Steel Waste

Afton had just left the classroom that Doran had been teaching them in, he never really liked the lessons teaching the Codex, fortunately they were only done once a week to "reinforce" their loyalty. From Afton's observations "reinforce" meant "brainwash", there wasn't much he could do about it though, his life hinged on everyone thinking he believed in the almost cult-like Codex.

Shaking those thoughts from his head he walked into the cafeteria where Miles and Melissa were sat. He found a place next to them after receiving some food... Some kind of stew with potatoes and unidentifiable meat, if he had to guess it'd probably be Gekko due to how many there seemed to be outside.​​

"Afton!?" Melissa exclaims after seeing him sit with them.

"Yeah?" he replies, wondering what the big deal was.

"This is the first time we've seen you in weeks! I don't believe you were so busy that you couldn't visit us!" she continues.

Afton shrugs, "Yeah, I had some downtime here and there, I just didn't think it was worth distracting you from your studies. You did fail, remember?" he says, causing the duo to flinch as if they'd been jabbed.

"That's only because I forgot one of the test answers... Well, more than one-but that doesn't matter!" she quickly says before stuffing some food into her mouth.

"And you Miles, why'd you fail?" he ignores her and turns towards his other more timid friend.

"I-ah, I barely passed the theoretical test but came last in the physical... It's my bad, I couldn't move my legs when I saw the scorpions..." he mutters with a downtrodden expression.

Afton shakes his head, "I think you would have passed if you didn't stand there to hold the gate open, did you not see that it wouldn't lower even if you let go?"

Miles nods, "I did, but it looked very unstable... If it collapsed onto someone I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." he admits.

"You shouldn't worry about that, the Knights wouldn't construct something that could potentially kill their children, next time just concentrate on yourself. Becoming an Initiate is about proving your own strength, once you've passed the test you can then try be a team player." he explains, getting a small smile from Miles,.

The trio drops into a momentary silence as they eat their food, one which Melissa seemed to be offended by as she starts trying to strike up a conversation about literally everything, no matter how mundane it is.

Another voice is clearly audible from another table however, "Teacher said I was one of the most talented marksmen in our group, I hit my target half the time with a laser pistol, way better compared to you guys." an arrogant voice causes Afton's ears to perk up.

Afton took a small glance and spotted that it was Steve Lynch, one of the five that came first to receive water in the physical test. He was twelve years old and tall for his age, messy brown hair and a visibly strong build.

Most of his class usually sat next to each other, no matter if it was lunch, breakfast, or any other social event. He could hear Sandra Torres snort from the table, "Half your shots? He said 'Best in your group', not class. Me and Afton got personal tutoring from Senior Knight Ramos for a few hours, and are now able to hit the target most of the time." she says, knocking the braggart down a peg.

He seemed to not appreciate the challenge and shook his head, gesturing at Afton who was currently sat with Miles and Melissa, "I doubt an Initiate who still hangs out with children is any good at anything. I bet he still wets his bed." he loudly says, causing some of the table to laugh.

Melissa scowls and looks to Afton, "They're making fun of us, should we hit them?" she asks.

Afton shakes his head, "Why would we hit them? They're just hot air and don't seem to remember who came out ahead of them in all of the tests." he says loudly enough for them to hear.

Steve stands and glares over at them, "What was that Parker? You got something to say to me?" he asks threateningly, his height a head taller than Afton.

"No, but it sounds like you've got a lot to say to me, or are you only good for insulting me behind my back?" he remarks, not even looking at them and continuing to eat his stew.

Steve's face reddened at his words and he glanced behind him to see everyone else's reactions, he could see they were expecting him to do something, if not he'd lose face in-front of his peers... His pride was worth more than any punishment he'd received so he slowly started walking over to Afton, his hands balling into fists as he tried to psych himself up.

"You know Parker? I never did like you." he says as the adrenaline causes him to act, he makes a quick step forwards and tries to punch Afton in the side of his head from where he's sitting.

Afton knew this was coming and so leant back to avoid it, the punch ended up hitting Miles instead, angering him. He grabbed his tray and flung his bowl of stew at Steve's face, the hot liquid splashing over his face and causing him to shout in pain.

Afton took the opportunity to get out of his chair as Steve tried to wipe the stew from his face, muttering things about how he "Was going to pay for that". He couldn't help but think back to the lessons Veronica had drilled into him, the teen in-front of him was nowhere near her level, and looked almost comically unprepared due to his stance and posture.