[hr][hr][center][h1][color=white]JAN VAN GENT[/color][/h1][b]CORRIDORS, NEW ANCHORAGE[/b][/center]
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Jan was on his way to the barracks to get an after-lunch sleep while that was still an option. Knowing the way Graham was reforming the place, it wouldn't be long till some other exercise or busywork would be instated then. Jan hoped it would be the former rather than the latter. He was glad to follow orders as long as there was some discernible point to them. Busywork did not have a point to Jan, and so he loathed it.

He thought about the training of the last few days. The drill sergeant was quite a fiery woman, but Jan’s primary motivation had been on his fellow NC pilots. Specifically the want to keep up with Stein and leave Moore in the dust. The man hadn’t caused any more trouble since his altercation with the commander nine days ago but Jan sometimes wondered about the sanity of raising one’s daughter on a military base. Moore’s daughter was quite a spritely little imp; just the sort of person Jan wouldn’t want to see in a military environment, if only because they would lose something there that the world was already having a deficit on… idealism...  and hope. Still, there was some utilitarian logic to at least testing the girl for compatibility. It wasn’t like they would immediately insert a plug in her the moment they tested positive… or at least, that’s what Jan assumed. Graham didn’t seem like the sort of person to do that. 

And just as he passed by the simulation labs on his way to the barracks, he saw two familiar small figures emerging from there, the faint glimmer of residual conductor gel still glistening on their heads. 

“So, Moore decided to relent and have you tested after all? Heh… good to see he turned around on that.”

The children stopped walking and Ana looked up at Jan. Her expression showed that she was thrown off by that question. 

[color=violet]“Um.. W-well..”[/color] the younger of the two children pulled down on her shirt, looking down at the floor before looking back up to the adult, a smile on her face. She sounded as fake as her smile looked. [color=violet]“Yeah, h-he sure did!”[/color] Beside her, Vera winced but nodded along.

Jan laughed out loud. “Yeah, and I suppose he also suddenly grew a spine then?! Come on, I know a lying face when I see one.” 

It looked like Jan might’ve hit a nerve in Ana, because she gave him the [i]grumpiest[/i] little angry face he’s ever seen on someone her size. It was adorable and not at [i]all[/i] threatening to the likes of him. “He’s not spineless. He’s really brave,” she said.

Jan’s laugh died down into the occasional chuckle. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t talk about your dad like that. I know I would kick the ass of anyone that spoke about my mum that way…” Jan resisted the urge to ruffle through Ana's hair. He was just an acquaintance, and he wasn’t intent on having Moore on his ass about touching his daughter at all. “So… care to share the results? Or is it some sort of girls-only secret for now?”

[color=662d91]”Pff, as if there was any doubt, we [i]both[/i] aced it,”[/color] Vera said, flourishing her hands in the air with a splitting grin that faltered when she looked to Ana. She cleared her throat and neatly tucked a few stray strands of hair out of her face. [color=662d91]”But uh...that’s that. Was just the test.”[/color]

“Well, I was just on my way to the barracks to get some sleep… maybe I could tell you girls what being an NC pilot is all about. And… why you should consider other things first..” Jan chuckled again… He stared at the girls in a manner that suggested just a hint of hollowness behind his lightheartedness. “Seriously, it might look awesome as an outsider observer, but it’s really not all fun and games.”

Jan continued walking down the hallway. He expected the girls to follow him, driven by the curiosity of the young. A few moments passed before he’d hear Vera scuttling after, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets. [color=662d91]”So let’s hear it old timer,”[/color] she said, her own lofty demeanor evidently unfazed. Ana was close behind, nodding in agreement with Vera. 

Jan kept talking as he walked. “Well first of all, with that plug stuck in your neck you’re never gonna be comfortably sleeping on your back again. I miss that the most,” He poked the metal subtly jutting out of his neck to call attention to it. “And then there’s all the constant hygienic procedures that come with this thing. You ever seen a neural plug get infected? It’s not a pretty sight.” Jan wanted to keep talking about the lighthearted stuff, just to see what sort of reaction he’d get. If they would already chicken out from the minor inconveniences, he would at least have spared them the really bad stuff… like the constant presence of a hole in his spine he could feel every time he shifted his neck the wrong way.

[color=violet]“I had to help with cleaning it once,”[/color] Ana said, [color=violet]“it was really gross and I think I might’ve messed up or something cause his back hurt for a little bit. He had to go to a doctor to make sure it was ok. He does it by himself now. He takes [i]aaagges[/i] in the bathroom!”[/color]

[color=662d91]”Li...Eli doesn’t let me mess with it,”[/color] Vera added simply.

The mental image of Moore sitting down and carefully cleaning his neural plug out amused Jan for some reason. He didn’t know why, he did it himself regularly too. He considered for a moment how he himself looked while cleaning his plugs out and concluded it would look similarly amusing. “Yeah… now consider you’d be doing that yourself for pretty much the rest of your life… That and you have holes leading directly into your spine… kind of uncomfortable too.”

Ana looked visibly disgusted, but she tried to hide it so Jan could keep going. Judging by what she said, this is stuff she kind of knew already.

Jan sighed. Moore’s kid and her friend seemed to be quite a stronger stock. It was time brought out the things he thought would discourage a kid the most. “The whole thing is a crap shoot when you make a mistake too; if you ain’t outright toasted you’ll be paying off replacement parts for god knows how long. And you’ll have a lot of people pissed at you no matter what side you pick.” Jan stopped walking and turned around. “So, with that being said… does piloting an NC still seem cool to you? I can go on for far longer about the downsides, but I’m just gauging whether you’d make a good pilot.” 


He looked at them directly. “Cause if you don’t really want to do something like this, it’ll just be a waste for everyone involved.”

The redhead girl didn’t say anything for a moment, like she might’ve been thinking about what was being said.. If she was anything like Moore, it was probably the whole “everyone being pissed off at you” thing that was really getting to her. It was a little hard to tell unless you were psychic.

[color=662d91]”Is that gonna be up to you?”[/color] Vera asked, tone innocent despite her words. Perhaps that was intentional. 

“Nope, but I’d rather know the people I might be in a squad with one day.” Jan replied in a similarly flat tone.

[color=violet]“But we’re kids. You’re older. If we were pilots we’d be adults and you’d be an old person.. They can’t [i]make[/i] us pilot [i]now[/i]. It’s our choice. Not Graham’s, not yours, not anybody’s but ours.”[/color]

Jan laughed at the statement. “Have you seen Agatha? She’s ancient and she’s still flying. Being an NC pilot isn’t really something you retire from as far as I know. And yes, it’s your choice… but it can’t hurt to know what you might be signing up for in advance… I did that once, it got me firing rockets at civilians for a few months before I got out under a loophole.”

[color=violet]“You hurt innocent people?”[/color] The shock in the younger child’s voice was evident. It then turned into anger as she spat, [color=violet]”You hurt people that didn’t [i]deserve it?[/i] Did you shove [i]them[/i] in little boxes too?”[/color]

Vera had her eyes cast elsewhere, and though she remained quiet, did not look angry.

“Yeah? What do you think I was gonna do otherwise? Make them ruin me and my extended family for breaking a contract? People that don’t deserve it get hurt all the time. You stop giving a fuck about it like I do or it’ll break you. Your dad, now he couldn’t stop giving a fuck and look at how the rest of us treat him for it.”

[color=violet]“Well that’s your own faults! You’re all [b]DICKS![/b]”[/color] Ana sounded very much akin to a dying cat by now. She was engulfed with a rage Jan didn’t think an eight year old could have and not combust. [color=violet]”Maybe if you guys actually DID CARE maybe he wouldn’t be like that! H-he said that he feels INADEQUATE and DUMB and a bunch of other bad stuff and it’s cause of everybody PICKING on him! Why are you people nice to me and not him? Is it cause I’m little? Is it cause I’m a girl?” [/color]

“Inadequate and dumb eh? Well… he certainly acts the part. Listen up kid. Out there, I need to know I can trust the squad I’m working with, and Moore does not act like someone I’d trust. At least from what I’ve seen of him so far. Maybe if he’s less of a milksop I’ll actually start liking him. But for now, I’ll just bring him down till he grows some balls and does something back. Cause if he fucks up while piloting, we’re all fucked right along with him.” Jan might have regretted going through a man’s children, but right now the situation just sparked off into that.

[color=violet]“Dick!”[/color] Ana stormed off, looking back at Vera briefly  like she wanted her to follow.

For a moment the older just kept her place, looking from Ana back to Jan. [color=662d91]”I dunno if I really...buy that. Y’know?”[/color] The comment was all she said before she offered Jan, of all things, a sympathetic smile, before trotting off after Ana. Jan could hear the smaller girl ranting and raving to herself even from the distance she was at.

“Heh… feisty one that kid.” Jan simply remarked as he walked off to his barracks. For some reason, he felt like he would be hearing about this.