[center][h1][color=silver]Lucius[/color][/h1][/center]

The rather jarring vision seemed to somewhat linger in the worst of ways as the debrief began, in his nose, in his ears, and in his short term memory. Past? Present? Future? He hadn't a clue, but from what little he could tell he didn't recognize anyone he'd seen from it at the very least. Not that what he'd percieved was 'recognizeable' in the ways that counted most. Ugh. It made him somewhat look forward to the scolding he'd likely recieve for his actions, though given that some had exited the simulation before him it would be interesting to see what had occured while he'd been trying to get to cover and observe Mango's actions. Hmm, though for some reason his thoughts also went back to how the girl he'd spoken to, the pilot of Logic Driver, had seemingly just blushed suddenly and run off after-

[quote=The Old Fruit Bat]“FOOLS! All of you! I’ve seen primeval ooze with more brain cells than you lot! Even Cruxi shocktroopers would laugh at your lack of tactics…And they have been cybernetically lobotomized to have no emotions aside from rage!” He then started coughing violently, and after a short break and a swing of medicine from Liisa, he recovered.[/quote]

Lobotomized to only feel rage? Hmm. If true, that made the Cruxi even stranger and more evil seeming than he'd already heard before. But why do that to your own pilots? Expendable troops, then? Or had they-....ah. Well he'd keep those thoughts to himself for now, but suffice it to say that if it proved correct in any way it'd at least not be a total surprise. Even so, the older man would go on to begin his beration with the first person: Cadet Gene. Or, as it were, it seemed to be the blue-haired girl he'd seen after getting out of the simulation. High speed scouting and harassment unit, hmm? A smaller and much lighter unit than his own, wielding a hot blade that seemed to be like energy or plasma or something (based on the shows he used to watch back home at least)? And-...wow that was one heck of a self-immolating explosion. 

But if the old man was saying one thing that stuck out to the younger man-

[quote=The Old Fruit Bat]“If you really want to kill yourself I won’t stop you, but such cowards are not welcome in my project. The only true victory is an overwhelming one, with casualties minimized when possible. You fight to live, not to die! Never forget that!”[/quote]

...That was true. This war, ultimately, was a war to [b]live[/b] and not get swallowd up by some peculiar and alien outside power. You had to fight like you wanted to live, despite the danger, despite the odds. Though bringing up an 'overwhelming victory' was certainly something that seemed more of a stretch to bring up. Not unless you were one of those bigshot war heroes of which so few had seeminmgly popped up since the beginning of the conflict. Well, based on something he'd looked up once out of curiosity one late night back home after his recruitment to the Pilot Preparation Program. 

Still, it went even ebyond being a war to live in ways as well. Behind the anger at the droves of deaths, entire lost worlds, frustration at the struggle to get ahead, and other things one could hear online and in the media, that much was the goal: End the Cruxi threat, and not become extinct. Even then it was being corrupted the moment one moved just far enough from the battlefield....if even then. Some rallied it around huge political movements, others tried to jostle political peers in the news over 'being to blame' for certain failures, among other things people already did to spite each other and more, as well. Yet the core, the very root, of this all remained a fact whether some wanted to keep it a clear-cut message or not. Whether you liked the Federation or otherwise, or had other problems: [i]The Cruxi were poised to be a truly exestential crisis that would end them one way or another if not pushed back against and eventually defeated[/i]. 

Next, however, the older man would move on to a red-haired man in the room. The pilot of Horst. Cadet Duval, it seemed? Yet the first thing the old man did was show how the man dove in to save Logic Driver from the enemy, a thing even he had noticed several of Team Apple doing after exiting the sim in his own brutal fashion. Part of him wanted so badly to open his mouth in retort against the point the old man made about 'saving a liability', and yet part of him simultaneously felt as if it...agreed with the assessment really. It was enough to make the younger man bite his lower lip at first, though he'd soon enough push himself back to an expression of neutral analysis of what was being said. Not a peep left his lips, all things considered. 

His own sacrifice was one thing, as an independent party working with Apple in the end, but so many of Apple had run into help Logic Driver that it had exposed their entire backline to destruction and concentrated them in one plce. Yet Lucius himself was guilty of the same actions, to enough of an extent, and that much wasn't something he was totally blind to. He didn't regret his actions, but it was also something the enemy could exploit. What was the old saying his old CO back home had said? 'They won't be afraid to cripple one to take out many. Avoid killing one, and you take out two others who come to help drag them off the battlefield.' Something like that. Had this been a realm battle, Lucius would have had to choose between sacrificing a comrade and potentially getting a kill in on the enemy. Save one life...and maybe lose many others because of that one. 

...

...

Then again, on a slightly lighter note, he raised an eyebrow and looked over in the direction of Arrish as it was mentioned that the man had been the one to turn Mr. Pink's mech into...well...being pink. Meddling with the simulation. That much felt like a breath of fresher air. Stupid. Funny. Yet also strange and peculiar as a choice as far as he knew about anything and anyone here thus far. Enough to piss off the brass as well if this had been a more strict training simulation to boot.

Next came Cadet Liu'un, the pilot of Logic Driver, who seemed to hold back tears or such after an initially somewhat shocked-looking expression (to his eyes at least) at the footage being displayed of her movements. Stealth. That had been her forte. Stealth and intel. Get in closer, get information, relay to allies, and then retreat or such. That was what came to his mind. And yet she had charged far ahead, and the pinkified mech that had then taken her legs after exposing her using-...hmm? A drone self-detonating on the ground? Perhaps a disruptive measure to help disable her stealth, yes? It was clever of Mr. Pink...same voice that had made him the offer from Team Mango as well. Sharp. Brutal, but effective. And the pink mech had survived much until closer to the end. 

Though as Lorenzo moved on, mainly to the grumpy man he'd seen playing a game outside of the sim who was also one 'Cadet Zel-Ghin', he did feel some measure of agreement with the assessment between the roasting and the footage displayed. A vanguard was someone near the front, but go out too far from your squad? It would spell disaster if the enemy could surround and bog you down. That much he'd been taught prior to this, and gotten to witness firsthand in the simulations back home accordingly and in the very practical sense. But recklessness, which seemed to be something Cadet Gene had been chided for, was something she at least seemed to recognize here in hindsight versus how the actions of Zel-Ghin spoke for themselves. 

And now that he looked at the next person to be addressed, the brother of Zel-Ghin and the man who he'd spoken with for Team Apple, one 'Cadet Mema-ka'. Another who had run off to rescue Logic Driver, it seemed, and yet he had indeed made a similar mistake in the simulation. Recklessness. Less so overall, it seemed, and yet enough that he had also contributed to the Sleeping Thunder's exposure to Mother Goose. And recklessly charging in to suicide into Mr. Pink? It shocked him more that Mr. Pink would have done such a thing, even if it did look rather cool to see the hijacked Kattai make him into a pink octo-mosnter to some extent, but even the seemingly more level-headed and noble-mannered Mema-ka seemed to be just as reckless when the situation was right perhaps. Hmm. Then again, it was all a simulation, and perhaps that had also been in the mind of those being roasted for their actions thus far as well. 

Noted. 

Meanwhile the winner of the simulation, the sole surviving who had piloted the Guinevere, one 'Cadet Quinn', seemed to not be any less roasted despite his 'win' in the end. Indeed, he'd sustained the least damage by hiding about with stealth and so forth, but he had been restrained. Held back from the looks of it. While it made sense to not expose one's self as a stealth unit and attempt to help from there as Logic Driver seemingly should have done, he supposed, if you didn't do anything to assist the team then it the burden was being concentrated on a smaller portion of the team. There was perhaps a difference in 'helping from farther back' and 'being unable to take an action due to actual circumstance' and frankly 'total inaction' perhaps. Not doing something, hesitating, that could get you killed as much as-...yeah. What he and Duval had done was reckless enough as it was. At least it was for a cause, unlike what seemed to be the sitiuation for Zel-Ghin, but it was still something to keep in mind. 

And the muscular, complaining blonde man that he had heard rather clearly upon the man's exit from the simulation? Somehow the least-roasted of them all thus far. Somehow? It for some reason felt off, but given he'd kept supporting and not run off like Mema-Ka and Cadet Duval had? He had kept to the strategy it seemed. Solid, as far as putting it through the filter of what training he'd had thus far. 

Meanwhile the winged alien woman seemed to be just as little-roasted as the prior 'Cadet Burnhardt' had been. Stayed in closer, kept in range, and yet her positioning had been part of her undoing it would seem. Battlefield was a place rife with the unexpexted, it would seem, so even doing things 'right enough' could still see you taken down perhaps. Another important fact to take note of, it seemed. 

[quote=The Old Fruit Bat]“Cadet Sterling-"[/quote]

As his name was called, Lucius' eyes snapped tightly onto the older man. This was it. This was the moment to use to emphasize the other critiques that had been delivered thus far to some of the others. He felt it in his bones. He had not only cast aside his own primary stated goal, but had flung himself at what Lorenzo continued to dub a 'lost cause', both to his acknowledgement and partial but still real internal frustration at it all, and gotten split in two. Literally. So it was only time to brace himself for-

[quote=The Old Fruit Bat]"-you failed your mission objective of staying alive as Team Banana. However, you performed adequately when faced with overwhelming odds. Your drone setup was commendable, as was your vantage point for taking on team Mango. You likely would have done better with a proper team backing you up. Ten points and a parrot sticker for you.” [/quote]

...Lucius' bottom jaw visibly dropped open without a sound. He tried to restain himself despite his failure, and yet it was clear enough to see: Genuine shock, for what time it lasted, until he managed to pull himself together again shortly thereafter. Y-Yes he'd tried to get a good position, get things in place, arrange his drones for an assault on two targets, etc, but he'd-...and Duval had-...but-...HOW WAS THAT ALL THE OLD MAN WAS GOING TO SAY TO HIM?! Where was the angry roasting of his white-knighting? Where was the flicker of condemnation for his goofing off in taking one deal or othe other or not? Of trying to help a 'lost cause'??? Sure it would have been better if he'd had a team backing him, er, if he'd been on a team in the first place and not alone really. Sure, that did make sense. 

A right hand came up to the younger man's own head for a moment. It made the lingering sensations of the prior vision seem to go away like it was a cloud of faint dust exposed to gale force winds. Yet it felt like a sudden shock to the system. Or perhaps he'd become accustomed to being fussed at over mistakes enough that this just felt strange as it is. Did he want to get yelled at? Er, he had come in expecting the worst. Perhaps too much so? Not that he didn't need to continue to recognize the faults in his actions all the same, whether he held regrets for some of those or not. Made his head hurt a little, it all did, even if breifly. 

Still, things moved on from there well enough it would seem. Cadet Briars, the woman he'd first approached, the pilot of the Sleeping Thunder, made some sense as well as he tried to refocus on the critiques once more. She had performed well on the backline, providing support and then having to deal with half her team leaving in a heartbeat to elsewhere without protecting their high-firepower backliner. Lorenzo even commented on what had been visible even to him on the simulation: The [b]fury[/b] she had dumped out onto the battlefield when approached by certain death in the form of the Mother Goose. He couldn't fully know what had been going through her head, though he could at least attempt to imagine it at least, and yet while his gut panged with genuine empathy again he also could recognize what was being said to her as well. It was another thing from his lengthy 'preparation' for being sent here that he'd been told over and over again alongside the others there. 

Meanwhile the stoic-seeming man with the black helmet had his own critique, as short and having some amount of praise in it as it was still brutal to have seen him squished by the Goose. Then again, where one was standing and positioning was important. This reinforced that even more so alongside a need to be 'aware' on the battlefield. Beyond that, the critique of the Lilim piloting the Mother Goose was even more succinct and a note of her being tricked, apparently, by the blue-haired girl to-...wait she'd gotten the Goose to [i]toss her[/i] in the air before going kamikaze on the Electric Dragonfly? Huh. 

Cadet Lane, the woman who had killed him, at last had more to her critique than the prior two. Skillful, maneuvering and handling herself well on the battlefield, and yet taking seemingly unessecary actions like retreating back when she could have pursued. Hindsight was certainly a teacher, yes, but the heat of the moment also left a person having to think on their feet. Same for him and everyone else. Sticking to a general strategy, battle goal, and plans were good, that much was all true it seemed, but getting too focused on one thing could be blinding as well. Right. That would be yet another mental note he hoped to, if he was lucky, begin to internalize before he got himself and others killed out there...

Manwhile Mr. Pink himself, one 'Cadet Bugatti', seemed to be the last to be addresed properly. Well, after being reminded to make a passing remark about the Argo's pilot as if he hadn't seen her there in the room with the rest of them. Sure the man was older, maybe a touch senile for all Lucius knew, but to totally ignore a pilot in the room despite it all hadn't been a thing he'd done prior to Cadet Minerva here. It was almost thoughtless what he'd said. A mere compliment and being seemingly happy to move on. Now [b]that[/b], that much was also rather strange. Seemingly more deliberate, perhaps? 

At least Mr. Pi-, er, Cadet Bugatti seemed to be the old man's favorite for everything he'd done it would seem. The mess before battle, the taunting, the crippling of the Logic Driver, the mechanical mosntrosity (that was still kinda cool), etc. It made part of him feel a reflexible burst of something in his gut, something...unpleasant. Judging. Dark. Perhaps disgust? Ritsu seemed to be a bit opposite of the good doctor's judgements as well to some extent, from the looks of it, and yet all the same Lucius had seen the man in action. He'd survived, thrived, and made it much farther along than Lucius himself had. Pragmatic. Ruthless. Yes. Effective, something some CO might praise under the right circumstances, and yet it felt just as sketchy a set of traits as Lorenzo said it was useful out there 'had they all had a bit of that' in them too as it were. 

...Just breathe. If he was going to live, if any of them were, it would be good to learn from all of this. Not just the parts that sounded good, or the people he felt a closer initial liking toward thus far with the most meager of first impressions. Not that some impressions hadn't made a more notable one that is. 

Even so, it came as no surprise to him that Cadet Bugatti was the secondary squad leader. What surprised him most was Cadet Lane being given the main position as the primary squad leader. Then again, he didn't know her as much. Nor did he know Mr. Pink as much, though he'd gotten more of an impression of him than Cadet Lane at least thus far for what it was worth. 

Everyone's responses afterwards, then, seemed evident enough as they either erupted out or popped up bit by bit. Cadet Burnhardt congradulated the captain, only to erupt into a retort against much of what was said. A very much human response that partly spoke to his own sensibilities, and yet sounded in some part ignorant and prejudiced enough so at the same time to a certain extent. Blind to the reality. Meanwhile it at least got him some more of the other Cadets' first names, if nothing else, though the buffer man's almost-tearing-up eyes certianly spoke to his own emotional volatility in turn. Seemed compliments to his own performance mattered less than the critique of teammates. Meanhile Serah, Cadet Gene it seemed, was at least responsive to her critique as she tried to assuage the muscular man who had said he was literally going to walk himself to the brig now.

[quote=Serah]"Just one thing, though, professor,” Serah would cast her attention to Lorenzo, intending to follow up with a remark of her own. "What's the point of making us fight each-other, if you don't want us to get ourselves killed? We had a rrreeeeeaaaaaallly close match there.”[/quote]

[color=silver]"Er, may I perhaps comment about my thoughts on that for a moment?"[/color]

He tried to be polite about the matter, raising his left hand to try to respond after Serah had made her last comments. He didn't mean ill by it, and hoped it wouldn't come off as such. He did look between Serah, Lorenzo, and Ritsu for a moment to see if it would be ok in this scenario. But if he was allowed to speak, he would rest his elbows on the table before them, let his hands cross each other in a relaxed maner, and say the following: 

[color=silver]"Getting an idea of how everyone behaves in a combat scenario could be one important thing to learn. Seeing how people react, take action or don't take action, what kind of strategies they use thinking on their feet, actions they take under pressure, and so forth. Sure it's a sim, and we don't actually die, but the feedback and actions taken can be very telling of what people do in various situations and under pressure. See how well some people work together and all of that as well.

I don't doubt the real thing will be a lot more pressuring than this, but this sort of thing is perhaps meant to help us figure out how to better work with, and around, each other out there. And perhaps even expose potential issues, ones to try to iron out a bit as a team at least, before we get in the field properly and could die for real."[/color]

Though Lucius would lean a bit closer toward Serah's sitting position before dropping one last hushed line in this scenario, the tiniest pull up on the edges of his mouth occuring as he would do this.

[color=silver]"[sub]Pretty cool exit you made, by the way, despite what I just said. Big BOOM good.[/sub]"[/color]

...Sure the serious ramifications were something to keep in mind, always, but it didn't mean a giant explosion didn't look very cool in the simulation all the same. And he didn't want to sound like just a Lorenzo-enjoyer or something of the sort. Plus he wanted to know if his own thoughts on the matter were valid enough as it was in the official sense, maybe, or if he also needed more of a reality check as it was. That and it would be nice to not be too serious all of the time. Today was already stressful enough for him, as it perhaps could have been for the others, so why not appreciate a bit of BIG BOOM for what it was worth in the simulation too? Just on the side. 

Then came Mema-Ka, erupting into his own more lengthy thoughts and reactions to the critiques given was its own small novel's worth. Not that it didn't seem as if he had some points, as he tried to listen to what was being said on the side, but at the same time someone else would gain his attention more so as the reactions to things continued onwards.

[quote]"BAHAHAHAA"

"... A Parrot Sticker! You've got to be pft-snrk-pft-bahahahahaha"[/quote]

Well someone was getting a kick out of all of this, more or less, and it seemed to be one "Arrish Duval" if he'd managed up properly pick up the pieces of others' names taht had been mentioned by now. Man seemed to then hold himself like a noble, similar to how he felt upon seeing Mema-Ka outside of the simulation thus far really, and flirted with Cadet Briars before addressing the room at large. But a steak dinner?! Wait, could this man cook a steak dinner? Or was he going to have someone come in and make one? For his part, though, Lucius would raise a hand for Arrish to see. A silent nod would be given thereafter. Steak dinner? Could be a good chance to see and talk and learn more about his new teammates, if not at least some more of the Team Mango side depending on what the other Team Apple members did. 

...Plus steak was a rather rare occasion for one such as himself too. 

As for others? Cadet Lane seemed to shut herself up from speaking as he glanced around the room once more, before taking her armband and tasers finally before semingly speaking to Ritsu, Zel-Ghin seemed as self-absorbed as he could, and the Tevranian woman seemed to get exxited at the prospects of steak as well. Meanwhile the sole survivor of the sim seemed to want to ask something of the professor as well. 

All in all? All of these things felt more lively than the seriousness of the simulation battle at the very least. But it was a lot to process, a lot to think on, and the fact remained that he'd barely just gotten here before all of this. Literally. And he-....he had a chocolate bar waiting for him once he changed back. A mint condition, non-pocket-melted, safe and sound, guava-filled chocolate bar from a decent brand at that. 

Heh. Perhaps it was something to enjoy now, or perhaps to share with another late, or perhaps to trade for a story and someone else's time. Who knew, but he looked forward to it all the same now! [s]But the grumpy old man still needed to give him that parrot sticker as well, unless his Lilim had to hide them so he couldn't try to eat them or something. Ha.[/s]

[@Ammokkx][@Ariamis]