[IC] The Order: Holy Warriors

[RainDash]

Castiel waited. She hated sitting in these stupid small benches that other people called 'seats' and eating this food. It was usually delicious, but Cas didn't feel like eating. They'd told her that today was the day that she'd be stuffed into a group of other priests-in-training and train together to take out those dumb Blister things. She didn't need anyone, she was perfectly capable of fighting those things by herself, as proved by how she'd arrived at this castle thing. She could take of herself, but apparently working with people would 'bring out her strengths' or whatever that dumb guy in red was saying. They were calling him some kind bird, but she didn't see why he was a cardinal, she reminded her more of an owl. Eyes appearing to expect everything from you, and petting her on the head? Who pet people like that anyway? Sure it was little relaxing, but that didn't make him more likeable. It made him even more of an enemy. She munched on her toast, waiting for the teachers to call out who all would be joining them to the old guy's room, which apparently existed outside of the castle in some kind of pocket dimension. She'd asked if the old man was a Blister, but everyone laughed at the idea. This naturally made her even more suspicious of the school and everyone in it.

[smarty0114]

John sat in his seat, fingers drumming on the table, staring at the ground. Today was the day. The Order had told him that he'd be joining a new group of priests in training. Something about proving his loyalty to the Order after the unfortunate mishap with Jane last summer. He hadn't known she'd been a psychopath. he wouldn't have vouched for her if he had. Yet everyone thought he had so there was that whole unfortunate trial where he was proven innocent, yet he was still forced to train with a bunch of other students who were probably just as pissed off as he was over the whole matter. Sometimes he regretted forcing his parents to take him to the Castle. He looked up at the teachers, waiting for them to announce who would be his fellow training partners.

[Shurikai]

Cayenne hated sitting, so he stood at the table wearing a pleasant smile on his face. While waiting for the announcement to be made, he gazed out over the group of to-be priests. So much potential this year, and he would be able to train them. This is what made him most excited. Teaching the students.
All that was left was to inform the prients-in-training of who would be mentoring them.
Cayenne leaned forward over the table, picked up an apple, and proceeded to eat it.

[Grey]

In a seat nowhere close to the aforementioned three sat a dark-haired young man who seemed to be waiting for the announcement to be made with bated breath. He was in the back, overlooking the other gathered young priests-in-training. Though he didn't look it with that blank, 'damned-if-I-care' expression on his face, he was probably as tense and or excited as the rest of the congregation to be grouped up and sent off to god knows where for some magical, monster slaying adventure. Though he didn't see why he'd have to train for all this, he'd already done his homework. However, he stopped himself from saying anything. Rash actions wouldn't reflect well on him or his heritage; the very least he could do was wait patiently and hope he got sifted into a group full of reasonably intelligent individuals.

Claude rose an eyebrow at a peculiar thought of his. Perhaps if he was sifted into a group of 'losers', he'd be able to whip them into shape and carry all the team's weight himself, getting both leadership and combat credentials... He smiled a bit and continued to wait.

[RainDash]

An elderly man walked out from behind a stone arch, emerging from seemingly nowhere. The man was bent over so far that his cane could press up on his chest as he walked, and not wobble over. He crept to the highest point of the mess hall, standing behind a podium that came up to his shoulders. He placed his calloused hands on either side of it, as if steadying himself. "Good morning students! I assume there are more of you up this early because of the grouping, correct?" a few students snorted, and others nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to get on with it I suppose." even if you couldn't see him smiling, you could sense his positive energy. "The groups are…" he started on a long list that Cas didn't pay attention to until she heard, "Castiel Lacuzzé, Claude Du Lac, and John Smith. You will meet up with your instructor, Cayenne Pepper. Thank you, and I look forward to testing you all soon!"

Castiel scowled. She'd hoped to have been passed over, but now she was paired up with likely two idiots. There no reversing the Cardinal's decision, though. Unconsciously, she pulled out a few bags of candy that she'd bought earlier. She didn't know why until now. Now she knew. To eternal shame and embarrassment, she'd probably hand them out to her teammates. This always happened. She did something unrelated to what she was thinking and there was no apparent reason, then it all became clear. Her stupid soul must have known that she'd put in a group and started acting on it's own again.
There was no helping it though, Castiel stood and looked for her other group members.

[smarty0114]

John stood up when the old man finished annoncing groups. Castiel and Claude. He couldn't quite remember them but their names rang some bells. Cayenne was a new name though. Definitely couldn't place that one. He looked around and saw that there were a lot of people who were just as confused as he was. He decided he'd let his soul figure it out. It had worked before. Suddenly he was walking over to a guy in the back who seemed to be an instructor based on how he looked quite older than the other students. "You must be Cayenne? I'm John," he said, extending his hand.

[Shurikai]

"John, Claude, and Castiel." Cayenne whispered under his breath. Each with immense potential. If they could work together, they would make an excellent team. He started to take a bite when he noticed a young man walking up to him. He knew the boy was John before he introduced himself. Cayenne made a point to know the names and faces of all the students in the Order.
With the apple still in his mouth, Cayenne took John's hand and shook it saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you." He took the apple out of his mouth, realizing the other two probably don't know who he is. When he next spoke, his voice was so loud it echoed down the hall, "Castiel and Claude, come this way!" He waved his hand over his head, the apple still in his grasp.

[RainDash]

Great. Now their instructor was calling out their names. Everyone was staring up there. Castiel grit her teeth, closed her fist around the bags of candy, and marched up onto the stairs. She set her scowl, and threw the bags of candy at the instructor and John. She faced away from the others, placing her back to them and crossing her arms. "I had extra," her response was aggressive and angry. "Don't think any more into my actions. It's pointless." she scanned the crowd for the one other to their trio. If he was some kind of pretentious jerk...
She'd have to deal. Once they were dead, she could just move on. Working in groups only made sure everyone ended up dead. Emotions were a weakness, and it was one weakness she wasn't going to have. People were nothing more than useless lumps of flesh that die and make problems for other priests. She needed to be strong enough to not need those powers.

[Grey]

'Old people shouldn't be that positive,' Claude mentally remarked, cringing a bit at the words that practically reeked of vibrancy, 'especially not this early in the morning' Although, given his only prior experience with an elderly person usually involved getting information drilled into his head. Information that was well-worth the occasionally-not-so-metaphorical drill. The dark-haired young man listened intently into the declaration of the trainee groups that were to be taught by an experienced priest. So far, he hadn't been called up, but the crowds were thinning quite quickly. He had spotted some promising prospective partners earlier, but apparently they'd already been grabbed. Shame. Though there were some people left that he'd prefer to be grouped wi-

Speaking of which, there was their roster now. 'Castiel and John... Well at least one name'll be easy enough to remember,' Claude thought, matching names to faces. It seemed his partners didn't seem anything special, but at least they didn't seem obviously idiotic, useless, or anything of that like. As for their teacher...

"Claude and Castiel, come this way!"

'Goddammit.' Claude thought, mentally facepalming at both his own and his teacher's actions. Himself for not getting his ass out of his seat and up with the rest of 'em, and his new mentor for being grossly unsubtle and putting all the attention on them. "Very well," he mumbled, getting out of the seat and heading on over to the others, back straight, chin held high all prim and proper-like. "Hello everybody," he greeted with a nod to each of the three alongside him, "pleasure to meet all of you."

[Shurikai]

Cayenne was only slightly surprised to receive a bag of candies from Castiel. He didn't usually get gift from the trainees. When Claude walked up, he nodded back to the young man.

With a content smile, Cayenne looked at his three new students. Each great in their own way... however, they might not work together too well. Maybe to break the ice he would start today rather than wait for tomorrow like the rest of the instructors. It would give them the training yard for the day. All to themselves.
"We are going to start our training right now." Cayenne said with a serious look, "We are going to start with the basics and work our way up from there." He looked at John, "I expect you to know how to do most of what we will be learning." With a quick glance around, he noticed the other instructors had already dismissed their charges and were exiting the room. Perfect. It was time to go to the yard. As he started walking out himself, he said back to his students,
"Follow me. Quietly, we aren't suppose to be training until tomorrow."

Cayenne led them down the hall. Once they were away from the others, he asked, "Do you have any questions about today?"

[RainDash]

Castiel threw the candy at Claude, aiming for his face. She followed, refusing to say anything as they walked. They were going to start training now? Well, Castiel didn't need training. She'd learned on her own, and that was how she operated. Alone. No one else needed. Now she was going to be with these clowns. She wanted them all to just keel over already. She felt her arm spasm, shaking her hand fiercely at her side. She walked faster and tucked it in front of her to hide the shaking.

Once they were out of the hall, Cayenne asked if they had any questions. "Yes." she cleared her throat. "How long do you realistically think those two would last in a fight against a Blister. I bet it won't be long." her face was deadpan and her voice didn't falter. "You see, I have to know how long they'll take before I have to report their tragic deaths and then learn how to be a Priest on my own." she just didn't care. She wanted more power, and being a friend to these morons wouldn't fix it.

[Shurikai]

Upon hearing Castiel's question, Cayenne turned around to face her. His calm face didn't mask the anger in his eyes.
"A priest on their own may be a match for weaker Blisters, but not for the stronger ones. You need to learn how to work as a team to take them down. Priests-in-training are matched together based on personality and skill. John and Claude are both talented Priests, as are you. Instructors report any disruptions within the team and based on how bad it is, one or more may not continue," Cayenne looked each of his students, settling on Castiel, " and that could mean being removed from the team or termination from the Order itself." He took a breath, "So play nice. I'm certain you were put into this team for a reason." Cayenne turned back around and continued walking.
"Any other questions not pertaining to the life expectancy of your team mates?"

[Grey]

The free candy bag to the face caught Claude by surprise, but due to the training he'd been put through, he was able to intercept the bag of candy. Though why the bag was there in the first place was rather puzzling, to be honest. A surprise, but not necessarily unpleasant. Claude opened it up and stuffed a hard candy into his mouth. Maybe this group wasn't as bad as he had expe- There it was!

'Longer than you, that's for sure,' Claude thought, rolling his eyes and scoffed at Castiel's idiotically arrogant question and obvious notion of superiority. Him? Die? What a stupid idea. The moment he dies, the moment he ends his family line. And there was no way in hell the Frenchman would let that happen; if he were to die, he'd damn well deserve it for letting himself die and failing his family. He grit his teeth and turned his hands into fists. Not good to dwell on that line of thought. Not good at all. Though he did crack a slight smile when their mentor started berating the bluenette.

Though, Claude did have to respect the girl's... Enthusiasm. Maybe if he had less tact, familial obligation, and restraint, he could've ended up asking that very same question. Being able to basically solo every mission he was to be assigned to would be perfect.

[Shurikai]

After a short walk, Cayenne had led the group outside at the top of one of the walls. He had nailed three items to three trees off in the distance the night before. A doll, a ring of keys he found lying around, and a piece of blue ribbon.

"Our first lesson will be focusing your sight. There are three items out there, I want you to find them and write down what they are." Cayenne then handed them each a blank sheet of paper and pencil. "I would like John to go first. Should be easy enough. When you are ready, take a breath and focus your eyes to see the trees out in the distance."

[smarty0114]

John sighed and shoved the candy bar wrapper in his pocket. He stepped up and looked out to the forest. He could see the emerald green trees but not much else. He took a deep breath and focused his sight. His vision zoomed in and he could see everything. He scanned the trees for the three items until he knew he had found them all. He wrote them down on his paper and stepped back. "Next,"

[RainDash]

Castiel did not want to go next. Her handwriting was poor, and she couldn't afford to have the man interpret it incorrectly. It wasn't like she'd been using the alphabet her whole life, heck, most of her life was expecting to lay on her back and stare at the ceiling. No one expected her to even have feeling or emotions, and yet here she was, walking and talking. "Claude can go next, since he looks like he's always eager to please the teacher." she hoped the jibe at Claude would make him go next. Hopefully he could explain her situation to the teacher, but it looked like she had gotten off on the wrong foot with him already. If she was going to be a Preist, she needed to think these things through better. "Listen, I can't write but I'll still do the dumb exercise. I just have to go last."

[Grey]

"Hrumph," Claude scoffed, a rather exaggerated roll of the eyes coming from his person. That jab of Castiel's didn't bother him too much, given that it actually hurt her more than it did him, what with making the implication that she was either incapable of completing the task, or too insecure about her abilities to take initiative. Perhaps she just wished to see if he'd fail, just so she'd feel better when she would presumably do so as well. And then she continued, speaking about an inability to write. Hopefully she meant 'write legibly' not 'write at all'. He didn't want to deal with some illiterate plebeian. Claude smirked slightly and glanced at Castiel before telling the teacher, "Okay, I'll play your little game." It didn't take a genius to figure out he was talking to Castiel as well. He claimed a sheet of paper and pencil, before stepping up to plate. 'Focus,' he thought, taking in and exhaling deeply.

The whole task took much more effort than it would if a regular Priest were to do so, Claude could thank the damnable family curse for that. But if he was going to let something as stupid as that get in his way, he didn't deserve to even be here. Give your all, or don't give at all. Exertion of the soul was... definitely not healthy, but he pushed himself. By the time he had written down all three, his shoulders, left hand, and right leg were twitching, or in the leg's case, tapping, quite a lot. His handwriting started to become progressively sloppy as he used more time focusing his soul to supplement his eyes, and he was still slower than John, but it'd take Castiel beating his (admittedly below average) time before he could be called 'slowest'. Hopefully it wouldn't amount to that.

[Grey]

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