Throwing in the Towel (Nineteen)

[Alain]

Alain looked up when Nineteen leaned across the table. His fork hung suspended between his mouth and his food as he thought about what a new pool would mean for the academy. For one he could see a lot of late night trips to the pool to relax. Right now the recruits didn't have much to do in their off time besides for playing cards and practicing morphs.

No one could be a student twenty four hours a day and the Academy's lack of recreational activities definitely wore on some more than others. Alain didn't mind all that much because he could get by with reading the books in the library. But books could only take you so far despite the claims of library posters. He certainly wouldn't mind having a pool to visit even if it weren't used for training.

"That'd be nice," Alain said, looking up at Nineteen. "Though what are the chances they finish it before we leave." He didn't think about his phrasing or the fact that Nineteen wouldn't be leaving since she was a teacher. It was hard to think of her as a teacher when she was his age and was conspiring about pools, especially because he'd been on the other side of the desk.

"Have you ever noticed how every institution promises cool new upgrades that just happen to be on schedule to complete the year or month or week after you're gone?" he said with a wry smile.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen laughed to herself, and ate more of her tofu. She'd put a big dent in her pile, and shrugged at Alain's comment. "I couldn't tell you. Last institution I was part of wasn't much for upgrades. At least not anything to look forward to." New pits and cages and fresh hells for fighters to be put through... well, maybe someone had looked forward to them.

"I don't know if it'll be finished soon or not. I really hope so though. It'd be nice to be able to swim for a workout. Plus, if we're tossing you folks out of airlocks, we might as well practice underwater morphing and all of that. All points which I'm sure have already been petitioned to Seiya."

After drinking some water, Nineteen looked back over to him. "So Alain, you'll probably be starting anew somewhere else in a few weeks. Any preferences?"

[Alain]

Alain shook his head no as he finished chewing. He had hardly swallowed before he said, "Not really. I figure they'll put me where I'm needed. I'm not even sure what the options are," or where Suji was. He'd made clear to Cassie that he wasn't doing this for Suji's sake but for his own. He wasn't sure how much she believed him or how much he believed himself but, as of right now, he was trying to make himself believe it and that required pretending to impartiality.

"Do you? Do you know where we have factions right now and how they select who goes where? Do we have a choice or are we assigned?" It was one of the few things no one had explained to him yet. He'd assumed they'd tell him at some point when he needed to know but that didn't mean he could pass up a chance to ask when one was freely offered.

[Nineteen]

"There's a comprehensive personality test. Multiple choice. Then you fill out one of those surveys like they give to college freshmen before they get roommates." Nineteen smirked, and then shook her head with a shrug. "I don't know how people get sorted out, but I'm sure it has something to do with how you'll work with a given faction leader. Apparently there've been some problem with that in the past, and the Academy is meant to fix that a bit." Nineteen didn't know any details, but you heard stories from time to time. "I think Seiya does most of the picking, unless he get orders from Cassie. I imagine for most recruits it's just Seiya though. She's got bigger fish to fry."

Nineteen paused, both elbows on the table. "As for where the factions are, afraid that's above my pay-grade." She smirked. "But I know there are some pretty much all over the world. I doubt you'd be sent anywhere that didn't have a large English-speaking population, for example, unless you're fluent in some stuff I'm not aware of."

She seemed to think something over, twisting her fork in one hand as she did. "Personally, I'm not sure what my preference would be either. I haven't even been outside that much for the past five years. Maybe something with a decent amount of nature, I don't know. Kind of tired of man-made or alien-made stuff all over the place."

[Alain]

Alain looked a bit horrified when he heard about the tests but it turned out Nineteen was joking. He breathed a sigh of relief. Not that a test was a bad idea he guessed but he hated the idea all the same. Then again, this was school. You didn't really escape school without tests somewhere. Nineteen gave enough of them though her's didn't involve sitting around scratching out answers on a piece of paper. Even the thought reminded him of way too many misspent nights trying to read scrawl and, of course, a few nights that were spent other ways.

"I am pretty fluent in Spanish and got more so when I taught at in a free human town before coming here," Alain volunteered after some thought. He wouldn't mind going somewhere where his Spanish would be put to good use. It was the reason he'd learned it in the first place and even if the world had changed drastically from what it had once been, Spanish was still spoken in many places.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen snickered. "I barely have a grasp of English sometimes, so more power to you. And I'm sure there are plenty of places that need Spanish-speakers." She considered what else he'd said though: that he'd been a teacher a free human town. She smiled to herself. "No shit though? You were a teacher? What'd you teach? Did you like it?"

Personally, she could never quite figure out if she enjoyed it or not. In a way it'd been good for her, and that sneaky bastard Seiya had known it would be. Giving her some responsibility had sanded down more than a few of her rough edges, though none of the new recruits would have realized how she'd been before. Seiya had complimented her once on her "improved attitude," and she'd promptly told him to take a hike, in more colorful words. It'd been the last time he mentioned it. In the end, she was useful for something, and Seiya had found a way to exploit that and iron out more than a few of her kinks in the process. He was good at her job. Apparently she was all right at hers.

It really sucked having to act like a teacher all the time, though, especially when a lot of the recruits were her own age. She couldn't play poker if any of the recruits were there, couldn't challenge them to drinking contests. It meant she made better friends with the pilots and grease-monkeys, which had its benefits, but she was an Animorph. It would have been nice to have some peers she could relate to. Jullian and Seiya did not cut it.

[Alain]

"I didn't like it when I had to read essays written in a mix of Spanish and English with a few Persian words thrown in. I didn't realize how much I'd missed computers and double spaced papers until I had to deal with hand written stuff. I can understand now why they used to put such an emphasis on having legible hand writing." Alain shook his head sadly, remembering the days.

"And I wasn't even the English or History teacher who really had to deal with that stuff. I was the science teacher. I only had to deal with experiment write ups and the occasional paper. I eventually took a suggestion from a fellow teacher and moved to mostly oral tests. But science really requires keeping detailed notes so I couldn't avoid it completely."

[Nineteen]

Nineteen laughed. "Yeah, just be glad you were never subjected to my handwriting." She shook her head, before looking back up at him. "Really though? You had a job teaching kids somewhere in a free human camp, and you ended up here? Sounds pretty nice to me, not going to lie. What made you trade it in? Not enough action or something?"

She could understand why someone like her wouldn't be able to sit around and do everyday, helpful things. Whether Nineteen had been born or made into a fighter, there was no doubting what she was. At least this way, there was some hope that'd it'd be channeled in a useful way. Alain though? Alain seemed well-adjusted enough. He probably didn't need the war like people like her did. Then again, he was one of Seiya's pet projects, which put him in a special category of individuals.

[Alain]

Alain thought about telling the truth but he wasn't even sure what the entire truth was. So he decided to tell the same story he was telling himself since he figured it had enough truth in it. "I needed to make up for what I did," he said with a small shrug as if it didn't matter that much though it did.

"I was a controller for a long time so I figure I added a lot on the yeerk side of the scales. Figure I have a responsibility to try to add something to the human side of things. And, as nice as teaching was, it wasn't all I could be doing you know?"

[Nineteen]

Nineteen arched her eyebrow. "I guess you could see it like that." And she was sure Alain wouldn't be the first one to feel guilty about what their Controller had done, even if you couldn't really blame the host.

"And, as nice as teaching was, it wasn't all I could be doing you know?" Nineteen smiled bitterly. "Yeah, tell me about it," she said with more than a little bit of an attitude, roughly stabbing at a chunk of tofu with her fork. "I signed up to do some actual damage to those slugs, and, well." She shrugged, but her facial expression still looked upset about it. "Gotta do whatever's needed, I guess."

[Alain]

Alain looked up when he heard the frustration in her voice. He'd been able to read through the lines earlier to conclude that she didn't want this job. But this was the most she's allow herself to show it.

Alain smiled at her statement. "Cassie tried to tell me to be a teacher, then a scientist. I told her no," Alain said with a bit of a laugh. "Maybe you should do the same thing."

[Nineteen]

"Maybe I should," Nineteen agreed moodily, before huffing out a sigh that released a lot of her bad energy. "Problem is, everyone here that could teach the position already has another job that's more specialized. Like Dimitra. This is all I'm good at." There was more than a little insecurity built into that, but she quickly moved past it.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure Seiya doesn't want me out in a faction. Due to my uh, sorted past, I think this is his way of keeping an eye on me." She had beaten a Controller to death and pulled the Yeerk out from around his skull, after all. She still had dreams about how his brains has felt as they'd sunk underneath her fingernails, and the way his cranium had scraped her wrist. "I don't know, maybe he should. But I could be doing something."

[Alain]

"Hmm, well I'll make you a deal. Seiya seems to have orders to convince me to stay here as well. Teach science I guess and help with all the experiments being done. I have a feeling he and Cassie have the authority to do so now that I've become an animorph. Almost a catch 22 I guess. I could have chosen to be a scientist like they wanted, or I could choose to be an animorph which would allow them to order me to be an animorph."

Alain hadn't realized that until just now, hearing about Nineteen's situation. They could order him to stay here and what could he say against it? He'd promised to follow their orders. "But I'll put in a good word with Seiya for you if you'll do the same for me?" He didn't know how much either of them could affect the mind of Seiya or Cassie but it was worth a shot.

[Nineteen]

She snickered, but her face warmed, appreciating the thought. "I don't know if you really want me putting a word in for you." But even as she said it, she knew she could try. As much as Nineteen downplayed her importance and up-played her role as a pain in the ass, Seiya did take her opinions to heart -- when she wasn't just whining about one thing or another. Then again, Alain seemed like a pretty special case, and she didn't know that she'd have any bearing on whatever Seiya had planned for him.

"Sure, why not. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't want to sound ungrateful. My job here isn't so bad, and the Academy definitely has it's perks. I just don't feel like I was meant for this." Then again, what Nineteen thought she was actually meant for, she couldn't say. "At least I'm not pencil-pushing, though, I guess." Nineteen returned to her meal, eating slower as her appetite was sated.

[Alain]

Alain shrugged, "I don't think it could hurt. Besides, I know how frustrating it can be not to be where you believe you do the most good. At least you're feelings are probably more legitimate than mine. I probably should be in a lab somewhere working on some break through or something but," he looked down at his food. "I just can't do that anymore."

He searched around for a change of topic since this one seemed a bit depressing and frustrating to them both. "So what was your class like?" he asked. "I mean your animorph class, not your class class. Like, what was training like for you?"