Not a Gift.

"Brendyn Locke?"

When his name was called, a teenage boy lifted his head among the line of adolescents, raising one hand in a gesture of recognition. The boys on either side of him, one who appeared much younger, glanced at him but quickly returned their gazes towards the officer calling the names, seemingly uninterested. The boy preferred it that way, almost shrinking away from the attention.

The man on the platform made a little note on his board and continued calling names, his voice amplified by some sort of magic or technology impossible to place. Not that he really needed it - the rows of children and young adults were still, silenced by something like respect and something like fear. Beside the officer stood two guards, rifles in their hands, and they weren't smiling. No one was smiling.

Brendyn didn't think it was going to be like this. He had heard stories of the places the 'talented' children went; happy stories, with happy endings. No one had told him that as soon as he was separated from his family (wistful cheek kisses and his mother dripping tears on his shoulder) he would be shuffled off to this platform, cold and without respite from the wind, with armed guards and grunted warnings. The name calling was taking ages, and at this point all he wanted was to climb into the big, steel machine behind them all that would take them to the school.

School. No, it was an academy. A big fancy academy. That was what they had said, that it was an academy and not a school. Whatever that meant.

Brendyn curled his fingers in the pockets of his sweater, starting to feel stiffness in his hands. He hated the cold. He just wished this attendence would finish.

An academy, they called it; this transportation did not remind Lisa of academies. The girl had only just lost her parents, and soon after that, she had been noticed by the government. She had been plucked off the streets, being told all sorts of nice stories about how she was going to an academy. It was bright, cheery, and fun there; she'd make friends and be happy! She was, needless to say, extremely skeptical of this. She had to be skeptical of this.

She heard the man on the platform say a name, Brendyn Locke; how many people were going to this academy anyway? She didn't think too much on that though; she scrunched her face up upon hearing the man's magnified voice. Did he really need it? Everyone was being completely silent right now...which further led to Lessa's reasoning that this was not an academy they were going to. If it were, why would all these people be so deathly silent? Wouldn't they be talking in jubilation?

They weren't, however, and there was good reason why they weren't; the guards on either side of the man.

"Lisa Wilow" she heard, trying to stop herself from correcting the man on how to pronounce it. It was pronounced like the word willow, not why-low. The twit... she told herself, before she spoke. "I'm here. Would you mind not shouting? We can hear you enough as it is." Lisa commented, not caring what they did in response. At the least, it was a small victory for her; and it would show them that she wasn't willing to listen quietly without any protest at all. She knew that if she did comply, that anything they did would get more and more harsh and unfair; the same held true if she rebelled though.

However, rebelling did give her one thing; satisfaction. Surely the man reading names might be a little upset at the attitude she was giving him. She did hope, however, that the guards didn't do something you might expect to see in a drama movie, such as point their gun at her and fire for speaking out of turn. Though, right now, that'd probably be preferable to wherever we're going she told herself.

Brendyn retreated as far into his clothing as he could, zipping his sweater higher and pulling the hood down lower, breathing into the collar. If he didn't think it would attract attention, he would have hopped up and down, but as it was he was too nervous to do anything of the sort. He didn't want to get shot or anything.

This place was so... barren. The platform was all steel and iron, and even off of that the area seemed dead. Plants were a sparse thing. Bendyn looked and could barely even find a single bush - something that made him very sad. He was useless without his plants. Useless.

Curious and feeling slightly agitated, Brendyn looked beside himself at the little boy, oddly emotionless in these circumstances. He wondered what unique quality this little boy posessed to have been brought here. Perhaps he could read minds or something. Maybe that was why he wasn't scared. He could... predict the future. Or something.

Suddenly, Brendyn sensed something changing in the air. The rhythm of names and answers had changed, like a broken link in a chain. Everyone was looking in one direction, so he decided to look that way too. Not that he knew what anyone was looking at.

The man on the platform, along with the guards beside him, were glaring at someone in the crowd, tensing their jaws and remaining silent. They looked right pissed, and the only thing Brendyn wished was that he had heard what the person in the crowd had said to them. The tension in the air was palpable, thick.

With a sound like a crack the administrater closed his board and handed it to one of the guards, then took a breath.

"Please arrange yourself on the trains - you can sit with whom you like, as you will be organised upon arrival."

Lisa was aware that everyone was staring at her; she ignored them, however. She, in turn, was staring at the administrator, wondering just what he might do. Beat her? Scold her? Tell her she was going to go without food for a week? While it was true she had only been on the streets for a little while before she had been found out by these people, whoever they were, she had learned that you must expect anything to happen.

Nothing like that happened, however; instead of doing anything too dramatic, all the man in charge did was close the board. Lisa was a bit disappointed, to be honest; if they had actually done anything, it would have given the other people here the courage needed to run away. At least, that was what she thought; it was certainly possible that fear would paralyze them as well.

Organized upon arrival...wonder what that's code for she thought suspiciously to herself after the man had stopped speaking. She had to admire him though; it wasn't often that people were able to maintain their self-control in front of her. She had the habit of making people want to tear their hair out.

Lisa glanced around at the others here; already they were doing as the man said, arranging themselves. She didn't want to sit with anyone weird, so she quickly glanced around for someone who looked safe. Her search ended when her eyes happened upon someone; she thought it was the boy called Brendyn, but she wasn't sure.

He looked like a safe choice when it came to people to sit next to. He was about her age, and he looked really, really average; the only thing that stood out about him was some birthmark he had. That, and a pierced right ear; still, she felt her attitude was more than enough to deal with him.

Lisa walked up to him and before long, she was speaking to him. “Do you mind if I sit next to you? If not, I guess I can understand your hesitation at wanting to sit next to someone as antagonistic as me.” she said to him, referring to what she had just said a little while ago to the administrator.