[center][b]A hound's worth[/b][/center] "Humans are simple yet complex creatures, we seek to survive and so we exploit and yet we fear being exploited so we erect rules. Chaos is the harbinger of order and order is stagnation that decays into chaos, a cycle of incoherent coherence, a paradox.” The instructor spoke in a monotone, walking in non chalet and without an introduction, greeting his new batch of soldiers with a lesson in philosophy. “We fear conflict and in doing so wage wars to eliminate wars; we desire freedom but fear independence. You may argue the reason is that humans are social animals? They create society to belong? Such… naivety.” As he spoke his trembling hands scribbled the name “Mr Joux” on to the board, a sign of injury perhaps. It was quite common for instructors within Innocence to be recuperating or retired veterans. “Humans crave escape. We as self conscious beings are incapable of processing the responsibility and the burden that comes with it and as such seek reprieve. We desire a focal point to channel our loathing, an escape goat. Blame the society, blame the system and blame the deviants." Mr Joux’s eyes keenly danced about the class room, observing the students in front of him, as if trying to gauge which of them will actually survive the ordeal they were preparing themselves for. “You may be wondering where I am going with all of this, well it is pointing to one cruel and undeniable fact.” After a moment of silence, he finally replied in a tone laced with some emotion of pity. “You people are not human, the joys and the ignorance associated with them will never be yours. There is no escape, no reprieve, you are all accountable for every action and there is no one to blame. Every last one of you is an asset that belongs to A.M.R.O, a disposable asset. None of you exists and this is your greatest strength. We intend to mold you to be the perfect soldiers, physically and mentally. The duality that is associated with humans is due to the fact they have choices, you lot are singular in your purpose and in your mission. You are all hounds of A.M.R.O and are subjected to the ‘Asylum’s Woe’. You will either live long enough to go insane and lose whatever sense of self you have or die in battle, welcome to your final year at innocence.” With the usual morbid introductions out of the way it was due time for the first lesson to begin. The instructor couldn’t help but heave a sigh, it was no secret nor did he try to hide the fact that he found this job highly distasteful. His cane vehemently clicked against floor as his left foot limped towards the flock of lambs that were soon to become wolves. Joux was in no way a retiree; instead he looked like someone who had been cut short out of his prime. A well prepared suit, a pair of shinning dress shoes and a silver cane; everything screamed excessive in this man however any sniffer could deduce these were but allures to distract wandering eyes from his wounds. The man’s left foot appeared to be a prosthetic and his right hand was charred black. “Lesson number one,” Joux snapped his left fingers to attract the attention of those that had begun to vex him, nothing irritating the Asylum more than those that would ogle at his leg. “Always keep your senses at their peak; your hearing and smell are far more useful than sight. While sight allows you to respond to visual stimuli, what happens when its pitch black or when your target is not in range?” Joux questioned the class, limping forward almost as if adjusting his position for intervention. “You see a response does not really need any visual stimuli, all it requires is the probability of location with the necessary adjustments to error. Everything has a smell and makes a sound, if you can perceive that data you can easily estimate the right....response.” [i]“FUCK THIS SHIT, LEAVE ME ALONE YOU CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER!”[/i] As his first lecture drew to an end, the instructor found himself standing next to a window and mere seconds later the students would find themselves staring at a broken wall. [i]“OH FUCK ME!”[/i] As a scream echoed through the classroom, the students found themselves staring at their door probably expecting a drill or some emergency. Instead what they witnessed was something a little less formal. Instead of the handle budging, knocking was all that was heard an obnoxiously loud knocking, as if something hard beating against the door followed by an interesting array of curses and vile words. -KNOCK- “Ouch you motherfu** -KNOCK- “You crazy bastar-“ -KNOCK- “This is seriously violating teaching ethi-“ -KNOCK- With that last knock something finally budged, instead of the door being opened a student’s head found itself being smashed through the door to greet his peers. “Someone please, get this lunatic away from me. All I said was I wish I was someplace else.” The student begged his classmates, from his appearance he clearly appeared to be their senior, the graduating batch or so. “Does this look like a god damn mall, pick which store you want to visit?” A voiced roared from behind the door, kicking it with enough force to unhinge it and send it flying towards the window which had been conveniently opened. Luckily however the class only had to hear the student scream for roughly about three seconds as they were on the eighth floor. “My god that was the most irritating three seconds of my life, can you imagine if we were on the twentieth floor?” A man draped in complete black thought out loud, whistling as he looked down the window to gauge the damage. “You are lucky I opened the window Geko, he could have cut his through or his eye from breaking the class,” Joux reprimanded his colleague, his fingers massaging his aggravated temple. Followed by a hearty laugh, the Veteran in black merely scoffed at the instructor’s concept of help. “If that kid is dead, you are responsible mate. I mean technically the window could have prevented his fall…..which means the stupid paper work is yours to deal with.” The next few seconds the class could only quietly observe a man in his thirties thrusting his hips back and forth, a trained silencer could possibly deduce this as being some bizarre form of victory dance. -RING RING- “Well this session is over, I am sure this was a very educational first lecture. Now you puppies can head towards the cafeteria and get to know your peer, you may find yourself spending the next multiple years stuck with one of them, and if possible do check if your senior is still alive down there.”