless the woman pressed on and after securing her headphones to her head and grabbing a cereal bar from the kitchen she made her way to the training room. Crawling along the halls like a zombie, music faintly radiating from her headphones and cereal bar hanging from her mouth. It was not a good look in general. In a military base? Well, quite frankly it was unacceptable.

Regardless she eventually made it to her location and once there she took in the faces of those around her before offering a sloppy wave and murmuring a hello of some sort. Shuffling over to where Mauve was currently sleeping the new recruit lay down aside her and fell back into a deep slumber within seconds. Her soft cooing as well as her breathing quickly fell into line with the subtle blues beat that could be heard from her headphones.

For all intents and purposes, probably not the best first impression or introduction. But hey, at least she was there on time.​

 

[GrieveWriter]

Name: Anastasia Stepfield
Rank: Recruit
Position: Bassist
Location: Training Room
Tag: Uasal The Black Knight

Ana figured she was luckier than most of the recruits, she was used to changing her sleep schedule. That didn't mean she was in top condition when she woke up about half an hour before she needed to. It just meant that she was able to drive sleep from her mind with ease as she rubbed her hands against Price in her bed. It was something of a morning ritual that she did whenever she could. Making sure she still remembered every millimeter of his form no matter how she'd modified him.

But as she rubbed his form up and down, her thoughts went to what was scheduled for them that day: Physical Training.

As good as her physique was, she knew better than most that she'd gotten lax in her training in the prior months. She'd been so focused on honing her sound power for the audition that the training routine she and her father had come up with had become more of a recommendation than a standard. While it wasn't as if she'd put on a few pounds or had fouled up her diet, Ana knew more than most that form and consistency were key for pretty much any training regime.

She had failed in that regard, and so there was no telling whether her physical performance could truly match the potency of her Sound Power.

They would find out today whether her blunder had truly cost her so much.

After memorizing Price's figure again, Ana got dressed. She'd practiced with both uniforms before bed just to time her readiness, and managed to find herself cleaned and prepped right on time. Breakfast was simple boiled eggs and toast she'd readied the night before. It was easy to get down with some water, she was practically done by the time she closed the fridge

By the time she reached the Training Hall, she was more than ready to at least begin the activities with the same amount of gusto she showed at the audition.

The same could not be said for the majority of Squadron 2.

While she hadn't been able to witness most of their performances, Ana hadn't exactly been prepared for the disheveled state of most of their members. Only two seemed to be fully prepared for any kind of physical activity while the rest were in different states of disheveled.

"The waking up gets easier over time." she noted whilst examining the training room "Hope we all last long enough for that."

Ana briefly wondered how their more tired members managed to beat her there given how fast her breakfast and dressing had been. But just as thought that, she gave a shake of her head in realization. Obviously, some of the woken members had gone around and got them up for it. It quickly made Ana realize she'd not even considered doing the same thing for her own squadron. The alert didn't seem easy to ignore, so she just assumed everyone else had gotten up with it.

But they were supposed to be a team, and she hadn't even paused to consider helping the others get up.

She was probably over thinking it, there was no reason to assume anything yet.

But the sight of Clair barely managing to drag herself into the training room, definitely didn't help.

Ana locked up at the mere sight of her, zombie-shambling in with a half eaten snack bar dangling from her lips. After a barely audible greeting and wave, Clair went and passed out over by the idol girl who was practically at the edge of slumber if not there already.

Shaking her head, Ana took a breath before walking over. As much as she knew Clair wanted that nap, she knew that getting seen like such by the instructor would probably be worst than bad. Hell, she couldn't let her or Mauve get seen slacking.

Crouching beside Clair, Ana theorized what the most efficient method of waking someone up quickly would be. Then she realized the instructor could come in at any moment, and settled on just throwing caution to the wind.

"No time for napping, Clair." Ana called whilst pinching her "I know it sucks but you're gonna need to be at a hundred and ten percent soon."

 

[Haze-]

Name: Nathan Carpenter
Rank: Recruit
Position: Singer (Mixed)
Location: I.W.A Training Room
Tag: Uasal GrieveWriter The Black Knight

---

He woke up to a bang— his own head hitting the floor.

“Ahh…?” — Nate asked, maybe to the furniture, tried to force something else out of his mouth. Only a grumble fought his way out, hard enough as it was with his face mashed against the floor, half buried in the blanket that had crashed with him; he mumbled something else again. Voice set with grogginess as he tried to make sense of the ground, struggling with it, losing the fight.

For a moment, he squinted some at the blur, eyes scrunching up to a slit, face following suit to a frown.

He rolled over and the bedsheets grappled with him, tangled him in, and his eyes traced them all the way to the bed where his feet hung in an awkward pose. It took him longer than it should’ve to realize just how spine-breaking the little reverse scorpion he’d just hit had been— it amazed him, really. He bore eyes to the lazy spin of the fan above him, his gaze running through the room as though looking for something he hadn’t glossed over a thousand times just yesterday.

Then his mind came clear to it, this was real. As real as the bump in the back of his head. He rolled back to crash site A, where the oily stain resembling his face lay plastered across the expanse of mahogany wood, the sensations started racing. For starters it was cold, coarse, felt harsh pressing against his face, but thank god it wasn’t ceramic. He would’ve gotten a whole month’s worth of sleep otherwise.

Though it was a chore and a half to untangle himself, kiss the polish of the floor goodbye, Nathan steadily eased himself up. He stumbled onto the bed, went in to wrap himself back into the sheets, but the perpetrator of the crime made itself present, an ungodly loud ring that made him tense up to a freeze frame. He relaxed from the jump; eyes shut in profound focus as he tried to drown out the obnoxious ringing. Flexing the jaw and drawing forth whatever inner strength he had left, lest the composure slip through his fingers.

He drew a deep, icy breath. Eyes went down, bloodshot on the corners, to give a resigned look at the device still firmly strapped to his wrist— Siri. Cortana. Whatever the hell its name was.

Did he set that alarm last night?

It didn’t really matter at this point.

Before it got any more insistent, he grumbled something else and slapped the alarm off.

The trip to the bathroom, withal its vagaries to be considered, wasn’t any more pleasant. He stumbled toward it, pulled down his tie and ran impassive fingers through that mess of hair of his, didn’t bother to look at the mirror as he knew he’d be greeted by some asshole with a string of saliva yet dangling from the corners of his mouth. Some asshole that had walked in with a toy mic, unprepared, and still managed to get by with an above-average grading. Living the dream some would kill for.

Something too vile, too ugly to be looking at this early in the morning.

It was as quick as brushing your teeth, violently, without breaking your gums too much could be. Nathan leaned in to the shape of that asshole in the mirror, buffed a hard exhale, and fogged the glass with his breath. He smudged in a quick and obscene with his index finger before getting dressed and ghosting the scene.

Truly, you weren’t yourself when half-asleep and hungry. But lo, it was just one of the many days of no sleep yet to come— “Tomorrow and the days after, Nate… Tomorrow and the days after…”

---

He pulled out his phone the moment he entered the room, still trying to nudge away the ghosts of a drowsy morning, best he could. The fitness uniform was a little too tight for his comfort, but it was airy enough. Still, it didn’t stop him from sweating, nothing ever did. He was beginning to see it as sort of a defense mechanism, even if it were a faulty one at that. The same way weasels froze dead still when the adrenaline spiked, fight or flight kicked in, he would start sweating up a storm whenever he went beyond the pale— whatever his brain recognized as beyond his limits socially. This abrogate, detachment to people and wanting to get close to them

Though pretending to scroll through his phone eased down the deluge to a little precipitation, made it bearable. And fake scroll through his phone he did, going back and forth from the home screen to random apps, all the way to where everyone was seated.

Once he pulled over to where a red-head was seated, he gave himself the permission to sit down a few bodies away from him, on the most uncomfortable spot on the bench, right on the edge. Not out of a masochist need to punish himself. No, if he sat there with his phone in hand, he’d be angled from them in a way they wouldn’t really be able to tell that he was doing absolutely nothing with his phone. Just fidgeting with the screen like a maniac.

He was the type to pick up on those little details.

Nathan glanced up from his phone to share a quick look at the red-haired guy sitting beside him, only managing to catch a glimpse of his entranced eyes staring off into nothingness before he came back down to the phone screen. It made him let out a light sigh of relief. He looked chill enough not to acknowledge his presence. And that, for him, was more than a bonus.

The time went on with his eyes glued to the screen, a minute or two. He began writing notes from things he’d been hearing, his own vocabulary notes began filling with random sentences, good enough to be passable as something with a meaning, as he kept his ears peeled. From the tall bassist in the band to the, still taller, drowsy guitarist at the other end of the room. One and other menial banter thrown about, he would pile it all up.

He’d always had this habit of writing down anything that could remotely evolve into a spur of lyrical genius. Since eighth grade, he would pull out his phone and start doting down any and every combo of words that had yet to cross his ears. Like an alien that had just learned about the language, an obsession with words.

It wasn’t like he was planning to write his own song anytime soon, but it was nice to pick back up from where he’d left off before. Dust off the notes app for once and relive those daydreams.

It had been too long since then. Way too long.

 

[II-CinderRadcliff-II]

Evalynn R. Madore - Recruit

Evalynn seemed to be the first to arrive of her squad, fully awake and already having built up a few drops of sweat. Part of it was due to the seemingly stagnant climate and weather inside the dome, though it was mostly due to her morning exercise routine - which she made sure to keep regardless of her new situation. Most of it was stretching and running in place due to being unfamiliar with the IWA building, though with time she could continue every aspect of her usual routine. Although her normal clothes didn't show it, the fitness uniform on her showed that she was fairly well built from her years of hunting in the wilderness. Not nearly muscular enough to gain any respect for when Wolford shows up, though she heavily doubted he'd give her any after the disrespect shown at the audition. She may be naïvely optimistic at times, but she'd be a fool to believe he'd be any different outside of the auditions.

As Clair walked into the training room she gave her a smile and a wave, though she quickly noticed how exhausted she looked. Waking up at the cusp of dawn wasn't easy to get used too, so no surprises there. Regardless, after Clair fell into a deep slumber once more Evalynn noticed Ana and Nathan enter the training room shortly afterwards, giving her at least someone to talk to while they waited for Wolford to arrive and give them all hell. Given a quick glance, it seemed like Ana was well rested enough to at least complete their training, though Nathan already seemed to be in a trance staring at his phone. Out of either of the two she decided to walk over to Ana and Clair, pinching her two fingers together and whistling in Clair's ears in hopes of waking her back up.
"Clair, you'd better save your sleep for after we're done training, because I have a strong feeling we'll all need it after Wolford's done with us today." Evalynn stated as she ended her words with anxious caution. Although she rarely if never showed her emotions to others, her poker face momentarily cracked to show that she seemed a bit tense. A silent but deep breath in and out helped ease it, but she plastered on a convincing smile as she turned to Ana. "Good morning."

Haze- GrieveWriter Uasal​

 

[Monday]

Name: Lucy Loman
Rank: Recruit
Position: Violinist
Location: Training Room
Interactions: The Black Knight GrieveWriter Uasal Haze- II-CinderRadcliff-II

Within seconds, Lucy was fully alert, if not exactly happy about it. She'd stayed up late practicing, but, mindful of the schedule, she'd made sure to go to bed in time to get the bare minimum of sleep she needed to function. That didn't mean she'd actually slept. It felt like she'd just dozed off after tossing and turning for who knew how long. Still, the second her eyes snapped open with that jolt of adrenaline her mind started going a mile a minute, and with all that nervous tension there was no way her eyelids would fall shut again. They felt like they were glued open now, her eyes bulging out of their sockets. Someone had put a name to this feeling. Oh, yes- wired and tired.

So she'd sighed, and hauled herself out of bed and mechanically straightened the covers, then headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Afterwards she splashed some cold water on her face and pressed it into the hand towel. On emerging, she was greeted by a familiar sight in the mirror- bloodless cheeks and a pair of dull, red-rimmed eyes with deep shadows underneath. This was the face that she'd worn during her last semester at the conservatory. It was far too early to fall back into old habits. Had she really changed at all? I have to succeed this time, she thought. From now on, I'm getting proper sleep. Between the band's original music and the covers they'd done, some popular songs she'd learned for fun, violin accompaniment she'd written for some of her new favorites, and a few original compositions, she had a decent buffer to keep her from falling back on her classical repertoire, at least for now.

Once she'd gotten dressed, she made her way through the common area, pausing for a moment in the kitchen doorway before continuing to the exit. Though she probably was hungry- Did I even eat dinner last night?- four am was too early for food even if she did manage to choke something down despite the butterflies in her stomach. What could she manage at this time? This was something she ought to have thought of yesterday. Too late now. A smoothie, maybe? Tonight, she'd prepare a smoothie to drink tomorrow morning. Continuing down the hallway, she wondered what sort of training was in store for them. Truth be told, she wasn't in the greatest shape of her life. Though she'd resumed her normal fitness routine after deciding to join IWA, her life style choices in college hadn't done her any favors, nor had three months of depression and inactivity. A few months could only do so much.

Even so, physical training wasn't really what scared her. Anything that made space between now and the next time she'd need to perform was a relief. Of course it would be demanding, perhaps even grueling, but at least the expectations were clear. What was the worst that could happen? Getting yelled at for being a wimp? All they had to do was follow directions. Lucy was good at following directions. That said, it didn't take long before she was feeling out of her depth again. The training area was huge and intimidating. Anastasia was definitely in shape, and so was Evalynn. Next to them, she felt guilty and almost embarrassed. Ah, the group who was already here must've been squad B... An interesting, eclectic bunch by the looks of it. And... was that Clair? Sleeping? And she wasn't the only one. Ana and Evalynn seemed to be on top of the issue, so her eyes drifted over to Nate, but he seemed busy on his phone.

Standing there awkwardly and gawking at her surroundings wasn't very productive, so she ambled over to them anyway. It was then that she recognized the girl sleeping next to Clair. Oh, no. It was Mauve. Apparently her obnoxious confidence was at least somewhat warranted. Of all the people who showed up yesterday, she had indeed been one of the lucky few. Lucy didn't want her first day to start out on a sour note, so she decided to be optimistic. Maybe she's more chill when she's not performing. Who knows. She looks pretty harmless now. At any rate, there was no need to interact with her just yet. Let sleeping dogs lie, as the saying went. "Um... you guys must be squad B," she said to the two girls who seemed to be more awake than the rest. "I'm Lucy Loman, and I play the electric violin. What about you? I look forward to working together."

 

[Megilagor]

Name: Terri Muirin
Rank: Recruit
Position: Drummer
Location: Training Room
Tag: GrieveWriter (Anastasia Stepfield), Uasal (Clair O' Reilly), II-CinderRadcliff-II (Evalynn), Monday (Lucy Loman), The Black Knight


Waking up early wasn't an issue to Terri, it's his state after doing so that leaves many wishes. Being drowsy and unalive to such an extent that he could easily be mistaken for a zombie, but life is life and he had to get things done.
So he grabbed his thermos filled with half a litre of strong espresso and hastily emptied it into his bowels.
Knowing that it will take a bit to take effect Terri went to take a quick cold shower like a minute or two under ice cold water to wake him up properly, after showering he dressed in training clothes, did a few stretches warming up his body, then he took one of many protein bars he hid in a drawer in his room, unwrapped and bit into it before starting to jog his glorified behind to the training area, but first, he straightened the bed.
'They still taste like wet cardboard with seasoning, but at least it's light and high calorie.'
He thought to himself while jogging there and eating.

Upon arriving and witnessing the rest of the group already there he felt kinda embarrassed about being late, but seeing that their trainer isn't here yet and that two people are sleeping he decided to help them wake up.
But culture is in order so he first looked at the gathering in the general area and said.
"The names Terri Muirin from Squad A, I'm a drummer, and now I will show all of you my other talent."
Then he walked to the two who were still sleeping even when others were trying to wake them up and he began his ploy.
With the best voice impression of Wolfgang that he could muster right now he said loudly.
"Why the hell are you sleeping here it's training time goddammit! Get up right now or I will double what you are supposed to do."
To be honest, the impression wasn't the best after all Terri didn't have a long time to learn how to properly mimic Wolfgang's voice, all he had to go off was that one audition but it should be enough to fool unsuspecting people, all he hoped is that Wolfgang himself didn't hear it otherwise Terri could be in big trouble.

 

[The Black Knight]

Um…you guys must be squad B.

The blue-haired girl, Talia, looked up at Lucy. She and Aurielle were the smallest girls in their band. Aurielle didn’t answer. She was leaned over with her legs stretched out and hands planted in the turf. Her head hung, causing her blond mane to curtain about her face. According to her stillness and lack of response, it was safe to assume she had succumbed to sleep.

I’m Lucy Loman, and I play the electric violin. What about you? I look forward to working together.

Talia gave Lucy a stoic stare that may have felt longer than it was. “Vivaldi,” she said, recognizing who she was. Even despite hearing Lucy’s name, Talia still addressed her how she had remembered her. She didn’t give her name. She hadn’t had a chance to when she thought she had heard Wolfgang’s voice. Her head snapped in Terri’s direction. All members of Hysteria jolted from their sleep to gaze at Terri, and upon gazing upon them, their faces paled. They quickly sprang to their feet and stood at attention.

Standing behind Terri was Wolfgang, looking like some stereotypical buff gym teacher in the IWA fitness uniform. The gray shirt molded against the muscles of his torso and the contours of his thighs and calves were prominently seen. He was scowling at Terri, the corner of his mouth arched in disgust.

“You think you’re funny, huh? Why don’t you go stand in formation with the rest of your peers!” Wolfgang roared. He held in his hand a megaphone that he didn’t hesitate to use. He screamed through the horn, his voice blasting the half-awake recruits: “EVERYBODY WAKE THE HELL UP!”

He then lowered the horn to use his own voice—for it was loud enough—as he explained, “This is your first day of Hell Week. I am gonna destroy your body; destroy your spirit. I am gonna make you wanna quit and never pick up a microphone or musical instrument again. Some of you are gonna drop out, and some of you are gonna demonstrate the iron will we’re looking for. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it boys and girls. If you can’t pass red phase, then you need to get out of my academy and never consider coming back to the military. Go work fast food or some shit.”

Wolfgang walked the turf and beckoned the recruits to follow with a wave of his hand. He stopped before four lanes in white paint. “If you didn’t take the time to stretch, then you’re gonna regret it. We’re about to see which of your peers are the fastest and which squadron is overall superior. You will run 100 meters as fast as you can. When you’re finished running, get off the track so you don’t get in your peers’ way. Simple?”

A black, orb-like drone flew down to the end of the track to monitor it. Wolfgang poked around at a watch on his wrist, ensuring it was in sync with the drone. When he was finished, he raised his head and yelled, “All right. First group up. Bozo (Terri) and Shrimpy 1.” He pointed at Talia to clarify just in case she was confused. “You’re Shrimpy 2.”

Talia nodded.

The blond, synth user walked up to the white line and stretched her thin arms into the air. She flexed her fingers and yawned extra big. She still didn’t feel awake.

“Ready. Set. Begin!”

Tagging: Haze- Uasal Megilagor II-CinderRadcliff-II GrieveWriter Monday

 

[Megilagor]

Name: Terri Muirin
Rank: Recruit
Position: Drummer
Location: Training Room
Tag: The Black Knight [Wolfgang & Aurielle]


Terri was ecstatic at the reaction of others to his mimicry of Wolfgang, that was until he realised they truly are scared, so he slowly turned his head upwards seeing Wolfgang behind him. 'Welp I'm dead, it was a good life.' He thought to himself.
Before sharply turning around and saluting toward Wolfgang and answering his every word. "No sir! Yes sir!"
Not wanting to make more trouble for himself on the first day he ran to the rest and stood in formation listening to his superior while knowing he screwed up.
His words bore truth, hard and painful ones but that's life for ya, he then closely followed him when gestured to follow stopping when told to.

'Bozo that's me. I think. Nope, that is me!'
A brief thought passed his mind as he walked towards the white line, where he did quick leg stretches and waited for the countdown to end.
Upon hearing BEGIN! Terri shot off from the starting line and started running as fast as his legs allowed him to, he even tried to break his record of 11.20 seconds but it's probably a pipe dream for him to accomplish that.

So he ran not thinking about anything just wind on his face, and his legs on the ground, time grew longer and longer but as he crossed the finish line he drew his run to a halt and moved to the side, waiting for the person he was running with.
Upon their arrival, he raised a fist towards them for a fist bump, and regardless of what they did, he said.
"Good run."
And then he waited for the next people to run or further instructions from Wolfgang.

 

[The Black Knight]

Aurielle’s blue eyes swelled when the other blue-haired boy took off. He was so fast. Even as she started a second late behind him, all she saw was his back. Daintily swinging her arms, the smaller girl was huffing and puffing by the end of the track. Her lungs were on fire. She wasn’t used to this. She didn’t run, and she was so tired!

The synth user crossed the finish line and bent over, grasping her knees.

“CLEAR THE TRACK!” Wolfgang’s voice blared, startling her to quickly join Terri who had stepped off and was already walking back.

Good run.

Aurielle frowned down at the grass. Whatever. she thought.

“All right. Next up, Boy Blue and Smart Ass (Clair),” Wolfgang announced. He hadn’t forgotten her quip during her audition. He honestly hoped the other blue kid smoked her on the track. Serves her right.

Linnaeus walked up to the white, start line, hopped in place, and then separated his feet into a runner’s stance. He was tall and lanky, which meant he might have been a good runner all together.

Ready…Set…BEGIN!

Linnaeus took off like a gazelle. There were seconds where both of his feet didn’t touch the turf, causing a few mouths to drop in awe. His squadron had never expected Linnaeus to be a runner. He was always so quiet that they thought he was one of the socially awkward kids. When Linnaeus crossed the finish line, he was barely panting. He stepped off the track and gave Clair a quick thumb up when she finished.

Wolfgang was grinning triumphantly at seeing his wish come true. “Next up, Showboat (Nathan) and the goth chick.”

Edel gave Wolfgang a raised brow but said nothing as she casually stepped up to the start.


Tagging:[/b] Haze- Uasal Megilagor II-CinderRadcliff-II GrieveWriter Monday

 

[Haze-]

Name: Nathan Carpenter
Rank: Recruit
Position: Singer (Mixed)
Location: I.W.A Training Room
Tag: The Black Knight Megilagor Uasal GrieveWriter Monday II-CinderRadcliff-II

---

“Vivaldi.” — His fingers moved across the phone screen to type it down, stark letters forming in line as only the barest— yet loudest— tap was made at the end, his thumb pressed on the white void below his notes for a while. He jolted up a bit from the slow slouch that was sinking the whole of his body into the bench, the motion was still, but restless, thoughtful, made him narrow his eyes; then his thumb tapped the white of the screen again. Then another five times. He gave it some more thought, wrote in caps — “VIVALDI???”

His eyes narrowed a bit more on that first ‘Vivaldi’, they slowly widened as though returning from a far away thoughtless blur, be it a thoughtless blur of meaningless words on a notepad, and then they snapped around the group. He could’ve sworn he’d just heard that from someone to the far left of him, a woman’s voice, made the name sound more insulting than it should’ve — “Ah…” — Nate glanced up from behind his phone, hung on Lucy and the others girls that had cut her introduction dead.

No wonder she was shredding the shit outta that violin yesterday, he drew his sympathies with a pained sigh, reliving how awkward he felt singing Dragonforce to the judges.

I’d be crying myself to sleep, he couldn’t even begin to imagine the shame.

Not so abruptly, there was nothing much else going on. He pulled his eyes up from the wall of text and cast them unto the nothingness ahead, just like the red-haired, boy-in-a-band looking guy sitting next to him. The ceiling was good looking, he supposed.

There’d been a few moments of short silence like these far in-between the wait, he’d come to realize that these people didn’t really talk all that much.

He closed his eyes and fell back into the bench, arms folded with a placid, dull expression dawning on his face. It was getting harder and harder not to fall back asleep, but as he was expecting, almost on cue, another one of his squad members broke the silence. Nate hung on Terri’s voice same way he would with his grandfather’s old ass radio late at night, baffled at the fact that there were still people running stations to this very day, the damned thing was annoying enough to keep him awake. He wondered if he’d ever heard Vivaldi blasting through that ancient artifact once.

Terri’s impression was somehow uncannily on point, it’d cracked a little — “Heh.” — out of him.

That moment of amuse lasted for as long as it took him to draw out that ‘Heh.’ Shortly after the calm roared in the storm, and it washed over him a thousand-rivulet of cold sweat. His eyes shot wide, hard to grab and hold onto the new focus, but Wolfgang’s imposing figure soon came into frame. Nate followed suit as everyone else snapped back to life from their half-dead state of slumber, he too jolted off his seat and went stiff as a statue.

It took some restraint not to show a resigned look of defeat as he watched the other’s practically fly through the course. He wouldn’t be surprised if boy blue’s time was under the two-digit mark, it was one of those ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ types of displays. Nate could run these 100 meters in about 25 seconds, sharp, that was at the very least his assumption. Out of sheer intuition, remembering his glory days as a hyperactive kid in soccer practice, he knew he still had some muscle left untainted by the sedentary job vulture life style he’d been carrying. 10 to 20 pushups every now and then throughout the week, that was about the extent of his current athletics.

“That’s not fair man…” — He muttered as inaudibly as he could, played it off as a sigh, a wimp.

His eyes were red-rimmed, adorning this frown like he were about to break down into tears, but like a brooding hercule— a hercule that could muster up 25 pushups on a good day— he swallowed the tears and psyched himself up. Glossy, bloodshot gray eyes that barely held back the emotion, upon two dark circles. Nathan was all pain and nerves as the big man in the room gestured toward him and another girl.

Though he tried his hardest not to show that gloom in his face, instead replacing it with a hopeless, yet self-aware look and a trembling half-grin as he stepped up. He walked over to his lane right after the other girl was all set, two lanes of space between them as he knew he’d skip over to her lane mid-run if they stood too close, he had no technique whatsoever.

Nathan tried to set himself in a position similar to that blue-haired guy from before— only, not as extreme— one foot planted ahead and the ball of his other lifted behind him, pushing away from the ground with the tip of his shoe, he leaned in slightly, tense still. He didn’t really know what to do with his hands, they kind of hung there waiting to follow motion.

Flexing, tensing up the moment Wolfgang started the count, his eyes drifting over to the white lines racing ahead of him, he drew a long, shaky breath and held it between clenched teeth — 25 seconds my ass…

…BEGIN!!

A blur, a duo of boots thumping hard against the floor and the tunnel vision kicking in— that light sensation of riding the wind lasted for about three seconds. Then he was back from the blurry distance, for a split second it pulsed back into focus, he had eyes and a throbbing heart pounding at his chest; worse of all, there was a mane of white hair jutting out of his peripheral. Even as he pumped his legs as fast as they could carry him, jetting a b-line straight to the finish line, he was still matching her pace.

He flinched at the wind clashing with his face, his head snapping to her direction every now and then, trying to draw an imaginary straight line she by no means could cross, keeping the sanctity of that boundary best he could.

It was when the finish line met his eyes that he really took the lead. His whole body followed his head, back straight, shoulders leveled, leaning back at the waist, arms thrown forward with the motion— muscle burning, sweat pouring and a wild look creeping through the mess of hair— for the first time in his life he felt like his entire being was about to give in.

By the time it took him to realize he’d just crossed the finish line, he’d already ran an extra ten or so meters ahead. He quickly snapped out of it and veered to the side.

“Hooly—” — He took a moment to catch his breath. It came in short, raspy gasps— “—Fuck I’m out of shape…!” — Nate threw his head up with a groan, holding himself together, hands on his hips, chest heaving for air and heart visibly drumming wardrums at his rib cage.

Nate turned to the local goth girl — “…You run fast, goddamn.” — Leaning forward, he let out a hoarse cough at that fire raging in his lungs. He raised a hand as though to gesture something at her but shortly gave up after, he ended up more or less waving her off — “Fun…Cool run, though. Nice… Let’s not do it again. Ever.”

 

[Uasal]

Name: Clair O'Reilly
Rank: Recruit
Position: Lead Guitar
Location: Training Room
Tag: GrieveWriter II-CinderRadcliff-II Haze- The Black Knight​

Clair was not an easy individual to wake up, at least fully that is. Though that being said with three people working to awaken the woman there was little she could do to oppose it but moan and grown. Shifting herself up and back to her feet the woman yawned loudly before stretching her arms and back, her eyes lazily washing over those nearest her as well as to the instructor who had just arrived. IT took a moment for Clair to recognise the man but once she did her eyes went wide, it was one of the judges from yesterday. The grumpy one to boot! Fantastic! What a way to start the day. Turning her attention to her teammates as opposed to those running, Clair offered forward a smile and soft chuckle "I'm up, I'm up. Sorry". Rubbing her arm Clair could help but softly laugh to herself "Ouch... was the pinch and whistle really necessary guys. I'm quite the light sleeper you know." Tilting her head to the side Clair offered Anastasia and Evalynn a shake of her head, her smile clearly present to show her words were merely in jest.

That said it was Nathan's impression that was most comical. Though there was hardly any time to comment on such a perfect impression before she was called up to run. Wolfgang clearly still sore over her comments from yesterday. Making her way to the starting line Clair readied herself with a few stretches, her soft and lazy smile going nowhere fast, despite Wolfgang's snide nickname. Turning to her opponent Clair laughed softly to herself and offered forward her hand to shake "Clair, let's have some fun. Don't mind Walfgwang... what was his name again... anyway don't mind him. He's just in a bad mood because his guitar is more a novelty than an instrument at this point.".

And with that said the two were off. Or rather Linnaeus was off and Clair was left with her jaw wide open. The man moved with such speed it quite honestly stunned the woman stiff for a second or two, not that it made a difference to the outcome mind you. No if anything this was a complete loss for Clair, her movement rough and stiff, slow. Linnaeus's swift, nimble and seamless. Though that was to be expected, Clair had after all spent much of the past year locked in her room. Completely out of shape it was evident the physical aspect of the course would be her bane and thus would require quite a lot of work.

Once Clair had finished she approached Linnaeus and congratulated him on his victory, complementing his speed and movements before returning to where she stood before, still recovering her breath as she leaned on Anastasia for support. "Please tell me we aren't sparing today too... ahhh... pleaseeeee! Evalynn... Evalynn... tell my parents... I was a good person right until the end...."