glas y city

[glassea]

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once amity, now erudite


xxxxxxnot fun? this person took his faction choice just as seriously as fun? lydia knew people like that. she didn't like them much. but as the only other non-erudite lydia supposed they would be pushed otgether for many things. may as well get to know each other. jett seemed awkward talking, speaking his mind. odd for a candor. they couldn't keep their mouths shut if their lives depended on it. but he's not candor. he's erudite. i'm erudite. the realization was just starting to sink in - that lydia would not be part of a close-knit group ever again, that she would never identify herself as an amity. they saw her as a traitor now. there was no turning back. "well," lydia said brightly, "it sounds quite different. are you worried about erudite initiation, though? i know i am." changing the subject to keep the peace. her amity side was kicking in again out of habit. lydia forced herself to stop blabbering and wait for a response. she was trying to stop talking, while obviously jett didn't seem to talk enough. time to trade off.
xxxxxxin reality, lydia was incredibly worried about initiation. she'd only ever seen amity's initiation - something almost everyone passed easily. and everyone knew abnegation's initiation was a joke. the other factions were more secretive, but it made sense to assume that the initiation of each faction would define the values they held dear. erudite's would be something to do with intelligence. lydia was easily sure of that. she'd figured it out long ago. what lydia did worry about was fitting in and catching up. the other erudite kids who hadn't transferred had been training their whole lives for this moment. lydia had not. she'd been giggling like an idiot with the other amity girls. a flash of anger rose up - against her old faction, the one that had taught her nothing - and she pushed it back down before remembering it was okay to express anger now. see, there was the problem! lydia kept acting like amity. if she kept that up, then she'd never be in the right mindset for erudite initiation. in frustration, lydia hissed out a breath between her lips. it felt nice to be able to do that instead of bottling up all her negative emotions inside. this was a race against time - to stop being amity in time to pass her initiation.

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-------jet found himself liking lydia, against his immediate will. she seemed so laid back, though he could tell the bubbly amity girl she put on display was a lie. after all, candors' were taught from a young age how to tell if somebody is lying or faking anything. she definitely was. maybe it was the way she had to take a moment to figure out what to say. somebody with a genuine personality never had to do that. she was analyzing what she needed to say -- what would be the most logical. it was an interesting trait to observe, but then again, they were both meant for erudite.
------- "it's very different," he agreed, turning back to the open door. what else could he say? his old faction already began to fade from his memory, and was being replaced by this girl. jett felt the train begin to slow and he absently jabbed lydia's side with his elbow, gesturing to the slowing landscape with a jerk of his head. "time to go."
------- within seconds, the train was going a little less than three miles per hour, right outside the erudite compound. he stood, and upon leaning against the doorframe, felt a pair of hands shove him from behind. jett toppled out of the train, landing on his back. he gained the sense to roll away from the train tracks before other initiates landed on top of him. Swearing bitterly and brushing bits of gravel off his clothes, jett stood and looked through the crowd of initiates for lydia.

[glassea]

ＬＹＤＩＡ ＢＡＩＮＥ
once amity, now erudite


xxxxxxthey'd finally arrived at the erudite compound. lydia was equal parts relieved and terrified. she was relived because the awkward train ride was over, what with her and jett being surrounded by all the silent erudite kids. but she was terrified because - well, she was about to begin her initiation. god help her. she doesn't hear jett's last words through the buzzing sound in her ears she gets when she's scared or nervous. but lydia gets up and follows him blindly out of the train - that is, until the erudite kid in front of her plants her hands on jett's back and shoves. it goes against all of lydia's amity instincts. you didn't push someone! but lydia wasn't about to confront the smug-looking girl anyways. peace was the answer, not conflict. "nice shot, jess," says an erudite boy next to the girl. lydia glares at the girl - jess - with all the anger she dares muster. then she winds through the crowd and stands next to jett; not a habit this time, but honestly concerned for his well-being. she likes him okay. he's not bad for a candor.
xxxxxx"you okay?" lydia asked. jett seemed fine; at least his mouth's working well. lydia winced automatically at the stream of expletives that left his mouth. that would be a yes. lydia glanced through the crowd, looking for jess, but she's vanished into the crowd somewhere. lydia turns automatically and begins following them, right in the middle of the pack so as not to draw attention to herself. she needn't have bothered. her amity clothes stand out easily against the erudite blue of the other initiates. there's no way someone could mistake her for an erudite. this theory is proved correct when a boy brushes past her a bit harder than needed. "transfer," he hisses, derogatory. lydia felt the annoyance rising up inside of her and shoots him a look. she's getting good at killer stares.
xxxxxxthe initiates flood past a ginat sculpture shaped like a bean. lydia's reflection in the mirror is distorted and wavy. she's never seen it like that before, and looks at herself curiously. obviously the distortion affected the light hitting the bean, which bounced off... lydia shook her head. focus was needed now. realizing she'd left jett behind, she turned to look for him, standing on her tiptoes in the crowd, which has come to a stop outside of a larger building with modern-looking windows and stainless steel supports everywhere. this must be erudite hq.

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-------jett's hand swept through his hair while his mind tried to get it's temper under control. all he wanted to do was figure out who did that, and get back at them, but that's what a candor child would do. he was going to be an erudite man. jett didn't need harsh and flawed logic clouding his thoughts. just let it go, he told himself. he turned to lydia, rubbing his wrists ruefully -- they collected most of his weight when he fell -- and gave a wry smile. "Could have been worse, right?" he had to at least try to keep an upbeat attitude; jett refused to allow the nasty erudites the upper hand. besides -- if they were smart, they wouldn't mess with him. he may be erudite, but it takes a lot to undo sixteen years of candor.
------- "Did you, uh ... land okay?" jett winced at how awkward that sounded, but what else could he have said? nice fall, hope you had a good trip? he shrugged and turned away, looking through the wall of one color that he seemed to stick out of brutally. as soon as they got back to the compound, he wanted a change of clothes. as he was feeling a bit alienated, he felt lydia misstep. jett spun around, and watched an erudite-born fade away into the crowd. when he caught a glimpse of lydia's face, jett was genuinely surprised -- he had no idea an amity was capable of any kind of haughty stares. "Be smart about it," he warned quietly. she would know what he meant.
------- jett felt lost all of a sudden. the solid color that flowed around him didn't flow with him and it was upsetting. he felt segregated, picked out. it was an odd feeling, especially because for your entire first sixteen years of life, you're taught you'll always belong somewhere, no matter what. you're told that it won't matter where you fit in, because when you get there, there are always hundreds of others just like you. you fit within five factions -- five homes. you'll always belong. but what everybody forgets to mention is that when you don't feel you belong where you were born, everybody else thinks you're weird, an oddity. they assume you don't have a mind like they do, because you weren't raised the same way. you aren't true to the faction like they were. again and again, the faction he pushed himself to go to was proving he was strange. first he was shoved off a train. then lydia was pushed. when would the cruelties end?
------- lost in his thoughts, jett drifted away from lydia, only realizing her already familiar company left his side. eye-level with the tops of most initiates heads', jett looked among the crowd, spying a few blond heads. three, to be precise, and two of them were in blue. the final girl who might resemble the ex-amity was standing in front of a mirror, staring at the reflection. jett pressed through the crowd to get within earshot. "Looking for something?"

[glassea]

ＬＹＤＩＡ ＢＡＩＮＥ
once amity, now erudite


xxxxxxlydia turned from goggling at the bean and building [not knowing which was more impressive - or just plain weird] at the sound of jett's voice. frankly, he looked rather relieved to see her and lydia felt the same. they might have come from different factions, but now they were both the outsiders. best to stick together - especially if all the erudite initiates were rude to transfers. there had to be some good-hearted people in erudite, right? there were good and bad people in every faction. except, maybe, for her original faction or abnegation; where everyone was trained to be good. "no, not in particular. i've just never seen anything like..." she used her hands to wave around wildly at the whole area to demonstrate its novelty. she'd never seen anything like any of it, really; except from afar. and it was far different up close. "...this," she finished lamely.
xxxxxxjett seemed nonplussed by what lydia was saying. in fact, he seemed to be totally in control of himself, despite all that had happened - being pushed off the train and mouthed off at by the jerk erudites. lydia envied that. she wasn't sure how to keep her positive emotions from spilling over. the negative feelings were easier to hide, as she'd been doing that her whole life. but lydia had always been taught to wear her heart on her sleeve. now she envied jett's apparent calm and collected behavior.
xxxxxx"shall we continue?" lydia asked, waving in the general direction of the mass of blue. they were now towards the back of the pack instead of the middle - probably safer, lydia thought. she for one didn't feel the need to raise more conflict. she turned on her heel and headed towards the rest of the transfers, who all seemed to know where they were going. she glanced back a few times to make sure jett kept up. the transfer were headed into the central and biggest building of the skyscrapers that now surrounded them on all sides. lydia wasn't sure what exactly they would do once inside, but she bet they'd have to listen to a speech or something. ugh. speeches. she'd never liked lectures. lydia was more of a hands-on person. she liked doing her own research her own way. that had earned her a lot of glares from teachers when she was younger. as she matured, however, lydia had begun to realize her behavior was causing conflicts and she'd stopped. just another reason why she didn't really belong in amity. her mindset was definitely more erudite than anything else.

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------- jett's smile returned to his face -- of course they hadn't ever seen anything like it. it was an erudite ... building. if that's what it could be classified as. jett smirked, and turned back to the crowd, nodding eagerly. she was right. everything was foreign and he wanted to learn as much about everything as he could -- like a true erudite. jett rubbed his wrists absently and stared at the building next to the transfer. the bean building, he automatically nicknamed it, would probably be a landmark and maybe if he wanted to leave -
------- lydia's voice dragged him away from his thoughts. "yeah, sure," he said, turning to walk. jett was getting lost in his thoughts a lot, he noticed. why he did, it wasn't for sure. maybe it was because of the sudden changes all in one day -- switching factions, befriending an ex-amity, rudeness from the erudites -- that jett couldn't help but wish he could just stop and think about what was going on for once. but as his feet continually hit the pavement, he realized it wouldn't be possible just yet. he needed to absorb everything before even thinking about stopping. if he stopped, he would seem weak, non absorbent. if he kept going, and proved his toughness, the erudites may or may not finally accept him. that's all jett wanted; to belong where he knew he could thrive.
------- there was a lot to do.
------- jett's steps unintentionally synced with lydia's -- something your brain tends to do -- while he walked next to her in the back of the erudite pack. he was okay with that, because it was fewer shoulders to bump into, fewer glares and fewer snide whispers with fingers pointing at them. he frowned as the erudites who actually knew the place wandered into the front lobby, and began dividing the transfers from the natural-borns. "Oh, thank god," jett muttered as he and lydia were pulled apart from the group. he thought they might be lucky enough to get a tour.

[glassea]

ＬＹＤＩＡ ＢＡＩＮＥ
once amity, now erudite


xxxxxxlydia was kind of relieved when they entered the building and the call of an older man [he'll end up being the overseer of their training] directed them to the right, and the non-transfers to the left. the small group of transfers stood in the shadow of a column in the otherwise well-lit, spacious lobby. this place was amazing. erudite members hurried about in groups, talking under their breath, barely glancing up at the group of transfers. "oh, thank god," she heard jett say behind her. lydia turned to survey him and the rest of the transfers. there were three dauntless, two girls and a guy, looking out-of-place in their severe black getup. obviously, there were no amity nor abnegation. as for candor... nope, no candor either. this was a very small group, with most of the transfers - surprisingly - being from dauntless. lydia had never associated the two factions before. bravery and wisdom simply didn't go together in her mind. wasn't blindly saving someone other than yourself illogical? especially if you didn't know the person. it just didn't make sense to her.
xxxxxx"not all that many people," lydia said aside to jett. she wasn't about to address this whole group, no matter how small it was.
xxxxxx"right," said the man, clapping his hands. "this is erudite initiation. i'm not going to welcome you because this will be one of the hardest things in your life, so don't get too comfy. my name is bart, and i'll be the one in charge of the transfers this year." he surveyed all of them as if they were meat. lydia felt like squirming under his piercing gaze, but didn't. no need to draw attention to herself. "let me make this very clear to all of you. you are behind. the others have been training their whole lives for this, and your gap in knowledge will not be taken into consideration when we determine who becomes a full member. yes, some of you will not make it. you will become factionless." he waited for that to sink in. was it lydia's imagination, or did his gaze linger on her amity clothing a bit longer than the rest of them? she shivered. bart gave her the creeps. "right this way," he was saying, gesturing towards an archway that led from the main lobby. iydia followed numbly behind jett, panicking all over again.

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------- jett stared at the three other transfers, surprised at their clothing. dauntless, huh? dauntless rarely transferred like the abnegation, but for different reasons. the abnegation were raised to only think about others whereas the dauntless were generally reckless and didn't think things through before doing them. these three were in for a shock.
------- jett looked towards lydia with an eyebrow raised -- what was next? "no, there aren't. this is kind of weird. i expected more transfers. maybe two or three more?" he seemed to receed inside a shell of thought as the gears in his head turned rapidly. not only were there so few transfers but where was their instru - oh, nevermind, jett thought as a man quickly introduced himself and began rattling off. he listened intently but by the time bart finished speaking, all jett wanted to do was stand up and yell, "oh, so just because we're from a different faction, we're automatically stupid?!" but he resisted. he would not succumb to their antics that were meant to break down the initiates. he plainly refused. jett would play it cool and show this man what he's got, and that he's not to be taken for granted.
------- jett sensed lydia getting nervous all over again. he followed bart through the archway and down the long hallway, passing several rooms labeled things like "Neuroscience", and "Geneology". words jett thought he knew but wasn't positive of their meanings and the associated studies. "This, transfers, is where most of your studies will be done." bart said without pausing to let the transfers search the area. he merely kept walking down the hall, allowing jett to briefly look inside a room through the glass doors and windows. what he saw instantly mesmerized him; computers and technology and beakers and other instruments he had never seen were just sitting on shelves and desks, calling out to be used. he wanted to stop right then and there to search the room and discover what everything did and what their function was and how he could use them in everyday life but there was absolutely no time. he needed to continue. "Did you see all that?" he whispered to lydia.

[glassea]

ＬＹＤＩＡ ＢＡＩＮＥ
once amity, now erudite


xxxxxx"did you see all of that?" hisses jett in lydia's ear. but lydia's distracted by an odd instrument - a white, tall base with four blades at the top that rotated slowly as the air of its passage down the hallway bushed the blades. the people wheeling it along didn't seem at all interested by it; in fact, they paid little attention to it. but at the base a lightbulb sputtered - the more the blades turned, the more sparks the bulb emitted. lydia was fascinated, although she had no idea what it was or what it was used for. "see what?" she asked, turning to jett. whoops. her voice echoed in the long hallway, maginfying its sound. lydia winced. but no one seemed at all fazed by it. the dauntless kids were chatting amongst themselves as they headed down the hallway. and bart just walked ahead, not turning to look back at them. not a single person paid lydia any attention. "there's a lot to see," she pointed out a bit more quietly. there really was. the lab doors were closed, but lydia could peek in through the windows; a peek she did. one room with a projector had the galaxy turning on a domed ceiling. planeterium, read the sign. "this place is amazing."
xxxxxxthey turn down yet another whitewashed hallway, this one with no windows in the doors. bart was talking again. "here's the offices of the erudite officials. you must remain quiet in this hallway..." here he gave the still-talking dauntless kids a glare. they didn't seem to pay any attention to bart. not smart at all. lydia's opinion of them lowered even more. "...so as not to disturb them. you won't be in here much, i hope, for your own sakes." this hall was a lot shorter than the last, and they reached the end quickly. "now," bart said in his wheezy voice, turning to face the geoup trailing behind, "this is the dormitory hallway. it's where you'll be staying. transfers stay seperately from the non-transfers. you will not be studying together, but you will be ranked on the same level in the final evaluation. only the top forty percent of initiates will be accepted as full members." only the top forty percent? there weren't even a hundred initiates. lydia's chances, already minute, shrank even further. why had she done this again? because you like to learn, said that persistent little voice in the back of her head.

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------- jett turned towards lydia, and followed her gaze to a complex machine he was dying to get a closer look at. "The room we get to study in! it's amazing!" he whispered furiously.
------- jett and lydia followed old bart down a hall he forced himself to remain silent in, despite the dauntless initiate's immediate disobedience. jett sighed, wondering if it was possible to teach a rebel anything when their walk down silent lane was finished, and they were shown their sleeping quarters. it was all white, just like the rest of the place; a sterile, blank, colorless white. but it wasn't different from the candor halls back home. here, the only difference was there was an occasional blue blanket, pillow, tile, or other inanimate object to break the stark brightness. his eyes adjusted to the lights by the time bart led them to another, shorter hallway. where they would stay. jett knew all about the candor initiate's living quarters; they all stayed in one giant room, with no furniture. only a few sleeping bags, so they would all have to begin being honest with each other. they would have nothing to hide, so why would they need a separate room for changing or using the bathroom? it had always disgusted jett, so he was happy he wouldn't be forced to do that with the other four transfers.
------- he barely caught the rest of bart's message; only the top forty out of all the initiates made it into erudite. only the brightest. only the best. jett would be sure he made it into Erudite, even if he struggled for it. he would best the others. he would come out on top. "Choose a room," bart said. "It will be your home for now." with nothing more, he walked away. jett watched as the dauntless took to the end of the hallway, and each selected a room, all close to each other. "I'm not going anywhere near them," he muttered, choosing a dorm room as far away from them as possible. "What about you?"