<br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/0hxURMj.jpg?1)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Valkyrie (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=173794.msg8319473#msg8319473)<br/><strong>Occupation/Status:</strong>Prototype Marksmanship Specialist<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Outdoor Firearms Range/Briefing room<br/><strong>Action Summary:</strong>Interacting with other prototypes, absorbing the Briefing.<br/><strong>Tagged Characters:</strong>Wicked, Maybelline, Shade, Seer, Commander Montgomery<br/><strong> Open to Others?:</strong>All<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Valkyrie nodded back to Shade, eyes scanning over her for the physical signs of distress she could pick out. She was more than a little 'green around the gills', though it wasn't much green she saw. Pale, with signs of recent shock. But Valkyrie could detect no signs of lasting damage or weakness superficially, spare a slight unfocusing of her eyes and a sway in her posture so minuscule she doubted Shade even noticed it, and Wicked would likely smell anything she couldn't detect. Her penchant for noting illness was nowhere near as acute as his, but she could identify when a staff member was getting, or had been ill simply from the pigmentation of their skin. Any bruise, blush, pale, flush or infinitesimal degree of perspiration she saw, and used it to extrapolate if a person was getting, was, or was recovering from an illness.<br/><br/>"It certainly is eye-catching." Valkyrie knew that Maybelline thrived on cosmetics, clothing, any sort of colourful frippery she was allowed. They were her rewards and fascinations. Seeing the hurt look that sometimes crossed her face if Val did not reply in a neutral to complimentary manner was a negative reaction. She had learned to avoid almost all negative reactions from her 'siblings'. They needed to be a unit above all. And causing negativity to an individual could (and sometimes had) resulted in lack of cohesion, and once a brawl. Her eyes shot to Wicked. It hadn't been sparring that day. He'd won, though not easily. And she had learned from it. She respected Wicked, and she shared in his reluctance to offer opinions. Unless she could garner some positive results, she often kept her mouth shut. She'd once heard one staff member mutter "Better to remain silent and be assumed a fool, than to open one's mouth and prove it". She'd decided the sentiment had been valid, and changed her behavioral patterns accordingly.<br/><br/>As Seer entered, Valkyrie flicked her eyes from Wicked. Seer, on the other hand, always seemed to know the best things to say. Rarely had she seen Maybelline's lips turn down after Seer had commented on a new reward for her, even if it was truly horrendous. Perhaps Seer couldn't see as much of Val's colour-spectrum, but she must not have missed the one time May had returned with a blue pigment across her eyelids that contained brown shading and a disgusting colour between olive green and mauve that had made her eyes look small and washed out. When Val had mentioned it, Maybelline had looked hurt. She'd said it was supposed to be 'Golden ocean' or some sort of operational designation. She had apologized, she learned that trick early, but it had taken some time for the incident to fade. She watched Seer make contact with Wicked and Maybelline, and felt a tightening in-between her shoulder blades. Unlike her siblings, Val kept physical contact to an absolute minimum. It left too many opportunities for a person to get inside your guard. That had been an early lesson, and a hard one. Most casual touches were met with deflections. She tolerated it from the other prototypes, but never initiated. Once she had thrown a new doctor across a room for patting her where the muscles itched on her back. A fraction of her attention was all she required to relax those muscles as she nodded a greeting to Seer as she settled.<br/><br/>"Perforated, in Shade's case." Val offered to the pool of p-based alliteration, softly pitched enough for her siblings to hear, eyes returning to the door. She knew full well what happened when she engaged in 'Rebellious sentiments'. The others would have some privileges revoked if they were not careful. Her punishment would likely be isolation from the prototypes. It had happened before.<br/><br/>As the commander entered, and made his briefing, her eyes scanned the projection, memorizing between the flickers of the light-bulb used to project the image onto the screen. She remained silent. She did not like asking questions, or even engaging with, the Foundry staff members. Especially the ones that knew better than to believe her 'cute little girl act', as she'd heard it described. Only of a question the others didn't bring up occurred to her would she speak up. It rarely happened.<br/><br/>Valkyrie's eyes flicked to Wicked as he added his opinion. "It's not the needles, I think," She replied. "The negative results of the needles are the problem. I do not enjoy feeling weakened after a new injection. And Shade's reactions are always harder. Sometimes the consequences of the injections far outweigh any benefit they seem to have."  Her voice was neutral, still pitched low. It was not as though they were not paying attention, but occasionally there were more than one thought-train working through the group.