The jail was not the place she’d expected for her final test. But then again, the other assessments had been odd at times, too. The first had been the most normal, living up to her expectations. The second had been a rather sudden practical test with next to no notice, right within their HQ.
[break][break]
And as such, she had multiple ideas as to what this might be all about. Yet, she tried to not commit to any of those and just keep her mind open as she approached the jail wearing the Rocket uniform she’d been given. It certainly was not her usual style, but it was probably fitting for this, if nothing else.
[break][break]
As she did, she noticed a big, scary man leaning near the entrance. That was probably her guide this time around. “Good evening. Violet Fairbanks, reporting for duty,” she simply announced herself, trying to be professional even if his demeanour was not exactly guiding anyone in that direction.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Ah, Miss Fairbanks. It wasn’t much, but it was a small measure of recognition at least. She liked that. But for now, she just nodded and followed. That was her job here. Go, follow orders, pass tests, maybe even impress someone. It was just that, but that alone was already plenty.
[break][break]
Though naturally, she didn’t just blindly do that. She was not applying for Grunt work here, after all. SPECTRA was so much more. And her role in it would likely be in intelligence. Hence, she remained alert at all times, observing the areas they moved through, making a mental place of the map, taking notes of exits and things that could be utilized.
[break][break]
Of course, this being a prison, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of that. They were meant to not have a lot of exit strategies or anything a potential escapee might be able to use. As was, this was a well-done one, as far as her superficial observations could tell.
[break][break]
Then they arrived. One Cell, one Chair, one prisoner. One gun. Violet simply took it first, without even really thinking. It was a tool being handed over. One she had not used before, but she was used to that in and of itself. It was only in the moments after that she blinked, the gravity of the task sinking in.[break][break]
Naturally, she had played roles for too long to get thrown completely off balance just by that. First, she did what she always did when startled like that – fall back on something she knew.
[break][break]
In this case, that was proper care and preparation. Just because you were handed a gun did not mean it was all in order. She had dissected a few of those while in RnD. She knew the basics. Hence, she first ran a thorough check whether it was functional, loaded and not tempered with much. It was proper procedure, as far as she knew.
[break][break]
All of that, just so her mind could ponder the question that was as simple as it was direct: how did she make Rocket proud here. A quick, decisive action? Asking the proper questions first to see if there was a hidden meaning behind the test? After all, the last test had involved doing something dangerous, yet ultimately meaningless. She just could not find an answer.
[break][break]
Hence, she distracted herself with a question as she checked the weapon. “I never executed anyone before. Anything in particular I should know? I don’t want to make too much of a mess.” That cell did not exactly look like it had seen a ton of executions before, after all. Though maybe the clean-up crew here was simply very good at their jobs.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Oh, right. Her clothes. Those would get dirty. She should change.[break][break]
….[break][break]
Or maybe not. This was Rocket. This was what she had chosen. Giving in now would ruin everything. Buying more time by changing would do nothing. No matter how much she thought about it, the choice was binary. Pull the trigger and succeed, don’t pull it and give up. Sure, she could think more about it, try to approach it from every angle, but things would remain as this. It was that simple.
[break][break]
This was just going through the motions. Think it through over and over so she could later say she gave it all the thought she could. Even though she could never actually achieve anything with it. She could never say with certainty what would happen if she made this choice one way or another. It was impossible to improve this by thinking more of it. She was just pretending to do so. Not even for this man’s sake. It was for her own. She could pretend that it was also about what those close to her might think of it. How Elaine Highland would think about even talking to a murderer.
[break][break]
But that was all just about her own benefit. Just about how she was perceived. And she was living a life of lies stacked upon lies anyway. She could just wear another mask to hide this all away. Or she could pretend. Or she could pull the trigger.
[break][break]
Which she did, with a suddenness that even shocked herself the moment she did it. She hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding her breath, aiming at the heart. There was a certain amount of shock just from that sudden noise, she found herself reflexively looking away when she did so, in part out of surprise, in part because she expected something to come her way.
[break][break]
Vio did not want it to get into her eyes. She did not mind the clothes though. Deep down, she wanted to create permanent reminder for herself.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Just a click. Pah. She immediately felt insulted. It helped because that let her ignore the question as to whether she was relieved over this or disappointed. Or both, of course. It was always very difficult to tell, after all. This kind of high pressure situation always called for some level of disassociation. And nothing helped with that but a distraction.
[break][break]
Frankly, she was too busy with herself to even notice those pleas. All she had was that distraction for now, even as she watched the weapon in her hand be replaced with another, more intimate one. All of that she could watch dispassionately. Because he was talking. She could already tell a few things about him, at least what he presented. Her mind liked to focus on such things instead of more agonizing matters. And from what she could tell, this man was one of those that loved their own voice. And, apparently one who liked to cause pain.
[break][break]
But then again, he just screwed with her. Now she had to question everything for further screwing. It gave her mind even more to do, more opportunity to disassociate as she moved forward, behind that man. It would be less bothersome for both of them if he could not see her and beg more. “I always thought figured that a dying man’s thoughts of his enemies are meaningless. I am trained as a spy, I only project strength when there is actual benefit to it.” Appearing weak did have its upsides, after all. “And the agony of a dying man is equally pointless. To me at least. If you want to make him suffer more, go ahead. But I have been trained to be efficient and, to an extent, dispassionate in these matters.” [break][break]
She took a bit of a breath after that. It was always risky to tell off a superior, even in such a minor way. But she felt that it was prudent here. Not just because that gave her time to keep her grip on that thing steady and figure out how to actually do this. But also because he had just declared himself untrustworthy. “I might be ambitious, but you just messed with me, so I can’t be sure you won’t try again. So, I would proceed to do this by the book, if that is alright with you.”
[break][break]
If he insisted she did it his way, well, she probably would. But after the gun fake out, she just had to at least get him to restate that as a proper and direct order. After all, her second test had been stealing something the instructor had planted to begin with, now this one had tampered with the gear he was giving her. Figuring out the layers to this test was important. If he failed her for making sure of that, he'd just show himself a problematic instructor to begin with.
[break][break]
Plus, it was a good distraction.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It….really wasn’t the first time she had been in this situation. Well, not in this exact one, of course. But an older man giving her a knife and ordering her to put a living being down? That was not the first time. Only this was not an injured Pokemon they would not be able to help out in the woods. And this man was not her father. Though she was already considering him in a similar fashion, given his attitude and role.
[break][break]
Which probably was not a good thing for either of them.
[break][break]
At the very least, she seemingly took the fun out of it for him. A minor victory maybe, but she took those where she could. She was petty like that, really. It did nothing to rationally improve her situation though. That was still a do or die kind of situation. There might not exactly have been a threat to her life, but she knew that washing out of Spectra training this late into the game would not exactly lead to blissful meadows, either.
[break][break]
Plus, she wanted this. Not necessarily this action in particular, but what it was all about. Unlike back then in the woods when she had only done it to please a man she could never truly live up in expectations, this was cut and dry. Do it, succeed. Don’t and don’t. Plus, she actually wanted this, unlike becoming a ranger.
[break][break]
There just was no other way. So, she would use the knowledge imparted in her. Part of her training had been how to most efficiently kill someone, after all. For the kind of work she was to be utilized for, that was the way. She had trained for this, only with the expectation that if she had to do it, the other party would fight back. But she could still simply remember those training dummies. She took aim on the human, then closed her eyes as she moved, stabbing him in the most efficient spot that one would not just research on the internet. Vio did imagine the training dummy, even though she knew it was the real deal. But it helped, allowing her to put in the necessary force and drive regardless.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Detached. Yes, that was a good word. She tried to be. That was why she put a lot of effort into controlling her hands. They wanted to shake. But she couldn’t. Pretending was her greatest strength, after all. She could do so now, for a while. That man was distracting himself, after all, clearly being in love with himself and his own reasonings and voice. He probably did not even need her here at all. Anyone or anything he could talk at would probably do.
[break][break]
Or maybe she was just internally balking at all of this, even as she pulled the blade back and handed it to him, uncleaned. That was his job. He’d wanted a mess, so he could clean it up. “I don’t mind wariness or caution. But I mind people thinking me stupid enough to try something foolish like that,” she replied as she passed him. It probably was not what was souring her mood here, but it was a convenient enough scapegoat. She could fixate on that. It was something she could righteously be irked by.
It was perfect. Still, she did not linger. She passed and he was giving her leave. That was all that mattered. Both because she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts for a bit and because less simply was more in this instance, she believed. That way, she would probably come across as cold-blooded.
[break][break]
Which likely was not a bad thing. Still, she did not feel as joyous as she really should have had for passing. Just, well, detached. For whatever that was worth.
[break][break]

+ dorian westcliff

[attr="class","pokeclass"]