Principal Gardner began speaking into the microphone, his voice projecting across the entire room through a series of speakers in each corner. If I was not looking at him I would not guess he was the one who was speaking, based on the multiple locations from which the sound was projecting; it appeared the speakers deployed a classic misdirection tactic, creating sound from all sides to mask where the sound originated from. It would be excellent for setting an ambush were I not looking right at the person speaking.

Principal Gardner began welcoming us all to the school and explaining what function the institution served, which I felt was somewhat redundant; surely everyone here already knew what type of training facility this was meant to serve as, repeating it was just wasting valuable training time. His speech continued on as such, and even this being the first time hearing the speech I could tell by the reactions of the older students that this was a speech they had heard many times in the past.

At some point, Vi rested her head on my shoulder, "What are you doing?"

"I like to sleep during this part," she said drowsily

"That was a lie."

She sat upright the second I called her out, "How do you know?"

*if (vi_friend=true)
	"Your heartbeat fluttered while you were speaking," I say while gesturing with my eyes toward our linked hands. That is one benefit to holding the hand of another person that I did not expect; perhaps I should try holding people's hands more often.
*if (vi_friend =false)
	"You have given me no reason to believe you were telling the truth; based on experience, that means the odds of you lying were exceptionally high. I appreciate you confirming my suspicions." When given a choice between an uncomfortable truth and an apparently harmless lie, humans will almost always choose the lie. It is easier to come up with a somewhat plausible excuse than to explain your entire way of thinking when questioned on your actions. Thus nine times out of ten when you tell someone they are lying to you, you will be correct.
"Now tell me, why did you really lean on me?"

"I..." she bit her lip harshly, "Can I tell you later?"

*fake_choice
	#No
		"No. You will talk now or I will find a way to make you talk."

		"Here?"

		"No, somewhere else. Somewhere you think you are safe. When you're sitting in the dark, secure in whatever haven you call home; when you believe the walls of your sanctuary surrounding you can protect you from the monsters outside, that's when I will find you. And I will learn from you what I want to know." She shrunk further into herself with every word, and I knew now was the time to offer a lifeline, "Or you could tell me now."

		"Ok..." Vi whimpered

		"I'm waiting."

		"It wasn't anything bad, I promise..." she said,
		*if (vi_friend =true)
			"I just wanted to...because we're friends."

			"Is that also something friends do?"

			"Some do..."

			"If it is optional, we should avoid doing so. I may accidentally kill you."

			"Ok, I won't do it again..."
		*if (vi_friend =false)
			"I just...wanted to put my head on your shoulder. Because I want to be friends..."
			
			"Despite my protest?" This girl was even pushier than the drill sergeants

			"Yes...I'm sorry. I won't do it again..."
	#I already know
		*set vikindness +1
		Her eyes widened once more, "You do?"

		"Yes. In truth, I applaud your strategy and am ashamed I did not think of using it myself."

		"Huh?"

		"At this point you know very little about me, I am an unknown, potential danger. The fact that I interrogated you on a roof probably did not help that fact. To top it off, it was just brought to your attention that you have no idea who in this room is armed and who is not, and out of everyone here I am the most immediate threat to your safety, thus it only makes sense that you would want to know as soon as possible whether or not I was armed.
		*if (male =true)
			You had hoped to use your femininity as a means to mask your intentions, impressive tactics though you failed to take into account me being immune to such attempts at seduction.
		*if ((vi_friend =true) and (female =true))
			You had hoped to use our friendship as a means to mask your intentions, impressive tactics though you failed to take into account me retaining a constant focus on all things in my immediate surroundings, especially those who call themselves my friends.
		Your plan was fairly well executed, and were I not trained to detect such things you likely would have been completely successful and undetected. I apologize for not realizing sooner how well-versed you were in espionage."

		"Uhm...thanks, I guess."

		"Now that you have learned that I am not armed, what do you plan on doing with that information?"

		"Well...not much of anything, actually. Thanks for letting me know, though; it's like we have a secret now!"
*page_break Next
*goto_scene 1-4viassembly-4