FNG [Party, Dustin]

[Suji]

Suji was currently sitting on one of the chairs set up in small groups in a wide ring around the enormous, two-part pool. The area had been minimally but thoughtfully decorated, which she'd been informed was the work of the morphing instructor.

With her chin in her hand, she was doing her best to look unapproachable. Or at least, she tried to give off the vibe that she was not in the partying mood. Which was entirely true -- she'd found out yesterday that she was going to be made faction leader of Miami.

Before, that sort of news would have excited her. When she'd strained under Raven's leadership, she'd thought more than a few times that she could have done a better job of running a faction. And in a way, she'd always figured it would be a part of her future. Now that it was happening though, she couldn't help but dread it, for a number of reasons. The least of which being that she was being split off from the only friends she had left in the war.

Which all meant that she probably should have stayed back in her room. She didn't want to ruin the mood for anyone, so she'd separated herself as much as possible. All the same, she was hoping to get a good look at some of the recruits, so she'd forced herself to come anyway. Suji wanted to know whose lives she was about to become responsible for.

[Dustin]

Dustin sat at the edge of the pool in his wetsuit/morphing suit, kicking his feet in the water. He didn't really have any water morphs, and he didn't feel like swimming just now, so instead he just watched other people splashing around in the water and resigned himself to act as a lifeguard.

Within the last day or so, he had finally found out which faction he would be going to. Which was great and all, but it meant he would have to leave the safety of the academy and go back out into the real world. Back out to where aliens were invading the Earth. Back out to where he had lost his arm.

Dustin stared at his arm, still getting used to having it back. This ability to morph sure was great. But at the same time it still felt kind of like a curse. Like an unnatural blemish that he could never get rid of.

He shook his head clear and looked out at the water again. He would just have to get used to it.

As he looked around, Dustin spotted someone he barely recognized. It was Suji, his new faction leader. And as he understood it, the newness didn't only apply to him. She was her own new faction leader as well.

After a lot of careful consideration and internal debate, Dustin stood up and walked toward the woman. His faction leader. He didn't know what things would be like when they reached their faction's location, so he figured he had better at least introduce himself in a pleasant setting while he had the chance to.

"Excuse me, Miss Clarke?" He held out a hand for her to shake. "You probably know this already, but I'm Dustin Cobalt. I was told you will be my faction leader?"

[Suji]

Suji watched one of the recruits walking up to her. It took her a moment to generate the name. Seiya had shown them each of the recruits on a projection screen: complete with names, morphs, general personality, and other important notes. At first all she could remember about him was that he had a flamingo morph and had been recruited while missing an arm. The teenager walking up to her now though was clearly whole. Dustin. That'd been his name.

When he held out his hand, Suji stood to shake it. Giving him a genuine, if weary smile, she nodded. "That's correct. And please, call me Suji." Did Seiya teach them to go by last names? The thought struck her immediately as incredibly weird. She'd never known any faction leader to go by last names. Even Cassie was Cassie to her faction. "You were one of the ones originally from Florida, right?"

[Dustin]

"Suji, cool," he mumbled to himself when she said he didn't have to call her Miss Clarke. That alone would make this conversation a whole lot easier.

"Yes, I'm from Florida. Cutler Bay." Dustin wasn't sure what to say next. Finally he decided to go with the easy question. "And you came from... New York? With Cassie? Are you from around there?"

Dustin felt like he should have a coconut with an umbrella sitting in his hand, standing around chatting with Suji by the pool like this. He hardly knew her and here he was attempting idle chatter.

[Suji]

"Yes, I'm from Florida. Cutler Bay." Suji had a vague idea of the area he was talking about. After she'd been told she'd be Miami's faction leader, she'd gone straight to the ship's library to begin looking up information about the city and the outlying areas. It was something she would have done anyway, but it also gave her the comfort of being alone. Burying yourself in work was a nice way to avoid thinking about things.

"I've been at a few factions, but yes, New York City is where I started and the place I was last. I grew up in New York state, but not in the city." She looked over him again, and then smiled. "I hear you have a flamingo morph. Is there a reason you went with that?" He didn't seem like the guy of person to gravitate towards flashiness, and Seiya's notes has said as much. "Or did you just want to rule out being sent to anywhere with dismal weather?"

[Dustin]

"Heh, yeah, there is a reason for the flamingo," he said with an involuntary grin. "But not a good one, unfortunately. I wish I could claim it was some sort of weather scheme. But no, it was because my other choices were even worse. Apparently there was some sort of miscommunication..."

Dustin shrugged. What was he supposed to do? Unacquire it and get a different morph? "At least I will be able to pose as a lawn ornament. But I definitely should get something better for flying around. How about you? Have you ever had any "mix ups?" Or at least acquired anything weird?"

[Suji]

Suji smiled along with the story. A mix up? Seemed like a funny reason to be stuck with a flamingo. For that matter, she wondered stuff like that happened often at the Academy. Or even how it could happen: how did you mix up what morph you were getting? Didn't they all come out of labeled vials, anyway?

"Mix ups?" She thought about it for a moment. "Well, I acquired lion DNA from one of those vials a while back. It turned out to be albino. Other than that, nothing too unexpected. As for acquiring anything weird, I once got to acquire an enormous crocodile that'd just eaten my friend." She smiled lopsidedly. "Only after he was okay though." Bringing up Drake just made her a little more depressed about the fact that they were being split up.

[Dustin]

"Eaten? By a crocodile!?" He wanted to ask about the details but wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. At least he knew whoever it was got out of it alright. Somehow.

"I hope that never happens to me in your faction. I mean, not that I think it will or anything..." Smooth, Dustin, he scolded himself.

"So," he said, trying to change the subject, "how does this whole faction thing work out? Like, what do you do, and what do I do? I know what they told us in our classes, but the classroom is never the same as reality."

[Suji]

"Well, there might be alligators in Miami, but I think you'll be safe from the type that swallowed him. He was a fish at the time." Suji wasn't sure if that was more or less reassuring. When he asked her what they'd be doing, she nodded, and pulled up a chair for him, before sitting back in her own.

"Basically, we'll try to help people where we can. In my experience, actually getting to plan things from the beginning doesn't happen all that often. Usually you're just reacting to stuff already happening. Less long-term goals, more just putting out the immediate fires, so to speak." The Hoover Dam had been different, but even then, it'd been a reaction to the fact the Dam was being converted into one of the largest Earth-bound Yeerk pools.

"I'll decide what our greatest priority is and try to get us into and out of missions alive. You'll do the best you can to keep yourself and your faction-mates alive, while still keeping to the mission. What did they tell you'd do, in your classes?"

[Dustin]

When Suji offered him a chair, Dustin gladly took it. What she had to say was interesting and seemed to make sense. Still, it was hard to imagine what exactly she was talking about without experiencing it for himself. He had spent a lot of his recent past surviving, so he was no stranger to that. But surviving in a group was something he hadn't had a lot of good luck with.

But this will be different, he told himself. These people will actually know what they are doing. They have training. We have training. And a unique weapon.

"So we help out. Make sure we survive. Then help out some more? That sounds pretty close to what they taught in our classes." It made sense, but Dustin still had a confused expression on his face. "So is there actually a plan for taking back Earth, or are we just preventing it from being more taken over?"

[Suji]

"So is there actually a plan for taking back Earth, or are we just preventing it from being more taken over?"

Suji laughed, and looked down at her lap for a moment, before looking back up at him. "What, they didn't give you guys the textbook? 'The Grand Plan for Earth's Salvation'?" She smiled, and tilted her head. "If there's a central plan, it's above my rank. But there is more than just stopping the Empire from progressing. Most days, that's all we can do. But sometimes, you get a shot to really make a difference."

She rubbed her hands a little, before looking at him again. Mostly, Suji wanted to avoid sounding like some wizened veteran who knew all the answers, because she definitely didn't. But there were things that she'd wished someone had told her when she first started out. "The day to day is surviving and waiting for those moments. Big stuff, like saving a bunch of kids, or blowing up a Yeerk pool. They don't come often, but if play it smart, you can be ready when they do come. Standard guerilla warfare stuff," Suji said at last, as if realizing that it might sound like she was bragging about those achievements as if they were her own. "I'm sure they'd told you as much."

[Dustin]

"Eh, yeah, they have told us as much, I suppose. But it doesn't sound real coming from them. They aren't out there doing the stuff they teach us. Yeah, they may have the experience to qualify them for their jobs, but I don't know. Ya know?" Dustin wasn't really sure what he was trying to say.

"I guess I'm kind of a learn-by-doing kind of guy. Not so much the learn-by-learning type. I mean, I still learn stuff the normal way. It just doesn't make complete sense until I experience it myself." Dustin rapped his fingertips against his knee, unsure of how to continue. Or wether he should continue at all. He decided to let Suji make that decision instead, and just let his ears listen to the music that had started playing somewhere nearby.

[Suji]

Suji arched an eyebrow slowly, trying to follow what he was saying. In the end she thought she had a gist, and it made enough sense. Her eyes flicked over to where music began to rev out of the speakers, looking around until she saw the DJ table. She knew a lot of the songs from highschool. Which would be true for as long as the war lasted, at least. Or as long as she lived. Whichever ended first.

She leaned back in her seat, sitting for a moment and enjoying the music. It took her back to a moment not too long ago, where she actually got to hear some live music on a beach. It was definitely a bittersweet memory, and she looked over at Dustin again. "Did you enjoy your time at the Academy? You can be honest. I won't tell."

[Dustin]

"Oh, yeah, the academy is great," Dustin was quick to reply. "It's a nice safe place. Indoors. You don't have to worry about where your next meal is going to come from. It's almost like living in a hotel. I think that's what I'll miss most when we leave."

Dustin thought for a moment, then realized he may have misinterpreted her question. "Unless you were talking specifically about the academy classes. Those were mostly pretty cool. The history class wasn't so great. But like I said, at least I knew where my next meal was coming from. Will the factions have some sort of setup like they have here? With deliveries and stuff? I don't think I remember hearing anything about it."

[Suji]

Dustin emphasized the safety of the Academy, and Suji's expression became a little more serious. It was good that he knew to value safety, definitely, and he had a valid reason for it. Living in fear, without an arm, probably losing a slow battle with malnourishment... She forced herself to smile at him again, though it was more subdued than before.

"There won't be deliveries, but a hideout will be set up for us before we get there. It'll be stocked with enough for a good while, but early missions usually entail gathering some edibles that don't all taste like cardboard. In Miami there might even still be fresh stuff nearby, fish and fruit or something. In Dallas and Vegas you didn't really get that." Her smile twitched, and she looked away for a moment. "You definitely won't need to worry about going hungry, even if the meals tend to be pretty bland."

Yep. He wouldn't starve to death, that was for sure. There were much quicker ends waiting around every corner.

"Not a fan of history, though?" Suji asked, refraining from telling him that she'd spent the last couple of months teaching it. Then again, the history she taught was probably a lot different than the history taught here.