You spend hours, days, weeks, months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together.
16
years old
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Straight
Single
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Dauntless-Born Initiate
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Quinn
is Offline
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48 posts
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Dauntless
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Post by Payton G. McHale on Apr 2, 2014 10:28:19 GMT -5
Sometimes Payton thought there had to be something wrong with her - there was no other way to explain it. There had to be something wrong with her psyche...she over thought everything and it had started to become her serious down fall. She had failed her fight against Mute - and that wasn’t even mediated...it had just been pure fighting. Pressing her hands into her knee, she tried to stifle a groan as she tore off the bandage that was wrapped around her knife wound. She winced as the sticky material stuck to her skin, pulling it like old gum stuck on a shoe. Even with all their medical advances, Payton had wanted to keep the scar...it was a constant reminder that she shouldn’t let her guard down, even for a moment. She had a lot to prove and she would be damned if she was about to give up.
“You’ve got time-” She reminded herself as she stared into the mirror. Her eyes were dark and clouded, almost as if they were beginning her to get out before it was too late. Pay slammed her hands onto the sides of the sink. She wasn’t giving up and she wasn’t getting out. Dauntless was where she was born - it was what she had been born and bred for. She could make her attack from the back - readying herself against her opponents. She would just study the way they fought so when it was her turn she could zero in on their weaknesses and exploit them. See? Easy. Her heart was convinced, but she could tell from the nagging sense of dragging in the back of her brain that her head was not so easily swayed.
Pulling away from the mirror and bathroom, she wiped her face off with her towel and threw it onto her dormitory bed. She knew Initiates were supposed to all stay together to foster a closer relationship and learn from one another, but she needed space - serious amounts of space right now. Chewing on her lip, she ran up the stairs and took the rest of her journey in quick succession. It wasn’t long before she was out in the open air, breathing in the freshness of the open-sky. She had missed the sun over the past two days while they had been inside. Reaching into her pocket, she dug out the folded knife that she had taken from the training room and flipped it open. The sun hit the blade as she turned it over in her hands, quietly contemplating the best way to raise herself in the rankings.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2014 22:22:05 GMT -5
Brats. The first word that popped up in Stephanie's mind every time she thought of the new initiates. She didn't like kids - in this case, people who are younger than her - which was weird, seeing as how she chose to be an initiate instructor. Did she regret it? Nah. It was fun to torture the young ones, or at least, she was a little pleased to know she was making an impact on their initiation. Some of the new initiates, especially the transfers, were simply pathetic, but patience is a virtue after all, and she resisted the temptation to throw a few of them into the chasm.
Her face remained emotionless as she stood up from her bed, and threw a black tank top over her head, revealing her tattoos on her shoulder, and she touched the phoenix on her shoulder lightly. She changed into shorts - it was a blazing hot morning - and she put on boots, clicking the heels on the floor. Today was a rest day for the initiates, they could get a tattoo, shop for clothes, and this also meant Stephanie was free from work today. She wouldn't go shopping willingly, and she didn't have the feel for another tattoo, what else could she possibly have to do? She walked out of her room, letting the door close behind her, and she broke into a jog, up a flight of stairs, and finally the open space embraced her with opened arms. The sides of her lips curved up into the tiniest smile, and Stephanie let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
Seems like she wasn't the only one who'd decided to spend her day out on this open space, a flash of light caught Stephanie's eye. The bright sunlight was reflected by a twirling knife, and the owner, lost in deep thoughts. She recognised the girl playing the knife as one of the dauntless-born initiates, Payton, now was it? The smile on Stephanie's face vanished, which would have gone unnoticed in the first place, and Stephanie took a few small steps, stopping when she was a few feet behind Payton. Initiates weren't supposed to have their own weapons yet, and Stephanie suspected the girl stole the knife from the training room. "Y'know, stealing knifes from the training room is against the rules." Stephanie spoke in a quiet voice, smirking a little. |
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You spend hours, days, weeks, months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together.
16
years old
|
Straight
Single
|
Dauntless-Born Initiate
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Quinn
is Offline
|
48 posts
|
Dauntless
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Post by Payton G. McHale on Apr 13, 2014 18:51:20 GMT -5
Payton’s head snapped to her left so she could see the figure out of the corner of her eye. A familiar hair-cut and color, she almost instantly recognized her as Stephanie, one of their instructors. She wasn’t Dauntless-born, Pay knew that much. But for some reason, she didn’t see her as a Transfer. Maybe it was because the girl had made it through initiation already...and rather successfully to boast.
“Instructor Carson.” Payton greeted her and didn’t say anything about the knife yet. She knew that Stephanie could get her into trouble if she really wanted to, and Pay wasn’t sure that she wanted to push those buttons yet. Especially since she had already been in trouble with Jinx, another one of the instructors. She was going to need allies if she was going to get through this and right now it seemed like Steph and Lucas were her only options. Thank goodness for her, it looked like Steph had just stepped into the position that she was looking to fill, “How do you know it came from the training room?” Raising both of her eyebrows, Payton turned around fully and faced her instructor, cocking her head slightly to the side.
She knew that she should be more friendly and grateful, but sometimes the fiery Dauntless couldn’t help herself. Immediately she reminded herself that she needed to get Steph on her side if she was going to advance her ranking, “Could’ve picked it up from anywhere. My family does live here, you know. And they do own their fair share of knives and such,” Just the same, she flipped the knife over so the blade was resting on her fingertips and held it out to the trainer as if she was admitting defeat. Her brown eyes scanned Stephanie’s face, trying to figure out what kind of mood the instructor was in. They were probably more similar in terms of their personalities than they were different, but in situational disarray, they undoubtedly clashed, “What brings you out into the daylight?”
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 4:16:47 GMT -5
Payton's head snapoed to the side, her eyes landing on Stephanie, making her a little uncomfortable, but as usual, her face doesn't show it. She's become so used to hide her emotions that it becomes hard to even smile in front of well, almost every one.
"Instructor Carson." Payton greeted, and Stephanie nodded her head slightly, acknowledging the female initiate. Payton wasn't exactly stupid, but she was reckless. Recently, she had gotten into a conflict with Jinx, a fellow Dauntless instructor, and that probably wasn't very smart of her. "Look who wasn't from the Erudite faction~" A few snide comments here and there, but that was all history.
"How do you know it came from the training room?" The initiate asked, turning around, tilting her head to the side, her eyebrows raised. Stephanie sighed, this initiate was always so.. fierce. Pure Dauntless through and through eh? The girl seemed to realize it though, her face immediately softened. That coming from a Dauntless - never good. "Could've picked it up from somewhere. My family does live here you know. And they do own their fair share of knives." Stephanie resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at the girl. Payton had a point, but she couldn't admit that as an instructor.
Payton held the knife out, the handle towards Stephanie. She took the knife, careful not to slice the initiate's fingers off. She decided not to answer the girl's question about the origins of the knife. The girl popped another question - what exactly was she doing here?
"The fresh air lifts my mood." Stephanie replied lamely, then felt like she should further elaborate. "It's a rest day after all, and being in the Pit annoys me." She was sounding more and more like a Dauntless. "You?" She directed the question back to Payton.
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You spend hours, days, weeks, months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together.
16
years old
|
Straight
Single
|
Dauntless-Born Initiate
|
Quinn
is Offline
|
48 posts
|
Dauntless
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Post by Payton G. McHale on Apr 14, 2014 18:38:30 GMT -5
Carefully, she felt Stephanie taking the knife from her grasp and she let her hand drop back down to her side. There, now there was nothing that the instructor had to blame her for. It was just a simple conversation between two Dauntless women...even though one happened to be a Transfer.
“The fresh air always lifts my mood. It’s a rest day after all, and being in the Pit annoys me. You?”
Payton realized a little too late that she wasn’t necessarily prepared for her to retaliate with a question of her own. Perhaps it was a little of the same reason - being cooped up in the Pit for too long did a number of Payton. She longed for the outside world, the sunshine, the fresh air. Instead of feeling stifled inside like she had before, “Just needed to get out, I guess. I was thinking of venturing further, but I remembered the Initiate rules. We have to be accompanied..” She muttered. She wasn’t about to explain to Carson how she felt as if she was completely out of her element here. She didn’t need her pitying her, what she needed was her on her side.
For a few moments, she wasn’t sure what to say. She wasn’t sure if there was anything to say, quite frankly. Here she was with a girl that probably couldn’t stand the sight of her, but she needed her to understand. She needed an ally...and Stephanie was about as good as it was going to get for her. Especially since Pay had seen Lucas hanging around the likes of Diggs. Diggs, She felt a familiar bubble of anger in her stomach when she thought about the Erudite transfer that had bested her the other morning when they had fought, “What do you think of the initiates this year?” Pay asked, stuffing her hands into the pocket of her black leather jacket as she looked over the surrounding area that they were in. Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to ask...Steph always seemed so angry when it came to the initiates.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2014 4:27:10 GMT -5
Stephanie noticed the way Payton had always.. observed her, with a hint of disdain in her eyes, just a tiny bit. I wonder why. It was like how the other Dauntless-born looked at her, looking down on her. Sometimes, it made Stephanie pissed, she just felt like digging their eyes out, but that would be... inhumane. So what if she was a transfer from Candor? She survived Dauntless initiation, so technically, that makes her tougher than them.
"Just needed to get out, I guess. I was thinking of venturing further, but i remembered the Initiate rules. We have to be accompanied.." Payton muttered, and Stephanie nodded. Good that this girl knew her limits. She wanted to offer to bring her further, but decided to keep her mouth shut. It would probably be less troublesome to stay near Dauntless compounds, and besides, why would she even want to know whatever was beyond the limits? Being curious is an Erudite trait after all.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments, and Stephanie scratched her head a little, trying to break the silence. Luckily, Payton asked her a rather interesting question, and Stephanie hesitated, taken aback.
Yeah, how did she feel about the initiates?
Stephanie raised her eyebrows. It was rather obvious that she didn't like younger people, but she continued to interact with them, and a few of them were rather.. interesting. There was this girl, that was cheerful and totally not Dauntless-like. How annoying. Stephanie pursed her lips. "They're - You're - fine. A few annoying ones, but I've seen worse." She replied after a while.
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You spend hours, days, weeks, months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together.
16
years old
|
Straight
Single
|
Dauntless-Born Initiate
|
Quinn
is Offline
|
48 posts
|
Dauntless
|
Post by Payton G. McHale on Apr 16, 2014 12:03:30 GMT -5
Pay observed the satisfactory nod she got after she admitted that she knew the rules and knew that she was expected to follow them. At least that seemed to get Stephanie to chill out a little bit. Payton was pretty sure she wanted to kill the initiate all the time...maybe she hadn’t been the best option for choosing an ally... Biting down on her lip, the brunette watched as Steph’s expression changed, obviously caught off guard by her questioning how she felt about them.
It was, however, a valid question. They had every right to know if their instructors wanted them to fall into The Chasm and breath their necks, right? Although, Payton was pretty sure she would never come to such thoughts.
“They’re - You’re - fine. A few annoying ones, but I’ve seen worse.”
For a few seconds, Payton was stunned practically speechless, then a small laugh escaped her lips. She had seen worse? Yeah right, Payton and Diggs had gotten into a fight that had nearly gotten them both thrown out of Dauntless on their second day as initiates...what kind of worse could she have seen? Just the same, the Dauntless-born smiled and nodded her head in agreement, “Always a few that like to push buttons, eh?” She raised both of her eyebrows and picked up a small pebble from the ground, chucking it across the sidewalk. It wasn’t nearly as fun as skipping rocks on puddles when it rained, but it made her hands less still...made her feel like she was actually doing something, “You instructors aren’t so bad yourselves.” She shrugged and picked up another rock, poised to bounce it off the ground, "Who do you think's gonna make it?" She knew that Stephanie probably wouldn't answer, it wasn't necessarily proper protocol, but she couldn't help but ask. The way she saw it, she probably had a 75% chance of making it through on her own, maybe a 66.66% repeating chance if she didn't play up to her strengths. But with Stephanie's help? Perhaps she could push it to 80% or even better, 90%.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2014 1:17:04 GMT -5
Payton started giggling, and Stephanie smiled a little at that. It was true, there were far worse, or annoying, in her definition. There was always one initiate among them that hit on the female instructors, which was irritating. Luckily, there wasn't any one like that in the new batch of initiates.. or at least not yet. The previous year, there was one initiate, Dauntless-born, that eliminated his competitors during initiation, jealous that they're doing better than he was. It was a period of horror, and eventually he was kicked out of Dauntless.
Payton, on the other hand, had already gotten into trouble with a fellow initiate - Diggs - and also Jinx. Not surprising, since this is Dauntless we're talking about. The said girl nodded her head, "Always a few that like to push buttons, eh?". She picked up a pebble, and then threw it on the sidewalk. Stephanie could tell she was getting pretty restless, her hands needed to move. "You instructors aren't so bad yourself."Was that a compliment? Stephanie smiled, letting out a small chuckle.
"Who do you think's gonna make it?" Stephanie raised her eyebrows at the question, and the sides of her mouth drooped a little into a small frown. "It's hard to say."She replied after a long pause, looking down, kicking a few pebbles on the ground. "You could, if you could put more effort in training." Stephanie added after a while. Payton could probably make it, but Stephanie wanted to spite her, encourage her.
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You spend hours, days, weeks, months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together.
16
years old
|
Straight
Single
|
Dauntless-Born Initiate
|
Quinn
is Offline
|
48 posts
|
Dauntless
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Post by Payton G. McHale on Apr 21, 2014 9:59:33 GMT -5
Payton turned slightly to look at Stephanie and was glad to see that there was a small smile playing on the instructor’s lips. Maybe she could do this after all - the brunette thought she was too aggressive to get people on her side, but perhaps there was hope. For a moment she thought of Diggs and how they had managed to form some sort of alliance and she wondered if she was losing her edge....Very quickly she shook her head, trying to banish the thoughts. She was going to make it, and she sure as hell didn’t need help from Diggs. Stephanie, on the other hand, was a formidable ally.
Just as she asked who she thought was going to make it, she turned around and looked at the slightly taken aback Stephanie. Obviously she hadn’t been expecting Pay to be so forward with her words. Then again, that was just about all that Payton McHale was.
“You could, if you could put more effort in training.”
Ah, there it was. Payton felt the familiar tingle run down her spine. As it stood, Stephanie didn’t think that she was going to make it. And honestly, she couldn’t blame her. Being born and bred Dauntless, she was pretty low in the rankings...not to mention she risked getting kicked out in the first period of the initiation test if she didn’t get her act together. There was anger in the pit of her stomach, but she knew better than to lash out at the instructor. Instead she kept it in, trying to make her voice impassible, “You interested in picking up a little side-project to help along the way?” Her fingertips ran over the edge of another pebble as she turned and looked at Stephanie, head on for the first time since they had been out in the fresh air. She needed her, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, because without her? She probably wouldn’t make it through Phase One.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2014 9:09:22 GMT -5
Payton's eyes hinted that she was upset at Stephanie's insensitive remark, but she quickly masked it, probably not wanting to insult Stephanie. Ahh, the perks of being an initiate instructor. Insult the initiates all she want, and they can't do anything about it. But she was definitely not insulting Payton this time, it was simply a form of encouragement.
But then again, this is Dauntless we're talking about, and simple statements like this could be interpreted as insults.
“You interested in picking up a little side-project to help along the way?” Payton suddenly asked, her voice hard as stone. Stephanie raised her eyebrows, observing Payton as she played with a pebble, and then turning to face her fully for the first time today. Side-project? What was this all about? Stephanie's "projects" usually only involve the inititates and..
Oh. Oh. Was it something to do with her own ranking? Did Payton planned to bribe Stephanie? Possibly not. Or did she want extra training..? Strange
"I guess so."
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