Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Strength and Appraisal from Jessica Dorney underway.
Hopefully it at least tells me when it’s done… Wait, how do I even tell time here? There’s no cell phones, and I haven’t seen any clocks… She was trying to mentally nudge the system to give her a digital clock, but it seemed the system didn’t care if she knew what time it was. She couldn’t even see the sun in here. I wonder if they have multiple suns…? Her thoughts straying tangentially, she almost tripped as she descended the last step. So it was to a graceless halt that she entered the eyes of a most formidable looking man who was glaring quite harshly at the two girls in front of her, which did not seem to lessen even the slightest as the condescension oozed towards her when she came into view.
I am SO awesome at first impressions in this world…totally… Straightening up to her full height of five-foot-five, she gave him her most winning smile as she tried to walk as gracefully as possible forward, sticking her hand out. “Hi! I’m Jade, the traveler.” Maybe that will strike the fear of god or whoever into him... Ignoring the need to itch her lips, she cheerfully and mostly confidently stared up at this fairly…burly hunk. Yup, I’m in trouble.
She took a brief glance, studying his face. He had awesome black swoosh hair that looked perfectly gelled back and a five o’clock shadow across his perfectly chiseled face. He was also at least eight inches taller than her. When she met his angry dark brown eyes, she found him still staring down at her like she was an ant that had crawled on his food, ignoring her hand that was just hanging in the air like a limp fish at this point as she maintained eye contact. I will not blink first. I will not blink first. Nooooooo, I blinked first! Okay, so her macho posturing was not getting her far. Finally, he asked slowly, as if trying to mask what she would call barely, if not almost entirely unconcealed, rage and scorn in his voice, “You are a traveler?”
She lost it. Completely ignoring the fact that with his bulging muscles he was pretty much twice her size, she stomped her foot—oh my gosh I can stomp my foot!—and, concealing a brief flash of unrestrained joy, dropped her hand and scoffed right back. “What, you think I wanted to come to this random world where I knew absolutely nothing and no one? Give me a break.” She casually flicked her hair, because hello, he was still the cutest non-married non-doctor she’d ever seen. “I was thrown into this situation and I’m just making the best of it. So you’re going to let me stay here until I’m officially accepted into the academy in two days.” When in doubt, act confident. How much could it hurt?
She was utterly insulted when that caused his facade to break, mostly because he was openly guffawing at her. “Really!? You think you’re going to pass the selection in two days?” He was howling so hard he was almost crying. Hot or not, she really wanted to punch him. The only thing stopping her was the thought that she would probably end up hurting herself more. Self-preservation was a thing, you know? Instead, she took a step closer and poked him in the arm. She would have done the chest, but there was that whole skin to skin thing explicitly stated in her ability, and if anyone deserved to be siphoned, it was the jerk laughing at her right now.
She was gratified to see the new blinking icon in the top corner of her vision, and she smirked at him as she asserted, “I guarantee I’m going to make you eat those words.”
Sadly, he kept roaring until he finally seemed to realize she was dead serious as she smirk-glared at him. Still in disbelief, he shook his head and seemed to spend an entire minute considering her. She just kept glaring, crossing her arms in front of her (nonexistent) chest to present a strong front. Finally, he glowered at Jessica and Kaylee. “Is she really a traveler?”
Jessica and Kaylee exchanged glances, holding another one of those silent conversations that seemed to go something like ‘you say something,’ and ‘no, you!’ It looked like Kaylee lost this round, because she sighed and then turned to look at Raphael. Yeah, I know your name, you big jerk, even if you didn’t tell me yourself! Quietly, she spoke, “As far as we can tell, yes. She just appeared in one of the rooms with a bunch of stuff and she seemed…” She glanced at Jade with uncertainty, and you could just tell she was about to say something rude, like one of those things southern people said before they ended with ‘bless their soul.’ “Pretty much incompetent and lost. What other explanation is there than that she’s a traveler? You can see she’s a terrible actor.” Hey, you didn’t have to add that last part! That’s over the line...maybe… Note to self: steal someone’s deception skills. Someone’s gotta have deception skills, right? That seems like something that would be a skill here...
While she was half glaring and half inner monologuing, she hadn’t realized that all three of them had turned to stare/appraise her again. When she finally came to, she snapped a little waspishly, “What!?”
Raphael—who still hadn’t introduced himself to me, that jerk—sighed and nodded. “I can see what you mean.” He glanced at the heavens as if appealing for help, and she had to stop herself from interjecting that it hadn’t seemed to be very useful in the many years she’d done so. But hey, everyone had to learn for themselves, right? Instead, she kept trying to glare at his face so that she wouldn’t check him out really obviously because he reminded her of an Abercrombie model, if you ignored the giant sword she now saw hanging from his waist. As if he’d found what he was looking for, he glanced back down at her and held up three fingers. “I’ll give you three days. If you haven’t been accepted by then, you have to leave.”
Somewhat insulted that he felt the need to emphasize the number three with his fingers like she was a child, Jade nodded and responded primly, “Fine. That’s plenty long enough to prove you wrong.” Completely ignoring the man who still hadn’t introduced himself to her, she turned to the girls. What is with these people and not introducing themselves? “Where’s the way out?” Seemingly struck mute from shock, Jessica appeared only to have the presence of mind to point.
Turning in the appointed direction, Jade did her best impression of flouncing away, which in reality, was filled with a multitude of unstable wobbles. I really need to figure out how to walk properly…is there a skill for walking? Can I steal that, please?
Down the hallway, she stopped for a moment, taken aback as she entered a common room filled with the soft hum of murmuring voices. Her eye twitched a little as she tried to figure out the fastest way to the door without embarrassing herself. She then tried to figure out an alternate route that still seemed like a straight shot, yet took her past the most people who had skin readily exposed.
Steeling her courage, she chose option two. Her stilted walk gave her the excuse she needed, and she managed to casually brush against three people who had been sitting alone on her way out with only a murmured, “Sorry.” Making it to the door while ignoring the sweet scent of food, she took a deep breath and ignored the flashing dots demanding attention at the side of her vision before opening it and stepping shakily into the brilliant sunshine. What was with this place? She had felt like a skeleton walking through the set of a Calvin Klein commercial in there. Was this a gathering place for models or something?