Post by dexter on Sept 23, 2009 22:13:07 GMT -5
Rian:
Rian was just back from his mission to Vancouver and he probably should have been resting but he just couldn't. He had known intellectually that the yeerks controlled most of the planet and had gotten control by destroying a lot of the cities but it was one thing to know that and another to see it as you flew over the destruction. His scenic trip up the west coast has seriously motivated Rian to try to win this war and it had got him thinking. So instead of taking a nice relaxing nap or maybe a walk on the beach Rian went to find Matt.
Matt wasn't hard to find, which was one of the requirements for being a good leader. The newest faction leader was in his bedroom when Rian knocked on the door.
"Hey Matt, you got a free afternoon?"
Matt:
Matt turned his head towards the door when Rian came in. He'd been looking at the photo that usually lay on his bedside table. It was one of the things his sister had given Raven to give to Matt when he and Rian moved to L.A. from Chicago. He missed Sara even more now that she was miles away, so he stared at the pre-war photo of him and her. One of the most depressing things was they would probably never get the life they had in this photo back. Too much had changed them and now Matt was an Animorph and Sara was a controller in the yeerk peace movement.
He set the photo back on the table next to a notebook from Raven in which he wrote poetry and the back of a pack of cigarettes with a poem written on the blank side. The second item was his only memory of Lex Creedy, the deceased Dallas faction leader who had helped Raven save Matt as a recruit in Chicago. The poem was Matt's last farewell to Lex, and one copy was buried under a small tree back at HQ in Chicago.
"Yeah," Matt said, "I've got time." The homesick leader quickly brushed away his problems. He knew he couldn't stand alone, but at the same time he felt like it was kind of stupid to miss his old life. Besides that Jullian was still really new and seeing their faction leader show weakness would probably bother him. As far as Rian.... Matt kind of felt like Rian really liked having gotten out of Chicago and wouldn't understand Matt's wanting to go back so well. "So what do you want to talk about?"
Rian:
"I was hoping we could talk strategy. I had a lot of time to think while I did nothing but fly for hours so I came up with some ideas. I figure we only have two things going for us. 1 is home town advantage and the other is that the yeerks don't know we are here or that there is a resistance." Rian hadn't been here during Ember's rescue so he didn't know they had been spotted and that the yeerks probably did know they were here.
He went inside and sat down on a chair that was part of a chair and desk set in the room. He looked at Matt and continued. "I figure we need to start using our home town advantage. We need to be able to get around the city whenever and, as teenage mutant ninja turtles as it sounds, maybe we should use the sewers. We can start mapping them and in the future we can use them to get around and make quick escapes if we have to."
"Speaking of getting around the city I was thinking of how we are a guerilla group and trying to think about what guerilla groups did in the past. As American as we are I think we have to resort to terrorism. The thing the yeerks are most afraid of is Kadrona starvation. What if we start kidnapping controllers in the middle of the night, secret police style, and start setting them free. We wouldn't be making a significant difference in the number of controllers but we would be making them afraid of us."
Rian wasn't really looking at Matt as he said all this. He was staring at a wall but really he was seeing plans, angles, ways to hurt the yeerks. Rian couldn't have led anyone but he could do this, he could come up with plans and maybe see a way to victory.
Matt:
"Well there is one flaw to that those thoughts and that is something that happened while you were away," Matt said as he took everything Rian had told him in. "When Jullian and I saved Ember we had to morph to do so. The yeerks know that there are at least some Animorphs in the area, but a small group as far as they know. We aren't very big, but they'll still underestimate the damage we can do." Matt knew the yeerks, despite all their intelligence, were still over confident about their control and that led to carelessness. They could take advantage of the yeerks not knowing the damage their little group could do.
"As far as mapping the sewers that actually is a really good idea. We all have morphs that could use those to travel and the yeerks probably wouldn't be expecting an attack from underground. It's so overused in movies, which they'll know having human intelligence, that they might think we'd avoid it. Also the secret police style raids would be a really good idea. It's one way to get recruits and those we don't recruit we could send south like we did with the survivors we helped escape the barrens." Matt liked these ideas, though they were a little more reckless than he usually would be. Rian reminded him a lot of Lex, which made Matt glad he was the leader and not Rian. If anything seemed like too big of a risk Matt could always turn the idea down.
"The only thing I would exercise is caution. We need to learn as much as we can about each controller we plan to kidnap before we do it. We want as little chance as possible that something would go wrong. Yes, we'll have the sewers for a back up and an escape plan, but we want to make every move possible to avoid being caught." He knew he was sounding overly cautious, but he also knew that was one thing Raven had always exercised. Caution was the only thing they could rely on besides themselves. Matt had picked that up from her, but he wouldn't pass a dangerous plan up. If there was a way to do it without too much risk he would. Still, he had the sense to know when to not okay an idea and when to retreat from a mission. Raven had the confidence Matt could be a good leader and he wanted to prove she was right.
"I agree that we do need to resort to somewhat terrorits methods, but if you think about it we already are terrorists to the yeerks. Free humans who can morph and who want to take control away from them. It's sort of a terroritst organization like any other that existed. Being American doesn't really matter anymore because America is kind of dead in yeerk control. It doesn't stand for what it used to so it doesn't matter if we resort to the measures needed to take it back." THis statement would seem a little out of character for Matt, but he had moments like that. Where he didn't seem like he was the same person. The war was bringing out a side of him he didn't know existed and it was one that seemed to have a grudge against yeerks that weren't part of the peace movement , like Esor. It didn't show much, only when he thought of the damage the yeerks had done.
Rian:
"Right. That's how I saw it. I figured we were terrorists already but I know, uh, knew some people who lost family in 9/11 and they wouldn't even want to hear the word terrorist let alone become one so I'm always kinda careful now." Rian thought for a moment. "I don't know Matt. I've just been thinking about all the wars I can remember and how they were fought and trying to find one that is close to our situation. There aren't a lot. Maybe we should pay a visit to the library and do some research. The closest I could come up with was Vietnam, with us being the Vietnamese and the Yeerks being the Americans. That is where I got the tunnel idea. The Vietnamese had a system of tunnels that they lived in which is why they often seemed to disappear into the jungle."
He stopped talking again letting his mind work. Something had occurred to him but he needed to see the whole picture first.
"Maybe, maybe this isn't a war. This isn't a war. We lost the war, as short as it was. This, this is an occupation. So how did people fight occupations? Sometimes they didn't, sometimes the original culture just got swallowed up but we can't let that happen. This isn't a battle of cultures, if we lose there will be no mixing of yeerk and human culture there will just be yeerks using our bodies."
So how else did people fight occupations? Sometimes the invading power lost simply because they couldn't hold ground. Like the British during the American Revolution and the Americans during the War on Terror. The British and the Americans were better, they had better fighters and better weapons, they should have won except they couldn't hold any ground. As soon as they won a battle they would leave and the area would go right back to being under native control. The British and the Americans lost because they couldn't send enough troops over to hold the land they won."
"Maybe we can do that. I mean the yeerks have tons of reinforcements but they would still have to ship them here from across the galaxy and hopefully the Andalites will give them some trouble with that. But we shouldn't rely on the Andalites to save us. If we can, we should find a way to cut off Earth from the rest of the yeerk empire. And we have to make things as uncomfortable for them as we can so that they will want to leave, so that they start thinking Earth is too much trouble to keep."
"I think the first step should be the raids. Maybe if we can acquire Hork-Bajir morphs we can even keep them from knowing it is us at first though eventually we need them to know it's us. But at first we can pretend to be yeerks, make the average controller fear for his freedom, make them distrust their own government. The more confusion and disunity we can sow in the yeerk empire the better."
Rian looked up. All of a sudden he realized he had been talking for a while. Actually it had been more like thinking out loud. He felt kind of embarrassed that he had let himself ramble for so long. "So, uh, what do you think?"
Matt:
Matt listened the whole time Rian talked. He could tell his faction member and friend, at least as far as Matt was concerned they were friends, was rambling. Rian usuaully sounded like he'd thought through what he was saying a lot. This time is was just spilling out like it was coming as he thought. Matt thought about it for a few minutes, toying the two pendants on his neck that clicked together, metal and wood.
"Maybe your right. Maybe the real war was what Cassie and the other original Animorphs fought. Once the yeerks took over and the other Animorphs besides Cassie died it was kind of the end of the war. Now we're trying to take back the lost ground. I think you've figured out what was wrong with anything we could have done before. We considered the fight to be a war, but it's really not now." Matt stopped. He wanted to pick their moves carefully. They only had so many memembers in their small faction and he was a unsure, young leader. Raven may have had confidence in him, but he'd questioned it a lot lately after rescuing Ember and seeing her not take him seriously. Maybe he wasn't worth taking seriously.
He sighed. "Let's face it, your a lot better of a strategist than I am. I'm just the one who can tell what risks should and shouldn't be taken." Matt almost let out his doubts of his abilities. In his mind, he belonged back in Chicago still as a faction member, not in L.A. as the leader. "The hork-bajir morphs would be risky to get, but I think we could do it. It makes sense to morph something that would be thought of as a member of the yeerk forces. It makes it less dangerous for us starting out. It's a good plan and we should do it."
Matt's attitude was starting to give away that something was wrong. He was making decisions that could affect the lives of his faction members and not all of them took him seriously as a leader. Why should they? He wasn't any older than them. To top of that he couldn't tell anyone. Rian didn't need Matt's problems and Jullian and Ember didn't need to see their leader show weakness. Matt wasn't sure how Jullian would take it, but it would probably just make Ember doubt him more. He sighed and tried to shake the feelings off. No one in the faction would want to take Raven and Sara's places.
"So first thing first we need to devise a plan to get the hork-bajir morphs. Then we'll start watching possible controllers to capture and doing the raids." Matt was trying to act like he hadn't just give himself away. He wanted to trust Rian, and he did. Still, he didn't know if he could trust Rian enough to let him know how he felt.
Rian:
Rian picked up on Matt's discouraged tone. Rian wasn't really that perceptive, he couldn't read people and he didn't really try. If it had been anyone else but Matt he wouldn't have noticed but he had known Matt for a couple of months now and in those months they had spent a lot of time together. Sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity, either way, they had become pretty close, or as close as Rian let anyone these days.
Rian hadn't really gotten to know the newest faction member Ember but he had picked up on how she treated Matt. Jullian seemed respectful enough, as respectful as someone his age could be, but Ember was a bit of a problem. And he thought that might be what was worrying Matt.
"Yeah, acquiring the hork-bajir morphs is the first step. I'll start thinking about how to do that." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Ember and faction leadership in general but for someone who could think there way through a war, Rian was pretty inept at subtle conversation. "Knowing what risks should and shouldn't be taken is what makes you the leader. It what keeps us and will keep us alive. Ember included. Maybe she hasn't realized that yet but she hasn't even been on any missions, she hasn't faced any serious danger before. You have. You're more experienced than her and I think you should find a way to let her know it. I know you want to be everyone's friend and that's important, because we all need to feel that we can come to you so we don't do something stupid on our own, more importantly you need to know who we are so you know our strengths and weaknesses, but you can't just be our friend, we have to respect you too. I do. Jullian is starting to, you saved his life after all. Ember will figure it out and if not we could always help her. In fact, I think I have an idea."
He smiled, maybe a little diabolically. "I think our new recruits need some training. Don't you?"
Matt:
Matt gave Rian a quick smile. Rian had read him really well and it didn't really surprise Matt at all. Rian knew him for so long.... maybe not as long as Raven, but the longest of anyone in the current faction. "I know," Matt said. "It's hard to be the figure of authority and be myself at the same time. Ember seems really independant and so it's hard for her to see anyone as an authority figure let alone someone younger than she is. She might very well think she could have gotten out of the situation she was in on her own, and who knows she might have. Point is Jullian and I made sure she got out of it and became part of our group. I wish I knew how Raven had done it, been everyone's friend and the authority figure at the same time. Maybe it was just age that gave her the authority she had."
Matt thought about everything Rian had said. Maybe Rian was right. Maybe knowing the difference between right and wrong in the grey that existed in this fight was what made Matt a good leader. He'd make sure everyone stayed alive for as long as humanly possible. Matt sighed, if only he were more sure of himself. If he was more sure of his own ability to lead then maybe his faction members would pick up on it and respect him more. For now there wasn't a real definite answer to what was needed.
"What are you thinking about as far as training?" asked Matt. The last time Rian had devised a training exersise Matt had participated in it had been an interesting experience that had taught Matt a lot about what his different morphs could do and about things he hadn't known he could do while morphing. If this was what Rian was thinking it could be a really good idea. Ember and Jullian could both use the practice.
Rian:
"Nothing to specific to start off. Just basic exercises to get them used to morphing in weird situations. Like if we have to run away they should be able to pull off that morph-mid-run trick. I can put Ember's cardinal through an ariel obstacle course. I have the plans but I haven't made it yet. Not sure how to train a water morph but I'll think of something."
"My real idea wasn't completely about training but about you telling them to train. See you're the leader so you tell them to train and then turn them over to me. I'm like the XO, people always hate the XO because he's tough on them in training but they love the Captain. I know, I watch too much Battlestar Galatica, but it's still a decent idea don't you think?"
"It would give us something to do in the mornings and then in the afternoons we can split into teams and start mapping the subways."
Matt:
"I think I get what you mean," Matt said. "I suppose it's worth a try. Besides that it's like you said, the need the practice. We don't want them to completely hate you though. We all have to live and work together for as long as this war lasts, or at least until someone dies or gets promoted. We need to get along at least somewhat." Even as Matt said this he knew Rian wasn't planning on starting a civil war in the group. He was mostly trying to boost Matt's popularity and authority with Ember and Jullian.
"So, we start training the newbies tomorrow," Matt said with his best voice of authority. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like something set up for testing my ferret morph. I didn't get to work with that one a lot before we moved from Chicago. It was fairly new. Besides that I don't feel like I'm above training, but I'll kind of be in charge of my own workout whereas you'll be watching Ember and Jullian and be challenging them. Starting out we can work with ground morphs since you have more ideas for obstical courses with those."
Rian was just back from his mission to Vancouver and he probably should have been resting but he just couldn't. He had known intellectually that the yeerks controlled most of the planet and had gotten control by destroying a lot of the cities but it was one thing to know that and another to see it as you flew over the destruction. His scenic trip up the west coast has seriously motivated Rian to try to win this war and it had got him thinking. So instead of taking a nice relaxing nap or maybe a walk on the beach Rian went to find Matt.
Matt wasn't hard to find, which was one of the requirements for being a good leader. The newest faction leader was in his bedroom when Rian knocked on the door.
"Hey Matt, you got a free afternoon?"
Matt:
Matt turned his head towards the door when Rian came in. He'd been looking at the photo that usually lay on his bedside table. It was one of the things his sister had given Raven to give to Matt when he and Rian moved to L.A. from Chicago. He missed Sara even more now that she was miles away, so he stared at the pre-war photo of him and her. One of the most depressing things was they would probably never get the life they had in this photo back. Too much had changed them and now Matt was an Animorph and Sara was a controller in the yeerk peace movement.
He set the photo back on the table next to a notebook from Raven in which he wrote poetry and the back of a pack of cigarettes with a poem written on the blank side. The second item was his only memory of Lex Creedy, the deceased Dallas faction leader who had helped Raven save Matt as a recruit in Chicago. The poem was Matt's last farewell to Lex, and one copy was buried under a small tree back at HQ in Chicago.
"Yeah," Matt said, "I've got time." The homesick leader quickly brushed away his problems. He knew he couldn't stand alone, but at the same time he felt like it was kind of stupid to miss his old life. Besides that Jullian was still really new and seeing their faction leader show weakness would probably bother him. As far as Rian.... Matt kind of felt like Rian really liked having gotten out of Chicago and wouldn't understand Matt's wanting to go back so well. "So what do you want to talk about?"
Rian:
"I was hoping we could talk strategy. I had a lot of time to think while I did nothing but fly for hours so I came up with some ideas. I figure we only have two things going for us. 1 is home town advantage and the other is that the yeerks don't know we are here or that there is a resistance." Rian hadn't been here during Ember's rescue so he didn't know they had been spotted and that the yeerks probably did know they were here.
He went inside and sat down on a chair that was part of a chair and desk set in the room. He looked at Matt and continued. "I figure we need to start using our home town advantage. We need to be able to get around the city whenever and, as teenage mutant ninja turtles as it sounds, maybe we should use the sewers. We can start mapping them and in the future we can use them to get around and make quick escapes if we have to."
"Speaking of getting around the city I was thinking of how we are a guerilla group and trying to think about what guerilla groups did in the past. As American as we are I think we have to resort to terrorism. The thing the yeerks are most afraid of is Kadrona starvation. What if we start kidnapping controllers in the middle of the night, secret police style, and start setting them free. We wouldn't be making a significant difference in the number of controllers but we would be making them afraid of us."
Rian wasn't really looking at Matt as he said all this. He was staring at a wall but really he was seeing plans, angles, ways to hurt the yeerks. Rian couldn't have led anyone but he could do this, he could come up with plans and maybe see a way to victory.
Matt:
"Well there is one flaw to that those thoughts and that is something that happened while you were away," Matt said as he took everything Rian had told him in. "When Jullian and I saved Ember we had to morph to do so. The yeerks know that there are at least some Animorphs in the area, but a small group as far as they know. We aren't very big, but they'll still underestimate the damage we can do." Matt knew the yeerks, despite all their intelligence, were still over confident about their control and that led to carelessness. They could take advantage of the yeerks not knowing the damage their little group could do.
"As far as mapping the sewers that actually is a really good idea. We all have morphs that could use those to travel and the yeerks probably wouldn't be expecting an attack from underground. It's so overused in movies, which they'll know having human intelligence, that they might think we'd avoid it. Also the secret police style raids would be a really good idea. It's one way to get recruits and those we don't recruit we could send south like we did with the survivors we helped escape the barrens." Matt liked these ideas, though they were a little more reckless than he usually would be. Rian reminded him a lot of Lex, which made Matt glad he was the leader and not Rian. If anything seemed like too big of a risk Matt could always turn the idea down.
"The only thing I would exercise is caution. We need to learn as much as we can about each controller we plan to kidnap before we do it. We want as little chance as possible that something would go wrong. Yes, we'll have the sewers for a back up and an escape plan, but we want to make every move possible to avoid being caught." He knew he was sounding overly cautious, but he also knew that was one thing Raven had always exercised. Caution was the only thing they could rely on besides themselves. Matt had picked that up from her, but he wouldn't pass a dangerous plan up. If there was a way to do it without too much risk he would. Still, he had the sense to know when to not okay an idea and when to retreat from a mission. Raven had the confidence Matt could be a good leader and he wanted to prove she was right.
"I agree that we do need to resort to somewhat terrorits methods, but if you think about it we already are terrorists to the yeerks. Free humans who can morph and who want to take control away from them. It's sort of a terroritst organization like any other that existed. Being American doesn't really matter anymore because America is kind of dead in yeerk control. It doesn't stand for what it used to so it doesn't matter if we resort to the measures needed to take it back." THis statement would seem a little out of character for Matt, but he had moments like that. Where he didn't seem like he was the same person. The war was bringing out a side of him he didn't know existed and it was one that seemed to have a grudge against yeerks that weren't part of the peace movement , like Esor. It didn't show much, only when he thought of the damage the yeerks had done.
Rian:
"Right. That's how I saw it. I figured we were terrorists already but I know, uh, knew some people who lost family in 9/11 and they wouldn't even want to hear the word terrorist let alone become one so I'm always kinda careful now." Rian thought for a moment. "I don't know Matt. I've just been thinking about all the wars I can remember and how they were fought and trying to find one that is close to our situation. There aren't a lot. Maybe we should pay a visit to the library and do some research. The closest I could come up with was Vietnam, with us being the Vietnamese and the Yeerks being the Americans. That is where I got the tunnel idea. The Vietnamese had a system of tunnels that they lived in which is why they often seemed to disappear into the jungle."
He stopped talking again letting his mind work. Something had occurred to him but he needed to see the whole picture first.
"Maybe, maybe this isn't a war. This isn't a war. We lost the war, as short as it was. This, this is an occupation. So how did people fight occupations? Sometimes they didn't, sometimes the original culture just got swallowed up but we can't let that happen. This isn't a battle of cultures, if we lose there will be no mixing of yeerk and human culture there will just be yeerks using our bodies."
So how else did people fight occupations? Sometimes the invading power lost simply because they couldn't hold ground. Like the British during the American Revolution and the Americans during the War on Terror. The British and the Americans were better, they had better fighters and better weapons, they should have won except they couldn't hold any ground. As soon as they won a battle they would leave and the area would go right back to being under native control. The British and the Americans lost because they couldn't send enough troops over to hold the land they won."
"Maybe we can do that. I mean the yeerks have tons of reinforcements but they would still have to ship them here from across the galaxy and hopefully the Andalites will give them some trouble with that. But we shouldn't rely on the Andalites to save us. If we can, we should find a way to cut off Earth from the rest of the yeerk empire. And we have to make things as uncomfortable for them as we can so that they will want to leave, so that they start thinking Earth is too much trouble to keep."
"I think the first step should be the raids. Maybe if we can acquire Hork-Bajir morphs we can even keep them from knowing it is us at first though eventually we need them to know it's us. But at first we can pretend to be yeerks, make the average controller fear for his freedom, make them distrust their own government. The more confusion and disunity we can sow in the yeerk empire the better."
Rian looked up. All of a sudden he realized he had been talking for a while. Actually it had been more like thinking out loud. He felt kind of embarrassed that he had let himself ramble for so long. "So, uh, what do you think?"
Matt:
Matt listened the whole time Rian talked. He could tell his faction member and friend, at least as far as Matt was concerned they were friends, was rambling. Rian usuaully sounded like he'd thought through what he was saying a lot. This time is was just spilling out like it was coming as he thought. Matt thought about it for a few minutes, toying the two pendants on his neck that clicked together, metal and wood.
"Maybe your right. Maybe the real war was what Cassie and the other original Animorphs fought. Once the yeerks took over and the other Animorphs besides Cassie died it was kind of the end of the war. Now we're trying to take back the lost ground. I think you've figured out what was wrong with anything we could have done before. We considered the fight to be a war, but it's really not now." Matt stopped. He wanted to pick their moves carefully. They only had so many memembers in their small faction and he was a unsure, young leader. Raven may have had confidence in him, but he'd questioned it a lot lately after rescuing Ember and seeing her not take him seriously. Maybe he wasn't worth taking seriously.
He sighed. "Let's face it, your a lot better of a strategist than I am. I'm just the one who can tell what risks should and shouldn't be taken." Matt almost let out his doubts of his abilities. In his mind, he belonged back in Chicago still as a faction member, not in L.A. as the leader. "The hork-bajir morphs would be risky to get, but I think we could do it. It makes sense to morph something that would be thought of as a member of the yeerk forces. It makes it less dangerous for us starting out. It's a good plan and we should do it."
Matt's attitude was starting to give away that something was wrong. He was making decisions that could affect the lives of his faction members and not all of them took him seriously as a leader. Why should they? He wasn't any older than them. To top of that he couldn't tell anyone. Rian didn't need Matt's problems and Jullian and Ember didn't need to see their leader show weakness. Matt wasn't sure how Jullian would take it, but it would probably just make Ember doubt him more. He sighed and tried to shake the feelings off. No one in the faction would want to take Raven and Sara's places.
"So first thing first we need to devise a plan to get the hork-bajir morphs. Then we'll start watching possible controllers to capture and doing the raids." Matt was trying to act like he hadn't just give himself away. He wanted to trust Rian, and he did. Still, he didn't know if he could trust Rian enough to let him know how he felt.
Rian:
Rian picked up on Matt's discouraged tone. Rian wasn't really that perceptive, he couldn't read people and he didn't really try. If it had been anyone else but Matt he wouldn't have noticed but he had known Matt for a couple of months now and in those months they had spent a lot of time together. Sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity, either way, they had become pretty close, or as close as Rian let anyone these days.
Rian hadn't really gotten to know the newest faction member Ember but he had picked up on how she treated Matt. Jullian seemed respectful enough, as respectful as someone his age could be, but Ember was a bit of a problem. And he thought that might be what was worrying Matt.
"Yeah, acquiring the hork-bajir morphs is the first step. I'll start thinking about how to do that." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Ember and faction leadership in general but for someone who could think there way through a war, Rian was pretty inept at subtle conversation. "Knowing what risks should and shouldn't be taken is what makes you the leader. It what keeps us and will keep us alive. Ember included. Maybe she hasn't realized that yet but she hasn't even been on any missions, she hasn't faced any serious danger before. You have. You're more experienced than her and I think you should find a way to let her know it. I know you want to be everyone's friend and that's important, because we all need to feel that we can come to you so we don't do something stupid on our own, more importantly you need to know who we are so you know our strengths and weaknesses, but you can't just be our friend, we have to respect you too. I do. Jullian is starting to, you saved his life after all. Ember will figure it out and if not we could always help her. In fact, I think I have an idea."
He smiled, maybe a little diabolically. "I think our new recruits need some training. Don't you?"
Matt:
Matt gave Rian a quick smile. Rian had read him really well and it didn't really surprise Matt at all. Rian knew him for so long.... maybe not as long as Raven, but the longest of anyone in the current faction. "I know," Matt said. "It's hard to be the figure of authority and be myself at the same time. Ember seems really independant and so it's hard for her to see anyone as an authority figure let alone someone younger than she is. She might very well think she could have gotten out of the situation she was in on her own, and who knows she might have. Point is Jullian and I made sure she got out of it and became part of our group. I wish I knew how Raven had done it, been everyone's friend and the authority figure at the same time. Maybe it was just age that gave her the authority she had."
Matt thought about everything Rian had said. Maybe Rian was right. Maybe knowing the difference between right and wrong in the grey that existed in this fight was what made Matt a good leader. He'd make sure everyone stayed alive for as long as humanly possible. Matt sighed, if only he were more sure of himself. If he was more sure of his own ability to lead then maybe his faction members would pick up on it and respect him more. For now there wasn't a real definite answer to what was needed.
"What are you thinking about as far as training?" asked Matt. The last time Rian had devised a training exersise Matt had participated in it had been an interesting experience that had taught Matt a lot about what his different morphs could do and about things he hadn't known he could do while morphing. If this was what Rian was thinking it could be a really good idea. Ember and Jullian could both use the practice.
Rian:
"Nothing to specific to start off. Just basic exercises to get them used to morphing in weird situations. Like if we have to run away they should be able to pull off that morph-mid-run trick. I can put Ember's cardinal through an ariel obstacle course. I have the plans but I haven't made it yet. Not sure how to train a water morph but I'll think of something."
"My real idea wasn't completely about training but about you telling them to train. See you're the leader so you tell them to train and then turn them over to me. I'm like the XO, people always hate the XO because he's tough on them in training but they love the Captain. I know, I watch too much Battlestar Galatica, but it's still a decent idea don't you think?"
"It would give us something to do in the mornings and then in the afternoons we can split into teams and start mapping the subways."
Matt:
"I think I get what you mean," Matt said. "I suppose it's worth a try. Besides that it's like you said, the need the practice. We don't want them to completely hate you though. We all have to live and work together for as long as this war lasts, or at least until someone dies or gets promoted. We need to get along at least somewhat." Even as Matt said this he knew Rian wasn't planning on starting a civil war in the group. He was mostly trying to boost Matt's popularity and authority with Ember and Jullian.
"So, we start training the newbies tomorrow," Matt said with his best voice of authority. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like something set up for testing my ferret morph. I didn't get to work with that one a lot before we moved from Chicago. It was fairly new. Besides that I don't feel like I'm above training, but I'll kind of be in charge of my own workout whereas you'll be watching Ember and Jullian and be challenging them. Starting out we can work with ground morphs since you have more ideas for obstical courses with those."