"Alright, Claire. With me." Spencer gestured for Claire, before guiding the younger girl towards their testing room. Having already read up on her file, Spencer already had his mentorship planned for the girl. Unlike some of the other hardass approaches some people took to preparing the candidates, Spencer knew Claire required a bit of gentle teetering on the line. To which was his specialty. "I know you're prepared, so run by how you think this'll go. I want to see if your file is accurate, of course." Spencer spoke with slight doubt to the truth of who Claire was, but the rest of the emotion towards the girl seemed to be curiosity hidden behind his control of the scenario.
"R-right.." Claire paused to take a deep breath, knowing that this man was the one to impress before the actual test. If she couldn't work well with her first instructor, there was no point in even taking the test. So in her attempt to impress Mr. Wallace, Claire spoke, "You're going to be testing for my Variable Compatibility then giving me some time to test it out, but most of the practice time is dedicated to the entrance exam, r-right..?"
With a slight grin on his face, Spencer nodded as he pressed a finger to a lock. "Surprised you looked that far ahead. I'm impressed." The door clicked open, and Claire was guided inside a dark room, with a desk and what seemed to be a computer monitor glowing in the darkness. Pulling out a tablet from inside his jacket, he spun a chair around for Claire to sit in. With a few clicks on the tablet, he pulled a few wires and hooked up a few electrode pads to Claire's head. "Take care and don't move, alright?" He spoke, before placing a plastic cup on the desk in front of Claire. "I can trust you to lift a cup, but for sake of scientific consistency, keep it up an inch before I tell you to, gotcha?"
Claire nodded, turning her fingers and holding up the cup an inch above the table, and Spencer went off typing on his tablet. After a few seconds, Spencer gestured for Claire to drop it. "Long range physical, short range mental. Interesting." Spencer patted Claire's shoulder and then continued, "You know, staying quiet and avoiding talking for me isn't going to make me want to approve you any faster."
"Y-you have to approve us..?" Claire asked, tapping her fingers together as she helped Spencer remove the electrodes from her head. The nervousness was kicking in rather quickly as she felt a bit of anxiety from the idea of not even being able to take the entrance exam.
"Of course." Spencer was bluffing, but behind the mysterious guise his glasses had created, Spencer could have said anything. He seemed to wink right into the darkness, as if someone were watching the duo. "How're you feeling?"
"I-I'm alright, nervous.." Claire spoke honestly, twirling with her fingers as Spencer seemed to get another rig set up. This one was just a large camera, and gesturing for Claire to move over to it, the girl quickly obliged.
"Of course you are. You're preparing for the hardest entrance exam in existence for the most prestigious school ever in humanities' existence." Spencer chuckled a bit, before turning to Claire. The sheen of his glasses hid half of his expression, further adding to the mystery that was Spencer Wallace. "The question is, what you plan on doing with that. Do you think there's a single person here today who isn't ready to piss themselves?"
Claire shook her head, leaning back as Spencer pushed her forehead back towards the camera. With a snap of his fingers, the camera blinked. He spun a pen around his fingers in a similar manner to what Claire tended to do, handing it to her. "Sign right here." She did so, and Spencer folded his tablet back down into his jacket. "Right. Now, we're going to start with the implantation of your mental type, testing that one out, then the physicals. Any questions?"
"I-is it gonna hurt?" Claire asked with a worried expression, still tapping her fingers together nervously.
"About as much as getting stabbed by an Altoid."
"...Ehrm..."
"Moving on." Spencer looked at his watch and pulled out the tablet once more. Scrolling through the photos, he guided Claire out and back to the room where she was to be implanted.
The implantation was done right on a snap, and on the way back into the testing room where Spencer had started with Claire's assessment. "You're an intelligent girl. I'm sure you can figure out your mental variable on your own through a bit of trial and error. But, since we're on a bit of a timeframe, I suppose I'm obligated to help you out now."
"That's reassuring..." Claire spoke half sarcastically, sighing as she sat back down in the chair.
"Take a deep breath, relax, and focus your energy into your Variable. Take your time, take it slow." Spencer paused, breathing in tandem to the patterns he had set for Claire. Slowly matching it, Claire's heart rate was slowly going up due to how much focus she was putting on staying calm. Ironic, but she was quickly met with Spencer's hand on her shoulder. "As any tool goes, you need to be in control in order to use it. Stay calm, I'm sure you can do this."
After a few deep breaths, Claire managed to get herself to be just a bit more calm, a bit more relaxed, and less worried about her performance. "Now what?"
"Control it." Spencer spoke with a bout of irritating mysteriousness, as it just seemed to somehow… Click.
Claire looked down at her hands, balling up her fingers and opening them back up. After a few seconds, she looked up to Spencer, "So what's supposed to ha-"
"Catch." From across the room, Spencer threw a pen at Claire full speed. Claire hit it back up in the air, fumbling with it for a moment, before actually being able to grab it. "Anything?"
Claire blinked, in that moment having been able to see the pen's movements in the air for a moment before they happened. She could see where the pen was going to be, but it hadn't actually been there yet. "You could've poked my eye out…"
"I could have. What happened?" Spencer pulled out his tablet, now watching a quick video in slow motion of what had happened in the past minute.
"C-could you maybe explain why you tried to poke my eye out?" Claire asked as she twirled the pen in her fingers.
"I find that test is usually helpful with mental types. Physical speed, strength, dexterity, reaction speed, reflexes, most mental types that have impact on the body like that can be tested with a simple throw. Now, what happened?" Spencer spoke, still scanning the video frame by frame.
"I-I… I don't know… I could kind of… See it…?" Claire answered shakily, with a lot of uncertainty in her voice.
"Helpful."
"N-no, I mean… It was like time stopped for a fraction of a second, and I could see where it was going." She clarified, which Spencer looked at her curiously about. "It wasn't long, and I couldn't… Actually grab it, but seeing it bounce the third time I k-kinda caught it…"
"That doesn't count." Spencer commented, taking a moment to flip through the frames, paying close attention to Claire as the video kept rolling. "Your eyes shot right to the pen."
"T-the point being...?"
"It means this one you're gonna have to figure it out on your own. I can't help you if I can't see what you're seeing, and since I really can't, all I've gotta say is be careful. I'll brief you more as we figure more out for the test, but now's when we actually give you your long range." Spencer opened a case sitting on the side of the desk, pulled out of the shadows of the dark room, still illuminated only by the light on the computer. "Stand."
Claire did as told, looking into the case as there were five spheres sitting in the center. "I want you to choose which one you feel is best. Sync with each of them and tell me which one feels best."
Claire nodded, touching the first one and syncing with it. With a telekinetic squeeze, Claire lifted it, and just gave it a quick go around. Now for the next. Squeeze, lift. Felt pretty similar. Number Three then. Squeeze, lift, no difference in weight it seemed. She looked over to Spencer, who had his hands folded in his usual authoritative and mysterious way, keeping a neutral expression as if he were staying out of it.
Thinking that she probably wasn't looking at this whole thing properly, Claire synced up with the other two. Each time, she tried toying with them differently, but nothing seemed to come out of it. She looked back to Spencer, before hesitantly asking, "W-what was it that was different about them...? I couldn't tell if any of them were stronger, easier sync with, lighter..."
"Two things you need to learn from this," Claire's instructor commented, before looking down at the Variables. "One: If the instructions were unclear from the start, you should have asked for clarification. Don't assume you need to know everything from the get-go. You should know as much as you can once you start, though."
Claire felt rather disappointed in herself that she didn't catch that on the first time, but now wasn't the time for self pity. It was a lesson, not just a beration. "Two: If you can't get that information, work with what you've got. So take the premise I gave you: Choose which one you feel is best. Now finish the job."
The girl nodded, looking down at the five Variables she was presented, reaching for the fourth one. Syncing with it, her Variable hovered in the air above her hand, before she nodded and squeezed it, playing with it as if it were clay or slime or something. "T-this one."
"Are you sure?" Spencer asked for confirmation, folding his hands behind his back in his usual mannerisms.
"Y-yes."
"Confidence, Miss Bishop. Are you sure?"
Claire took a deep breath, opening her eyes and sighing, before affirming her decision. "Yes."
"Good. Lesson Three. We've got about 20 minutes left, so let's make this quick." Spencer pulled out a holographic projector with a score system, for the test variables. "Hit me with it."
Claire looked up at Spencer, taking a half step back and spinning the Variable in her hand, before whipping her arm to the side and launching it at him. His projector flicked open, forming a rectangular shield which her Variable bounced off of. "Try again."
She turned around, bringing the Variable around her back and swinging it around her with a sweeping gesture, yet Spencer's projector was able to deflect it. "Again." This time she turned it around and attacked from the top, which Spencer lifted up the projector and blocked the hit with the rectangular shield again. "I just said hit me, now come on."
Claire kicked it up faster now, using her Mental type to predict slightly the movements of Spencer's arm to activate the shield, but it still activated when she adjusted course at the last second. With a bit of frustration, she vented her stress by squeezing telekinetically, then pulling it apart, now in two spheres floating in the air, and then something clicked. That was actually something she could do with a Variable.. Once Spencer seemed to smile, Claire used both halves to attack from both sides. Of course, being a training Variable it didn't do anything, but the shield only blocked one. "There we go."
"W-what was the point there..?" Claire asked, pulling her Variable back together while sitting back down on the chair. She did get a bit dizzy from using her Mental Variable, still somewhat confused.
"You're smarter than most, but sometimes you seem to limit yourself. Don't do that and you'll be one of the best ones we have here. You might even help your group pass." Spencer chuckled, leaning on the wall and closing the case where the other Variables were.
"S-since you said to ask for clarification when something was unclear, could you at least give me something about the test?" Claire asked, hoping maybe that's all she needed for a hint.
"You've got about a 2% chance of passing." Apparently not. But, with a smile, Spencer added, "100% If you can break free of your own limits and rally your team."
"W-what limits, exactly…?" Claire asked for clarification, tapping her fingers together as she was somewhat worried about the scenario.
"How long did it take you to properly warm up to me? Now how much of that was willingness and comfort, rather than out of necessity?" Spencer asked, hearing the bells and announcement.
"Hour's up! Trainers are to stop all sessions immediately, and regroup their prospects in preparation for the entrance exam! Once back together, await further instructions."
Spencer guided Claire out through the hallway. "Don't disappoint me. Good luck."
"Thanks." Now came the hard part. Passing the test.