:: training room ::

[[deleted user]]

Large room filled with various weapons.

[chloe ; a ghost]

Em was just sending the newest recruits out of the room, each one of them looking exhausted and completely out of breath. Good, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the group as they left the room. They're not broken, but they certainly aren't going to mess around again. She allowed herself a small sigh of satisfaction, but that was it. Her expression stayed neutral, but it was leaning towards being annoyed or frustrated. This particular group of rebels had thought it was a good idea to horse around while she wasn't looking. But Em, who practically had eyes in the back of her head, had caught them, and made them run laps for the rest of the training session, which was an hour. All of them looked absolutely gassed, but at least they were getting fit while being punished. The last of them had left the room, and Em was just about to begin her own training.

[[deleted user]]

Heleth walked into the training room, glancing back at the recruits leaving the room. "Well they look tired!" she said, grinning at Em. "Which is the best way to leave the training room, of course." She walked up to a punching bag, hitting it swiftly a few times. "I just wanted to train for a while here. Haven't in over 24 hours, work gets busy. But there's always time for training!" She kicked the bag twice, pretending the bag was a member of the Drive team. Needless to say, the bag made a loud thumping noise each time she kicked. "So there's a new mission tomorrow, I'm sending some Americana out to get more supplies from some new market. Somebody's trying to open a business in some empty building. Weird, if you ask me. Interested in going, or you wanna stick to the training?" Heleth asked, pausing in her attack on tthe punching bag to look at Em.

[chloe ; a ghost]

Em was about to pull out the locket she kept hidden underneath her clothing, the heart-shaped one that held a picture of the person she'd lost, when she heard a voice behind her. She froze for an instant, her hand dropping to her side and her face, which had softened, hardening immediately. She whirled around to see Heleth, the leader of the New Americana and ultimately her boss, and immediately bit her tongue to keep herself from saying what she was going to. "That's because they were messing around earlier. They ran laps for an hour straight," Em said dryly and matter-of-factly, shooting a glare towards the door that they exited through. "I was just about to do the same," she said, leaving off the words before I was so rudely interrupted. She shook out her wrists and began punching the bag next to Heleth's, her fists pounding the bag repeatedly> Every once in a while, she added a kick, but she was better with her feet than her hands, so she stuck to punches mostly. She had to build up her punching strength. "I'll go," she said, after only a moment's pause. "The recruits could probably use a break anyways." She flashed Heleth a small smile, a rare occurrence since he had died. God, why did everything have to come back to him?

[[deleted user]]

"Well, that's what they get for messing around. Can't mess around on a mission, or everybody winds up gone." Heleth said, a little more serious. "Great! We can always use a tough gal like you on the missions!" She started kicking the bag again, a different kick every time until she ran out and had to do the same kick again. It wasn't tiring, Heleth was used to all the fighting and training. She was still trying to decide whether or not to go on the next mission herself. She was really busy...but this was a mission...Em would be there at the mission, so there couldn't be too many casualties...Heleth started to throw some punches on the bag, not that they would help her decision much. Heleth honestly preferred kicks, it was so much easier to use her legs than her arms. But what if the Drive team studied the way the New America foguth? Oh, that would suck. Heleth would have to keep her fighting techniques inconsistent. She didn't want the Drive team getting an advantage...not after what they did to her parents. Heleth punched even harder, trying to shake her parents from her mind. But they never left. Not really.

[chloe ; a ghost]

Em shook her head in agreement to what Heleth was saying. "No they can't," she said darkly, her eyes narrowing at the thought of some of the new recruits going on a mission. "Is there any sort of selection process for the new members?" she asked, pausing her training and turning to Heleth. "Because some of them don't seem particularly motivated, which is concerning." She was putting it lightly, that was for sure. There were two or three recruits who were flat out lazy and slow. "I would suggest they be removed now, actually. There's no way they're going to be fit for any sort of combat..." She trailed off, glancing over at Heleth to gauge her reaction to what she was saying. She didn't want to sound like she was whining or complaining. Em didn't complain. Em sent a final few punches flying at the bag before she moved onto something more... interactive. She really wanted to spar with someone, but there was nobody but Heleth in the room. She wasn't going to ask to spar, so she picked up a pair of twin knives and fought an invisible opponent. She twisted and weaved, imagining someone she had fought before and pretending they were in the room with her.

[[deleted user]]

Heleth considered it for a moment. "Well, we need every person we can get." she said. "Can't exactly let them go, they might betray our whereabouts to the Young-Gods. Or worse, the Drive team." Heleth's expression darkened as she paused her punching and dropped down to start doing pushups. "Have you tried scaring them? That might work. Or make them train extra hours. Do you mean selection process to let them go on missions, or selection process to let them be New Americana in general?" she asked. Heleth didn't want to get rid of any New Americana members. It was too risky, plus that would mean sending them back onto the streets of Hurricane city. The Drive team might even kill them for being rebel sympathizers. Heleth would never stop feeling guilty if she let that happen. And she couldn't bear any more guilt. The weight she felt already was enough. She just wanted it to be gone...to be relieved on pain...

[chloe ; a ghost]

"Well obviously we can't let those who have already been inducted into the cause go, but we can be more selective from now on," Em said dryly, still fighting her invisible opponent. She stepped off the mat, her breathing slightly elevated, but the majority of her physical condition unfazed. She wasn't the trainer for nothing, and she did the majority of the exercises with her recruits for a while before she began to bark at them and pick their techniques and forms apart. "I've tried that, yes," Em answered, her tone slightly exasperated. It was true. She'd already scared them thoroughly, and made them train extra hours twice. Although the scaring them mostly took place today, so she wasn't going to find out whether or not it had worked until the next session. "And I mean to let them even join us. We wouldn't throw anyone out, we'd just be more choosy about who we bring in."

[[deleted user]]

"Yeah, definitely." Heleth said. "We've got a good number of members already. But what would we do with the rejects?" Heleth was mostly worried that if she rejected someone who tried to become a New Americana member, they would go and do something rash. If they knew too much, they might go to the Drive team. At the thought of the Drive team, Heleth stood up again and started hitting the punching bag, hard. Rage fuelled every single punch. It always did in actual fights too.

[chloe ; a ghost]

"Give them a job that doesn't require fighting," she said, waving a hand towards the kitchens. "That's the problem. Everyone wants to fight and be the best but in reality, there are only a select few who are truly good at fighting. I pick about fifteen out of twenty recruits, and that's being generous. Only a quarter of them are actually good. Half are decent, and the remaining quarter are the best of the worst, honestly." She sighed, wishing that they had more talented members enlisting. Like the Drive team, if she was honest. She hated comparing what they were doing to the Drive team, but it was just too easy to do.