Vox Mentis

well if Eliot is an ex-poet why can't he just mind control them right back?
in the meantime just sit still and don't move.

If hyenas are carnivores, why don't they eat lions???????

Sit.

BUT MOVE YOUR ARMS A HELL OF A LOT

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SpoilerHope you all had a nice Good Friday! Or whatever holiday you might be celebrating today. If you don't get a holiday today where you are, I'm sorry. Here's a quick update for you all to give you some detail on your surroundings.

Don't fall asleep he still might try to drug ya and/or stick a probe in your brain. Plus there might be more compromised people about.

While I concur with Whimbrel's assessment I suspect the (at the very least mild) hypothermia we're experiencing is going to make that difficult.

Probably pass out.

Sit.

BUT MOVE YOUR ARMS A HELL OF A LOT

You sink to the floor, wrap your arms around your legs, and press your face into your arms. You try to move your arms a hell of a lot, but they're not talking to you right now. After an indeterminate amount of time passes, during which you're not sure if you passed out or not, you begin to feel alive. You raise your head. A yellow glow emanates from what you assume is the cockpit. You massage your feet. Can you get frostbite that quickly? Because it feels like you have frostbite. Eliot continues puttering around in the cockpit, muttering curses to himself.

Looking around further, there's a few rows of seats. Towards the back of the plane, there's shapes. Something in the seats, gleaming faintly. The seats are ratty and old. This clearly isn't a new plane.

might as well go to sleep.

If hyenas are carnivores, why don't they eat lions???????

As the nature documentary The Lion King showed us, they can certainly try!

Approach the shapes.

Crawl.

Approach the shapes.

You move towards the back of the plane. It's really dark back here - the glow from the cockpit doesn't extend this far. You find a metal suitcase on one seat, gleaming faintly in the gloom. You slide your hands around it and find clasps.

You can't see, so you explore with your fingers. Something clinks. You feel fabric. You discover something tubular and try to pull it but it won't budge. You pull the case out of the seat and take it closer to the cockpit to get a look at it. When you're close enough to see, you peer into the case. Some of the equipment you don't recognize. Some you do. Syringes. Drill bits. In the center, its blade sheathed in plastic, lies a scalpel.

Throw it out the airlock, you don't want your brain cut out!

oh, i think they already used that when they did the eye thing at the very beginning!

It is no longer relevent clearly, so go back to your seat and take a nice nap.

Is it safe to hold on to? Keep it.

Is it safe to hold on to? Keep it.

You pocket the scalpel and move back towards the cockpit and peek in. It's a cramped nest of instruments, a single seat surrounded by dark panels. Eliot is buckled in. "You can fly this?" You say.

"It's not brain surgery."

"You can't even see where you're going. It's pitch-black out there."

"I will assume we're currently pointed in the right direction," Eliot says. "And fly straight."

"Uh," you say.

Eliot runs his thumb across a dial and finishes up on a worn black button. "I think we're good to go."

"You think?"

"It's been a while since I did this."

"You said it wasn't brain surgery."

"It isn't. But the penalty for error is high."

"Maybe we should think about this."

Eliot waits. You think he's reconsidering. Then you realize Eliot is watching something. You follow his gaze but see nothing but night sky. One of the starts is moving.

"What is that?" You say, and realize. "A helicopter."

"Yes. Go sit down." He depresses the button. Something goes click. "Hmm."

"Was that supposed to happen?" Eliot doesn't answer, but clearly no. "Did they sabotage the plane? Do you think they-"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" Eliot murmurs to himself, poring over the controls. Ahead, the star grows. The ground beneath it begins to twinkle. A searchlight sweeps snow.

"It's getting closer."

"Get out!" Eliot flicks a row of switches.

"I'm just letting you-" Light bursts in the windshield. You raise your arm. The searchlight has found the plane. Beneath its gaze, the runway looks like black glass. The thrumming overhead is like thunder.

"Well, now I can see." Eliot thumbs the black button. The engines thump. A low whine of power begins to build. Something above your head goes thwack thwack thwack. The plane begins to trundle forward.

"They're shooting at us. Are they shooting at us?"

"Yes."

The plane bumps forward, gaining speed. "You know there's a chopper up there."

"I know."

"So even if we get off the ground, how are we going to get away from the chopper?" The plane's momentum presses at you. You seize the back of Tom's chair. "How do we get away from the chopper, Eliot?"

"Planes are faster than choppers." Eliot pulls on the yoke. You lift off.

~

You sit on your comfy school bed, relaxing. Your exams are finished. You aced them, as you knew you would. Well, all exams, that is, except one.

Curly-haired boy is still here, and just as he had predicted, the school only takes one applicant. The only way forward is through him. You need to persuade him to leave.

What's the plan?

Spend some time faking up a letter of acceptance. One of the conditions is that he has to go meet somebody... outside of the school maybe? Master of technicality.

What does he bloody want anyway? Besides to get in.

Spend some time faking up a letter of acceptance. One of the conditions is that he has to go meet somebody... outside of the school maybe? Master of technicality.

As good an idea as any.

Have you tried complaining that accepting only one applicant is a dumb policy? What if they get more than one really gifted applicant at once? Conversely, what if the last person standing is kind of shitty compared to previous groups, and wouldn't have gotten in if their whole group hadn't been below average? Etc etc etc

As for curly haired boy, try a combination of playing off pity for your circumstances [if you can get him to feel any, he might be ruthless], and make him feel a bit paranoid about the academy itself. ~So secretive~ and all that.

Tell him that if he doesn't leave, you're gonna have to go back out on the streets and die. If he has to leave, then he can still go back to his nice life! Make him feel guilty!

Or, see what he's gonna try on you first.

My other idea was to kill him, so

<-- not the best source of ideas

You may as well go and have a chat with him and see what kind of upfront methods he's going to attempt.

Oooh, wait, alternative.

Go and tell him you quit, when he asks why, act surprised he hasn't had the consultation yet. They showed you all these needles and implants and shit they'll use to "unlock your potential". The procedure list was all kinds of abhorrent shit, and of course your right to back out of it is all in the contract. Jane and the like are people who chickened out, got lumped in a dead-end teaching position.

Did they happen to mention any sort of time limit for this last test? If not, your backup plan can just be to sit in the room and wait him out for as many days as it takes for him to give in. There's basically no way that this pampered asshole can go without eating for as long as you can.

P.S. Remember to go to the bathroom right before the test starts just in case it comes to that.

Have you tried complaining that accepting only one applicant is a dumb policy? What if they get more than one really gifted applicant at once? Conversely, what if the last person standing is kind of shitty compared to previous groups, and wouldn't have gotten in if their whole group hadn't been below average? Etc etc etc

You did actually, as soon as you confirmed they did only accept one applicant. What Eliot boiled it down to was that if they get more than one gifted applicant, this final test will prove which is the more gifted, and ensure even more that they only get the best of the best. Apparently it's not possible for more than one person to win. They're also able to tell somehow if the person who won is undeserving in some way. "Trust me," Eliot had said, "You wouldn't have made it this far if we thought you were undeserving." There's been whole cohorts that have never made it through to this round.

Did they happen to mention any sort of time limit for this last test? If not, your backup plan can just be to sit in the room and wait him out for as many days as it takes for him to give in. There's basically no way that this pampered asshole can go without eating for as long as you can.

P.S. Remember to go to the bathroom right before the test starts just in case it comes to that.

There was no time limit mentioned, but food isn't going to be an issue. For as long as is required, the Academy will provide you and the curly-haired boy with any sustenance you require, as long as you go to the dining room at the appropriate times to be served. The test seems pretty "free-form", if you can call it that. There must be some end to it if you just wait it out, but they didn't tell you when it was.

What does he bloody want anyway? Besides to get in.

Or, see what he's gonna try on you first.

You may as well go and have a chat with him and see what kind of upfront methods he's going to attempt.

Before you solidify your plan of persuasive assault, you decide to be gracious and let him take the first shots. Stepping out into the corridor, you wander down to the lounge area with the television; he seems to spend a lot of his time there on the sofa.

As always, there he is, relaxing with his feet up on the coffee table. He lazily turns his head to regard you. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Figured out how you're going to persuade me out of here yet?"

"Like I'd tell you if I did. What about you? Have you figured out how you're going to persuade me?"

"Easy, street girl. I'm not. I'm not going to participate whatsoever." He puts a piece of popcorn in his mouth and talks through it. "Your type is all the same. You crave reaction. You want to have an effect. I'm simply not going to give it to you." He turns back to the TV. "Eventually, street girl, you're going to get bored. Or frustrated. You'll leave all on your own, and I won't lift a finger. I don't even care that I'm telling you all this, because it simply. Doesn't. Matter. There's nothing you can do."

How would you like to proceed?

Are you allowed to enlist the examiners' help on this? If you tell them your opponent has declared they're choosing the path of passive resistance, maybe you could with their help and a limo trick him into taking a one-way ride out of the Academy.

Wow, what a well thought out strategy to use on the girl who has literally nowhere better to be than here. I mean, feel free to try and waste a year or two or three waiting us out, i'm sure that'll do wonders for your social life.

You could always try persuading him with your fists, he's probably super-wimpy.

Try to persuade a teacher to persuade him for you

Wow, what a well thought out strategy to use on the girl who has literally nowhere better to be than here. I mean, feel free to try and waste a year or two or three waiting us out, i'm sure that'll do wonders for your social life.

Yeah, tell him you're perfectly happy accepting free meals and lodging for life if that's what this test takes.