Occasionally even now, I still stalk these boards...

Happy merry day.

"Morale's a big thing... For military history. Bigger I guess than I thought, isn't it?" She glanced over at the other students in the classroom, then eyed their Teacher Trio.

Now, if she could only predict the pattern of their eccentric topic-hopping. It was like that of an epileptic squirrel...

Corwin was quiet. Not that she was surprised; Jacq took the snacks graciously, still eyeballing them in thought. They were quite well treated.

"A little touch of Harry in the night...?" Younger had it, prolly. "It sounds like they're in a castle, and there's a siege?" Culture classes. She was living it.

fluuuuuuuuuuu

hope to be back in the saddle tomorrow. this is awful.

"Corwin, I'm just happy to see this side of you. You are going to have a hell of a lot on your plate the next few months, and honestly, this way you at least a chance to have us at your back. You know?"

Eyeing Bill's hands, she nodded silently. "Weird stuff. I can see how so many accidents happen."

They would get back eventually. Which, really, was just an excuse to get clean or ready, and regather...

"Squad meeting. Probably a good idea." She turned her head, looking at Corwin and Bill. "But seriously, you can go through walls Bill? That's good stuff, isn't it? Rare. I can swim and run like hell, but I haven't noticed anything truly fancy."

This is a plague we all suffer. The lack of brainpower.

Jackie was dismissed. "Sir!" And then it was time to go.

But Foucaut's words followed her. 'This Saturday... This is going to be... really rough.' Rough was an understatement. This was the first time that one of the officers said anything that actually made her afraid. Those butterflies just won't go away.

As she walked with the others, she was looking at Younger and Talmadge. Whatever stiffness he had held was breaking. Shock, probably. 'Ass in a sling, indeed'.

Well she wouldn't laugh. The next few months for him are going to be... miserable. 'Hell, it was probably just his way of coping with all this.'

Jacqueline curbs her own sharpness at Mei's words. She looks back to her, then back to Corwin. Okay, what she had said was snipey, behind the rough encouragement.

She breathes in and bows to WO Fourcaut as well after Mei. "Pardon us for this, sir." This has sure as hell been a whirlwind day...

Her eyebrows raise up as she listens to Corwin's back-fire at Foucaut. Kid was pissed. "First time I've seen you hint at what you're feeling, Cor." Heh. She spoke wryly, but she was sympathetic. Not that he didn't deserve it, but maybe he was starting to wake up... "Now we just got to get you shouting curses at an old log on the trail, and we'll know just what kinda person you really are on the inside."

She looks blankly at Corwin. Poor bastard. She expected a lot of things, but that must be a shock. "You'll be through it before you know it."

"But really man, why were you using a notepad? I mean, it's kinda weird. What were you trying to do?" One verbal nudge was as good as another...

Another run, this one felt much better. God, she felt such a fool. "Do...mo?" Man, Jackie felt off after seeing that mess of Corwin. But she was still doing better on the run... and it was easy to forget. She looked over to see how Corwin was doing.

Yeah, she's definitely going to talk with him. "I think we did pretty good, all things given. Experimenting is rough, right?" She was looking over at Bill, but her eyes went back to her roommate.

"Once we get the gist of this, I think we should do a run for all of us together. If we can. It might be interesting to see how we can do 'running as a group'. Especially over the obstacles." She looks to Foucaut. "Not for numbers, is that allowed?" Scheming! She was grinning as she looked back to Mei and Bill for confirmation as well.

((Oops, rescind my post a little. Jacq will take the run after Bill then! She'll comment on what happened once she catches up...))

Jacq had 'hoofed' it again... but to her, the only parts she had to get clever was that infernal climbing bit with the rebar. She was still finding ways to better slip through... at least her outfit didn't seem like it would catch much.

---

"Really, you really coulda. I mean, it'd have been a shame, but keep your noggin on your shoulders." She looks at him and then over at Corwin's run progress. "Generally, we are supposed to take the course on our own, aren't we?" Jackie glanced over at Foucaut.

'Holy damn!' She watches Corwin go... that must have been a... no, it didn't seem to have phased him? She should probably have a word... if it meant anything at all. But not here. That would have to be an 'in-group' conversation...

Which left her looking to Foucaut. A short, ballerina dancer? Jacq had so many questions, but instead she watched Bill's progress. Until he reaches the impact, at which point she winces. Ow. But he was still moving... "Bill?"

Her expression was a carefully balanced... no, she was just trying not to laugh. "Holy shit, you okay Younger?" She heads towards him, raising her eyebrows and looking his face over. Still trying not to laugh. Yeah, he looked okay. "Start with small steps, eh?"

Jacq was looking at the others briefly, hesitating a few good heartbeats. After all, this wasn't 'ask Jackie' hour... did others have something they've gleaned out of this?

And the stony Corwin. She'd feel bad for him... but this was dangerous stuff. On many levels. She was trying to understand some of those levels herself...

So was Corwin sinking? And should she try and bail him out in all of this? No. She had to let him go up and down, for now. Anything she was going to do, she would do later.

"We're supposed to get through the course as quickly as possible. The goal of this is to improve our ability to move... as we do this a lot, you want us to be pushing our physical ability, though improving enhanced abilities is probably a plus."

Her attention was on Corwin, a kind of dismayed disbelief on her face. She was too honest to hide it, really. Too straightforward. "Corwin, the course is rigged to change, and anyway recall's better for this stuff isn't it?"

"I tried to pace it but I really didn't know how the gradient's were going to go. When I saw the ladders, I figured I could save myself some flow with a short jump up to grab a few rungs higher..." She looked down at her own hands and grimaced. "Dumb idea. Should have just climbed..."

Her head tilted towards Mei again. 'She was using the fence!' That's a damn brilliant idea. She had to appreciate that.

(I wouldn't mind a game with 3-4 players. I'd be unable to run more than that, myself ;) Just depends on if we are regular and interact well...)

I have enjoyed the game, but I can understand your frustration.

She wasn't sure why she was so relieved to see others there. But Mei and Bill? 'Oh, they were sticking around for the aftershow.' Sebastian too? He didn't look done, like the others.

"Heey~... I'm... not... doing too... bad..." Was she bleeding again? She put a hand on the side of her head, slowly jogging up...

The Racks. She had to stare as she approached the ruins. She thought she had seen the worst in the Maze, but this place... this place seemed just as dangerous. She worked her way through, a hair gunshy of the rebar. Still, she would begin to push through and take more risks in it as she made her way.

"We...well... how bad... could this be?" She was talking aloud, she must be tired. The Sixth Run. Running harder, forcing herself to go quicker, slower, back and forth to make it through as fast as she could. And then, ahead... The Trees.

'Holy...' Up, and up. This was definitely climbing. This made her shiver once, the spill from before on the ladder scared her. But she was going to see worse. She was sure she would. And so she climbed, but carefully. She might be off-time, off-tempo maybe? Best not to push her luck...

What else? Everything was becoming a haze. She had to be almost there... and yet, another run? She ran fast, the speed was the only thing keeping her going at this pace. Se had to be nearing someone else, because she barely stopped on this mad pace. Not really stopped...

'What's that, up ahead...?' 'The Plug'?! That's right, she had just went through the Seventh Run. And as she was finishing, The Plug was ahead... was anyone there? Or maybe the last group had already pushed through somehow...

'Who's... ahead...?' She was even pruning down the words in her head, the most basic. Mei started. Then... had Sebastian gone? Or had it been Younger? Then after them, it was Corwin right? Jackie had started... fourth, fifth? The group ahead might have gone through, or might be stuck at the plug...

The Maze was going to be hell. That much she got from Costas and Foucaut. But not today. And so she had to adjust again. Even though the Maze was just a single, long corridor, it was unlikely straight. Turns and corners, and she moves slower to get through. But they were told about it beforehand, and she was able to use some of the time as she slowed for switches to regain her breath. So she would run, picking up her pace at times, remembering - for the third time - Foucaut really emphasized pushing themselves to their limit.

'I'm still getting a feel for how much better I can "canter"...' Once she passed the Maze, she worked herself closer towards a gallop.

"Holy... hells... nose..." She says aloud.. how long has it been now? A kilometer? How much more can she run? This kind of varied, uncertain experience, burned energy a lot more. She knew how things changed out in the countryside, she didn't have to adapt nearly so hard and fast. This was different, though... exhausting, constantly.

Then, the Third Run and the Pier. She hit the first at that hard pace... keeping limber, running easily and closing distance. She was getting used to this, running faster than she did on the other runs. It was a surprisingly simple run, too. 'What now...' "Whew. How much more?"

Climbing over the edge, she began to slip in under. She didn't dive, just testing the depth. They were supposed to go under, anyway. She kicked off a post, starting at a fast swim. Very fast. 'I can really do this...!' A basic breaststroke, that much she knew... and so she shot along the water. 'Corwin shoulda been this far, or at least the Maze.' This, again... someone should talk to that guy. 'Maybe after. Maybe.'

But she had to stop. Many times, catching levers as she went. Working her way, she finally hit The Raft. Here! And here she really took off, swimming through the water like a blade, regaining her strength even as she began to hit high speed. 'Can I really go like this? This fast, this long?' Would marvels never cease.

It wasn't all easy. The Fourth Run. High maneuvering, and she could only go so fast here. She should push further... faster. She broke through though, reaching The Booths. 'I can't even imagine how this'll be rarranged.' And then, The Fifth Run.

'Getting... damn... tired... going to...' But the push... that was also why they were doing this, right? Redoubling her run, pushing for a second wind, she ran for The Racks...

Something scuffs her head, and she winces, but she doesn't fall far. She doesn't even see stars. '#*&#$. Damn, I was being dumb. Going up too quick?' But she checked herself, and then she went up again. Grrr. Time to finish this.

Taking longer than she would like, she was past the walls, on her feet, on the course... not as much climbing as she thought to reach the levers, the ladders weren't bad. The maneuvering though, back and forth and forward again. Annoying, almost as much as her slip. Still, she broke through the Walls and continued on.

It was time to do more of what Foucaut talked about. Jacq begins to take the Second Run harder, maneuvering around the turns. She was already chewing on how to tackle this in her head.

'Gentle maneuvers save almost as much time as hard maneuvers, and there's less a chance of screwing your ankles. Tag a wall with your palm if you gotta, but get a good idea where stuff is and how you want to curve your run. C'mon, what's next?'

What's next... The Woodpile! And with this 'what's next'... another surprise.

"Corwin!" She let out a shout and a short, shrill whistle. She didn't think she'd overtake someone at the start of here... maybe at the pier? "How you handling?" Jacq grins, breathing hard, using short words. Easier to speak that way, easier to catch her breath as she moved into the labyrinth... Jackie was smudged with dirt on her face and clothes, maybe bleeding a little? Just a little, she had double checked that.

Then she was past him, working through the woodpile. Clambering and finding the next set of switches before the maze. As she leaves the pile, she glances back over her shoulder once.

'Was that a notebook?' "CORWIN! SPEED IT UP!" She shouted, loudly, and then was moving on. The Maze...

So, a crit tumble on the walls...

Racing along the ground, Jacq laughed once to herself as she made the initial sprint. Behind Bill and Corwin, they had a good lead on her. So how to close that distance? This much was like riding a horse... you had to know how to vary your run, and to do so right. Only a 'thrice bastard' - which book was I reading with that anyway? she thought - would run a horse hard, right at the start. And people were no different. Running herself hard meant not burning herself out, not at this stage.

'Never thought about it before... but horses don't just run at different paces... I guess they run in different ways, based on the speed they got to go?' So if humans were the same... she experimented quickly at her initial pace, moving as quick as she can, preserving what endurance that she can... the start was the time to do it, because soon she'd need to be burning so much more. Still... Foucaut had said she wanted them to work themselves to the limit... how fast could she go, and still preserve her strength? She began to run faster, trying to find the pace she wanted.

A fast, firm glide... burning the least, pushing the furthest. 'Wow, we are fast...'

Her pace speeds up, more and more, as she goes. Learning how to run like this, a cantor, all get out, and because she guessed was nearing the end of the first stretch.

The walls were next. Breathing for a moment, gasping and regaining her breath, Jackie looked over The Walls. 'There, switch one.' She moves for the first, ascending to hit the switch by climbing up the dern wall. This was not what she expected to find, even after Foucaut's description. Seeing was so much different than hearing.

'Great, so much climbing...' Hup. Hup. And up, using what she had on her and what there was around (probably not much) to help scale the palisade to reach the switch...

Maneuvering wasn't going so well, the walls seemed to be her irritation. 'These damn corners and these double-amned walls-acg!' And she fell, bringing her arms up to protect her head, though she didn't have the tumbling training to deal with it...

"Hah!" Jacq leans forwards, looking over at Mei with a grin. That was a good question! A fun one. Jackie's eyes go to Seb, Dakota, and Jodie.

'I wonder what we all can do...' Jackie thought, straightening and looking towards Foucaut...

:)

Wow. Well. How many surprises did this school have? Mulling over her thoughts briefly, she stole a look at the 'partners in crime'... then back to Foucaut. "Do these jumpsuits catch and tear easily? And how big is the Maze?" A swimming course? That could be interesting in itself.

"The Course." She repeats, eyebrows raised high.

She lets Corwin seize upon her finished (and empty) plate, looking a touch bemused. This was an aspect of his personality she wouldn't have guessed. Her attention was on this byplay between Kreis and Costas.

"This... sounds messy." Still not upset by the idea. "Sure." What was this going to be...?

Her mouth fell open slowly as she looked between Kreis and Costas. This wasn't what she had expected, not even a bit. "I can only imagine. I mean, if they are putting this much effort into this, when things are they way they are..."

Crap, bad thought. Jackie cut it off, not wanting to dwell too much on that. "Have you heard something, Kreis? Maybe something Fisk smells?" But Jacq was grinning as she said it. "Maybe he thinks we oughta be putting more of a leg up in this..."

Her eyes trail over to Sebastian and Mei. Clubs? Wow, this could really be a school. Riding... But it was only a wistful thought. She should focus. "C-cendo? And boxing?"

"Thanks. Marshall, yeah, we get trained on rescue an' recovery, but mostly that's a tailored thing - what part of it you get trained in depends on what you can do."

"I doubt the kids who were the first ones on the spot were thinking too clearly either," Kreis admits around a bite of broccoli, wiping some mayonnaise from the corner of his mouth. "You see kids buried under rubble, well - we're Threaded, you know?

Kreis frowns, considering Jackie's latest question. "I don't think so," he says carefully. "It isn't in any of the tactical information they let us see - and like Younger here knows, they let even you guys see some pret-ty serious stuff. But so far as I know, all they have is tech. That acid-plasma sh!t they fire from their guns, the random-walk anti-vehicular explosive rocket walker things they use, the hovercraft gunboats, the sea-mines, their aerial drones, the implants, all that - tech, tech, and more tech. Nothing like Professor Schein came up with."

"'bout the rubble, and the training... yeah, it's about what I thought. I mean, sometimes I hear about all the training, just for general soldiers, before even the Thunder showed up..." Jac bobbed her head up and down. "Good that the thought is there..."

He glances over at Bill again, then frowns. "Hey, Younger, what's chewing your tail?"

Bas shrugs.

"Just seems like a weird basket to put all your eggs in, y'know?"

Kreis eyes Bill suspiciously. "Yeah, I suppose." He turns back to Sebastian. "I know I answered you kinda flip before. What the PDF considers to be the most important things for us to learn for the next three years isn't how to control our powers, really - we learn that in order to try to not be stupid, but hey, we ARE teens, and stupidity is, like, hardwired into us. No, what they want is for us to ... to stay human. We got six hours of class time a day, and every quarter we get to examine everything - math, sciences, engineering, politics, history, language, religion, pretty much anything you might want to look at - through reading some piece of culture or another. Granted, that piece usually has something to do with war, but it's still culture, you know? This quarter, Arlie and I are gonna have to get through the Bagdad Gitta --"

Jackie mouths the word, even when Fisk interrupted them. Her brow furrows. "Wait, cultural studies?" She fought the incredulity out of her voice. It took a bit of work. But still. "Hell... Didn't even expect that..." She mutters the last under her breath, pondering.

That one, 'bastian?' was asking some reasonable questions. 'Younger' seemed to be off... but her attention was drawn off her other new squadmates--

“This is why we learn and practice discipline so that we can become less of a danger to our brothers and sisters and a threat to the Thunder. As the example given by our superiors demonstrates, power without control, without discipline is disaster, chaos and death.”

After swallowing a mouthful of food, he turned to address Bas.

”Why wait until now to question the methods that brought all us here? Don't you think that someone else might have tried that before Professor Schein discovered his breakthrough? Obviously this was found to be the best way for us to finally defeat the Thunder and drive them from our Earth.”

Jacq's mouth falls open in dismay, her attention drawn to Corwin again. She closes her mouth for a moment, looking as much to Costas and Kreis as Corwin. Enough maybe to catch the look between them. She looks back to Corwin again, mildly stunned. Well.

"Cadet Sargent Kreis, that would make him our predecessor, Toliver Fisk of Austria the first successfully Threaded human being."

Holy sh@t! Mei thinks, her cheeks reddening that she didn't make the connection herself. I wonder what brings him here? From Kreis' reaction, he must not come around here often.

Jacq was still stunned when she looked at Corwin and Mei. She looked back at them, then at Kreis. "Huh." Yep. Huh. It was the only word that would truly do. 'What the damn?' Jacq thought, wondering if she was turning red as Mei. Wow.

"Yep, always." She was looking over at Bruce. "I doubt they want us to be picking up rocks all day. But." She shrugs uncomfortably. "Stuff happens."

Jackie pauses a moment, peering at Bruce. Then she looks over at Costas and Kreis again, speaking a bit lower. "Only reason I wonder about the 'sky being the limit'... do the Thunder have something like this? I think we'd have heard..." But. Keeping an eye out for the worst situation and being prepared. That was a good place to start.

Jackie looked to Mei, then over to Costas. "What're the chances we can do some training on 'rescue'n'recovery' on people in collapsed buildings?" Not exactly straight military action training... but might be relevant. Useful some day, even.

She poked at a piece of pork, then decided to eat. Eating was important, even if there was plenty of dinner time. Some days could be worse than this. "It sounds like people and powers don't often mix... but it really does sound like the sky is the limit."

Jackie's next thought made her hesitate. 'Makes me wonder, do the Thunder have something like this?' She looked over at Costas, then Kreis. Maybe some questions were better left unanswered.

"Maybe we can explore if they give us some free time later. Don't forget that we have to do everything as a group. I'm not enthused about getting demerits on the first day we get here."

"Of course-" And then came the siren call of the bugle, and she had to shove everything aside...

...

"Okay, here's the skinny. Always be ready to get called to attention, marching orders, the whole ramrod-military thing. Always be ready for it, but we don't usually go marching around the Academy in formation. You'll get pop quizzed, so to speak, pretty frequently for the next couple of years, but you're expected to maintain military discipline without us forcing you to become a brainless robot. You're here to develop your abilities, learn how to control them, and if you can't or won't control them, I guarantee they will kill you - your powers, most likely, far faster than any of the adults here. So keep it together - keep your head in it without us having to shove our arms up your a$$es to turn you into little meat-puppets. Officially, you're dismissed for chow; unofficially, that means y'all can follow me."

Officially. Jacq was grinning a little to herself. Ultimately, she liked Costas's style. But they had to keep the discipline for them in mind. The powers were more likely to kill them than anything else. 'Is that why the training is so dangerous?'

edit: then her question is answered. Her eyes widen as she listens to Kreis fill them in. Damn...

"Animals. Horses." Jacq was almost gushing. "Wish we had some here. Everything is jeeps and vehicles, probably all in the military too." Jackie trailed off to mutter in Sioux a moment.

"Ah well." Jackie looked back to Mei with a half a grin. "I also like exploring... are you against taking a look around? Maybe we can group up... meet our squadmates and check this place out."

"Yeah..." For all Mei's quietness, she had surprising enthusiasm. Jackie couldn't help but grin. "Definitely, same here. Let's get our stuff sorted, then see what all this will be about. A secret mountain military school?" For Threaded... people with superpowers. "What do you even do for teaching Threaded..." But that was rhetorical, as Jackie was milling about and getting out the most important things first, the practical and maybe very personal.

As Jacq finished up, she looked over that game, 'Take Back The Planet'. "Good times for you?" She looks over her shoulder to Mei.

Getting her lockers, resolving to get this crap together, Jac returns to the room. "Hey... Mei, right?" Jacqueline offers her hand. "I'm Jacqueline... Jackie works. Or Jacq..."

Erf. Oof. Compared to disembarking, that wonderfully mechanically ordered affair, going up those steps...

And then orders. The Commander sets the tone for the Company, and she does it well. Jac has to mul over it. A secret training grounds. Aboveground?

The far wall actually tilts back as she lifts it, on tracks of some sort, the panel is so long. She gives a bit of a jump, pushing it upwards until it latches against the ceiling.

Underneath is a split concrete panel; Baldwin comes forward, and each grabs a hold of the slot there, pulling them sideways; they're obviously on rollers, but the inch-thick panels must each weigh a quarter-ton. Still, though it's clearly an effort for them, two fifteen-year-olds drag the things open to reveal ... steps. Wide steps, leading down.

'Wait WHAT?!' Holy damn. Jac had been betting 'underground facility' in her head, or something like that. Or something even more strange.

But this took the cake. In she went with the rest...

Jodie turns to the other girls. "So, how're we going to figure this out? I don't really mind, unless one of you snores?" she grins, "Should we flip a coin, or what?"

"There appear to be four of us girls so we can go 2 and 2, or 3 and 1. I would suggest we start out 2 and 2 and see how that works for a week. If we decide we want to change that up it won't be that hard."

Jodie glances at Mei's retreating figure then turns to Dakota. "Alright then,... Wanna share with me?"

Jackie was distracted by the the faint sounds of someone witnessing horror unbeknownst to all... and the weird thought of 'what the hell is going to happen with bunking with Corwin'. She stows the thought, fast. "Well..." Jac nods to Jodie and Dakota. "Guess we'd better rush."

She was hearing the sound of the call. The call for cases. It was time to get unpacked. Then maybe she'd get a few words in with... Mei, she supposed. This was bound to be strange. But Mei and the rest of her squad's girls seemed relatively sane... "Present Cadet Sergeant!"

'I'll check out the room when this is sorted... place seems, honestly, really good. Spared no expense?'

'Wow. Talk about chills.' Jacq looks at Costas, still leaning backwards against the train wall. Between that, this marvel of a train (if Costas was right)... 'I don't want to say, how can we lose, but...'

She remembered the faces. People coming back from battle. Things must be crazy out there. "Yet we've come this far." Jacq couldnt' help herself, she was grinning a little. They must have a hell of a lot of talent here, gathered on this train. She couldn't wait to see what people could do.

A good place for it. A soldier's life is full of questions? :)

Jacq wasn't one for building, construction, or engineering. But even she could appreciate the difficulty... she thought... of what they were theorizing. It made her wonder. 'And 'we' build this?? Without the Thunder knowing?' She looked at Costas with disbelief, and a little plain ol' awe.

Though the cadet and the officer talk generally quietly, they are facing your way, and a few minutes into their quiet discussion, the officer gestures at the ten of you (nine plus Costas, after all). And then after a moment of continuing to speak he rather loudly says - or perhaps orders, considering his tone - "Don't f#ck it up."

Masterson's head jerks upright, his shoulders, neck, and head at attention. "Yes sir," he replies, and regards you brand-spanking-new Chippies with thoughtful interest.

Fisk, after briefly scanning your faces, leaves Masterson to his thoughts and extracts what fifty years ago might have been called a cellphone, but what is now simply a 'pit', 'portable information terminal'. Fisk's looks to be a standard military-issue pit - fine for in the field or on the move, but with its small, flat, limited screen very insufficient for so many modern uses.

Mei can't help but stiffen her spine when the officers' attention seems to be on her. "Hoh!"

But now it was go time. She stiffened as the officer and cadet look to them, although her posture is ruffled by the noise Mei makes. Jacq looks at her, blinking. And tries to look back to Masterson and Fisk. 'Hoh? Odd.' Jackie keeps that thought to herself!

And the race was on. The race played by the turtle, steady and simple. Jackie made her way in, and... with the law of the land, finds her poor case put down as furniture. Poor dear. That just meant Jackie could sit on it though, taking her territory. Jackie was trying to settle down as this carnival begins to take it to the next level.

"They never tell anyone," Costas replies. "I'm pretty sure it's some sort of classified. But one of my classmates, a real brainy sort before he tried and failed to outcompute a combat situation, decided that the train moves at almost Mach 3." She gestures with her thumb towards the windows in the front section, which remain dark. "We figured that the thumps and the noise you hear before acceleration is the train moving into a sealed section, and that they pump the air out so that the train doesn't have issues with air resistance. Or," she adds, "sonic booms."

She was so focused on the feeling that Dakota failed to notice most of the conversations around her till someone (she wasn't exactly sure who) wondered aloud how fast they were going. This perked her interest so she opened one eye to get a glimpse of who was asking and hear the answer in the mean time. When she had heard, her face quickly morphed from surprised to excited. "That's really clever! I was thinking three fourty to three fifty meters before, but if we are going that fast..." She receded back into her thoughts.

Alongside Mei, Dakota, and... Jodie? Jackie leans forwards, though she was struggling to remember names. The train itself was a terrifying marvel, her fingers holding on as she looks to her 'benchmates'. "What, we can't be going that fast..." There, too, was hidden words in what Costas said. 'Failed to outcompute... her friend died.' But that was ths business they were in.

Corwin carries both his case and weapon with precision and snap. He smartly executes each order he recieves with quiet pride and joy while they mount the train. After quick observation, he moves to the wall at the front and secures his hold on both the inside and outside grips.

What was the best way to tackle it? 'Three years of training to make us into what we are... what, in only three years... who will we have to be, to be still alive. Will we be like this guy?' Jackie tilted her head as she looked at the stiff, precise Corwin. Her eyes move back to the delighted Dakota. 'Better if we don't end up like Costas's friend. Our brainy, here, has every right to stick it to the Thunder too... she made it this far, yeah? We will get ourselves there...'

Jackie nods hesitantly to Costas, silent now as she tries to concentrate. A countdown, now? They were going to have to hustle... she had to focus on herself first, and be ready to go. Missing the bus was a non-option, now...

Oh. Looking to the side, she noticed Jodie. It looks like Jac wasn't the only person who was having trouble... gah. Focus, focus...

Costas glances between the nine of you, and nods. "Most everyone's seen what an uncontrolled Threaded can do. That's the point, here." She looks at Bruce and says, "We're not children any more." She then looks at Sebastian and adds, "But we're not soldiers, either.

"We're weapons."

Costas has put Jackie's own thoughts into words. She stiffens as the sound builds, and she soon was holding her ears as the subaudible rumble grows. Gritting her teeth, she watches the bullet train rumble in. Holy damn! But she didn't want to sit around in shock. She put her hands on her own locker, checking it quickly. A reminder to herself... it was time to get going.

Damn this piece of crap! If we were under fire, I'd just toss the damn thing. She hoped to think her personal things would pay off, because right now she just wanted to... "GGRRR."

She then turns to 'Price, Jodie' and listens to her question. "Good question. First the Heil or Pissy would bust your chops for breaking the rule, and then the adults would get into it. Demerits galore, and believe you me, demerits here mean a ton of work. If you kept it up, though ... look, everyone here had someone in boot who had a problem with authority, right? Disobeyed an order at least a couple times a week. Back then, if they didn't shape up the DIs bounced their butts right out of the barracks and back home until they turned 18. Here, there's only one way out - boots first. You can't follow that rule, chippie, then you're no better than someone who went psycho at Threading, and they'll put you down just as permanent.

Jackie speaks up, louder than she has since she got on the transport. "Appreciate the directness, Cadet-Sergeant Costas." How should she phrase this? "Can't imagine anyone would go through all that just to be a shit now."

Bruce looks at bit goggle eyed after that answer

"Strewth, they kill children for not obeying orders enough?"

Jackie looked at Bruce in some surprise... and then she shivers at her own mental thought.. but a different one from the threat of death. "I've seen what this stuff can do. I can't imagine someone with it doing... well, whatever they wanted."

Nodding at 'Younger, William Jr', Costas replies, "A little over fifteen minutes of high-speed travel. In the dark. I mean, it's dark outside the train's windows. To be honest, I still don't know where the school actually is."

"You don't..?" Jackie was surprised, then she wondered why she was so surprised. It was obvious few would know. A place like the school would be high security. Like, super-high. A joke, in her own head. Focus, Jacq! She had to give herself a mental shove. All of these thoughts were just a distraction from what she wanted to ask. She wasn't so used to being in the dark. When she didn't know what to do, she always set about finding out. "The Thunder... is there stuff you can tell us about them?"

Wow. She watches the arrivals fly down, amazement on her face. That. That was the dream, right there in moving form.

Jackie settled back for a moment, and then sees the Gunnery Sergeant and Drake talking... ah. It was time to get going. She looks to the sandy-haired cadet-corporal, relaxing only a little bit. Cadet-Sergeant Costas. She repeats, smiling to herself. Together. That was going to be... an experience. With this motley lot? But where they were going was going to be... well, the first real step.

Reality was hovering in the wings. For now, they had their own little Heil, er, Hell, to look forwards to. No powers. Stay together. Jackie said it as much for herself as anyone else. Nailing that into the space of her mind, a wooden fence-post in the ground of her thoughts. She could already see what kind of stubbornness was going to be necessary. Young cadets were going to try her patience, she was sure... the patience of her fists.

Together even for heading to the head? Her eyebrows go up. A common bathroom was not going to be a surprise, but wow... at EVERY time?

Don't overdrink. Jackie thought to herself.

Since Japan wasn't there anymore... Jackie felt a pang nausea at the thought. I'm gonna be nicer to that girl. Leaning over, Jackie spoke lowly to Mei, offering a hand. Nice to meet you Mei. I'm Jackie.

After greetings with Mei, Jackie caught herself up on the conversation. She was still looking around, slowly finding a balance between watching and listening... and occasionally talking.

My Aunt serves. She's cool. Jackie was looking over at Corwin and Bill. I guess that's why they are so stiff. Are they going to be okay? Well, it wasn't Jackie's place to worry about that. This was what the PDF was for... and they watched the kids like hawks. Big hawks.

A vet? Cats, dogs? Horses? We're quiet a weird group, aren't we. Takes all sorts.

'Good god.' Jackie didn't want to think about Dakota's 'idea', not a bit of it. Taken aback, she watches more of this group of trainees filter in.

'And we are all 'trainees'...' She wondered how the others felt. Being able to lift large lockers like these, to be more capable than the others on the base. 'Don't fall for that trap, Marshall.' She reminded herself, stubbornly hammering at the thought. 'Reality's going to hit us, sooner or later. Don't forget that.'

But she might as well enjoy what moment they had. "I haven't heard anything about 'alien tech'... I thought we were pretty much 'it'."

Jackie... was adjusting. Then again, what kid could adjust to the violent hell and the unknown threat of the Threading? Maybe she was the most stable one.

No, that wasn't true. She was just the slowest to cope with this... the reality of the threading itself. Compared to that, the boot camp? Jackie grinned grimly. That was the dragon. A monster they, she, couldn't fight. The boot camp at least she could do... the threading, they could only wait.

Water didn't taste like victory. At first, she honestly wasn't sure what happened. But she heard the shouts, and reminded herself to stay still. Getting up, spitting water and stumbling about, it was not going to help her odds.

-------------------------------------------------------

Has she survived? Some of it. Halfway. Halfway to the beginning. Halfway to the REAL threat, the things out there. If any of this worked out. She wasn't going to run, taking the injection was pretty much that stubbornness to the tee.

Constant worry was becoming an old friend now. You just couldn't really care. You were waiting for the shoe to drop, at the same time you weren't. It was just another day. She eyed the outside, waiting. Waiting was good. Hunting was a game of patience... not that she hunted, she farmed. But she knew.

She inclines her head in a grateful nod at the PDF Marines as they get out...

And be greeted by cat. Jackie fought to stay, to avoid oggling the cat. She could do that. There was plenty of time to look at it later. Instead, she oggled the boxes, taking a bare moment to eye the footlocker before beginning to lift it. A touch slow, but she had it firm in hand, watching where she turned it and where they were going. She wanted to learn things the first time, not the second or third. There was time enough for mistakes now, barely any later.

Still, she couldn't help but look over the specialists. They were all so capable... yet things looked so bad. Why? She wanted to ask, but there were no words to ask. Honestly she wanted to know what was up with them more than the cat.

But not by much.

"I think they could if they would. How would you keep control of it though?" Animals, threading. She looked over to Dakota, and then Mei. Most of the talk was just on the periphery of her thoughts, but she had spoken anyway.

Jackie kept a hand on her locker, more out of habit than anything. "If you had a dog, maybe?" She directed her question half towards whoever was nearest, mostly towards Dakota.