Give It All You've Got (Stevie)

[beachbeagle]

Matt stood in the room he was using for his classroom, a room he had up until now not needed to use because they'd still been looking to see who was fit for a leadership spot. The decision had been made that Matt would train Stevie from the first group. Now he'd given her a message with the time for their first meeting. Today was the day, and she had ten minutes to show, though he had decided to be lenient this time.

He glanced around the room. The lights were a soft blue color he'd found in some of the more random things on the ship. It was calming and reminded Matt of the ocean in L.A. which he missed. The floor was covered in spare blankets that Matt had decided would make as good of rugs as Jullian's multicolored ex-uniform rugs. Besides, the blankets were all uniform grey which fit the calming colors of the room. Matt had to learn leadership skills under stress. He wanted his students to have as different an experience as he could give them. Leave the stress for once they left here.

He glanced around the room once more as he stood there. He took his bare feet and rubbed them against the soft blankets. He ran a hand through his light hair and looked again over the jeans and open top he wore, the top leaving his chest as well as the two necklaces he wore visible. He was ready for this, as ready as he'd ever be.

[stevie]

Stevie was silently panicking as she rushed through the ship toward her meeting with Matt. She had received a message with a time and a date, although for a couple minutes she had stared at it in disbelief. Alone in her room she had gone through the whole "pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming" thing. But the letter was real. And the meeting was real. And she was going to be late if she didn't figure out where the hell she was going....

As it stood, Stevie knew exactly three locations on the ship, other than her room. The mess hall, Kovu's class, and Jullian's class. Definately a restricted list, but they were the only locations she had needed. None of them were helping her right now though... In panic, she had left her room a little early, so at least she had that going for her. Only that... If she hadn't known better, Stevie would have sworn that the walls were moving around, leading her through an ever changing labyrinth with no escape. But the movement of space ship walls was restricted to opening and closing, so she couldn't blame being lost on the ship.

It seemed that the more frantic she got, the more lost she was. Suddenly, she passed a doorway. There was a red symbol on the door. A very distinct red symbol. Stevie knew she had passed it before. Confused, she spun around, her eyes looking for something to tell her where she was... but there was nothing. A voice in her head seemed to speak to her as her eyes kept looking. Searching frantically isn't helping much. Just calm down. Her dizzying movement came to a gentle halt and she took a deep breath. Her eyes closed softly as she slowed her heartbeat at tried to remember where she was going. Two hallways south, second door on the left.

A sigh of relief came right before a quick run to her destination. "I'm here," she announced softly as she entered.

[Admin]

Matt looked away from the small window that showed the pristine Antarctic landscape when Stevie entered, looking a little flustered but cheerful enough. He had wanted today to be stress free but it looked like she was stressed already. And who could blame her really? Everyone knew he trained those fit to be leaders of the animorphs, he had told them so their first day here. Stevie knew she'd been singled out for leadership and he couldn't help remembering how he'd felt when Raven had told him Cassie wanted him to go to LA. He hadn't felt ready and he hadn't felt like he deserved it but he had risen to the challenge. Stevie would too, or at least he hoped so.

"Come in Stevie," he said walking a little of the ways towards her, the two necklaces bouncing against his chest and serving as comforting reminders of why he was here. One was a gift from Sara and it reminded him that he had family and, for the first time in almost two years, with the arrival of Joel, his family was complete. The other had been a gift from Rian. Thinking of the former Second and fellow faction leader sent a spike of pain through Matt. Rian was dead now. And so many others. Rian had given him this necklace when they had left Raven and the Chicago faction behind. It was one of the last times they had all been together. It hurt to remember those times, when things had seen simpler and his pain had been caused by a feeling of abandonment instead of guilt and war, but it comforted him too. Like looking back on memories of childhood. If many had died there were still many who were alive and he would live for them.

"So this is the leadership course," he began, choosing his words carefully. Stevie was his first student and he wasn't sure how the course would run yet. "Before we begin I would like to ask you why you believe you are here."

((God, this feels weird. Written with Matt's permission and all that.))