?(Kat)
Kat had felt her text go off before she had entered the room. She read
it and it had made her smile. She had not had time to respond. So when Brandon
came in she gave him a quick wink. She watched him sit and then pray.
*Interesting.* she thought.
?
Gen came in next. The androgynous collected his plate and then went and
sat after he said hi to the bosses and both her and Brandon. Kat grinned,
"Hello Gen." She could tell that he was in a better mood.
?
Kites made his way in and Kat could smell his pheromones instantly when
he came and gave her a brotherly hug. "I will tell ya later little
brother." She smiled. He was smitten. That was plain to see as he dropped
the bag next to Gen, then went and grabbed some food.
?
Mia seemed to almost waltz in. Kat watched as she made her way to the
food, grabbed a plate and then sat down. She was very graceful. "Good
morning to you as well Mia." Kat replied. Her tone was welcoming.
?
Ireland was the last to arrive. Though her tone was cheery, Kat caught
her scent and knew that she was not as cheery as she was letting on. When she
said hey, Kat grinned, "Evening."
?
It was then that Chord spoke up. She listened as he laid out what they
wanted as a whole. Despite what had happened yesterday he wanted to know what
they were thinking. Kat had not thought that they would want yo know. She had
had her own thoughts yesterday. Since then she had had time to think about it
all. She had been about to start the conversation but Brandon stood up.
?
She looked to Brandon as he spoke about following orders, not being a
good leader and apologizing for his behavior. He then sat down. Kat could smell
his worry when he looked to Ireland. She would talk with him later.
?
Not seeing anyone standing right away she stood. She looked to Brandon
and smiled. "I except your apology. Though I personally do not think you
did to bad of a job. Seeing how none of us really knew each other¡¯s powers that
well before the tests. And none of us have ever worked together before
yesterday either." She turned to look at Chord and Harrison. "I do
understand what you were trying to do yesterday. Though I truly think that the
last part of the testing yesterday was a bit overkill." She then sat down.
?
(Gen)
Gen busied himself with digging into his plates of food as the others
drifted into the room. He winked at Kites when the winged youth chose the seat
to Gen's left, but otherwise kept his display of affection to what he'd read
would be considered a discreet minimum. And he smiled and said a cheerful
"Good morning" to Ireland when she sat in the seat to his right.
Glancing around the table, the androgyne made a quick study of the others. He
knew he wasn't good yet at reading faces and body language but he could only
learn by trying. Kat seemed upbeat, much like her usual self. Brandon seemed to
be subdued. Mia gave the impression of being cheerful and yet disapproving,
both at the same time.
?
Chord then gave a little talk, saying he wanted to know how they all
felt about yesterday. Brandon proceeded to go first, so Gen just listened as
the man stood, said his behavior had been unbecoming of a leader, and then sat
down again. Gen wasn't sure what to make of that, except for the thought that
it apparently took very little to shake Brandon's confidence.
?
Kat stood up next, said her brief piece, trying to make Brandon feel
better and let Chord know what she thought of the test in fairly mild terms,
then sat down again. Gen immediately wanted to chime in and stood up.
?
"Yesterday sucked, Mister Chord," the androgyne said. He
nodded to Kat as he added "And 'overkill' is definitely the right word for
it."? Looking back to Chord and Harrison, he went on. "I don't
know much about a lot of things, but I do know something about training. I went
through several different kinds at the lab. And I know that 'training' does
_not_ mean putting someone in a Mars lander with no manual and telling them
they've got five minutes before impact with the planet's surface. Which is kind
of what you did to us yesterday. So it shouldn't be any surprise that we
crashed and burned."
?
Gen paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then went on. "I
_want_ to be here. I want to be a part of this group. And I'll do whatever it
takes for that to happen. But you need to do better too, sir. Anyway, that's
_this_ lab rat's opinion, for what it's worth." The androgyne sat down
again and listened to see what Kites and Mia might have to add.
?
(Kites)
Kites was none too happy to have reached his turn to speak.? As
inviting as Chord tried to make it to get them to talk about yesterday, he was
still butthurt about the way they all got scolded.? A very sick feeling
welled in his stomach, like bile that was stuck in his throat, but he swallowed
his bitterness down and stood up, causing the chair to scrape against the floor
as he straightened out.? Bringing a fist to his face, he coughed to clear
his pipes and then looked up, letting his hand drop back down to his
side.? He hoped that he was able to fake enough confidence to not look
like a coward.? In truth, he was quite nervous and a bit shaky.? It
felt as if the whole world's attention was on him.
?
"I...agree with everyone's comments.? The bar was set
impossibly high and to expect us to know what it is and act as if we have years
of experience, is too much to ask of people who at this point have never met
before nor were familiar with each other," he said, trying to keep the
jitters out of his voice.? The last part was a bit of a lie.? As of
last night, he and Gen had gotten wicked familiar with each other, something he
had hoped that'd do more and more in the future.? But that was neither
here nor there.? He stealthily nudged Gen's foot, his mouth threatening to
curl into a smile but he held back with all his might.? "That being
said, I too want to be here.? We all signed up for this and I'm pretty
sure that none of us want to give up just because yesterday was a bust.? I
hope that you won't give up on us either...*cough* That's all I want to say for
now."? With that, he sat back down and dug into his food.? He wanted
to reach for Gen under the table, to grab hold of his hand, but he
refrained.? Better keep his own affectations to a minimum as he was sure
that their slightest movements would be noticed by Chord's watchful eyes.
?
(Mia)
Mia had listened to Brandon¡¯s apology then the other¡¯s input of
yesterday not being fair and what not.? She understood what Mr. Chord and
Ms. Harrison were doing.? It seemed like it was her turn and she
stood.??¡°Well, Mr. Chord and Ms. Harrison, I understood for the most
part what you were trying to do yesterday.? We,¡± she gestured around the
table, ¡°did not seem to understand as a whole what was going on.? The
first part with working through the different obstacles, that was understood
and everyone worked as they were supposed to.? Individually at first, then
as a team.? The second part with the robots just seemed a bit, too much at
that time.? Granted, Brandon tried to tell us what to do and informed us
of what he knew about the bots.? But then everyone tried to take things
into their own hands more or less.? I did follow what Kat suggested, but
until I became covered in wet mud, I didn¡¯t realize the bots could read heat
signatures.??As soon as I realized it was a losing battle and the one
couldn¡¯t find me, I decided the best course of action was to retreat.?
Then Gen decided to send off some kind of screeching that was not conducive and
more or less almost deafened us all.??All in all, yes, I understand
that you all,¡± she looked at the team around the table, ¡°felt it was overkill
and too much.? So, did I, however, the team efforts that we had put in on
the obstacle course was suddenly gone and everyone seemed to panic.? And
that is what Mr. Chord and Ms. Harrison were doing.? They wanted to see
what we would do in a sudden attack.? And well, we failed
miserably.¡±?? With that she sat back down.
?
(Ireland, Chord, Harrison)
?
When Mia was done speaking she wanted to clap and shout yes! Finally
someone who got it. But even though that was her character, even though that¡¯s
how she felt saying that would have been totally out of line. So she remained
quiet.?
?
She also didn¡¯t take her turn to speak ¡°I was not in the room during
the exercise so I don¡¯t think it would add to the conversation for me to speak
my thoughts on yesterday¡± she said softly.
?
Which was true. She didn¡¯t think anyone wanted to hear how she thought
they were all sexed crazed teenagers who were squandering an mass opportunity.
?
She wondered if Kat and Kites realized just how telling their behavior
and innuendos were as they sat. It was a small conference room and they were
all sitting at the same table. You would have to deaf and blind not see what
was going on with them.
?
Even Brandon. Did he really just send her a text while sitting there.
Really dude? She was a bit surprised when she saw him looking down at something
under the table and realized it was his phone when her phone vibrated against
her back side.
?
God...this guy.
?
?
It made her wonder just how old everyone was. They all seemed so young
and a bit immature...everyone but Mia. She actually seemed to be the most
mature out of all of them...even her..even more so than Brandon and he was
older than all of them and had been with Chord the longest.
?
When everyone was finish speaking Chord¡¯s deep thoughtful brown eyes
meet Harrison¡¯s across the table. Although the look the two shared was
unreadable, it would be obvious in the room that the two shared a moment.?
?
After a beat, he nodded his head. And steepled his hands. ¡°I just want
you all to know that I appreciate what all of you have said here
today.??Really I do. We asked you to speak up because we wanted to
hear your thoughts on the matter. Find out where all of your heads are. Thank
you all for sharing so freely.?
?
¡°Mia is right.??In everything she said. I explained that very
same sentiment after Gen¡¯s expressed her feelings yesterday. Thank you Mia, for
not just hearing me but for taking the time to understand me through whatever
hurt feelings my unfiltered honesty may have caused.¡±?He nodded a soft smile
to Mia.?
?
¡°With that being said, After yesterday and last night and today,
Harrison and I have come to a decision.¡± He paused?
?
¡°We have decided to disband this program effective
immediately.??We realize that what we want for this program, what we
want to accomplish is not properly lining up with the thoughts, ideas, goals,
values and interest in the way we would like.?Knowing this, having a full
understanding of the current and potential conflict this clash would cause if
we continued would not be conducive to the necessary team growth needed to form
strong long lasting bonds of trust, camaraderie and confidence between you and
I and Ms Harrison and that would just be unfair and cruel to all of you.
Contrary to what some of you may think. Cruel is never what I aspire to be...
with anyone.
?
¡°Thank you all for the time that you have given. I truly appreciate it.
It was a pleasure to meet all of you. My door is always open if you should need
anything.?
?
Please stay and have your fill of breakfast. Whatever is left you are
welcome to take with you. The clothing that has been provided for you for this
week is yours to keep if you want it. so is the food in the mini bars. A car
will be provided to you within the hour to take you anywhere in the city you
would like to go.?
?
Godspeed and Good Luck with you for you future endeavors. ¡°
?
And with that he stood and moved towards where Harrison was sitting.
She was about to speak, but Chord shook his head. And with that Harrison sighed
softly and also stood.
?
Harrison nodded to the occupants of the table and moved to fall into
step beside Chord. As she moved past Mia, she handed the young woman an
envelope. Chord opened the door held it open so that she could pass through and
then the two left.
?
Ireland looked up at Brandon. She was stunned but not at all surprised
by what just happened.
?
wow. Wow. The three of you are just something else. And Brandon I am so
disappointed in you.¡±
?
She said she was going to keep her thoughts to herself. Damn but she
failed miserably with that one.
?
?
?
Brandon looked at his sister and she seemed to want to go
all in.? ¡°Thank you!¡±? Was all he said as he stood up and left the
room.? He made his way to his room.? Seemed his actions had really created more of
a problem than anything.? He was not a natural
born leader, he had try to put forth more effort.? He didn¡¯t trust himself to lead beyond his
head or his inner turmoil or his penis.?
Since his father, his sister and Harrison seemed to believe that is
where he was leading from.?
He wasn¡¯t but that was neither here nor there, he had caused the rest of the
group to lose what could have been a golden opportunity for all of them and he
had single handedly messed it up and Ireland was even more disappointed in
him.? Which was fine.? He lived in that place recently what was one
more person being disappointed with him.?
Right now he just felt the need to get away.
Of all of them only Mia got the fact or stated that they had all failed to see
the bigger picture.? All he could do was
apologize for his part.
He went to see his father, the best or the most he could do
was give the rest of the group a chance.?
Ireland deserved to be here and she made it pretty clear she was a
better leader than him.? He would leave
the team if it would give the others a chance to be better without him.
Tag: Kat, Gen, Kites, Mia, Ireland, Chord and Harrison,
Brandon