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One of the great casualties of her new hands, thought CC, was the tragic inability to crack her knuckles. 

A habit that she'd picked up around the start of college, knuckle-cracking had become something that she did idly without much attention, like chewing your nails or tapping your feet. But whatever these new knuckles were made of, they defied any attempts to crack. But despite the lack of the satisfying popping sound or stretch in her knuckles, her habit held strong and she went through the motions anyway. Besides, she never knew what to do with these dumb hot things anyway. She stood casually with weight on one leg with the other out to the side, wearing a white tank top with a huge splotch of cyan paint stain spreading over it, and sweat shorts, as heat rolled off her. Well, at least it was pretty cool in here.

But despite her fidgeting, she was paying close attention to the woman in silver armor who'd just stepped forward. Assessment, huh? [i][color=ed1c24]Been a while since I've done any trust exercises,[/color][/i] she thought, a grin coming to her face. 

Still, it was a little inconvenient, wasn't it? 

CC could [i]do[/i] discipline. If she couldn't she wouldn't have graduated. But the emphasis being hammered in on [i]discipline, judgment, and control[/i] turned the grin to a quirked lip, and then to a faint frown as her vision panned over to where her brother stood a little ways away, face darkening with growing irritation. Cade definitely deserved to be here. Hopefully her impulsivity wouldn't jeopardize his own assessment.

Then, of course, he spoke, and the frown was wiped away as she barely stopped herself from bursting out laughing. [i][color=ed1c24]You stick in the mud, you![/color][/i] Trust Cade to cut off the conversation. She slowly let out the breath that had caught in her throat as laughter, and schooled her face back down into something that looked even slightly respectable. Cade had never been super great in situations like this. So, naturally, socialization would fall to her, and she was just fine with that. Some of these other applicants seemed cool. The one who'd asked about food especially; now [i]that[/i] was a girl who knew where her priorities lay! CC looked over at her, smiling brightly and raising her eyebrows in an almost conspiratorial way. 

Oh, this was gonna be [i]fun![/i]

Yet even as occupied as she was, she still knew right away as soon as Cade's eyes flicked suddenly over to her. Right. Yeah. Discipline, judgment, and control. She looked back, and she could feel the certainty in that bright blue gaze. She gave him a half smile and a minute nod. [i][color=ed1c24]Yeah. We've got this.[/color][/i] She cut the eye contact off with a wink, then turned her focus back to Mara. And, it would seem, Captain Redd and Dr. Brandt. There was something about the doctor. Something that--[i]yowch![/i] She'd put her hand on her hip out of reflex again. Ugh! She went back to 'cracking' her 'knuckles.'

Oop, and Cade was being uptight again, haha. She gave a good-natured roll of her eyes and shot him a quick grin. "[color=ed1c24]Cool off, hotshot.[/color]" A moment later after collecting her thoughts, she turned to face Mara fully, and finally asked what had been rolling around in her head:

"[color=ed1c24]Hey, you said it was the [i]beginning[/i] of our assessment, right? So is this, like, a multi-day event, or...?[/color]"