by Hex
Thanks Anne, for betaing for me (and really quickly too) while Neri is broken ^__^
I looked up at the building and stared. It was gray, square and nondescript like most other buildings on the colony. I found it intimidating. I felt as if it were looming over me, trying to make me feel even smaller than I was. It felt like I was making little to no progress walking towards it. Which was funny, because before I could blink, I found myself inside the building and at the door where "Oz Recruitment Center" was painted in bold letters on the glass.
My hand hesitated for a moment at the door handle. I felt my conviction waver again. What was I doing here? Did I really think that joining Oz could help change things? Could I really do something about the huge mess that the colonies where in? Could I, in the grand scheme of things, really change the fate of the colonies as I knew them? Could someone who felt so insignificant and small when faced with a simple building, really do anything that mattered.... at all.
Maybe not, but I had to try. It had to start somewhere. The fighting had to end. There shouldn't be more children like me, who lost their parents because the rebels wouldn't leave well enough alone. Rebels, who caused more fighting then they stopped. The result was children, left alone, not old enough to be adults but made to think and act like them because they had no other choice. Alone, with no one to run to and their family torn from them in the midst of fire, confusion, and terrified screaming.
My hand grasped the door handle and I walked in. I had expected something else upon entering, although I'm not sure what. Maybe something grandiose or splattered with pictures of victorious warriors, or something in the vein of those ridiculous "He wants YOU!" pre-colony American Army recruitment posters. This however, reminded me of the office in the school I used to attend, the military uniforms aside of course.
People flitted about, file folders in hand as they sipped at coffee and generally looked like they were in a hurry to be somewhere even though the room was not overly huge. For a moment I found myself ready to laugh insanely at the idea of an army of secretaries, ready to fight to the last with a pencil and paper clip.
I gained control over myself and walked over to the desk with the little reception sign perched on it. A young man sat there tapping a pencil against his lips as he stared intently at his computer screen. He looked up as I approached him, giving me a disdainful raise of one eyebrow. I felt myself bristle at that. I might not have looked like much, but I could pilot, damn it!
"I'm here about the recruitment ads," I said as if there would be another reason I was in the recruitment office.
He let out a weary sigh, as if I were yet another trifle for him to deal with, and pulled out a data pad from his desk.
"Name?" He asked in a bored, monotonous tone.
"Schbeiker, Hilde."
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