thecooler | Days 8-11 - Test 1: Aptitude

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Days 8-11 - Test 1: Aptitude

Who: All Initiates
What: LACUNA begins her testing phases
When: Days 8-11
Where: Area 2 - Testing Grounds
Warnings: To be updated, but as this is a testing regimen, it will most likely contain language, violence, mentions of sensitive topics (up to and including pondering the murder of children)

At 06:00 hours on the morning of Day 8, every terminal, be it the one in the living quarters or one of the personal terminals within the rooms, begins broadcasting the sound of a klaxon. This sound, loud enough to reverberate, continues for 30 seconds before it ends as abruptly as it began. The lights raise and after they are fully illuminating whatever area your character may have been rudely awoken in, LACUNA's cold voice fills the silence.

"Good Morning, Initiates. Today will begin Testing. Our first Test Round will be for Aptitude measurement only. As such, blows that would otherwise be fatal will spare you. You have one hour to prepare. Afterwards, proceed to the cryopod chamber for further instruction. Thank you."

As incredibly forthcoming as she's been previously, any attempts to question her further are met with cold silence.

(OOC: The Test will be divided by day and function, and for more information, check out the sweet prompts below, also organized by date! You're not required to use this post, but it may be easier if you haven't found a partner! Feel free to make your own posts, either as actions or network posts as well! Remember, it isn't 100% necessary to obey her commands...)

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Grace was just coming out of the testing, and her mouth was set into a firm line of annoyance already. This testing was stupid and she knew what she was good at and she was just too damn old for this. After all, she had her job, she did it well and she was important back home. This was absurd, because if she had actually had signed up for this, then she would have actually been vetted. Grace knew how things like this worked; she'd been at the Pentagon for years.

The frustration of this whole thing is evident in the line of her shoulders, and the sharpness of her steps. If she was allowed heels? They definitely would have been clacking. So, when she comes onto a scene where one man is magically choking the other. Again. Jesus.

With her hands on her hips, the petite redhead just called out in her most authoritative political/mom voice. Because honestly what the hell. "That's enough! You're both adults and you need to act like it!"

Having Obi-Wan at his mercy like this was a nice change of things. Especially the lack of scolding and just overall silence form the other man. Aside from the gagging and choking noises, of course. But those only added to that slight satisfaction Anakin came to enjoy.

Until another voice cut in and drew his attention away from Obi-wan and towards an unfamiliar woman.

Anakin just glared at her for a moment "You will not tell me what to do." he snarled, then flicked the hand that was holding Obi-Wan with the Force around to hurl the Jedi Master right at the intruder "But you can die as well!"

Hearing someone's voice, Obi-Wan's eyes turned to look at the woman and he just tried to shake as head at her. It was best if she didn't get involved.

It was a bit late for that though, and Obi-Wan found himself flung in her direction. Sorry Grace! He can't help where he's being thrown! Hopefully she gets out of the way. Whether or not she does, it will be a painful landing. But now there was someone else involved. Someone who had nothing to do with their quarrel. It was one thing if Anakin wanted to pick on him, but he wouldn't allow him to hurt an innocent person.

Thus Obi-Wan pushed himself up to thrust his hand forward, sending a Force push with intent to knock Anakin back.

Grace Barrows was never good at not getting involved. Really, she was quite bad at it, so of course she needed to interfere here. Or try to anyway, despite the shaking of the head of the man who was being magic choked. Which seriously what the hell. Somehow being here made it all the worse with magic added.

But one thing that Grace had going for her was her self-defense training. Her father did wetwork for the CIA and Grace herself had worked for the Pentagon before moving to the White House. The dodge wasn't totally successful, and she still took some of the man's body weight onto her own, falling backwards and forcing herself to go boneless with it. Still, the wind was knocked out of her, and she was going to have a hell of a bruise.

Laying on the floor gasping for a minute, Grace just gasped at last, catching sight of the man using more magic to push the man back. "Jesus Christ, stop this. Are you adults or are you children? Fighting among ourselves isn't going to do a goddamn thing. You want to fight, do it against something productive." Like trying to find a way out of here and all of that. She moved to struggle to her feet, holding onto the wall as she did it.

Obi-Wan finally going on the offensive himself wasn't really surprising, now that another person was involved. Anakin was indeed pushed back somewhat, but that didn't change much about his intention to end the Jedi Master.

"All of this is the Jedi's fault." he said, stubbornly.

"And that's why he will die!"

That and, of course, he still had orders to kill the Jedi.

A mechanical finger was pointed in Grace's direction before Anakin's glare settled on her "Unless you want to die as well, leave!"

“Now would be a good time, Lacuna,” Obi-Wan muttered to himself as he got to his feet. Glancing over at this lady he hadn’t really gotten to know yet. She seemed to be all right, which was a good thing.

And again Anakin was pointing the accusation at him and he sighed.

“I recommend you do as he says,” he said to Grace. “This is something between us and I don’t want you to get hurt because of it.”

The word Jedi didn't mean anything to Grace of course, so she just looked at the man who had been the victim when they started all of this. What the hell was a Jedi anyway. Blinking at the mechanical hand (another wtf moment honestly) Grace just squared her chin up and met his stare, because honestly, she wasn't going to take death threats from one of the few people who were here.

"Okay but," Grace began, her hands in front of her, palms up, one extended towards the younger man and one towards the older one. "How do you even know that you can kill people here? With all of the things going on, he could just come back. We all could. Lacuna wants subjects and we're a small enough pool that all of us are important. You can't just try and spend every day attempting to kill one another. There's six of us here. Six. Are you seriously going to keep trying to kill everyone? Because that doesn't seem like a good long term goal to me." She kept her voice very calm, every inch the diplomat that she was and had been, like when she went to Russia and druggedly stared down a Russian general.

At least the possibility of dying wasn't a new one to her. Probably a good thing, right?

Anakin let her talk, but he wasn't particularly impressed by her words. Just as he wasn't particularly impressed by the Jedi Master. Not at this time, at the very least.

"You asked for it." he merely replied and his pointing cybernetic hand opened up to reach for Grace as Anakin reached into the Force and use it to try and seize the woman by her throat this time. Just as he had done with Obi-Wan before.

Though he didn't stop there and raised his other hand now as well, this one aiming for Obi-Wan with the very same intent.

He sure could simply choke them both, right?

Obi-Wan’s eyes went wide as Anakin did exactly what he thought he would. He glanced at Grace then back at Anakin, having a very distinct feeling of deja vou. Except the last time it had happened, it had been Anakin’s own wife.

“Anakin, stop this at once!”

Though he really didn’t expect the Jedi turned Sith to listen to him. Which was only confirmed as he felt that pressure around his throat yet again. Obi-Wan was beginning to lose his patience. Thus he reached out through the Force, fighting through the pain, his arm outstretched. His fingers then clenched as he used the mystical power to grab hold of Anakin’s cybernetic wrist, and then twisted it.

Grace had started to roll her eyes when he said that she asked for it like her daughter did when she was five and was about to do something stupid. There was no small part of her that wanted to give him a good shaking because the last thing that they needed was for the six of them to be at war. Their world was too small for this, and a part of her wondered if that was what LACUNA wanted--to see how they reacted under fire like this.

But then there was the sensation of the hand around her throat without there being one, and Grace just gasped quickly, her eyes wide and wild. Her own fingers moved to her throat, instinctively attempting to remove the barrier that was cutting off her air supply. Finding nothing, her nails just scrambled against her skin, trying to remove whatever it was before she happened to pass out.

And then she was on the ground gasping, her pale skin red as she lay there. But her eyes were wary as she looked between the two men.

Without him giving it any orders to do so, there was a snap and a short cracking noise as Anakin's right arm and hand were twisted away from his target.

It didn't hurt.

Of course it didn't. Anakin had never had his replacement arm equipped with pain sensors. But the surprise of the sudden interference was enough to break Anakin's concentration and he instantly released both Grace and Obi-Wan, only to glare at the latter.

"Playing the hero, of course." the former Jedi Knight said dismissively, his right arm now hanging more or less uselessly by his side. He would just have to fix it later.

"Now what do you expect me to do? Retreat? Run away from your act of bravery?" Anakin stepped forward, taking a step towards Obi-Wan "I don't think so, Obi-Wan. We're not finished here just because YOU like to stay out of my way!"

Edited 2018-09-22 21:03 (UTC)

Once they were both released, Obi-Wan stooped down next to Grace.

“Are you all right?”

His question one of concern, but his attention was then taken by Anakin as he looked in the direction of their attacker.

“I expect what I would of any civilized person, Anakin. To stand down and leave her out of this. If you want to discuss this I’m more than willing to do so, but I don’t want to fight you.”

But there was the unspoken sentiment that he would if he had to.

Edited 2018-09-22 21:30 (UTC)

Grace lay on the ground for a moment, just frantically taking in air. Her throat hurt and her neck hurt in a different way, the scratches somehow stinging more than the main part of what happened as her pain censors fought over one another. Staring warily at Anakin (because Grace was no fool, honestly) she started to move to sit up.

"I'm fine," her voice was low and husky in response to Obi-Wan but she didn't look at him when she said it, her eyes were on Anakin in the same way that one would watch a predator. When she spoke again she added, "talking is better. It's not like you have space to avoid one another here. Jesus." Her hand was at her throat still, rubbing over the scratches with a little wince.

"You can't keep magic choking everyone you're pissed off at." Grace is just going to keep thinking that Anakin is a particularly dangerous toddler.

"We already talked, Obi-Wan." Anakin snarled, eyes narrowing. He didn't take another step forward, but he clearly could tell that the Jedi was already beginning to play his little manipulative mind games with this woman. Not that it mattered much to Anakin. He could just kill them all if he had to.

He made a quick, dismissive motion with his hand "It was you who drew his lightsaber on me, remember? Because I saw through your lies and that of the Jedi. You wanted to kill me just because I left the Order, don't deny it! Don't act as if you suddenly want to talk again now - Because this isn't Mustafar and beings might be watching."

And of course the Jedi couldn't have that.They all had to believe he was good.

“And it was you who attacked first.”

He may have drawn his blade first, but a Jedi never attacked first. He was ready to do what he had to, but Anakin intended to kill him whether or not he drew his blade.

With Grace seeming to be okay, Obi-Wan stood up again. Facing Anakin and holding his ground.

“I never would have raised and trained you just to kill you Anakin, but you left me no alternative! After what happened, after what you did, I couldn’t ignore it. The man I knew would have never attacked an unarmed innocent.”

He motioned at Grace.

“Let alone children or the woman carrying your own child.”

It was odd to hear herself be considered an innocent bystander when so often Grace wasn't, but she didn't comment on it further. Instead, she just listened and watched what was going on between the two men and the things that had been said. Darius and herself had been something unnamed when they'd arrived, but in the end they had been able to do the things that were denied to them back home by life and circumstance. Here, however they had fixed it even if they'd needed to do testing.

She'd thought perhaps these two men had been the same before there was the mention of his choking his pregnant partner and children. Grace's motherly instincts (already kicking in to want to put his ass in time out) hardened, because this man seemed to be an enemy of kids, and an enemy of kids was someone who was automatically an enemy of her own. Her eyes were narrowed as she studied this man, and the anger and dislike were practically radiating off of her in waves.

"Leave Padmé out of this!" Anakin snapped and started forward again, only to stop abruptly. He knew what he had done and needed no reminder of his guilt. Neither did he need to have his regrets stirred up once more. Those were still far too prominent in his own mind. Saying her name didn't help. Remembering her fear and pain

Rather than stepping forward now, Anakin actually took a step back. Grimacing and shaking his head, all the while digging up the same accusations only to repeat what he had already said before and what needed to believe himself.

"This is all your fault, Obi-Wan!" he said angrily, but not as convinced as he would like. So he just went on.

"Everything! You turned her against me! It was you. You and your mind tricks!" At the very least Anakin was trying to convince himself.

As Anakin stepped forward, Obi-Wan tensed, fully expecting another attack. Still he held his ground and blinked once when the man stepped back again. The turmoil was obvious and there was a bit of pity on the Jedi’s face.

“No, Anakin. I only told her the truth. In fact, she wouldn’t believe me. You know she’s too strong willed for mind tricks, even if I wanted to try.”

His face softened a bit as he remembered Padme’s last moments. Was there still good in him?

“She wanted to save you, as I did.”

Grace also tensed when he stepped forward again, and she was uncomfortably reminded of Claire and what she'd needed to do in order to save Harris' life. But she couldn't do anything about that, not now and not here, but she could focus on just trying to not end up meeting the same fate because some man child was being an idiot.

So for now she was just keeping quiet and small and as unobtrusive as possible. Even if her mouth was shut her ears were opening, and she was putting all of this information into her memory, just in case something happened later.

Whatever was going on between them, all Grace knew was that it wasn't good.

"Stop talking about her!" Anakin yelled, fist balled by his side but not charging in for another attack.

Padmé. What did Obi-Wan knew about her? Nothing. Obi-Wan knew NOTHING!

"You have it wrong!" he went on "I wanted to save her, not the other way around!"

But then his tone dropped away from angry accusations and Anakin sounded disappointed and sad.

"Master Yoda told me to let her die."

Obi-Wan’s brow furrowed slightly at that. Somehow he doubts Yoda would say anything like that. It wasn’t like the old Jedi Master. Anakin probably misinterpreted whatever Yoda was trying to tell him. And yet, Yoda had told him he needed to kill Anakin.

“That’s just it, Anakin! In the process you lost yourself. The person we loved is gone because of your obesssion!”

The Jedi just sighed and shook his head sadly.

“You shouldn’t even be here. I’ve had enough of this.”

Once again Obi-Wan moved to turn away. He couldn’t deal with this person his former student and best friend had become. He never would have turned his back on him, but now he was. Because he wasn’t that man anymore. Despite being here on the flesh, he might as well be dead. He was supposed to be.

Edited 2018-09-23 22:04 (UTC)

Grace literally had no idea who any of those people were, but she looked between the two men as if there would be some sort of contextual clues, something that would offer a rosetta stone into what the hell they were talking about. So far there wasn't anything that worked, but the big picture stuff (it was damn near impossible to miss that whole bit about kids and his pregnant partner) had fallen into a stark view, and that was probably all that Grace needed to know.

More than that, Grace wasn't going to let the man who she'd been intent on saving who had turned into her savior leave without her. She wasn't stupid enough to be someplace that she might all too easily be considered cannon fodder, so Grace scrambled into her feet with a movement that was entirely lacking in her namesake, because she wasn't stupid. When she was on her toes, Grace moved to follow Obi-Wan.

"So much for being more than willing to discuss this..." Anakin muttered to himself, eyes narrowing as he watched his old mentor turn away. This was all the confirmation Anakin needed to know he was right.

But there was something else that stuck with Anakin, causing him to stay rather than pursue further.

He shouldn't be here, indeed. He agreed with that. But he also found himself in agreement with not being the person he used to be. He wasn't the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker any longer. Instead, he was now a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Vader, wasn't he? It might be about time he himself accepted this and acted accordingly.

Just that he didn't exactly know what that meant or how he was supposed to go about this. Anakin hadn't been taught anything by his new master just yet. And yet maybe he could just... Figure it out?

For now he would let Obi-Wan and his new friend leave before withdrawing himself.

There was no discussing when it involved yelling and screaming. Maybe if Anakin would calm down and be more rational, they could really discuss it. If that would ever happen. However, the Jedi was mentally exhausted and he knew his limits. He needed to save some of his sanity for this testing nonsense.

Though it still hurt, and being around Anakin was a constant reminder of his failure. Of how helpless he seemed to be to do anything for him.

Trying to put it out of his mind, he glanced over at Grace as she followed after him.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

He hadn't wanted her to get hurt.

Once the two of them were away from Anakin, Grace let out a shaky breath, and she wrapped her hand around her throat once more as if to reassure herself that it was still there in one piece. It was and she was, and how she wished she was home so she could just wrap one of her scarves around it so it wouldn't worry anyone else. Wouldn't worry Darius. Yeah, he was going to be pissed.

Her breath turned into a sigh when he apologized. "Don't be. It's not your fault. You weren't the one who did it. Really nice guy, huh?" The words had more of an edge along with her jutting her thumb towards where Anakin was. "I just couldn't watch as he choked you again. It's my fault for thinking that logic would have worked when it came to him. My fault and I won't do it again."

Days 8-11 - Test 1: Aptitude

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